Doc Emrick
In case you missed it yesterday, OLN has hired Mike “Doc” Emrick as its main play-by-play guy for NHL broadcasts this season. Emrick is a great broadcaster if you ask me. He's one of the best play-by-play guys around.
He's been doing the Devils games for some time now and you've probably heard him on a national broadcast at one time or another on ESPN or ABC. He used to do Flyer games as well.
Devils fans love him. A lot of non-Devils fans admire him as well.
By the way, Emrick was also slated to be NBC's primary hockey play-by-play guy in 2004-05 had there been an NHL season. I'm guessing he'll be NBC's guy in 2005-06 as well, but I don't have confirmation on that.
I did a quick search for some Emrick audio this morning, but struck out. I'll keep working on it.
The OLN news release is here.
31 August '05 - - default| - § ¶
Turco extenstion revisited
Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News has a column on the Marty Turco contract extension issue in today's paper. I think the Stars were wise to try to get Turco under contract long-term. I think Turco was wise to resist. My understanding is (as I mentioned two weeks ago in the blog) that Turco turned down what the Stars were offering. I don't know if he and his agent actually made a counter offer.
I think Turco will have a lot of leverage as he approaches unrestricted free agency and will be a very hot commodity if he hits the open market. He is one of the top top goaltenders in this league. Top goaltenders aren't easy to find, especially those who are in the prime of their careers.
The fact that he hasn't put together a great playoff stretch in his first two full NHL seasons is irrelevant. How many guys do that? Ed Belfour didn't. Neither did Nikolai Khabibulin. Two guys who did -- Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur -- have won six of the last dozen Stanley Cups. You are talking two Hall of Fame goaltenders.
And I don't think you can place the Stars' playoff woes in those two years on Turco's shoulders alone. Those were group efforts.
Anyway, Turco's negotiating stance will include the third full year of his career and I believe he'll have a lot of personal motivation this season. I think the impending free agency will be one. So will the Olympics. How he performs in the first part of the season will be key as to how whether he makes the Canadian Olympic team.
Overall, I just think it's a good move by Turco to wait on a contract. But it was a nice try by the Stars. It will be interesting to see where the Stars stand as far as the cap goes next season, especially if the cap drops in 2006-07.
They are already at $24 million for just 10 players right now and that's with Turco, Jason Arnott and Philippe Boucher all hitting unrestricted free agency.
29 August '05 - - default| - § ¶
Boucher wants pay
According to today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram Stars defenseman Philippe Boucher is seeking his 2004-05 salary of $2.6 million. Why? He says he was injured.
Actually, he was still undergoing some surgical treatment for that eye injury he suffered when he was hit by a puck early in the 2003-04 season. Although he returned to action and finished the season, Boucher underwent surgery during the lockout to repair some of the damage. That surgery helped return Boucher's vision to normal.
Boucher has filed a grievance and, unless he reaches a settlement with the Stars, it will be settled in arbitration.
I'm not absolutely sure on this, but I think Stu Barnes got paid during part of the lockout because he was undergoing rehab for a shoulder injury. I'll have to check out that one though.
I'm thinking we are about to hit a lull in Stars related stuff until just before training camp. The roster is pretty well set with players under contract for this season. There may be a few more things, but not much. You never know, maybe they'll have a surprise.
Both DIRECTV and Dish Network are starting to advertise their NHL CENTER ICE packages for this season. Both are offering an early bird special. Here are the links.
DIRECTV
Dish Network
26 August '05 - - default| - § ¶
Prospects signed
What should be the last wave of signings is now wrapped up with Loui Eriksson, Jussi Jokinen, Niklas Grossman and Tobias Stephan all agreeing to terms. Stephan will stay over in Europe this coming season. The Stars also finally announced the signing of Dan Jancevski. Not sure what took so long on Jancevski. I had his contract info a week ago.
I am looking forward to Iowa Stars hockey this season. It should be interesting to see how these players develop and progress over the season. It will give us a good indication of what the future may hold for the Dallas Stars.
