Evan’s NHL Daily: Nichushkin Donates, Hagel Gets Paid, Mailloux Cleared To Play

Valeri Nichushkin disappeared from the NHL Playoffs, but he’s been pretty active on social media this summer. On Tuesday, he hung out at a hockey academy in Russia and donated some money to them.

Tampa has not been afraid to hand out big contracts, and they handed out another whopper to Brandon Hagel.

Remember Logan Mailloux? The former first round pick shared explicit, non-consensual pictures with his teammates in Sweden, and it sounds like the league has cleared him to play.

All that and more in this Wednesday edition of Evan’s Daily.

Colorado Hockey Now

How many years has it been since you heard the name Peter Holland? Well, better get used to it, at least temporarily. He’ll be at Avalanche training camp on a PTO.

Can Nathan MacKinnon reach a new career high next year? We take a look in a new over/under.

Nichushkin Donates

Valeri Nichushkin will be a very popular man when training camp for the Avalanche opens, but he’s been quiet since leaving during the NHL playoffs. On social media, he’s been pretty active, though.

On Tuesday, he showed up at the Traktor Hockey Academy in Russia, chatted and skated with some kids, then donated his own money to them. That’s a lot of rubles.

Val Nichushkin visited Traktor Hockey Academy in his hometown of Chelyabinsk and donated ~3 million rubles (~$30.000) pic.twitter.com/Lby4MyC1OR

— KHL (@khl_eng) August 22, 2023

Around The League

I’ll be honest, I didn’t realize Brandon Hagel scored 64 points last year, so this contract surprised me initially, but Tampa Bay has never been afraid to hand out term. On Tuesday, they gave Hagel a huge 8-year, $52 million deal.

The Montreal Canadiens have been waiting for the NHL to clear Logan Mailloux to play in the league, and it appears that has happened. Mailloux shared explicit, non-consensual pictures with his teammates in Sweden and was charged under Swedish law with defamation and offensive photography. Even after all this became public, the Canadiens drafted him in the first round.

I guess the league hasn’t made it completely official, but you can read more about it here.

National Hockey Now

Pittsburgh: PHN got in on the debate of the best goalie ever, no, they did not pick Patrick Roy.

Florida: Carter Verhaeghe is becoming a legend for the Florida Panthers.

Philadelphia: Some betting odds on the Flyers.

Washington: Anthony Mantha is hoping to have a much better year so he can earn another big contract.

LA: 3 concerns heading into the year for the Los Angeles Kings.