NHL CBA blame games; USA hockey will never catch Canada (Puck Headlines)

19 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy Hockey, General

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

• Nicklas Backstrom joins hands with teammate Alex Ovechkin in celebration of having well-compensating jobs. [@plysenkov via alexovetjkin]

• Great stuff from professor James Mirtle on the NHLPA offers and how they attempt to approach 50/50. (Note: His post doesn't contain the third offer, which may or may not have been written on a cocktail napkin.) [Globe & Mail]

• Mark Spector drops the hammer on Gary Bettman: "Bettman, however, has reached critical mass as the owners' emissary. It was under him that the pendulum swung so far to the players' side that a year-long lockout was required. And even with a step that drastic, it's taking a third consecutive stoppage to get that pendulum back to 50/50. That's why he looks so tired. Why Bettman couldn't even muster up the stage presence to entertain the NHLPA offer over night before countering." [Sportsnet]

• Frank Seravalli on the lockout: "I can get behind the players' wanting every dollar of signed deals to be honored. Otherwise, owners who signed players to mega-deals this summer would not have been bargaining in good faith, knowing that they would be asking for a reduction in revenue sharing." [Philly.com]

• Shawn Horcoff doesn't believe the owners were negotiating in good faith: "There was no talk whatsoever, not even any communication among their own people in the room, among the owners. It was that quick. It didn't really matter what we had to say. Unless we totally accepted their deal, they weren't going to take it. Right away you could tell they're not serious."  [QMI]

• Check out the awesome check from Pat Sieloff in the OHL last night. [Buzzing The Net]

• The AHL is feeling pretty good about the lockout, with attendance up 5 percent. Said President Dave Andrews: "Clearly, we've had far more exposure than we normally have from the main-stream hockey media and, if the quality of your league in enhanced, more people attend the games," said Andrews. "There's about 100 players in our league now who would have been on an NHL roster at the start of the season." [Canada.com]

• Stack.com presents six reasons why USA Hockey will never catch Canada, including "Passion and Pressure": "Canada is expected to win at hockey, no matter whom they play. At the World Junior Championships in Buffalo in 2010, Canadians were lined up for miles to cross the border to watch their country play. During the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, an estimated 80 percent of the Canadian population watched the Gold medal game between Canada and the U.S. In America, the two biggest games in USA hockey history—the 2010 Gold medal game against Canada and the 1980 semi-final game against the Soviet Union—were not even aired live on a major TV network. In 2010,  NBC showed ice dancing over hockey." [Stack]

• Ellen Etchingham's feeling the expansion blues: "… if you're in one of those fortunate places where tickets are cheap and plentiful and you can't imagine life without going to NHL games multiple times a week, if you believe that NHL hockey should be brought to more people even if the product is barely worthy of the name, then riddle me this: where does it end? If two more teams is good, would not four more teams be better? If we want to keep the NHL in Phoenix and Nashville and Sunrise and Columbus, and have it also in Markham and Quebec, why not Hamilton and Seattle and Kansas City? Why not Tulsa? Hell, think big my friends, why not Honolulu? Why not just absorb the AHL in its entirety and have NHL hockey everywhere? If talent dilution is not a problem at 30 teams, and not at 32 teams, then when does it become one?" [Backhand Shelf]

• Kudos to the NHL for going purple on Spirit Day. [NHL.com]

• Connor McDavid is pretty good. [Hockey Primetime]

• The KHL is good hockey and bad business, which we believe automatically qualifies them for NHL revenue sharing. [National Post]

• Another good one from Backhand Shelf as 67Sound proposes a "make-whole" salary cap. [BS]

• Craig Conroy will get his number retired by Clarkson University. [Flames]

• Congrats to Scott Niedermayer for getting into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame. Now, name-check Tom Kurvers in the acceptance speech … [NHL.com]

• Finally, we give to you this Montreal hockey brawl, and at one point turns into a crazy pile-on. As opposed to a crazy pylon, which is Dion Phaneuf:

Tags: , , faith, , , , , , Stack, USA hockey
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What We Learned: NHL lockout is 1 month old, and Don Fehr doesn’t have to care

15 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy Hockey, General

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

It seems like only yesterday we were sitting through interminable, impromptu press conferences about how no progress had been made in negotiations and that therefore this latest NHL lockout was growing more imminent by the minute.

Now, a month later, we are lucky enough to be sitting through interminable, impromptu press conferences about how no progress had been made in negotiations and that therefore this latest NHL lockout will stretch on in perpetuity.

[Also: Is it just a matter of time before World Cup of Hockey makes a comeback?]

Gary Bettman and Bill Daly are still meeting regularly with Don and Steve Fehr, talking about the dumbest crap imaginable because neither wants to acknowledge that they're both being absurdly implacable with their demands when it comes to those fabled Core Economic Issues. Ice quality isn't a thing the heads of what is actually a fairly power players' union should be talking about with the league's top two executives on Day 20-, 30-, or soon 40-something of this kind of thing.

Dispatches from Bob McKenzie and, more recently, Elliotte Friedman that show just how tense these negotiations are getting, and therefore how much longer they're likely to last. They're apparently growing more disconcerting by the day.

(Meanwhile, outside the walls of expensive boardrooms, more or less everyone else has been seized by apathy.)

The NHL says it's lost something like $250 million or so by canceling these games, and, as Friedman points out, this is likely all still happening because of that whole league's "the fans are so stupid they'll keep coming back" narrative.

The widely acknowledged truth is that this assertion is almost certainly true — despite the million polls running on Canadian media sites that say about half of fans really for-sure cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die mean it this time when they say won't — and that the second they unlock the doors to 30 arenas around the country, fans will pour into them, howling. But nonetheless, if the league is already turning out its pockets, it doesn't exactly portend a happy outcome here.

[More: Kings scouts who were 9/11 victims get moment with Stanley Cup]

Owners say the 50 percent growth seen in the last seven years is unsustainable and I believe them (unless something really stupid like expansion happens in the next few years) but if missing one month of the season is a loss of $250 million, four months is a loss of a billion, and the NHL season typically lasts about eight or even nine months. I don't know what kind of financial scare-numbers the league was spitting out last time it put fans through a lockout. But given the surge in revenues, and what they're already saying they've lost, I wonder if the owners really willing to douse $2.25 billion (based on their math) in gasoline and light it on fire? Remember, they only paid $1.88 billion to players last year.

There's going to come a point at which the league will likely lose more money than it can hope to make up through whatever givebacks it gets from the players. That's just simple math. And the PA knows that.

(Coming Up: Mike Babcock lobbies for Olympic gig; Teemu isn't thinking retirement; the French Connection gets a statue; the fat guy at Predators games is sad about the lockout; DC mayor asks for lockout's end; Jordan Staal's house greater-than-sign Eric Staal's house; Ryan O'Reilly, still unsigned; the Stanley Cup goes to Iowa; Brayden Schenn scores a beauty; Ondrej Pavelec finally, finally wins; and a way for the Red Wings to acquire Nail Yakupov.)

