Photo by Dan4th The KHL seems to have a two-fold purpose in terms of its relationship to the NHL. It makes players NHL teams didn’t want to sign look suddenly more attractive. It teaches NHL players to be more realistic in their contractual expectations. Look at goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who couldn’t attract any NHL suitors [...]

The more I think about the structure of the NHL, the more I think it needs to be more of an international institution. We have six NHL teams starting the season in Europe this year: The Hurricanes and Wild are in Helsinki, the Blue Jackets and Sharks are in Stockholm, and the Bruins and Coyotes [...]

While Donald Fehr, the legendary head of Major League Baseball’s players union, hasn’t taken the NHLPA job quite yet, it seems like he’ll eventually accept the gig. It also seems like someone is working with the NHLPA to give them leverage moving into the next Collective Bargaining Negotiation. Otherwise, would Ilya Kovalchuk’s camp really be [...]

I love that the NHL owns the Coyotes. Now, whenever NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman talks about the viability of the team, it has the desperation of someone trying to unload a used car they can’t afford to keep for any extended amount of time. Bettman was in Phoenix this week, just so he knew at [...]

Wednesday night’s Avs-Coyotes game was a Colorado record for low attendance. Adrian Dater asked fans what happened and he got back some very interesting responses. According to Dater, a lot of fans reported ticket prices weren’t the only factor keeping them away from the Pepsi Center. Some fans reported problems with the Avs ticket office [...]

Just some quick weekend notes: Larry Brooks and Tim Panaccio aren’t happy about the Gretzky backlash. Both feel his time as a player buys him some goodwill with the public. I’ve been curious about the backlash and think a lot of it has to do with economics. Gretzky never seemed to put much work into [...]

This weekend saw Rangers coach John Tortorella formally announce the painfully obvious: The Rangers needs to be a mentally and physically stronger, more aggressive team this season. Tortorella probably doesn’t care how the Rangers ended up this way, but it’s interesting to track, especially because in some ways, he’s responsible for their softness. Tortorella was [...]

Every few months, I tend to think the KHL is making inroads into eventually overtaking the NHL. Yesterday’s reported signing of Nik Zherdev is a blow to the NHL in that if Zherdev didn’t have the KHL out, he probably would have worked harder on his NHL game. Zherdev might not ever reach his full [...]

I’m very surprised Sergei Zubov is close to signing a KHL deal. Zubov is 39 and coming off an injury-plagued season, but I would think there might be a few NHL teams interested in signing one of the game’s all-time great offensive defensemen. If nothing else, Zubov could probably quarterback the powerplay as a special [...]

Adrian Dater has an interesting question: do we really know what the big deal is about Swedish goalie Jonas Gustavsson? I think the big deal is that he’s an unproven free agent, so you have the excitement of a rookie coupled with the track record of a veteran. A young veteran. I’m pretty curious how [...]