What’s On Your Desktop?

For those hockey fans who spen a lot of time in from of a computer like I do, this may be the greatest thing since NHL Digest.com!

A company called Stardock, headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan, has created a customized assortment of NHL team themed desktops for your computer.

Here are the current system requirements needed to run one of these custom desktops on your computer:

• Windows XP/Vista (32 bit)
• 256MB RAM
• 100MB free drive space
• Internet Connection to download, install and activate

The custom NHL desktops are now priced at $19.95 USD and Stardock accepts major credit cards as well as PayPal.

You can look for your a desktop featuring your favorite team here.

Florida Panthers New Jersey

The Florida Panthers recently unveiled their new RBK Edge inspired jersey for the 2007-2008 season.

The jersey features the same logo, but has newer more modern vertical lines replacing the historic horizontal lines that were found on most jerseys in the NHL.

How does this jersey compare with the new Washington Capitals jersey, the Columbus Blue Jackets Jersey, or that of the Chicago Blackhawks?

If you want an authentic RBK Edge Jersey for next season, you can order your favorite team’s jersey at IceJerseys.com

Glove tap to Paul for the picture.

Dustin Penner Makes Bank!

Dustin Penner has been offered a contract worth a substantial $21.25 Million over 5 years by the Edmonton Oilers.

NHL Digest reported this past season that Penner was probably the best deal in the NHL with a salary of only $450,000.

NHL Digest also listed Penner as one of 5 players to watch next season and this offer sheet only extends that emphasis. While Penner proved his worth last season, he slightly faltered in the playoffs. Can he prove his worth at an average of $4.24 million per season, almost 10 times his current salary?

Ducks General Manager, Brian Burke, is irate at Kevin Lowe for making what he claims is “an absurdly high offer by a General Manager fighting for his job”. Burke was also disgusted at the “lack of class” shown by Lowe in making the offer. Burke mentions that he and Lowe used to speak quite a bit and that he was disgusted that he didn’t receive a phone call from Lowe informing him that he was making an offer on Penner, and learned of the offer sheet via a fax to the team office.

I must agree with Burke in the fact that offer sheets are part of the CBA and that if they are used correctly to identify a player and make an appropriate offer, they are a good thing. However, if the system is abused, the inflated salaries will eventually impact every team.

Offer sheets are a part of the CBA and I have no problem with that. If you can identify a player and pay him appropriately and make him an offer, that’s fine. At some point, the deals you make, the offers you extend, whether the team matches it or not, impacts all 30 teams, including your own.

It’s a five-year deal for a lot of money. I’ll let you guys evaluate the deal.

Burke has announced that he will have to confer with management and the ownership of the Ducks prior to announcing whether the team will match the offer sheet. The sum of money offered by the Oilers to Penner was , by all accounts, substantially higher than what was being negotiated with the Ducks.

Personally, I would be very surprised if the Ducks announced that they were going to match the offer. The Ducks have both Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf up for free agency next year and I would venture a guess that they would place their priority on securing those two players for the future of the franchise.

Bachelor Party Staal’d Out By Cops!

Hockey brothers Eric and Jordan Staal were among 14 men arrested at a Minnesota resort over the weekend after police responded to noise complaints about a bachelor party for Eric.

It was obviously a great party, because it is never a great party until somebody gets arrested…with 14 guys getting put in the slammer, this party must have been one for the ages!
Alberta billionaire Daryl Katz promised to spend whatever it takes to bring the Stanley Cup back to Edmonton if given the chance to buy the Oilers.

Ray Emery and the Ottawa Senators avoided salary arbitration Tuesday by agreeing to a three-year deal worth $9.5 million moments before the two sides began their hearing.

Christy from Behind The Jersey looks at season ticket waiting lists in the National Hockey League.

Joe Pelletier talks about gambling in athletics and lets us in on the NHL’s history of players involved in gaming.

A crazy summer has culminated in a huge windfall for London Knights forward Pat Kane. The 18-year-old Buffalo native, who was selected first overall in last month’s NHL draft, has signed a three-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks.

A Devil Of A Day!

The New Jersey Devils had a busy day on Tuesday as they signed 6 players to deals with the team.

The team re-signed forwards Cam Janssen, Grant Marshall and defenceman Olivier Magnan, while also securing free-agent defencemen Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Ian Moran and forward Noah Clarke.

Cam Janssen, the most noteworthy of the bunch, racked up 114 penalty minutes for the club last season.  He is likely best remembered as the player who was suspended for 3 games last March for his hit on Tomas Kaberle.

If you recall, Janssen took an absolute beating from Wade Belak during the next meeting of the Devils and Leafs following the hit on Kaberle.

Clarke was the only other of the players to play in the National Hockey League last season where he tallied 2 goals in just 13 games with the Los Angeles Kings.

Bettman Kicked In The Balsillies

NHL Digest reported earlier about questions that seemed alarming regarding Jim Balsillie’s failed attempt to buy the Nashville Predators.

Reports are surfacing regarding the influence that Gary Bettman had in guiding the negotiations that the group led by Jim Balsillie.

ESPN is reporting that Bettman forced the ending of negotiations with Balsillie for the sale of the Nashville Predators:

“We were advised by Mr. Leipold that the commissioner had found out about the existence of the negotiations and ordered him to immediately cease any further communications with us,” Balsillie’s legal representative, Richard Rodier, told ESPN.com this week.

It is also alleged that Bettman directed current Predators owner, Craig Leipold to focus on closing a deal with William “Boots” Del Biaggio III, the head of a group attempting to bring an NHL team to Kansas City.

Now, I am no rocket scientist, but I do know a thing or two about hockey and a little bit about business and this deal seems completely outrageous to me.

Why would Bettman want to move a struggling team to a Kansas City, where drawing a crowd and making a profit seems like a large hurdle given the demographic, rather than move the team to Hamilton where sell-out crowds and profits are almost certain?

Not only that, Balsillie has pockets as deep as would be required if additional funding were required to support the team in the short term.

I suppose that there is an argument about a proper venue for the team, which favors Kansas City in the short term.  However, the long term viability of the franchise is certainly better in Hamilton.

I must be missing something here, because this fan just doesn’t get it!

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