It's why they haven't made a proposal in weeks; and why Daly is starting to say, "Hey I mean when are we gonna hear from these guys, right?" to any media member who will listen. Clearly, the PA's refusal to submit a new proposal is as much a negotiating tactic as the owners' laughable first offer was.

It's hard to doubt the resolve of warmongers like Jeremy Jacobs and Ed Snider, but at some point one would think Gary Bettman will stop allowing himself to be bullied by them because he does, to be fair, have 20-something other owners to which he has to answer. Again, we've heard that some owners aren't happy about this lockout, and that it's being steered solely by the hawks on the Board of Governors. Easy to believe. A lot of them have to be sweating bullets at this point over the discomfort of the whole thing.

[Nick Cotsonika: Oilers' kid stars embrace AHL stage]

Don Fehr doesn't give a rat's ass about Bettman's demands or how much the League claims to lose. He's more than happy to sit back in his chair and argue the labor negotiations equivalent of who gets top bunk, because he's a hired gun. The players brought him in to get them a good CBA and he's not exactly checking his watch to make sure he does that in any kind of orderly fashion. He's now just waiting out the owners, because he thinks they'll crack first. Friedman says it worked for him in baseball, and that's clearly what he's counting on to work again.

There are very few stakes for Fehr. Everyone already hates Bettman, and by extension the owners, anyway. Even if fans are getting sick of the constant spin from both sides, there remains only one true villain in this unless you're a hopelessly pro-league shill. Even if he started a fire, everyone would look at Bettman like he was the pyromaniac. You don't think Fehr knows and takes advantage of that?

Thirty days? That's nothing to Don Fehr, who dashed a World Series to get to where he wanted to be. It's starting to look like all those prognostications that they'd get this sorted by the Winter Classic at the absolute, very latest underestimated the lengths to which he'd go.

When we look back on this period of worry in a year, we'll likely see how foolish we were.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Teemu Selanne says he's more than willing to come back to the NHL instead of retiring this season, but more important is the fact that this story is accompanied by pictures of him looking at a horse approvingly.

Boston Bruins: A shaky start for Chris Bourque? You mean the career AHLer who they basically traded the rights to a mediocre prospect to acquire didn't magically become an NHL All-Star because he's now playing for his dad's organization?

Buffalo Sabres: The Sabres put up statues of the French Connection, which no one cared about since there's that whole Lockout Thing going on.

Calgary Flames: Sven Baertschi is going crazy on the AHL. Two goals and four points in his first two games of the year. Yikes.

Carolina Hurricanes: Jordan Staal bought a new house in the Raleigh area for $2 million, slightly more expensive than the $1.85 million house Eric had built. Meanwhile Jared Staal lives in a basement apartment and cries himself to sleep every night.

Chicago Blackhawks: The Blackhawks' farm team in Rockford lost its first game of the season, 1-0 in a shootout, despite having about half a dozen NHLers on the roster. Somehow this is Corey Crawford's fault I just know it.

Colorado Avalanche: Don't forget that Ryan O'Reilly somehow, hilariously, remains unsigned in Colorado.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Ryan Murray is basically just sitting around waiting for the lockout to end so he can get the hell out of Regina forever.

Dallas Stars: The Texas Stars are trying very hard to rebound from their last-place finish in the AHL's Western Conference last season. Starting the new campaign at 1-0 (thanks to a win over San Antonio) gets them 1/31st of the way to their win total from last year.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Mike Babcock is already lobbying to get another crack at coaching the 2014 Canadian Olympic team. It's believed the coaching decisions for that squad (which will surely lose in hilarious fashion) will be made after the lockout.

Edmonton Oilers: The poor Oilers. Doesn't the NHL think about what kind of damage this is doing to their ability to get that arena built? Sheesh. Some people, man. So inconsiderate.

Florida Panthers: Don't know about this Panthers' affiliate AHL team. Only 19 shots in their first game of the season, and 10 of those came in the first period. Poor Jacob Markstrom.

Los Angeles Kings: One good thing about the lockout for the Kings is that a bunch of staffers and other employees get a day with the Cup when they otherwise might not have. The bad news for the Cup is it had to go to Iowa.

Minnesota Wild: Minnesota Golden Gophers fans say they're more than happy to welcome disenfranchised Wild fans to the bandwagon.  Worth noting that it's probably a good year to start watching the Gophs anyway. They're 2-0 with 12 scored and two allowed, and the duo of Nick Bjugstad and Kyle Rau is gonna combine for about a billion goals this season. In summary, everyone should watch college hockey because it owns.

Montreal Canadiens: Alexei Yemelin to the KHL for Ak Bars, his original KHL team with which he won the Gagarin Cup in 2009.

Nashville Predators: The fat guy who takes off his shirt at Predators games is bummed about the lockout.

New Jersey Devils: Even with four actual NHL players on the roster (Adam Henrique, Mattias Tedenby, Jacob Josefson and Adam Larsson), the Albany Devils lost to Manchester, which only had one NHLer on the roster, in the season opener. "You get guys mishandling pucks. It's tougher for guys like Henrique and Josefson and Larsson," said Devils coach Rick Kowalsky. That's the ticket.

New York Islanders: Important Frans Nielsen update: He has five assists and a plus-4 rating in five games for Lukko. Frans Nielsen rules.

New York Rangers: Mike Del Zotto is literally working at a supermarket during the lockout. I expect that kind of thing from Tim Erixon but not MDZ.

Ottawa Senators: Can someone explain to me why Ben Bishop gets to sign for the Senators' farm team even though he has a one-way deal with Ottawa? I'm very confused by this.

Philadelphia Flyers: I guess this goal by Brayden Schenn was okay.

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 66 since Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Arizona said Greg Jamison would have the deal for the Coyotes sewn up within the next five days. Coyotes prospect Brett MacLean had 18 NHL games under his belt at age 23, but was forced to retire after suffering cardiac arrest during a pickup game this summer. Wow does that ever suck.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Matt Cooke is getting more involved with his kids' sports teams during the lockout. "Now remember, guys, when that player shows you his numbers, you put your shoulder RIGHT between 'em. That's the most effective way to put them in the hospital. And for the love of Pete, skate around with your elbows UP how many times do I have to say this?"

San Jose Sharks: What is perhaps the best hockey photo of the year already exists, thanks to this Worcester Sharks game:

St. Louis Blues: Vladimir Tarasenko, the Blues' next big thing, suffered a concussion on Saturday and because he's playing in the KHL, the ambulance probably showed up four hours after the game and left him by the side of the road.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Good for the Bolts. With very little to do given the lockout, it seems team employees are just using time they would have spent at the office volunteering for nonprofits instead.

Toronto Maple Leafs: As you might expect, the crowd at that planned Toronto rally against the lockout drew upwards of a dozen fans. What a success.

Vancouver Canucks: Alex Edler and Jason Garrison both hurt themselves prior to the lockout and are therefore still on the team's payroll. Doesn't seem fair.

