NHL BLOGS

Phil The Thrill Finally Toronto Bound
Michael Lindow
September 6, 2009.

Will the Leafs once again try to pry Kessel away via a trade, or will Toronto general manager Brian Burke opt instead to extend an offer sheet. The summer months always brings nothing but speculation and ugly trade rumors. Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke acquiring back their second round pick in the 2010 entry draft from the Chicago Black Hawks for a second and a third round pick in 2011 has Leaf fans on the edge of their sit in anticipation of Kessel coming to Toronto. Adding this draft pick gives Toronto its own first, second and third round picks the compensation price for signing a RFA player.

Both the Toronto and Boston media outlets are reporting that this trade is a prelude to an offer sheet for the Bruins star forward Phil Kessel who is coming off a 36-goal campaign and has been at odds with Boston all summer over a new contract. The Bruins would have seven days to decide to accept the offer sheet or match the offer made to Kessel. A similar situation happened with the Andrej Mezaros situation last year. Tampa threats of an offer sheet last year and Ottawacouldn't or wouldn't pay Mezaros eventually dealing him for a first round pick along with Filip Kuba and Alexander Picard.

The chance that you land a player of Kessel’s calibre in this draft is slim at best and at this stage of the Leafs rebuilds (reload?) Burk will be looking for quality over quantity right now. Exactly the player needed for this organization to continue moving forward Kessel is a top line sniper and perennial forty goal scorer with the potential of hitting the high water mark of fifty goals in a season. The likes of which have not been seen in Leafland since Dave Andreychuk scored 53 in the 1993-94 season.

With about six million plus in salary cap room the Leafs are in great shape to make a move of this magnitude, signing Kessel in the $3,923,434 - $5,231,246 would cost Toronto its first, second and third round picks.

OFFER: COMPENSATION
$994,433 or below - None
Over $994,433 to $1,506,716 -Third-round choice
Over $1,506,716 to $3,013,434 - Second-round choice
Over $3,013,434 to $4,520,150 - First-round and third-round choice
Over $4,520,150 to $6,026,867 - First-round, second-round and third-round choice
Over $6,026,867 to $7,533,584 - Two first-round choices, one second- and one third-round choice
Over $7,533,584 - Four first-round choices

This is a move that has to be made.

20 Predictions for the Upcoming NHL Season

Michael Lindow
August 27, 2009.

The NHL has never failed to offer up its fair share of surprises in any given season. Here is my prediction of twenty things that will happen this year…..

1. Dany Heatley is traded to the New York Rangers for a package that includes Chris Drury to match salaries leaving the Rags without a legitimate number one NHL center.

2. Sean Avery acts up and is suspended by the league once again and is bought out by the Rangers.

3. After another slow start the Atlanta Thrashers fire coach John Anderson.

4. General Managers Bob Gainey and Glen Sather are both fired in November. Leafs Dave Nonis takes the New York job and former Hab legend Patrick Roy returns to Montreal for the GM position.

5. Jim Balsillie buys the debt riddled Buffalo Sabres and moves them to Hamilton for the 2010-11 season much to the chagrin of the NHL.

6. Milan Lucic and Mike Komisarek renew their hatred and are both serve lengthy suspensions after a stick swinging incident.

7. Joe Thornton’s woes continue after being stripped of his assistant captaincy in the off season big Joe does not make Canada’s Olympic team joining Mike Green, Patrick Marleau and Jonathan Toews as other notables left off the roster.

8. Roberto Luongo has his best season to date and is Canada’s starting goalie at the Olympics leading them to a gold medal in front of his home fans in Vancouver.

9. Theoren Fleury is signed by the Calgary Flames much to the fans delight and ends up scoring 20 goals.

10. The Toronto Maple Leafs make the post season for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

11. After leading Canada to a gold medal at the Olympics Luongo then captures the Stanley Cup for the Vancouver Canucks.

12. Chicago Black Hawk winger Marian Hossa’s shoulder is much worse than first diagnosed and misses the entire season.

13. Canadiens goaltender Carey Price bounces back from a bad 2008-09 campaign and becomes one of the leagues top netminders.

14. John Tavares is among the top ten in league scoring winning the Calder trophy by a landslide.

15. Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin becomes the first NHL player to score 70 goals in a season since 1992-93 season.

