Nash Daily: NHL European Media Tour; Toronto Extends Matthews

The NHL began its fifth European Media Tour Wednesday in Stockholm, Sweden, in preparation for the Global Games to take place in Melbourne, Australia, September 23-24 and in Stockholm on November 16-19.

The Media Tour is meant to assist in growing the game beyond the U.S. borders where key European players sit down with media and provide an inside look into their summer lives and season preparations while also promoting the game and upcoming NHL events.

Nashville Predators forward Juuso Parssinen was present at the event as he’s spent his summer back home in Scandinavia preparing for the 2023 season. He recorded a message for Predators. The video is below.

📍 Stockholm

Juuso checks in from the @NHL European Media Tour! pic.twitter.com/VyyUaI2UAJ

— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) August 23, 2023

Also during the tour, a couple of notable Swedes — Elias Petersson of the Vancouver Canucks and William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs — sat down with Elliott Friedman and Jeff Marek of the “32 Thoughts” podcast to discuss their contract status. Both Pettersson and Nylander are set to become free agents next July 1 if they do not agree to new deals beforehand.  

Good morning from Stockholm. Boat ride yesterday with Elias Pettersson. He is dialled in for 2023-24…very, very serious about training and nutrition. More to come, but Pettersson will wait into the season to consider an extension. He wants all his focus to be on starting strong pic.twitter.com/FmecqT890p

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 23, 2023

Nashville Hockey Now‘s Nick Kieser broke down the five worst free-agent signings of the David Poile era, which includes some of the more highly controversial players in franchise history. The full list can be found here.

Around the NHL and National Hockey Now

Boston Hockey Now: If Calgary Flames center Elias Lindholm is still available heading into training camp, the Boston Bruins could look to acquire the 28-year-old who’s scored 64 goals and 146 points over the last two seasons.

Florida Hockey Now: Sometimes players just need one team to take a chance on them. Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe continues to prove his worth after his two-year, $2 million prove-it deal in the fall of 2020.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: It’s been a buyer’s market during free agency and plenty of teams have cashed in this offseason.

Philadelphia Hockey Now: Aug. 23 marked two years to the day that the hockey world learned of the death of Jimmy Hayes. Jimmy’s brother and current St. Louis Blues Kevin wrote in The Players’ Tribune a heartfelt tribute to his brother that makes every one realize that hockey is, after all, just a game.

NHL.com: The Maple Leafs made Auston Matthews the highest-paid player in the NHL with a four-year, $53 million contract extension that will play him $13.25M per year.

NHL.com: The NHL and NHLPA are working on a world-cup style international tournament for February 2025 to begin a World Cup and Olympic rotation. NHL players have not competed in the Olympics since the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia, and have not competed in any international-type tournament such as the World Cup of Hockey since 2016 in Toronto.

Follow Clay Brewer on Twitter/X: @ClayBrewer10