Washington Capitals: The mayor of Washington, D.C., personally asked Ted Leonsis to end the lockout. "Hahahaha, yeah okay bud," Leonsis probably said while high-fiving Jeremy Jacobs.

Winnipeg Jets: Mark Scheifele is still kickin' away in the OHL with 13 points in his first 10 games. I wonder if Jets fans will still try to delude themselves into thinking he's NHL-ready again this year. That was my favorite part of last season by far.

Gold Star Award

After ripping up the AHL as a rookie last season, Cory Conacher is at it again this year, with two goals and three assists in his first two games for Syracuse. In 84 career AHL games, he now has 45-46-91.

Minus of the Weekend

Congrats to Ondrej Pavelec for finally getting a win in the KHL. Only took him seven tries.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "OilCountry84" is locked in.

A foundation of
Edmonton gets Johan Franzen + ?
Detroit gets Nail Yakupov

Remember, this is an OILERS fan saying this.

Signoff

That is the feces that is created when shame eats too much stupid.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

Tags: , Don Fehr, , , , , , Wings
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Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier combine for beautiful shorthanded goal in Adirondack season-opener (VIDEO)

14 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy Hockey, General

The American Hockey League kicked off its season over the weekend, their teams suddenly replete with high-end talent thanks to the NHL's labour pains. The Portland Pirates, for instance, got a major boost to their powerplay with the arrival of Phoenix Coyotes' star Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Ekman-Larsson should very well dominate at the AHL level (he scored and had a team-high 5 shots in his first game), but it will be vital for him to remember that the Pirates aren't the only team getting an injection of NHL-calibre skill. Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier reminded him of that in a big way Saturday night:

That's Ekman-Larsson at the point on the powerplay getting cleaned out after attempting a casual spin move under pressure. Maybe he thought it would work at the AHL level, but not when the Phantoms' penalty kill features NHL talent like Schenn and Sean Couturier. In a flash, he's on the ground, and Schenn is breaking out with just one man back.

That's about when Schenn takes the opportunity to show off his own skills, dressing down David Rundblad with a gorgeous move to the backhand before scoring the shorthanded goal.

Schenn and Couturier finished with a goal and an assist each. Couturier was named the game's first star.

The AHL is going to be fun this year.

s/t to The Royal Half.

Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney

Tags: , , American Hockey League, Brayden Schenn, , , phoenix coyotes, Portland Pirates, Sean Couturier, shorthanded goal, , talent
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Game On: AHL season set to open amid NHL lockout (Yahoo! Sports)

11 Oct
2012
by in General
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Marcus Foligno considers himself among the fortunate with the NHL lockout preparing to enter its second month.
Tags: , , , , ,
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What We Learned: When ESPN meets the KHL, it’s Alex Ovechkin that wins

08 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy Hockey, General

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

In an effort to fill the void in hockey fans' lives and potentially capitalize on whatever vague remaining interest they may have in Alex Ovechkin's exploits — and let's be honest, for almost all of us, that interest is waning about as rapidly as his goal totals — ESPN recently announced that it would begin airing KHL games on whatever it's calling its ESPN3 platform these days.

In addition, they will also air a game on ESPN2 — actual hockey on an ESPN television property! — at 1 p.m. Tuesday, and then again at 8 p.m. that night.

A great idea for disenfranchised hockey fans in theory. Hockey fans are starved for the sport, since the season was meant to have started in just five days, and apart from the AHL, which has its own broadcast things going on, the KHL is undoubtedly the best league on the planet. As an added bonus, it has no connection with the NHL, with which the Worldwide Leader in Sports is current embroiled in a bit of a Cold War, but does feature a number of very recognizable NHL players.

Alex Ovechkin is one. Jakub Voracek, Zdeno Chara, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk and Pekka Rinne are others. These are people ESPN knows hockey fans might tune in to see. At least they could be. Maybe. If fans are really bored.

The problems with this whole thing are three-fold, and each is why it's odd to me that ESPN would pursue this other than as an "eff you" to the NHL.

(Coming Up: Bobby Ryan calls out the Euro NHLers during lockout; Bryz says KHLers might not return; Nathan MacKinnon's brilliant goal; Nashville, Carolina keep the fans engaged; Mikhail Grabovski's apathy; Blackhawks on the fence about leaving; Mikael Granlund and Alex Steen, killin' it; Kevin Bieksa is charitable; Braden Holtby is human after all.)

1. It is almost exclusively showing games for Ovechkin's Dynamo Moscow.

Sure he's the biggest name over there right now, but he's also the only name I even recognize on it. I tend to follow this sport FAIRLY closely, and this is a bunch of Russian names I've literally never heard in my life. Ovechkin, yes, but also Gynge, Kasanchuk and Pestunov. There are other KHL teams with a larger number of names you and I have heard.

For example, there is Ovechkin's opponents for the TV game, HC Lev, which actually has players hockey fans have heard of if they've been paying attention. Yes, they have Chara and Voracek, but also semi-recognizable names like Martin Skoula, Marcel Hossa, Erik Christensen, Jiri Novotny, Michal Repik, Tomas Surovy and Jaroslav Svoboda. I don't mean to imply that people are saying, "Honey hold the kids outta school, Petr Vrana's playing this afternoon!" but at least these are names people who've played NHL 09 would recognize, for the most part.

2. Very few people have ESPN3, and those who do probably aren't hyped to watch hockey on it.

This right here says the ESPN3/WatchESPN platform has 40 million subscribers. It was semi-recently crowing about having 108,000 unique visitors watching at least part of a match between Premier League champions Manchester City play Queens Park Rangers.

To put that into perspective, at the time the NHL signed with OLN in 2005, that network had 64 million subscribers. Remember all the jokes then?

3. No one cares about the KHL outside Russia.

Therefore, when the diehardest of diehard hockey fans tune into these games, guess what they're going so see: Ovechkin. And nothing but.

Remember how bad hockey coverage was back in the NHL's OLN days? Every game had Sidney Crosby in it, and every action was viewed through the lens of "How does this affect Sidney Crosby?" You can expect one whole hell of a lot of that come once again on Tuesday, as Ovechkin's every move and lazy backcheck will be dissected ad nauseum. You might get a little of that with Chara as well, in that "Alex Ovechkin and Dynamo Moscow take on Zdeno Chara and HC Lev" way, but make no mistake, they're focusing on Ovechkin because they want you to remember he scored 65 that one time.

The biggest issue for actual hockey fans who might be tempted to watch these games, though, is who's going to be calling them. Steve Levy and Barry Melrose. Both, presumably, have the job because they raised their hands when one of the executives asked a crowded lunchroom who there liked hockey.

For most hockey fans, this pairing is a non-starter. Levy is of course a very familiar face on a network that has largely ignored this sport to the point where mentioning the two in the same breath is, 99 times out of 100, for the sake of a punchline.

Meanwhile, Melrose is known mostly as the guy with the mullet, and, for those with somewhat longer memories, the guy who was hired for name recognition purposes by two of the NHL's more recent incompetent owners, then benched Steven Stamkos, and was predictably fired after 16 games.

