Tag Archives: edmonton oilers

Edmonton to Get $450 million Arena

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Edmonton city council has approved an agreement framework with Darryl Katz and his associates, the owners of the Edmonton Oilers, to build a new arena in downtown Edmonton. It’s not a done deal, but it’s getting close and it’s a deal that says a lot about the NHL returning to Winnipeg.

The new Edmonton arena will cost $450 million. The city will provide $125 million (our city couldn’t provide $1.25) , the Katz Group will pay $100 million, $125 million will come from a user-pay facility fee and the final $100 million must be raised in the community (Bake sales? Lemonade stands?).

In Winnipeg, where it seems more and more likely that the Atlanta Thrashers could be purchased by True North Sports and Entertainment and moved here, one must always remember that MTS Centre cost a mere $133 million to build. It has 15,000-and-a-few seats (depending on who your talking to, on which day) and it’s smaller than the arena that Winnipeggers tore down (although it does have a very, very nice suite level). It’s quite a lovely building, but it’s a boutique arena – absolutely perfect for the American Hockey League and great musical events.

The Oilers owners, playing in a building with 17,100 seats plus standing room (at least 2,000 more seats than here in Winnipeg), claim they can’t make it anymore and have hinted at cocktail parties that they’ve even thought about moving to Quebec City if Quebec builds an arena and Edmonton doesn’t.

Meanwhile, here in Winnipeg, we’ve been inundated with rumours. It’s silly, really. There is the rumour IN Winnipeg that says the deal to buy the Thrashers will be done on Friday and then announced on Tuesday. And then there was the Thursday report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution claiming that talks between the Atlanta Spirit Group and True North are ongoing, but are not close to a conclusion.

The reality is this: the private owners of True North Sports and Entertainment will either buy or not buy the available National Hockey League team in Atlanta. It’s their business and theirs alone.

But if they buy the Thrashers and move the team to Winnipeg, a city of approximately 700,000 people (the Edmonton Metropolitan Area has a population of 1,034,945) , how long will it be before we hear the cries: “We need a new arena?”

If we’re actually watching what’s going on in a bigger market with a bigger building, then one senses we’ll soon be hearing, “The arena isn’t big enough.”

The NHL is a very expensive proposition. What True North is negotiating is overwhelmingly risky. If they haven’t yet cut a deal to buy the Thrashers, I understand why.

In Winnipeg, hockey fans will not be the problem. However, smart people know that everything else might be.

 

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Another Day of Olympic Glory

Posted on February 17, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Thoughts from an Olympic television junkie…

Thought about going to my local Cineplex to watch the Team Canada-Norway game on the big screen at the theatre. Sally and I even drove over to inquire about prices. $11.45 to watch daily with come-and-go privileges and $34.95 for a full Olympic pass.

Pass.

I bought this big HDTV for a reason and as fun as it might sound, watching hockey in a theatre with a bunch of other Team Canada fans, it wasn’t worth $23. Especially after it became clear that we might be the only ones in the theatre.

So back home we went, huddled down in front of the big TV, popped our own corn and got ready to yell Go, Canada, Go! (No, not that stupid corporate cheer that the “I Believers” wanted us to yell).

Two things from Tuesday…

1) If pairs and men’s figure skating is any indication, then Will Ferrell’s Blades of Glory was a documentary.

2) The men’s Olympic hockey tournament opened and to no one’s surprise, Team Canada walloped Norway 8-0.

The Canadians got off to a slow start, but once the Norwegians were spent (boy, those guys came out hard in the first period) and almost as soon as Canadian head coach Mike Babcock put Jaroma Iginla on a line with Sidney Crosby and Rick Nash, the Canadians exploded.

Iginla finished with the hat-trick, Crosby had three helpers and Roberto Luongo had to make only 15 saves to record the shutout. Canada outshot Norway 42-15 and it probably could have been a lot worse, but a number of tipped shots just whistled wide.

It was the most goals Canada has scored in an Olympic game since the NHL was permitted to participate in 1998 and yet, still, if I were a tall forehead with the Edmonton Oilers, I’d find a way to acquire Norwegian goalie Pal Grotnes.

Canada plays the Swiss on Thursday. We won’t be going to the theatre.

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Bettman Working On His Revisionist View of Hockey History As Canada Becomes His Final Frontier.

