There's an interesting piece from TSN's Bob McKenzie this afternoon on the salary cap and performance bonuses. In a nutshell, according to McKenzie, there is no performance bonus cushion for teams this season. That's going to make cap room a little tighter. That's because technically this is the final year of the CBA and the league isn't allowing teams to go over the cap by 7.5 percent to deal with those bonuses that might or might not be earned.
The Kings have dealt defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky to the Edmonton Oilers. From the Kings website:
The Los Angeles Kings have acquired center Jarret Stoll and defenseman Matt Greene from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky.
A good story was posted a couple of hours ago on Stars prospect Ray Sawada, a second round pick out of 2004 who turns pro this season. He played a little last season in Iowa after wrapping up his career at Cornell and did quite well. I think he's a guy to watch at camp in September. Anyway, here's the story from the Richmond (B.C.) Review:
Raymond Sawada is reaching for the Stars—literally and figuratively.
After concluding a solid college career last spring with the Cornell Big Red, the 23-year-old Richmondite is determined to crack the lineup of the Dallas Stars next season.
“They’ve said there are two or three spots open,” says Sawada, a former Richmond Sockeye, who was among several National Hockey League players and prospects working out Wednesday with skating coach Derek Popke at the Richmond Ice Centre.
Sawada, who heads to the Stars’ week-long development camp Monday and will be back in Dallas for the team’s main training camp in September, says he’d be disappointed if doesn’t earn a job in the NHL.
“I’m going to camp believing I can take one of the jobs available. That’s my expectation,” he says.
The Stars have signed Loui Eriksson to a two-year contract worth $3.2 million. He gets $1.5 million in year one and $1.7 million in year two. Here's the release from the Stars.
The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has signed left wing Loui Eriksson to a two-year contract worth $3.2 million ($1.5 million in 2008-09 and $1.7 million in 2009-10).
“We are very pleased to sign Loui Eriksson to this new contract,” said Stars Co-General Manager Les Jackson. “Loui really started to show some flashes of his potential last season and he seems to be growing into the player we think he can be. We expect Loui’s development and production to continue next season and beyond.”
Eriksson, 22, skated in 69 games with the Stars last season, collecting 14 goals and 17 assists for 31 points, all career-highs. He added four goals and four assists for eight points in 18 Stanley Cup Playoff games with Dallas this past spring, ranking tied for third on the club in goals and tied for sixth in points. In 128 career NHL games, Eriksson has posted 50 points (20 goals, 30 assists) and 46 penalty minutes.
The 6-1, 183-pound left wing was originally selected by Dallas in the second round (No. 33 overall) of the 2003 Entry Draft and earned Rookie of the Year honors for the American Hockey League’s Iowa Stars in 2005-06. He also was named AHL Rookie of the Month for March 2006.
A native of Goteborg, Sweden, Eriksson became just the third player in Dallas Stars history to score a goal in his NHL debut, Oct. 4, 2006 at Colorado. He skated for Team Sweden at the 2004 World Junior Championships and the 2003 World Under-18 Championships.
The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association announced today that the Team Payroll Range established for the 2008-09 League Year, pursuant to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, provides for a Lower Limit of $40.7 million, an Adjusted Midpoint of $48.7 million and an Upper Limit of $56.7 million.
Here are the Stars' qualifying offers: right wing B.J. Crombeen, left wing Loui Eriksson, defenseman Vadim Khomitski, right wing Vojtech Polak, right wing Konstantin Pushkarev and left wing Francis Wathier.
Players who did not receive qualifying offers: Marius Holtet, Jussi Timmonen and Janos Vas
Here's the release from the Stars:
The Dallas Stars announced today that the club extended qualifying offers to the following six players: right wing B.J. Crombeen, left wing Loui Eriksson, defenseman Vadim Khomitski, right wing Vojtech Polak, right wing Konstantin Pushkarev and left wing Francis Wathier.
Right wing Marius Holtet, defenseman Jussi Timonen and left wing Janos Vas did not receive qualifying offers.
