Now, as in any situation where a player as versatile as Brown is being shopped multiple teams will be lighting up the phone lines of Kings’ GM Dean Lombardi (Ludlow, MA). The six-foot, 205-pound Ithaca, New York native is a former United States Olympian and has reached the twenty goal plateau four times during his eight seasons in Los Angeles, with a career high of 33 coming in 2007-2008.

Not only is Brown a capable 20-goal, 50-point per season player, but he can also be used in a variety of situations including on the penalty-kill and power-play. Obviously a solid locker room presence, the former first round draft choice was named the youngest captain in Kings history back in October of 2008, when he was just 23 years old. Brown has also proven his ability to play in any number of roles, from being a prominent top-line scorer to being a shut-down player on a checking line (even once leading the NHL in total hits).

With top two right wingers Nathan Horton and Rich Peverley sidelined for an extended period of time, Brown would be the perfect fit for a gaping hole on the right side of Boston’s forward lineup. Brown also comes at an insanely cheap $3.1 MIL per season cap hit on a contract that runs through the end of the 2014-2015 season.

In dealing Brown, the Kings will likely be looking for cap relief and help up front, as well as assets to help increase the depth of their prospect pool after surrendering a first round pick in the Carter deal. In Boston’s case, one would assume any offer for Brown would have to look something like this (despite ESPN Boston’s proposal to include David Krejci):

To Boston: Dustin Brown

To Los Angeles: Ryan Spooner OR Jared Knight , Jordan Caron , 1^st Round Pick

To those unaware, Spooner and Knight are Boston’s two most coveted forward prospects who both hold a legitimate chance to make the big club next fall. Spooner, the 20-year-old Sarnia Sting center, nearly made the Boston roster out of training camp back in 2010-2011.

On the face of it, it seems as if Brown would be a perfect fit for a Bruins team that’s been mired in a mid-season slump as of late. However, B’s GM Peter Chiarelli will have his work cut out for him if he wants to get the Kings’ captain into a Black and Gold sweater before Monday’s 3 P.M. deadline as a plethora of other clubs are also rumored to be in on the Brown sweepstakes.

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Tonight’s Line-Up (Subject To Change):

FORWARDS

Marchand–Bergeron–Seguin

Lucic–Kelly–Peverley

Pouliot–Krejci–Caron

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

DEFENSE

Chara–Boychuk

Seidenberg–Corvo

Ference–McQuaid

GOALTENDER

Thomas

Rask

Scratches– …… Bodnarchuk (Healthy) , Hennessy (Healthy) ,Horton (Concussion)

NEWS & NOTES

– Immediately following Tuesday’s contest, the Black and Gold will depart on an 11-day, six-game road trip that will feature stops in Minnesota, St. Louis and Buffalo, amongst others. This road swing, coinciding with the NHL trade deadline only thirteen days from now has lead many to believe that Peter Chiarelli will be looking to make any necessary improvements to his squad sooner rather than later. Thus providing the new players with an opportunity to gel with their new teammates during an extended period of time together. As we saw just one year ago, Chiarelli made moves to acquire Rich Peverley, Chris Kelly and Tomas Kaberle at the onset of a six-game roadie that would see Boston post an astounding 6-0-0 record and kickstart their run to a championship.

– In the wake of recently demoting youngsters Zach Hamill and Steven Kampfer, Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli has opted to call-up a new set of AHLers to bring along for his team’s upcoming road swing. The first of which is defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk. While building an AHL resume of over 250 games played, the  5’11″ blueliner has only appeared in five NHL contests, all of which coming in the 2009-’10 season. The second promotion was given to Brockton, MA native and veteran AHLer Josh Hennessy. The 6’0″ forward is the leading scorer for the P-Bruins this season with 15 goals and 15 assists in 49 games played.

– Tonight will mark the second meeting of the season between these two Original Six franchises. The Blueshirts took home a victory in Boston back on January 21 when Marian Gaborik scored in overtime with only three seconds left on the clock. These two Eastern Conference powerhouses will meet twice more this season, with both games to be played at Madison Square Garden.

– Reports over the past twenty four hours have suggested that Columbus Blue Jackets’ star and Canadian Olympic forward Rick Nash has been put on the trade market, by GM Scott Howson. A perennial all-star, the Blue Jackets’ captain has proven himself as one of the NHL’s elite talents throughout his nine-year career in the league. Now, while I would not be shocked if a deal were to be made that removed the 6’4″ 220-pounder out of Ohio’s capital city, I sincerely doubt that his destination will be Boston. There is no question that Peter Chiarelli has the necessary assets to make such a deal, but his willingness to part with the plethora of young talent that it would take to get Nash into a Black and Gold sweater is still yet to be determined. For example, any sort of trade that would bring a player of Nash’s caliber to the Hub would have to look something like this:

To Boston: Rick Nash, Curtis Sanford

To Columbus: David Krejci, Tuukka Rask, Steven Kampfer, 1st Round Draft Pick

Now my question to you is this, would you feel comfortable giving up your inconsistent but highly skilled top-line center, future franchise goaltender and a first round selection for a proven all-star with 45-50 goal potential?

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With only 3.6 seconds left in overtime in what was perhaps the best and most hotly-contested Bruins’ home-game of the season –far surpassing that of January 7th’s Finals rematch– it was Marian Gaborik who would play the role of hero as he buried a rebound at the tail end of an extended 4-on-3 power-play. Besting B’s all-star defenseman and fellow countryman Zdeno Chara in the battle for the puck, the Slovakian sniper ended Saturday’s action with his second tally of the day.

“He’s (Chara) one of the best, if not the best defenseman in the league. To be out there every shift against him, it’s a big challenge. He’s a big guy, you just try to get in his face and forecheck him because obviously it’s hard to take the body on him because he’s such a monster, but we took advantage their and won the game.” – Marian Gaborik

The goal lifted the Rangers to yet another victory and moved them into a tie (With Chicago) for the most points in the NHL, with 64.

Goaltender Tuukka Rask made 30 saves for the Bruins, who played most of the overtime period on the penalty kill, after defenseman Andrew Ference was slapped with a five minute major and an ejection for sending Rangers’ blueliner Ryan McDonagh crashing head first into the boards. A dangerous hit that will likely make no. 21 the next recipient of a lengthy suspension, courtesy of NHL discipline czar Brendan Shanahan. McDonagh had to be helped off the ice by the Rangers’ team trainer, and Ference has been informed that he will indeed face a discipline hearing for the hit.

“Well, I’m obviously going as fast as I can to try and get to the puck. I realized I wasn’t going to get there first, he boxed me out, I tried to lean back, but I was going too fast. Obviously it was a dangerous position, so I tried to let up and didn’t let up fast enough.” – Andrew Ference

Despite the notion that McDonagh may have saw Ference coming and turned his body towards the boards, there is simply no defense for a hit like this. In my opinion, it was simply a case of an honest and humble player becoming the unfortunate victim of a bad situation.

“Ference isn’t a dirty player – he’s one of those guys who supports what the league is trying to do as far as minimizing those injuries.” — Claude Julien

However, regardless of such, this type of incident is exactly what the league is trying to eliminate. On a day when the presumably retired Marc Savard was in attendance, it’s next to impossible to find any reason why Ference should avoid a suspension, even for the most die-hard Black and Gold supporters. You can check the video evidence below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Bruins were only able to muster up two goals through over sixty-four minutes of action as they were once again stymied by noted B’s killer Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers’ all-world netminder stopped 32 of Boston’s 34 shots on goal and improved his career save percentage to an other-worldly .947 against the Black and Gold. It was Ference and fellow defenseman Adam McQuaid who would provide the only offense of the day for Boston. Ference on a beautiful backhand move after a slick little cross-ice feed from David Krejci. McQuaid was responsible for the B’s second tally when he fired an off-angle wrister towards the net mouth, where it deflected off Brian Boyle and into the goal.

With the Rangers maintaining their position as top dog in the East, a mere two points ahead of the Black and Gold, Boston players have become fully aware of what to expect from the hard-nosed Blueshirts, now and possibly into the post-season.

“I think the guys they’ve had in the past are maturing as players and are starting to become players in the league, and they have a lot of depth. Not unlike other years, they play a physical game and work hard.” – Adam McQuaid

“I think we were aware that they’re very well-structured defensively, they work hard, they have good goaltending. They work extremely hard, actually, and they’ve got a lot of depth. So no real surprises. It was kind of the game we expected.” – Shawn Thornton

While many may disagree with me on this, I’d be all for it, should these two titans of the East meet up during the great marathon that is the NHL playoffs. Especially if we’re lucky enough to see 4-7 games like this one. Today was an extravagant showcase of hockey at it’s finest, put on by the two clear cut favorites in the Eastern Conference.

KEY STATS

Goals–                       NYR (3)                   BOS (2)

Shots–                       NYR (33)                    BOS (34)

Power-Play–           NYR (1-4)                   BOS (0-4)

Penalty-Kill–           NYR (4-4)                    BOS (3-4)

• Ben’s Three Stars– ….. 3.) Andrew Ference  ….. 2.) Henrik Lundqvist   ….. 1.) Marian Gaborik

What’s Next?

It’ll be a quick turnaround for Boston as they boarded a post-game flight to Philadelphia this afternoon, in anticipation of Sunday’s 3 P.M. matinee tilt with the Flyers. A game that will undoubtedly suffer from poor ratings locally due to the New England Patriots’ AFC Championship game set to be played at the same time. The Broadway Blueshirts will now return home to Madison Square Garden, where they will host the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday evening.

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One topic debated at the Summit that continues to be a polarizing subject within North America and Europe is the future of NHL player participation in Winter Olympic hockey.  The dream of most fans and players became reality in February, 1998 when the NHL took a scheduled two-week break while many of its members wore national colours to compete for Olympic medals in the Nagano, Japan Winter Olympics. Anyone who watched that tournament and the subsequent three Olympics likely witnessed some of the highest quality hockey played in the last quarter-century.

Yet there is another side to the Olympic coin.  While the IIHF, most of Europe and most NHL players are in favour of further participation in the Olympics, Toronto Maple Leafs’ and Team U.S. GM Brian Burke noted at the Summit that many NHL teams are uneasy about shutting down for two weeks in the middle of the season every four years.  Burke cited the Anaheim Ducks as a club that suffered lost momentum and a decrease in ticket sales after the Olympic break.  He also did not like the cramped schedule that gave national clubs virtually no preparation time between the end of pre-Olympic NHL games and the start of the tournament.

“We played games in the NHL on Sunday afternoon, 5 o’clock or 3 o’clock at the latest, then had to fly to Vancouver, practice Monday and play Tuesday … it wasn’t ideal, so let’s do it right …  Let’s have a training camp; let’s get the team together, work on special teams and put the best product on the ice,” Burke said, suggesting the resurrection of the summertime quadrennial Canada/World Cup to replace NHL participation in the Olympics if a week of preparatory training is not feasible in February.

There is also the real risk to NHL clubs that participating players could suffer serious injuries that could have considerable impact on a team’s playoff chances.  In 2002, centres Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman won gold for Canada then missed almost all of the second half of the NHL schedule due to injuries suffered during, or exacerbated by the Olympic tournament (though Yzerman did return for the playoffs before undergoing off-season knee surgery). In the Torino Games of 2006, Czech Republic goalie Dominik Hasek hurt his legs just nine minutes into his first Olympic game and was unable to play for Ottawa for the remainder of the season including the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Senators were forced to use rookie Ray Emery in goal and the team lost in the second round.