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

TAMPA — This week, Gary Bettman started his “Dick Cheney Tour.” It’s a simple format. You find people in the media who won’t challenge your assertions and then you go out and change history.

This past week, Bettman sat down with Toronto-based Sun Media and got all warm and fuzzy about his relationship with Canadian hockey markets. In a piece entitled: Bettman Asks Canada to Be Patient, the commissioner of the National Hockey League suggested he had a great track record “in respect to the Canadian franchises.”

“For anyone that knows my record in respect to the Canadian franchises, that’s simply not true (that he tried to keep Jim Balsillie out of Hamilton simply because he disliked teams in Canada),” Bettman told the Sun. “I can’t satisfy those who believe our intentions were other than straightforward of ensuring NHL rules and procedure. That’s what this was about.”

Really? What rules? And at what cost?

When Bettman forced the Jets out of Winnipeg in 1996, he convinced the two hockey-ignorant rich guys who bought the franchise that if they couldn’t cut a deal with the Target Center in Minneapolis, they should take the team to a basketball gym in downtown Phoenix, Ariz.

Dr. Richard Burke and his partner Steven Gluckstern lost a fortune on the Coyotes (mostly because of the restricted view arena they were forced to play in) and soon sold the team to Steve Ellman and Jerry Moyes who lost millions more. Since 2004, the Coyotes have lost $389 million and that doesn’t count this year. Currently, the Coyotes are on pace to lose approximately $140 million on operations. Especially after virtually giving away tickets to the season home opener, then drawing announced crowds of 6,899 and 9,162 to their next two games.

So in order to “uphold the rules” of the NHL, Bettman is going to ask the other 29 franchises to find another $140 million (at least) to cover the losses of a team owned by the league (as long as Judge Redfield T. Baum allows the NHL to ultimately purchase the Coyotes for about $140 million out of bankruptcy). Nice rules.

Trouble is, Bettman has always found ways to bend his own rules. For those who remember the loss of the Jets, owner Barry Shenkarow proposed a “group ownership” position, in which a number of Winnipeg business people would own an equal share of the team. Bettman said, “No,” that the NHL’s governors wanted to deal with only one prominent person in each market, a person who could make financial decisions at the drop of a hat.

Bettman put a halt to the group ownership plan in Winnipeg, adding more fuel to the team’s demise, but a few years later he went ahead and allowed it in Edmonton, since it was the only way to save the Oilers. In essence Bettman made up the rules as he went along: First, to take a team out of Winnipeg and put it in Phoenix and then, to save a team in Edmonton. Some Canadian markets he likes, others he doesn’t. Rules be damned.

So if Gary Bettman simply asks Canada to be patient, I wouldn’t believe him. However, if he told the truth (remember, this is the guy who said the league was NOT funding the Coyotes last year and then, in court, was forced to tell the truth) and admitted that he had to come back to Canada because he had no other alternative in the recession-crippled United States, I’d probably listen to that.

Remember, the six Canadian franchises make up 33 per cent of the league’s revenues. Despite what Bettman says or thinks, he’s going to have to come back to Canada eventually.

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If Heatley says “No”, it’s Bad for Hockey and the NHL Needs to Intervene.

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Free Agent Frenzy, Day 1…

Granted, there is a chance Dany Heatley could still end up as a member of the Edmonton Oilers, but let’s get something straight here: When you ask for a trade and then decide not to waive your no-trade clause (Who’s the idiot GM who puts that crap in a contract anyway?), you have a problem.

Sure, Heatley told his agent J.P. Barry, the “he wanted to sleep on it,” and that’s fine, but only a tremendously selfish prick with no consideration for three other hockey players, two franchises, the league and the game would pull a stunt like that.

Here’s the deal: Heatley was going to get what he wanted. He asked for a trade out of Ottawa and even though he went public with his demands and put the Senators in a bind, forcing them to go begging to teams to take the alleged superstar off their hands, Bryan Murray did the best he could to get the trade arranged.

For the Senators, the best deal was with Edmonton. The Oilers were going to send 22-year-old forward Andrew Cogliano, 26-year-old forward Dustin Penner and 23-year-old defenceman Ladislav Smid to Ottawa in exchange for the disgruntled 28-year-old Heatley. It was a good deal all around. The Oilers would get the sniper they need while the Sens would get three young players with plenty of upside.