Teams are required to extend a one-year “qualifying offer” to any current restricted free agent by June 25 in order to receive the right of first refusal or draft choice compensation should that respective player sign an offer sheet with another NHL club. The qualifying offers will expire at 4 p.m. (Central Time) on Sunday, July 15.
Qualifying offers fall into three categories:
1) A player whose prior year salary was equal or less than $660,000 must receive a qualifying offer of 110% of their prior year’s salary.
2) A player whose prior year salary was more than $660,000 and up to $1 million must receive a qualifying offer of 105% of their prior year’s salary (but in no event shall such qualifying offer exceed $1 million).
3) A player whose prior year salary was more than $1 million must receive a qualifying offer at 100% of their prior year’s salary.
If a team does not give a qualifying offer to a restricted free agent, he is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and can sign with any team with no compensation required to the player’s former club.
Jeremey Roenick will be playing another year in San Jose. The Sharks announced a short time ago that Roenick, Joe Pavelski and backup goalie Brian Boucher have all been re-signed for next season. Terms weren't disclosed.
The NHL has suspended Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli indefinitely after he pleaded guilty to lying to the SEC. Samueli is due to be sentenced in Auguts and after that the league will review his status. Below is an excerpt from the league news release.
Commissioner Gary Bettman today announced that Henry Samueli, owner of the Anaheim Ducks, has been suspended indefinitely from any involvement with the Ducks and the National Hockey League.
On Monday, Mr. Samueli pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sentencing by the U.S. Federal District Court is scheduled for August 18. Following sentencing, the League will review Mr. Samueli’s status and will finalize the duration of his suspension as well as any other action that may be deemed appropriate.
Here's the Los Angeles Times story on Samueli's case, which said it involved an "alleged plot to secretly reward his Broadcom Corp. employees by manipulating stock options."
The Lightning made it official today, announcing the hiring of Barry Melrose as the team's new head coach. It's an interesting choice. A lot of people just look at the guy as the commentator on ESPN, but he's got a track record. A good one.
He played in the NHL and he's coached, taking the Kings to the Stanley Cup Final in 1993. Yeah, the Kings had Wayne Gretzky back then, which helped Melrose's cause. But he won a Calder Cup title in the AHL as a coach and also won a Memorial Cup title as a coach in juniors.
He's been out of the game for quite a while, but he's been around it with his work on ESPN. Rick Tocchet and just retired Wes Walz are going to be two of his assistants and one more is expected to be named later. That's the making of a good staff around him. It should be interesting. I'd like to see the Lightning do well, especially since they have some etars in the mix.
Overall, pretty average draft for the Stars. They had only five picks ranging from 59 to 209. That's not a lot to work with as far as just making picks. Moving up into the first round on Friday or higher in the second round on Saturday would have probably required a roster player, and I am not sure I buy giving up a guy now for someone who is a few years away.
So the Stars took a bunch of guys who are probably several years away. A couple of them are going into college. The defenseman Philip Larsen, who is from Denmark and playing in Sweden, will likely be able to develop over in Sweden. Time will tell on how the European picks will be handled without a transfer agreement.
I like the Tyler Beskorowany pick. He's a project, but the Stars obviously see some potential. As I said in an earlier post they have had pretty good luck with goalies. Dan Ellis and Mike Smith are recent successes. Marty Turco is from a draft way back when.
Time will tell on all these guys. The argument is that Fabian Brunnstrom is this year's first round pick. I don't really buy that argument. They are bringing him in for now. The draft, at least for a team like the Stars, is about building for the future. I don't know if this draft group will pay off in the future. I don't know if Brunnstrom will pay off in the now. Time will tell on all of it.
The Stars took goalie Tyler Beskorowany with their second round pick (59th overall). He played with Owen Sound of the OHL and he's big: 6'4, 203 pounds.
He was ranked 16th among North American goalies by Central Scouting and 11th among all goalies by International Scouting.
