Xbox360 » It was simple for the Penguins

VOORHEES Womens Bradley Chubb Jersey , N.J. (AP) Ryan Straschnitzki felt at home as he was wheeled into a perch overlooking the ice at the Philadelphia Flyers‘ practice facility.Below him, Flyers prospects in the same age range as the 19-year-old Straschnitzki skated in drills and in a hurry to impress, much like his days as a defenseman for the Humboldt Broncos before the bus crash that left him paralyzed from the chest down.Philadelphia general manager Ron Hextall and other members of the organization came to visit. Defenseman Sam Morin heard Straschnitzki was in the building and popped by for a chat.The hopeful Flyers paused during camp Friday and raised their sticks toward Straschnitzki for a traditional salute.Straschnitzki was right where he wanted to be – at the rink, watching the game he loves.”Just the smell of the ice coming in today brought back so many memories of your first time skating ,” Straschnitzki said.Straschnitzki met the coaching staff and some top prospects during a break in his rehabilitation from the injuries suffered in April when a bus carrying the Broncos to a playoff game collided with a semi-trailer at a rural intersection, killing 16. Straschnitzki was among 13 more injured.Straschnitzki was wheeled on a stretcher into Shriners Hospitals for Children in Philadelphia on May 31 and expected to rehab there for six to eight weeks. He has used weights almost daily to work on his arm muscles during physiotherapy sessions and has walked on a treadmill with the help of therapists. Sitting on a massage table, he’s used laser focus for the simple task of tying the laces on his sneakers.”I’ve made quite a bit of progress,” he said. ”The rehab pushed me to my limits.”Straschnitzki needs two hours in the morning just to complete routine tasks like a shower and getting dressed before he starts his exercises. He rehabs for about two hours, breaks for lunch, then has two more rehab sessions before he ends the day in exhaustion. With the same tireless work ethic he used to move up the hockey ranks, Straschnitzki said he was told he could return ahead of scheduled to his Airdrie, Alberta, home for the first time in almost eight months next weekend.His family home is undergoing a $200,000 renovation to make it handicapped accessible and the Straschnitzkis will live in a hotel for the summer until construction is completed.The Calgary Flames have talked to Straschnitzki once he’s settled about a possible job in the organization.”Hockey is my life,” he said. ”I’ve grown up talking about it, living it, playing it. I think if there’s a job opportunity down the road, I think it’s definitely option. Right now Authentic Phillip Lindsay Jersey , though, I’m just focused on healing first and getting better. We’ll see what happens.”The NHL has rallied around the survivors and families of the victims. Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald offered the Straschnitzkis use of his home and car when the family was in Philadelphia. Hextall, who stopped to compose himself at times, said the tragedy has brought out the best in hockey.”Ryan’s an inspiring young man. He’s special, he really is,” said Hextall, a former star goalie for the Flyers said. ”He’s not feeling sorry for himself.”Straschnitzki was among 10 survivors at the NHL Awards last week in Las Vegas at the invitation of the league and NHLPA. It was the first time so many Broncos had been together since the crash. They wore Humboldt jerseys and head coach Darcy Haugan, who was killed in the crash, was honored with the inaugural Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award.”They’re your brothers for life now,” Straschnitzki said. ”Just being able to see them, it’s like time froze. You’re in the room again, you’re just enjoying the moment being with them. We all heal in our own ways. Just being with them at the NHL awards was amazing.”Tom Straschnitzki said he’s tried to keep his son’s spirits high during the grueling rehabilitation process.”When he’s down, we just try to push him back up and keep him on the straight and narrow,” he said.Straschnitzki dreams of hitting the ice again, this time playing sledge hockey – basically hockey on sleds for players with physical disabilities.”It’s my life, so I’d love to do it,” he said.Straschnitzki has never wanted to distance himself from the sport he’s played since he was a boy. But finding his way back to hockey in any capacity perhaps remains a distant goal.”I know it’s going to take time,” he said. ”I just need to be patient.”