But then Heatley decided NOT to waive his no-trade clause. He could still change his mind and some believe he will, right after the Senators (not the Oilers) pay him his $4 million bonus. But that’s even more selfish, more greedy and more childish.

If Heatley doesn’t come to his senses and go to Edmonton, the league has to take action. This was a trade  made in good faith and the players involved all knew they were moving. We’re dealing with people’s lives here, but then again rich, selfish jock pricks don’t care about other people. The League, in order to save the credibility of its franchises, has to tell Heatley’s people that he’s going to Edmonton and then if he doesn’t like it, he can go ahead and ask for a trade there.

Heatley, who should know better, has just told the world that Edmonton is a dump. “I’m not going to play there.” It’s wrong. It’s wrong because you don’t ask for a trade and then not accept the trade after it’s done.

In order to save its own credibility — that is, if Heatley insists he’s not going — the league must force this trade.

In the meantime:

1) Great news for old friend Colton Orr. Four years, $4 million from the Leafs. Orr’s rise to the NHL is a great story and this is a great opportunity for a hardworking 27-year-old player.

2) Mattias Ohlund, 32, gets seven years in Tampa. Seven? Wow.

3) The Sedin Twins go back to Vancouver and Ohlund heads south. That’s a debatable decision by the Canucks. Wouldn’t you rather have Ohlund and, say, Marian Gaborik, than the Sedins?

4) Three goalie moves: Dwayne Roloson goes from Edmonton to the Islanders, Ty Conklin goes from Detroit to St. Louis and Craig Anderson goes from Florida to Colorado. Zzzzzzzzzz.

5) Marian Hossa, 30, goes to Chicago for 12 years, $62 million. He was awful in the Stanley Cup final. He’ll be just a peach when he’s 42.

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Old coaches, young superstars and the best goalie in the playoffs.

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

As we get set to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins eliminate the Carolina Hurricanes in four straight games (barring a miracle), in tonight’s Eastern Conference final there was a boatload of hockey news today.

There was also just some stuff.

Onward:

1) Pat Quinn was hired as head coach by the Edmonton Oilers today. He’s 66. Personally, I like Pat Quinn, a lot. He’s a fine man, who did a wonderful job with Team Canada in Salt Lake City in 2002 and with our national junior team. I had a lot of respect for him when he was head coach of the Leafs and I must admit, he’s always been very respectful to me.

The question has to be in this case: Can a 66-year-old coach find happiness with a young team in Edmonton? Especially after the Calgary Flames just dumped 59-year-old Mike Keenan, another old coach, who gets recycled more than old truck tires. 

There is a difference, however. Keenan is a guy who likes “his guys.” He likes veteran players he knows and can trust. And that’s fine. Trouble is, “his guys” don’t win anymore. Quinn, however, during his time with the national junior team, proved to everyone he can teach young players how to play the game.

And that’s exactly what the Oilers need.

Age has nothing to do with anything. It’s attitude and approach that matters. Quinn might be 66, but he has already demonstrated that he respects young, enthusiastic hockey players and can take those types of players and show them how to win.

Full disclosure: I like Pat Quinn as a person. And I also believe he will be a great head coach in Edmonton.

2) Tonight, we get to watch the likes of Sidney Crosby, Eric Staal, Evgeni Malkin and Cam Ward play an extremely important NHL playoff game.

If the Penguins win, the young stars from Pittsburgh will zoom into the Stanley Cup final for a second straight year (frankly, no matter what the Hurricanes do, Pittsburgh’s offence should put a quick nail in Carolina’s coffin).

What is most interesting, however, is that whenever the media looks for a storyline involving the Pens, it’s always Sidney Crosby vs. (insert name here). Sidney Crosby vs. Alexander Ovechkin. Sidney Crosby vs. Jarome Iginla. Sidney Crosby vs. oh, I don’t know, Johan Franzen?

Unfortunately, the mainstream hockey media loves a story no matter how silly it is. If anyone is looking for a consistent storyline, it should be this one: Evgeni Malkin vs. the hockey world.

This spring, Ovechkin will likely be awarded the Hart Trophy as the regular season MVP and so far in the playoffs, Crosby has the inside track to the Conn Smythe Trophy. 