Plus, as anyone who has watched the NCAA hockey tournament on ESPN the last few years can attest, he has only the vaguest recognition of players he claims to have watched all season. Listening to him try to figure out all the little accent marks over Czech players names tomorrow might be the only reason to tune it at all.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be able to watch hockey, because I am the absolute target audience here because I would watch you and your friends play hockey on a 13-inch black and white television with a blurry picture.

But the question, for a network that has done all in its power to tell hockey fans to cram it with walnuts for the last seven years, should be whether this is something that appeals to more than a few thousand people who have no lives (again, like me), and the answer, you'd think, is "Of course not."

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Bobby Ryan has no plans whatever to play overseas during this lockout. "I think it's important to stay here (in the United States) and be part of the solution and not just run from it," he said. That's a shot across your bow, Alex Ovechkin.

Boston Bruins: Chris Bourque played his first game for the Providence Bruins in a 4-1 exhibition loss to Springfield. Did you know his dad is legendary Boston defenseman Ray Bourque?

Buffalo Sabres: Zemgus Girgensons is the youngest player in the AHL this season, at  just 18 years old. He's 15 days younger than Hampus Lindholm, who's also in the league, which just goes to show that if you're 18 and in the AHL, your name is required to be pretty awesome.

Calgary Flames: The Flames are pretty pumped to have drafted Max Reinhart, who they believe is almost at Sven Baertschi's level of NHL preparedness. That's pretty high praise, but it also doesn't matter since there's a lockout that will probably last the whole season. An extra year in the minors never hurt anyone.

Carolina Hurricanes: This is my favorite link of the week: "Hey just so you know the AHL isn't also locked out. Oh, you weren't aware that the NHL was locked out? Right, I forgot, we're in Charlotte."

Chicago Blackhawks: As with most NHL players who haven't gone to Europe yet Duncan Keith's agent says doing so is still an option if the lockout stretches on. Same for Toews and Kane and Sharp.

Colorado Avalanche: I find it hilarious that Semyon Varlamov went over to Yaroslavl to be the backup to Vitaly Kolesnik. This guy is the future of Avs goaltending?

Columbus Blue Jackets: Those rumors of John Davidson to the Jackets just won't go away, and if he goes there, I expect Scott Howson to be carrying a box with a fern sticking poking out of it out the backdoor of Nationwide Arena within a week.

Dallas Stars: Here's a Q&A with Jamie Benn after he signed with the Hamburg Freezers. After reading it, I was very hungry.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Jonathan Ericsson is yet another player who will go to Sweden during the lockout, but right now he's only committed to playing in three games over there. Seems like the shortest-term deal ever.

Edmonton Oilers: Expect to see headlines like "Oil Barons pummel ______" all season long. Especially because they beat talent-laden Houston Friday night, 4-0, without either Jordan Eberle or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Florida Panthers: Florida's farm team in San Antonio is starting to draw some respectable crowds. How respectable? Some 16,151 showed up to see a preseason game last season, and drew 7,134 on average last year. The team hopes to beat that this year.

Los Angeles Kings: Jordan Nolan and Andrei Loktionov are pretty much the only two actual Kings on the Manchester Monarchs' roster, but they also scored the only two goals of a preseason game against Bridgeport, so I guess that's all they'll need.

Minnesota Wild: Despite that first loss to Oklahoma City, Mikael Granlund and Charlie Coyle might already be way too good to play in the AHL. In Saturday's return engagement, they scored six goals. Four of them were Granlund's in his first semi-official pro game in North America. Doesn't seem fair.

Montreal Canadiens: That "La Tournée des Joueurs" tour is still going very well, and will be at Le Colisée in Quebec City on Thursday. They have 15,000 seats available, and have sold out everywhere else they've gone. Carey Price recently joined the tour too.

Nashville Predators: The Preds are hard at work trying to keep the fans they have engaged even during this lockout. That includes by getting discounts for fans who wear branded merch to local businesses.

New Jersey Devils: Travis Zajac on how the lockout effects his Devils: "We're in an area where there's tons of sports, the Yankees, the Nets, the Knicks, football. All these teams are in competition for fans and it definitely hurts us coming off a successful season like we had." Yeah, the Knicks, Nets, and Jets are really drawing a lot of positive interest.

New York Islanders: Lots of defensive depth in the Islanders' pipeline, if you count Ty Wishart, which you shouldn't.

New York Rangers: Not that it will come as a surprise, but Chris Kreider is officially committed to playing for the Connecticut Whale. "It's still pro hockey. I don't look at it like (this isn't the NHL)," Kreider said. "It's still a huge jump up from where I played most of last year, so I have to be ready and I have to be focused." He'll get big-time minutes in the AHL.

Ottawa Senators: Kyle Turris to Kärpät of the Finnish elite league, where he'll be able to play with Jason Demers and Jussi Jokinen. Exciting times to be a hockey fan. Jeez.

Philadelphia Flyers: Oh, maybe never mind on Jake Voracek playing for Lev on Tuesday.

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 59 since Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Arizona said Greg Jamison would have the deal for the Coyotes sewn up within the next five days.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Speaking of European signings, Dustin Jeffrey might now lead the league in "weirdest." He's going to play with the Tilburg Trappers of the Dutch Eredivisie. The most notable player on that team currently is former decent UNH forward Josh Prudden.

San Jose Sharks: Apparently no one reported on this until now but Brad Stuart got a no-trade clause on his new deal with San Jose. I feel like I knew that though. Someone must have come up with that, right?

St. Louis Blues: Alex Steen is killing it in Sweden so far. Four goals and 10 points in just six games.

Tampa Bay Lightning: The Bolts seem to really like having their AHL team start training camp in Newfoundland, as they're now doing it for the second straight year. Their new affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, have 11 players that have gotten into at least one NHL game in their careers.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Mikhail Grabovski says it doesn't matter if the entire season is locked out. Cool, man.

Vancouver Canucks: Kevin Bieksa will host a charity game with a pretty damn good roster. The Sedins, Dan Hamhuis, Manny Malhotra, Max Lapierre, Cory Schneider and Willie Mitchell will all play against UBC on Oct. 17 to raise money for a number of Canucks charities.

Washington Capitals: Braden Holtby got his first exhibition action of the year, giving up two goals on 10 shots against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. "Where was this guy last spring?" wondered the Boston Bruins.

Winnipeg Jets: Andrew Ladd was gonna go play in the KHL but now he's not, for reasons that I should think are obvious.

Gold Star Award

This was a pretty decent goal by future No. 2 overall pick Nathan MacKinnon. Too bad he's no Seth Jones.

Minus of the Weekend

Ilya Bryzgalov says some Russian players might not come back from the KHL after this lockout. "Oh that would be really terrible don't do that," said Ed Snider, probably.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "Vankiller Whale" is on top of things.

To Vancouver: Hossa, Ott 1st, Anderson

To Ottawa: Luongo, Hjalmarssen, Connauton (VAN's best D prospect)

To Chicago: Turris, Lehner, Raymond, Van 2nd

Yes yes yes. Yes across the board.

