My NHL Stanley Cup Predictions - Bruins win Rematch over the Blackhawks

Zach Hawkins has made his predictions for the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, here's mine. Feel free to chime in with your picks.

Ryan Malone arrested on DUI, cocaine charges

This is not good... I would have to think he's going to be suspened by the NHL. Here's the link to the Hillsoboro Country Sheriff's Office webpage which contains his booking photo and his information.

Tampa Bay Times --- Lightning left wing Ryan Malone was arrested Saturday morning on charges of driving under the influence and cocaine possession.

"We are aware of the situation concerning Ryan Malone this morning," general manager Steve Yzerman said in a statement. "Ryan will not travel with the team to Washington today, but beyond that we cannot comment further at this time."

Malone, 34, was driving a 2014 Chevrolet Suburban at 3:19 a.m. when he made a left turn on to W Platt Street from the center lane of S Armenia Avenue, Tampa Police said.

Malone then struck a curb at S Howard Avenue and W Platt Street, police said.

A patrol officer conducted a traffic stop and noted an odor of alcoholic beverages on Malone's breath, police said. Malone refused to take a field sobriety test and was arrested for driving under the influence.

Douglas Murray hit on Mike Kostka (GIFS) Has Hearing...

GIF: Doug Murray elbowing Mike Kostka in the head. Awful. http://t.co/El6d6JAUyQ
— Pat Iversen (@PatIversen) April 2, 2014

Hab's defenseman Douglas Murray should be getting a long suspension from the NHL's Department of Player Safety after this dirty, bush-league hit on Lightning defenseman Mike Kostka. This is unacceptable. What's your prediction for this suspension?

@CanadiensMTL Douglas Murray awaits a hearing with player safety after hit on @TBLightning Mike kostka. He has been suspended Indefinitely.
— NHL News (@Chel_Stats) April 2, 2014

Rangers give up the farm to get Martin St. Louis

Former Vermont Catamount star forward Martin St. Louis has been traded from the Tampa Bay Lightning to the New York Rangers for forward Ryan Callahan. Included in the deal, a 1st Round Pick (2015)and a conditional 2nd Round Pick (2014).

#NYR Rangers trade Callahan, aqcuire St. Louis http://t.co/O87uKDoN0L
— Katie Strang (@KatieStrangESPN) March 5, 2014

Martin St-Louis, who has been a 38-year-old baby since the Olympic announcement, gets his wish by being traded to NYR. Legend tarnished.
— Ken Campbell (@THNKenCampbell) March 5, 2014

(Video) Habs forward Brandon Prust vs Lightning goalie Ben Bishop

The box score will read.
17:02 MTL Brandon Prust Unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min
17:02 TBL Ben Bishop served by B.J. Crombeen Goalie leave crease - 2 min
17:02 MTL Carey Price served by Daniel Brière Goalie leave crease - 2 min
17:02 MTL George Parros Misconduct (10 min) - 10 min
17:02 TBL Radko Gudas Misconduct (10 min) - 10 min

Team Canada 2014 Olympic Roster

Centres Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks and Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks face-off during a game on December 16, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Forwards

Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars
Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
Jeff Cater, L.A. Kings
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Matt Duchene, Colorado Avalanche
Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
Chris Kunitz, Pittsburgh Penguins – Ferris State
Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks
Rich Nash, New York Rangers
Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks
Patrick Sharp, Tampa Bay Lightning – Vermont Catamounts
John Travares, New York Islanders
Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks – North Dakota

Defenseman

Jay Bouwmeester, St Louis Blues
Drew Doughty, L.A. Kings
Dan Hamhuis, Vancouver Canucks
Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks – Michigan State University
Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
P.K. Subban, Montreal Canadiens
Marc-Edouard Vlasic, San Jose Sharks
Shea Weber, Nashville Predators

Goaltenders

Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks
Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes

Snubs from Team Canada – Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning, Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks, Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes, Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers, Dan Boyle, San Jose Sharks - Miami University

NHL Hockey: Lightning Star Stamkos injured in loss to Bruins

This is a scary video. Tampa Bay will be without their superstar forward Steven Stamkos who was injured today during the second period of today’s game against the Boston Bruins.

The Tampa Bay Lightning forward broke his fibula when he crashed into the Boston Bruins goal post. Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher and transported to a Boston Hospital.  Stamkos will undergo surgery to fix the broken fibula. Stamkos was also going to be a member of the 2014 Canadian Olympic team, that’s a huge loss for the Canadians. 

