I really, really want to know what the plan is for next season with my Austin Stars. Four more players have left for other teams. Over the weekend, Greg Stafford, Mathieu Beaudoin and Matt Climie went to Phoenix. Now we’ll probably have to face them as members of the San Antonio Rampage, our local rival. This also means we don’t have a backup goalie for the frequently injured Brent Krahn yet.
The bigger loss was Andrew Hutchinson heading joining Pittsburgh. I hope he gets the opportunity to play defense for the Penguins because his toughness and scoring ability were essential to our success in the playoffs, especially his goal during game seven against Hamilton.
Bob Probert’s death is relatively old news but I discovered that my friend who played for the Petes in the early Eighties received a souvenir from the legendary tough guy. This is his account he gladly gave me under condition of anonymity.
“It was ’82 or ’83, not a regulation game, either a preseason or just a casual game. He never played for Pbo – he was with Brantford then Sault Ste Marie in the OHL. Probert just clobbered me on with a clean check from the side. He was so bloody strong that he knocked me clean off my skates, and my helmet slipped up and creased my head when it rammed into the boards. Not dirty, Probert was NEVER a dirty player – actually one of the nicest guys you’d ever meet, and a great teammate. He’d beat you to a pulp if you messed with a teammate of his, and he’d hit you harder than you’ve ever been hit, but never dirty and never with intent to injure. Literally a little kid in a man’s body and the toughest SOB in the NHL. Kocur had the best KO punch, but Probert was bigger, stronger and more tenacious.”
I’ve been in a few fights when I was younger, however my friend being on the business end of a Bob Probert hit makes what I took in the Real Chili Fu incident sound like a love tap.
Minor league teams aren’t really ‘dismantled’, because they can (and usually do) fall apart more often due to the limited nature of the players’ contracts than any action by management. For players on NHL contracts, the teams pretty much control the destiny of all of their players up until the age of 27 (or seven years of service, whichever comes first); during that time, even when a player’s contract expires, the team still retains significant rights.
There’s nothing like that for AHL contracts; when a player’s contract expires, he’s an unrestricted free agent and can sign with the team of his choosing, even if he’s 18 years old. AHL contracts are usually only for one year, as well.
Climie, Peters, and Stafford were on two-way NHL contracts, and are over 27, so they became Unrestricted when their contract expired; Beaudoin was just on an AHL contract and was Unrestricted; I’m not sure if Hutch was on an NHL or AHL contract, but he’s over 27 and Unrestricted.
Also, even with Climie gone, the Dallas Stars hold the rights on five Goalies; it’s a safe bet that one of those will be assigned to the Stars.