The Vancouver Canucks

If owner Daryl Katz, Lowe and to some extent Tambellini hadn’t made all the mistakes they made in the last few years, the Oilers’ future wouldn’t be so bright.

There might not be a Jordan Eberle, a Magnus Paajarvi and damn sure not a Taylor Hall.

With Souray clearly one of the players most responsible for poisoning the pond prior to joining Nikolai Khabibulin and Ales Hemsky on the long-term injured list, he played his part.

Sheldon Souray, in a twisted way that somehow fits his persona perfectly, will have a lasting legacy here.

-Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun.  More on Souray and the Oilers.

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from Allan Maki of the Globe and Mail,

…And yes, there is also a hockey option for Niedermayer, not as a player but as a member of the Anaheim Ducks’ management team. He may hang out with general manager Bob Murray the way Steve Yzerman became Ken Holland’s shadow with the Detroit Red Wings, the way Chris Chelios is now following suits in Detroit. He may work with the Ducks’ players, the younger prospects, be a mentor, a coach without portfolio.

Whatever he decides, Niedermayer is certain he won’t be rushed into it. Time is his ally, not his enemy. This time, he says, there will be no last-minute decision to change his mind, to unretire and return to the Ducks for one last run. What’s next, then? That’s the question.

“Where I’m at is I’m open to ideas,” Niedermayer explained recently while chatting inside the Fernie Aquatic Centre, not far from where his acreage sits guarded by the Rockies. He looked fit, scruffy-faced and content, a man at peace with his thoughts.

“Over the last few months, I’ve talked to a lot of different people about different things, things I wouldn’t have thought of. … I just don’t want to get too busy with one thing right away.”

more

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from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

Elliott is expected to start Friday in the first game of the back-to-back series against the Rangers in New York and Leclaire will play Saturday at home. Senators coach Cory Clouston would like one of them to take charge.

So, will whoever starts the first game against the Sabres be the club’s No. 1 goalie?

“I guess in the perfect world, yep,” said Clouston following a skate at Scotiabank Place. “But that’s not even for sure. There are injuries, there are slumps and there are a lot of different variables that go into it.

“I’m going to reiterate: Whichever goaltender steps up, we’ll go with. They both, at times last year, did it, but not consistently enough to start at camp and say, ‘This guy is our go-to-guy’ right off the bat.

“Both of them still have their best hockey ahead of them and we’ve seen a lot of positives.”

read on

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Scott Burnside of ESPN has a sit down chat with Mike Green of the Washington Capitals.

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Pic courtesy of Rick Free

The Penguins are down to 28 healthy bodies remaining in their training camp, comprised of 16 forwards, 10 defensemen and 2 goaltenders.  Not including Jordan Staal (foot) and Casey Pierro-Zabotel (finger).  Staal, who spoke with the media today but didn’t really give any sort of updated timeline, will miss at least the first month of the season.  Barring something highly unusual, CPZ will be reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton soon.

With the available roster spots now down to a precious few, let’s take a look at what parameters need to be taken into account before GMRS and HCDB make their final cuts;

Continue reading “Penguins’ Final Cuts may be Hardest in Recent Years”

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from Craig Custance of The Sporting News,

“We all love this game, we want to get out there and win a Stanley Cup,” Mitchell said. “That’s why we’ve played 5,000 road hockey games, to have a shot at it. That’s why we do what we do at the end of the day. That’s what challenges us. We push our limits.”

That’s why, after suffering a concussion in a collision with Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, Mitchell was out hiking in March and April, pushing his body in hopes of getting ready for the playoffs.

His body pushed back.

The symptoms from the concussion came rushing back.

“It’s almost like you’re autistic,” he said. “You’re overly sensitive, you can’t deal with light and sound.”

more

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Per Fox Sports Detroit, of significant note to Red Wings fans who subscribe to Dish Network:

FOX is currently negotiating with DISH Network regarding the terms by which they carry its cable networks FX, National Geographic Channel and the 19 regional sports networks, including FOX Sports Detroit.  The deadline for this negotiation is 3:00 AM Eastern tonight/tomorrow morning.  If DISH Network fails to reach fair agreements with FOX, their subscribers may lose access to programming on the affected networks as of Friday, Oct. 1.  Negotiations are ongoing and hope this issue can be resolved.

Only DISH Network subscribers could lose FX, National Geographic Channel and FOX Sports Detroit programming.  All other systems will continue to receive FOX Sports Detroit and the other networks mentioned.

Continue reading “Attention Red Wings fans: FSD negotiating with Dish Network”

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Wow. I had made a big assumption in suggesting that players waived and sent to the AHL to bury their cap hits, like Wade Redden, are paid by the players’ share of revenues, which would count against players’ escrow withholdings (like LTIR exemptions for season-ending injuries), and after a series of corrections from Kdb2009, the CBA waters got so murky that I decided to email the NHLPA to clarify the situation. 

NHLPA spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon confirms that, instead of coming out of the players’ share, and I quote:

On background, salaries paid to players on one-way contracts who are not in the NHL (i.e. Huet, Redden) are not included in the salaries that are used to determine the Players’ share of the overall HRR.

I was wrong, and I’m more than OK with that.  The CBA’s so damn complicated that it took legalese experts and the NHLPA to clarify the concept that money paid to waived players on one-way deals are just part of the team’s total payroll (as opposed to their cap-limited payroll), and now we know how it works, and that as it turns out, it’s the LTIR that’s the biggest contributor to escrow, outweighing “lifetime contracts’” buried cap hits.  I’d rather look like an idiot (nothing new there) and figure out the truth of the matter so that our discussions further trying to figure out how the CBA actually affects teams and players as both sides prepare to discuss their respectively sticky wickets heading toward its expiration in 2012–because both sides need to come to the table informed and hammer out a CBA they can live with without a lockout for the sakes of those paying their salaries, a.k.a. fans, as well as themselves. 

Now somebody get me a napkin…I’ve got a sunny-side up egg hanging off my forehead.

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Today, the Hurricanes made official what we all knew was going to happen.  Defenseman Tim Gleason and center Brandon Sutter have been named alternate captains for Carolina.  Gleason was the obvious choice of the defensemen, and he wore the A a bunch last year when the injuries were taking toll on the team’s leaders.  He’s grown into a position of leadership and has been a “team first” kind of guy for the last two seasons at least.  In case you never saw this clip from last season, here’s a perfect example of why he gets to wear the A:

Continue reading “Gleason, Sutter named alternate captains”

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