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Stephane Robidas Skates

Robidas had missed the last 17 games of 2014-15 with the injury.

As Hornby mentions, Robidas also recently had a painful screw removed that remained from the surgery on his broken leg that wiped out much of his 2013-14 season and impacted his 2014 offseason; so, this is the second summer in a row that the 38-year-old Robidas has not been able to work out and train fully.

Last summer, Robidas had been skating since June, eventually appearing in the final preseason game in October as his first competitive action with contact. Despite describing it as a good summer in terms of working out and skating, it seemed to really affect him — he struggled with the pace early in the season, settled in a little bit, only to continue to struggle with injury, tearing his subscapularis and his bicep.

This is an even later start in terms of skating — June vs. late August — and the combination of being 38 years old and not being able to train for the large majority of the offseason is a troubling situation. Unlike last Fall, though, Robidas has been cleared for contact and should be able to participate in camp fully.

“I was cleared a couple of days ago,” Robidas said Thursday at the MasterCard Centre, following a pick-up scrimmage and an hour of drills with a private coach. “To get on the ice, get a feel for everything and be on the ice with the guys in passing mode was good. It wasn’t a real game, but it was a good basis to get back into it and work on little details. Movement and everything was good today. I’m trying to work on little thinks like mobility. I’m feeling great and feeling healthy.”

Komarov’s traffic violations yield $40,000 (USD) fine

According to a Finnish news outlet, Leo Komarov was in court in Finland this morning for two speeding violations in the summer of 2014 — one for going 27 km/h over in a 50 zone and another for going 31km/h over in a 100 zone.

North Americans may be wondering why the issuing of two speeding tickets is a story we’re hearing about; that’s because Finnish traffic laws fine proportional to income, and Komarov claimed zero income at the time, citing the (poor) excuse of not getting paid during the offseason. He was thusly fined for two speeding violations as calculated based on his earnings, and also assessed a fine for fraud — all told, 35,000 Euros, which converts to $40,000 USD (all NHL contracts are paid in USD) and $52,000 CAD. Ouch.

You can find a good explanation of income-based fines here.

Finland’s system for calculating fines is relatively simple: It starts with an estimate of the amount of spending money a Finn has for one day, and then divides that by two—the resulting number is considered a reasonable amount of spending money to deprive the offender of. Then, based on the severity of the crime, the system has rules for how many days the offender must go without that money. Going about 15 mph over the speed limit gets you a multiplier of 12 days, and going 25 mph over carries a 22-day multiplier.

 


 

Friday Links:

  • Kyle Cicerella: Leafs assistant GM Kyle Dubas, attempting to maximize depth through AHL Standard Player Contracts (Kyle The Reporter)
    Leafs assistant general manager Kyle Dubas, who also serves as Marlies GM, currently has 18 players signed to an AHL SPC for the 2015-16 season. A player on an AHL SPC cannot be called up to the Leafs unless he ups his deal to one of those 50 NHL contracts, but Dubas has made it clear that if a player deserves it he will be rewarded.
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  • Lance Hornby: Maple Leafs’ Robidas: ‘I still love it’ (Toronto Sun)
    “I know I can still play. I have a passion for it, I still love it. Last year, from November until we shut it down, I played with the bad shoulder. I couldn’t sleep at night. I’m not looking for any excuses or anything like that, but I had started to feel (comfortable) and then the shoulder gave in. I don’t know what happened, it just started getting worse and worse. So they’ve cut the bicep tendon and sawed it to the bone.”
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  • Daniel Friedman: No, Adidas Isn’t Going To Ruin The Traditional NHL Jersey (CBS)
    “I’m in no rush to put advertising on our sweaters,” Bettman said. “I think we have the best jerseys in all of sports. I like the history and tradition and the way they look. I’ve repeatedly said we wouldn’t be the first and you’d probably have to bring me kicking and screaming.”
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  • Allan Muir: Boogaard lawyer claims strong evidence vs. NHL in death lawsuit (Sports Illustrated)
    “Specifically, certain documents and testimony shed light on the NHL’s assumed responsibility for making the game safe for its players and its ability to act unilaterally to eliminate dangerous elements of professional hockey,” Gibbs wrote.
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  • Martin St. Louis: Show Them (The Players Tribune)
    Most men make this assumption that they take after their father. I recognize many traits I have that come from my dad, like my work ethic and athleticism, but when I look deeper inside, I see just how much of me and my success can be attributed to my mom.