NHL Officials not allowed on Social Media

Interesting piece. I can't imagine a world without any of these things. I suppose there's a life outside of the Internet.

Social media is off-limits for all the officials! They are not allowed to have a Facebook or Twitter account as information could easily be misconstrued or deemed to be inappropriate. It is just another undesirable location that the officials could become accessible. After NBA referee Tim Donaghy was convicted on criminal charges and served time in federal prison for betting on games he officiated, NHL officials are "strongly discouraged" from entering casinos while travelling on NHL business. You can forget about reading a book written by any NHL officials until after they retire; unless perhaps it is a children's coloring book! Other than the number on the back of their sweater (no names since '94) the league is most content when their officials are seen and not heard from.

NHL Humor: Backes Streit Boyes

Rogers Unveils Dream Team to Deliver Upcoming NHL Season; Don Cherry in the mix

Finally, we get an answer we were waiting for. Rogers will keep the Coach's Corner and Don Cherry and ron MacLean. This is good news for Don Cherry fans.

TORONTO, March 10, 2014 /CNW/ - Rogers today announced a dream team of broadcasters who will anchor NHL national coverage across all Rogers properties, as well as Hockey Night in Canada. Together, George Stroumboulopoulos, Don Cherry, Ron MacLean, Daren Millard and Jeff Marek will be cornerstones of Rogers's NHL coverage this coming fall.

The team will deliver more than 500 regular season games across 13 networks and 7 platforms, including up to 7 games every Saturday night, plus "Hometown Hockey" every Sunday hosted from communities across Canada, and every game of the NHL Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final.

The announcement was made today by Scott Moore, President of Sportsnet & NHL Properties, Rogers.

"We know how passionate fans are about hockey, and so we've brought together the best anchors to deliver the best hockey experience to Canadians," said Moore. "George is one of the smartest and most versatile broadcasters in the business, and Ron and Don are icons in the hockey world. Along with Daren and Jeff, our new broadcast team brings a tremendous amount of talent, expertise and personality - and most importantly, they all possess a supreme passion for hockey."

NHL won't adopt T.J. Oshie Rule

Original NHL logo, used until 2005. A version of the logo features it in the shape of a hockey puck. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy, don't count on the NHL adopting the T.J. Oshie Rule. I would say that I like this... It works great for International play.

Puck Daddy -- “Obviously, the one feature that’s different in international competition and the National Hockey League is the ability to use the same shooter in a game-winning shots competition,” said deputy commissioner Bill Daly on Tuesday, before the qualification round of the Sochi Olympic tournament.

“We haven’t even talked about that with our general managers at any point and time, but I would very surprised if the general managers would ever be supportive of that type of concept. It’s tough enough that they don’t like the shootout as it is.”

One of the reasons why the GMs would find the concept repellant: The idea that “shootout specialists” might need to be a consideration on their rosters. Which would be great news for the Linus Omarks of the world, but not something Daly sees the League’s team executives desiring all that much.

Sid Crosby: Impressive Numbers.

Like him or hate him, Penguins Star Sidney Crosby is an elite hockey player, that has put up some crazy numbers in his short hockey career. Think about this,  (25g-461a—720pts) in 520 games evens out to 1.41 PPG for the All-Star forward. Imagine if he hadn't suffered all of those concussions? If my math is right, Crosby missed  over 100-games due to post concussion syndrome issues. Also, he missed about 20-games due to a ankle injury during the 2008 hockey season.

Related articles

• Ray Shero on the Clock (thehockeywriters.com)

Bettman upholds Thornton's 15-game suspension

The Ruling has come down. The NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has upheld Shawn Thornton's 15-game suspension.


NEW YORK -- Commissioner Gary Bettman today upheld the 15-game suspension that was assessed to Boston Bruins forward Shawn Thornton by the Department of Player Safety for punching and injuring an unsuspecting opponent, Brooks Orpik of the Pittsburgh Penguins, in NHL Game No. 438 at Boston on Dec. 7.

Commissioner Bettman heard Thornton's appeal at a hearing in New York on Friday, Dec. 20. The original decision was assessed Dec. 14.

The incident occurred at 11:06 of the first period. Thornton was assessed a match penalty for violating NHL Rule 46.15.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Thornton will forfeit $84,615.45. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

Click here to view Commissioner's complete ruling (PDF)

Time to ban fighting in Hockey?

After watching the first game of the season between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. I could have predicted we would see more articles like this. I am sure that we will see more of them as the weeks wear on as welll. Wild tough guy Zenon Konopka was interviewed by Michael Russo and he said some interesting things that are worth a look too.

