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After Weberâ??s jackpot contract, debating Drew Doughty dealWas leaving ESPN a mistake for the NHL?The top 8 hockey mashups with other sports and recreationIf Predators arenâ??t Cup worthy, Shea Weberâ??s leaving NashvilleHockey Guilty Pleasures: Lyle Richardson of Spectorâ??s HockeyPuck Headlines: Alex Ovechkin leaving CCM; Sharks sign WhitePredatorsâ?? Shea Weber wins record $7.5 million arbitration awardPuck Daddyâ??s Hockey Rumors Live Chat!Patrick Sharp, beautiful Chicagoan, inks 5-year deal with BlackhawksPuck Daddy chats with Pavel Datsyuk about injury rehab, Lidstrom and Holmstrom retiring, Red Wings realignment, NHL Awards
After Weberâ??s jackpot contract, debating Drew Doughty dealWas leaving ESPN a mistake for the NHL?The top 8 hockey mashups with other sports and recreationIf Predators arenâ??t Cup worthy, Shea Weberâ??s leaving NashvilleHockey Guilty Pleasures: Lyle Richardson of Spectorâ??s HockeyPuck Headlines: Alex Ovechkin leaving CCM; Sharks sign WhitePredatorsâ?? Shea Weber wins record $7.5 million arbitration awardPuck Daddyâ??s Hockey Rumors Live Chat!Patrick Sharp, beautiful Chicagoan, inks 5-year deal with BlackhawksPuck Daddy chats with Pavel Datsyuk about injury rehab, Lidstrom and Holmstrom retiring, Red Wings realignment, NHL Awards
If the [Los Angeles]e|kings Kings can be happy about anything in their summer-long negotiation with restricted free-agent defenseman Drew Doughty, it's that they haven't been accused of being an unworthy market for a Canadian-born star. There's been no "does Stamkos reeeeeally like [Tampa Bay]e|lightning ?" or "does Weber reeeeeeally like Nashville?" talk. Must be the Gretzky thing.
That said, the fact that Doughty's still unsigned after Shea Weber won a $7.5 million salary from the Nashville Predators in arbitration may not be a good thing for GM Dean Lombardi's bottom line.
The speculation has always been that Doughty and his reps were waiting to see if Weber established a new ceiling for RFA defensemen. (Forget the $10 million salary for Christian Ehrhoff this season, which is unrestricted free agent/cap circumventing nonsense.) Whether that's accurate or not, the fact remains that Weber is now the highest paid defenseman in the League (via his cap hit), and that could raise the price tag for other elite defensemen.
But will it affect Doughty contract extension with the Kings?
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Taking "Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World of ESPN" to the beach was, perhaps, the best argument I've experienced for replacing bound-books with digital devices. It comes in at 748 bloated pages, making Stephen King's "The Stand" seem like a flier for a local home-cleaning service by comparison. It was heavier than my cooler.
Of the 748 pages, there are roughly eight pages dedicated to ESPN's relationship with the NHL that spanned from 1985 to 2004, save for three years on SportsChannel America. Nothing about the actual games, their presentation, anything illuminating the behind-the-scenes personalities during that nearly two-decade run â?? just eight pages about the divorce.
Eight really good pages , it should be said. Some of the more entertaining parts of this meandering tome â?? a disappointment, given the narrative clarity of the authors' "Saturday Night Live" book â?? were about the executive-level battles over rights with rivals, like the Monday Night/Sunday Night Football tangle between ABC, NBC and ESPN. (You could have pulled out all the "MNF" drama, like the Tony Kornheiser experiment, and created a hell of a book on its own.)
Authors James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales present an interesting juxtaposition between a jilted Gary Bettman taking his League to Comcast after the lockout, and ESPNers like SportsCenter host Steve Levy criticizing that move.
From the book, here's Levy:
We'll let that one digest for a moment. Levy continued:
Since the book was published, the NHL entered into that 10-year, $2-billion contract with NBC Universal, keeping hockey on the Peacock and the newly rechristened NBC Sports Network (soon to be formerly known as VERSUS) until right around when Rick DiPietro's contract is up.
So within that new context, is Levy still correct? Was it shortsighted to leave ESPN? And does ESPN cover hockey better now than it did when the NHL was still in the family?
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The seminal 1996 Adam Sandler film "Happy Gilmore" explored many pertinent topics, but primarily was a case study in the application of one set of athletic skills onto another competitive sport.
In this case, having a psychotic former hockey play hit a golf ball with a slapshot in order to save his grandmother's house.
At times, the film comes dangerously close to offering a mutant hybrid of the two sports, a sort of "Hockey Golf" that would rival "BASEketball" as the greatest cinematic sports mashups ever. Alas, it never rises to that level of mania; but that doesn't mean Hockey Golf doesn't exist — even if involves a clown's mouth.
Coming up, the top 8 hockey mashups with other sports and recreation, in which the Greatest Sport In The History of Mankind (tm, Canada) is combined with another activity to create a new sport — some of which are sublime, all of which are ridiculous.
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For the Nashville Predators, finding reasons to criticize Shea Weber as a star NHL defenseman during their arbitration hearing was a challenge.
