Anything big going on in Vegas the next little while? About the only thing we’re all that into is former Sound Tigers defenseman Travis Hamonic’s win of the NHL Foundation Player Award for his community work.
(The NHL’s other awards come Wednesday night at 8, with the Vegas Golden Knights’ expansion-draft picks announced during the show. Once that’s over, assorted trades no doubt follow, some more immediately than others, with action heating up toward the draft over the weekend.)
Will the AHL follow the NHL’s new uniform system or whatever they call it nowadays? “Not necessarily,” was the response I got. Could be some tweaks at some point, but nothing like the league-wide revamp is supposedly in the works down here.
This is a great hockey uniform pic.twitter.com/yZ5jnp9T6h
— Scott Ericson (@EricsonSports) June 21, 2017
Testify, Scott. (I am apparently in the minority in hating the Oilers’ full-time switch from blue to orange, which isn’t an Adidas thing anyway, but otherwise, at least the tweaks don’t seem to have screwed things up. And Mike McKenna noticed something very good, too. Paul Lukas has a full newsy rundown.)
Elliotte Friedman’s 30 Thoughts tonight includes Jack Capuano to Buffalo (Edit: maybe not), along with a remarkable lead note (Edit:: remarkably so).
It’s also GHO Travelers Championship time again. No Nick Bonino for the celebrity pro-am on Wednesday (what, walking 18 on a broken leg isn’t going to work?), but would you settle for Ben Bishop? (I will likely spend the day following the progress of Chris Jackson’s group and trying to match it to Hamilton lyrics. Or, you know, working or some such garbage.)
Two-Time ex-Sound Tigers (and ex-Huskies) Forward Brant Harris is off to Germany.
Ottawa has moved Steve Stirling into a new role as a pro scout and college recruiting coordinator. Chris Bourque is sticking around in Hershey.
A strong U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame class.
A few locals invited to the World Junior Summer Showcase late next month.
And RIP, Sergei Mylnikov, Tony DiCicco and Otto Warmbier.