As a public service to both Ilya Kovalchuk and hockey fans, I’m going to list some things Kovalchuk could have done to prevent his extended stay in NHL Free Agent Purgatory. Free Samples At the end of the 2007-08 season, Marian Hossa left Pittsburgh to sign a one-year deal with Detroit. Hossa could have gotten [...]

Ottawa’s Brian Elliott had his second shutout in a row last night, with a considerable assist given to Anton Volchenkov’s shot-blocking. It’s still a little early, but this is the time of year when you look for a goalie to get hot. Because a lot of times a hot goalie becomes a huge factor in [...]

So the past few weeks have been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for Thrashers fans. Before the Olympics, the team traded away Ilya Kovalchuk. That was a little sad. Then, GM Don Waddell said the team would be buyers at the trade deadline, rather than sellers. And that had to make the fans [...]

Over the break I read BALL FOUR, Jim Bouton’s famous tale of his 1969 season pitching for the Seattle Pilots and the Houston Astros. The book is famous because it was the first one to destroy the mystique of the professional athlete. We learned guys like to drink and curse and look at women. The [...]

Forbes released their annual NHL franchise valuations and things actually look pretty good for the league. Or at least for some of the franchises. The average operating profit was $6.1 million, aggregate income increased, as did average franchise value. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an across the board thing for the all of the franchises. While successful [...]

The Devils seem to agree with the conventional wisdom that the Caps aren’t the same team without Alex Ovechkin. New Jersey beat the Capitals 3-2 at home, where the Devils have been pretty awful. The Devils had a lot of comments relating to how the Capitals seem bummed about playing without their star. About the [...]

As I mentioned yesterday, it’s still early in the season, so it’s still hard to make observations about team problems and team successes. But having said that, some interesting ideas are already starting to emerge. Like will the Sharks play defense this season? They went down four goals to the Kings, managed to come back, [...]

The Thrashers signed Maxim Afinogenov to a one-year, $800,000 deal. It’s certainly a cheap price for a forward with a lot of potential upside, until you consider that Afinogenov has spent the past two seasons being more about his potential than about the realization of his potential. I was a little surprised the Thrashers held [...]

Defenseman Mark Popovic is in Thrasher training camp, trying to earn a contract. He spent last season playing in the KHL and he wasn’t very impressed by the quality of play there. Popovic played for Atlanta before deciding to go to Russia, so he has a connection to the team, but part of me wonders [...]

First of all, I would like to formally apologize to the St. Louis Blues. Back in February, I teased Jeff Gordon for suggesting the Blues were heading toward a playoff position. This morning, the Blues are just two games out of a spot, helped by last night’s huge win over San Jose. Imagine if the [...]