“We made strides by signing different players to long-term deals. We just signed (Joffrey) Lupul, (Jeff) Carter’s here for a couple of years and the players we have, everyone gets along so the (dressing) room’s doing well. I think we’re just going to evolve as a team as we get older,” said the Flyers alternate captain and No. 1 centre.

“We made good strides last year in the playoffs and hopefully we can just move forward from there.”

-Mike Richards in the Thunder Bay’s Source where you can read more from Mike…

From the Vancouver Sun,

Vancouver police are investigating a hit-and-run that may have involved the captain of the Edmonton Oilers hockey team.

Media is reporting Ethan Moreau was a passenger in a vehicle involved in a collision that occurred downtown very early on Thursday, Aug. 14.

Const. Jana McGuinness, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver police, wouldn’t confirm the hockey player was in a vehicle that backed into a motorcycle shortly after midnight on the 800-block of Burrard Street.

continued...

Update 4:33pm ET: From Sportsnet, confirmation --

Alan Watt, vice-president of communications for the Oilers, confirmed to Sun Media that Moreau was in the vehicle but that he was not the driver.

from Chris Pinkert of StLouisBlues.com,

(David) Perron admits that having limited playing time as a rookie was hard. He says he wanted to play every game, but insists that learning to deal with adversity is a big part of becoming a pro.

“You just let the coaches make the decision and when you’re on the ice, you play hockey and do your best,” he said. “That’s how I managed to play better in the last part of the season.”

Perron is using the summer to improve his game in hopes of contributing more this upcoming season. As he continued to autograph team posters, he said he’d like to improve his all-around skill, have a quicker shot and a better one timer. He wants to get stronger without losing his agility, and of course, he’d like to score more goals.

more

From Craig Custance at the Sporting News,

SN: What was the reaction in Tampa from fans when you were hired?

Melrose: A lot of people there were still mad at me for 2004. Supposedly, I made derogatory remarks about Tampa Bay. If people remember you saying it, it doesn’t matter if you said it. That was fun. [...]

SN: So what did you supposedly say in 2004 that has fans in Tampa so riled up?

Melrose: That Tampa didn’t have a chance (in the Stanley Cup final), not nearly as good as Calgary. That was nuts—I picked Tampa Bay. I don’t know what was going on. If they think you said it, you said it.

read on

Adam Proteau talks to Carrie Milbank of The Hockey Show and asks what it was like starting her new job.

“Honestly, I was so scared at first,” said Milbank, who has been working in broadcasting since 2003. “I really wanted The Hockey Show job, and when I got it, I was like, ‘uh-oh, what am I going to do?’ Because not only was I scared of the players, I was scared of the fans, because they’re so intense.

“So I bought the book Hockey For Dummies. I bought The Smart Girl’s Guide To Sports to help me prepare. But talking to the guys and being around the game really helps you get to know what hockey’s all about.

More at The Hockey News. 
____________________
*more on Carrie Milbank here

Japers’ Rink points out an interview with Sergei Kostitsyn, where he takes a shot at Glen Hanlon today:

Q. Why do you have a special knack against Washington, scoring every third of your goals in the regular season?

A. I don’t know, it just happens. Although it’s a pity that [Glen Hanlon] left Washington. I would have scored not three but six against them. Let him see who is “too young for the national team.”

JP’s response: “Total pwnage.” The rest of the interview is here—Kostitsyn is irrepressible throughout.

Q: Do you remember the most original question American journalists have asked you?

A. You should not expect originality from them. Every other time they ask the same: “How do you like to play with your brother?”

... as groundskeepers at Fenway.

Watch the funny video below… and the story at Bruins.com.

from Roger Ross at San Jose Sharks.com,

Roenick already had done some on-camera work, listing previous appearances with “Hack” and “Ghost Whisperer,” and this week he will begin shooting a scene in “Leverage”, a new TNT production.

So how does a full-time NHLer plan on being a future full-time actor?

“I’m good friends with producer-director Paul Bernard and he wants to turn me into an actor when I’m done with hockey,” Roenick said. “He and his brother Tom are big producers in Los Angeles.”

read on

from Tom Van Riper of Forbes,

Lining up behind Miami for the booby prize are San Diego ($300 a game for a family of four; .425 combined winning percentage for the Chargers and Padres), Indianapolis (a lower-income market with middle-of-the-road ticket prices) and New York (second-highest prices in the country for teams that lose just over half their games, the Super Bowl champion Giants not withstanding).