The famous 1987 Canada Cup winning goal scored by Mario Lemieux, assisted by Wayne Gretzky, occurred late in the summer. Future best-on-best hockey tournaments should be held at a similar time, perhaps during the Summer Olympics, to preserve NHL player participation, negating the schedule interruption, while giving players adequate time to recover.

Detroit GM Ken Holland also chimed in on the risks and benefits. “As a fan, I want to go back to the Olympics … I think the Vancouver Olympics were an incredible display of what’s good about our sport.  The games were played with incredible speed, incredible skill.  It was exciting … [However] there are major issues that need to be taken care of,” Holland continued, citing Red Wing forward Tomas Holmstrom’s difficult decision to sit out the 2010 Olympics due to injury concerns.

Since participation in the Sochi, Russia Winter Olympics of 2014 and beyond must be collectively bargained into a new agreement between the NHL and NHLPA, what can be done to maintain the status quo?

One idea from the Summit suggested by Burke at first sounds absurd, but actually is sensible on further review: hold the hockey tournament in the Summer Olympics.  Preposterous?  Not really; it’s been done before.  At the 1920 Summer Games in Belgium, seven countries competed in the first Olympic ice hockey tournament.  True, the NHL was only in its third season at the time and the gold medal winners, Canada, were represented by non-NHL players from the Winnipeg Falcons, the national senior men’s amateur champions.  Clearly, as odd as it seems, there is precedent for Summer Olympic hockey and it would preserve NHL players’ participation, negate the densely packed NHL regular season schedule in Winter Olympic years and diminish the fatigue factor of players, many of them of all-star calibre, returning for the playoff push.

Don’t forget that the best-on-best Canada Cup and World Cup tournaments were typically contested late in the summer.  Like Burke, I believe the greatest display of international hockey ever played was at the 1987 Canada Cup, capped by the famous Gretzky to Lemieux winning goal that gave Canada the championship over the Soviet Union.  Burke recalled that players from most competing nations assembled in the summer for proper orientation, training camps and full practices.  That tournament began in late August and concluded in mid-September giving players a head start on conditioning for the NHL regular season and time to recuperate before the start of league games in October.

The Canada Cups of 1976, 1981, 1984, 1991 and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey followed a similar August – September schedule.  It can be done.  Fans and players certainly want to see NHL stars continue to shine for their countries at the Olympics while many owners and clubs have legitimate reservations about interruptions in the schedule, financial losses and injury risks.  A summer of hockey may not be a perfect solution but it may be the best way to satisfy all parties.

Sorry to all for not posting sooner, but, when you’re not a full-time TSN analyst/writer; some things have to take precedent over writing for the readers.

The WHC, although amusing to watch (in my mind anyway), is usually completely disregarded due to the much more attention grabbing playoff action of the NHL. No excuses needed. But the tournament itself is beginning to evolve and really play a significant role on the world stage. What I am referring to and I hope some of you have noticed is the substantial amount of upsets occurring in the tournament.

Now give me a list of excuses to why teams may not be performing to their usual level, the main being not all NHL players are overseas playing for their respective countries, and I will gladly agree with you. But I still think merit needs to be given to what is happening.

About two years ago to this day I watched a documentary featuring countries such as Switzerland, Germany and even Norway and their respective developing hockey programs. Some of which even led by amateur to semi-pro coaches from my own Canada. The documentary really hit home the message that countries, previously regarded as no-name hockey countries, will be quickly developing into 5^th, 6^th, maybe even a medal finish or two. No more 9-1 games. Even though it’s not the Olympics I believe it’s evident that we are seeing this trend.

Interesting games thus far;

Germany over Russia: 2-0

Norway over Sweden: 5-4 (SO)

Germany over Slovakia: 4-3

Latvia almost beating Finland: 2-3 (SO)

Norway blanks Austria: 5-0

Denmark holding their own against Russia: 3-4

Canada & USA only beating Norway & France: 3-2

Switzerland over USA: 5-3

Saying it one more time, I am well aware that not all the players are overseas representing their respective countries but it’s more than just an evolution of the final scores. Watching games where France, a former non-qualifier, is not only barely losing but actually controlling the hockey game at times and executing successful plays and strategies. The intensity level from both sides of the hockey game is incredible and it makes for much closer games.

In retrospect, past games would feature (no offense meant to anyone) Belarus v. Canada, if the score only came out 4-0 it was usually because the Belarussian goalie stood on his head or Canada just missed a lot of shots, it was never because Belarus dominated the second period only anything along those lines. With more funding to minor hockey, development programs in these countries and some ‘damn’ fine coaching, these teams are starting to become a proverbial thorn in the top Countries side.

It all begins at the WHC, teams gain confidence playing against ‘weakened’ top teams and see what it takes to beat these teams. Confidence on top of all of the previous mentioned developments and you’re looking at a round robin where Sweden, among other top teams, has to play full force to beat teams like France, Norway & Denmark. Although I love to see Canada dominating on the world stage I am really excited, I think it is fantastic for the sport of hockey and the competition on the world stage. It could potentially make for some interesting Olympic matches in 2014 & 2018…

Of course this is all providing the NHL plays in the Olympics in the future, but that of course is an entirely other article for another day.

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The Gold Medal Game: forever burned into the memory of every Canadian.  Canada went up early on goals by Jonathan Toews, who clearly shone above any other individual player in the calendar year 2010, and Corey Perry.  Ryan Kesler put the U.S. on the board shortly after Perry’s goal and Zach Parise tied it with a desperate pulled-goalie tap-in with less than half a minute to go in regulation.

Midway through the overtime period, Crosby tried to streak into the American slot but was met by all four U.S. players and forced to the far half-wall.  But Crosby stayed on the puck sliding it to Jarome Iginla in the corner as Crosby rolled off toward the net.

“Iggy!” Crosby screamed.  The pass was right on his tape…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Today, Crosby rests and waits to see if he can salvage something, anything, out of a season where he was scaling new heights with ridiculous ease before being sent to the sidelines with a concussion suffered on or shortly after New Year’s Day.  Iginla’s Flames started the 2010-11 season slowly to the point where the Calgary captain was the subject of trade rumours.  Since then, Calgary has made a strong push for the playoffs.

This is what I wrote on the night Crosby scored in overtime, February 28, 2010:

Sidney Crosby was born and bred for this moment.

In a country that elevates its sublimely talented hockey superstars to iconic status, it was only appropriate that out of the many star players populating Team Canada’s roster, the wunderkind from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia would emerge as the one who seized the moment that asked for a hero.

Out of the many, Sidney.  E pluribus, Crosby.

At 2.54 pm local time, with over 15-million alarmed fellow citizens anxiously looking on, Crosby took one small step toward Ryan Miller, flicked the puck past him, then took one giant celebratory leap for Canadian mankind.  OT game-winning goal.  Gold medal-winning goal.  On home ice.  Lights out, Vancouver.

Did you seriously think it would turn out this way?

Of course you didn’t.  After all, Hollywood is an American institution and surely, Canadian hockey fans never believed that a script worthy of an Academy Award next weekend would play out in living colour on the silver screen of Canada Hockey Place.  In a Winter Olympics that has simply been magical for host Canada, it was stretching the bounds of reality to ask for one more storybook, golden moment.  Oh sure, Canadians could envision winning gold in a business-like, non-fairy tale fashion over the United States, and it certainly looked likely when Jonathan Toews scored in the opening frame and Corey Perry scored mid-way through the second period to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

However, when Ryan Kesler cut the lead in half five and a half minutes later on a deft deflection, Doubt cast her dark shadow clouds over sunny Vancouver.  When American Zach Parise scored the tying goal with Miller on the bench during the United States’ last, desperate push with just 24 seconds remaining in regulation time, not only was a storybook golden moment unlikely, it was completely out of the question.  Even the possibility of a business-like golden finish became questionable.

Every Canadian in the arena or watching at home, at the corner pub, or pressed up against the windows of an electronics store looked up and down that home team bench and wondered about all the many talented, battle-tested players and asked the same question: Who would be the one to rescue Canada?  Who would be the overtime hero?

Out of the many, Sidney.  E pluribus, Crosby.

In Canada, there is a reason why we label Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux “hockey icons” and place them on a higher tier than their merely “star” contemporaries.  For Gretzky and Lemieux, their natural gifts, their stratospheric accomplishments and their uncanny ability to succeed in pressure-cooker situations gave them the right to be labelled “icons”.  Crosby traces his hockey ancestry to this royal lineage.  It was Gretzky who tabbed a then 14-year old Crosby, fresh off a 193-point season in Nova Scotia Minor Hockey, as the one who had a shot at breaking his records.  It was Lemieux, the King Penguin, who drafted Prince Crosby and welcomed him into his castle, where they both still reside together.

Icons identify the moment; icons seize the moment; icons create one frozen moment that will be remembered for all time.

Every great achievement Crosby has earned thus far in his still young career was but a prelude to what we witnessed yesterday.  Youngest to score at the World Junior Championship.  Youngest to win a scoring title.  Youngest captain ever.  Youngest captain to hoist the Stanley Cup.  All, mere arrows pointing to this frozen moment that was waiting for him from the day he was born, a prodigy on skates.

Some critics lamented, even as late as Saturday evening, that Crosby was underachieving and not scoring as much as he should in the Olympics.  They wanted Crosby to rediscover his finishing touch in the same manner that Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Rick Nash seemed to do as the tournament proceeded.  What the critics constantly fail to grasp is that there is no need to fret about the performance of icons.  Out of the many stars on Team Canada, some will score in bunches and some will periodically slump.  As we speak, out of the many Canadian teenagers, mesmerized by the hockey that they observed the last two weeks, some will in four years, populate a portion of the next Olympic roster.  Out of the many, there will be stars but likely, no icons.  Out of the many, there will still only be one hockey icon for this generation, ever to the rescue.

Out of the many, Sidney.  E pluribus, Crosby.

Whenever the Kings and Sharks meet the game is usually filled with multiple subplots to the two points at stake.

There’s the battle for the Pacific Division, something the Sharks have owned the last few years and the Kings are trying to wrestle away this season. Of course, there’s also the Dean Lombardi angle – with the Sharks being his former team.

Due to a recent trade by the Kings, you also now have Marco Sturm vs. Joe Thornton. On the surface it may not seem like a fair fight currently, considering Sturm’s recent knee injuries. Yet, when two players are traded for each other a sort of natural rivalry builds as each wants to prove he was the more valuable piece in the deal.

Also worth considering is that although Thornton has posted big numbers the last few years, the Kings have been able to contain him just about better than any other team in the Pacific Division. He has more penalty minutes against LA and his second worst point totals.  Even better, the Kings have kept him off the scoreboard the last two seasons at Staples Center (zero goals, five assists in six games).

Saturday evening the teams met for their first game of 2011.  The season series was tied at one game each, with both teams looking dominant in their victory.  Prior to the rubber match Jumbo Joe answered a few questions…

MM: What differences have you seen in the Kings this year vs. the team you played last year?

JT: You know what, they were a great team last year too. So, really they’re pretty much the same type of team. They haven’t really changed too many players on their team. Obviously, they added Marco Sturm a couple of weeks ago though. But, they’re a quick team, a good team and a well rounded team.

MM: Some guys have said they look at the opposition a little differently having played with certain players in the Olympics last year. Drew Doughty was with you on Team Canada. Does that change how you view the Kings defense at all?

