Vancouver Canucks & Luongo Break The Rules
Well the Vancouver Canucks have gone ahead and named Roberto Luongo as their captain. I feel like finishing this post right there due to it being a stunning statement on its own, but what the hell, may as well point out the obvious rule breaking by the Canucks, and throw up a picture of what his jersey, and in fact all of the Canucks captains jersey’s from now on should look like.
Oilers Acquire Enforcer Steve MacIntyre
The Edmonton Oilers have acquired enforcer Steve MacIntyre off waivers from Florida, and have now added a true tough guy to their lineup. Sure MacIntyre can bairly skate, can’t score (38 points in reputable leagues since 1997), but he sure can drop them with the best of them, and can lay an awesome beat down like the NHL hasn’t seen in a long time. If you are doubtful, have a look at some of the fights that contributed to his impressive 2417 penalty minutes over the last 10 years: Read more
Chicago Blackhawks Yank Nikolai Khabibulin
The Nikolai Khabibulin days are over in Chicago, and now rumors are running rampant on where the goaltender is going to end up. The Bulin Wall has been placed on waivers, and teams have until noon Tuesday to decide if they want the tender in his final season of a 27 million dollar contract.
Last season Khabubulin was 23-20-6 last season with a 2.63 GAA, so he would still make a great addition to many teams around the league. The first team that comes to mind is the LA Kings. Need a goalie? check. Need to fill up cap room? check. I’d say the Kings would be foolish not to snag this guy, as they will likely be able to grab him for less next year. Yes his salary is a mess this year, but its the final year of his contract, and he could help make a team struggling with identy into the California poster boys… yeah bullshit, but still I think they should take this guy on, and let Bernier grow in the minors for one more season.
Adding Insult To Insult
It was bad enough that the NHL chose Def Leppard to headline the season kick-off party in Detroit, NHL Face-Off Rocks 2008. Now I see that they’ve added Alanis Morrissette to the bill. She won’t actually be there, but a portion of the show she’ll be playing that night in Montreal will be broadcast live via satellite.
Is this honestly the image that the league wants for itself? A couple of has-beens that don’t “rock” whatsoever? I have a feeling that this is going to be harder to watch than an NFL Superbowl half time show.
NHL Teams Hiding Injury Details
It looks like NHL teams are now going to be able to keep injury details under wraps, as they no longer have to provide full disclosure in regards to injury status. As Mirtle points out, teams are no longer required to disclose the specific nature of an injury, though they are required to disclose if a player will miss a game or not return to a game after an injury. What a bunch of garbage. In a league where transparency is critical, not disclosing injuries is a major step backwards. This just screams bush league.
Ottawa Senators Gerber & The Dark Side
Looks like Ottawa Senators goalie Martin Gerber has been wrangled by the dark side, and his real head has been replaced with this Darth Vader mask. Hopefully the poor little Martin Vader won’t get his right hand slashed off, or get burned by NHL shooters as badly as the original Darth did… Anyway, its hard to tell, and it will take seeing this thing on TV or something to tell if its really a good job or not. In the mean time, I’ll just sit here wishing that instead of Martin Vader of today, that Garth Snow had been sucked into the dark side back in his day…
NHL.com Gets a Redesign
NHL.com is finally geting a facelift, and I have to say that I really like it. The old design, which is still current, was too cluttered, and just a plain old mess. This new one makes the photos pop, and it still manages to deliver all the hockey news you need without being a total disaster. Currently the site is in beta / development, but you can see a live preview of NHL.com’s new look on their site. Good work NHL! Taking an online step in the right direction… now take this sure success offline and redesign that front office, starting with Mr. Little Man Syndrome.
Sucks To Be Them
Designed for the sole purpose of ruining the skillfully crafted rosters of fantasy hockey managers everywhere, pre-season injuries have reared their ugly heads once again. This year, we already have a few that beg the question, “What did these guys do to piss off the hockey gods?”
First up is Carolina. Now, it’s one thing if one of your top wingers gets hit when he’s not ready for it, takes a puck to the skate while crashing the net, etc in a pre-season game and has to miss some time as a result. You expect that, and you deal with it when it comes. But losing Justin Williams for four to six months due to off-ice exercise gone wrong is a different story. Just reading about this one gives me chills: Read more
NHL Pre-Season Games on TV
Well it looks like we are finally going to get a nice taste of the NHL pre-season with three games on the tube tonight. First up are the Senators in New York to face the Rangers, then the Sabres in Toronto to battle the Leafs, and finally the Canucks in Edmonton to take on the Oilers. The games are spread out across MSG, Sportsnet Ontario, and Sportsnet Pacific, so hopefully you have your full sports package, or NHL Center Ice (has that even started yet?). Here are further details on the games:
- Senators vs. Rangers – 7pm EST – MSG
- Sabres vs. Leafs – 7:30pm EST – Sportsnet Ontario
- Canucks vs. Oilers – 9pm EST – Sportsnet Pacific
I know its just the pre-season but I’m pretty excited to be able to watch these games. Of course you get to see the kids that are trying to prove themselves by hitting and trying to fight everything in sight, and then you get the proven talent skating circles around the wanna-be try-outers. If the Canucks/Oilers rookie tilt from last week is any indication of how this game will go, I predict about 50 minutes in penalties.
Carolina & St. Louis’ Third Jerseys
This season’s 3rd jerseys are slowly being rolled out, and the St. Louis Blues gave fans their first look of theirs today at their FANFest. All I can say is WOW, and just as puck daddy does, wonder how long it will be before the Blues adopt this jersey as their primary one. I’d have to say that this is one of the nicest jerseys, not just 3rd jersey, that I’ve seen in a long time. Might have to get myself one!
The other jersey that has caught my eye this season is the Carolina Hurricanes third jersey. Unfortunately they went with black, being oh-so-original, but still it looks pretty good, and way better than their current flushing toilet logo. I wonder what the other teams have in store for us this year…
-
Twitter
New Puck Daddy: Which wacky ideas from GM meetings do you want in the NHL? http://bit.ly/bb0AOf /via @wyshynski
1 day ago After 1100 votes the Penguins and Flyers are neck and neck in the race for the presidents trophy http://bit.ly/9UjIi9
1 day ago Time to vote for the most annoying fans in the league! http://bit.ly/9UjIi9 #nhl #hockey @nhl
2 days ago
