Just some Olympic odds and ends:
Gary Bettman went on FOX Business Network and seemed to have a little bit of an Olympic high:
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The most interesting part? He doesn’t rule out Sochi 2014 out of hand. It seems to be something he really wants to consider.
That gold medal game was [...]

What can you say about yesterday’s gold medal game?
It was awesome
And it was awesome because of the discipline shown by Team USA and Team Canada.
Both teams stuck to their game plans. There was no panic. The US didn’t panic when they went down by two goals and Canada didn’t panic when the US tied it [...]

Rich Chere says Mike Babcock is over-coaching Team Canada, changing lines and goalies too frequently.
Just about everyone watching last night’s Germany/Canada game had the same thought: ‘I could successfully play goal for Team Canada against the Germans.’ Germany just wasn’t much of a threat. Babcock probably could have safely given Brodeur another start without much [...]

I’m glad to see NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman admit the Olympics does very little for the NHL.
Yesterday, I watched Russia-Czech Republic on NBC and USA-Canada on MSNBC, both games moderately-to-negligibly hyped, and both games played with a ton of NHL players (or former NHL players, in the case of Russia-Czech Republic).
I wouldn’t have watched [...]

Is anyone else embarrassed by Olympic hockey so far?
Watching U.S./Switzerland yesterday, the American team seemed content to nurse a three-goal lead most of the game. The Americans didn’t go for the throat and in general, seemed to be trying to find their Olympic footing.
Basically, it was a super-talented team not executing in a super talented [...]

Who will buy the Dallas Stars?
I guess no one knows, but Mike Heika says he keeps hearing the name Doug Miller.
Miller has experience with minor league hockey in addition to running a non-hockey Dallas-based business.
The interesting name, though, is Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, who was recently brought in by Mike Modano to [...]

Question: Can the Ducks and Kings both be good teams at the same time? Can they both be bad teams? Or, my theory here, do they feed off of each other, with the success of one causing the demise of the other, a veritable Western Conference yin and yang?
The Kings recent swoon has coincided with [...]

So I guess keeping three goalies on the roster is now officially a trend?
The Flyers are keeping three goalies while Ray Emery prepares to return.
The Flyers literally have nothing else to do with their cap space, so they may as well keep all three goalies.
The Islanders are currently rolling three goalies, with Martin Biron the [...]

Not to be a jerk about the Olympics, but what exactly is the NHL thinking?
The Penguins are obviously already gassed from their successful Stanley Cup run. They beat Atlanta last night, but had dropped their previous five. And now, instead of just focusing on making it to the All-Star break, they’re going to send key [...]

A couple of weeks ago, the Wild signing Petr Sykora seemed like a brilliant move. I know I sure loved it.
It’s still a little early to say it’s not working out, but Sykora was a healthy scratch against Nashville last night. That came after getting less than 10 minutes against Chicago Monday night.
Sykora has just [...]