— John Tavares isn’t the only free agent going back to a familiar place.Several players are returning to their former teams and comfortable situations – from James van Riemsdyk going back to Philadelphia on the second-richest July 1 deal to Matt Cullen taking a significant pay cut to rejoin the Pittsburgh Penguins he helped win the Stanley Cup twice. It’s not quite the tug at the heartstrings that led Tavares to sign a $77 million http://www.denverbroncosteamonline.com/phillip-lindsay-jersey , seven-year deal with his boyhood Toronto Maple Leafs, but familiarity was part of the bustle on the opening day of NHL free agency .”I have that comfortablity with knowing a lot about the organization having played there in the past and having a lot of familiar faces still on the staff and stuff like that,” van Riemsdyk said after signing a $35 million, five-year deal with the Flyers. ”Even just remembering to my time previously is just how bad obviously they want to win and they’re willing to put the resources into that. That passion and that commitment to that was a big thing for me.”Unsure there’d be room for him after his old team re-signed Riley Sheahan, Cullen signed a $650,000, one-year deal with the Penguins after spending a season back home in Minnesota. Tomas Plekanec was away from Montreal for only a few months, signing a bonus-laden $2.25 million, one-year deal with the Canadiens after they traded him to the rival Maple Leafs at the deadline.Plekanec had planned since the end of the season to go back to Montreal, where his family remained when he went to Toronto. He will be back at the Bell Centre on a contract that can be worth another $1.25 million in incentives. The 35-year-old will get to play his 1,000th career regular-season game in his familiar blue, white and red uniform this October.”That was my priority,” Plekanec said. ”I wanted to come back.”While Plekanec obviously felt a strong connection to Montreal after 14 seasons there, David Perron will be playing for the St. Louis Blues for the third time in his NHL career after signing for $16 million over four years. Perron spent his first six seasons with the Blues after they took him in the first round in 2007, returned as a free agent two summers ago, was taken by the Golden Knights in the expansion draft a year ago and is back again after setting career highs with 50 assists and 66 points in Las Vegas.”Obviously (the Golden Knights) made the right decision with the way that David played for them,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. ”He certainly could’ve made more money on the market. He wanted to come back.”Thomas Vanek enjoyed his 48 games with the Detroit Red Wings in 2016-17 so much he wanted to sign with them last July but they didn’t have enough salary-cap space. When the opportunity presented itself this time, the 34-year-old winger zeroed in on a one-year deal and chose Detroit’s $3 million offer over a few other options.”I loved it there Womens Phillip Lindsay Jersey ,” Vanek said. ”It was a good it. I really liked the whole culture of the organization and the guys were great. We tried to make it work last year. It didn’t work out, so I’m happy it did this year.”No one says hockey players can’t go home, but there has to be mutual interest. It was simple for the Penguins, who lacked something without Cullen in their second-round loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. Pittsburgh had tried to reacquire the 41-year-old center at the trade deadline.It was a bit more complicated for the Flyers, who traded van Riemsdyk to Toronto in 2012 in a one-for-one deal for bruising defenseman Luke Schenn. That was under a previous regime that believed the 6-foot-3, 217-pound left winger wasn’t tough enough, but GM Ron Hextall sees a player who checks the boxes for a playoff contender with a few holes.”We felt with the fit that we needed some size,” Hextall said. ”We needed goal-scoring. We need a left winger. This one just fit all around for us and I think James felt the same way.”The personality fit was there, too, because Flyers management knew van Riemsdyk, who is 29. Coming through Philadelphia’s system as the second overall pick in 2007 helped with Hextall being willing to make his biggest free agent splash.”We know the person – people inside this organization – (and) obviously that helps,” Hextall said.Van Riemsdyk did his homework by talking with captain Claude Giroux, winger Jakub Voracek and recent Flyers players before choosing to return to his first NHL organization. He also fondly remembered the Flyers’ run to the Cup Final in 2010.”Hopefully again we get a chance to do something like that in the future,” he said.—