The Stars seem to have gone off the charts here, but they've had good luck with picking goalies. So, I'll trust their judgement on this one.
It was a pretty interesting first day of the NHL draft. Lots of trades. A couple of the big ones: Olli Jokinen to Phoenix in a deal that sends Keith Ballard, Nick Boynton and the 49th pick to Florida. A three-way deal between Anaheim, Los Angeles and Calgary makes Mike Cammalleri a Flame and then Calgary ships Alex Tanguay and 2nd round pick in 2009 to Montreal for the 25th overall pick and a fifth round pick. Anaheim got the 17 and 28th pick out of that three-way deal and L.A. got the 12th pick.
I thought Phoenix had a very good night. They got Jokinen and then got the third best forward in the draft in Mikkel Badker and they landed another late first round pick, taking Viktor Tikhonov, a "late bloomer" who went higher than projected but could be a nice find. They gave up a couple defensemen, but they are putting together a good young team and have a rock in goal with Ilya Bryzgalov.
Other than the high number of trades, there weren't that many surprises. Steven Stamkos went first and there were a lot of defensemen taken in the first twenty picks.
Nothing on the Stars' front, but they'll get some picks tomorrow. We'll see what they come up with. I think they should get a good prospect even at No. 59.
The Predators have traded goalie Chris Mason to St. Louis for a fourth-round pick in this weekend’s draft, and the team has also agreed to terms on a new contract with goalie Dan Ellis.
The two moves clear up what had been a clouded goaltending situation for the Predators. Mason and prospect Pekka Rinne had been under contract to Nashville for the coming season, which was a sticking point in trying to get Ellis to re-sign.
Things are about to pick up a bit here in the hockey world with the draft coming up this weekend. It's not a compelling draft as far as the Stars go since they don't pick until 59th overall and they only have five picks the way things stand right now. I was listening to XM Radio this afternoon and one of the guys on the hockey channel said, "Ouch" before reading a list of the Stars' picks in the draft.
Yeah, it doesn't look good on paper as far as the picks they have, but that doesn't mean it can't be productive. They didn't have a first round pick last summer and didn't pick until 50th overall, and still got some players with potential there. I suspect they can get some players with potential this time around too. First round is on Versus Friday night and the rest of the draft is supposed to be on the NHL Network.
I've got my Red Line Report (my favorite among the scouting reports) and the draft guides from The Hockey News, International Scouting Services, McKeen's and some other stuff. Here's a list of some good online resources.
Looks like we'll know about what Scott Niedermayer is going to do about next season before the middle of next season. Nidermayer's agent told TSN that the Ducks defenseman is expected to announce his plans about next season by Friday. Still no word on which way he might go.
Niedermayer's agent, Kevin Epp of Titan Sports Management told TSN on Wednesday that his client will inform general manager Brian Burke of what his future plans will be - playing out the last season of his contract or retiring.
"We hope to have an answer Friday with what he hopes to do with his future in hockey," Epp told TSN. "I couldn't say one way or the other. I think he doesn't even know somedays. I think he thinks one way, maybe retirement might be great but he also enjoys playing hockey, it has been a huge part of his life, I think he would like to continue that way."
Blake Wheeler, the highly-sought winger from the University of Minnesota, has advised his agent to finalize terms of a contract with the Bruins, a two-year deal that won’t be made official until July 1, in keeping with NHL bylaws that govern the movement and signing of unrestricted free agents.
"More than 20 NHL teams were interested in Blake, and this was a very tough decision,’’ said Wellesley-based agent Matt Keator, who also represents Boston captain Zdeno Chara. "And ultimately it came down to a few things for Blake, but mostly that he was comfortable with where the Bruins were headed as an organization — how this year they brought along kids like David Krejci, Milan Lucic, and Mark Stuart. They’ve done a good job of developing kids, and he wants to continue along that line.’’