Meanwhile, all Malkin has done is win the league scoring championship and lead all scorers in the playoffs (12 goals and 16 assists). 

There was a day before all these mouth-breathing TV bingo callers became uber-experts, a day when scoring goals and dishing out assists was an important part of the game. And today, nobody does that better than Evgeni Malkin.

I guess he’s no Sidney Crosby (he certainly doesn’t have the same group of publicists), but he could be the Rodney Dangerfield of the NHL.

3) Of course, if Malkin isn’t hockey’s answer to Rodney D., it’s Detroit Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood.

Ozzie is close to winning his third Stanley Cup as a starter (he was also on a winner as the No. 2 to Mike Vernon). He’s also been to the finals one other time, been a Vezina Trophy runner-up and won the Jennings Trophy twice. He was the second goalie ever to score a goal (following Ron Hextall), was the No. 1 goalie (statistically) in the NHL in the 1995-96 season, is 10th in the NHL in career wins and the winningest goaltender in Red Wings history. He’s been an all-star, won Stanley Cups in two decades and is on the verge of going back-to-back.

And yet, you ask anybody in the mainstream media and he/she will tell you: “Detroit’s only problem is goaltending.”

Hogwash.

I can’t tell you how sick I am of hearing our TV experts talk of Tim Thomas this or Roberto Luongo that or Cam Ward… whatever. The best goalie in the playoffs last year was Chris Osgood and clearly the best goalie this year is Chris Osgood.

At 37, he’s never been better. Right now he leads the playoffs in wins with 11, is second in goals against average at 2.14 and fourth in save percentage at .921. He’s 11-4 in the post-season, has an assist and a shutout.

He’s often hung out to dry by his always-attacking teammates and yet he’s made some magnificent saves in this year’s post-season. He’s been tremendous.

At this stage, I don’t want to argue with the experts who believe Crosby is a shoo-in to take the Conn Smythe. But there is still a lot of hockey left.

And right now, the best goalie in the playoffs has not been Jonas Hiller, Cam Ward or Tim Thomas. It’s been Chris Osgood.

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Fraud and Lies Beget Fraud and Lies

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 2 Comments

Fraud and lies. That’s the NHL way. And it just never stops.

Every hockey fan with a brain bigger than a walnut knows that lying is a way of life in the NHL, but commissioner Gary Bettman, a man the Winnipeg Sun called a “rat-weasel” in a headline on Sunday, would sure like everyone to think differently.

According to a court filing from Jerry Moyes, the man on the hook for the monstrous debts of the Phoenix Coyotes, the people for whom he ran the Phoenix franchise seem to lie for fun: “The National Hockey League acted fraudulently in its bid to take control of the Phoenix Coyotes,” Moyes claimed this past week. “And the NHL’s current position proves the fraudulent inducement claim.”

Funny how the word fraud always comes up in any court filing involving Bettman’s NHL.

In fact, we pointed out earlier here at rivercitysportsblog.com that at least six of the NHL’s most prominent owners were convicted (or are in court facing charges) of fraud. To review:

1) When he took over as commissioner, one of his closest friends and supporters inside the league was Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall. McNall went to jail for fraud.

2) Former Islanders owner John Spano was sentenced in January of 2000 to 71 months in federal prison for bank fraud.

3) Later in the Isles ownership history, long after former Coyotes owner Steven Gluckstern nearly went broke owning the franchise, Bettman brought in Charles Wang and Sanjay Kumar. Kumar is now serving a 12-year sentence for a multi-billion dollar fraud. 

4) Bettman also needed help after Buffalo Sabres owner Seymour Knox died in 1996, so he found cable TV magnate John Rigas. In 2002, while he was the Sabres owner, Rigas was convicted of, you guessed it, fraud. He’s still in prison.

5) Then came former Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli. He’s a big time crook who, among other things, lied to the SEC about his role in a $2.2 billion stock-option scam. He’s currently doing his time. 

