NHL Offseason Thread -- Vancouver Edition (NHL Offseason / NHL Golf Tourney)

[notyoueither]

That is a good one.

[Kontiki]

Schedule is out for next year. Nice to see them bringing back some balance.

[Flubber]

I like it too--

Will be great to see the Habs at least once each year and we'll see the eastern stars here at least every second year


Flames have a brutal road trip when the Brier is in the Dome. WE also have some weird gaps in when we play the Canucks, as an example. Its like a home and home and then see you again in 2-3 months.

I do wish they would have kept the "last 6-8 games against the division" feature-- I liked that


The NW diivision? I think Edmonton has improved the most and are now again a playoff contender. Calgary may be about the same but I think they will be slightly better and should be a much tougher team to play against. Avs look worse. Canucks? Luongo may be enough any year to make them a playoff team-- If they snare Sundin he alone may be enough to make them a solid playoff team -- I don't think Minny got any better

[Asher]

Travel distance by team, 08-09...

[notyoueither]

An interesting view on the Malkin-Radulov-Filatov shenanigans.

http://www.analyst-network.com/article.php?art_id=2262

Putin's Malkin Gambit David Storobin
16 Jul 2008
Early in 2008, it was announced that the Russian Super League (RSL) would be expanded with the investment of the government-run $75 billion behemoth Gazprom oil and gas company - Russia’s new President Dmitry Medvedev was until recently the chairman of its Board of Directors - to create the Continental Hockey League (known as the “KHL”), with intention of becoming the European competitor to the National Hockey League. The RSL was already the best league in Europe, but this development is quite different and has real and serious political consequences seeing as the KHL is not merely a hockey venture, but a Russian challenge to Washington.

This move, which already included the previously unthinkable move of “stealing” the captain of the New York Rangers Jaromir Jagr, is part of a pattern where Moscow picks fights with the West, including threatening America’s allies (most recently the Republic of Georgia), playing hard to get at the United Nations and cozying up to countries like Syria.

On August 7, 2006 Evgeny Malkin, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ first pick (and second overall) in the 2004 NHL draft, sign a one year contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the RSL. Within days, he changed his mind and decided to leave the team’s training camp in Helsinki, Finland with the aid of the U.S. Embassy that quickly cleared his visa. Upon arriving in the United States, Malkin faxed a two-week notice to his Russian team, claiming the faxed notice is all that’s legally required for him to break the contract. Metallurg filed an anti-trust law suit against the Penguins and the NHL in the United States Federal Court, but was denied.

The incident directly threatened the Russian economy and trade, and everything that President Vladimir Putin has worked so hard to build.


As the Soviet Union collapsed, the new independent Russian Federation became the “Wild West” where gangsters openly shot each other on the street and nobody bothered to adhere to contracts and laws. To the West, Russia was a joke who’s wishes were to be ignored. The ruble collapsed in the late 1980s with the total economic collapse in 1998. The oligarchs got rich, while grandmothers starved $15 a month pensions. Chechnya achieved de facto independence and there was a real chance that Russia would break up just as the Warsaw Pact did after Poland left and the Soviet Union did after the Baltic states won independence.

In March 1999, after months of exaggeration of Serbian atrocities by the Western media (while the brutality of the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army was ignored), NATO began the air campaign against Serbia. Two and a half months of air assaults could not defeat Serbia. There’s very little reason for the West to fight Serbia and the American people would not tolerate the significant human losses that would come with a ground invasion necessary to win the war.

Clinton approached then-President of Russia Boris Yeltsin and worked out an agreement where NATO and Russian troops would be stationed to protect the Serbs and to prevent Kosovo independence.

Under ressure from Moscow, the Serbs left the province and NATO moved in. But when Russian troops arrived, Americans blocked them, and the media portrayed this as the new Prague Spring of 1968 (when the Soviets ruthlessly crushed the Czechoslovakian liberation movement). But this time it was not Kremlin abusing its power – it was Bill Clinton.