Larry Brooks, New York Post -- The point has been made here repeatedly. These aren’t your fights from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s or ’80s. Fighters today are massive, weight-trained punchers who do damage with every blow to the head they land.

And, far more often than not, today’s fighters are designated to play that role, whereas in the old days — the days that established the NHL’s so-called tradition and, ugh, code — the best players in the league invariably were the ones to drop their gloves.

Let’s be honest here: It is not called the Donald Brashear Hat Trick.

It simply is intellectually dishonest to claim commitment to reducing the number of concussions in hockey by legislating against checks to the head while blithely permitting players to punch each other in the head. The brain does not necessarily distinguish between punishments absorbed.

What do you think of the call to ban fighting in the NHL? Former UND All-American forward Zach Parise thinks that fighting has a place in the game of hockey and I have to agree with him.

“A lot of times it keeps everything in check,” the Wild’s Zach Parise said. “You can’t just run around and know you’re being protected by the rules and protected by the officials.” [Mike Russo, Star Tribune]

I agree with Zach. I am going to say that Parise is one of the players that would probably face a lot of more scrutiny if the NHL got rid of fighting. Without that deterrent, star players would face more targeted violence from the "Rats" in the NHL.

NHL Hockey: Time to drop the puck

A little humor to put you in the mood before the season begins.

NHL Hockey: Phil Kessel to re-sign with the Leafs?

It appears that former Boston Bruins and Minnesota Gopher forward Phil Kessel is close to re-signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs. If Kessel had waited till next summer, he would’ve been a hot commodity on the open free agent market.

Getting a sense Phil Kessel's contract extension in TOR could get done as early as Tues. Leafs and Kessel's agents working towards that.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) October 1, 2013

But no one has confirmed it's done yet. So we'll see. If it's done, I would expect it'll be $8M per year, give or take $500K, for 7 or 8 yrs

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) October 1, 2013

Neither Leafs nor Newport Sports (Kessel's agent) is commenting on extension speculation, however, sense is there will be news tomorrow.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) October 1, 2013

NHL Hockey: Salary Cap Could Rise to $80 million in next four years

After reading this, here, here, and here, I must wonder, what the hell did we have a lockout for? We lost 34 games last season to hear that eventually that the cap will be right back up to 80 million dollars. I don’t think that anyone doubt the source either, Elliotte Freidman is dialed in.

TheScore.com—The NHL's salary cap could go up to $80 million within the next four years, according to Elliotte Friedman of CBC Sports.

Speaking on Sportsnet 590 The Fan's "Prime Time Sports", Friedman said some within the sport expect the cap to rise to that level prior to the 2017-18 NHL season.

The salary cap currently sits at $64.3 million heading into the 2013-14 season, a factor that has caused the NHL free agent market to slow down since the initial rush back in July.

Does this make anyone else upset? I am not real happy after reading this, the beginning of last winter was miserable without the NHL. If the salary cap rises to 80 million over the next four years it will also allow teams to balloon their payrolls again. This basically means that the NHL is going to be right back where they were before the Lockout.

Is the Canadian Medical Association Part of the Anti-Fighting Cabal?

Bruins vs. Devils 2/13/09 Prudential Center, Newark, NJ Zdeno Chára is a Slovakian professional ice hockey defenceman and team captain of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While I reading this article, as a matter of fact, I was rolling my eyes. Where do you even begin with this one? You might as well just go ahead and take hitting out of hockey as well. Or better yet, why not just go ahead and just ban hockey?

Andre Picard, Globe and Mail – Canada’s doctors are delivering a body blow to National Hockey League owners, saying they are too accepting of violence in the sport.

Delegates to the Canadian Medical Association annual meeting on Wednesday voted to “condemn the complacency” of NHL owners.

“The owners have a financial interest in tolerating and promoting violence and we need to be a counterweight,” Dr. Pierre Harvey, a physician from Rivière-du-Loup, Que., told the gathering.

He pointed specifically to an infamous incident from March 2011, when Montreal Canadiens player Max Pacioretty suffered a fractured neck and concussion after a violent hit from Boston Bruins player Zdeno Chara.

Dr. Harvey said it is clear that hockey is a rough game but what doctors object to is violence like blows to the head and hits from behind that lead to serious injuries like concussions and spinal cord injuries.

Seriously, where do these people get off? Hockey is an escape from the reality, for many people, including me. Now we have the Canadian Medical Association acting the National Hockey League. Yikes! This isn’t going to play out well in Canada.

