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Puck Headlines: Have the Wings learned their Game 6 lessons?
By Greg Wyshynski
June 7, 2009
» Reminder: Live Blog of Game 6 tonight with the usual gang of knuckleheads at 7:45 p.m. EST. Should be a show.
» Kevin McGran, live-blogging the hearing in Phoenix, writes that no decision will be made today on the sale and relocation of the Phoenix Coyotes. Bettman's in da hizzy, by the way.
» Mike Babcock has made it clear to his Detroit Red Wings that Mellon Arena was a chamber of horrors for them in Games 3 and 4, and that winning Game 6 in last year's Final was no picnic in the park either. The Wings are going to be focused tonight; our hearts say "Game 7," but our heads are telling us otherwise right now.
» Everyone and their mom in Pittsburgh is reporting that Petr Sykora(notes) could be back for the Penguins tonight.
» George James Malik has more on the 'Joe Vision' viewing party that was cancelled and the culprits behind the decision.
» Great stuff from Bob McKenzie on the special teams battle, frustration setting in for the Penguins and what Max Talbot's(notes) slash on Pavel Datsyuk's(notes) foot actually was: "Was it a ridiculously vicious chop? No. Was it a targeting of an injured player? Absolutely. And some people might suggest that's what the Stanley Cup playoffs are all about but I'm sure the Red Wings would say otherwise as they don't embrace that whole concept of vigilante justice very much."
» Interesting take on Marian Hossa(notes) and his desire to win (compared with Mats Sundin's(notes) lack thereof).
» Speaking of Hossa, Mirtle with an fascinating stats-based look at how hard it is to win the Stanley Cup: "Only somewhere between 10 and 15 per cent of players born in the last 60 years have managed to do so - and that could easily be a number that trends downward in a league with 30 teams and franchise players getting locked up on long-term deals."
» Hradek: Dany Heatley(notes) wants out of Ottawa.
» You could list every ailment from the last season of "House" and it still wouldn't read as sadly as this rundown of the many injuries of Marian Gaborik(notes). "F-R-A-G-I-L-E ... it must be French Italian (Joke Fail)!"
» Let's get this straight: Every athlete who plays the Predators in Nashville would have to pay a $2,500 "jock tax" under a proposal by the Tennessee Senate; and the Predators would pay as much as $7,500 per season for the privilege to play in Tennessee? The Memphis Grizzlies and their opponents would be taxed; the NFL and minor league teams would not. Here's the thing, according to The Tennessean: "21 of 24 states with major-league professional sports franchises will charge jock taxes." Amazing.
» What the Philadelphia Flyers can learn from Chris Osgood's(notes) Stanley Cup success.
» Buried at the bottom of this piece on Curtis Joseph(notes) not returning to the Toronto Maple Leafs: "The Toronto Sun report also suggests the Leafs won't retain restricted free agent Justin Pogge(notes)." Has there been a biggest goaltending prospect bust in recent memory? (Leafs Fans: "His initials are C.P. and he likes to smoke.")
» The local TV station in Hershey, Pa. will break away from the NBA Finals to show the Calder Cup being skated if the Bears win.
» Good stuff from Capitals Insider on the Calder Cup Final. We snarked about it on Twitter today, but it was nice to see coverage of the Stanley Cup Final in the print edition of the Washington Post on Tuesday after a weekend without any.
» Back where he belongs: The Sault Star reports that former NHL coach Craig Hartsburg is being considered for Everett Silvertips' vacant coaching position in the WHL.
» Dissing Onondaga County for not allowing the AHL Syracuse Crunch to play an outdoor game.
» At this point in his playoff beard growth, it should be mandatory that a Ford pickup and a spittoon are Photoshopped into every picture of Dan Cleary. [AP]
» Sports Reporter Lede of the Day: "When you can't afford to lose another game or the season is over, it's like driving on a treacherous mountain road filled with potholes. The pressure mounts and one bounce can be the beginning of the end." Also, it's more fun if you're drunk. [Sun Media]
» June 18 has been declared "Martin Brodeur Day" in the Garden State, and the Devils are shipping fans down to via train Trenton for a celebration. The train is in the shape of a double cheeseburger. Just kidding. Or not. [Fischler]
» It's official: HC Salavat Yulaev has signed a 3-year contract with forward Viktor Kozlov(notes), formerly of the Washington Capitals. Fare thee well, good sir, and thanks again for that epic interview.
» More stats fun: Is the Atlantic the toughest division in the NHL over the last few seasons?
» NOT HOCKEY: Stephen Strasburg cards are selling for as much as $600 on eBay before the kid has thrown a single pitch in the Majors. Wonder how much Brien Taylor cards are going for these days?