To the Russians, it was the ultimate slap in the face. Already reeling from helplessness, Moscow correctly saw this incident as an insult. It was clear that Russians became an international joke who could be tricked and bullied. So much so that nations now felt free to break major agreements with total disregard for how the people of the world’s largest country would react.

Kremlin’s response was to turn the reigns over to Vladimir Putin, a no-nonsense KGB operative. While not anti-Western per se, the new President understood his mission clearly – to restore Russia’s respect in the world. Countries and companies could no longer break agreements and contracts with Russians.

Putin re-occupied Chechnya and killed all the major terrorist and rebel leaders in the process, destroyed the power of the oligarchs, enforced tax collection (while lowering the income tax rate to only 13%) and fought crime.

The results were spectacular. There were no more doubts about Russia’s territorial integrity, the economic growth was phenomenal and tax collection skyrocketed several times. Moscow was re-built from a gray, disgusting looking Commie-town to a once-again beautiful major city that could compete in its attractiveness, wealth and entertainment with Paris and London.

Putin understood that for the long-bullied Russia to re-gain respect, it had to pick a few fight and win. Any boy who ever got bullied in school and tried to restore his reputation understands this logic. Moscow had to pay back Washington for Clinton’s cross of Yeltsin in Yugoslavia, it’s as simple as that.

But there was no desire in Kremlin to re-start the Cold War. Both Russia and the West were threatened not by each other, but by Islamic terrorist attacks. The two sides also needed to trade with each other with Russia needing Western products, while the West was looking for the enormous Russian reserves of oil, gold, diamonds and other natural reserves.

After the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush needed Moscow more than any other ally. The Northern Alliance in Afghanistan was a Russian-sponsored force (it’s no coincidence that the Alliance was based along the old border of the Soviet Union). Russia also had an extensive intelligence network in Afghanistan while the United States had nothing after Bill Clinton shut down all CIA operations there and withdrew every last man from this volatile country. Bush was also looking to set up military bases in Russia’s satellites, such as Uzbekistan, that used to part of the Soviet Union.
Less than three months before 9/11, Bush claimed that he looked into Putin’s eyes and found him to be trustworthy. And now came the real test. Without Russia’s help, thousands of Americans would die fighting the Taliban and the invasion would have to be delayed many months or even years as the CIA scrambled to rebuilt its operations in Afghanistan. Putin made a decision. This was not the time to fight. Moscow is not anti-West. It will not start a Cold War. It just wants respect. But right now respect can wait, not to mention the fact that Russia also wanted the Taliban out of power.

Years later in 2008, Bush was once again asked about his quote that he found Putin to be trustworthy. Once again, the U.S. President backed up his earlier statement and said that looking back he believes he was right to say so in 2001. More than anything else, Putin’s actions after 9/11 incident proved him to be ultimately a friend of the United States when it really counts, even though few now remember the enormous aid he provided in the War on Terror.

But friend or not, he had to pick smaller fights to restore his country’s international standing. He sold weapons to Syria to harass key American allies: Israel and Turkey. He made sure that the US and EU paid for Russia’s vote in the UN, no matter how common sense the resolution would be.

By 2006 Russia mattered and Putin made it matter. The idea that an American President would trick a Russian President the way Clinton tricked Yeltsin was now unthinkable.

And that’s when the Malkin incident happened.

A famous person signed a major contract and immediately broke it with the aid of a foreign government. There wasn’t much that Russia could do. It could prevent Malkin from playing on their national team, but that would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face seeing as he was now arguably the best hockey player in the world after being named Rookie of the Year in his first season and the NHL’s Most Valuable Player in the second season that just ended.

Kremlin couldn’t win under the old rules, so it decided to change the rules. Gazprom, Kremlin’s main economic arm, would be used to create a new hockey league that would challenge the NHL. The first season of the KHL will include only teams from the countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union. However, the league will soon expand. Swedish teams Frölunda HC and Färjestads BK were offered to join and they have neither accepted nor rejected the invitation. Finland's Kärpät, on the other hand, showed affirmative interest and is hoping to get invited into the KHL during the 2009 expansion. There are also rumors of German, Austrian and Czech teams join the KHL, which named its championship trophy the Yury Gagarin Cup after the first man to fly into space in 1961, an act that so scared the West at the time.