It's going to make for a fun training camp in Frisco as well.
I've said previously the Stars haven't done much as far as developing prospects in the past because it didn't really fit into how they built their teams. That was done by signing free agents or making trades to add to the team's core. Well, that is probably going to have to change under the new system and this season will be the first test of where they stand.
Yesterday's trade between the Senators and the Thrashers appears to be a good deal for both teams. If I had to pick a winner, I would probably go with Atlanta. I just like Marian Hossa as a player. I like him a lot. How it works out on the ice will be determined down the road.
But from where both teams stood off the ice, it works. Dany Heatley wanted out of Atlanta to get a fresh start in the wake of all the circumstances surrounding the Dan Snyder death.
The Senators needed to move Hossa for salary cap reasons, although the Senators say that wasn't really the reason.
From that standpoint, it worked for both teams.
24 August '05 - - default| - § ¶
Ducks update
To create some cap space the Ducks moved left wing Mike Leclerc to Phoenix for a draft pick and Steve Rucchin to the NY Rangers for enforcer Trevor Gillies and a conditional draft pick. I'll save the Heatley-Hossa blockbuster for tomorrow.
23 August '05 - - default| - § ¶
Pacific Division stuff, more
The Mighty Ducks are bringing back Teemu Selanne. They also re-signed Samuel Pahlsson. That should push them right to the salary cap limit. GM Brian Burke says he'll move someone to create some breathing room. The L.A. Times speculates it could be right wing Petr Sykora. Steve Rucchin is another possibility.
I'll be watching the teams in the Pacific Division a lot more closely this season. Thirty-two (39 percent) of the Stars' games this season will be against those four teams. I'll probably take a look at each of the four teams on the main site in the next week or two.
Forty (49 percent) will be against the other teams in the West. That leaves 10 (12 percent) against the Eastern Conference, which has basically become irrelevant as far as the Stars and the rest of the West are concerned under the new scheduling format.
Tomorrow's the transfer deadline on players under contract to European clubs. The Stars have been in talks with a handful of players. There are some rumors but nothing confirmed. We should know in the next day or two.
23 August '05 - - default| - § ¶
Roster stuff, Stars picked sixth
It looks as if just about everything is set for the Stars. Maybe a couple of more European prospects signed and that should be it. Brenden Morrow gets two years at $4.1 million. A little bit higher than I expected, but not much. This should all push the Stars to around $37 million as far as the cap. That $37 million figure seems to be the magic number among teams that are pushing the upper limit of the cap.
The Calgary Sun polled some hockey experts to rank the teams in the Western Conference. The Stars finished sixth. The comment on Dallas from The Fan 960's Rob Kerr was this:
"Marty Turco and Mike Modano will single-handedly keep it from getting worse," Kerr says. "This is a team caught in transition between the old CBA and the new CBA. They're going to have to make a decision on which way they're going."
I'm not sure it's a matter of deciding which way they want to go. I look it as though they are on a one-way street right now with no place to turn. In other words, there is no decision to make right now.
They aren't at a stage where they can go to a youth movement because their prospect development has been dismal over the last several years. They've been a team that has supplemented its core group with veteran free agent signings at the expense of prospect development.
I think they've made a commitment to developing prospects in the future, but that road is still being built. So, for now, they took the only route they could, which was to keep what they had and keep it intact the best they could under the salary cap.
They'll still have a competitive team they can sell to fans, which is important coming out of the lockout.
In the Calgary Sun poll, which you can read here, Vancouver, Calgary, Detroit, San Jose, Edmonton, Dallas, Nashville and Colorado were the top eight finishers.
22 August '05 - - default| - § ¶
OLN
So it is going to be the NHL on OLN. I've never watched OLN in my life. Flipped over there this morning and there was a lady shooting at a target range. At the same time ESPN was in the middle of running SportsCenter over and over and ESPN2 had Cold Pizza on.
