Ponds and Pucks

• Cost to buy the Tampa Bay Lightning: $206 million. Listening to John Tortorella slam the team’s previous owner? Priceless. (Fan590 audio link is here).
• Edmonton Oilers resign Brodziak and Roy. Craig Simpson’s out, Brodziak and Roy are in. Somehow I think they’re going to need a little more to get back into the playoffs.
• By the way, Simpson is now saying he’s leaving coaching because he realized he’d never be the next Scotty Bowman. There’s so many snarky comments I can make there I’m not even sure where to start…
• Staal brothers offered deal. And why not? Young men busted for drinking too much at a campground during a stag…. I know a lot of guys who call that “Saturday”.
• Hawks extend Savard’s stay. Good on ‘em. One of the best things to happen to the Hawks in years.
• Bruins sign their first round draft pick, Zach Hamill. The Bruins need this kid, both for their team and to keep their fans’ hopes alive.
• Hawks sign James Wisniewski. The Hawks on the other hand destroyed their fans’ hopes years ago…
• Coyotes ink Joel Perrault. Coyotes continue to be a mystery team… how will they do this year?
• CHL Schedule released. Colorado Eagles will begin their defense of the CHL championship title.
• Karel Pilar signs with Thrashers. Pilar’s been out of the NHL for nearly two years battling a heart condition.
• Chris Chelios testifies in murder trial. Nothing funny here. A former Cheli’s restaurant employee murdered two of his former co-workers, one right after Chelios spoke with her.
• Ducks’ Joe DiPenta thrills sick kids with Stanley Cup. Feel-good Cup story of the week.

Tampa Bay Lightning, John Tortorella, Edmonton Oilers, Zach Hamill, James Wisniewski, Coyotes, Joel Perrault, Colorado Eagles, Karel Pilar, Thrashers, Chris Chelios

Let’s start with the Islanders’ new Blog Box which has been received pretty positively. It has received positive coverage in the blogosphere. Contrast that with the NCAA’s recent conduct (both links from Off Wing Opinion).

James Mirtle has some interesting stuff in a couple of posts. He has some breakdowns of players by country (make sure to read the comments) and then he also has a list of the Unrestricted Free Agent Goalies.

And finally, How to fix the NHL

hockey

After a week off, we return for this week in hockey.

We’ll open up looking at the broadcasting of the Stanley Cup. Two Minutes for Blogging has a good post on how the games did. And Sports Media Journal has another article about it. Meanwhile, Off Wing Opinion posted a great little story about NBC’s great moment in broadcasting. In a related story, Kukla’s Korner looks at a new deal that the NHL has signed with Sling Media.

James Mirtle has a nice piece about Teemu Selanne’s celebration. He also has one about the cost of the Nashville Predators. Finally, James offers us a nice update on the Calder Cup, which I have tragically ignored.

Finally, Behind the Jersey gives us an update on this coming season’s outdoor game.

I’m back next week, so have a great weekend.

hockey, Stanley Cup

For the end of the season, we look at a couple of interesting posts this week.

To get everyone ready for the Stanley Cup Finals, we start with the Stats Blog’s post on the two teams.  The NHL Arena Program also has an amusing article trying to turn this series into a rivalry of epic proportions.  Meanwhile, NHL.com has an article about whether this really is the first time for Ottawa to win the Cup.

Over at Kukla’s Korner they posit on whether or not Dominik Hasek is done with the NHL.  It seems to me, I’ve heard this all before.

James Mirtle writes about the likely end of the Nashville Predators.

And finally, congratulations to Sig over at 2 Minutes for Blogging on his new son.
No post on Monday, but I’m back on Tuesday. Happy Memorial Day to everyone in the US.

Technorati Tags: hockey, playoffs, stanley cup, nhl

We’re going to go around the blogosphere twice this week, today and tomorrow.  Today, I want to look at something that I mentioned in passing, here.  The issue for today is NBC’s decision to switch away from hockey for the Preakness.

Behind the Jersey is a good place to start as Christy has a great summary of some of the commentary posted.  James Mirtle also does a good job of giving a few sites to read on this one.

Speaking for the angry fans, Bethany over at the NHL Arena Program posted her e-mail to NBC.

Both Kuklas Korner and Andrew’s Dallas Stars & NHL Blog have ratings information for the games and the race.

Kuklas Korner is a good place to end this week also, as it’s there that we find the NHL’s response, more criticism, and finally, NBC’s response.

Technorati Tags: hockey, nhl, nbc, playoffs, stanley cup

We start our look by looking at what the mainstream media has to say about our sport of sports.  ESPN.com had an article looking at the mistake Russia made in not signing the IIHF agreement.  Up in Ottawa, the Sun published some derogatory comments by Jason Spezza.  His target - the Buffalo ice surface.  The Couch Slouch offered his wisdom on how to fix hockey.  And finally, Ottawa head coach Bryan Murray has discovered that there’s a downside to being so successful.

Taking some trips down memory lane, Christy from Behind the Jersey has put some great hockey videos online.  (Warning: the page will take a bit of time to load).  And James Mirtle looks at the Original 6 in the 40 years of the NHL expansion era.

Wrapping up our cruise of the web, we look at 2 posts from Kuklas Korner.  The first looked at the future of hockey, and the second at whether or not there is a way that hockey can improve its scoring (and if that would bring in more fans).  And finally, James Mirtle looks at the Canadiens’ plan to raise ticket prices.

This weekend, Ottawa looks to finish off their series and they’ll have 2 chances to do it (Friday night and Sunday).  The Red Wings and Ducks will fight for a 3-2 lead on Saturday.  And the Preakness Stakes will be run Saturday at 6.  Have a great weekend and I’ll be back on Monday.  Congratulations to everyone who is graduating this weekend.

hockey, NHL

I want to try something new today, a recap in the week in hockey, covering news that didn’t make my daily column as well as the best of the blogosphere.

Starting in Hockeytown, where there was a lot going on.  Mike Chen hosted a guest writer after he lost a bet on the Red Wings/Sharks series.  The poster, Christy from Behind the Jersey, also had a nice post on TV ratings in Detroit vs. the rest of the NHL.  Ending this part of our tour of the world, Paul from Kukla’s Korner had an update on available tickets for Game 1 in the Red Wings/[tag]Ducks/[tag] series.

The New York Metro Area had all 3 teams make the Stanley Cup playoffs, and now has all three teams eliminated.  Blueshirt Bulletin has a post on the future of the Rangers, which gives a good painting of what they have coming up in the offseason (even if it does fail to give the Sabres the credit they deserve) and the end of the Rangers season.  NHL.com also offers a treatment of the end of the Rangers season.  Stan Fischler, the voice of the Devils offers his thoughts on the end of the season and Lou Lamoriello’s decision to take over behind the bench.

Behind the Jersey also wrote this week about jersey sales and lists the top 10 sales for the month of April.  I’m wondering why Jason Blake isn’t there.

The IIHF made news in the US with a few different stories.  The first is that the NHL and the IIHF have an agreement in principle with regards to transferring players between the leagues.  However, Russia looks like it will not sign the agreement.  There is also going to be a 3-team exhibition series in September of 2008.  It will involve 1 team from the NHL and 2 from Europe.  While future teams will be league champions, the president of the IIHF would like for the first team representing the NHL to be the Canadiens.

Finally, the Tories in Manitoba have a wonderful plank in their platform.  They’ll bring the Jets back to Winnipeg.

So there you go … the week that was.

hockey, Red Wings, Sharks, Detroit, NHL, Stanley Cup, Sabres, Rangers, Devils, Canadiens