In addition to recruiting West and Central European teams, Gazprom is throwing enormous sums of money, often several times more than what NHL pays for similar talent, to get players to come to the KHL. Athletes would not have to pay any income tax if they play in the KHL, as opposed to losing half their salary if they play in North America.

Today there’s already no doubt that when the 2008-09 season starts the KHL will be by far the best team in the world after the NHL. The New York Rangers’ captain Jaromir Jagr left the NHL to play for the Omsk team. Dozens of other NHLers will play in the KHL. Most of them aren’t stars, but it’s doubtless that the quality of hockey in the NHL will suffer.

It will not be a league like NFL Europe or Japanese baseball. The quarterback of the New York Giants did not just leave the team to play somewhere in Germany, and such a move is in fact inconceivable.

The KHL is a league backed by a $75 billion company and the government of the world’s largest country. This is a league that intends to compete with and punish the NHL.

More importantly, after East Europeans flooded the NHL, the league expanded the number of its teams by almost 50% while maintaining and even improving the quality of its play. Now there’s no more talk of further expansion and there probably won’t be for the foreseeable future.

As the KHL gets more established, it will “steal” more and more NHLers. Even if it will never be the best league in the world, it could damage the NHL both in terms of quality of play and financially. Hockey players will have a choice to leave North America so that they can’t be locked in to re-signing with their present NHL teams during “restricted” free agency. If in years past, NHL owners had to pay through the nose only during “unrestricted” free agency later in the players’ careers, now everyone is essentially an unrestricted free agent. There’s also very little that NHL teams would be able to do if a player suddenly picked up and left for Europe in the middle of his contract, just as Malkin did in the other direction in 2006.

Hockey is not a major sport in the U.S. and few people think of the political consequences of 20-year-old boys who get paid to skate on ice and put pucks into the net. But if Malkin could sign a contract and then brazenly break it, why can’t everyone else? Putin and his Gazprom needed to show that the response to the breaking of agreements with Russians there will far more severe than the original anti-Russian insult.

This is not Yeltsin’s Russia anymore. The NHL stole Malkin, so Russia got Jagr and dozens of other players, harming not just one team, bust the whole NHL economic structure. The KHL may succeed or it may fail, but the NHL must surely realize that it was better off letting Malkin stay in Russia for one more season in 2006. And all others, in sports and other industries, will remember that this is not Yeltsin’s Russia anymore.

[Lord Avalon]

Wings sign Filppula to 5-year deal, $15M.

[Asher]

Why is it the Wings can have such a good team but very few interesting players?

[Ninot]

They know how to build a team

[Asher]

It's definitely a winning team, and that's what you want. The only player who I find genuinely exciting to watch is Zetterberg on the team.

The rest of the team is fulled with your Hondas and Toyotas, reliable and good values...

[Ninot]

Datsyuk and Hossa aren't exactly terrible

[Asher]

Hossa I haven't counted since he's not skated yet with them.

I'm not saying they're terrible -- they're solid, reliable (if not great) players. They're just not the most exciting to watch.

Most of Detroit's players are Europeans that seem to rarely smile and have the character and flare of an obese senile grandmother. That's not saying they're not good players -- obviously Detroit has many fantastic players. It's just that they're reliable and steady vs genuinely interesting or fun to watch for me.

I know with NHL CI I have my pick of any team to watch, and very seldom do I elect to watch Detroit play anyone. I prefer the Pittsburghs and Chicagos...

[Guynemer]

You're entitled to your opinion, of course. You'll never hear me complain about the Wings' lack of interesting players when they are racking up division titles, President's Trophies, and now Stanley Cups left and right.