I have to admit changing from ESPN to OLN isn't going to matter to me from a personal standpoint. Outside of hockey, I seldom watch ESPN unless there is a game on I want to see whether it is baseball, college hoops or football. That's not all that often. I've got a dish to help satisfy my sports viewing appetite. Other than that, I never watch ESPN and that includes SportsCenter. I might watch Baseball Tonight every now and then. That's it as far as non-event stuff.
From the league's perspective this is a pretty good deal in some ways. The money ($135 million over two years) is very good considering the current state of the NHL in the market place. And it's nice to have a partner that really wants to dance with you. Maybe OLN is as pretty or as popular as ESPN, but at least it brings some enthusiasm to the dance floor.
OLN doesn't have the brand name of ESPN but if people want to watch NHL games on TV, they will find them. It doesn't matter if it is OLN, ESPN or something else. Of course, finding OLN might be a problem for some people.
The big concern with OLN is its subscriber base is pretty low when it comes to cable networks. It has 25 or 26 million fewer subscribers than ESPN/ESPN2 and the major cable networks. But it is growing and maybe the addition of the NHL will help it grow a little more.
The NHL's ratings, which might be poor to ESPN, should be a boost to OLN.
The fact that the NHL is on any national cable network in the U.S. coming out of the lockout, and getting rights fees, shouldn't be taken lightly. It's quite a coup for the league.
It's good that the league got a national cable deal, but I think the bigger concern right now is recapturing its original fan base now that the lockout is over and the NHL is back in business.
18 August '05 - - default| - § ¶
European prospects
Now that the NHL and International Hockey Federation have reached an agreement on player transfers, the Dallas Stars are likely to bring some more of their top European prospects to North America for 2005-06.
All European hockey federations, except Russia, have agreed to the deal. Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland are part of the agreement, which will last two years.
Under the agreement NHL teams will have until August 24 to sign European players under contract to European clubs.
The new deal could open the door for the Stars to sign Jussi Jokinen, Loui Eriksson, Niklas Grossman, Tobias Stephan or any other European players they want to bring over for the 2005-06 season.
The Stars were able to sign Yared Hagos and Vojtech Polak because they were not under contract in Europe. Neither was Janos Vas, who has reportedly signed a deal to come to North America this coming season.
17 August '05 - - default| - § ¶
Roster close to finished
It looks like the Stars are close to being done with assembling the 2005-06 roster. I still think they will come in at about $36.5 million as far as the salary cap goes. A little higher than they wanted but still $2.5 million under the $39 million cap.
The only big question mark is what Brenden Morrow gets through either arbitration or contract negotiations.
I have an idea of what John Erskine will get in his deal and that basically leaves two other roster spots, which I assume will probably go to a couple of prospects at forward. Of course all this depends on what happens in training camp.
I know very little about Garrett Burnett, whom the Stars signed yesterday. He appears to be the new enforcer type. I'll do some research on him in the next few days and put something together for the main site.
I apologize for the mailing list being down. It's part of the server move issue, which should be completely resolved here in a day or two or three.
16 August '05 - - default| - § ¶
Site stuff, Qualifying offers, Turco extension
Well, things are almost back to normal with the site. Friday was moving the server day and things didn't go all that well. It could have been a lot better. I guess it could have been a lot worse.
Everything is basically working now. I had to reinstall the blog software to get it to work, so I am starting fresh with this one, but I'll put up a link to the old here soon.
We should find out about qualifying offers today. I think most of these guys are going to take them, but we will see. If a player doesn't accept the QA it just means he'll have to negotiate a deal with the Stars.
I see there is a discussion on the message board as to whether the Stars should offer Marty Turco a contract extension. Here's a little tidbit I picked up on that over the weekend.
I was told that the Stars did offer him one, but he turned it down. I am not sure of the exact terms that were involved, but my guess based on the information I received is that it may have been similar to his previous contract. I am not exactly sure of that though.
15 August '05 - - default| - § ¶
