Hey!
If you're in the New York City area, pick up New York Sports Express, a new free sports weekly. It's lots of great sports news. Plus, it features a column by me on the Devils and on the Islanders' new coach. Look for it in the orange boxes (but not the one for The L Magazine — I'm not really sure what that is).
NYSX isn't really online yet. Otherwise I'd link to the column.
Thank you.
Martin Brodeur took home the Vezina for league's best goaltender. Great call. Especially since the voting took place before the Cup finals.
Wild man Jacques Lemaire won the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year. Very few coaches do so much with so little. But his boring system is part of the reason people can't get into hockey.
Steve Yzerman won the Masterston, Alexander Mogilny the Lady Byng, and Barret Jackman the rookie of the year. Dallas' Jere Lehtinen won the Selke for best defensive forward.
I don't know. These awards are nice, but do they mean anything? I guess they do to the award shelf industry.
Wow. Crazy stuff out there. The Wings have a four-year, $40 million offer on the table to Sergei Fedorov. He's already turned down five years for $50 million. The Wings have also agreed to a one-year deal with captain (and Masterton Trophy winner) Steve Yzerman. They haven't agreed on money, though. He made $8 million last season but the Wings are a little reluctant to give that much money to someone with a gimpy knee — even if his name is Steve Yzerman. The Wings have also offered Darren McCarty three years for $6 million which might be a little low. Team owner Mike Ilitch said the Wings also might be interested in Dallas' Derian Hatcher, depending on how Detroit's other signings go.
See. The Columbus Blue Jackets don't have problems like this.
Thrasher goalie Byron Dafoe exercised the option on his contract. Why wouldn't he? He made a small fortune by winning five games for the Thrashers last season. If he can win six this year, he can probably retire.
Every day Pittsburgh finds a way to hit a new low. The latest? Hiring their color commentator as their new coach.
Ed Olczyk, a former player with no coaching experience at all, minor or major league, will be leading a team with no starts and no talent.
No word yet on if GM Craig Patrick will make Olczyk keep his broadcasting gig to save on salary.
Nothing against Olczyk, but this is just disgusting. Pittsburgh has no pride. It's just a freak show.
Seriously. I did some research on Olczyk and found a story about how he was being courted by the Rangers last season. "Hmmmm," I thought. "I guess he does have a good coaching reputation, despite having never coached before."
But I was wrong.
The Rangers wanted him for their broadcasts.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review asked some NHL media people what they thought about the move and got some pretty funny responses. This is my favorite, from Sherry Ross of the New York Daily News: "I can understand why the Penguins would want to hire an ex-NHLer with no coaching experience, since the Rangers' hiring of Bryan Trottier and Colorado's choice of Tony Granato worked out so splendidly."
Eric Lindros is staying a Ranger. He excercised his option for next year. Rumors said the Rangers might buy him out of his contract, making him a free agent. But he's all New York's. And I seriously doubt any other teams will be interested in him. But I think this season will be a good one for Lindros. He's got a lot to prove to the league. Revenge is a pretty powerful motivator. Of course, making an assload of money for showing up to work, the basis of his contract, is a pretty powerful demotivator.
I expect a lot of psychologists and economists will be watching this story closely.
Sure the Devils won the Stanley Cup. But that's not all that's going on with the Devils. Like what?
Hmmm. How about the fact that the Stanley Cup win could get the team a new stadium in Newark (or will at least re-open the dialogue about the stadium)?
And how about the fact that just winning the Cup increases the value of the team? And how about the fact that the Devils are always kind-of, sort-of for sale?
Crazy stuff.
Oh. And what about GM Lou "Captain Lou" Lamoriello saying he's NOT going to Boston to run the Bruins, as tons of rumors said? Not that a denial ever really means anything in sports. But still.
St. Louis signed goalie Chris Osgood to a one-year deal worth $3 million. Former number one goalie Brent Johnson will now be Osgood's back-up.
Chris Osgood. Always just good enough for a team. No one is ever thrilled to sign him. It's always kind of casual — like buying milk.
What are the Ducks doing? Talking about next year (l:laexaminer; p:laexaminer). Every time a team loses, they talk about how they're just going to make a few small adjustments and then kick ass next year. Just once I'd like a team to say "This year was as good as we'll do. Leave us alone."
UPDATE: Smart Puck reader J. points out that the Carolina Hurricanes stood pat after going to the Finals in 2002. He also cited the Anaheim Angels, but I'm tired of writing about Mouse-owned teams.
Wow. The Devils really are big time. Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko are supposed to be on the Howard Stern radio show this week.
Stern said he really wanted to interview Martin Brodeur, though. He was loving that Brodeur was dating, or dated, his wife's sister.
Fame is a double-edged sword.
At least I finally heard hockey discussed on mainstream American radio.
OK. First things first. I guess I should acknowledge that my prediction that Joe Nieuwendyk would play in game seven was wrong.
Sorry kids.
They can't all be right.
Interestingly, GM Lou Lamoriello spoke to the Devils before game seven. According to the New York Daily News:
- Lou Lamoriello doesn't often speak to the Devils as a group, leaving speeches and instructions to the coaches and team leaders. But when the team met Sunday night, the GM spoke. "Lou's the backbone of all of this," Nieuwendyk said. "When he speaks, he speaks from the heart. I think it made a big impact on everybody."