Signoff

If you want, you can read a bloated government report on smoking, or go straight to the horse's mouth and get the facts from the tobacco industry.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

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What We Learned: Despite what NBA’s doing, don’t bother trying to stop NHL diving

01 Oct
2012
by in Fantasy Hockey, General

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

You hear it every year. What is the NHL going to do to stop all this diving and embellishing?

There have been various proposed crackdowns in a number of different sports. In soccer, referees are now allowed to present yellow cards to particularly egregious actors, and getting enough of those can indeed lead to suspension.

In the NFL, if you pretend to be injured, you can get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and cost your team a timeout.

In the NHL, of course, there are two-minute minors for diving and for even acting as though an actual penalty was worse than it was, such as shaking your hand like someone just tried to remove it, when all you received is an inadvertent tap on the glove.

But the League wants to go beyond than that.

As you likely well know by now, the NHL is kicking around the idea of circulating a list of known divers around the league so that officials can better spot the actions of these cowardly no-goodniks. Guys like Ryan Kesler and maybe even Evgeni Malkin could very well appear on this list, and therefore their unacceptable actions will no longer be tolerated, unless they are.

The problem with this list is that it doesn't accomplish much. Okay, sure, it gives homer broadcasters something to harp about whenever an offending player comes to town; imagine Jack Edwards' glee at seeing someone like Tomas Plekanec appear on that list. But what else could it possibly achieve?

If anything, it will just lead to those guys drawing fewer penalties they might have deserved or, at worst, lead those players to maybe earn an extra two penalty minutes a couple times a season.

The reason I bring this up is that the NBA is apparently kicking around the idea of penalizing floppers — same act, different name — by conducting reviews of every game, and potentially fining those it believes intentionally hit the deck to draw a couple free throws. Here's why that, and all other attempts to crack down on this kind of behavior are always going to fall short: Because players don't care.

(Coming Up: Rick Nash injury update; Kings for sale; lockout hurting arenas; Daryl Katz "I'm a Dumbass" Tour; will the Staals head overseas?; Kansas City bummed about losing exhibition game; Blue Jackets already with the Nathan MacKinnon talk; Jimmy Howard misses Chris Osgood; Canucks go to midgets; Toby Enstrom's waiting game; Nazem Kadri is fat; and trading Bouwmeester to the Avalanche.)

The NHL rules actually have fines and even suspensions built into them when diving by one player becomes problematic. As with the NBA's half-baked idea, it involves postgame reviews at league offices.

First offense: The NBA sends a warning letter. Ooooooo, scary! Nothing like a terse letter from head offices to stop doing a thing to really put the fear of God into you.

Second offense: A $1,000 fine. Whoaaa not $1,000, that's 1/500th of league minimum.

Third offense: A one-game suspension. Which actually isn't that bad of a deterrent, in theory anyway.

Fourth offense and beyond: Penalties are doubled from the previous infractions.

It might shock you to learn, however, that this kind of thing is never enforced, at least not publicly.

Now, you might say that it's rare for a team or a single player to get whistled for diving, and that much is true. In the last two seasons, Max Lapierre and Alex Semin, respectively, each led the league with just three of them. Neither Semin nor Lapierre were suspended by the league for hitting that threshold, despite what it says in the NHL Rulebook.

The only player who has even had his diving fine publicly announced in the last several years, as far as I can tell, is Sean Avery (of course it's Sean Avery).

That was in 2005.

The thing with that diving list — or the NBA's proposed fine system, or the NHL's existing one — is that we know who the divers are on the ice. We see them 20, 30, 40 games or more a season, and as a consequence we know what this kind of thing looks like. The NHL very obviously chooses not to enforce what it has written down despite the fact that this is happening with at least some frequency.

Fines, again, don't work. These guys make lots and lots of money and even if the NHL maxed out the fine amount to the largest allowable under the past CBA, that's $2,500 and no one cares. At least in the NBA, they have a history of fines that are of sizable amounts ($100,000 to Kobe Bryant being like $2,500 to the average NHLer, sure).

If you want accountability from professional athletes on this matter, you need two things, neither of which will ever actually happen.

First, you need officials who aren't afraid to call diving whenever they see it. If there's four dives in a game, call every single one of them and make sure the teams get the message that on this ref's watch, diving won't be tolerated.

Second, increase the punishment heavily and make the review process more transparent. Here's what every player does when they get that letter from the league: crumple it up and throw it in the garbage. You or I would do the same thing because really who cares. So, fines for the first offense, suspensions for the second, at a minimum. You want to circulate that divers list? Make all diving and embellishment penalties for guys on it count double on the ice and in terms of supplementary discipline. Four minutes in the box, $2,000 out of your wallet, two-game suspension, etc.

Otherwise, the NHL just looks like the punk teacher who gets driven out of the inner city school at the beginning of all those movies Dangerous Minds-type movies.

The problem is the NHLPA likely won't go for that, and the list is already going to be extremely subjective since it's based on perhaps the most subjective penalty around in the first place. Plus, players will always find a way around it because they're very good at what they do.

And so in the end, the only thing you can really say about diving is that there's nothing you can ever do except pay it lip service — "Boy is it bad!" — and hope no one notices when you don't do anything about it.

Hey, it's worked for the NHL so far.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Ducks goaltending prospect John Gibson is off to an okay start for Kitchener of the OHL. He stopped 42 of 43 on Saturday night and now in three games this season has a GAA of 0.97 and save percentage of .969.

Boston Bruins: Jordan Caron is likely to be a full-time NHL player when or if the season eventually starts. Peter Chiarelli said he saw a significant development in Caron's game just over the summer.

Buffalo Sabres: The Sabres have a number of good young prospects, all of whom will likely improve as a result of the quality of players now flooding the AHL.

Calgary Flames: Here's Flames defensive prospect Patrick Sieloff drilling Justin Bailey from late last week.

Gotta keep your head up.

Carolina Hurricanes: In which Eric Staal gets deep about the prospect of playing overseas: "Everyone is their own individual." Seems both he and his brother Jordan will be staying in North America.

Chicago Blackhawks: Blackhawks farm team the Rockford IceHogs are putting coupons for free tickets to preseason games in their local newspaper, so why not go to a free hockey game if you're near there? Great marketing here.

Colorado Avalanche: Kansas City is all bummed that the cancelation of the NHL preseason will deny them an Avs/Rangers game. Hey guys, don't worry about it. Just wait a few years and you'll get either the Coyotes or Oilers.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Probably not too early to start with this stuff, eh?

Dallas Stars: Say this for Rauman Lukko of the SM-Liiga: They love their Danes. In the last few days alone, they've signed Danish NHLers Philip Larsen of Dallas, Mikkel Boedker of Phoenix and the great Frans Nielsen of the Islanders. Frans Nielsen will be the SM-Liiga MVP this year book it.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Because of the lockout, Jimmy Howard can't get advice from goaltending coach and mentor Chris Osgood, which in this article is being framed as a negative for some reason. As far as Osgood is concerned, though, you know what they say: Those who can't do, teach.

