The expansion Las Vegas may not yet have a team name but they now have a team president as the team announced the hiring of Kerry Bubolz to that position today. He departs the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers where he most recently served as their president of business operations.
Bubolz has a bit of a hockey background having served as president and alternate governor for the AHL’s Cleveland (formerly Lake Erie) Monsters while also spending some time in the Carolina Hurricanes organization.
While the team name hasn’t been announced, everything else appears to be falling into place for Las Vegas. They have an experienced GM running the show in George McPhee while also bringing in scouting directors. Recently, reports surfaced that the team may be permitted to make trades in advance of next June’s expansion draft which would be a first for an expansion team in league history.
Elsewhere around the league:
- Chicago defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson has been suspended for the remainder of the preseason and one regular season game, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced. As a result, Hjalmarsson will miss the season opener against St. Louis on October 12th and will forfeit a little more than $22K in salary.
- The Department of Player Safety also announced (via Twitter) that Los Angeles left winger Tanner Pearson will have a telephone hearing for his illegal check to the head on Edmonton defenseman Brandon Davidson on Sunday night. The hit occurred in the second period and Pearson was ejected for the hit.
- Unrestricted free agent left winger Patrik Elias is taking a “month-by-month approach” when it comes to his hopeful return to the Devils this season, he told Mike Morreale of NHL.com. Although he isn’t under contract, he is still participating in team meetings and has a stall in the dressing room in anticipation of a return. Elias is their all-time leading scorer with 1,025 points in 1,240 games and has only played for New Jersey in his 20 year NHL career.