This ’n’ that
❚ ❚ Anton Belov’s statement to a reporter at Sovietsky Sport about his time with the Edmonton Oilers wasn’t as negative as it first appeared. “Nobody can pay me enough for having had the experience of the NHL. It was the experience of a lifetime,” said Belov, who signed a fouryear deal earlier this month with SKA St. Petersburg. He also said he “could have tried to re-sign” with the Oilers, which is a little different than he “could have re-signed.”
❚ ❚ There was no sign of Magnus Paajarvi in the St. Louis Blues lineup; Adam Cracknell took his spot to start the series with the Chicago Blackhawks. Paajarvi got some love from Blues coach Ken Hitchcock during the regular season for his play, but still scored only 12 points (six goals) in 55 games, averaging 10 minutes a night.
❚ ❚ Canadian Sean Simpson, who was the Swiss national team coach at the Olympics, has been hired by Yaroslavl, Russia to replace Dave King. King, a late-season rain man who got the unsung Lokomotiv team to the KHL semifinals, returns to his job in player development with the Phoenix Coyotes. I wonder if the Swiss federation would look at Marc Crawford as national team coach?
❚ ❚ The Twitterverse is an interesting species. You dare to say you would have voted Varlamov, Rask and Bishop 1-2-3 for the Vezina with Carey Price not in there, and you get tweets asking if you hate Canada, Quebec or just the Montreal Canadiens? Semyon Varlamov is the main reason the Avalanche had 113 points in the regular season, Tuukka Rask is the goalie for the NHL’s top playoff seed, and Ben Bishop was Tampa’s best player and they finished with one more point than the Habs.