JT: Not really. Once the Olympics were over I think it just went back to regular business. If Drew’s out there, I’m sure he’s going to hit me. If I have him lined up, I’m going to hit him too. So, I’d say it’s business as usual.

MM: Any added pressure this year playing with the ‘C’?

JT: Oh no. I’ve always felt like I was a leader on this team. So, there’s no added pressure at all.

MM: You took over the captaincy after Rob Blake retired at the end of last season.  Talk about the impact of losing him on the Sharks team this year.

JT: Blakey is a tough guy to replace. He played a lot of minutes, he played power play, penalty kill, etc. He’s a big right-handed shot and he’s physical. So, losing a guy like that, plus all the leadership he brings, it was tough early on to see who was going to replace that. But, we’ve found some guys who have chipped in and replaced some of Blakey’s shoes. But, I don’t think you can ever replace a guy like Rob Blake. He’s a future Hall of Famer.

For some of Blake’s thoughts on Thornton, check out the interview he did on MayorsManor last season – available here.

Incidentaly, the Sharks won 1-0.  They’ll meet again on January 26th.

The Mayor
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photo courtesy of Michael Zampelli

The last time the Kings went looking for help on the left side it took almost the whole summer to figure out that Ilya Kovalchuk would be staying in New Jersey.

Fortunately, this time around, it only took around 10 days to officially announce Marco Sturm had been traded to Los Angeles.

While it may still be another week or so until he sees game action (more on that in a minute), now’s as good a time as any to get to know the newest King.

We’ll get you started with 10 Tidbits on Marco Sturm…

1. He was born in Dingolfing, Germany – home of the world’s largest BMW plant.  Several other German players have made the NHL too, most were goaltenders (Olaf Kolzig being the most famous) or are currently playing for the Nashville Predators (Marcel Goc and Alexander Sulzer).

2. Sturm will be the second German born player to wear a Kings jersey. Randy Gilhen was the first back in 1991-92 when he sported #15 for 33 games.

3. He shares his September 8th birthday with Kings legend Rogie Vachon, former Kings forward Teddy Purcell and one of the most exciting players from last year’s NHL draft class, Nino Niederreiter (NY Islanders).

4. Late Sunday night we reported Sturm had been assigned jersey #10 by the Kings, a curious move as (a) it is/was Brayden Schenn’s number and (b) Sturm has no previous ties to the number. He wore #19 for the Sharks and #16 most recently for Boston.  No word yet on why or how that number was chosen.

5. One of the most important things Kings GM Dean Lombardi has said about the trade is “His contract doesn’t take us out of pursuing other things near the trade deadline.” Meaning, relax everybody, this isn’t THE deal. It’s a low risk, potentially high reward trade that adds some depth. They’re still looking for a legitimate top-six forward. Just remember, over the half league is too – it’s tough.

6. TSN’s Bob McKenzie was adamant via numerous tweets that Sturm was happy about the trade and wanted to play for the Los Angeles Kings. And why not? This is something coach Terry Murray has talked about lately, thinking players would be out of their mind to not want to play in such a great city, with great fans and world class facilities.  Ryan Smyth waived his no-trade clause to join the Kings, as did Sturm.  Rob Scuderi and Willie Mitchell signed as free agents.  Perhaps others are starting to notice.

7. Sturm scored the overtime game winner at the 2010 Winter Classic played inside historic Fenway Park (video here).

8. In an ironic twist to the entire saga of the last few weeks, the trade (and subsequent passing of his physical) allowed Sturm to complete an interesting circle. He was drafted by then-Sharks GM Dean Lombardi at the 1996 NHL Draft in St. Louis…the same city he joined the Kings in for his first official practice Wesnesday. More on that aspect of the story can be found here.

9. As everybody knows by now, the delay in completing the trade with Boston had to do with the health of his knee. Specifically, his right knee, which incurred a torn ACL and MCL during last year’s playoffs (video here). The injury happened during his first shift in game one of the Eastern Conference Semifinals versus the Philadelphia Flyers. Just a year earlier he had missed significant time after tearing the ACL and meniscus in his left knee. Both situations appear to be somewhat behind him.  Yesterday afternoon he passed a strenuous round of tests in Los Angeles and the trade was official. His first game as a King could be as early as next week, perhaps the home game vs. Edmonton on Thursday.

10. Stat Check – Sturm has 466 points (234g, 232a) in 855 regular season games. In 52 playoff games he’s posted 19 points (8g, 11a). He’s been a plus player in 10 of his 12 seasons and scored over 20 goals seven times. Further, in 302 games with the Bruins he had 193 points (106g, 87a) – giving him a .64 points-per-game ratio, 16% higher than his career average. So, he’s been productive over the last few years.

General wisdom suggests that it usually takes a player coming off major knee surgery about a full season to recover to their previous levels of performance.  There have been numerous examples of this around the NHL, including Michal Handzus with the Kings.  However, it should be pointed out that Sturm had 22 goals, 15 assists and was a plus-15 last season (on an offensively starved Bruins team, their 206 team goals were the lowest among all 16 playoff teams)…all while coming off the above mentioned knee surgery the prior year.

Exactly where he’ll play with the Kings – first line? second line? – is still to be determined. However, he should be able to provide some solid depth at left wing.  If he’s able to increase his point production down the stretch this season, this could be a steal for Lombardi.

If not, it cost the team nothing. It’s a no-brainer move.

And besides, go back to point one. The Kings aren’t done shopping.

Their big gift just won’t be waiting under the tree this year. Instead, it’s most likely coming at the Trade Deadline near the end of February.

The Mayor
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The Mayor appears courtesy of MayorsManor.com, where you can find news, interviews and inside information on the LA Kings.   Follow the Mayor at www.twitter.com/Mayor119.  Here are a few related articles you may enjoy…

Marco Sturm:  Five Points on the LA-Boston Trade

Sturm Completes the St. Louis Circle

How the Sturm Trade Affects Schenn

Welcome to LA – 10 Tidbits on Willie Mitchell

Welcome to LA – 10 Tidbits on Alexei Ponikarovsky

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He never won the Stanley Cup. He only scored 14 goals with the team. He made a single appearance in the NHL All-Star Game. And there are very few, if any, truly defining moments from his 11 years in Los Angeles.

Yet, Mattias Norstrom will forever be remembered as the Captain of the Kings.

He was back in town over the weekend to be honored in a special ceremony prior to the Kings-Devils game at Staples Center. Along with his family, several former teammates were on hand to share a few stories and pay tribute to one of the toughest players in franchise history.

Below are 10 Tidbits on the man nearly everybody refers to as a warrior…

*  A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Norstrom was drafted by the New York Rangers in the second round of the 1992 draft (48th overall). With the pick immediately following his selection, Tampa Bay took Brent Gretzky (Wayne’s little brother) – who went on to play a grand total of 13 NHL games. Nine slots before Matty was chosen the Kings opted for Justin Hocking, who played a total of…wait for it…ONE game in the NHL.

*  Another note that somewhat links him to Gretzky is the fact that it was after Wayne was traded by Los Angeles to St. Louis on February 27, 1996 that a Kings fire sale soon began.  During that process, veterans Marty McSorley, Jari Kurri and Shane Churla were packaged to the Rangers in exchange for three players and a draft pick.  One of those heading west was Norstrom.

*  As if that wasn’t enough, it was 11 years to the day - February 27, 1996 – that he was traded out of LA.  Kings GM Dean Lombardi saw an opportunity for a win-win situation by trading Norstrom to the Dallas Stars.  The aging veteran could get one final shot at a Stanley Cup and Deano could pick up a few coveted assets, such as a 2008 first round draft pick (which was eventually used though a series of deals with Anaheim and Buffalo to ultimately land the Kings a big WHL defenseman named Colten Teubert) 

*  His ties to Rob Blake are slightly more substantial than Gretzky.  First off, he was the Kings captain from 2001-2007, a time period that was sandwiched between Blake’s two tenures with the ‘C’ in LA (1996-01 and 2007-08).  Norstrom was also the first European captain in franchise history (and to date, the only one!).  Slovak Peter Stastny was the first European-born and trained player to become captain in the NHL (Quebec Nordiques from 1985-90).  In 2008, fellow Swede Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings became the first Euro-captain to lead a team to the Stanley Cup.  Don Cherry must have been proud.

*  Soon after Blake signed a free agent contract with the Kings in the summer of 2006 it was reported that Norstrom called his returning teammate to offer him the ‘C’ back.  Blake refused, saying that Matty was the “soul of the Kings.”

*  Norstrom played 780 regular season games with the Kings - ranking him second all-time among defenseman (behind only Blake) and fifth overall in franchise history.  In his NHL career he totaled 903 games collectively when you add up his time with the Kings, Dallas Stars and New York Rangers.

*  In a January 2006 article with Larry Wigge for NHL.com, Blake – a member of the Colorado Avalanche at the time – said “Matty was the perfect partner.  He was a presence in our own zone and gave me the freedom and encouragement to take chances in other areas up the ice.  I wouldn’t have won the Norris Trophy if I was playing defense with anyone else.”

*  Respect All Around - In the same article, Jeremy Roenick said Norstrom “is the most underrated player in the league, bar none.  He’s tough as nails to play against.  He never let’s up…He’s in your face anytime you step anywhere near the Kings goal crease.”  Luc Robitaille added “Matty is the ultimate warrior.  He takes a beating and gives you a beating.  There is no fear there.” 

*  Team Awards - Norstrom earned the club’s Most Outstanding Defenseman award four times; Best Defensive Player award five times; Most Inspirational Player award two times; and was the Unsung Hero award winner three times.  Pride, Passion and Power at it’s finest.

*  International Experience – Played for his native Sweden in the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games.  Was also invited to play on the 2006 team, but missed the event due to an injury.  He returned to the team this past February in Vancouver – this time as an assistant coach.  Although his teams never medaled at the Olympics, he also played in five IIHF World Championships – picking up a gold in 1998 and twice winning silver (after losing to Canada in a best-of-three series in 1997 and again in 2003 when they were beaten by former King Anson Carter in overtime).

Bonus Trivia Question:  Three players on this year’s Kings roster actually played with Norstrom in Los Angeles.  Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar are the two obvious ones.  Can you name the third player?  [answer at the end of this article]

Forever a Warrior – Matty Norstrom, we salute you!

The Mayor
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RELATED ARTICLES:

20 Questions with Luc Robitaille

Interview with former Kings Coach Andy Murray – includes word association with Norstrom

Rob Blake:  The Interview

10 Tidbits on Dustin Brown

Interview with Colten Teubert

Roenick previews USA-Canada game

TRIVIA ANSWER:
Three current Kings played with Norstrom in Los Angeles.  Brown, Kopitar and Peter Harrold.  The former Boston College defenseman played with Matty for 10 games in Nov-Dec 2006.
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IIHF President Rene Fasel consistently championed the inclusion of NHL players at the Olympics throughout the week and made an additional pledge on Thursday afternoon in response to the imbalance between North America and Europe in women’s hockey.  “I promise to women all over the world who play hockey … we’re going to put some money, effort and passion into developing the women’s game.  I promise I will push very hard to find a way at Sochi in 2014 to have less of a gap than what we had in Vancouver.”  Fasel also encouraged his fellow leaders to maintain a long-term vision, work together and take action on many of the ideas presented.  “If we don’t care about the future, in 10 to 20 years, we are nowhere.   That’s why development is the first priority.  Safety and development are really important … Some very good ideas were presented.  Now we have to go back and ‘make our homework’.  We will take action, summarize, prioritize, agree, discuss, fight and then we have to act.  We need to work together.”

USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean similarly recognized the complexity of the tasks at hand and encouraged a spirit of cooperation.  “The great thing about this sport is that there is none that is as collegial and collaborative.  There is a lot of work to do.  I hope everyone goes back home motivated to get to work …  The work, the commitment, the funding, the political will and the action has got to take place in our own federations and in every individual community.”  Ogrean gave much of the credit for the advancement of the profile of hockey to the NHL, noting ”there’s no league that works with a sport anywhere near as well and with as much commitment as the NHL does,” then thanked Hockey Canada for their generosity.  ”They’re great partners, their game is so entrenched and it means so much in Canada and they’re always willing to share it with the rest of the world and all of us.”

He concluded his podium remarks by stating he looked forward to attending more summits in the future to gauge progress from around the world.  At the post-Summit media conference he shared how he “never realized how similar Scandinavian countries are with the U.S. and Canada at the grassroots level.  They’re built under the same model, totally volunteer-based, dealing with the same issues on how to recruit and train volunteers,” emphasizing the collective need to develop the game in a similar fashion in North America and Europe.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly called the World Hockey Summit a “monumental success” and came away impressed by “a lot of bright ideas, bright people and really good dialogue and discussion [and] found all the sessions very entertaining, enlightening and it forces us all to take a look at the game we love and look at ways to make it better and grow it.”

Bob Nicholson, president and CEO of Hockey Canada said that the closing of the Summit also represented a new beginning.  “This is just the start.  We have to challenge everyone here,” including the NHL when he said “we need you”, alluding to his desire to see its players participating in the next Olympics.  He praised the NHLPA for providing the ”best role models in any sport” and looked forward to Hockey Canada board meetings on Friday where he would ”set new challenges and new agendas to try to grow the game.”  Finally, he called for accountability from his fellow leaders and himself, pledging, “Don’t let us off the hook.  Bring us back to what’s happened the last three days, so that we make the game better.”

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Dr. Paul Dennis, a veteran sports psychologist who worked for two decades with the Toronto Maple Leafs, talked about the concept of “athletic Darwinism” explaining that “we have an obligation as adults to help children adapt to change.  [It is] a collaborative effort amongst coaches, parents, referees and trainers.”  Dennis used anecdotes from golf to discuss how to help kids deal with pressure.  When PGA professional Rocco Mediate had to make a critical putt in the 2008 U.S. Open, the golfer told himself that he simply and absolutely could not miss this putt.  Dennis also pointed to the fierce competitiveness and concentration of Tiger Woods (before his personal indiscretions) as an example of an athlete able to stare down intense pressure.

Dennis noted that elite professionals have the ability to turn the psychology of fear into thoughts of success and the thrill of winning.  Likewise, he encouraged parents and coaches to teach these concepts to children at a young age.  “Try to take the word ‘pressure’ out of the vocabulary and replace it with ‘challenge’ and ‘thrill’,” he concluded.

The Canadian physician was followed to the microphone by two distinguished Americans, Pat Kelleher of USA Hockey and Chicago Blackhawks’ President John McDonough.  Kelleher stated that there are approximately 600,000 players, coaches and officials in USA Hockey but numbers have slightly declined recently.  To combat the decrease, Kelleher talked about a type of marketing to parents to promote the game.  “We want to brand youth hockey as being positive for kids,” he explained.  Many parents who only have a cursory knowledge of hockey fear the expenses associated with equipment, team fees and tournament fees and his goal going forward will be to highlight the positives of the game to families.

McDonough’s presentation began with a high-energy video set to a military march-like beat showing the transformation of the Chicago franchise from an NHL laughingstock to one of the most respected organizations in professional sport.  The video flashed snippets of on-ice and business achievements over the past few years including a 386% increase in merchandise and concession sales, 100+ consecutive home sell-outs, back-to-back 100+ point seasons for the first time in 38 seasons and 112 points this past season (the team’s best ever total).  McDonough stressed the “really, really deep and strong connections” younger fans have made with stars like captain Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, seemingly due to identifying with them as peers.  He also stressed the importance of coaching clinics and the involvement of the team in the community, proudly noting that the Illinois State championship is held at the United Center.

One of the final session speakers of the day was Arto Sieppi, who also presented in the morning during the women’s hockey discussion.  In Finland, he put forth that playing for the love of hockey and fun and safety should never be forgotten due to the overwhelmingly stacked odds against achieving a roster spot in the NHL.  Of 33,000 boys who are born every year in the country, 500 will join the “Lions’ Club” children’s hockey program.  Of the 500, 300 will go on to play in formal peewee or bantam leagues.  Of the 300, 150 will attend an under-16 camp, the first chance at trying out for a national team.  Of the 150, just 30 will attend an IIHF World Junior Championship or World Championship.  Finally, of the 30, only 3 will ever make the NHL.  Therefore, he reasons properly that “the key words for Lions’ hockey are ‘fun’ and ‘safety’.”

Canadian star Hayley Wickenheiser fields media questions after her featured presentation on the future of women's hockey on Day 4 of the World Hockey Summit in Toronto.

Under clouds of concern for the viability of international women’s hockey due to the huge competitive disparity between North America and the rest of the world, Canadian star and featured speaker Hayley Wickenheiser described the frustrating challenges in growing women’s hockey outside North America while American star and panellist Angela Ruggiero was more hopeful about the future when they spoke this morning on Day 4 of the World Hockey Summit.  Wickenheiser opened her presentation by asking a rhetorical question.  “How many of you have women in your life?  Mothers, sisters, daughters?  How many of you, if they wanted to play the game of hockey, would want them to have that opportunity?”  Wickenheiser proceeded to outline the challenges in giving girls outside North America that opportunity to play hockey as well as the economic problems of funding women’s hockey.

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At a thinktank in Finland this summer that involved the top 14 nations in women’s hockey, the wide gap between Canada, the United States and the rest of the world was exposed.  While Finland, one of the most improved women’s hockey nations in the world, has 62 clubs playing on 124 ice rinks, Russia and China only have 6 rinks in each country.  She noted that the thinktank recommended having development camps for players from all nations in one place to learn and to bring best practices back to their country, coaching exchanges, a full-time person advocating for female hockey at the IIHF and coverage or waiving transfer fees (up to $2,000) for players who wish to change teams.

HAYLEY WICKENHEISER 6 mins 40 sec Hayley Wickenheiser discusses all aspects of the challenges facing the future of women’s hockey. (This writer’s question about the benefit of exchange programs occurs at 3:05).

Wickenheiser said that China has made a start to closing the gap, “playing 35 games with their national team.  What China is doing is that they’ve invested a ton of money into 30 players in their country, centralizing them, “hot-housing them” and trying to really develop a national program.  The problem with that is they’ve only got a few hundred players in their entire country and outside their national team, there’s nothing to support it.  There is no development system.  So I think we need more exhibition games for national teams and for the under-18.”

On the topic of funding, Wickenheiser lamented the paucity of dollars supporting women’s national teams, wistfully noting that her former elite club team in Calgary, now defunct, operated on a budget of $480,000.  “I don’t see how you can run a national team on a budget of $480,000.”  While Slovakia has increased their budget for women’s hockey, she expressed concern that Germany’s budget has actually decreased by 21%.  She said she spoke with German men’s coach Uwe Krupp about the reason for this and he responded, “because they’ve had no success … that’s the way it is, that’s the battle we’re facing, if they had success, there would be more money.”  Wickenheiser termed this “inverse thinking”.

Alarmingly, she noted that Russia is “spending zero on development, yet they’re hosting the next Olympics … so to me, on a federation and country level, it’s just not good enough and we have to raise the bar.”  Furthermore, she pointed out that half of the top 14 women’s hockey countries don’t even have a national women’s committee.  She exhorted other countries to mimic the model of Canada and the United States in terms of funding, recruitment, a balance of elite-level and grassroots hockey programs, leadership and education.

American star Angela Ruggiero, the all-time U.S. leader in games played, started by saying, “If I could send one message, it’s ‘give that opportunity to all the girls out there that want to play.”  She described her own experience, having to persevere and trying to even find a league to play hockey in California, through getting cut from boy’s teams as a youngster simply because she was a girl.  She described the explosive growth in American women’s hockey, from 5,000 girls playing at the time of the first U.S. national team in 1990 to 60,000 today.

ANGELA RUGGIERO 6 mins 17 sec U.S. star Angela Ruggiero answers questions about marketing and exposure of women’s hockey players and her role as advocate for womens’ sports. (This writer’s question on Ruggiero possibly becoming an IIHF board member occurs at 4:19).

“That’s improvement to me, that’s says that we’ve put some time, money and effort into it and we’ve seen some results.  That was only 20 years ago and I think there is the same potential worldwide.  I think it just takes the right people, believing that the girls deserve to play and that they can be amazing hockey players and just giving them the support to do it.”

U.S. women's hockey star and IOC member Angela Ruggiero answers media questions after her panel appearance on Day 4 of the World Hockey Summit in Toronto.

Ruggiero was grateful for all the benefits that playing hockey has afforded her in her life.  “I’ve been able to play in four Olympics, get a great degree from Harvard.  I’m pursuing a master’s degree as well.  I’ve had all these doors opened up to me because of the sport of hockey.”  In turn, Ruggiero, involved in numerous girls’ sports advocacy groups and charitable foundations, wants to use hockey as a vehicle to open up those same doors to others.  “I meet kids that can’t even talk, but they’re so excited to meet you and all they want to do is get your autograph, and they’re inspired, and to me you can change a generation by inspiring and I think that’s what women’s hockey has the potential to do.”

She enthusiastically talked about her visit to China with the New York Islanders when she attempted to introduce hockey amongst girls and boys, with the aid of a translator, teaching them simple skills like how to take a wrist shot.

Both Wickenheiser and Ruggiero were clearly moved when reminiscing about their childhoods and both stressed how much it meant to them that their respective families were involved in encouraging them to pursue hockey, when many at the time put up obstacles in their way.

Finnish women’s hockey director Arto Sieppi openly talked about how he had to overcome his ignorance and dismissiveness about women in sports in general, to become one of the strongest advocates for the women’s game in Europe.  He likened women’s hockey to a corporation and called each of the delegates a potential shareholder, urging them to “invest” and “buy that stock”.  He cited hopeful information about his nation: an increase in the number of proficient skaters from 2,300 to 4,700, “excellent cooperation with Hockey Canada” including a version of the Girl’s Hockey Day project, and heavy centralization of the national women’s team in advance of the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

GARY BETTMAN 10 mins 56 sec NHL commissioner answers media questions following Q and A session.

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Krueger used a spider-web on a diagram as an analogy to explain his vision for future international hockey events, implying that nations should find common ground and build a “Global Hockey Web”.  He spoke about how every hockey-playing country can point to certain landmark victories or tournament-hosting opportunities where the citizens, especially kids, became inspired to pursue hockey.  For Sweden, winning the World Championship in 1962 was akin to Canada rallying to beat the Soviets in 1972.  The Americans had their “Miracle on Ice” in 1980 while for Latvia in 2006, the chance to even host an IIHF World Championship represented a great source of pride.  Some of the innovations Krueger proposed were the creation of a new World U-23 Championship and a Victoria Cup Final that would see two NHL teams battle for the right to face the winner of a KHL champion vs. European champion match.