- Lamoriello wouldn't discuss what he said to the team, but he praised them afterward. "This is the lowest-maintenance team I've ever been around," Lamoriello said.
PuckUpdate is lucky enough to be able to bring you an exclusive guess at what Lamoriello told his team:
- OK guys. We have to win. You have to win. You know why? Because I'll trade your ass if you don't. Do you think I'm kidding? Ask Petr Sykora over there on the Anaheim bench. Remember him? He was one of our best players and I traded him because I felt like it. And remember Mike Danton. We didn't get along so I refused to trade him to another team. He's just sitting at home doing nothing. That could be any of you. So you better freaking win. Go Devils!
Dry your tears, everyone.
Oh. And the Devils will let you know when their victory parade is going to be held. Stupid NBA Finals.
Big shock. The Penguins have Marty Straka on the block. If you play on the Penguins and anyone outside of the Penguins organization knows your name, you're going to get traded. How sad for a once-great franchise. Now it's like the Walmart of the NHL.
Philly had a pretty good season. And they're getting ready to get even better.
First, they got John LeClair to waive his no-trade clause. Rumors say he's agreed to go to the Rangers, the Kings, the Stars, and the Red Wings.
Yeah. Who wouldn't want to play for any of those teams. Except the Rangers, who suck, and the Kings, who suck. But Dallas and Detroit are pretty nice.
LeClair had an injury-plagued season but he still has a lot to offer. He just needs a slightly less oppressive system to play in. Dallas could use his size. The Kings could use anything.
The Flyers also signed Sami Kapanen and Eric Chouinard to two-year deals.
Kapanen had a monster season once he was traded to Philly from Carolina. He's going to be an impact player for the Flyers. He can shoot, he can dish, and he's not scared of the front of the net. He's just a solid, solid role player in the best sense of the word.
Game seven got the highest ratings for an NHL game since 1998, when ABC first started carrying the finals.
Look for people to start trying to get the Stanley Cup finals into one game, like the Super Bowl.
I love the playoff system, though. It's so grueling. When it's done, you really feel like you've accomplished something. I can't even imagine how the players feel. It's nice to spend 1/6 of a year on one thing.
Also, congratulations to the Devils, the winner of the First PuckUpdate Cup. The Devils were the subject of the most PuckUpdate entries this year. The Rangers were right behind them and the Red Wings right, right behind the Rangers. It was a close contest.
Congratulations, New Jersey.
OK. Here's my question. How can the Devils play so well at home and so poorly on the road? Or to be more precise, so poorly in Anaheim.
The Devils beat the Ducks, playing like a team possessed. During Anaheim's only powerplay you would have though it was New Jersey's. The Devils were just oppressive. No offense. No deking. Just checking and throwing pucks up at the net. Anaheim had very few chances to get anything going. And Devils goalie Martin Brodeur only got sharper as the game went on.
And still the game was dull. Once the Devils scored twice in the second, you sort of knew it was all over. The Devils are built (and were built) to sit on leads.
It wasn't the best Stanley Cup final, but it was still a Stanley Cup final. Even a bad game is a good game.
Here's the thing about the Devils. All they have is defense. There's nothing else there. So if a team gets hot, like Anaheim did in game six, the Devils are screwed. I mean, let's face it. Scott Stevens nearly killed Paul Kariya at center ice. Kariya was practically flatlining. But that couldn't stop Kariya. In the end, the Devils scoring another goal (or four) would have hurt Kariya a lot more than Stevens' shoulder.
Defense is important, but it's not the only thing. The best defense in the world can't prevent weird bounces and impossible redirects. And that's why the Devils are going to yet another game seven. Because all they have is their system. All they can do is work the other team in the corners and keep the front of their net cleared. But they have nothing else. They can't step up with more offense at will. They don't have a true, natural offensive line. All they can do is hope they're able to pound the other team into a stupor. They were able to do it to Ottawa. They couldn't do it to Colorado in 2001's game seven Final. We'll see what they can do Monday.
Also, Joe Nieuwendyk says he won't be able to play game seven. I kind of doubt that. I suspect he's trying to fake out Anaheim, giving them false confidence. I also think Devils coach Pat Burns is going to stick Nieuwendyk in the line-up to give the Devils an emotional boost. Like a sugar high.
The New York Daily News reports that the Capitals are willing to trade Jaromir Jagr for Eric Lindros straight up. It's kind of like trading invisible pictures. Neither team is going to see much of a difference after the trade.
Woo hoo! Hockey isn't the only sport getting bad ratings. The NBA Finals also aren't doing well.
Not that I'm happy to see another sport suffer.
But I am.
So who's fault are the bad NHL ratings, anyway?
Not Buffalo's. The Finals are rating well there. The NBA Finals, not so well.
And there you have it.
Don McKee says we should put all the Canadian teams in one division and guarantee them a place in the Finals.
McKee seems to think this would make more people watch hockey.
That would be some division. Six teams competing for eight playoff spots. That would definitely help hockey.
Oh man. This column is almost a week old but it's so great. It's a great take-down of Chris Berman and ABC's Cup coverage (l:laexaminer; p:laexaminer).
Mike Penner manages to touch on everything that's been bugging you about ABC telecast of these games. It's a work of art. Read it. You won't regret it.
Thanks to everyone who voted for PuckUpdate in the Webbys.
ESPN.com beat us.
We'll get them next year. I have some compromising photos of ESPN.com.