6) Then there was “Bootsie.” With the Nashville Predators in bankruptcy protection, Bettman refused to sell the team to Balsillie because Balsillie wanted to move it to Canada. So Bettman went out and found a wealthy venture capitalist named William (Bootsie) Del Biaggio III. It seemed like a good idea at the time, I guess, but it wasn’t long before Bootsie was facing fraud charges brought on by everybody from the SEC to Luc Robitaille to Joe Montana. Bootsie hasn’t gone to jail yet, but there are a lot of people who would like to see him in the crow bar hotel. Today, he faces a six year term. 

Meanwhile, Bettman’s pals have been saying Balsillie is “very brash” and “doesn’t want to play by the rules.” What rules? There are no rules. And if there are, Bettman will change them as he goes.

Don’t believe me? There are plenty of examples, including this current one:

Bettman claims Moyes handed over control of the Coyotes to the NHL last November in return for financing, and that a team of league officials has been running day to day operations ever since. However, just as Bettman himself claimed for six months, Moyes has now filed an affidavit saying that the league never had control of the team and “did not want control.”

Moyes added: “By taking a different position now, the league is trying to fraudulently take the Phoenix Coyotes franchise away from me.”

Moyes has argued from the start of this proceeding that NHL officials have made it clear since Day 1 that after the financing was arranged, in November of 2008, the league “did not plan to operate the club and that the arrangment didn’t change anything in terms of how the club was run.”

According to documents filed in court: “The league did not have day to day control, but merely received weekly financial updates.”

Meanwhile, Bettman lies with such ease, you’d think he was Dick Cheney.

On his Sirius XM Radio show, Bettman said, “Ripping a franchise out of one city in violation of League rules and procedures to put it somewhere else isn’t the way we do business. and comparisons to Quebec and Winnipeg aren’t valid, because we couldn’t find anybody who wanted to own the teams there.”

I don’t know about Quebec, but as it pertains to Winnipeg, that is an outright lie.

Winnipeg had an ownership group in place, but Bettman looked me right in the eye and claimed that group ownership was not permitted in the NHL. He wanted one owner, period. No groups.

Then, after he ripped the Jets out of Winnipeg and shipped them to Phoenix for the 13-year disaster, he allowed an ownership group in Edmonton. 

The truth and Gary Bettman are strangers.

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Calgary and Phoenix, among a group of big winners (depending on your point of view) on Deadline Day

Posted on March 5, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Wednesday was trade deadline day in the NHL…Here are the highlights…

The first deal: The Ottawa Senators made the first deal of the day, trading winger Antoine Vermette to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for goaltender Pascal Leclaire.

 

The Calgary Flames did very well. First they welcomed back defenceman Jordan Leopold, re-acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for defenceman Lawrence Nycholat, defenceman Ryan Wilson and a second-round pick. Then they acquired veteran forward Olli Jokinen from Phoenix in exchange for stone-handed Matthew Lombardi, young forward Brandon Prust and a first-round draft pick. 

 

The New York Rangers got better. GM Glen Sather acquired veteran defenceman Derek Morris from Phoenix in exchange for defenceman Dmitri Kalinen, Winnipeg’s own Nigel Dawes (the only Winnipegger involved in the deadline dealing) and underachieving forward Petr Prucha. Then, the Rangers grabbed forward Nik Antropov from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a second round pick and a conditional pick. 

The Edmonton Oilers got better, as well, as they have acquired forward Patrick O’Sullivan in a pair of deals involving four teams. The 24-year old O’Sullivan was originally shipped along with a second round draft pick from the Los Angeles Kings to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forward Justin Williams. The ‘Canes then turned around and dealt O’Sullivan and the draft pick they received from the Kings to the Oilers. The Oilers were not done there as they sent a second round draft pick to the Buffalo Sabres for forward Ales Kotalik.

The Boston Bruins acquired veteran forward Mark Recchi and a second-round pick in 2010 from tampa in exchange for two prospects and then Boston picked up veteran defenceman Steve Montador from Anaheim for forward Petteri Nokelainen.

 

The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired defenceman Andy Wozniewski from St. Louis in exchange for blueliner Danny Richmond. Later Pittsburgh got veteran forward Bill Guerin from the Islanders and gave up a conditional draft pick. 

The Senators agreed to a three-year contract worth $3.7 million a season with defenceman Filip Kuba taking him off the market.

Philadelphia acquired defenceman Kyle McLaren from San Jose in exchange for a sixth-round pick and then dealt veteran forward Scottie Upshall to Phoenix in exchange for young forward Daniel Carcillo.