Edmonton Oilers: Next stop on the Daryl Katz "I'm a Dumbass" Tour is a public talk with the City Council. That'll go well.

Florida Panthers: "Panthers not on ice but staff is out in the community." You know, rooting around in garbage cans, panhandling, collecting cans, that sort of thing. Oh that's not what they're talking about? Never mind then.

Los Angeles Kings: The guy who wants to buy AEG — which owns the Kings, LA Galaxy and part of the Lakers — is a former surgeon and pharma mogul who wants to use the company's considerable heft in an effort to raise kids' awareness of the importance of health and physical fitness. Seems like a good guy to me.

Minnesota Wild: The Houston Aeros are holding camp at the Xcel Energy Center because why not. They'll also host Rockford in an AHL game there in November.

Montreal Canadiens: As with the Aeros and most other AHL teams, the Hamilton Bulldogs are also holding their training camp right now. That team could have as many as six rookies on it, and Aaron Palushaj is already talking like he's a greybeard at 23 years old.

Nashville Predators: The locked out Preds players hired a coach to help them refine their skills while they can't work with their actual coaches. That's initiative right there.

New Jersey Devils: Not one but two of Travis Zajac's brothers, Darcy and Kelly, are participating in the Albany Devils training camp. Also in camp, oddly, are three former UNH Wildcats.

New York Islanders: Nino Niederreiter hopes this latest trip to the AHL is enough to catapult him to a full-time NHL job. Don't forget, though, that he only had one goal in his final 55 games last season after dealing with a concussion.

New York Rangers: Rick Nash shoulder injury update: He's day-to-day with a bruised bone, but didn't break anything. Good news, bad news.

Ottawa Senators: Jared Cowen doesn't much seem to like playing in the AHL again. "I'm not saying it's bad here," is never a good way to start a sentence about a place you're playing.

Philadelphia Flyers: Given Claude Giroux's recent concussions maybe going to play in the KHL would be a frigging terrible idea.

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 52 since Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Arizona said Greg Jamison would have the deal for the Coyotes sewn up within the next five days. Oh and Glendale is working with Greg Jamison to rework its original deal to pay him to run the arena because he's totally buying the team, guys.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Do the Pittsburgh Penguins have roster flaws? Let's just have a quick glance at the goals they gave up in the playoffs last year and see what the problem there was. I'll give you a hint: It starts with Marc-Andre Fleur-.

San Jose Sharks: The area around HP Pavilion will lose out on a lot of business, and that will obviously hurt profits, say owners there. Meanwhile, the Sharks' owners are probably happy they don't have to lose another $15 million this season.

St. Louis Blues: Vladimir Sobotka is lighting up the Czech league, with eight points in his first five games. He only had 20 all of last season.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Bolts center and Alaska native Nate Thompson signed with the Alaska Aces of the ECHL, joining other Alaskans Joey Crabb and Scott Gomez on the team. Meanwhile, Matt Carle, Ty Conklin and Brandon Dubinsky continue to turn their back on their home state.

Toronto Maple Leafs: The Marlies already love what Paul Ranger is doing in his return to professional hockey.

Vancouver Canucks: Kevin Bieksa and Dan Hamhuis recently went to a AAA midget hockey practice to work with and talk to the kids. Bieksa admitted to being gassed afterwards. Getting run around by 15- and 16-year olds when you're already supposed to have been in camp? Good work, Kev.

Washington Capitals: Brooks Laich had a goal and an assist in his first game with Kloten of the Swiss A League. Fun fact, one of his teammates is Matthias Bieber. No relation.

Winnipeg Jets: Toby Enstrom wants to sign for Modo but can't yet because the club is still a little dubious about whether that ruling that Swedish teams could sign NHLers will hold up.

Gold Star Award

Tom Fitzgerald's son Ryan looks to be a top-quality prospect, taking home the MVP award at the first ever USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game in Buffalo ahead of guys like oh I don't know Seth Jones. Three assists and dominated at the dot in a 5-2 win.

Minus of the Weekend

Nazem Kadri seems to have spent the summer on the Dustin Byfuglien diet.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "Flames rebuilder" just wants to help.

To Calgary:
Paul Stastny
Duncan Siemens

To Colorado:
Jay Bouwmeester
Mikael Backlund

Good job out there.

Signoff

Oh, spoons. Can I assume the potatoes will be mashed tonight?

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

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Adam Oates will co-coach Capitals’ AHL Hershey Bears during NHL lockout

30 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy Hockey, General

The NHL lockout builds a temporary wall between players and their coaches. Some players have reacted by hiring their own coaches to run practices, like Nashville Predators skating consultant Shawn Allard working with the team's locked out players.

As New Jersey Devils Coach Pete DeBoer said, regarding communication with his players: "You're not allowed any contact, so that's different."

Adam Oates was an assistant coach under DeBoer last season, before leaving to become head coach of the Washington Capitals. While he won't have formal contact with his players until the end of the lockout — and really, those phone calls to Sweden and Russia would have been really costly — Oates will have some coaching influence on several potential 2012-13 Capitals.

GM George McPhee announced on Sunday that Oates will serve as a co-coach with the Hershey Bears, the Capitals' AHL affiliate, beginning in training camp and "for the time being."

From Mike Vogel of the Dump 'n Chase blog:

With the NHL's lockout ongoing, Caps general manager George McPhee decided that it would be best for his coaches and for the organization's players in Hershey and Reading to benefit from the addition coaching and instruction that can be provided by the Washington staff.

"Mark French and Adam Oates will be co-coaches and they will work together and both will be very involved with the day-to-day [operations] of the team," says McPhee.

… "We think it's a great opportunity for all of our coaches in the organization to work together to learn the nuances of our system of play," says McPhee. "We also think it's a great opportunity for our NHL coaches to get to work with our young players and frankly to give them something to do. There's no sense in them sitting in Washington when they could be active in Hershey."

It's a shrewd move for McPhee, who hired Oates in July to replace the departed Dale Hunter. Oates has never been a head coach. Whenever the lockout ends, he won't have the benefit of a full training camp, either. At the very least, this gives Oates a chance to get his sea legs and, if the arrangement carries over into the AHL regular season, experience behind the bench.

It also exposes the 43 players in Bears training camp to Oates and the Capitals' other coaches: Assistant coach Calle Johansson and co-goaltending coach Olie Kolzig. Oates can start to educate the organization's younger players about his systems, and find a comfort level with some players that could end up on his NHL roster — Dmitry Orlov, Mattias Sjogren and some dude named Braden Holtby among them.

Great for the organization … but a little bit of a lockout cheat, no?

Oates will have the benefit of working with and coaching his starting goaltender while the NHL locks out its players. But hey, it works both ways: Those Bears players also get a chance to work with NHL coaches, too.

Even without a CBA, loopholes are gleefully exploited.

