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Category: NHL-Talk

Your On-Ice Officials For The Conference Finals

by Paul on 05/13/12 at 11:11 AM ET
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via NHL Officials,

The NHL has announced the Officials selected for the third round of Stanley Cup Playoffs 2011-12:

REFEREES

Chris Lee, Wes McCauley, Dan O’Halloran, Dan O’Rourke, Kevin Pollock, Chris Rooney, Kelly Sutherland and Brad Watson.

LINESMEN

Derek Amell, Steve Barton, Shane Heyer, Jean Morin, Brian Murphy, Jonny Murray, Pierre Racicot and Jay Sharrers.

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Evening Line

by Paul on 05/12/12 at 09:08 PM ET
Comments (3)

... anyone who equates today’s game with the boredom engendered by the neutral zone trap needs to have their pulse checked. True, there is a certain predictability and sameness to the way some teams play, damming the slot, keeping shooters to the outside and forcing the attacking team to pass the puck around, endlessly it seems at times, until they can find a shooting lane. But a rule restricting the movements of players would, it seems to me, be a wrench in the game’s gears, transforming flow into spasm and hockey into, well, basketball. One of my least favorite rules in the NHL now is the trapezoid, precisely because it does just that — it restricts the ability of the goaltender to play the puck. It punishes a skill. Well, shotblocking is a skill and one that encapsulates some of hockey’s most revered qualities: the sacrifice for team, the courage needed to play the game at high speeds, the element of danger.

-Stu Hackel of the Red Light at Sports Illustrated where you can read more on the “too much shot blocking” debate.

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How To Stop The Shot-Blocking

by Paul on 05/09/12 at 10:25 PM ET
Comments (33)

from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

In the mid-1990s, during the NHL’s original dead-puck era, former coach and general manager Pierre Pagé floated a unique idea that may have merit again as scoring shrinks and the game has turned into an exercise in shot-blocking, where the majority of goals are scored on ricochets, deflections or other happenstance.

What’s on display in these playoffs isn’t hockey, it’s pinball.

Seeking a way to enhance offence, Pagé proposed that the NHL introduce a modified version of basketball’s three-in-the-key rule. The rule states that an offensive player shall not remain in the key for more than three seconds. Pagé’s application to hockey would affect both offensive and defensive players, with the primary goal to keep the area in front of the net unclogged.

It’s an idea worth considering, given how established the shot-blocking trend is today. Teams all collapse back toward the goal, with every player instructed to get in front of shots, even if they happen to screen the goaltenders. Under the Pagé plan, hockey could create a zone in front of the goaltender that perhaps only three, or even two, players a team could enter at the same time.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, NHL Talk | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Pierre+Page,

The Best Hockey In Years

by Paul on 05/09/12 at 05:35 PM ET
Comments (6)

from Jamie Samuelsen at the Detroit Free Press,

In the history of professional sports, I’m not sure there’s ever been a more disliked figure than NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. It doesn’t help that he looks and talks like a weasel. It doesn’t help that he has all the arrogance and smugness of NBA commissioner David Stern even though he’s made his game worse during his near two decades of power. And it doesn’t help that we live in Detroit and have been the victims of nearly every one of his silly decisions that supposedly make the sport better, but make things worse for Red Wing Nation.

So I come here not to praise Bettman because he had nothing to do with the fact that the Stanley Cup playoffs have been phenomenal up to this point. But I also can’t bash him and that takes some serious restraint. While the NBA has slogged through the first round and given us injury after injury, blowout after blowout and slugfest after slugfest, the NHL has provided us with the most entertaining month of hockey in years.

continued

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Talking Expansion

by Paul on 05/08/12 at 02:02 PM ET
Comments (8)

from Stan Fischler at the New England Hockey Journal,

Assuming the Greg Jamison-led group does buy the Coyotes, a positive – for the NHL – chain reaction will follow. One line of thinking has it that the arrival of the certifiably reliable buyer could have wide-ranging ramifications for the league. One of them could actually be an eventual expansion with a $200 million entry fee.

That would include a second team in Toronto; (actually the 20,000-seat arena to be constructed in suburban Markham). It could be accompanied in the West by Seattle, which has one of the most attractive TV markets for NHL consumption. This would establish rivalries on the Pacific Coast—Vancouver-Seattle—and in the East—Maple Leafs-New Toronto Team-Buffalo. There’s little doubt that the Sabres would demand and receive territorial compensation.  …

continued plus more hockey topics…

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Video- Gary Bettman and Greg Jamison Talk Phoenix Sale

by Paul on 05/07/12 at 09:31 PM ET
Comments (4)

Watch both videos below, the first one is Gary Bettman.

