Although it appears Calgary Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff is leaning towards retirement, NHL teams are still interested in his services, including the Columbus Blue Jackets who are asking for permission to speak with the netminder, according to Hockey Central Insider Nick Kypreos.
#BlueJackets asking 4 permission speak to #Flames Kiprusoff in hopes of talking him out of retire'mt. Doesn't app' he will change his mind
— Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper) June 25, 2013
Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who was recently awarded the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top netminder, reportedly has offers from the KHL.
The 24-year-old Russian is a pending restricted free agent.
The news of the Blue Jackets’ interest in Kiprusoff comes on the same day that reports out of Finland surfaced suggesting Kiprusoff told the Finnish national team he is retiring.
Mikael Hoikkala of the STT-Lehtikuva news agency tweeted Tuesday that Kiprusoff has decided to hang up his pads.
According to @hoikkakala, Finnish national team coach asked Kiprusoff if it's ok to publish retirement.
— Juha Hiitelä (@jhiitela) June 25, 2013
Last season with the Flames, the 36-year-old struggled, posting an 8-14-2 record with an .882 save percentage and 3.44 goals-against average.
At the NHL general managers meeting in Boston last week, Flames GM Jay Feastor conceded that Kiprusoff is likely done playing though the Flames would keep in contact.
On Tuesday, Feaster released the following statement in regards to the retirement reports:
“As we indicated when we addressed the media on June 14th, having just spoken with Miikka at that time, we realized that if pushed for an answer Miikka would have said that he was finished with his professional career. In light of our most recent meeting with him, the statement attributed to him by the Finnish National Team does not come as a surprise. However, as we have said consistently, we will continue our dialogue with Miikka.”
Until Kiprusoff files his retirement papers with Players Association it is not official. Especially for #Flames.
— Roger Millions (@RogMillions) June 25, 2013
This doesn't surprise me… #FeasterFamine RT @JSportsnet If Mikka Kiprusoff has officially retired…that's news to the Flames.
— Schacher (@RossCreekNation) June 25, 2013
By the way, no one should be surprised when Kiprusoff does officially retire.Flames just wanted to wait to see if he might change his mind.
— John Shannon (@JSportsnet) June 25, 2013
The 36-year-old has one year remaining on his contract with the Flames – the last year of a six-year, $35-million deal he signed in 2008.
His cap hit for the upcoming season is slated to be $5.83 million, though he is only owed $1.5 million in salary.
In 623 regular season NHL games, Kiprusoff has a record of 319-213-7-64 with 44 shutouts, a .912 save percentage and 2.49 GAA.
In other Flames news:
Feaster confirmed to Sportsnet’s Mark Spector that the team is not planning to use any compliance buyouts during the upcoming window.