I watched the NHL awards last night. I wasn't surprised at who won what. I would have liked to have seen Nabokov win the Vezina, but Brodeur had a good year too. Glad to see Ovechkin get the MVP and I thought the Adams could have either of three ways. Boudreau, Babcock and Carbonneau were all excellent choices.
The biggest surprise looking through the vote totals is that Brenden Morrow got a vote for the Lady Byng. I just never considered him a Lady Byng kind of guy. Marty Turco got a vote too.
Of more significance, Morrow finished seventh in the Selke voting and got four first place votes.
Matt Niskanen finished 8th in the Calder voting with one second place vote, one third place vote, two fourth place votes and nine 5th place votes.
Here are the vote totals for the NHL Awards:
(more)
Todd McLellan will be announced as the Sharks' new head coach tomorrow, having agreed to a three-year deal. McLellan was assistant to Babcock the past three years.
McLellan flew to San Jose this weekend, and two days worth of interviews with general manager Doug Wilson went so well McLellan cancelled a meeting he had scheduled for later this week for the job in Atlanta.
TSN is reporting that the average NHL salary last season was $1,906,793, which is higher than the pre-lockout level of about 1.83 million. I don't read too much into this. League revenues are way up and salaries are tied to revenues. There's a balance to the system. Is it perfect? No, of course not. People will find things to pick apart, but if there was no lockout and cap that $1.9 million figure would be a lot higher. I don't think the Gary Bettman and the owners are up in arms over this.
Round 1
Pick 28 (Dallas to Los Angeles): Los Angeles traded D Mattias Norstrom, RW Konstantin Pushkarev and its 3rd- and 4th-round picks in the 2007 Entry Draft to Dallas for D Jaroslav Modry, D Johan Fransson, Dallas' 2nd- and 3rd-round picks in 2007 and 1st-round pick in 2008 (Feb. 27, 2007).
Round 4
Pick 119 (Dallas to Ottawa, via Tampa Bay):
(1) Dallas to Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay traded D Darryl Sydor to Dallas for Dallas’ 4th-round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft (July 2, 2006).
(2) Tampa Bay to Ottawa: Ottawa traded its 5th-round pick in the 2007 Entry Draft, Phoenix's 7th-round pick in 2007 (previously acquired) and Ottawa's 7th-round pick in 2007 to Tampa Bay for Dallas' 4th-round pick in 2008 (previously acquired) (June 23, 2007).
Round 6
Pick 176 (Montreal to Dallas): Montreal traded C Mike Ribeiro and its 6th-round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft to Dallas for D Janne Niinimaa and Dallas' 5th-round pick in 2007 (Sept. 30, 2006).
Pick 179 (Dallas to Los Angeles): Los Angeles traded C Evgeny Federov to Dallas for Dallas' 6th-round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft (Dec. 10, 2007).
Lots of stuff over the past few days, so here are some thoughts. First, the retirement of Mattias Norstrom. I'm not surprised. I thought he was leaning that way because of some family concerns. I think his departure is a loss for the Stars. He had his ups and downs during the regular season due to some injury issues and some other stuff, but he was very good in the playoffs. Very good. That said, I think the Stars are still pretty well set on the blue line with how much the young players developed during the season.
The signing of Dan Jancevski made sense in that keeps some much needed defensive depth in the organization. He's a good, reliable guy to have around in the minors in case you need to bring someone up on an emergency basis. The Stars don't have a glut of defensemen in the minors these days, although Ivan Vishnevskiy will be joining the mix next season. They may still need to look at the defensive depth issue. I don't know if they keep the current seven they have in Zubov, Robidas, Boucher, Daley, Grossman, Niskanen and Fistric, or if they make adjustments to that group. Either way, I still think they need some depth in the organization.
The Stars signing Toby Petersen to a two-year deal was no big surprise. A one-way deal at $550,000 is a good deal for both sides. Petersen gets guaranteed money and the Stars get a good player at a very good price. Petersen played well in the playoffs. I know some people look at him as a prospect starting to come into his own. In reality he's 29-years-old and was in the same draft class as guys like John Erskine and Niko Kapanen. That said, he made the most out of this latest crack at the NHL and seems to fit in well with the Stars and his speed and smarts are big assets. Don't really know what it says about Stu Barnes. Petersen fits with or without Barnes.
