Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Heard Around the Memorial Cup Campfire:WHL coaching vacancy? Russian Roulette?

Word is that WHL coach of the year Mark Holick may be leaving the Kootenay Ice for the AHL. Holick is reportedly the new bench boss for the Syracuse Crunch. Last year the Crunch were the AHL affiliate for the Columbus Blue Jackets. However this spring it was announced that Anaheim would be stocking the Crunch roster and it appears Holick will be the head man. Holick led the Ice to 43 wins this year, 6th most in team history, and a 8 win improvement from last year. Kootenay finished 4th in the Western Conference this year.

I'm also hearing that the reason Kirill Kabanov was sent packing from the Russian under 18 team was pay back for him leaving the KHL in the first place for Moncton. Kabanov by the way would gladly play for the Wildcats tomorrow if they called him. He's in Calgary right now staying with his agent. You will find out more about the Russian enigma Tuesday in the Globe and Mail. And there are a million reasons why he likely won't bolt the NHL for the KHL anytime soon after he's drafted. After Moscow Spartak traded his rights to Salavat of the KHL, which somewhere along the line, a million dollars was exchanged, Kabanov used an out clause in his contract to leave for the QMJHL. I'm not sure a lot of Russian teams are going to be anxious to throw more money at him. By the way I'm told Kabanov would return to Moncton next year as well.

Enjoy Moncton and Windsor and we'll hopefully bring you some more camp fire stories on Tuesday.

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