Training Camps Have Opened
Ladies and gentlemen, I feel like singing a song. It's the most wonderful time of the yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaarrrrrrr!!!! That's right, training camps are starting to open all over the world. The world? Yes, the Buffalo Sabres, led by Dominik Hasek, and the Tampa Bay Lightning, with John Cullen, are heading to Austria where they will join a couple of European teams to kick off the new year.
Can you believe John Cullen? Just months after getting the green light, he's already packed up for Austria with a new contract to boot. Cullen was near death while suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. If Cullens plays this season, he will get $500,000 plus incentives that make it worth $1 million. If he wins the Masterton, like Mario Lemieux did (because of a rule, you can not win the Masterton twice, so Mario could not win it the year he had Hodgkin's and won the scoring title), he will receive $100,000. If Cullen goes to the minors, he will receive $100,000. If he becomes an assistant coach or broadcaster for the Lightning, he will get $110,000. Jacques Demers, whose wife is suffering from cancer, who was quoted as saying "The cheating stops here!" as well as other things when taking over the Lightning said he wasn't going to keep Cullen for PR. He was going to treat him like everybody else.
Ray Bourque has said he wants to finish his career in Boston. He proved it by signing a new contract that keeps him till the end of the 2000 hockey season.
Toronto and Florida were trying to get a deal to send Felix Potvin and Jeff Ware to Florida for Rob Neidermayer and Rhett Warrener. However, the Leafs wanted to have Neidermayer examined by a doctor before the trade because he suffered three concussions last season. Guess Florida has a "No refund on damaged goods" policy. And to prove how stubborn they are, they signed Sean Burke to a deal this past week. Technically it was a trade because John Vanbiesbrouck signed with Philadelphia, and Burke was there last season. The deal was two years at $4.3 million. Burke started last season with Carolina but was then traded to Vancouver in January. He was then traded again to Philadelphia in March.
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