Also, MMA is one of the most popular sports in North America; there is no way that it’s going to be banned. I wish some of the pointed headed experts would keep their noses out of our business. We live in a gladiator society and demand our sports; we don’t need the nanny state getting in the way.

Former Sioux Toews: 'Naive' to think PEDs aren't in NHL

English: Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews during warm up prior to a National Hockey League playoff game against the Calgary Flames, in Calgary. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I found this article in the Chicago Tribune and I think it brings up an interesting point. I have often wondered if NHL players are using PEDS as well. With the trouble that Major League Baseball is currently happening, it’s only a matter of time before the finger will be pointed at the National Hockey League. Thoughts?

Sports Xchange --- Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews told Toronto radio station Sportsnet 590 The Fan this week that it is "naive" to think that performance-enhancing drugs are not being used by NHL players.

"I think it would be naive to say that there's no one in the NHL that is trying to get the edge in that fashion," he said. "But at the end of the day, whether you get caught now or not, down the road at some point those sort of things come out as we've seen in Major League Baseball and cycling. v

"Eventually ... someone is going to save their own butt and throw you under the bus. And that's your legacy. That's what people remember: that you're a cheater and you took performance-enhancing drugs.

Tuesday at the Links

UND Hockey: Remembering the ‘Old Ralph’ Engelstad Arena [Click to view]

NDSU Football: NDSU player Beck pleads guilty in resisting charge, wants to 'put this behind him,' says lawyer [Click to view]

MEN'S HOCKEY: UND to have hockey TV show this season [Click to view]

Former UND hockey players Tim Skarperud wins Grand Forks men's all-city golf tournament [Click to view]

Should the NHL ditch their “loser point” system? [Click to view]

Hackel: NHL still wrestling with expanded video replay [Click to view]

Shooter: Wild could leave Minnesota?

Over on Kukla’s Korner, there was a blog post this morning making reference to a report that the Minnesota Wild could be leaving Minnesota. Of course, the story was written by Charley Walters, aka. Shooter. If you go to the story, it appears to that the article has already been edited, because if you go the link you will not see the article text that is mention in this blog post... WTF? Hum, interesting.

Reports are out that the Minnesota Wild have recorded a $30 Million loss this past season; according to Charley Walters of TwinCities.com out of St. Paul.

Is the State of Hockey at risk of losing their second National Hockey League Franchise?

It has been 20 years, nearly to the day, that the Minnesota North Stars packed up and moved to the sunbelt and became the Dallas Stars; and low attendance and lost revenue during seasons where the team did not play up to the standards of their fan base.

The NHL granted Minnesota the Wild in the 2000-01 Season (though announced back in 1997 that the team would be part of the expansion); and after finally making the playoffs this season after not qualifying for the past four seasons. The lockout may be in part to blame for the $30 Million loss this past season. If the season had started on time than there would have been more revenue generated – but also more money paid out to employees’ and game day crew. Another hit to the books for the Wild would be the $10 Million bonuses’ for each Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. The two big ticket UFA’s from last summer where each awarded a lockout proof bonus.

A short term financial fall has hit the State of Hockey: the questions that remain to be answered is if it is just a case of spending money to make money or if this hit is just the start of a financial mess with economic down times across the country? or may Minnesota lose another NHL franchise in the coming years? Time can only reveal the answers to these questions.

The Candiens sign Michael McCarron

Also, from the developing news department, the Montreal Canadiens have signed their first round draft choice Michael McCarron to a three year entry level deal, meaning he will forgo his college eligibility and play with the London Knights of the OHL. So, the NCAA vs. CHL debate will heat up even more with this defection. This also means that there were no college hockey recruits selected in the first round of the 2013 NHL Entry Level Draft.

MONTREAL (July 11, 2013) – Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin announced today the signing of forward Michael McCarron to a three-year contract (2013-14 to 2015-16).

In 55 games with the USHL’s US National Development Team in 2012-13, McCarron, 18, collected 34 points (14 goals, 20 assists). Six of his goals were scored on the powerplay and he tallied two winning goals. He led his team with 180 penalty minutes and maintained a +6 plus/minus differential.

The 6-foot-5, 237-pound right winger added five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in seven contests with Team USA at the 2013 IIHF U18 World Championship held last April in Sochi, Russia.

A native of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, McCarron was selected in the first round, 25th overall by the Canadiens at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He took part in his first Canadiens’ development camp last week

From the Hockey Writers

The London Knights are run the former NHL player’s Dale and Mark Hunter and in the past they’ve been pretty successful getting top American hockey players to decommit from their college commitments, to go play junior hockey for the London Knights. Last season, the Knights had two former NCAA players and a former NCAA recruit on their roster (Dakota Mermis, Anthony Stolarz, Alex Broadhurst).