I didn't think much of it when the Stars dealt Marty Sertich to Colorado for a draft pick. I thought he might have some potential when the Stars signed him in 2006, but he seemed destined for a minor league depth role at this point. He was a good player in Iowa.
Never really addressed the Trevor Daley contract. A three-year deal for $2.3 million might seem a little steep, but that's the NHL these days. Teams are giving good money to lock up young players who are still restricted, still developing and with an upside. Daley falls into that category. Plus, Daley was eligible for arbitration. Both sides got to avoid that and get a longer term deal.
Trevor Linden just announced his retirement. He was the 2nd overall pick in 1988. Mike Modano, of course, was the 1st overall pick that year. Always liked Linden. Good player who had a good career.
I liked the hiring of Ron Wilson by the Leafs. He's had good coach success where ever he has coached. Couldn't San Jose over the big hurdle, but I don't think you can put it all on him. The Leafs will be a tough job though. They've been treading water for a while here.
Marc Crawford out as Kings coach?. Not really surprised. That team has been treading water with him behind the bench. They seemed to be poised to make a move forward this past season, but seemed to fall back. There's a lot of good young talent there and once the goaltending situation stabilizes maybe they can start moving forward. Jonathan Bernier should be the answer there.
The Stars have traded minor league center Marty Sertich to Colorado:
DALLAS STARS ACQUIRE CONDITIONAL 2009 SEVENTH-ROUND DRAFT PICK
From Colorado Avalanche in Exchange For Marty Sertich
FRISCO, Tex. – The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has acquired a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for center Marty Sertich.
Sertich, 25, was signed by Dallas as a free agent on July 10, 2006, and spent the last two seasons with the Iowa Stars in the American Hockey League. In 75 games with Iowa last season, the 5-9, 165-pound center collected 47 points (22 goals and 25 assists) and 42 penalty minutes, leading the club in goals and power play goals (8) and placing second in points and fourth in assists.
The native of Roseville, Minn., won the Hobey Baker Award as collegiate hockey’s top player in 2005, as a junior at Colorado College. He led the nation in scoring with 64 points that season and helped the Tigers to their first Frozen Four since 1997.
Dallas Stars defenseman Mattias Norstrom is retiring with immediate effect, Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet said Tuesday.
"Dallas wanted to keep me, but it is over now," the 36-year old Swede was quoted as saying on the newspaper's Web site. "I promised myself 10 years ago that I would quit while I still had a strong position in the team. And now it is over."
The Stars have signed defenseman Dan Jancevski to a two-year contract. Here is the release from the Stars:
The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has signed defenseman Dan Jancevski to a two-year, two-way contract through the 2009-10 season. At the NHL level, Jancevski will receive $525,000 in 2008-09 and $550,000 in 2009-10, while he will make $225,000 and $250,000 if he is to play the two seasons at the AHL level.
Jancevski, 26, went scoreless in two games with Dallas last season, and collected two penalty minutes in two contests with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2007-08. Originally drafted by Dallas in the second round (No. 66 overall) of the 1999 Entry Draft, he also skated in two games for the Stars during the 2005-06 campaign.
The 6-3, 218-pound defenseman was dealt from Tampa Bay to Dallas on January 15, 2008, in exchange for right wing Junior Lessard. Prior to the deal, he played in 37 games with the Lightning’s AHL affiliate in Norfolk, posting four goals and 16 assists for 20 points. He then appeared in 33 games for the Iowa Stars, collecting 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) and 36 penalty minutes.
The native of Windsor, Ontario, served as the Iowa Stars’ captain in 2005-06 and led team defensemen in scoring with 38 points (9-29-38). He played 80 games with the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs in 2006-07 and notched 31 points (7-24-31).