16. The Rangers without any decent centremen finish last in league standings.

17. Flyers goalie Ray Emery is one of the nominees for the Vezina trophy after having a huge season.

18. The NHL as predicted lowers the salary cap number for the following season forcing the Penguins to deal Evgeni Malkin.

19. At seasons end Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Frolov shock the hockey world by leaving the NHL and for the KHL.

20. KHL continues to poach the NHL for players. With the lowered salary cap for the following season Kim Johnsson, Olli Jokinen, Pavol Demitra, Vesa Toskala, Evgeni Nabokov, Sergei Gonchar, Pavel Kubina, Milan Hejduk, Antero Nittymaki and Andrew Raycroft all join Frolov and Kovalchuk in bolting for the Russian league.

Another Reason The Sens SUCK!!

DJ Brooks
August 21, 2009.

This week Jim Balsillie decided he had enough of seeing his name pushed through the mud by the NHL. The NHL has consistently stated they feel that Balsillie would not be a good owner in their league due to his lack of morality and ethics.

I don’t know about you, but having to sit back and listen to that gnome Gary Bettman bash my integrity would lead me down the exact same path that Balsillie took.  He told the world about the misgivings and mistakes made by every other NHL owner.  Sounds fair to me, you attack me, I attack you.  People are forgetting that it was the NHL that started the mudslinging.  Balsillie seemed content to go through the legal process, win or lose (I have a feeling he believed he was going to win though), and the NHL started playing nasty.  I don’t really understand what the NHL was thinking, I hope every single one of the NHL owners blackberries (they all have them) suddenly stops working.....but I digress.

Now to the heart of the matter,  here is Melnyk’s response – or at least part of it “ I used to privately feel sympathy for his plight, but as I’ve watched his conduct with and towards the league and other owners, I clearly believe the sport of hockey is better off without him.” 

I don’t even know where to start, so I am going to try and make this as simple as possible for everyone.  The NHL and its owners are 4 years old, playing in the sandbox.  One of the kids can’t play anymore because his shovel broke and he can’t afford to fix it.  The problem is they need 30 people for the game they are playing.  So another little 4 year old (Balsillie) shows up with a top of the line shovel and asks “Can I play”.  Everyone else doesn’t like this idea – His shovel is WAY better than theirs.  Then cause this little boy REALLY wants to play and won’t go away....then the gnome starts making fun of him, while the others stand back and let it happen.  So what does a little kid do, he gives it back to them, basically calling them a “stupid face”. 

AND NOW MELNYK IS MAD, NOW.  Is he a big enough man to be mad before when they were bashing Balsillie, NO.  He is only man enough to watch over his own back, never mind anyone else. 

The NHL is being the school bully, and Melnyk is the chicken at the back squaking.  And now that he got hit in the nose he wants vengeance.  Didn’t we all hate this kid when we were younger???

Really, This Is What I Waited For????

DJ Brooks

August 18, 2009.

Hockey Canada unveiled the new, much discussed, much debated 2010 Olympic hockey jersey in Vancouver during this week. I personally was awaiting this with bated breath as I am a huge fan of sportswear and sports memorabilia.

Everyone I have talked to has loved this new jersey. Bob Nicholson, president of Hockey Canada, even went as far as to say “I think this will be the jersey that not only hockey players wear but that all Canadians and all Canadian athletes will be proud of. This might become the jersey for not just hockey but for all sports.”

Really Bob, Really? While I like the design concepts of adding symbolism regarding our medal counts in Mens, Womens and Sledge hockey, it seemed out of place. While I looked it over I enjoyed the artistic mantra of the artist to add the powerful First Nations symbols, it still didn’t seem right. Then it struck me, WE CAN’T SEE IT.

I am looking at a Maple Leaf on my computer zoomed in to an impressive size to be able to see anything. What is this jersey going to look like as Crosby skates down the ice? The answer – A plain Maple Leaf.

What is wrong with just the Leaf you ask, your answer – That is not how it was designed! Take a look at some of the classic jerseys worn at Olympics and World Championships past. They are all eloquent in their simplicity. A Maple Leaf with a hockey player – makes sense. Half a Maple Leaf streaming from the bottom to the top – logical. A Maple Leaf with a bunch of tiny little designs you can’t see or make out unless you saw it beforehand – why??

I can’t even truly express my disappointment in this jersey. I was actually excited when the IOC told Canada they had to change their jersey. As a collector I thought, SWEET new Jersey for the collection. Now I am thinking, the Canadian Olympic hat better look amazing or I am going to lose it!!!!!