Deputy NHL commissioner Bill Daly agreed fundamentally with most of Krueger’s ideas, but said, “I believe that Olympic participation every four years, World Cup participation every four years and World Championship participation every year is probably too much to ask the best players in the world to do on a regular basis.”  However, he expressed his support for a World U-23 Championship noting, “it’s a great concept.  It’s actually something that’s received some attention in the past [with] discussion and dialogue,” reasoning that splitting the current workload for international representation among different age groups may ease the burden on many stars who presently suit up for their country in every tournament.

ALEXANDER MEDVEDEV 17 mins 04 sec KHL president reviews contract transfers, the Olympics, relations between the KHL and NHL and future growth in Russian hockey. (This writer asks questions at 1:33 about the Evgeni Malkin transfer controversy and at 13:18 on further KHL European expansion).

KHL president Alexander Medvedev then pointedly said, “It’s quite obvious that there’s no need to spend time and money to analyze the effect of international events on hockey.  That’s why I was a little bit surprised to hear Gary Bettman say there still has to be time to decide [NHL participation in the Olympics].”  He then wryly added, “We have a first-class product; NHL is a “triple-A” product and not to send the NHL to Olympic Games, either to Sochi or the next destination is like putting poison or pesticide into the soil that produces this first-class product!  I hope that such a decision will not be taken.”

Next, Burke gave a taste of comments to come when he fidgeted in his seat and joked, “These might be the most uncomfortable stools ever invented.”  He reiterated his stance that he and the Maple Leafs both support NHL involvement in the Olympics but “if and only if some of the concerns that this poses for NHL teams are addressed,” citing Anaheim as an example of a team who suffered off the ice due to a loss in fan interest post-Olympics and on the ice when players lost momentum.  “It’s much more complicated than waving a flag and saying we have to go.  It’s much more complicated than saying we want to see the best players.  If the NHL decides not to go, the Olympics will continue.”

The Toronto GM then discussed resurrecting the World Cup as a best-on-best alternative if NHL Olympic plans fall through with the caveat that proper preparation time is a must.  “The World Cup, the advantage to me, where I think it’s a preferable tournament is in terms of international hockey, the best hockey I ever saw was the ’87 Canada Cup.  Those teams assembled early, had a training camp to work on special teams.  My players, a lot of them, got to Vancouver on Sunday.  We played games in the NHL on Sunday afternoon, 5 o’clock or 3 o’clock at the latest, then had to fly to Vancouver, practice Monday and play Tuesday … it wasn’t ideal, so let’s do it right.  Let’s hold this tournament in August or early September.  Let’s have a training camp; let’s get the team together, work on special teams and put the best product on the ice.”

Subsequently, Paul Romanuk proposed holding a “Global Hockey Week” in February instead of the All-Star Game where every professional league in the world would shut down and come together for a conference much like the World Hockey Summit to exchange ideas.  The “crown jewel” of the week would be an NHL champion vs. European champion exhibition match and a World Players’ Skills Competition.  When broadcaster Healy suggested using that week in February for the World Cup in non-Olympic years, Burke dismissed the idea saying that there was already too much of a burden of in-season events for NHL players.  Immediately, Healy quipped, “Fine, we’ll have [the World Cup] in Toronto in April!” a poke at the moribund Leafs’ annual absence from the playoffs that everyone in the room laughed at, except Burke.

Burke also took loud exception to what he perceived as unfair criticism from Bassin.  Bassin tersely declared to the panellists that people are tired of hearing about the problems and conflicts of getting NHL players into the Olympics and wanted to hear solutions, a comment that received applause from many other delegates.  Burke responded by yelling, “It’s not that simple to get everyone on a goddamn plane and go over and play the games … It’s not that simple and we’re letting it become an emotional issue in this room,” and rebuked Bassin for making an applause-garnering statement without considering all the difficult factors involved in the decision.

Tomorrow, the Summit will come to a close, but not before the imbalance between North America and the rest of the world in women’s hockey is discussed in the morning, followed by the final topic, Growing Participation in Hockey, in the afternoon.

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Timo Lumme, managing director of the International Olympic Committee’s TV and marketing services, presented some encouraging viewership statistics which showed the impact that NHL players participating at the Olympics had around the world.  He noted that the men’s gold medal game was the most watched hockey game of all-time worldwide, seen by 114-million people.  In Canada, that game averaged 16.6-million viewers and in the United States, 27.6-million viewers tuned in, a figure almost equal to the 28-million who watched Game 7 of this year’s NBA Finals.

Hockey historian and researcher Igor Kuperman chimed in and refuted several misconceptions about risks to NHL owners.  He noted that a drop in ticket revenue during a two-week Olympic break is generally negligible as most teams already have completed the majority of their ticket sales through a core of about 14,000 season-ticket holders.  He also commented that his investigation into injury risk showed that pre-season injuries have been greater than injuries sustained by players during the Olympics and found that through his association with the Phoenix Coyotes, players on the club from varying nations including Keith Tkachuk (U.S.), Nikolai Khabibulin (Russia) and Teemu Selanne (Finland) all showed up to NHL training camp in Olympic years, already brimming with enthusiasm about the Winter Games.

Detroit GM Ken Holland presented two perspectives, from the angle of a fan and in his role as a club manager.  “As a fan, I want to go back to the Olympics.  I’m like everyone up here.  I think the Vancouver Olympics were an incredible display of what’s good about our sport.  The games were played with incredible speed, incredible skill.  It was exciting.”  However, he also took time to illustrate the real risks and reservations NHL teams have about continuing Olympic participation citing the injuries to Steve Yzerman in 2002 and Tomas Holmstrom in 2010.

“There are major issues that need to be taken care of … In 2002, when the Olympics were in Salt Lake City, a week or two before the Olympics, Steve Yzerman was selected for the Canadian team and he was having problems with his knee.  He didn’t know if he shouldn’t go or should go and ultimately, Steve made a decision to go represent his country at Salt Lake City and half way through the Olympic Games, Steve told me that his knee was bothering him and he probably needed to take a rest.  He kept pushing on and helped Canada win gold.  When he came back from the Olympics, he never played one regular season game for us for the rest of the year.  He played in the playoffs and was on painkillers and ultimately he had knee surgery.”

“In 2010, I sat in the locker room with Tomas Holmstrom, who was having the same bone-on-bone issues with his knee as Yzerman in 2002 and it was an emotional hour and I said to Homer (Holmstrom) make the decision tomorrow morning.  Tomas Holmstrom ultimately decided not to go.  When the Olympics were over, he was healthy, he played and he’s feeling good.”  Holland also cautioned that some contracts are not totally covered by insurance and noted the fatigue factor that many NHL teams with a large contingent of Olympic players tend to suffer in the immediate days and weeks after the Olympics end.

NHL players Daniel Alfredsson and Jamie Langenbrunner, like all the other speakers, were in agreement that the NHL should participate in the next Winter Games but Alfredsson acknowledged that, “there are hurdles that we need to get by, but I believe the Olympics are bigger than that.  You need to find a way to get everyone on the same page.”

JAMIE LANGENBRUNNER 10 mins 08 sec New Jersey forward talks about NHL players at the Olympics and answers inevitable questions about the Ilya Kovalchuk contract situation. (This writer’s suggestion that the NHL season should start earlier in Olympic years to give more rest to players, occurs at 3:36).

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Fasel strongly expressed his displeasure at any possible merger arrangements that would see European clubs become part of the NHL.  ”I will fight like hell and not allow anybody to come from abroad,” but he was open to an idea proposed during one of last night’s Hot Stove Sessions where a European champion would play the Stanley Cup winner.

Fasel praised the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics as a model for growing the game among the next generation of fans.  ”Vancouver was the best example.  The product was so good.  For a young boy interested in hockey, watching, he will play hockey.”  Fasel also approved of the smaller NHL-sized ice surface.  “I like the small rink very much.  I like the small ice.  This is a very political question in Europe.  I was sceptical in the beginning [but] what I saw in Vancouver, the intensity was great, unbelievable and the women’s game was much better on small ice than big ice.”

Fasel closed by exhorting both North America and Europe to work together in a spirit of cooperation to overcome current difficulties whether they are political or financial, to promote and strengthen hockey.  ”We need to work together, the NHL, the clubs, the leagues, the federations.  It’s not a money thing,” he said, as he paused and tapped his heart, “it’s here.”

The afternoon topic-area session, Junior Development in the World, was opened by Murray Costello, a former president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (the forerunner to the CHL) and a veteran observer of Canadian and international hockey.  Costello explained the differences in on-ice styles of European countries, then strongly advocated for letting European teenagers remain in their home countries to develop their skills and a distinct style rather than prematurely bringing them to North America to play in the CHL.  He reasoned that taking European players out of their countries as teenagers destroys the investment and work of European hockey volunteers who will never get to see the finished product of their efforts in their home country.

Co-speaker Slavomir Lener, a Czech native, who has coached in four different countries, concurred with Costello.  While recognizing the mutually beneficial relationship between the NHL and Europe, Lener sombrely presented chart after chart showing the rapid drain of junior talent, especially from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to the CHL.  Unfortunately, many of those players have simply not honed their skills to a high-quality level to compete in the CHL and wash out.

“We don’t want to prevent players from leaving, but we want to inform them of their percentage chance of making it to the NHL.  We also like to say that the NHL is important for Europeans and European hockey.  It’s so crucial for our sport.  On the other side, European hockey is very, very important for the NHL.  All these players bring different styles, different flavours, different moves.  Obviously they bring a different quality to the NHL.”

“Why are they leaving?  Talking about the agents, a lot of the time they misinform players and parents.  They somehow withhold numbers of success rates of Europeans playing in the CHL … Some agents back in Europe don’t care.  They just blindly send the players over to the CHL.”

At the World U-20 Championship, the Czech Republic won back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001, but since then have claimed just one bronze medal and fell to 7th place this past winter.  Slovakia won bronze in 2000 but fell to 8th place this year.  Players who leave, “lose their national characteristics [and become] “hybrids”.  They aren’t great players.  They didn’t master their skills.  They come here at 16 to 17 years old and want to be NHLers, are “half” Czech or Slovak and “half” North American and they’re nothing special,” Lener added, recommending that European players play in their home nations until they are at least 19 to 21 years old.

One of the final panellists who spoke was Jim Johansson, assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey.  He described the system the Americans have put in place to promote elite hockey development.  Through high school, collegiate, and a three-tiered junior system as well as the respected National Team Development Program, the U.S. is ensuring its most talented youngsters are challenged at every age, often playing against players older than them.  In the off-season, NTDP members will undergo skills training, working on passing, shooting and conditioning.

JIM JOHANSSON 2 mins 35 sec USA Hockey’s Jim Johansson answers three questions from this writer about youth hockey in California, the financial model for funding the NTDP and whether the U.S. is entering a golden age in hockey.

Tomorrow, the scene shifts to the Sheraton Centre in downtown Toronto for the third day of the World Hockey Summit.  The much anticipated Q and A session with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will take place at 1pm while Vancouver 2010 Evaluation and Establishing a Long-term Global Event Agenda will be the topic areas for the panels to discuss.

They say that retail is in the details. And while it might not have the same ring to it, hockey is in the numbers.

Take number nine for example, it’s one of the most famous digits in hockey. Gordie Howe wore it. So did Rocket Richard and Bobby Hull.  More recently, Mike Modano built a Hall of Fame career in Dallas as #9.

According to Marcel Dionne, he almost wore it here in LA.  If original Kings’ owner Jack Kent Cooke had gotten his way, there’d be a different number hanging in the rafters at Staples Center right now.

Across town in the OC, the original Mighty Duck – Paul Kariya – wore it back when he called The Pond home.