The Buffalo Sabres acquired goaltender Mikael Tellqvist from Phoenix for a fourth round pick and then got Dominic Moore from Toronto in exchange for a second round pick. 

 

The Toronto Maple Leafs claimed goaltender Martin Gerber off waivers from the Ottawa Senators, and made a deal with tampa in which they acquired goalie Olaf Kolzig and defencemen Jamie Heward and Andy Rogers.

The Dallas Stars claimed centre Brendan Morrison off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks.

 

Last year, there were 25 deals on deadline day, involving 45 players. This year, just 22 deals involving a record 47 players. 

 

So who were the big winners?

 

Edmonton did well, getting Kotalik, young O’Sullivan and a draft pick for, essentially, Erik Cole. Antoine Vermette should help Columbus make the playoffs for the first time ever and the Rangers did extremely well, getting Morris and Antropov for Prucha, Kalinin and Dawes. Toronto did alright because it added draft picks (However, by the time those draft picks turn into actual players, we’ll be celebrating the 50th anniversary of “No Cup in T.O.” Good thing the Hockey Hall of Fame is in Toronto, or the actual existence of the Stanley Cup might just be a rumour to those people.)

 

Meanwhile, nobody did better than Calgary or Phoenix.

 

The Flames were big winners because they added Leopold and Jokinen — two solid hockey players — and made themselves much better right now. They’ll be a force in the playoffs.

 

The Coyotes won because they dumped their second highest paid player, Jokinen at $5.25 million, and their fifth highest paid player, Derek Morris at $3.95 million. They also dumped another $1.8 million in contracts for a total of $10.8 million. In exchange, they added five veteran players who will cost only $6.8 million next season along with three draft picks. Financially, it was a great day for a financially struggling franchise.

 

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No more.

Posted on January 9, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I have shut off Rogers SportsNet for the final time. At least, until February of 2010.

 

I was just sitting around tonight enjoying Bob McCown’s little rip into Gary Bettman on McCown’s radio-show-on-the-TV (from the days when I co-hosted the show, I think it’s called Prime Time Sports), when Bob throws to a break and the first commercial message is another one of those cutesy “I Believe” Olympic promos.

 

You know, “I Believe,” too. Trouble is, it’s January of 2009 and the stinkin’ Vancouver Olympics don’t start until February of 2010.

 

Sorry, but the Games are 13 months away and I’m sick of them already. Thanks SportsNet.

 

Too bad the Flames’ and Oilers’ games aren’t on TSN.

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The Grey Cup is over. Canadian teams about average at quarter pole, Steen goes to St. Louis and the Bruins a pleasant surprise.

Posted on November 25, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Congratulations to the Calgary Stampeders, certainly a deserving Canadian Football League champion after that 22-14 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday.

In one of the great snoozers in Grey Cup history, Sandro DeAngelis kicked five field goals while most outstanding player Henry Burris hit Brett Ralph for a touchdown as Calgary played just well enough to beat a Montreal team that put up 0 points in the second half.

 

So now that we’ve laid the CFL to rest for another season (at least until Mike Kelly is named Blue Bombers’ head coach later this week or early next week), it’s tim to catch up with the NHL.

 

We’ll do that by giving you an update on th things we’ve nattering about on the 92-CITI-FM morning show this week…

 

1) We’re just about a quarter of the way into the 2008-09 National Hockey League season and if the playoffs started tomorrow, only three of the six Canadian-based teams would be participating.

 

In the West, Vancouver is third, Calgary is seventh and Edmonton is 10th. In the East, Montreal is fifth but Toronto is 11th and Ottawa is 12th. Both the Leafs and Senators have a combined total of 14 wins, fewer than the first-pace Rangers.

 

Seeing Toronto out of the playoffs is no surprise, but nobody thought that, at the quarter pole, Ottawa would have seven wins in 20 games.

 

2) We’ve been talking quite a lot about the deal that sent talented Lee Stempniak to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo and centre Alexander Steen. A lot of Toronto fans have said good riddance to Steen, a young guy they felt was underachieving.