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AHL camps poised to start as NHL lockout continues (Yahoo! Sports)

28 Sep
2012
by in General
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- American Hockey League training camps open this weekend and Syracuse Crunch coach Jon Cooper is more than ready.
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What We Learned: At least you’re not an Edmonton Oilers fan

24 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy Hockey, General

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

We're all going through a pretty tough time right now. Preseason games are already canceled league-wide, and even if you don't like preseason games — glorified AHL games featuring two players you've heard of — what the lack of those games portends is at least significant.

In another week, we'll probably have lost some actual regular-season games to match all the torched exhibitions, and that's generally pretty bad news.

But even if this affects you more deeply than other fans -- such as if you're a season-ticket holder or had one of your planned handful of trips to the rink slated for early October -- you can lean back in your chair right now and be thankful that your team isn't actively trying to wage a psychological war on you.

That is, if you're a fan of any team but the Edmonton Oilers.

In case you've not heard, the Oilers are going through a bit of a situation right now. The Edmonton City Council was all set to help owner Darryl Katz fund the construction of a new arena, which is probably needed because Rexall Place is a decrepit hellhole, as well as a business district designed to revitalize the city's downtown area. Now Katz wants more money because of… well, I'm pretty sure there's a good reason.

The problem is that when this drug store billionaire went to the City Council with his hand out a second time, the elected officials swatted it away and refused to pass the hat. They were already ponying up the hundreds of millions previously agreed to, and thus didn't feel as though any additional funds because construction costs are on the rise or because they don't want to pay for Katz to also build a casino or for any other reason he's acting like he needs more money.

And thus, acrimony. Lots of it in fact.

(Coming Up: The Devallano fine; lockout news from coast to coast; Coach Sidney Crosby; Nathan Horton stays home; Ovechkin in the KHL; Sergei Bobrovsky is not good; Carrie Underwood on the lockout; Vladimir Tarasenko update; Mike Gillis vs. Cap Geek; and another stupid Coyotes deadline.)

First Katz started making noise about how if the city doesn't give him the money, they might not be able to build the arena at all. That quickly devolved into his more or less threatening to move the team to who-knows-where and take with it all the promise that its current young roster plainly holds. Larry Brooks was right when he called it a shakedown.

Oilers fans are getting edgy. The prospect of the team moving out of a hockey-crazy market like Edmonton seems slim, especially with so few viable relocation options currently anywhere in the US or Canada. Plus, what with all the warring over revenues at the league level, it seems more likely that Gary Bettman would try to force Katz to sell the team rather than let him just move it to Kansas City or wherever.

Nonetheless, this hasn't stopped the Oilers themselves from trying to leverage that ill feeling among its fanbase into pressure on the city council itself. The situation may have come to a head on Saturday night, when the team's official Twitter feed retweeted a story from John MacKinnon, who seems to think the whole thing has gotten a bit silly if nothing else.

The text of that tweet?

"Oilers not locked into [Edmonton]. [Arena] deal fail would mean loss of NHL club."

In it, MacKinnon said that for local residents, ponying up the extra money Katz wants is probably a preferable outcome to losing the team altogether.

That the Oilers' official feed retweeted the story says a lot: That this is the kind of depth to which the organization is willing to stoop to get what it wants, and perhaps that the Journal, which has been a hype man for Katz not unlike the Mouth of Sauron these past several months, is going to function as a propagandist for the duration of the war.

This is deplorable stuff from the Oilers and Katz, essentially telling the fans that if they don't start leaning on their city council members, and by extension fund the arena deal with money out of their own pockets, then they will lose their team. The move is cartoonish in its cynical villainy, holding a city's love of a bad hockey team hostage to bilk taxpayers out of $25 million more than they'd already committed to the project. The way things are going Katz is about a week away from building a giant machine to block out the sun.

The issue is this: The owners already have a PR problem. Rightly or wrongly, they're largely seen as greedy jerks who are stealing hockey from the fans. The rhetoric against them has, perhaps, reached a point where it's over the top. But with Katz doing this, well, sometimes people go too far, and this is one of them. Not only is he one of the 29 owners who voted to uphold Jeremy Jacobs' initial motion to lock out the players for the second time in eight years, but he's also now demanding a ransom for his team in a petulant attempt to get what he feels he's owed even though no one ever agreed to the terms he's now laying out.

He's within his rights to do it, I guess, but he doesn't have to be such a [expletive] about it.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks moved their annual golf tournament, which usually takes place prior to training camp, to being mid-season, which doesn't seem like a good sign. On the plus side, they at least aren't planning to lay off any full-time employees just yet.

Boston Bruins: Nathan Horton won't play overseas during the lockout, which his agent says "has nothing to do with his health," presumably while winking a lot and crossing his fingers.

Buffalo Sabres: The first All-American Prospects Game will take place in Buffalo next week, and tickets aren't selling very well, despite being available online for as little as $5. If you're in the Buffalo area, buy a ticket to this. It's going to be good and will probably be the only hockey at First Niagara Center for a while.

Calgary Flames: The Flames and Oilers are now waiting for a decision from the Alberta Labour Board about whether locking out teams in that province is legal. "The Oilers and the Flames are Alberta-based businesses and employ employees," said NHLPA lawyer Robert Blair. "When in Rome, you have to do as the Romans do." Which is why the Alberta Labour Board also hasn't made the playoffs the last three years.

Carolina Hurricanes: Hurricanes prospect Victor Rask left for Charlotte Checkers training camp and, if he does well there, probably won't come back to the Calgary Hitmen. It should be noted, however, that Hitmen coach Mike Williamson believes there's "a decent chance" Rask will be sent back to juniors.

Chicago Blackhawks: Michael Frolik is off to the Czech Republic, and is the first Blackhawk to bolt overseas. No one tell Patrick Kane about all the vodka in Russia. We might never get him back.

Colorado Avalanche: While most hockey players are taking the lockout as a chance to keep playing elsewhere, not so much for Ryan O'Byrne. He's getting behind the bench for the BCHL's Victoria Grizzlies as an assistant coach. That's thinking way ahead for his post-hockey career. Dude's only 28.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Sergei Bobrovsky signed with SKA St. Petersburg over the weekend because they identified a team need: a goalie who's not very good. Headline: "Bobrovsky Doesn't Expect Guaranteed Ice Time at SKA." No good.

Dallas Stars: Frölunda is building a super-team. Not only are they negotiating with Loui Eriksson to come play for them, but also two guys you might have heard of called Henrik Lundqvist and Erik Karlsson. Which doesn't seem fair.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Funny to me that the NHL fined Jimmy Devellano for saying the owners consider the players and team employees to be "cattle" but all that talk about how there's an unwritten rule that you don't sign other teams' RFAs has largely gone by the wayside.

Edmonton Oilers: Great point here: We have no idea whether Justin Schultz is actually ready for the NHL, and therefore a little bit of seasoning in the AHL during the lockout will likely do him a world of good.

Florida Panthers: Mike Weaver on the lockout -- "The players don't want this, and I'm pretty sure the Florida Panthers organization doesn't want this. We had a good season last year and were ready to build on that." Don't forget, though, that Panthers owner Cliff Viner was one of the 30 owners to have voted unanimously for the lockout, so there goes that theory.