These days, Bobby Ryan wears it in Anaheim…and if everything works out as planned, he’ll continue to wear it there for many years to come.  For now, he’s working on some other numbers, as in contract numbers. The team and his agent continue to discuss terms – number nine reportedly wants a three year deal, versus the team’s preference of five years – with nothing agreed upon just yet.

In a move that caught some people by surprise though, Ryan recently attended the launch party for Dustin Brown’s new DLO-23 line through Combat Sports.  Even for an event held in Anaheim, seeing a Ducks player out supporting the Kings’ captain was a bit curious at first.  In reality, he was there as a fellow member of the Team USA hockey program.  The two “hit it off” during the Olympics, thus he “didn’t hesitate” when Brown invited him to come down.

So, thanks to D-LO, we had the opportunity to catch up with Bobby Ryan and get his take on a few finer points of the Kings-Ducks rivalry…after, of course, first touching on his Team USA experience.

Let’s start with the Olympics…excluding Brown, who you’re now friends with…who was another guy on the team that you learned something about and came away impressed?

Ryan Suter. He plays in the Western Conference, so we see him with Nashville. He’s a tough guy to play against and he’s a sound guy positionally. But, you really don’t appreciate him until he’s on your team playing those big minutes and until he’s running a power play. He has an overwhelming sense of calm back there, even in the big situations. I was flabbergasted with him at certain points during the Olympics.

Now that you’ve had a few months to let it all sink in, when you look back at Vancouver - besides the big moments against Canada – what other memories do you take with you from the Olympics?

I think the biggest thing for me was the camaraderie, not just between the guys that played hockey though.  It was the whole USA organization in general, the way that we got to meet other athletes and bond with them through the village.  To get a chance to spend time with them and get to know them was incredible. You’d find yourself cheering for events you never thought you’d watch. It was nice to go in there and come out with the most medals too.

You’ve played in Vancouver before with the Ducks, so the city wasn’t new to you.  However, the Olympic experience made things different.  What surprised you the most while you were there?

The acceptance from the Canadian fans. You get a chance on your off days to spend time with your family and get around. You’re wearing the U.S. gear and your family is obviously wearing it from head to toe. I found that even after we beat Canada the first time around that fans didn’t come up to us to give us a hard time or say “We’ll get you next time,” they were supportive almost. They said what a great game it was and that they were rooting for us, just not if we played them again. It was surprising. But it’s something I’ll never forget because I dont know if we’d get that in a lot of other countries.

Anaheim sent eight players to the Olympics.  However, the team struggled once the NHL season resumed and ultimately didnt make the playoffs.  How would you recap what happened over the the full 82 game season?

I think the biggest thing that defined us last year was inconsistency. Obviously we faced injuries, as every team does. We lost Joffrey Lupul, which was a big thing for the year. And Teemu going down for 10 games here and there. We never really got to ice the line-up that we were hoping for, the one that so many people predicted to be strong.  Then, you add in guys going on hot and cold streaks at different points.  We never really meshed as a team in that sense.  So, I dont think it was a prototypical Anaheim season.  I think we should have been a playoff team and maybe even made a run at it. 

It’s been said that a real rivalry doesn’t exist yet between the Ducks and the Kings because the teams haven’t met in the playoffs.  As a player, when you come into Staples Center, do you feel a rivalry or is it really not that much different than when you guys play other teams in the West, like Detroit and San Jose – two teams the Ducks have met in the playoffs?

If you’re not amped up to go out on the ice at Staples Center, the fans right there behind the bench will get you.  It’s a rivalry that does kinda fall by the wayside at times, as maybe it should, when you look at San Jose and the runs they’ve made the last few years…maybe people are focused on them.  But, it’s for bragging rights when we face off with LA.  It’s a tough one for me too because I have so many good friends on the Kings, not just from the Olympics, but from Owen Sound - in Simmonds and Richardson and other guys I’ve gotten to know.  I definitly text those guys after games, whether we win or lose, and say “We’ll get you next time.” or “We had your number tonight.”

[note:  speaking of numbers, here's a few that always stick out...in 2004-05, Bobby Ryan's NHL draft year, he was outscored by the Kings' Brad Richardson (his then-teammate in Owen Sound)...Richie posted more goals and assists than Ryan...that was just five years ago!]

Regarding Staples being a tough place to play at times, when do you remember it being the most challenging for you personally?

It would be after the (Oscar) Moller hit, with about seven seconds left in that game (January 14th).  At the time I was heated up, so some of the comments didn’t register with me.  I just got off the ice.  But, I was aware of it the next time we came there.  We played them again at Staples Center the next month and Doughty got me back that night.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Drew Doughty and Bobby Ryan are two of the brightest young stars for their SoCal hockey teams.  Contract issues aside, they should be leading the charge for their respective franchises for the next decade.

The real question is, who will get the upper hand when it matters most, #8 or #9?

For the Kings-Ducks rivalry to reach a whole new level, an additional number probably needs to be added into the mix.  Seven. 

As in, seven game playoff series.

The Mayor
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The Mayor appears courtesy of MayorsManor – a great source for hockey news, views and interviews. Some of the RELATED ARTICLES you’ll find over there are…

10 Tidbits on Drew Doughty

Interview w/ Noah Clarke – The original California Kings tells the best George Parros story EVER!

Interview with Cam Fowler – Anaheim Ducks draft pick

The Last Time it Mattered This Much – Kings/Ducks Feb 4th Preview

Interview with Mike Modano

Interview with Marcel Dionne

Also - a video recap of the Moller-Ryan-Doughty exchange was posted by the guys over at Life in Hockeywood. You can check it out by clicking here.

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Simply, because it involves the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Case closed.

The following are the ten most memorable games of the 2009-10 regular season as chosen by this writer, in chronological order.

October 8, 2009 - Pittsburgh 5 @ Philadelphia 4.  The Battle of Pennsylvania lived up to its name.  With two seconds left in the game, Mike Richards careened into Marc-Andre Fleury, setting off a bizarre sequence of events behind the net.  Chris Pronger grabbed Chris Kunitz from behind by the collar of his sweater and viciously shook him while Scott Hartnell allegedly bit Kris Letang’s finger.  If any Penguins’ fan forgot over the summer why the Flyers are hated so much, the end of this contest was like a splash of cold water to the face.

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November 14 - Boston 5 @ Pittsburgh 6 (OT).  Losers of four straight, the Pens were headed to a disappointing defeat after blowing four separate one-goal leads to visiting Boston.  Down 5-4 and trapped in their own end with ten seconds left, Pittsburgh makes one last desperate rush up ice with the goalie pulled.  Evgeni Malkin passes from the left wing to Bill Guerin who wires a snap shot past Tim Thomas for the game-tying goal.  Time remaining: 0.4 seconds.  Thomas, still stewing in overtime, leaves the puck behind his own net for … opposing centre Jordan Staal.  Pascal Dupuis receives a quick pass for an easy game-winning tap-in.

November 28 – Rangers 3 @ Pittsburgh 8.  Sidney Crosby, in a season full of magical moments, went on a rampage against the visiting Rangers by scoring three goals and two assists.  It was Crosby’s second hat trick of the season and it came, appropriately, on “Hat Night” at Mellon Arena.  The sight of thousands of white baseball hats slowly descending like snowflakes from inside the rink at 11:29 of the third period provided a perfect holiday-themed opportunity.  Days later, with Christmas season underway, the Penguins’ created a video set to the holiday tune Let It Snow with a slow-motion clip of Crosby celebrating his hat trick while the hats rained down.

December 15 – Philadelphia 1 @ Pittsburgh 6.  In the first Flyers-Penguins game since “Bite Night” back in October, the expected dust-ups occurred not once, not twice, but three times – in the space of just 16 seconds in the first period.  At 5:17, Mike Rupp and Aaron Asham dropped the gloves.  Six seconds after the next puck drop, Eric Godard and Riley Cote squared off for yet another rematch in their heavyweight careers.  Ten seconds later, Craig Adams and the hated Daniel Carcillo decided to dance.  The unintimidated Pens sailed to an easy victory which included shorthanded goals by Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin.

December 21 – New Jersey 4 @ Pittsburgh 0.  If Pittsburgh hockey is a fun and enjoyable style of play, based on offensive creativity and likeable stars such as Crosby and Malkin, then the New Jersey style can only be described as “death by slow suffocation”.  Sure the neutral-zone trap works and the Devils have refined it to perfection, but it is as boring as watching paint dry.  The whole system would fall apart if not for the consistent excellence of goaltender Martin Brodeur.  Four nights before Christmas, Brodeur gave himself an early gift, recording his 104th career shutout in a win at Mellon Arena, passing the mark of all-time great Terry Sawchuk.

January 16, 2010 - Pittsburgh 2 @ Vancouver 6.  Due to injuries to goalies Fleury and backup Brent Johnson, the Penguins called up John Curry from their AHL affiliate to start the game against the Canucks.  His backup?  Nineteen year old Alexander Pechurski, a prospect who had only left Russia in December to begin his major junior career in Tri-City of the Western Hockey League.  Signed to an emergency one-day tryout contract, the Pens probably did not expect him to see any game action.  Wrong.  Curry was shelled for 5 goals on just 14 shots and was replaced by Pechurski in the second period.  The kid acquitted himself well, stopping 12 of 13 shots, earning third-star honours.

February 7 – Pittsburgh 4 @ Washington 5 (OT).  In the wee hours of Super Bowl Sunday morning, the Penguins rolled into a city of Washington deluged by snow, just in time to meet the Capitals for a noon national telecast.  It was the first match in Washington between the two teams since the anticlimactic Game 7 of last year’s Eastern Conference semifinal.  Pittsburgh jumped out to 2-0 and 4-1 leads on the strength of a pair of goals each from Crosby and Staal.  Then Alexander Ovechkin took over, scoring his second and third goals of the game to tie matters at 4-4 before his shot in overtime was deflected in by Mike Knuble for the winning tally.  The victory for the Caps was their franchise-high fourteenth straight.

March 7 – Boston 1 @ Pittsburgh 2.  This Sunday matinee at Mellon Arena will forever be remembered for a play that was not even recorded for posterity in the boxscore.  With 5:37 remaining in the game, Boston forward Marc Savard glided into the offensive zone and released a shot.  On his follow-through, with his head turned in the opposite direction, Pens’ winger Matt Cooke finished his check with a high forearm to the back of Savard’s head, immediately knocking him out.  Savard suffered a Grade 2 concussion and has not played since.  There was no penalty on the play nor was any supplementary discipline meted out by the NHL.  However, the incident served as the tipping point in the endless controversy over head-shots and safety on the ice.  Within weeks, the NHL and NHLPA made the unusual move of quickly enacting a rule change mid-season to outline the parameters and punishments for hits to the head.

April 8 – Islanders 3 @ Pittsburgh 7.  The last ever regular season home game at Mellon Arena saw a who’s who of former Penguins proudly parade onto the ice in a memorable pre-game ceremony.  For the first time since his playing career ended in January, 2006, team co-owner Mario Lemieux donned his familiar #66 jersey and strode onto the ice as the last guest alumni.  Current Penguin star Sidney Crosby, ever rising to the occasion, scored the winning goal and added three assists.  He appeared to score a second goal, which would have been his 50th of the season, but it was later credited to Bill Guerin, as the puck had deflected off his body into the net.

