Not much happening in the world of hockey today. Perfect time to go around the NHL, blog style!
The Oiler$ gave us something to talk about (again) with their recent offer sheet to Dustin Penner. This one make perfect sense: 25 year old late bloomer, never drafted, one full season of NHL experience under his belt in which he ranked amongst the top 50 goal scorers in the NHL (all he had to do was double his output and he would have been a lock for the Richard trophy!), so the Oiler$ give him $20+m over 5 years. Thank G-d the Oiler$ can't turn a profit, otherwise they'd really start spending! For the best thing to come out of the latest Oiler$ debacle, check out the Battle of California's "Price Per Pound Metric". It's truly priceless! For a Duck-Centric view check out Girl With A Puck. Does Tom Benjamin have a warm place in his heart for poor old Brian Burke now that Krazy Kevin Lowe has poached 'em? Mmmm.... maybe not! How Lowe can Kevin go? Check out Mike Chen's theory over here. The Blue Seats- the New York Post's Blog- has a nice piece over here. HLOG give us their take over here. Another love letter to the Oiler$ over here. The Hockey Humorists view right here. Spector plays Kevin's advocate over here. For a great look at Buffalo's role in the NHL's ever escalating salaries, check out Bucky Gleason over here.
Ask Gary Bettman, and he'll tell you that the NHL's T.V. deal with O.L.N. Versus has done wonders for increasing the leagues visibility. Hockey matters, folks. Well... apparently not to Yahoo! According to Yahoo!, Brian Burke still works for Vancouver. Hey, how would they know who this guy is? It's not like his team just won the Cup! Hat tip to the Yankee Canuck's proof reading on this one! Looks like Gary got the memo, as he's apparently talking to ESPN again. The Acid Queen gives us her thoughts over here, while Bethany's Hockey Rants let's us have it over here. But have no fear hockey fans. Our sport will soon get the respect it deserves now that Mad Mike Milbury has joined NBC's crew. Mad Mike brought the Islanders back to respectability (didn't he?!?!) imagine what he can do for the league! Check out Steven Ovadia for the latest scoop.
The folks in Pittsburgh need to chill. Crosby's good, O.K. he's the best, but "Saint Sid"?!?! Are you kidding me?!?! I'm renewing my call for the Rangers to buy Pittsburgh (yeah..the whole city!). Kudos to the Sidney Crosby Show for finding something to post about in the wild and crazy days of summer!
The Hockey Blog in Canada gives us a nice reverse top 10 list of the NHL's new team jerseys over here. They've also got an article on Women's hockey over here and check out Jes Golbez's article here (along with a whole bunch of other great stuff). Is it just me, or are the Russian jersey's so much cooler?
BREAKING NEWS: The Ottawa Senators have unveiled their new website. Thanks to Scarlett Ice for all (and I do mean all!) of the details, over here. Long summer! Speaking of a long summer, On The Forecheck gives us a post about the Iraqi National Soccer Team defeating 3 time champs Saudi Arabia. Really. EVEN BIGGER BREAKING NEWS: The Islanders Army gives us the details on "partial" season ticket plans being offered by the Islanders. You mean they still have tickets available on the iceland? I don't believe it. Once Mad Mike gets his national audience, Icelander tickets will become an even hotter commodity.
In a post from a few days back, Red And Black Hockey discusses the concern that reacquiring Matt Cullen may prove to be too expensive down the road for the 'Canes. Don't worry guys, you can always borrow some money from the Oiler$.
For a look ahead, head to the nation's capital for a look at the Caps' forwards heading into training camp. For a look back, check out the Legends of Hockey Network for some great past player bios over here.
For those of you who would like to see fighting taken out of the game, click here. For the rest of us, check out Hockey Fights.com.
Faceoff Factor gives us a list of NHL'ers who are defecting to....Europe?!?! PREDICTION: As the Oiler$ continue to dangerously escalate the salaries of Restricted Free Agents by signing them to insane offer sheets which CAN be used in salary arbitration proceedings, more and more mid and low level players will similarly defect. Why? Because money spent on one player will come out of the pockets of other players. Big time stars will still get their money. However, now that the really young guns are getting paid veteran UFA money, what's left for the middle of the road guys? To further complicate matters, unlike other North American professional sports, the NHL has a very diversified player population. We've been attracting the best players from all over the world for some time now. Sure they come here for the competition. But will they still be willing to leave their lives behind if they can't get paid enough to make it worth their while? Would you? Call it a hunch, but maybe one of the reasons the Russians (with their deep pocketed owners) don't want to sign a player transfer agreement with the NHL is because maybe they see an opportunity to $olicit some NHL'ers into their league. If I'm right, fans of the NHL will be the real losers because we'll no longer be able to attract the best of the best the world-over.
They definitely love their hockey in Montreal. Check out the latest on the "Marleau to Montreal" rumors from BBetR over here and here.
Finally, finally...we get to my precious New York Rangers. The big news on Broadway? Sean Avery's hurt feelings. The Blueshirt Bulletin has a great piece over here, The Dark Ranger does his thing over here, Sam Weinman's blog is here, Hot Stove New York has their take right here, check out little 'ol me right here. One of my new favorites is MSG's Game On! where you can find MSG's announcers posting entries and insights in their own blogs. From the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" department, check out the Hockey Humorists ode to New Jersey Devils Hockey over here.
Finally, Finally, Finally.... we get to my regular every day sites. Spector's Hockey is over here. Kukla's Korner is over here. One of my new favorites, James Mirtle, is over here.
Check out all of the great sites on the web (especially the ones I link to!!!!). If you've got any news, info, comments or suggestions feel free to e-mail them to me. If you'd like me to post a link to your blog just post a comment or send me an e-mail. A reciprocal link would be appreciated- but it's not required. Have a good one and get back to work already!!!!
I don't know if any of you are keeping close tabs on the Avery arbitration hearing, but whats transpiring is becoming a mystery. Larry Brooks is reporting that the Rangers have stepped up their verbal attack on Avery in their breif to the arbitrator. The only way I could possibly understand this strategy is if there was something going on behind the scenes that us average Joe fans are simply not aware of. But I don't think so. Although Avery has a history of being somewhat of a Jeremy Roenick/Curt Schilling hybrid & can't control his mouth or rediculous antics, I truly beleive that this is 'Sather being Sather'. Slats also has a history of isolating players- think trading Leetch, on his birthday, without any warning. This whole situations smells of Sather trying to win an arbitration hearing & fabricating garbage to drive his point home. I just hope he realizes the possible rift this will cause in the dressing room.
Posted by: MOSS | July 31, 2007 at 05:58 AM
I think this is more the case of "Avery On The Ice" is the same as "Avery Off The Ice".
He hasn't matured and I am surprised his agent is letting him talk directly to Larry Brooks, because that will only favor the Rangers. They'll get him for a year -- and give them another year of Avery busting his ass to prove to the entire NHL that he is legit.
tdr
Posted by: The Dark Ranger | July 31, 2007 at 10:45 AM
I think this is more the case of "Avery On The Ice" is the same as "Avery Off The Ice".
He hasn't matured and I am surprised his agent is letting him talk directly to Larry Brooks, because that will only favor the Rangers. They'll get him for a year -- and give them another year of Avery busting his ass to prove to the entire NHL that he is legit.
tdr
Posted by: The Dark Ranger | July 31, 2007 at 10:46 AM