FHN Today: World Cup comes to Miami, Dadonov to Montreal

The World Cup will be coming to Miami in 2026 as it was announced Thursday that Hard Rock Stadium would be one of the 16 venues in a soccer championship hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

This is only the second time the United States has ever played host to the World Cup with Orlando hosting matches when it was last here in 1994.

This should be a pretty hard ticket to get.

As the hockey world gets ready for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Montreal Canadiens and Vegas Golden Knights did some dealing with the cap-strapped Knights sending Miami-resident Evgenii Dadonov to Montreal for Shea Weber.

With Weber likely done playing due to injury, the Knights will put him on LTIR and free up quite a bit of cash.

Dadonov, who was traded to Anaheim at the deadline before it was realized the Ducks were not one of the teams he would agree to go to, is in the final year of a three-year contract he signed with Ottawa upon leaving the Panthers as a free agent in 2020.

This will be Dadonov’s fourth team in the past four seasons — including the Panthers.

On to the links!

STANLEY CUP FINAL

On his local radio show Friday morning, Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar gave a more upbeat assessment on the possibility that injured forwards Nazem Kadri and Andrew Cogliano could play in the Final.

— The Lightning has lost its fair share of Game 1s, but not to this Colorado team.

— That said, the Lightning will let you know when it is time to panic.

PANTHERLAND

We continue our look at what the Florida Panthers’ roster may look like next season as today we look at the future of Lucas Carlsson in Sunrise.

On Wednesday, we looked at Maxim Mamin .

— In case you missed it, we also looked at the futures of Jonathan Huberdeau and Eetu Luostarinen as well as others.

These stories are for our subscribers only, so if you want to join us here at FHN, why wait?

— It sounds like the Florida Panthers will have a new goal song next season.

What would you like to see — hear? — replace ‘Sweetness’ in Sunrise?

Hit the link to the free story and leave your suggestions in the comment section.

— The Panthers added to their organizational depth with the signings of Swedish defenseman Calle Sjalin and Finnish forward Anton Levtchi.

NATIONAL HOCKEY NOW & MORE

John Tortorella is back behind a bench and it will be on Broad Street with the Philadelphia Flyers. 

He is reunited with Cam Atkinson although Brandon Dubinsky sends his best wishes.

🙏🏻 for the @NHLFlyers players!

— Brandon Dubinsky (@BDubi17) June 17, 2022

And here is what the salary cap will look like next season. It’s not a surprise.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: What value do you put on Evgeni Malkin if you are the Pittsburgh Penguins?

San Jose Hockey Now: The Evander Kane grievance against the Sharks is not done yet — and probably won’t be by the time free agency opens. The latest from out west…

Montreal Hockey Now: Joe Sakic really wanted Artturi Lehkonen and it worked out for both the Avs and Montreal Canadiens.

Islanders Hockey Now: Looking at the Barry Trotz timeline as he mulls over what is next.

CAFECITO CORNER

Miami has long had roots in soccer, but back in the day, Joe Robbie was a true champion of the game.

In the 1970s, the Robbie family owned the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and the stadium in Miami Gardens was built with soccer (and baseball) in mind.

Thank Mr. Robbie for bringing the World Cup to South Florida, would ya?

— Is the World Cup the biggest sporting event South Florida has ever hosted?

I mean, we have had the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup down here…