The Stars have signed Toby Petersen to a two-year contract worth $1.1 million. Stars' press release is below:
The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has signed center Toby Petersen to a two-year, one-way contract worth $1.1 million ($550,000 per season) that will run through the completion of the 2009-10 campaign.
“We are very pleased to have Toby under contract the next two seasons,” said Co-General Manager Les Jackson. “Toby is a consummate professional on and off the ice, and he played a key role for us during our playoff run this spring. We look forward to his continued contributions to our club.”
Petersen, 29, skated in eight games with Dallas last season and posted three assists and four penalty minutes. He appeared in 16 of Dallas’ 18 Stanley Cup Playoff games this fall, going scoreless with two penalty minutes.
The 5-10, 197-pound center was honored as MVP of the Iowa Stars in 2007-08, posting 51 points (21 goals, 30 assists) in 63 games. He led the club in assists and points, and he ranked second in goals and tied for third in power play goals (6). He represented Iowa at the 2008 AHL All-Star Game, collecting three points (1 goal, 2 assists) and won the Fastest Skater contest at the AHL All-Star skills competition. He also won Iowa’s MVP award during the 2005-06 season.
The native of Minneapolis has appeared in 163 career NHL games with Pittsburgh, Edmonton and Dallas, notching 16 goals and 28 assists for 44 points. Petersen was a member of the 2005-06 Edmonton club that won the Western Conference, but lost to Carolina in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Originally selected by Pittsburgh in the ninth round (No. 244 overall) of the 1998 Entry Draft, Petersen scored 128 points (59 goals, 69 assists) in 138 games at Colorado College from 1996-2000. He also represented Team USA at the 2007 World Championships, scoring three points (1 goal, 2 assists) in seven games.
Sources tell TSN that Detroit Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek will announce his retirement on Monday.
The Red Wings have called a news conference at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for 11am et/8am pt.
Hasek leaves the NHL as one of the most important goaltenders the game has ever seen. From 1993 to 2001, The Dominator won six Vezina Trophies and became the first goalie to win consecutive Hart Trophies.
He followed up his domination in the late 1990's by becoming the first European starting goaltender to win a Stanley Cup in 2002, setting a record with six shutouts in the playoffs.
This season, Hasek won 27 games with a goals-against-average of 2.14 this season, appearing in 41 games while he shared duties with Chris Osgood. In the playoffs, he appeared in just four games against the Nashville Predators in the first round.
It wasn't as exciting as Monday's game, but Wednesday's tilt still had its moments. That late power play goal by the Penguins made things interesting and the Penguins came close to scoring with less than five seconds to go to tie the game and force OT. But not this time. Detroit wins the Stanley Cup and the Red Wings deserved it. They were the best team in the regular season and in the playoffs. Give the Penguins credit. A lot of people were ready to write them off early in the series, but they were in each and everyone of the last four games of the series. A bounce here or there and maybe we are talking about the anticipation of a Game 7. But the bottom line is the team that deserved to win the series and the Cup won it.
That third goal - the one that trickled through Marc-Andre Fleury's legs and then went into the net when he fell on it - turned out to be the difference in the game. Good thing the ref was in the proper position to see that the puck was still in play. If he wasn't, that play could have been blown dead.
Henrik Zetterberg seemed to be the obvious choice for the Conn Smythe. He had a great postseason. I think the only other guy who might have been given serious consideration would have been Chris Osgood as far as the Red Wings.
Nice touch for Nicklas Lidstrom to hand the Cup off to Dallas Drake, who has played a long time in this league and finally won it.
Just some other stuff. I thought Fleury had a very good postseason, but I bet he'd like a do over on a couple of those Game 6 goals. I thought Evgeni Malkin had a dismal series, but he came up with some big plays in both Game 5 and Game 6. Too little, too late though. Pittsburgh hurt itself in the series with those misses on the five-on-three power plays. You've got to cash in those chances.