Los Angeles Kings: Darryl Sutter has simply continued to farm during the lockout and that looks like the plan for a while. So at least someone is working.

Minnesota Wild: You're not going to believe this, but Niklas Backstrom can't go to Europe because……….. that's right, he's injured.

Montreal Canadiens: Former Habs first-rounder Louis Leblanc is gearing up for another AHL season, and he could be ready to tear that league apart. He spent 41 games last year with Montreal and had 22 points in 31 games in the AHL.

Nashville Predators: Carrie Underwood on the lockout: "Is it wrong for me to be a little happy (about the lockout)? I mean, 'I'm sorry for you, but it's great for me.'" God I hate her.

New Jersey Devils: Is Marty Brodeur thinking about going to Europe? "I know I'm closing doors in Europe now because I'm going to wait a little bit, but I'd like to go somewhere to play by November if I can get an opportunity somewhere." I hear European countries have great pension programs for seniors.

New York Islanders: When and if this season starts, is Matt Moulson due for a decline? I dunno, I feel like he can reasonably expect to keep shooting 16.4 percent forever.

New York Rangers: More on Henrik Lundqvist's potential decision to return to Sweden or stay home: He just had a baby girl with his wife, but also would like to play on the same team with his twin brother. So, no decision yet but he has good reasons to go with either option.

Ottawa Senators: A bunch of maniacs pulled Air Canada jets that weighed 130,000 pounds each 12 feet to raise $70,000 for the Sens Foundation. Yup, It's A Lockout.

Philadelphia Flyers: It's been a tough couple of months for Danny Briere. Seriously, read this whole thing, it's very good.

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 45 since Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Arizona said Greg Jamison would have the deal for the Coyotes sewn up within the next five days. Meanwhile, here's another stupid deadline!

Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby becoming the de facto player-coach in informal workouts with his teammates is about the least surprising thing I've read about the lockout in weeks.

San Jose Sharks: Dan Boyle finally has this whole lockout thing figured out: "I think they want us to miss some paychecks, is what I think. For them, I guess they figure they don't have to pay us right now, so they've got nothing to gain by settling this thing." Tune in for Elementary, starring Dan Boyle, CBS Thursdays!

St. Louis Blues: Vladimir Tarasenko was going to go to SKA St. Petersburg but instead he's not. Apparently his agent changed the terms of the deal at the last minute. Who knows, it's Russia.

Tampa Bay Lightning: If Rick Nash had a hat trick in the first period of his first game in the Swiss A League, then Steven Stamkos would score 60 in his.

Toronto Maple Leafs: This just in -- It sucks being the Maple Leafs' goalie, says newspaper in town where it sucks being the Canucks' goalie.

Vancouver Canucks: I really like the idea of Mike Gillis fooling around with CapGeek to figure out how to work his team's salary situation once hockey comes back. "We're working on our cap issues right now, carefully calculating a number of different scenarios that may occur after this is over and we're trying to be as ready as we possibly can be when play starts again," he told the Province.

Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin had his team's only goal in Dynamo Moscow's loss to Ilya Kovalchuk's SKA. Best part of this gamer is that it reminded me that Maxim Afinogenov is still playing hockey.

Winnipeg Jets: Jets players were all set to get in a quick practice at MTS Iceplex, but they couldn't because, I swear, they were locked out. The only keys were in the locked dressing room, and in MTS Centre, where they're not allowed to go.

Gold Star Award

Rick Nash and Joe Thornton are already laying the Swiss A League to waste. A combined eight points in their first game for HC Davos, which seems totally unfair.

Minus of the Weekend
Is it just me or does Daryl Katz have the same haircut as Bruce Willis's wife in the original "Die Hard"? I'll hang up and listen.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "coldsteelonice84" is trying to keep things interesting.

[quote]To Boston:

Kane
Hjalmarsson
Emery

To Chicago:
Krejci
Hamilton
Khudobin[/quote]
Let's go.

Signoff

I can't eat excuses!

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

Tags: , Darryl Katz, , Edmonton City Council, , , Katz, , , , ,
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Which Los Angeles Kings didn’t make Stanley Cup engraving cut?

21 Sep
2012
by in Fantasy Hockey, General

The Los Angeles Kings will have the maximum of 52 names etched on the Stanley Cup according to Rich Hammond, who printed the list on LA Kings Insider on Friday. Congratulations to all the men (and Nancy Anschutz) whose names will be engraved under the 2012 Stanley Cup Champions header.

Now … who didn't make the cut?

Keep in mind the usual standards for making the Cup are 41 regular-season games or one game in the Stanley Cup Final, but there can be exceptions.

Among the individuals that participated in the Kings' season but won't have their names on the Cup:

Trent Hunter, Forward: The ex-New York Islander signed with the Kings on Sept. 30, 2011, and played 20 games before being waived down to the AHL. He's currently an unrestricted free agent.

Andrei Loktionov, Forward: A bit surprising. He appeared in 39 regular-season games and two playoff games for the Kings, having been with the organization since 2008. He's currently playing for Severstal Cherepovets of the KHL, which is a little awkward since he's not actually locked out by the NHL. He was assigned to Manchester of the AHL; instead he's in Russia. And, perhaps not coincidentally, he won't be on the Cup.

Ethan Moreau, Forward: He played 28 games in the regular season for the Kings, scoring four points. His last game was Dec. 8, 2011; he was waived and sent down to the AHL, but he didn't report. He's now retired and a scout for the Montreal Canadiens.

Terry Murray, Coach: Perhaps the most controversial omission. Kings governor Tim Leiweke told ESPN LA that the team was lobbying to have Murray's name engraved on the Cup. "To me, we're not here without Terry," he said. He coached the Kings for 275 games over four season and made the playoffs twice. But due to the numbers crunch, he'll receive a ring but not have his name on the Cup.

Scott Parse, Forward: The first University of Nebraska-Omaha product to ever win the Cup, Parse was limited to just nine games this season due a hip injury. He put on a sweater and hoisted the Cup after Game 6. He's currently an unrestricted free agent.

Ed Roski Jr., Co-Owner: As noted by Helene Elliott of the LA Times, Roski's name is not on the Cup despite being listed as an owner in the playoff guide and having bought the Kings out of bankruptcy with Anschutz back in 1995. Keep in mind that AEG was recently put up for sale.

Also, Jack Johnson isn't on the Cup. But you sorta had to figure that.

Only two three players who didn't see action in the playoffs have their names on the Cup: Jonathan Bernier, who dressed as a backup to Jonathan Quick throughout the run but didn't play; and defenseman Davis Drewiske, who played 9 games last season, was a frequent healthy scratch, but brought the Cup to Jack Jablonski this summer, which was really awesome. (UPDATE: Thanks to reader Tony Bova for reminding us that bruiser Kevin Westgarth played 25 games in the regular season, didn't appear in the playoffs but will get his name on the Cup.)

Tags: , , Champions, , , , , , , stanley cup, stanley cup champions, , the Stanley Cup
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