A greater challenge? Trying to paint a happy face on getting their asses handed to them courtesy of Weber's $7.5 million arbitration award.
GM David Poile gave it his all during a joint conference call with Weber on Wednesday, framing his captain's windfall as a formal acknowledgement of his elite status as perhaps the best defenseman in the League.
Said Poile: "This is something that we've known, if you will, for a lot of years. But I think in the last couple of years, especially since, as we say, maybe his recognition and breakout came a year ago in the Olympics, when Canada won the gold medal and he played a significant role in winning the gold medal, but Shea's value and his recognition have been there in the last couple of years. First all-star team this year, second to Nicklas Lidstrom in the Norris voting, so today's award is certainly reflective of his value to the Predators and his worth in the National Hockey League. So congratulations to Shea."
Aaaaaaad scene.
In the first five and a half minutes of Poile's opening remarks, he used some variation of "contending for the Stanley Cup" six times, telegraphing what's at the heart of this stalemate between the Predators and Weber: Whether or not Nashville can contend for the Stanley Cup, rather than for a playoff spot. Whether they can be a champion instead of a spoiler. Whether they can surround Weber with talent rather than bleeding talent every offseason.
"It's not just about term and salary. It's about where this team is going, and if we're on the same path," said Poile.
Here's where things get a little complicated.
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(Ed. Note: Our series "Puck Daddy's Guilty Pleasures" features puckheads from all walks of life answering questions about their own hockey-related guilty pleasures. It will run daily during the month of August. Have a suggestion for a "Guilty Pleasures" guest blogger?Â Hit us on email . Enjoy!)
Today's special guest: Lyle Richardson of Spector's Hockey , debunker of all silly rumors.
1. The Player You Most Love To Hate
I don't hate any player, but there are some whose actions I despise. There have been plenty over the years - Ken Linesman. Ulf Samuelsson ( cue Don Cherry rant here! ), Claude Lemieux. Darcy Tucker - whose antics sickened me.
Currently, it's Matt Cooke of the [Pittsburgh]e|penguins Penguins ( cue Cherry again ). His cheap shots have career-threatening consequences for his victims, as [Boston]e|bruins 's Marc Savard can attest, and no place in hockey.
2. Other Than Your Own, The Team You Can't Help Rooting For
I'll be a Montreal Canadiens fan until the day I die, but I also root for the [Pittsburgh]e|penguins Penguins.
I became a fan of the Penguins long before they won their Stanley Cup titles, thanks to the brilliance of Mario Lemieux. I was also a fan of Jaromir Jagr during the 1990s. I feared for the Penguins' future when it was rumored they would be relocated, was relieved when it didn't happen, and thrilled when they won the rights in the 2005 Draft to select Sidney Crosby, who carried them four years later to a third Stanley Cup.
This is a team that has seen such tremendous highs and lows over the past 25-plus years, and that's ultimately why I've cheered for them. Unless they're playing the Habs. Then, they suck.
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Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
â?˘ Alex Ovechkin's agent tells Tarik El-Bashir that Ovi won't be back with CCM when their deal is up at the end of the month. Reports are that he's leaving for Bauer . [ Capitals Insider ]
â?˘ The San Jose Sharks sign New Jersey Devils buyout Colin White to a 1-year, $1 million contract. Nice, safe deal for a lumbering defenseman. Joins Brent Burns and James Vandermeer as offseason additions to the blueline; looks like someone saw the Canucks and Bruins and realized that veteran blue-line full of bangers and puck-movers is a good thing. [ Working The Corners ]
â?˘ Good take on Shea Weber's arbitration deal, within the context Roberto Luongo's situation back in Aug. 2005. [ Kurtenblog ]
â?˘ Nikolay Zherdev returns to Russia, signing with Atlant of the KHL. He may plan on a line with Alex Kovalev there, on which they'll score 20 goals in one game and then not be heard from for three weeks. [ Broad Street Hockey ]
â?˘ If this could ever be the 2012 Winter Classic ad, we'll buy the NHL a beer. [ NY Rangers Blog]
â?˘ Hey, crazy, seems like there's someone who disagreed with Sam McCaig's NHL player rankings that ran last week. [ Kukla ]
â?˘ The top 10 most important signings in the NHL this summer. [ THN ]
â?˘ Jack Edwards soundboard, and it's a beauty. Takes a little bit to load but worth it. [ This Building Is Vibrating ]
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Shea Weber won his arbitration case against the Nashville Predators, and won it big: He was awarded a $7.5-million, 1-year contract that is the largest-ever arbitration award in the NHL.
According to CBC Sports : "The previous record for an arbitrator's award is $7 million, to John LeClair of [Philadelphia]e|flyers in 2000 and Scott Niedermayer of New Jersey in 2004."
The contract gives him the highest cap hit for a defenseman in the NHL and make him the fifth-highest paid defenseman in base salary. (Tim Wharnsby of CBC Sports was first with the figure. ) The salary increases the Predators' payroll to $48.7 million according to Cap Geek. The NHL salary cap floor is $48.3 million.
