Snapshots: Las Vegas, Perron, Bertuzzi,
Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports today on the process of naming the city’s new NHL expansion team, with owner Bill Foley saying that they’ve narrowed the list down to four possibilities. Foley originally submitted 18 names to the league for approval. The team is now in the process of discussing logos with Adidas, and their fit with any potential name. That said, you may be able to rule out the Las Vegas Knights playing in the NHL in 2017. That’s because the rights to the name “Knights” are owned by the OHL’s London Knights in Canada.
While noting that the name would be fine for use in the United States, Foley said that there would be trouble in Canada. Carp quotes Foley saying that “to acquire the name from London is not economically feasible.” The Review-Journal attempted to contact Knights owner and former NHL forward Dale Hunter, but were unable to.
Here are some more links from around the league:
- St. Louis Blues forward David Perron was interviewed for RDS today. The interview is in French, but according to a translation from Habs Eyes on the Prize, the Canadiens were the final team in the running for his services before he chose to return to the Blues. While mentioning the allure of playing in Montreal, Perron says he ultimately couldn’t leave the money offered by the Blues on the table. Perron was originally drafted by the Blues in 2007, before being traded to the Oilers in 2013.
- Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press profiled Red Wings prospect Tyler Bertuzzi today. Full of quotes from his uncle, former Red Wings winger Todd Bertuzzi, St. James reports that Tyler is living in the elder Bertuzzi’s Michigan home as he prepares for the season. While there may be some bias in play, Todd sees potential, saying “I think there’s a good possibility that if he has a very good camp and keeps his head small, goes in there and works hard, there’s a good chance he shows them something.”
Snapshots: Kunlun Red Star, Las Vegas, Scrivens On Hall
The KHL’s Chinese expansion team, Kunlun Red Star, won their first game on Saturday. Kunlun had previously played and lost their first three games against Traktor, Spartak, and Amur by a combined score of 9-3. They didn’t score until the final pre-season game.
Now, they have moved from playing in mostly empty arenas in Finland to Kazakhstan for the President of Kazakhstan’s Cup. Kunlun opened the pre-tournament action against KHL team Barys Astana in Astana. The game was reportedly very intense, as China and Kazakhstan are rivals in other sports. This game was no different; the teams combined for 196 PIM in a 3-1 Kunlun victory. The two teams meet again on Monday.
More notes from around the hockey world:
- According to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the NHL’s expansion team has narrowed it down to four potential team nicknames. However, the new franchise is having trademark issues: the OHL’s London Knights own the trademark for the name in Canada. Owner Bill Foley told the Review-Journal that acquiring the name Knights is “not economically feasible”. Foley hopes to have the name and merchandise ready for late September or early October.
- Finally, former Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens chimed in on Oscar Klefbom‘s negative comments about former teammate Taylor Hall in late July. In a yet-to-be-posted interview with Russian hockey writer Igor Eronko, Scrivens said Klefbom “would know pretty well, he played with him for a while, and I can’t say he’s wrong”. Scrivens and Hall were teammates in Edmonton for a season and a half, during which the Oilers had a record of 38-59-18.