Nash Daily: Galchenyuk Apologizes, Flames to Honor Kiprusoff

As the NHL offseason is in the dog days the Nashville Predators have yet to make any more headlines via free agency after signing Denis Gurianov last Tuesday. 

With none of the Predators skaters going to arbitration this summer, this roster is set prior to general manager Barry Trotz’s first training camp back with the organization.

Nashville’s most recent arbitration case was Yakov Trenin. He was the only NHL player to go to arbitration last season out of 26 players who initially filed. The trend of pre-arbitration settlements continues as forward Ross Colton agreed to terms with Colorado (4x$4m) and forward Morgan Barron did the same with Winnipeg (2x$1.35m). 

Yesterday afternoon forward Alex Galchenyuk issued an apology to the Arizona Coyotes organization, his fans, and the Scottsdale Police Department for his actions that resulted in the termination of his contract last week.

Galchenyuk has voluntarily entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program per his posts on Twitter. ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reported that NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh said that the players association is still contemplating whether they’ll file a grievance on behalf of Alex Galchenyuk regarding his contract termination from the Coyotes. 

pic.twitter.com/IO2vBOBssY

— Alex Galchenyuk (@AGally94) July 18, 2023

NHLers have found success with the player assistance program, most notable to Predators fans: Austin Watson, Connor Ingram, Michael McCarron, Mark Borowiecki, and Colin Wilson. 

The Nashville Hockey Now Mailbag is still taking questions today. Send over any and all questions to @NSHhockeynow or @KieserNick with answers to be published Thursday.

📬 MAILBAG: #Preds fans send me your questions about prospects and what the lineup could look like this fall. I’m an open book. @NSHhockeynow

Story to follow on Thursday. Ask me anything you have related to the team. 👇🏻👇🏻📥

— Nick Kieser 🏒 (@KieserNick) July 18, 2023

Around the NHL and National Hockey Now

Calgary Hockey Now: Another Finnish goaltender will have his number raised to the rafters as the Flames are set to retire Pekka Rinne’s idol and fellow goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff’s number 34. 

Boston Hockey Now: The need for salary cap space cannot be overstated as Boston joins the number of teams seeking to avoid being its most recent victim. 

NHL.com: The NHL has announced the return of ‘Welcome to the NHL’ where fans are given behind-the-scenes access to seven prospects who found themselves in Nashville waiting for their names to be called. Some were forced to wait longer than they expected.

Follow Clay Brewer on Twitter: @ClayBrewer10