Remember last year when the Ducks won and everybody was talking about getting more North American? Now what? Get more Swedish?
There were many people in the NHL community who were floored and angered Monday when golf superstar Tiger Woods told reporters “I don’t think anybody watches hockey anymore.”
And you can most assuredly count Dallas Stars co-GM Brett Hull among those who were most shocked.
“It’s unfortunate that he would say that, because there’s a guy I really admire,” Hull told THN.com Wednesday. “I look to him as a Wayne Gretzky type of person that always does the right things and says the right things, not only for his sport but as an ambassador for sport in general.
Woods’ insults seemed particularly baffling to Hull given his previous experience meeting the world’s No. 1 golfer when Hull was still an active player for the Stars.
“I remember him coming into (Dallas’) dressing room with (fellow golfer) Mark O’Meara in ’99, when we were in the conference final against Colorado,” Hull said. “He seemed to be a hockey fan then, and I know he’s played golf with Wayne before, so I’m really surprised he said that.”
Hull also told THN he wouldn’t be able to participate in the NHL’s upcoming goalie equipment working group scheduled to meet June 11 in Toronto, as he was needed by the Stars to help with a new arena being built for the organization’s American League affiliate in Austin, Texas.
There's a report in the National Post linking the Dallas Stars to Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie. Here are a couple of excerpts from the Post article:
As many as eight National Hockey League teams have been in discussions or made overtures to Jim Balsillie in recent months about a possible sale or minority partnership with the Canadian billionaire, sources say.
Of the eight ownership groups who engaged in talks and negotiations with Mr. Balsillie, several represent NHL teams in the southern United States, including the Atlanta Thrashers, Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars.
One note about that Post article. It said that Balsillie was either contacted by teams or, in some cases, contacted teams himself. So, in theory, he could have contacted the Stars and that's how they get mentioned in the report.
There's a report in the National Post linking the Dallas Stars to Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie. Here are a couple of excerpts from the Post article:
As many as eight National Hockey League teams have been in discussions or made overtures to Jim Balsillie in recent months about a possible sale or minority partnership with the Canadian billionaire, sources say.
Of the eight ownership groups who engaged in talks and negotiations with Mr. Balsillie, several represent NHL teams in the southern United States, including the Atlanta Thrashers, Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars.
One note about that Post article. It said that Balsillie was either contacted by teams or, in some cases, contacted teams himself. So, in theory, he could have contacted the Stars and that's how they get mentioned in the report.
And a great one too. Hate to see them end with power play goals, but the high stick on Hudler was something that had to be called. Great game by Fleury. More thoughts later. Great game though and more hockey on Wednesday.
So much for that first goal, eh? If you can't get a second one you are usually going to be in trouble and that's what happened to the Penguins. They almost made it 2-0 when Marian Hossa hit the crossbar. They had that five-on-three in the third period and couldn't take advantage. That was a killer.
I didn't think they played all that bad a game. There were some moments where I thought Detroit dominated play, but Pittsburgh was in the game right until the end. They had some good chances throughout the game, but just didn't get anything past Chris Osgood other than that early power play goal by Hossa. I thought in some ways Pittsburgh was a little better than they were in the Game 3 win. The difference was they didn't cash in on their chances.
Outside of that blown five-on-three, the game came down to a nice keep by Brad Stuart and a backhand shot by Jiri Hudler that got through Marc-Andre Fleury. That's where the fine line was distinctly drawn in this game.
I feel for Evgeni Malkin. This series has been a nightmare for him. I thought he had a tough time on that five-on-three.
It's a tough loss for the Penguins. They have to win three straight, including two in Detroit, to win this series. I am not going to say it's impossible. They've played well at times in these last two games, so I think it's pretty evident they can compete with Detroit. The question is how will they play at The Joe, where the Red Wings manhandled them in the first two games. If they can win Monday they can make things interesting again. If not, it's time to give the Red Wings their due. They were the best team in the league all season long and they are proving it in the playoffs too.
tars in the mix.