This is a big loss for the Western Michigan Broncos.

Tuesday at the Links… Fore

Matt Cooke & Pascal Dupuis celebrate OT Goal (Photo credit: wstera2)

My friend Cornelius Hardenbergh from Stanley Cup of Chowder has an interesting and thought provoking piece on Matt Cooke wanting to wear Derek Boogaard’s number 24.  Matt Cooke's Legacy: Graverobber?

Sounds like Matt Cooke has been given the blessing to wear Derek Boogaard’s number by the Boogaard family. Matt Cooke gets blessing of Boogaards to wear 24…[Russo’s Rant’s]

After signing with Minnesota, veteran Matt Cooke still trying to shed rough-stuff reputation [Start Tribune]

Former Minnesota Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck signed a four year deal worth 11 million dollars. That’s 2.75 million a year for Clutterbuck. [New Yorks Islanders]

Here are some possible selections for the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2013; Brendan Shanahan, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Chelios, Pat Burns, Eric Lindros [Globe and Mail]

There are not many former WCHA or college hockey players on the Minnesota Wild’s Development Camp Roster. There’s a grand total of seven. Also on the roster is former Fighting Sioux hockey recruit Miles Koules. [Click to view]

Apparently, Devin Setoguchi found out that he had been traded to Winnipeg Jets from Zenon Konopka while he was in Mexico. [Illegal Curve]

Related articles

• Cooke seeks Derek Boogaard's parents' blessing to wear late son's number (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Dear Minnesota, Please Give Matt Cooke a Chance (thehockeywriters.com)
• Minnesota Wild fans react to the Matt Cooke Signing... (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Minnesota Wild: Breaking down Matt Cooke's Suspension History (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• There is no way of sugar coating it the Wild's Matt Cooke is a P.O.S. (ndgoon.blogspot.com)

Updated Free Agent Moves....

Jul 8 Matsumoto, Jon C San Jose, Florida, n/a 1 n/a
Jul 8 Gilroy, Matt D NY Rangers, Florida, n/a, 1 n/a
Jul 8 Mueller, Chris C Nashville, Dallas, n/a 1, n/a
Jul 8 Strachan, Tyson D Florida, Washington, n/a, n/a, n/a
Jul 8 Corvo, Joe D Carolina, Ottawa, $900K, 1 $900K
Jul 8 Yonkman, Nolan D Florida, Anaheim, $600K, 1 $600K

Pretty light day on the free agent front so far.

Goon the Magnificent Carnac: Ballard to the Wild

Back in May I was suggesting that the Minnesota Wild pick up Keith Ballard and yesterday the former Gopher defenseman was signed by the Minnesota Wild. Also, two players that I wanted to see gone from the Wild roster are no longer here.  I am thinking, I need to go out and buy a lottery ticket this weekend. Below is what I wrote...

Based on what I have seen during the past season, I would say that the Minnesota Wild are challenged defensively, after the first defensive pairing of Ryan Suter and Jonas Brodin, the Wild are thin on defense and need some help.

Granted, Jared Spurgeon is a great up and coming offensive defenseman and Marco Scandella proved to be a nice surprise during the Wild's short playoff run. After that, Justin Falk proved that he's a defensive liability and at times look like a big green road cone. Former Badgers defenseman Tom Gilbert looked to have taken a step back this past season and I was unimpressed with his play as well because he was a defensive liability.

In my opinion, the Minnesota Wild could use a solid stay-at-home defenseman or two. Former Minnesota Defenseman Keith Ballard "could" be a candidate for an amnesty buyout in Vancouver and might be available to come to the Minnesota Wild at a reduced rate.

I know people get lucky sometimes but here is what I submitted for the season grades for Tom Gilbert and funny how things worked out for the Minnesota Wild.

Tom Gilbert: D

The former Wisconsin Badger Tom Gilbert is an utter disappointment in my opinion, that Wild are being cheated, he’s not worth the money he’s being paid. Gilbert is being paid a hefty four million a year to be a turnover factory and an unimpressive top-six defenseman. If I was a general manager for a day, he would be the first Wild player out of Minnesota; Justin Falk would be number two. The Wild should consider his four million dollar contract for an Amnesty buyout this summer as well. If they Wild could trade him for a bag of wood hockey sticks I would urge them to consider the deal. One positive is that he can’t play any worse than he did this season. Nowhere to go but up for Gilbert, I don’t think he can play any worse. Looking at the stats, in the plus/minus department, -11 is brutal.