Related articles

• Report: Lightning's Steven Stamkos Suffers Broken Tibia, Will Require Surgery (nesn.com)

A tale of two goalies (Ben Bishop and Daren Pang)

Ran into my little buddy @BenBishop30 before they hit the ice this morning in TB. #Padsbiggerthanme pic.twitter.com/hRPoyHhBXF
— Darren R Pang (@Panger40) November 4, 2013

Former Maine goalie "Big" Ben Bishop is 6'7" tall, that's a very tall goalie. Daren Pang is 5'5" tall, and he's very short goaltender. I once met Panger when I was working the check point at the GFK airport after World Juniors in 2005, he's really not a very big man.

NHL Hockey: A Pair of Rookies Suspended by the NHL

The preseason and the suspensions are adding up already... One could say that the Director of Players Safety is a busy man. So, this week, Tampa Bay Lightning rookie Adam Erne has been suspended for three pre-season games. You can watch the suspension video to see the reason why.

Not to be out done, Detroit Red Wings rookie forward Teemu Pulkkinen was suspended 4 pre-season games. You can watch the suspension video to see the reason why.

Also, add the suspension to Coyotes enforcer/cement head Paul Bissonnette was handed a heavy 10-game suspension to be served during the regular season for leaving the bench in an illegal line change during an altercation on the ice.

NHL Hockey: George Gwozdecky to Become Tampa Bay Assistant

Interesting development, Terry Frei an NHL hockey reporter from the Denver Dost is reporting that former DU head coach George Gwozdecky will become an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Actually, I find it surprising since Gwozdecky never played in the NHL.

Terry Frei, Denver Post --- Former University of Denver hockey coach George Gwozdecky has agreed to become an assistant coach with the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning, and arring unexpected last-minute snags, an announcement of his hiring will come soon, two college hockey sources confirmed Thursday.

Gwozdecky's firing after 19 seasons at DU — a stint that included back-to-back NCAA championships in 2004 and 2005 — generated controversy last spring, and he since had turned down an opportunity to be the head coach at Alabama-Huntsville. He had a year left on his contract at DU and was expected to sit out the 2013-14 season while waiting to see what other jobs might open on the collegiate level.

But the Lightning will bring in Gwozdecky to work under new head coach Jon Cooper, promoted after three seasons as head coach of Tampa Bay's American Hockey League farm club. Gwozdecky will join Rick Bowness, a veteran assistant who has had several stints as an NHL head coach, on Cooper's staff.

Related articles

• Gwoz not in the running for UAH coaching job (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Gwoz to Huntsville? (mvn.com)

List of NHL 2013 Compliance Buyouts so far

Player	Team	Length	Total Amount	Yearly Breakdown
Vincent Lecavalier	Tampa Bay	14	$32,666,667	$1,761,905*
Rick DiPietro	NY Islanders	16	$24,000,000	$1,500,000
Ilya Bryzgalov	Philadelphia	14	$23,000,000	$1,642,857
Keith Ballard	Vancouver	4	$5,600,000	$1,400,000
Danny Briere	Philadelphia	4	$3,333,333	$833,333
Tomas Kaberle	Montreal	2	$3,000,000	$1,500,000
Rostislav Olesz	Chicago	2	$2,833,333	$1,416,667
Steve Montador	Chicago	4	$2,733,333	$683,333
Jeff Schultz	Washington	2	$2,000,000	$1,000,000
Mike Komisarek	Toronto	2	$4,500,000	$2,250,000
Tom Gilbert	Minnesota	2	$2,000,000	$1,000,000
Carlo Colaiacovo	Detroit	2	$1,900,000	$950,000
Nathan Gerbe	Buffalo	2	$1,450,000	$308,333

Here are the Compliance buyouts so far. s/t to TSN.CA. There are a few names on this list surprise me. Also, this is a perfect example of why NHL teams shouldn't over pay players or sign them to obnoxious contracts. The Minnesota Wild say bon achat to their over priced defenseman former Badger Tom Gilbert.

Milan Lucic works Keith Aulie

Bruins forward Milan Lucic hadn't been in a fight in 26 games and his last fight was against Matt Carkner on Jan 25, 2013. Tonight, that changed as Lucic fought Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Keith Aulie and the former Brandon Wheat King got his ass handed to him by Lucic.

According to Hockeyfights.com that is the fourth fighting major of the year for Aulie, and he is yet to win a fight this season.

NHL Realignment Solves A Lot Of Logistic Issues

After much speculation, the NHL has finalized a plan for realignment that will go into effect next season. While nothing can be absolutely perfect, the new setup of the league will benefit a lot of teams when it comes to travel and developing natural rivals.

Two of the biggest winners will be the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets, who will move into the Eastern Conference. For teams in the state of Michigan and Ohio, it made very little logistical sense to spend so much time on the other side of the country.

The Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars will also benefit from being able to stay closer to home in their new division. Those three teams will now be competing against teams in St. Louis, Nashville, Denver and Chicago.

