In this week’s episode of the Puck Podcast we talk about a new deal between the NHL and Russia and a contract which puts that deal to the test, we discuss the commissioner stepping in to stop a fight between two GM’s, a head coach and GM getting a contract extension while another gets lets go, we’ll give you an update on the worst kept secret in the NHL, tell you about an interesting new nickname for an AHL team, Doug will tell you why the NHL should stop being so secret about vital information, we’ll talk with Minneapolis Star-Tribune writer Patrick Reusse about his recent column that rips Wild GM Doug Risebrough plus we’ll answer your e-mails and a whole lot more.
MP3 File
To read Patrick Reusse’s column about the Minnesota Wild – click here.
Great show…the TBD thing drives fans nuts….period! Now as for the Chops…do you like them BBQ’d or fried?
On Radulov… Doug mentioned that the KHL contract offered to Radulov happened after the KHL/IIHF/NHL agreement to honor contracts.
The reports I read said Radulov (and his Russian agent) insist that the contract was negotiated and signed two days before the KHL/NHL ceasefire, and Radulov claims he didn’t know the leagues were negotiating.
Still doesn’t explain Radulov’s decision to swindle the Preds out of the last two years of his NHL contract, but that’s just my two cents.
Oh, wait… Radulov gets $13m over three years. I guess that explains his decision…
Great show guys. It definitely helps fill my need for hockey in the offseason.
Doug, you are correct about your comment about Lightning fans anticipating the upcoming season. I am so excited for the season to start. The schedule comes out on Wednesday and I will be buying some tickets ahead of time. I’ve been informed by the Lightning sales office that Brad Richards and Dan Boyle will be coming home to play against the Lightning with Dallas and San Jose respectively.
I was also excited when I opened my St. Pete Times this morning and found out that Vinny Lecavalier signed his extension. 11 years 85 million dollars!!! It had been reported that he was going to sign a 9 year 77 million dollar deal. So this will take him to age 40. It is going to pay him 10 million a year for the first 6 years then gradually decrease to 1 million over the next 5 years.
BTW, the whole point of movie critics, is to read reviews and find the one critic you agree with the most and use his/her future reviews to determine if you want to spend your money to see a movie. Unless of course it’s those stupid one line reviews that the studio pays to have put on it’s posters/DVD cases.
Thanks to you both for keeping hockey going during the off-season. Without the Puck Podcast what would we hockey fanatics do during the summer? One mild complaint: Why doesn’t the Puck Podcast logo show up on my iPod when I download your podcast from iTunes?
Good for Nolan to get out of that place. No offense to Isles fans but that organization is run by a bunch of buffoons. I am normally against people switching their favorite teams but I wouldn’t hold it against any Islanders fan if they tossed in the towel and picked someone else to follow.
Here’s a NHL “Across the Pond” feature for the Ingurnal IIHF Champions League.
http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=368493
So, by having the Wings play in Chicago on January 1, it ends a tradition of the Red Wings playing at home on New Year’s Eve. It makes sense to give up the home game to promote the sport and be part of the “Classic”, but it’s always a little tough to lose a tradition, even if it’s only for one year. The last time the Wings were on the road on December 31, it was against Chicago. Detroit is 6-1 in it’s last seven New Year’s Eve games and have not played on January 1 since 1969 (again, at Chicago – a 4-1 loss). 9 of Detroit’s last 12 January 1 games were against the Hawks, the Wings prevailing in only two (1948, 1956).
Tortorella to the Isles?
So the Lightning get to play the Sharks (Boyle) and Stars (Richards) in Tampa and we get to play the Red Wings. I can’t wait for this to start!!!
Eddie and Doug, the Lightning make a swing your way in early January. Ducks on a Friday and the Kings on a Monday. You are going down, lol. Eddie, we’ll try and help you get the 1st pick (Tavares).
Here’s the link to the schedule.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?fid=11564
I currently live in Anaheim, but used to live in Iowa. CHOPS is the perfect team name for an Iowa team. The other choices are CORN, or MULLETS. CHOPS is the better of the three.
Doug mentioned in the last show that he would like to ask Dean Lombardi why he signed Michal Handzus to a four-year $4M deal last summer and why he signed Rob Blake to a two-year $6M deal a couple years ago if signing those players wasn’t going to “put them over the top”.
I believe the answer to his question is the following.
After Lombardi initially took over the GM position, he met with Kings ownership and upper management and it was decided that the philosophy that they wanted take was to rebuild while remaining competitive.
It was the philosophy of wanting to remain competitive that lead to the signing of players like Blake and Handzus, among others.
That answers that question.
To expand, using that philosophy, the Kings managed to have a two very unsuccessful seasons.
As a result, when Lombardi met with management at the end of this past season, it was decided that they would change their philosophy and have chosen to simply rebuild without concern for being competitive at this time.
I believe this was the approach Lombardi really wanted to take when he initially took over the club.
Doug further went on to question why the Kings, with their millions in cap space beneath the floor, wouldn’t go out and sign more veteran free agent talent to the benefit of the younger players.
Doug criticized the Kings for signing free agents in the past on one hand, then criticized them in the same rant for not signing any this summer! Very illogical Doug.
The Kings took a shot with the UFA signing philosophy and it failed. Why would they continue down that path when it didn’t work the last two seasons? Isn’t trying something over and over again and getting the same result insanity?
The Kings will sign their pending UFAs, get above the cap floor, play and develop the kids (who won’t have their ice time taken away by veterans out just to make a paycheck), and will have plenty of cap room to extend the contracts of major core players like Kopitar and Johnson.
Eddie, I think you should be more informed with this kind of information and set Doug straight so his illogical rants about the Kings aren’t left hanging.
The Kings need some undisputed help in several areas. If they rebuild right…maybe they can develop like Chicago but so far that isn’t even close to what they are right now. Right now, they are a team looking to the lottery and a very good pick at that.