Yesterday, the national teams qualified for the 2022 Winter Olympics next February continued to announce their first three players to represent them at the tournament. Friday’s announcements have not been without Tampa Bay Lightning players, who have one of the biggest representation amongst the NHL teams at present.
Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy were selected by the the Russian Olympic Committee, while Erik Cernak will represent Slovakia in Beijing next Winter.
Congratulations to @86Kucherov and Vasy on their selections to represent the Russian Olympic Committee in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics! 👏 pic.twitter.com/T0XAKbBXbU
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 8, 2021
Join us in congratulating Cerny on his selection to represent Slovakia at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics! 🇸🇰 pic.twitter.com/63Ahe5lZMS
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 8, 2021
Thus, Kucherov, Vasilevskiy and Cernak have joined Victor Hedman (Sweden) and Ondrej Palat, whose names were announced earlier this week. Lightning’s head coach Jon Cooper is also going to the Olympics as head coach of Canada.
The NHL, the NHLPA and the IIHF have previously asked every country to announce three first players from their rosters before the start of the new NHL season, which is scheduled for the next Tuesday. Each country has to submit their long-list of 55 players by the mid-October and final rosters will be announced in January.
Lightning / NHL News
The Lightning reduced their training camp players by two more players: goaltender Amir Miftakhov was assigned to the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL) and forward Simon Ryfors is heading to the Syracuse Crunch (AHL)
We’ve reduced our training camp roster by two players.https://t.co/JydOlbZK02
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) October 8, 2021
Lightning center Gemel Smith suffered a lower-body during the training camp and is out indefinitely.
Gemel Smith is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. #Bolts center was injured toward the end of a intrasquad scrimmage earlier in training camp.
— Bryan Burns (@BBurnsNHL) October 8, 2021
The power-play unit from yesterday’s practice. Lightning will play another pre-season game against the Florida Panthers tonight at 6:00 PM EST in Sunrise.
Ondrej Palat returns to #Bolts‘ 2nd power-play unit. Ross Colton took over that spot yesterday with Palat not part of the game group.
PP1: Hedman, Stamkos, Point, Kucherov and Killorn
PP2: Sergachev, Cirelli, Maroon, Palat and Perry— Bryan Burns (@BBurnsNHL) October 8, 2021
Jon Cooper didn’t rule out a possibility that all three prospects, Alex Barre-Boulet, Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk, will be on the Lightning roster at opening night. All three players require waivers to be reassigned to Syracuse.
#tblightning Jon Cooper indicated it’s possible they could keep all three prospects – Barre-Boulet, Raddysh + Katchouk. Said it helps make better practices, but also have to keep development in mind. I still think they end up with 13 forwards, but we’ll see. Tomm last exhibition
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) October 8, 2021
The full list of players named to the 2022 Winter Olympics on Friday.
Beijing Bound!🙌
More countries have named their first three @NHL players for #Beijing2022. pic.twitter.com/MANwnXHokh
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 8, 2021
The Florida Panthers have signed an eight-year extension with their captain Aleksander Barkov, worth $10 million per season.
Barkov’s $10M AAV extension with the #Panthers would kick in next season.
It would also put him tied for 11th place in terms of the highest cap hit for the 2022-23 season.https://t.co/hkEfiGYXNt pic.twitter.com/oRlijw4qcn
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) October 8, 2021
Alex Ovechkin left the ice after a collision with Travis Konecny on Friday night and will be re-evaluated later today for a possible lower-body injury.
🚨🚨🚨Injury Report: #AllCaps Alex Ovechkin heads to the locker room after this collision going to make a hit. pic.twitter.com/k3Gy1mXR37
— Hockey Hound (@HockeyHoundShow) October 8, 2021
The list of players placed on waivers yesterday.
Placed on NHL waivers: Sonny Milano (ANA), Brandon Davidson (BUF), Dennis Gilbert (COL), Jayson Megna (COL), Andreas Borgman (DAL), Daniel Renouf (DET), Luke Witkowski (DET), Chase De Leo (NJ), Michael Chaput (PIT), Juuso Riikola (PIT), Nicolas Meloche (SJ), Sheldon Dries (VAN).
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 8, 2021