Perhaps the only two teams that really seem to lose out on the realignment are the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. They will be in a division with three Canadian teams along with Buffalo, Boston and Detroit. It is hard to make everyone happy, and no matter who the Florida teams play, they would have to travel to make things work.

Besides saving on travel, the benefits of realignment will help not only strengthen current rivalries, but build new ones as well. Detroit is back in the Eastern Conference, and they will square off against old rivals such as Toronto, Boston and Montreal throughout the year. New teams such as Columbus will also get to build rivalries with teams close by, such as the Pittsburgh Penguins.

With negativity still surrounding the NHL after the lockout, the realignment plan is welcomed good news. Fans, players, fantasy hockey players and owners all are mostly satisfied with the results. If the NHL does in fact expand to 32 teams in the future, the two conferences can be evened out again as well.

Joffrey Lupul's dirty hit to the head on Victor Hedman

This is an illegal hit to the head and a violation of rule 48. Toronto Maple Leafs forward Joffery Lupul is going to get a call from the Department of Player Safety and if he isn't suspended, I will be very surprised. Apparently, this isn't the first time that Victory Hedman has been hit with a questionable and dirty hit this week. Zac Rinaldo also caught Hedman with a very questionable hit earlier this week, but he was able to go tonight.

s/t  cjzero for the cool gif.

Tuesday at the Links… The No Hockey League and "Sloppy Seconds"

Good morning and there are now roughly 32 days until the University of North Dakota plays it’s first exhibition game against the Manitoba Bison.

Former Maine Star and current Tampa Bay Lightning forward Teddy Percell says that the lockout is going to hurt the players. [CBC.CA]

"Sloppy Seconds"

Here is a story that is just too good to pass up. Toronto Maples Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf is now engaged to former 24 actress Elisha Cuthbert– in case anyone has forgotten, Cuthbert was the center of a crude and disparaging comments that Sean Avery made about her while he was a member of the Dallas Stars.

"Uh, I'm really happy to be back in Calgary, Avery said. "I love Canada."

"And I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about. "Enjoy the game tonight."

Avery was suspended indefinitely by the NHL for those comments and after his suspension he was traded to the New York Rangers and he has since retired from the NHL.

Here is all you need to know about the star studed engagement - Exclusive: Elisha Cuthbert Engaged to Dion Phaneuf: All the Details!

Lockout Talk

If this doesn’t sink for you - The Ottawa Senators have begun preparing their fans for the strong possibility of an NHL lockout.

Former Minnesota Duluth Bulldog and current Vancouver Canuck defenseman Jason Garrisonis growing a beard and he says that he'll keep the beard until the National Hockey League and its players sign a new CBA. Garrison might have to trim that beard or it could get pretty long.

The on going saga that is the Phoenix Coyotes; deal with Glendale in flux .

Misc stuff

While we are on the subject of the Phoenix Coyotes; Though ownerless, Coyotes have shown signs of staying power...

Apparently, Wayne Gretzky 'dreamed' of second Summit Series... [The Observer]

From ESPN yesterday - Bloomberg Businessweek has its annual ranking of the smartest spenders in sports. Check out the Smartest and worst spenders...

Smartest spenders:
1. Detroit Red Wings
2. Pittsburgh Penguins
3. Boston Bruins
4. Chicago Blackhawks
5. San Jose Sharks

Worst spenders:
1. Toronto Maple Leafs
2. Edmonton Oilers
3. Columbus Blue Jackets
4. Calgary Flames
5. Minnesota Wild

Here is the defending Stanley Cup Champions National TV schedule "if" there is a season. [LA Kings Insider]

University of North Dakota Defenseman Andrew MacWilliam made the latest Hot List.

Andrew MacWilliam, D – University of North Dakota (WCHA) Never to be confused with an offensive dynamo, MacWilliam has nonetheless been a sturdy, physical presence on the UND blueline during his first three campaigns. Entering his final year in college, the Calgary native will don the green sweater as captain, with Habs prospect Danny Kristo as one of the assistants. Drafted 188th overall by Toronto in 2008.

Bruins 2, Wild 8th in 2012 Uni Watch rankings

So the Montreal Canadians have been ranked first in the 2012 NHL Uni Watch Rankings - the Boston Bruins were ranked second and the Wild were ranked eighth. Below is how the NHL rankings shook out.