April 11 – Pittsburgh 6 @ Islanders 5 (OT).  With all due respect to Jordan Leopold, who scored his second overtime winner as a Penguin, the day belonged to Crosby.  The captain toyed with the Islanders for a second time in four days, dropping two goals and three assists on New York to finish with 51 goals on the year, good for a share of the Rocket Richard Trophy.  He became the first Penguin to reach 50 since Jaromir Jagr in 2001.  Incredibly, Crosby reached five points in the game at just 11:09 of the second period and no one doubted the possibility that he might add three more to tie Henrik Sedin in points, which would have given him the Art Ross Trophy as well (Sedin scored 29 goals and goals scored is the tie-breaker for the Ross).  Though Crosby was held pointless for the rest of the game, he gave voters more information to consider before Hart Trophy ballots are completed.

If you want to see the end of journalism…start here.

All it takes is a English failed musician who lives and writes for the Russian rag Pravda. He has a long history of anti-American and anti-Israel invective. He sits on the Pravda editorial board and launches pro-Russian propaganda whose main thrust is to disparage what it is aimed at, while making the Russian side seem more glowing and noble.

We can argue Western journalism, corporate filters and Chomskyesque debates until we are blue in the face, but Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey’s editorial accusing Canadian athletes of doping simply because Russia was unable to get any medals like they used is cold war rack-and-pinion steering by an Englishman educated in Leeds, but steering the anti-West attack for the motherland.

Queue up the Canadian Press, who reacted as if Mother Russia herself was speaking out of Vladamir Putin’s behind, who launched their own defense, never bothering to look up Pravda’s author or the long google litany of sad discourse and riotous reaction by bloggers who did bother to look him up.

From one blogger who was able to look up his bio before it was deleted:

I incidentally became involved with the world of music and even became one of the leading English song-writers of the 1980s. I took part in three Eurovision contests, released three albums, two maxi-singles and five singles. That was the time when I started establishing contacts with the press. “I had to give a lot of interviews for television and newspapers. I noticed that facts were reinterpreted on numerous occasions, almost always, in order to make an article correspond to ideas of a reporter. One fine day I realized that there was only one way to strive for the truth: to write a true story and to send it to mass media outlets. That’s what I did.”

I showed my first articles to a friend, a reporter, who expressed his interest in them and asked my why I did not take up journalism seriously. After that, I finished journalism courses, and worked as a freelance journalist at Portuguese, Spanish, Latin American, English and Romanian media outlets. However, journalism was not my only occupation. “I believe that there is nothing more boring for a journalist than to sit at table, working on the so-called news, which has already been picked out from the Internet by someone, retelling someone else’s stories. In addition to that, it is proof of the absence of professionalism, it is not worth it, in the long run. I like to visit new places, to collect new material for my own articles.”

So Timmy seems to use Pravda…which is Russian for “truth”, by the way, to launch venom at the West and all things that rail against his pro-Russian way of life.

Meanwhile per the Wall Street Journal, the 2010 Games are set to go down as the Olympics with the fewest doping infractions since Nagano.

But reality has not place in Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey’s ludicious little world. He uses his perch to rip Vancouver as an unfit location, how terrible it was for Russian athletes (including one who was caught for doping), and finishes it off with his creme-de-la creme of accusations and hyperbole with assuming doping must be how Russia screwed the pooch.

Yet, some were onto him early on when he ripped Vancouver.

Via the National Post:

Mr. Bancroft-Hinchey apparently has a history of this sort of gibberish. And it’s probably unfair to denounce all of Britain over one fruitcake with an axe to grind in Pravda. (Even Russians don’t read Pravda any more, do they?)

Lightning Olympians:

First of all, I would like to extend a big “Congratulations!” to Team Canada on their gold medal victory.  It was a thrilling gold medal final and good on Canada for winning at home for the first time!

I would also like to extend my congratulations to Lightning players Ryan Malone (USA) and Antero Niittymaki (Finland) who won silver and bronze medals respectively.  Malone put up 3 goals, 2 assists, and a +2 rating through 6 games in the tournament.  Unfortunately for Antero Niittymaki, the tournament MVP of the 2006 Olympic Games, he did not get to play in net for Finland due to a combination of Miikka Kiprusoff’s demand to be the number one goalie and Niklas Backstrom’s more impressive resume.

Andrej Meszaros had no points but a +1 rating through 7 games for Slovakia.  He and Zdeno Chara were the shut-down pair who helped to lead Slovakia to a 4^th place finish at the games (the highest in their history).  Mattias Ohlund was part of a disappointing campaign for Team Sweden, as the 2006 Olympic Champions were upset in the quarterfinals by the Slovakians.

Coaching Change:

In the midst of the Vancouver Olympic Games, the Lightning announced a coaching change as they appointed Jim Johnson (former head coach of Tampa’s AHL affiliate the Norfolk Admirals) as a replacement for former assistant-coach Wes Walz.  What I like about this move is that Johnson led the Admirals to a 13-2-2 record after taking over as head coach there and may help to provide the Lightning the boost they need to make the playoffs.  He also specializes with working on the penalty kill, an area that Tampa Bay seriously needs to improve on to be a contender (they rank 22^nd in the league).

What I don’t like about this move is that it comes at an odd time for the Lightning.  A disruption with the coaching chemistry, as Rick Tocchet was NOT consulted on this move and unhappy to see his buddy Walz go, could spell potential disaster for this team on the brink of making the playoffs.  I also don’t like that this move leaves Norfolk without its head coach, as the team was really starting to turn things around and are in the midst of a playoff race themselves.  Only time will tell if this move was the right one and if it doesn’t pan out, GM Brian Lawton’s job here will likely be very much in question.

Trade Deadline:

The NHL 2009-2010 Trade Deadline is set for March 3^rd at 3pm.  With (all but finalized) new owner Jeff Vinik funding the team and willing to increase payroll, look for the Lightning to be buyers at the deadline.  In my opinion the team could use:

-a top-6 forward (seeing as Alex Tanguay hasn’t panned out as planned)

-a bottom-6 forward who plays a solid defensive game but can chip in some offence too (unless Mark Parrish really dazzles us during Tuesday’s Philadelphia game)

-a mobile, puck-moving defenseman (unless Paul Ranger, by some miracle, returns ready to play…which doesn’t look likely)

In reality, it would be nice if the Lightning was at least able to add a decent forward who potentially could play well on a line with Vincent Lecavalier.  Upcoming UFA forwards Alex Tanguay and Jeff Halpern may be used as trading chips as they (Tanguay especially) have not put up the kind of numbers that the Bolts need from them.  Defenseman David Hale may also be seen as expendable as he has filled the role of a 6^th defenseman well when needed, but has not been able to earn a solid spot on the team.

Be sure to keep checking HockeyIndependent.com for the latest take on trades, extensions, and all other things hockey during the Trade Deadline!  This Friday, I’ll be providing an in-depth look at the moves (or lack thereof) made by Tampa Bay at the Trade Deadline.

Contact Information:

For breaking Lightning trade information and other news, follow me on Twitter here!

Also, you can always email me at mikep.hockeyblog@gmail.com if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the Lightning or anything I write!

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Thanks for reading!!

There is no doubt in my mind that the NHL should continue to participate in the Olympics in Sochi and beyond.  Yes, I know it shuts down the league for two weeks but owners are still getting 41 home games just at a different time of the year and they are still getting the same money from Versus, CBC, TSN, and NBC if they go to the Olympics or not.  What the league gets from the Olympics is television exposure that they would not otherwise get, especially in the United States.  Do you think that Gary Bettman would have been all over every NBC owned network over the last two weeks if the NHL was not in the Olympics.  Also if the NHL kept playing for those two weeks while the Olympics were going on it is likely that the league would lose some viewers to the Olympic hockey tournament, in whatever new form it happens in.

Gary Bettman has said that the league has not currently made a decision on Sochi, but he sure seems like to point out the flaws of going to the Olympics over the positives.  If the NHL goes to Sochi or not will actually have to be decided in the next CBA so the NHLPA will have an input and at this point they seem all for it.  In all honesty it would not surprise me at all if Gary and the league are actually in favor of staying in the Olympics and are just using Olympic participation as a bargaining chip against the PA.

While the NHL should still go to the Olympics, the NHL should realize that it has some pull to use against the IOC/IIHF.  If the NHL did pull out of the Olympics it would greatly diminish one of the major attractions of the Winter Olympics.  The IOC would once again be left with a tournament that had European pros and amateurs from North America or they could move the World Juniors tournament to the Olympics.  The biggest problem with the World Juniors is that it would be less completive then the current format.  I mean there is a reason that it is huge in Canada every year and that is that they finish first or second every time.

The first thing that the NHL should demand in agreeing to go to Sochi is that games start at 9 AM and noon local time so that they can be on in prime time back in North America.  I am sure that some of the players and the Russian fans would not like this, but I doubt Michael Phelps enjoyed swimming in the morning in China but the IOC caved into NBC and he seemed to do fine.

Second, the NHL should take a stand and show that they are really committed to growing the sport by saying that if the IOC even attempts to take women’s hockey out of the Olympics the NHL will walk and have nothing to do with the Olympics.  Gary Bettman and the NHL always talk about growing the sport and this would be a BIG statement on the leagues part to support growing the game when it would not benefit financially.  Yes, currently the women’s hockey field is not that competitive, but the sport has grown greatly since it first entered the Olympics in 1998.  Over that same time women’s hockey as grown at lower levels including now having a number of competitive teams at the Division 1 level in the NCAA.  I would hate to see what would happen to all this if it was removed from the Olympics.

Going into the 21^st Winter Olympic Games, Team USA was predicted to finish in 4^th or 5^th place and not even contend for a medal.  Ryan Miller and Team USA had other ideas.

Team USA’s first two games against Switzerland and Norway, barely made Ryan Miller break a sweat.  In the two games combined, Miller only had to make 24 stops.  Thus, propelling the undefeated American team, in to their clash with their arch rivals, Team Canada.

Sunday February 21^st, 2010 will be a date remembered forever in the eyes of American hockey fans.  Team USA VS Canada!  Nobody gave the Americans a chance to beat Canada at their game, on their home ice.  Apparently Ryan Miller wasn’t intimidated.  Miller made 42 saves against the Canadians that night, helping Team USA to their first victory against Canada in Olympic competition since 1960.

Not only was the win against Canada a huge win for Team USA, but for Ryan Miller as well.  Miller opened the eyes of many that night.  Even actress Alyssa Milano chimed in.  On her twitter page, Milano posted “Ryan Miller almost makes me want to be a Sabres fan”.  Miller was even a guest on the Ryan Seacrest radio show.  Yes, that Ryan Seacrest.  Other than the fact Seacrest kept calling Miller, Brother, I thought it was pretty cool to see all the recognition the Buffalo Sabres goaltender was getting and deserved.  But, there was more work to be done.

With the win against the Canadians, Team USA earned an extra day off to rest for their quarterfinal matchup against Switzerland.  Anaheim Ducks goaltender, Jonas Hiller, who deserves recognition in itself for the job he did between the pipes for the Swiss during the Olympics, made it tough for Team USA to mount any type of offense.  Hiller made 42 stops to Miller’s 19.  The 19 save performance gave Miller his first Olympic shutout.

The semi-final matchup against Finland was supposed to be a hard fought battle to see who would play for gold.  But, that was not to be.  USA roared for 6 first period goals and Miller was barely tested as he made 18 saves before being replaced by Bruins goaltender, Tim Thomas.  If you were keeping count, when Miller was replaced, his shutout streak was at 111 minutes 38 seconds.

