Canucks prospect Adam Gaudette has won the Hobey Baker Award for the top player in men’s NCAA hockey, his now-former college squad, the Northeastern Huskies, announced (Twitter link). The 21-year-old had a dominant junior year, recording 30 goals and 30 assists in just 38 games to lead all Division I players in scoring and becomes the first Vancouver prospect to win the award. Gaudette recently signed his entry-level deal and has played in four games with the Canucks this season, logging just shy of 13 minutes per game in ice time. Henrik Borgstrom (Florida) and Ryan Donato (Boston) were the other finalists for the award.
More from around the hockey world:
- Jaromir Jagr’s time with Calgary didn’t go too well and he wound up clearing waivers and being loaned back to his hometown team in Kladno. Despite that, he told Tal Pinchevsky of the New York Times that he is hoping to return to the NHL next season and isn’t planning on retiring just yet. The 46-year-old wound up playing in just five games in the second Czech division before being sidelined with a knee injury that has held him out for the remainder of the season. Jagr will be an unrestricted free agent in July (his contract wasn’t terminated after clearing waivers as the Flames opted to loan him instead, reserving the right to recall him that way) and between the injury and his struggles this season, he may have to settle for a tryout if he wants to take one more crack at an NHL roster spot.
- The Capitals have decided to wait until after the postseason before making a decision on whether or not they try to re-sign defenseman John Carlson or head coach Barry Trotz, GM Brian MacLellan told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. Carlson is poised to land a considerable raise on his current $3.967MM cap hit as he will likely come close to doubling that if he makes it to the open market. Meanwhile, Trotz has made it through his ‘lame duck’ year with another strong regular season record but it has been intimated previously that it will be their postseason success (or lack thereof) that ultimately determines his fate and MacLellan’s comments all but seals that.
I think any true hockey fan has great admiration and respect for Jaromir Jagr but do we really want to see him slumming around the league bottom feeders trying to land some meager playing time on a 4th line? I have an 8 and 10 yr old nephew who have just taken an interest in the NHL and I certainly don’t want them to see a great player humiliated in that fashion. Jagr is a Hall of Famer with nothing left to prove…he should forget about a comeback and enjoy a well earned retirement.