1. Montreal
2. Boston
3. NY Rangers
4. Detroit
5. Philadelphia
6. Toronto
7. Pittsburgh
8. Minnesota
9. Columbus
10. New Jersey
11. Chicago
12. Buffalo
13. NY Islanders
14. San Jose
15. Florida
16. Winnipeg
17. Vancouver
18. Phoenix
19. Calgary
20. Tampa Bay
21. Carolina
22. Nashville
23. Anaheim
24. Ottawa
25. St. Louis
26. Edmonton
27. Washington
28. Los Angeles
29. Dallas
30. Colorado

NHL looks at Obstruction

I am sure that my buddy Redwing77 will give his spin later on this subject.

According to NHL.COM, the NHL is having a two day summit to discuss the NHL current standard of rule enforcement.

Translation, the National Hockey League is looking into whether there too much obstruction in the NHL right now, especially after they had players sounding off on the leagues officials during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The following people listed in the Paragraph below are part of the discussion.

If you need refreshing here are some examples about players being upset with the reffing during last season's NHL playoffs... [example one] and [exmaple two]

While they’re at it, I would like them to look at the diving and flailing about on the ice that some like to use to draw penalties.

Tim Campbell, Winnipeg Free Press --- Players present for the meeting were Mike Cammalleri of the Calgary Flames, Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators, Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning, John-Michael Liles of the Toronto Maple Leafs, James Neal of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Kevin Bieksa of the Vancouver Canucks.

The coaching roster included five NHL bench bosses -- Chicago's Joel Quenneville, Nashville's Barry Trotz, Phoenix's Dave Tippett, Boston's Claude Julien and Washington's Adam Oates -- as well as three active referees, Stephen Walkom, Brad Watson and Wes McCauley.

Also attending were five NHL GM's -- Pittsburgh's Ray Shero, Tampa Bay's Steve Yzerman, Buffalo's Darcy Regier, New Jersey's Lou Lamoriello and Vancouver's Mike Gillis.

After reading some of the tweets that Paul from Kuklas Korner posted on line it appears that the NHL is going to tighten up the calls if the NHL ever plays a game this season.

#NHL met today to discuss rules, namely obstruction. Looks like they’re going to tighten things up a bit for next season. — George Popalis (@SNGeorgePopalis) August 22, 2012

For fans that want to watch a more wide open game I think that this is really good news – I don’t know anyone that wants to watch the players hanging all over each other like groupies at a hockey party.

I also think that if the league cracks down on the obstruction they also need to crack down on the poor sports that like to embellish to draw penalties – you know the frauds like Ryan Kesslers (video evidence) and Alex Burrows (video evidence) that skate up and down the ice flailing around and snapping their heads back.

Lastly, It will be interesting to see if anything actually comes out of this or will they call it tight for a few months and go back to the horrible job of officiating we saw last spring during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

J.T. Brown Bolts to the Lighting

The annual defections of college hockey players to the professional ranks is in full swing as the UMD Bulldogs lose their star power forward J.T. Brown,

Brown inked an entry level deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning this afternoon.  It was rumored that Brown could have signed a professional deal last summer after wowing the college hockey world with outstanding performance during the 2011 NCAA Frozen Four at the Xcel Energy Center. Brown was also named the Most Outstanding Player during the 2011 NCAA Frozen Four, for his efforts.

Damian Cristodero, Lightning Strikes --- The Lightning on Wednesday acquired one of the nation’s most-coveted college players when it signed Minnesota-Duluth sophomore forward J.T. Brown to a two-year, two-way contract that runs through the 2012-13 season. The plan is to get him into the lineup Saturday at the Tampa Bay Times Forum against the Jets, GM Steve Yzerman said.

"He’s very talented, very competitive, good skill level, good skater,” Yzerman said. “I’m anxious to see him in there.”

Brown, 21, led UMD this season with 24 goals and in 80 games in two seasons had 40 goals and 84 points.

“Definitely exciting,” he said of signing with Tampa Bay. “It came down to having the right opportunity and being the right fit.

J.T. Brown is the son of former Minnesota Vikings running back Ted Brown who played in the NFL from 1979-1986.  Brown scored (40g-44a—84pts) in 81 games for the Bulldogs.

Brown is expected to make his NHL debut on Saturday when the Tampa Bay Lightning play the Winnipeg Jets in Tampa. 

Matt Frattin Scores on his birthday.

First off nice happy birthday to former Fighting Sioux forward Matt Frattin. Wow! That was a nice goal as Frattin uses the Tampa Bay Lightning player Eric Brewer as a screen. That's goal number five (5) on the season for Matt Frattin.

Related articles

• Matt Frattin's fourth goal of the year.... (mvn.com)
• Burke on Frattin - "He's going to get a good look in camp." (mvn.com)
• Frattin ready to break out? (mvn.com)
• Frattin talks about playing college hockey... (mvn.com)
• Crabb from Bozak (mvn.com)

Wayne Simmonds KOs Eric Brewer

Check out this fight, between the Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds and the Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Eric Brewer.