 

But while Steen always said he loved playing in Toronto, this trade is the best thing that ever happened to his career. In St. Louis, he’ll not only get some much-needed ice time (the Blues have three centres — T.J. Oshie, Paul Kariya and Andy McDonald — on the shelf), but he’ll play for a guy who adored his dad, Blues head coach and former Jets assistant, Andy Murray.

 

Stempniak is a worker who should help the Leafs, but Steen is a legitimate talent who will get ice time and support in St. Louis and in all likelihood will develop into an outstanding player.

 

3) Since we have just passed the quarter pole in this ‘08-09 NHL season, it’s probably time to look up, w-a-a-a-a-y up. To the top of the NHL’s Eastern Conference. 

 

See who’s on top? that’s right, the Boston Bruins.

 

Who would have thought? The 14-3-4 Bruins have 32 points and while they’re tied with the Rangers overall, they’ve played three fewer games. 

 

So how does it happen? Well, it would be nice to say the offensive brilliance of Marc Savard is the reason, but in fact, it’s not. It’s  defence and goaltending. From Zdeno Chara to Shane Hnidy to Tim Thomas, the Bruins are No. 1 defensively in the NHL and as a result, they are the No. 1 in the East.

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NHL free agency 2008: Perhaps this will end all the talk about Winnipeg and Quebec City. Of course, it might also ring the death knell for South Florida, Atlanta, Nashville and Phoenix.

Posted on July 3, 2008 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

It’s free agent time in the NHL and the money spent this week bordered on the obscene. On Day 1, Tuesday  — Canada Day in Canada — the NHL spent about $400 million. On Day 2, it was closer to $150 million, but then, some of the signings were downright crazy.  If anybody continues to believe that Winnipeg or even Quebec City can play in this game, I would think they’re delusional. Even marginal players are getting gigantic contracts now that teams have a $56.7 million salary cap (and a $40.1 million floor).

Let’s look at some highlights: 

Marian Hossa signed with the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. One year $7.4 million. And apparently, he turned down larger offers from other teams.

 

The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Evgeni Malkin to a five-year contract extension worth $43.5 million. The Pens also signed Brooks Orpik (Brooks freakin’ Orpik) to a six-year deal worth $22.5 million.

 

Dallas signed forward Sean Avery to a four-year, $15.5 million deal. Was that for the hockey skill or the comic relief.

 

Atlanta signed free agent defenceman Ron Hainsey — who!? — to a five year $22.5 million deal.

 

The Columbus Blue Jackets signed Kristian Huselius away from Calgary. Four years, $19 million.

 

Defenceman Brian Campbell signed an eight-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks which will pay him $7.1 million per season.

 

Anaheim signed restricted free agent Corey Perry to a five-year, $26.625 million deal and the Brian Burke blamed Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe for making the Ducks pay Perry that much money.

 

Washington re-signed star defenceman Mike Green, four years, $21 million.

 

Colorado signed unrestricted free agent forward Darcy Tucker to a two-year $4.2 million contract;

 

The Leafs signed Colorado free-agent defenceman Jeff Finger, four years $14 million and Dallas Stars’ free-agent defenecman Niklas Hagman, four-years $12 million. 

 

The Boston Bruins signed Michael Ryder and his 12 goals to a three year, $12 million contract.

 

New Jersey got Brian Rolston, four-years, $20.25 million.

 

The New York Islanders paid Montreal Canadiens unrestricted free agent Mark Streit, $20.5 million for five years. Huh???

 

And the New York Rangers signed defenceman Wade Redden away from Ottawa, six years, $39 million.

 

It was also reported that the Vancouver Canucks have free agent, ex-Leafs captain, Mats Sundin, a two-year contract worth $20 million. He turned it down. If he did, he’s completely insane so that offer probably wasn’t really on the table.

 

Some of these guys deserve big money. Ron Hainsey? Jeff Finger? Michael Ryder? My goodness gracious.

 

Hockey’s true financial armageddon is right around the corner. We should start a pool as to when the next team slips into bankruptcy. It hasn’t been that long since Pittsburgh was in court in 1998. 

 

This week’s spending spree made the lockout season look like one giant lie. You have to hope that after the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the rising food and gas prices, the War in Iraq and the slow, ugly death — read: outsourcing — of the U.S. industrial and manufacturing sectors, there will be money left to buy hockey tickets.

 

Funny, but I wouldn’t necessarily count on it.  

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