Hi! Just a note to let everyone know the RSS feed is changing to: http://feeds.feedburner.com/puckupdate.
Please update your readers. I'm going to figure out how to redirect the old feeds...

Backup New York Islanders' GM candidates:

• Garth from WAYNE'S WORLD
• Cavs point guard Eric Snow
• Maurice Richard
• Islander fisherman mascot
• Gorton's fisherman
• Garth Snow's pads

I don't like to do too many media-centric posts, but this is pretty crazy.
The LA Times is slashing its hockey coverage. According to BenMaller.com, the Times will no longer send beat reporters to all Kings/Ducks road games.
Over at LA Observed, Kevin Roderick reports Helene Elliott will no longer due a weekly NHL column. Instead, she'll be a general columnist with an interest in hockey.
It's never good when a major market shuts down its NHL coverage. Maybe the Times is hoping PJ will pick up the slack? This is a pretty huge opportunity for King and Duck bloggers.

James Mirtle has an interesting post defending Billy Tibbetts, trying to get back into the NHL as part of a Bruins reality show.
Some interesting notes on Tibbetts:

From the April 1, 1994 Boston Herald:

A Brockton Superior Court judge told a Scituate man who admitted raping a teen-age girl during a 1992 outdoor drinking party that the crime was 'brutal,' but he then spared the man from prison.

William T. Tibbetts, now 19, pleaded guilty Wednesday to raping a 15-year-old girl during an outdoor drinking party when he was 17.

An advocate for rape victims said yesterday the judge's decision was troubling because many women wonder if it's worth it to seek courtroom justice.

'It sends the message again and again that it's very difficult to convict a rapist,' said Tina D'Elia, a hot-line coordinator for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.

The local papers were quite upset with the decision. This is from an April 2, 1994 Boston Herald editorial:

Brockton Superior Court Judge Cortland Mathers' shortsighted decision this week to give a suspended sentence to a young man who pleaded guilty to rape sends a terrible message. William T. Tibbetts, now 19, pleaded guilty to raping a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. The two were with a group of teen-agers who were drinking in a Scituate woods. The victim had consumed five beers and a shot of whiskey when she accompanied Tibbetts behind a building, where she agreed to a sex act.

According to Assistant District Attorney Peter Leary, the girl, who was under 16, the age of legal consent, at one point passed out from drinking. Clearly she didn't know what she was doing. Tibbetts obviously did.

Tibbetts' attorney, Dennis Ryan of Quincy, characterized the rape as 'a drinking party that got out of hand.' The judge apparently agreed and gave Tibbetts a lecture and probation rather than a jail sentence.

If Tibbetts had beaten the girl or robbed her while she was drunk, the court wouldn't have been so lenient. The sentence is a sad, uncalled-for endorsement of the old excuse, 'She asked for it,' and a green light for rapists.

Tibbetts was denied parole (this was after Tibbetts' 1995 conviction for shooting someone with a BB gun. He also had an August 1994 conviction for intimidating a witness after threatening to kill a police officer and the officer's family. Tibbetts was given a six-month suspended sentence for that) in 1998. This is from the September 1, 1998 Patriot Ledger:

Saying that he appears unrepentant, the state parole board has denied convicted rapist William Tibbetts' bid to be released from prison this month.

"The inmate displayed minimal insight or remorse (except for himself) into the harm resulting from his offenses," the board wrote in a decision issued last week. "He accepts limited responsibility and blames others for his actions."

Read this interview with Tibbetts in the Idaho Statesman and see what you think about Tibbetts' personal growth and sense of accountability now.

Wow. So Eric Lindros is about to become a Dallas Star (login info.).
You know. Unless he doesn't.
He told the Dallas Morning News he wasn't interested in money so much as he was interested in opportunity. In Dallas, he'd be the second line center. Elsewhere, say Edmonton for example, I imagine he'd be more of a third-line, shut-down center, filling in for Michael Peca.
Larry Brooks says the Kings are/were also in the hunt for Lindros (login info.).
I hope he lands in Dallas. I think he'd be a great addition to their second line. He makes a lot more sense than Patrik Stefan.
There. I said it.
Yesterday's Times had an article about an extremely passionate Toronto Argonauts fan. There's a great line in the article:

Once a diehard fan of the Maple Leafs and the Blue Jays, Bursey eventually soured on them. By the time the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball returned from their most recent work stoppages, she had lost interest.

"I started to ask myself, 'How could anyone make that much money and not be satisfied?'" Bursey said. "I'd rather root for the Argos and other C.F.L. players because they are ordinary people earning ordinary salaries, and that makes them a lot more accessible."

If the NHL really wants to make inroads against the other major sports (especially here in the US), they really have to start thinking like lower-tier leagues (no offense, CFL). It's got to be about connecting fans and players, with as little interference between the two as possible. It seems the NHL is trying to figure out the best way to do that, but it remains to be seen if they'll successfully execute. But the league needs to take a serious look at what's going on in the CFL. How many NHLers do you think would hang out with fans after a game? It seems like a crazy idea because that's the dynamic the league has created. But it's not an impossible vibe to create. If the CFL can get Ricky Williams on board, I think the NHL can get everyone else on board.
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I'm not sure how I found this, but Fix the Logo is a site dedicated to getting the Buffalo Sabres to go back to their old crossed-swords logo. I also happen to be a bit uncomfortable with the new Sabres logo, which looks like the buffalo's head is exploding out of its body. It's like a Ted Nugent song.
Finally, check out Legends of Hockey, a blog featuring extensive biographies of retired NHLers. It's a very cool site.