Hockey Critic

The Toronto Maple Leafs barely ended their 5 game losing streak by defeating a flu depleted Carolina Hurricanes team 5-4. The team's poor showing on the ice has created some rumblings about the fate of its general manager, John Ferguson Jr and even the head coach, Paul Maurice. Earlier this week, several sources reported that the top brass at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) had started looking for an experienced hockey executive who could take over the general manager responsibilities on an interim basis. One name who the Leafs have apparently spoken (tampered) with is Hall of Famer Cliff Fletcher, currently enjoying his retirement from hockey. Fletcher's entry into the Leafs sweepstakes is somewhat ironic because he was pretty much driven out of town in 1997 after some very successful years at the helm of the Maple Leafs. [Read More!]

My keeper league draft is this evening and I am just not prepared. We are in year 8 of the 10 year league and the salary caps will absolutely kill me this year. The likes of Joe Thornton, Olli Jokinen, Dany Heatley, Alex Tanguay and Daniel Sedin are now in the 5% of the salary scale and so I am going to have to dig out a lot of deals. As of right now, almost all 10 of my picks have to be very close to the minimum salary level for me to be able to make it under the cap. [Read More!]

After an excruciatingly long wait, the Stanley Cup Finals get underway in Anaheim, California this evening. This should be a very competitive series but the NHL may have managed to really screw it up. The bigwigs in New York have allowed themselves to be pushed around all playoffs by the US television networks and now, have seen a poorly planned Ducks schedule really come home to bite them. [Read More!]

About a week and a half ago, I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days in Silicon Valley for work. With the NHL playoffs in full swing and the San Jose Sharks in the mix, I thought I'd share some of my experiences. First off I couldn't watch any of the games live as my hotel didn't carry Versus - I had ESPN and ESPN 2, but no Versus. And ESPN and ESPN 2 didn't really give hockey a lot of coverage. Highlights began almost 30 minutes into Sportscenter though they did have Barry Melrose commenting on some of the games, during the late night broadcast. [Read More!]

The NHL Players Association went through a major leadership change when the lockout ended in 2005 and Bob Goodenow was whisked out, to be replaced by Ted Saskin. The infighting began shortly after the changes as a group of players questioned the way Saskin had ascended into power. And now, Ted Saskin's critics have had their latest wish come true - the National Hockey League Players' Association will conduct an independent investigation his 2005 hiring as the union's executive director. Well known Toronto based labour lawyer Sheila Block has been appointed to the position. [Read More!]

The Pittsburgh Penguins are on the verge of being sold and Waterloo-based entrepreneur and co-CEO of Research in Motion (RIM) Jim Balsillie is the rumoured buyer. The Penguins have had an up and down history with great success in the early 1990s. Some of the greatest hockey players have passed through the city (Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Paul Coffey, Bryan Trottier, Jaromir Jagr, etc) and they have some of the brightest young stars (Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin) in their future. [Read More!]

It all began about a week or so ago. Tie Domi held a big news conference to announce his retirement from professional hockey and a move behind the camera with the Canadian sports television station, TSN. But now Domi continues to find himself in the spotlight, airing out some dirty laundry with a public divorce. The plot thickened as the public received confirmation that Domi has been having an affair with Liberal party MPP (and former Conservative) Belinda Stronach. This info was revealed as Domi's wife, Leanne, included Belinda Stronach's name in the divorce papers. For a hockey goon who got little media attention, except for when he did something dumb (like the Scott Neidermayer or Philadelphia fan incidents), Domi has gotten more newspaper and talk radio play than he'd probably care for. He can't blame them though...cause he is part of the same media guild!

We lost a whole season of NHL hockey in 2004-05 because player salaries were getting out of whack and small market teams were suffering. But many (including myself) have long felt that you can't do much to prevent stupidity. If a team or a GM really wants to shoot themselves in the foot, they could do very easily it in the pre-salary cap era and as recent events show, they can still do it with with this new CBA. The most recent example comes to us from the New York Islanders (no surprise here, eh). GM Garth Snow and owner Charles Wang have signed goalie Rick DiPietro to an unprecedented 15 year guaranteed contract that is worth $67.5 million ($4.5 million per year). [Read More!]

Mike Keenan has resigned as General Manager of the Flordia Panthers, a position he held since May 2004. Reports out of Florida indicate that Keenan approached owner Alan Cohen last week to let him know that he was going to move on. This decision comes as somewhat of a surprise as Mike was on his way to putting a very distinctive stamp on this team. His big trade this off-season was with the Vancouver Canucks that sent goalie Robert Luongo and prospect Lukas Krajicek for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen and goalie Alex Auld. Keenan also signed free-agents Ed Belfour and Ruslan Salei to sure up the backend. [Read More!]

Former NHL tough guy Andrei Nazarov said in an interview with a Russian newpaper that drug use is rampant in the NHL, espcecially within the enforcers. He also railed on the league for having a very ineffective drug testing policy. These comments come after WAPDA chief Dick Pound made waves with his allegations last year and the near miraculous record the NHL put forth in its first year with drug testing - zero positive tests. The league was quick to rebuke Nazarov's comments and came back with its usual "everything's under control here" attitude. [Read More!]