Archive for the ‘News-ish’ Category

A $70 million cap makes even Jay Bouwmeester tradeable

Posted by Chris Lund under News-ish on Jul 06, 2012

Plenty of NHL teams were banking on landing Ryan Suter. They figured they could offer the most money, the most hospitable environment and the best chance to win a championship — just like every other team that’s chasing a free agent. You need to believe this, otherwise you’re dead in the water.

Coming back to reality, Suter made his choice, and now you need to fill in a real a hole in the depth chart. Elite defensemen like Suter are not readily available — they rarely are to begin with — but there are defensemen that teams believe they can plug in and get similar results.

Jay Bouwmeester, while certainly not elite, is a piece that appears to be available in discussions with the Calgary Flames. A guy that was once thought untradeable due to poor showings and a hefty contract in Calgary is now on the market.
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Justin Peters could be the next big backup goalie for sale

Posted by Chris Lund under News-ish, One Man's Opinion on Jun 28, 2012

Hockey fans everywhere are well aware that the Carolina Hurricanes are Cam Ward’s team. He won them a Stanley Cup in his rookie season, took home a Conn Smythe and has been consistently been a bright spot on a team without much consistency. If Carolina’s hockey community had the power to knight people, Cam Ward would be called ‘Sir’ faster than any other player to pass through the team — with all due respect to Ron Francis, Rod Brind’Amour, et al., of course.

What we ought to take away from all this is that Cam Ward isn’t going anywhere. The ‘Canes will do whatever it takes to keep him in the fold, to keep him happy and to keep him on top of the depth chart. When Brian Boucher was ruled out for four to six months by Jim Rutherford due to a shoulder injury, it earned a collective shoulder shrug from many. He’s not Cam. But, the Boucher injury is an interesting development in this writer’s eyes, because it begets the promotion of Justin Peters to take the number two spot behind Cam Ward.

If you’re looking at prospective “Super Subs” for sale in the near future, Peters could very well be the man you’re looking for.
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Latendresse to test free agency; will he go back to Montreal?

Posted by Chris Lund under Analysis, News-ish on Jun 28, 2012

Guillaume Latendresse won’t be returning to the Minnesota Wild in 2012-13, but it’s not for a lack of a contract offer. According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, the Wild offered Latendresse a one year contract with performance incentives, but Latendresse has elected to pass on the offer and see what he can fetch on the open market.

It may seem like a curious move at a passing glance, but Latendresse’s motivation is pretty straightforward: He wants to move closer to his four year old son, Hayden, who lives in Montreal.
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Jay Feaster thinks Mark Jankowski will be the best player to come out of the 2012 draft

Posted by Daniel Wagner under News-ish, NHL Draft, Really? on Jun 23, 2012

Not going to lie: I originally thought he was throwing up a gang sign in this picture, which I thought was a brave choice for an acne-ridden kid from a private school. (Gregory Shamus, Getty Images)

Easily the most surprising pick in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft was the Calgary Flames picking Mark Jankowski with the 21st pick overall. Sure, it was surprising to see Filip Forsberg fall a little ways down and some of the defencemen like Slater Koekkoek get picked higher than expected, but Jankowski was slated to be a mid-second round pick at best, or so independent scouts would have you believe.

International Scouting Services had him ranked 55th overall, up from 85th in their midterm rankings, while NHL Central Scouting had him 43rd amongst North American skaters, up from 74th. TSN’s Bob McKenzie had him ranked 41st overall, while his colleague Craig Button was one of the few who didn’t see the pick as a stretch, having him ranked all the way up at 14th overall. Generally, however, the consensus was that Jankowski wasn’t going to go in the first round.

The Flames thought differently.

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Rob Zombie will write, direct and produce a film about the Broad Street Bullies

Posted by Justin Bourne under News-ish on Jun 20, 2012

It may not be a crossover you saw coming, but it’s happening: Rob Zombie, of all the perfect people to having doing this, is making a film about the Broad Street Bullies.

From Deadline New York:

Rob Zombie will write, direct and produce Broad Street Bullies, a film about the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team that evolved from a cellar-dwelling expansion team into a team that racked up victories and penalty minutes in equal measure during the 1970s. Zombie, known for his head-banging music before transitioning to genre films like House Of 1000 Corpses and Halloween, is making a departure with this film, sort of, because the Flyers’ brutal style of play is genre-worthy and has the makings for a hockey film on the order of the 1977 sports film classic Slap Shot.

This has potential.

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Georges Laraque is planning an NHL Comeback

Posted by Chris Lund under News-ish on Jun 10, 2012

This guy!

A stellar turn of events has unfolded for the “Hockey needs more personality” camp as Georges Laraque has announced via his Facebook page that he is planning on making a return to the NHL in 2012-13.

There are a few key points to be taken away from his motivations for trying to return here.
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Alex’s Radulov and Semin could be teammates in Russia next season

Posted by Justin Bourne under News-ish, Opinion on Jun 07, 2012

I loathe the way he wears his helmet.

When the curtain lifts on the 2012-2013 season, there could be a few interesting roster moves to watch play out. The Predators have said they’re cutting ties with Alexander Radulov, and willing to trade him if someone wants him. Alexander Semin has expressed a certain amount of discontent over his playing time with the Capitals (rightfully so). And the Capitals have also told 40 year-old Mike Knuble they won’t be having him back.

Those are some pretty good names you’d like to see fill out your team’s roster. The only problem is…two of ‘em may not be playing on this continent.

Peter Adler of the Edmonton Journal wrote “Fedorov and filthy rich CSKA team are after Radulov, Semin” today. The KHL beckons.

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