The gold medal game VS Canada was all it was expected to be.  Exciting and heart-stopping are just a couple words to describe what Americans and Canadians were feeling as the game went on.  Ryan Miller, who saw his shutout streak end at 124 minutes 38 seconds, was once again stellar for Team USA.  Miller made 36 saves and kept his American teammates in it until the end.  Sidney Crosby, who seems to have Miller’s number, did it again.  He scored in OT to bring the Canadians gold.

Ryan Miller’s unbelievable play earned him the MVP of the Olympic hockey tournament and was one of three Americans to make the tournaments All-Star team.  Miller finished the tourney with a 94.56% SVP, which was tops in the tourney, and a 1.35 GAA, which was just behind Henrik Lundqvist of Team Sweden.  The 1.35 GAA is the lowest GAA for a USA goaltender in Olympic history.

As a Sabres fan, it is nice to say that Ryan Miller is coming home to Buffalo! Miller did his country proud and every Sabres fan around the world.  Congratulations Ryan! This is only the beginning.

The Sabres resume play on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.  Ryan Miller will NOT be playing.  Patrick Lalime (if he is still a Sabre) will get the start against the Pens.

Sidney Crosby was born and bred for this moment.

In a country that elevates its sublimely talented hockey superstars to iconic status, it was only appropriate that out of the many star players populating Team Canada’s roster, the wunderkind from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia would emerge as the one who seized the moment that asked for a hero.

Out of the many, Sidney.  E pluribus, Crosby.

Yesterday afternoon, at 2.54 pm local time, with over 15-million alarmed fellow citizens anxiously looking on, Crosby took one small step toward Ryan Miller, flicked the puck past him, then took one giant celebratory leap for Canadian mankind.  OT game-winning goal.  Gold medal-winning goal.  On home ice.  Lights out, Vancouver.

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Did you seriously think it would turn out this way?

Of course you didn’t.  After all, Hollywood is an American institution and surely, Canadian hockey fans never believed that a script worthy of an Academy Award next weekend would play out in living colour on the silver screen of Canada Hockey Place.  In a Winter Olympics that has simply been magical for host Canada, it was stretching the bounds of reality to ask for one more storybook, golden moment.  Oh sure, Canadians could envision winning gold in a business-like, non-fairy tale fashion over the United States, and it certainly looked likely when Jonathan Toews scored in the opening frame and Corey Perry scored mid-way through the second period to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

However, when Ryan Kesler cut the lead in half five and a half minutes later on a deft deflection, Doubt cast her dark shadow clouds over sunny Vancouver.  When American Zach Parise scored the tying goal with Miller on the bench during the United States’ last, desperate push with just 24 seconds remaining in regulation time, not only was a storybook golden moment unlikely, it was completely out of the question.  Even the possibility of a business-like golden finish became questionable.

Every Canadian in the arena or watching at home, at the corner pub, or pressed up against the windows of an electronics store looked up and down that home team bench and wondered about all the many talented, battle-tested players and asked the same question: Who would be the one to rescue Canada?  Who would be the overtime hero?

Out of the many, Sidney.  E pluribus, Crosby.

In Canada, there is a reason why we label Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux “hockey icons” and place them on a higher tier than their merely “star” contemporaries.  For Gretzky and Lemieux, their natural gifts, their stratospheric accomplishments and their uncanny ability to succeed in pressure-cooker situations gave them the right to be labelled “icons”.  Crosby traces his hockey ancestry to this royal lineage.  It was Gretzky who tabbed a then 14-year old Crosby, fresh off a 193-point season in Nova Scotia Minor Hockey, as the one who had a shot at breaking his records.  It was Lemieux, the King Penguin, who drafted Prince Crosby and welcomed him into his castle, where they both still reside together.

Icons identify the moment; icons seize the moment; icons create one frozen moment that will be remembered for all time.

Every great achievement Crosby has earned thus far in his still young career was but a prelude to what we witnessed yesterday.  Youngest to score at the World Junior Championship.  Youngest to win a scoring title.  Youngest captain ever.  Youngest captain to hoist the Stanley Cup.  All, mere arrows pointing to this frozen moment that was waiting for him from the day he was born, a prodigy on skates.

Some critics lamented, even as late as Saturday evening, that Crosby was underachieving and not scoring as much as he should in the Olympics.  They wanted Crosby to rediscover his finishing touch in the same manner that Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Rick Nash seemed to do as the tournament proceeded.  What the critics constantly fail to grasp is that there is no need to fret about the performance of icons.  Out of the many stars on Team Canada, some will score in bunches and some will periodically slump.  As we speak, out of the many Canadian teenagers, mesmerized by the hockey that they observed the last two weeks, some will in four years, populate a portion of the next Olympic roster.  Out of the many, there will be stars but likely, no icons.  Out of the many, there will still only be one hockey icon for this generation, ever to the rescue.

Out of the many, Sidney.  E pluribus, Crosby.

Let it be said rather plainly. I think Alexander Ovechkin is the best NHL player bar none right now.

But, his behavior from dodging the sports press in Vancouver, to pushing a fan…has been poor sportsmanship no matter what pressure, excuse or Milbury-insult launched from a host’s seat.

Well, sadly it has continued as per a RIA Novosti correspondent who taped Ovechkin until he finally came up to the camera guy and added another situation to his personal Vancouver resume.

Per the story:

When Evgeny Fatkin asked Ovechkin for an interview, the hockey star answered by saying “Do you want me to break your camera?”

He did not wait for an answer and broke the camera display.

“I was holding the camera in my right hand,” Fatkin said. “When Ovechkin approached, I put it [my arm] down, and he broke the digital display with his right hand,” he said.

Following the incident, Ovechkin reportedly smiled, left the bar and disappeared.

There has been criticism from this season that Ovechkin has been reckless in his play, even causing Washington owner Ted Leonsis to take him aside to ask him about it. But many have come to his aid and side that he is “just having fun”. However, if you tie all these things together this season….under the white hot light of the Olympics and a season of some questions, might that image be cracking just a bit? Is something up with Ovechkin beyond just the loss, or just now being reckless now with his own image and how he handles paparazzi and fans?

There might be more to all of this, or maybe not. But for a guy who is a vibrant personality and marketed face to a game, something is crumbling a bit.

As authors with considerable audiences, we try to keep ourselves from showing our allegiances. Whatever teams we may cheer for, and whatever teams we may cheer against, we attempt to keep our biases to a bare minimum. Everyone who reads my articles knows that I’m a fan of the Montreal Canadiens. They know that, as a Montrealer, born and raised, I have built in disdain for the Toronto Maple Leafs and for the Boston Bruins. If I’m not showing it in my blogs, it’s in the comments. It’s on my twitter account, it’s on other message boards and it’s on Facebook.

But despite this, when I put my blogs, my articles together, the bias is pushed to the side. The stats come out, the analysis comes out, and I, just like any other writer, will even choose to opposing team to take the victory every so often for the sake of appearing objective. Even if the moment the team takes the ice, I’m cheering for them 100%, and I’m upset if they lose. Because even though we’re fans, even though is it that very fan-dom that drives us to write about our teams and about hockey, a certain level of professionalism is expected out of all of us.

From the authors and columnists from major publications such as Kevin Allen and Stephen Brunt, to the lowly bloggers looking to make a name for themselves such as myself; whether we’re served accreditation to major events such as the Vancouver Olympics and Stanley Cup Finals, to whether we experience most of these events sitting on our couches at home, we’re all expected to maintain our objectivity and respect the level of competition we are witnessing in front of us. But no matter how “professional” we really are, or try to be, that “fan-dom” will always escape out into the open and manifest itself in some fashion. We will always be cheering for our teams, or in this case, our countries.

And now, with only hours to go before the game that will define these Vancouver Olympic games, the gold medal game between the United States and Canada, I sit here wondering how I can put forth my thoughts on this one and final game of the tournament, and how I can do it in such an objective fashion as described above.

I’ve come to the realization that I can’t. I can’t objectively describe what I and millions of other Canadians are feeling going into this game. We could go through stats, we could talk about the players, we could talk about the past and about the history, but it wouldn’t do justice to the epic battle that is gearing up to take place tomorrow afternoon at Canada Hockey Place.

Simply put, tomorrow’s game is the most important moment of these Vancouver Olympics. We could talk about Alex Bilodeau making history being the first Canadian to win gold at home. We could talk about Jon Montgomery walking through the streets of Vancouver chugging pitchers of beer after he won his gold medal. Joannie Rochette giving the figure skating performance of her life only days after the passing of her mother.

The stories from these games are endless, and a lot of them will remain with us for a very long time. But the talk of the games, before and during, and, I’ve very certain, after these games are done, will be the men’s hockey tournament.

We started with 12 teams, and at least five gold medal contenders. Through a group stage, through qualifiers, quarters, and semi-finals, we are now down to two. Through nearly 30 games and plenty of goals, games which have featured the biggest names that currently play in the NHL and even a few international leagues, all that remains is the United States and Canada.

On the line, a set of about 25 gold medals, and bragging rights for the next four years until twelve teams meet once again in Sochi, Russia. But they’re not just any bragging rights. They’re the rights to say that you were the best hockey nation in the entire world, the best collection of players from the best least in the entire world, and that you won your gold medal in the place where hockey was born and where it’s most important to tis residents.

Some hockey bloggers and writers (who shall remain… anonymous) have attempted to turn this game into a battle of nations. Into a matter of whether or not the winner of tomorrow’s game will be able to claim hockey as “their” game. Without getting to deep into the political and social complications as to why a single game, no matter how important, can solve the equation of which country a game might belong to, you just can’t decide that based on how a single bounce or tip or hit or even player selection might go in the favor of one team or the other.

And while tomorrow’s game is extremely important, we shouldn’t be rash and exuberant in overstating its importance. Yes, it is important, but it’s one game. One game where, as stated above, one tip-in, one bounce, or good or bad decision could decide the entire outcome of the game. No matter the outcome out this one game, Canadians will still say that hockey is their game, and Americans will – or at least should – be happy with a solid performance from their team.

But even though we can’t decide the proprietor of a sport with this one game, we can say that on the line along with gold medals and bragging rights will be national pride.

For the USA, while the overall medal count victory is in the bag, what these players will be trying to prove is that they are as good as Canadians, that they can compete with the best and that they can overcome the underdog status that they’ve been labelled with. They’ve been the most consistent team of the tournament and certainly deserve to be medalists at these games. Tomorrow, they get the chance to take it to that final, golden level.

Conveniently, Canada faces an equally, if not more important situation going into tomorrow’s game. They’ve witnessed the hockey women win gold just days ago. They’ve witnessed their Canadian peers garner 13 gold medals, tying an Olympic record at any Winter Games. Tomorrow, they get the chance to set a new record, at home, with the entire country watching. If they lose, they get their consolation prize, silver, and go back to their respective NHL teams to compete for the Stanley Cup. If they win gold, they do the same, but the go back as the darlings of the country, that brought back the glory of being Olympic Champions in our own sport, and brought it on our own soil.

For various reasons, going into this encounter, the game between the United States and Canada has shaped up to be one of the most important games of our generation. Maybe the most important. However, while we celebrate the importance of this game, we have to keep in mind that it is just that, a game. One that should be enjoyed no matter the outcome, because it will be a doozy. And for a few hours, we can all take off our blogging and journalist caps and enjoy what will hopefully be a hockey game for the ages.

Tomorrow, we can all give into our bias, and cross our fingers as Canada goes for gold one last time.

Prax
www.thecheckingline.com
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