Filppula is, I think, a pretty exciting player to watch, a sort of poor-man's Pavel Datsyuk. Dats, Hank, Lidstrom, Kronwall, Rafalski, the Mule, and Val are all entertaining to watch. None of them may be as exciting to watch as Sid or Ovechkin, etc., but they're better two-way players. In fact, after this season, I think Dats and Hank in particular are at the very top in NHL when all-around excellence is concerned. The only player I'd take ahead of them would be Iginla, largely due to his leadership.

[Asher]

Filppula is only pretty exciting to watch because he has an alarming propensity to fall down.

In fact, after this season, I think Dats and Hank in particular are at the very top in NHL when all-around excellence is concerned.

I definitely agree with that. I don't think anyone in the league would be upset if either joined their team.

[Asher]

Oooo!

Oilers shake up the front office.

Kevin Lowe is fired / promoted / reassigned to the role of President. Steve Tambellini becomes the new GM.

OILERS HIRE NEW GM; LOWE MOVES UPSTAIRS

The Edmonton Oilers have named Steve Tambellini as their new general manager, moving Kevin Lowe into the role of President of Hockey Operations for Rexall sports.

Tambellini, 50, has been part of the Vancouver Canucks hockey operations staff for the past 17 seasons and was most recently the Assistant General Manager and Vice-President of Hockey Operations.

Vancouver Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis today issued the following statement on behalf of the club regarding Steve Tambellini:

"On behalf of the entire Canucks organization we would like to thank Steve for his many contributions to our club as a player and manager over nearly 20 years. Since his days as a player and continuing through his time spent in our front office, Steve was a committed member of our team and community.

This is an opportunity that Steve could not pass up and we are in full support of his decision to advance his career. We wish him, his wife Denise and their entire family the best of luck in the future."

Tambellini played 553 career NHL games between 1978-1979 and 1987-1988 with the New York Islanders, Colorado Rockies, New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks.

Tambellini and Lowe have previously worked together as members of Team Canada's management team, helping lead Canada to success on the international stage.

As Director of Player Personnel, Tambellini helped put together the roster that won the gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah and he was also a member of the management team for Team Canada's gold medal triumph at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. He also served as the General Manager of Team Canada at the 2003 and 2005 IIHF World Hockey Championships, winning the gold medal in Finland in 2003 and silver in 2005.

Lowe has been Oilers GM since June 9, 2000, guiding the team to the 2006 Stanley Cup Final. The Oilers have missed the playoffs in the two seasons since, though there is a sense of optimism moving forward as the team has assembled a nucleus of young talent that should provide better results.

Kevin Prendergast, who has been the Oilers' Vice-President of Hockey Operations, will move in as the new Assistant General Manager, and will continue to be responsible for overseeing both the team's pro and amateur scouting operations.

[Lord Avalon]

Bowman to leave gig with Wings for Chicago

Red Wings general manager Ken Holland confirmed today that Scotty Bowman is leaving the organization as a consultant to join the Chicago Blackhawks as a senior adviser.

Holland said the Blackhawks were expected to make the announcement at 3 p.m. The move gives Bowman a chance to work with his son Stan, an assistant general manager for hockey operations with the Blackhawks.

“I’m disappointed he’s going, for me personally, for us professionally,” Holland said. “But when there were rumors about him going to Toronto a year ago, I said this entire organization is indebted to Scotty for what he did from 1994 to 2002 and we have to support him in whatever decision he wants to make.

“I’d like to think professionally we offered him everything that he wanted but I know he has his son involved in the Chicago Blackhawks. If you ever get a chance to work with your family that’s special.”

Wings coach Mike Babcock often sought the advice of Bowman, who won 2,141 games in 30 NHL seasons as a coach. Holland said Bowman often called to give his input after games. He would join the Wings on the first long road trip every season and attended all the important front-office meetings throughout the year, and the NHL entry draft.

Bowman, 75, has served as a consultant with the Red Wings since 2002, when he retired after winning his third Stanley Cup as coach of the team.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080731/SPORTS05/80731047/1053

D'oh. Thanks, Scotty, for all you've done for the Wings. Sorry to see you go (especially to another team in the division).