The best deals? You’ll find those in Detroit (only No. 17 in costs for a .612 winning percentage for its four teams, including the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings), Houston (third-cheapest prices for a .565 winning percentage), and the Bay Area (so-so teams, but a high-income market with the ninth-lowest costs).

more

thanks to a KK member for the pointer.

from Sage Birchwater at the bclocalnews,

Carey’s looking forward to the coming season with one year of NHL experience under his belt. He’s glad the Canadiens signed 31-year-old goaltender Marc Denis in the off-season.

“I think we need a little veteran presence. There’s just me and Yaro, 21 and 23 years old, that was it. There was just us two young guys and I think Bob (Gainey) figured to bring in somebody a little bit older to have around the room.”

He says that was the best part about having Huet on the club.

‘He was an unbelievable guy. I don’t think I could have had the year I had without him there. I wish him the best in whatever he does. I couldn’t have had a better guy there in my first year.”

Carey says the immediate challenge right now is to work hard until camp.

“You’ve got to show up in camp in the best shape possible. I’m starting to feel pretty good now, but you’ve got to keep pushing yourself all the way to camp.”

much more

from Joanne of the Laucius Ottawa Citizen via the Leader-Post,

Fatheaded hockey players are more aggressive than their slimmer-faced counterparts, a St. Catharines, Ont., study has found.

Results of the study published Wednesday in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society, concluded of the six Canadian-based NHL teams, the faces of the Ottawa Senators are dead giveaways when it comes to predicting how much time players spend in the penalty box.

“We’re not saying that Ottawa is more aggressive than any other team. But each individual player’s face predicts how much time he had in the box,” said Brock University neuroscience researcher Justin Carre.

continued

from Dan Stefano of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

Whitney’s troubles aside, Therrien was pleased with the results of a busy offseason for the Penguins, which saw fan favorites Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts leave for Tampa Bay, veteran forwards Matt Cooke and Miroslav Satan come to Pittsburgh and young stars Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fluery sign long-term deals.

“We really concentrate on our young players as the core group of this team, and the future looks really bright,” Therrien said....

“Compared to years in the past, when we have seven or eight exhibition games, which gives you a chance to have more young players to participate in those exhibition games, that’s going to be a bit tougher this year,” Therrien said. “We only have four exhibition games, so I’m going to concentrate a lot on players that are really close to making it to the NHL.”

more

from the Detroit News,

A former NHL player and his brother were sentenced on Wednesday to one year in jail and three years of probation in connection with the attempted extortion of an Oakland County attorney.

John DePalma, 44, of Brownstown Township, and Lawrence “Larry” DePalma, 42, of Trenton, had pleaded no contest to the charge, which carries up to 20 years in prison....

“This was heinous ... evil ... not even a dog should have been treated like this,” Nichols told the DePalmas of their treatment of W. Bruce Knight, an attorney who had befriended and trusted the brothers.

Assistant Oakland County prosecuting attorney David Hutson said the DePalmas had coached Knight’s teenaged son in a hockey league and had offered to train him in Russia a few years ago—a trip that never happened.

Faced with financial problems, the DePalmas—both admitted substance abusers—concocted a story that the “Russian Mafia” was angry at Knight and unless he came up with $1 million, he and his family would be killed by “an assassin already on his way.”

read on

from Derek Van Diest of the Edmonton Sun,

This off-season Bouwmeester and the Panthers nearly went to arbitration, instead settling on a last-minute, one-year deal worth $4.8-million.

Once the contract is up, Bouwmeester is free to go play where he chooses.

“I think both sides were happy with it,” he said. “I wasn’t prepared to sign anything long term at this point. It was good not having to go to arbitration. I’ve done that once before and it’s not fun. It can leave a pretty bitter taste in everyone’s mouth."…

“I know (free agency) is out there, but it’s not really a big deal,” he said.

“I just want to be in a place where everything fits, you’re happy and hopefully you can have some success.”

more

from Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun,

Surrounded by drug addicts, wife-beaters and other convicted felons, Mark Bell quietly picked up pieces of garbage out of the tall grass under the sweltering California summer sun.

It was, he admits, as far removed from the pampered lifestyle of the National Hockey League as you could get.

For 11 weeks this was Mark Bell’s life. Every morning, he would report to a California correctional facility to learn of that day’s assignment. It might be cleaning up litter. Or it could involve landscaping duties. Whatever dirty job he was assigned, he did it.

“It humbles you,” Bell said yesterday. “It gives you humility. More than anything else, that is probably the biggest change in me.”

continued