Bettman basically said they have reaced a tentative agreement with Greg Jamison to purchase the Coyotes but still need Glendale City Council approval and hopes to have a deal in place.

added 9:40pm, from David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail,

There may be a tentative agreement between the NHL and Greg Jamison to buy the Phoenix Coyotes but many unanswered questions remain along with some formidable hurdles.

The biggest questions are about money: Does Jamison, the former president of the San Jose Sharks, have the financing among his partners to not only pay the purchase price but cover the millions of dollars in losses the suburban city of Glendale cannot? How will Glendale come up with as much as $20-million (all currency U.S.) to pay Jamison in each of the next four or five years as an arena management fee and an average of $16-million over the 30-year lease?

continued

Continue Reading »

Filed in: NHL Teams, Phoenix Coyotes, NHL Talk | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Gary+Bettman, Greg+Jamison,

Video- Coach’s Corner Tonight

by Paul on 05/07/12 at 09:10 PM ET
Comments (1)

Don and Ron talk Lundqvist, Quick, a Bobby Orr story, raise the glass height along the sideboards to avoid over the glass penalties and Dale Hunter.

Filed in: NHL Teams, NHL Talk, NHL Media, Hockey Broadcasting, CBC HNIC | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

The Stanley Cup Goes Hollywood

by Paul on 05/06/12 at 03:42 PM ET
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from Sophie A. Schillaci of The Hollywood Reporter,

One of the oldest and most storied trophies in sports history, the Stanley Cup causes a frenzy of reaction wherever it goes.

On Wednesday, that frenzy was found in the mid-Wilshire offices of The Hollywood Reporter.

Keeper of the Cup Phil Pritchard—along with the Stanley Cup itself, in all its glory—stopped by the THR Cover Lounge to discuss Hollywood’s hockey obsession, recalling former Los Angeles Kings star Luc Robitaille and Southern Californian Chris Chelios’ time as Stanley Cup champions.

continued

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ESPN And The NHL

by Paul on 05/03/12 at 02:48 PM ET
Comments (6)

from Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy,

Does the NHL need ESPN?

It’s a question that’s been asked in every board room, sponsorship pitch meeting and press box around the NHL since the lockout. It was asked frequently during the early years of the NHL’s relationship with Comcast on U.S. cable, as the embarrassing start on Outdoor Life Network begot the growing pains of VERSUS.

It’s been asked much less frequently now that the NHL is locked into a 10-year television contract with NBC, which has helped to broadcast every Stanley Cup Playoff game in its entirety on national television for the first time in League history — something ESPN didn’t, couldn’t and wouldn’t do.

As the NHL continues to build in popularity across every metric in the U.S. — attendance, sponsorship, ratings, social media outreach — the question has now changed. It’s no longer “does the NHL need ESPN?” …

… it’s “Why doesn’t ESPN need the NHL?”

continued

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 Tags: ESPN,

Jimmy D. Talks Salary Cap And Wings

by Paul on 05/02/12 at 09:19 AM ET
Comments (21)

from Brendan Savage of Mlive,

Devellano said he expects the NHL salary cap to increase from $64.3 million this year to somewhere in the neighborhood of $70 million next season. That could leave the Red Wings with about $20 million to re-sign some of their own players or to spend on free agents.

“There are so many different avenues to try and build a team,” he said. “We certainly used the draft but unrestricted free agency is an important tool for us, maybe the most important. If you can make a trade, they’re not easy to do, but you make a trade.

“We will continue to draft and always look to see who the best unrestricted free agents are and try to add one or two of them as we go along.”

Devellano scoffed at the notion that the Red Wings’ roster needs to be torn apart and rebuilt because the club is too old. He said other than Lidstrom (42), Tomas Holmstrom (39) and Todd Bertuzzi (37), most players are still in their prime or approaching it.

“You take those three players away ... the team is not really old,” Devellano said. “We want to try and remain competitive. We don’t see any reason to tear down the team. We don’t think our fans want us to tear down the team. I think they want us to do whatever we can do to win.

“I don’t know why we would tear up the team with players like Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk and Jimmy Howard and Johan Franzen. I’m not sure why we would do that. Tearing up the team means you’re going to miss the playoffs. We did have 102 points this year.

more

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, NHL Talk | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Jimmy+Devellano,

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