The Predators submitted a lowball proposal of $4.75 million, while Weber and his reps opted for an $8.5 million proposal. In NHL arbitration, the decision doesn't have to be one or the other; those proposals merely set the guidelines.
Instead, the decision is partially based on the salaries of comparable players, in this case meaning players who signed deals when they were eligible for Group 2 Restricted Free Agency.
On The Forecheck had a rundown of some NHL players that fell into that category â?? Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook of the [Chicago]e|blackhawks Blackhawks, as well as Dion Phaneuf of the [Toronto]e|mapleleafs Maple Leafs. Weber's salary is right in the middle of Keith's ($8 million in 2011-12) and Seabrook's ($7 million).
Now come the implications. Do you feel Weber's salary is justified? Did the Predators royally screw themselves here?
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We'll be talking Shea Weber (notes) , Zach Parise (notes) and NHL predictions in the return of our weekly live chat!
Please join us beginning at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT today for our weekly chat that includes a revolving door of panelists like Lyle (Spector) Richardson of Spector's Hockey ; David "Dave" Pagnotta of The Fourth Period Magazine ; as well as your friendly neighborhood knuckleheads from Yahoo! Sports , Puck Daddy and Buzzing The Net .
You bring the funny; we bring the abrupt changes in tone and Hamburger Women. That's how it works.
Patrick Sharp (notes) has another year on his current contract with the [Chicago]e|blackhawks Blackhawks ( at a $3.9 million cap hit ), but his stat line last season read like someone playing for a new deal: 34 goals, 37 assists and a career-best 71 points in 74 games.
Not coincidentally, he now has a new deal: 5 years with the Blackhawks, potentially keeping him in [Chicago]e|place until 2017.
Via Bob McKenzie of TSN, the annual cap hit on the extension is $5.9 million.
From the Blackhawks:
"Elite" is a bit of a mislabel; "valuable" and "versatile" are more appropriate. He's a heart-and-soul player for this team who plays in every situation and can slot in at different forward positions. He can be a top-liner or a second-liner; although one figures he'll open as the team's No. 2 center this season.
(As for fixture in the community … well, one simply can't let one of the 50 most beautiful Chicagoans slip to another city, can they? The bunny revolt in the Windy City would make " Night of the Lepus " look like a petting zoo.)
As of now, the $5.9 million cap hit will make Sharp the third-highest paid player on the Blackhawks (in cap dollars) in 2012-13, behind Patrick Kane (notes) and Jonathan Toews (notes) ($6.3 million each) and ahead of Brent Seabrook (notes) ($5.8 million). Via Cap Geek, the Blackhawks now have just over $57 million committed to the cap in 2012-13 with 17 players under contract.
You read that right: Seventeen players. Of the 17, there are 12 signed through 2014; of those 12, there are 7 signed through 2015; of those 7, there are 4 signed through 2016.
GM Stan Bowman has locked up Kane, Toews, Seabrook, Duncan Keith (notes) , Marian Hossa (notes) , Sharp and Steve Montador (notes) until 2015 — Kane, Toews and Montador go UFA that summer. This is the [Chicago]e|blackhawks core, and it's good enough to a win a Stanley Cup. Whether or not it does will depend on the supporting cast.
Bowman deserves a lot of credit for keeping this group together, and at a reasonable rate (ask Nashville). But the real challenge is building a winner around them — one look at the names on the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion list and then last year's roster will remind you of that.
On August 2, 2011 Pavel Datsyuk was presented with the Kharlamov Trophy in Moscow, the award presented by Sovetsky Sport. Named as the best Russian NHL player by his fellow countrymen playing in the NHL , Datsyuk halted Alex Ovechkin's 5-year run as the award's recipient.
Datsyuk arrived at Sovetsky Sport's headquarters with his agent Gary Greenstin on time and spent some time taking pictures with fans and signing autographs.
The ceremony included a highlight reel of Datsyuk's best dekes and goals, as well as his now infamous fight with Anaheim's Corey Perry that may have cost Datsyuk yet another Lady Byng.
Datsyuk confessed that he doesn't watch his own highlights, and even at the ceremony he shied away from watching the reel and tried to keep his eyes on something else.
"Fighting is not my style. You don't get paid extra to do it. And I was actually only defending in that fight. Perry and I were face to face and after looking into his eyes I realized that either I'd finish with hockey, or I'd end this fight in a draw... And the refs helped me a bit when I was pushing Perry down. I work very well with refs!" he said.
"I had dreamt about a Gordie Howe hat-trick for a while. But after that fight coach Babcock didn't put me on the ice in that game again. I was on the bench for 10 minutes. I got really cold."
To honor Datsyuk's fighting skills, MMA fighter Fedor Emelianenko (through his representative) presented Datsyuk with a pair of autographed fighting gloves.
A few Russian [Detroit]e|redwings Red Wings fans presented Datsyuk with their own version of Hunters at Rest classic picture with Brett Hull, Henrik Zetterberg and Datsyuk himself depicted on it.
"Thank God, I am not the once with a cigarette," Datsyuk said after he accepted the gift.
After the ceremony Pavel Datsyuk and I sat down at a nearby Uzbek restaurant for an exclusive one-on-one interview.
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