Richard Zednik heading to Russia for 2009-10, named a finalist for NHL's Masterton Trophy
A big day for Zeds, as the now-former Florida first-liner signs with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Russian Superleague. He will have been a free agent on July 1st (and presumably, he'll remain that way on this side of the pond). It appears he'll join former Islanders fan-favorite Alexei Yashin, who had a decent season (but good luck with everything else on this link).
The 33 year-old finished about where he was expected, pointwise, which speaks volumes about the Panthers' top line. On top of two still-celebrated highlight-reel goals, Zeds thrilled and amazed the sports world by returning from The Incident in seven months time. Heck, returning at all stumped a lot of folks.
The NHL won't let him go so easily, however, and named him a finalist, along with Detroit's Chris Chelios (because he's still alive?) and Nashville's Steve Sullivan (a very worthy candidate) for the Bill Masterton Trophy. My money remains on Zednik.
Congrats to #20 on a day of major accomplishment. Florida was never going to pay him near the $1.75M he earned over each of the past two years, so big props.
Alas, one roster spot open up on the wings. Who fills it: someone from within or will GM JM look elsewhere?
Huge thanks to Pensburgh's FrankD for the heads-up. This is what I get for working late.
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