Updated: Free agent frenzy has begun…

DATE	NAME	POS	FROM	TO	Total	Years	Avg/Yr
								Jul 5	Weber, Yannick	D	Montreal	Vancouver	$650K	1	$650K
Jul 5	Nystrom, Eric	LW	Dallas	Nashville	$10M	4	$2.5M
Jul 5	Khudobin, Anton	G	Boston	Carolina	$800K	1	$800K
Jul 5	Filppula, Valtteri	LW	Detroit	Tampa Bay	$25M	5	$5M
Jul 5	Ellis, Dan	G	Carolina	Dallas	$1.8M	2	$900K
Jul 5	Hendricks, Matt	LW	Washington	Nashville	$7.4M	4	$1.85M
Jul 5	Weiss, Stephen	C	Florida	Detroit	$24.5M	5	$4.9M
Jul 5	Guenin, Nate	D	Anaheim	Colorado	$600K	1	$600K
Jul 5	Cullen, Matt	C	Minnesota	Nashville	$7M	2	$3.5M
Jul 5	Stalberg, Viktor	LW	Chicago	Nashville	$12M	4	$3M
Jul 5	Clarkson, David	RW	New Jersey	Toronto	$36.75M	7	$5.25M
Jul 5	Bozak, Tyler	C	Toronto	Toronto	$21M	5	$4.2M
Jul 5	Rozsival, Michal	D	Chicago	Chicago	n/a	2	n/a
Jul 5	Aucoin, Keith	C	NY Islanders	St. Louis	$625K	1	$625K
Jul 5	Mottau, Mike	D	Toronto	Florida	n/a	1	n/a
Jul 5	Danis, Yann	G	Edmonton	Philadelphia	n/a	1	n/a
Jul 5	Joensuu, Jesse	LW	NY Islanders	Edmonton	n/a	2	n/a
Jul 5	Hannan, Scott	D	San Jose	San Jose	$1M	1	$1M
Jul 5	MacArthur, Clarke	LW	Toronto	Ottawa	$6.5M	2	$3.25M
Jul 5	Scuderi, Rob	D	Los Angeles	Pittsburgh	$13.5M	4	$3.375M
Jul 5	Clowe, Ryane	LW	NY Rangers	New Jersey	$24.25M	5	$4.85M
Jul 5	Horton, Nathan	RW	Boston	Columbus	$37.1M	7	$5.3M
Jul 5	Bouchard, Pierre-Marc	RW	Minnesota	NY Islanders	$2M	1	$2M
Jul 5	Labarbera, Jason	G	Phoenix	Edmonton	$1M	1	$1M
Jul 5	Ribeiro, Mike	C	Washington	Phoenix	$22M	4	$5.5M
Jul 5	Benoit, Andre	D	Ottawa	Colorado	$900K	1	$900K
Jul 5	Gordon, Boyd	C	Phoenix	Edmonton	$9M	3	$3M
Jul 5	Handzus, Michal	C	Chicago	Chicago	$1M	1	$1M
Jul 5	Komisarek, Mike	D	Toronto	Carolina	$700K	1	$700K
Jul 5	Greiss, Thomas	G	San Jose	Phoenix	n/a	1	n/a

First off, in what world is Victor Stalberg worth 3 million dollars a year? Nice to see nothing has changed and teams are still over paying free agent players.

Tyler Bozak gets a pretty big deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The State of Hockey Loses Matt Cullen, not a big shock to Wild fans, but tough to see him go.

The Boston Bruins are going to be looking for a new back-up goalie.

Is the NHL closer to sending its players to 2014 Sochi Olympics?

100 px (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Let’s hope that they can get it done soon that will send the NHL players to the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi, Russia. It does sound like a deal is very close.

NEW YORK — NHL players are just a slap shot away from returning to the Olympics next year.

While a deal hasn't been reached yet between the NHL, the union and the International Ice Hockey Federation, to send the league's players to Sochi, a long meeting Monday pushed the sides much closer to an agreement.

"Things are moving along," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.

Bettman, union leader Donald Fehr and IIHF President Rene Fasel met for more than five hours Monday at league headquarters to work on a deal that would allow NHL players to compete at the 2014 games in Russia. This would be the fifth Olympics for the NHL.

Not everything has been agreed to and the various sides need to meet internally to sign off on any pact. Still, Bettman called Monday's session a "constructive meeting," adding there are still "some I's to dot and T's to cross."

"I think it's fair to say that we're not quite ready to announce it's done," Bettman said.