R&R: Moving Day, Part VI

After my post on Saturday Ziggy Palffy decided to leave Los Angeles and sign on with the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is pretty big news and I would have mentioned it sooner, only during one of those wonderful Florida storms the power went out, zapping our cable modem and leaving us without power all day.

But back to the situation at hand. Palffy joins the Pens who, thanks to sheer luck, drafted the most talked about prospect (arguably) since Mario Lemieux. Ironically, Pittsburgh drafted him too. But the important thing is, they can use all the help they can get. So we'll see if this deal pays off.

Below are some others players who are moving to new teams.

• Ben Clymer is leaving Tampa to join the Capitals;


• Stephanie Robidas will move to Dallas after leaving the Blackhawks;


• Scott Nichol is also departing Chicago for a deal with the Predators;


• and Chris Osgood is leaving the Blues to head back to Detroit.

It's not all love-'em-and-leave-'em. Among players staying with their respective teams are Rick Nash (2004's Rocket Richard co-winner) of Columbus, Matt Cullen of Carolina, Pierre Dagenais of Montreal, and Mike Grier of Buffalo.

The other big news is that Wayne Gretzky will finally stand behind the bench. The Phoenix Coyotes today named him as head coach. I guess will find out if he's as good directing players as he was scoring goals.

But that is not all for this day in hockey. The NHL announced today that it is reinstating Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi, who had been suspended indefinitely after breaking the neck of Colorado's Steve Moore back in the 2003-04 season.

He hasn't played hockey since then. He hasn't been allowed to. That said, the league felt he'd had his punishment. Moore sued Bertuzzi civilly so now his problems will be dealt with in court. Now, we'll see if the Canucks keep him. He's a good player who did something extremely stupid, so it's not likely they'll be too willing to part with him.

Short post today. Not as many free agent signings as I'd have thought.




Out Cold   This was Steve Moore as he was wheeled off the ice after being attacked from behind by Todd Bertuzzi. Word came down from the league today that Bertuzzi's suspension will end and he will be reinstated this season.