After the lockout, everyone talked about the new NHL, and how a premium would be placed on offense. In the new NHL, we were told speed and talent would matter. Players would be free to actually play, and wouldn’t spend entire periods with sticks embedded in their abdomens. It seems that crazy-sounding idea continues to [...]

The Long Island Press is reporting Charles Wang, owner of the Isles, has walked away from the Lighthouse project, apparently feeling it would never get done. The project would have resulted in a new arena for the Isles. One interesting, if completely unconfirmed, wrinkle is Sam Fischler’s assertion during last night’s Rangers game that the [...]

Not that he’s horribly objective, but Jeff Halpern expects the Lightning to be much more successful this year. Tarik El-Bashir caught up with him in DC and it’s interesting to hear Halpern talk about how hard it was for him to leave the Caps. Halpern also talks about the pressures of being in a contract [...]

Tim Panaccio says the Sedin twins are supposedly looking for $7 million each per season. I don’t begrudge anyone their money, but what team can afford $14 million for two players? Someone needs to explain the salary cap system to the twins. Unless they’re no longer that into playing with each other. Maybe that’s the [...]

Two fun facts to start today: The Blues have one first period goal in their last 11 games. But they’re also 7-3-1 during that stretch, so maybe that’s working for them. Flyers coach John Stevens enjoys baking. I had him pegged as a griller, not a baker. The baking thing comes up in Anthony J. [...]

I enjoy checking in on players immediately after they were traded. It’s like watching someone at their first day of work: Mark Recchi hit the ground running in Boston. It helps that after he was traded to Carolina, they won the Cup. Shockingly, he spent some time in last night’s loss to Phoenix bouncing around [...]

I think this is the saddest thing I’ve read in a while (actually, this is, but stay with me). Steve Stamkos’s weekly diary is about how he’s started collecting sticks and pucks. It concludes with this sad note: I asked for [Alex] Ovechkin’s at the All-Star event but I didn’t get a chance to get [...]

The thing I love most about NHL coaching is that in a lot of ways, it’s really more about persona and performance than Xs and Os. You can have no understanding of hockey and still motivate your players, probably relying on your assistant coaches to handle the tactical issues, and you can probably have a [...]

This weekend the Times had an interesting look at how many older players are thriving in the NHL. The article says that conventional wisdom holds teams will build around young talent under a salary cap, but I think it’s quite the opposite. Teams can’t afford young talent, unless it’s home-grown, so a cheap way to [...]

I haven’t written much about Brendan Shanahan joining the Devils but seeing as how he’s expected to suit-up in Nashville tonight, it seems like a good time. Devils coach Brent Sutter hasn’t announced who Shanahan will replace in the line-up, but it seems to be down to fourth-liners Jay Pandolfo and Mike Rupp. Pandolfo used [...]