» Alexander Ovechkin(notes) is named the NHL's top Russian, barely beating out Maxim Afinogenov.
» The Atlanta Thrashers have signed Andrew Kozek, the team's second-round selection (53rd overall) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. He played last season with the University of North Dakota Fighting ... uh ... "people."
» Jeff Schultz(notes) of the AJC sits down with Don Waddell of the Thrashers, who assures him that Atlanta is still a thriving NHL market despite Waddell still being in it.
» Sometimes, people need empirical data to reinforce the obvious; hence "Hockey Buzz Hogwash" and its year-long study of Dwayne Klessel's reporting. Look, the dude's a huckster and a damn good one. Whether you choose to pay attention to his cries for attention and occasional forays into martyrdom is, ultimately, your choice. We choose otherwise.
» Steven Ovadia thinks a Game 6 win is possible for the Penguins. "But at this point, I don't see how they could ever win a game seven in Detroit. Unless they have a man on the inside putting pillows behind the Joe Louis boards."
» Finally, Cabbie and his crew from The Score had to use more CGI than the "Speed Racer" movie to make this Nicklas Lidstrom interview interesting. But hey, it's something:
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NHL's dirty laundry stinks up Stanley Cup final
Damien Cox
June 7, 2009
DETROIT -- It was a much-heralded Stanley Cup final classic, Red Wings against Penguins, played out last night before millions of television viewers on Canada's national broadcast arm and one of the major television networks in the United States.
Perfect.
Well, pretty perfect, if not for all the dirty laundry obscuring the view.
The NHL, it's fair to say, could not have imagined six or eight months ago that its annual spring showcase would find itself being played out beneath the ominous cloud known as the Phoenix Coyotes.
It's a cloud that's more troubling, or annoying, than destructive. Consider that court documents made public Friday included a recommendation from one pro sports consultant that the best path to making the Coyotes profitable in the desert would begin with slashing the wildly inflated salary of one of hockey's greatest icons, Wayne Gretzky by at least $6 million (all figures U.S.) per annum.
It's like Rick Tocchet and Operation Slapshot all over again for The Great One, with Gretzky again looking like one of those helpless cormorants covered in black muck after an oil tanker spill when most of the attention of the hockey world should ideally be focused on the Wings and Pens.
It's all there in these most recent documents, including the NHL's Magna Carta, its constitution. Perhaps the secret NHL handshake will also soon be revealed as Bill Wirtz rolls over in his grave.
As part of commissioner Gary Bettman's affidavit to the court, meanwhile, there is the suggestion that Toronto Argonauts owners David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski are among those who have "expressed an interest" in buying the Coyotes and making them flourish in Arizona.
And it's almost true.
Cynamon and Sokolowski, brilliant individual businessmen and a strong pro sports ownership team that turned the Argos from a bankrupt mess into a viable business, have indeed talked to the league about the Coyotes.
Sokolowski has visited with Bettman in New York on numerous occasions, and the Argo owners even put their names in on the bidding for the Montreal Canadiens to have privileged access to confidential NHL information.
But they're not primarily interested in being NHL owners in Phoenix.
No, the play is to buy the team and move it to southern Ontario, likely the Downsview/Woodbine area north of Toronto. They have some deep-pocketed partners, and the long-term dream might be to build a giant football stadium/hockey arena complex.
Bettman wants to convince them to at least try to operate the team in Phoenix first, and it's possible they might agree, particularly if the league was willing to guarantee they'd have first dibs on the southern Ontario market if, as now seems inevitable, another club is placed there.
Similar favours, you might recall, were showered upon Craig Leipold, now the owner in Minnesota, for saving Nashville from Jim Balsillie.
This might, then, represent a relatively cheap way – $130-150 million – for Cynamon and Sokolowski to buy into the NHL lodge, with a much more lucrative hockey opportunity possibly down the road. There are some interesting historical subplots here, including the fact that Gretzky and Bruce McNall used to co-own the Argos at the same time McNall was chair of the NHL's board of governors.
It's not like some of these folks haven't been bedfellows before.
But the original intent of Cynamon and Sokolowski wasn't to keep the Coyotes where they are, and it's not their long-term goal.
It's to be the lucky folks who get the licence to be the second NHL team in southern Ontario, and the line starts to the left on that one.
Once, the NHL urged its teams to respect the sanctity of the Cup final and not engage in major business while it was being played out, but nobody abides by that any more. Now, the ugliest, least successful side of the industry is being laid bare in the final days before a new champion is crowned.
Not perfect.
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