Penguins/NHL
Sykora’s career is over with the Wild
Petr Sykora’s tenure with the Minnesota Wild is over as the 33 year old forward has been placed on waivers. Sykora has left the team and the Wild will cut their ties completely with Sykora, even if he clears waivers.
There doesn’t expect to be much interest in Sykora who has 2 goals and 1 assist on the season. Indications are Sykora will become a free agent, if he clears waivers as the Wild and Sykora’s agent Allan Walsh will likely reach an agreement similar to what the Penguins and John LeClair reached in the 2006-2007 season.
Teams willing to take a chance on Sykora will likely wait to pursue him as a free agent and get him at lower cap hit.
Ottawa and Tampa Bay were among the few teams that expressed interest in Sykora during the summer.
One team that won’t be putting a claim on Sykora is Pittsburgh. The Penguins don’t feel he can play Dan Bylsma’s system and there are other reasons that Pittsburgh won’t even consider such a move.
Kunitz eyes return before Olympic break
Winger Chris Kunitz is eyeing a return before the Olympic break. Kunitz had abdominal surgery on January 6th in Philadelphia and could begin practicing in the next 7-10 days.
Kunitz is due to see Dr. William Meyers, who performed the surgery, on Wednesday of next week, which will be the three week mark since the surgery.
There’s a good chance that Kunitz will be cleared to begin practicing by next weekend. Sources close to the team tell me this is the type of injury where players have returned just over the three week window and that Kunitz is progressing to the point where he should be in that range.
Early February is now a target date.
It was initially reported that Kunitz could be sidelined up to six weeks.
