Insider Trading: NHL’s response to report of alleged sexual assault
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TSN's Hockey Insiders discuss the NHL's response to a report of an alleged sexual assault in the OHL, how Jake Oettinger's deal came together, the struggling Avs and Predators, if NHL teams missed the mark on Matvei Michkov, and Habs prospect Ivan Demidov's ice-time.
Gino Reda: Our Rick Westhead reported that a woman contacted the Ontario Provincial Police on February 28 of this year to report an alleged sexual assault dating back to November of 2014. The woman alleges she was assaulted by eight Ontario Hockey League Players. Darren, what are you hearing from the NHL in response to these allegations?
Darren Dreger: Well, it’s not just the National Hockey League here. It’s really all corners of the hockey world. Extremely disappointed with these allegations of alleged sexual assault. Most of the governing bodies around the hockey world are waiting for more information before commenting on what their next steps might be. As for the National Hockey League, the NHL has acknowledged Rick Westhead’s reporting from Wednesday and a spokesperson with the NHL says:
“The NHL is deeply troubled by any accusation of this nature. We have no information beyond what was in the media report from last night.”
It is a developing story and it’s obviously one with more to come in the days ahead.
Reda: For continuing coverage of this story, you can follow Rick Westhead on SportsCentre and on TSN.ca.
Pierre, when we spoke last week, you mentioned that the Dallas Stars were working on a deal to lock up Jake Oettinger to a long-term deal. How did it finally come together?
Pierre LeBrun: Well, and again, a reminder that there were absolutely no negotiations during the summer between the Stars and Jake Oettinger’s camp. Kind of on purpose, they wanted to see how the goalie market played out and there have been some significant extensions. And one of them of course is Jeremy Swayman and once he signed in Boston, Stars general manager Jim Nill reached out to Oettinger’s agent Ben Hankinson and said are you ready to get the ball rolling in these talks. And while the answer was yes, it was a qualified yes. Hankinson told the Stars that we have a short window to get this extension done. They didn’t want this negotiation to drag out all year and be a distraction for Jake Oettinger. Who by the way, really wanted his agent to get this done. He loves it in Dallas. So at the end of the day, the Stars started the negotiation at $7.74 million a year, that’s the Jusse Saros deal, and Hankinson was above $8.25 million. But, predictably, they got to $8.25 million a year. A very direct comparable to Jeremy Swayman. They’re both 25 years old, similar body of work, the Stars are pretty happy to get it done.
Reda: All good in Dallas right now, the Stars shot out of the gate at 4-0, and while they did that, the Avalanche opened at 0-4 and CJ, it’s not like help is on its way.
Chris Johnston: Certainly not, not with $36 or $37 million of cap space that’s committed right now to players that aren’t eligible to play for the Colorado Avalanche. And that’s really given way to a feeling around the team that there’s not a magic bullet solution here. They’re going to try to ride this through until some of the cavalry can return from the injured list and they’ve already taken Kaapo Kahkonen, a goaltender, off waivers from Winnipeg. But beyond that, there’s not a lot of obvious moves to be pulled. And I think, you know, what makes this so difficult for the Avalanche is the uncertainty. They don’t know what Gabriel Landeskog will be when he returns, he’s missed so much time after that knee cartilage procedure that he had. It’s still not clear when he will be able to return or what he’ll look like. Similarly for Valeri Nichushkin, who’s in the NHL player assistance program. And so those are significant pieces that the Avs just don’t know what they’re going to be. So it’s going to be a very difficult year in Colorado and it’s off to a tough start now.
LeBrun: Well, Chris, who had Colorado and Nashville a combined 0-7 to start the year. Two teams obviously with high aspirations and Nashville, 0-3 entering their game Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers. I spoke with GM Barry Trotz on Thursday who said listen, what’s he’s seeing, is that “I think we’re trying to outscore our problems.” And his point is that the Predators can’t forget who they are. Their 5-on-5 game, their pressure game is what gave them great success last year. Yes, they added Stamkos and Marchessault, but that’s doesn’t mean that suddenly they’ve completely changed overnight what their DNA is. So, this is about remembering who they are and getting back to basics for Nashville.
Reda: Speaking of offence, after two goals and three points in his first three NHL games, are people beginning to wonder if this 19-year-old rookie could have been the major steal at No. 7 overall?
Dreger: Yeah, Matvei Michkov, certainly the markets of NHL clubs that decided in 2023 at the draft in Nashville to pass on the talented Russian forward. I mean, what a way to launch his NHL career. Now, in fairness, no one, including the Philadelphia Flyers, expected Michkov to leave Russia for at least three years. Now, sadly, the sudden passing of his father encouraged the KHL to release the teenager to chase his NHL dreams. It’s worked out for Michkov in the short term and it’s certainly worked out for the Philadelphia Flyers as well.
Johnston: And the Montreal Canadiens hope they have the next steal of the draft in Ivan Demidov who they took No. 5 overall this year. Of course, there’s some challenges to that right now. He’s not playing very much in Russia right now. He saw less than four minutes in a game recently for SKA St. Petersburg and there’s not much Montreal can do about that. He’s under contract to that team for the rest of the year and there’s some thought his unwillingness to sign beyond the year in the KHL might be leading to that. But the Canadiens are monitoring the situation and obviously they’ll look to get him to North America as soon as he’s eligible to sign with them.