Off Season NHL News Bites

Stamkos Signs WIth Lightning

The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed center Steven Stamkos to a three-year, entry-level contract.

The team was not releasing details of the contract, however the maximum annual salary the first-year centre can earn as a rookie is US$875,000 while the most he can make in performance bonuses is $2 million per year.

“It is obvious to all of our staff in a brief period of time that Steven is a very special young man with great potential,” Brian Lawton, Tampa Bay’s vice-president of hockey operations, said in a statement. “His work ethic and eagerness to learn have been very impressive.”

Another man impressed with the young forward’s potential is new head coach Barry Melrose, who is counting on him to be the “cornerstone” of the organization.

Jackets Sign LeClaire

Goaltender Pascal Leclaire re-signed Wednesday with the Columbus Blue Jackets for three years and $11.4 million US.

Leclaire posted a 24-17-6 record with a 2.25 goals-against average and .919 save percentage in 54 games with the Blue Jackets.

“He is an important part of our team and we think he will continue to improve and play a significant role in helping us reach our goals,” Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson said in a statement.

Leclaire, 25, has played 113 games over four seasons with Columbus, the only franchise in the NHL yet to make the playoffs, and boasts a career GAA of 2.71.

Flippula Winging It Until 2013

The Detroit Red Wings reached a contract agreement with restricted free agent Valtteri Filppula on Wednesday that runs through the 2012-13 season.

The two-way forward scored 19 goals and added 17 assists in 78 games with a plus-16 rating the past season. He was a key contributor in the team’s drive to the Stanley Cup, scoring five goals and six assists in 22 playoff games, with a plus-7 rating.

Jailed For Attacking Linesman

A former junior hockey player who came out of the stands to attack a linesman nearly two years ago was given 30 days in the penalty box Tuesday by a Calgary judge.

O’Byrne Escapes Nightclub Incident

Charges levied against a Montreal Canadiens defenceman following an incident at a Tampa Bay nightclub last February have been dropped.

O’Byrne and teammate Tom Kostopoulos were arrested outside Whiskey Park, a Tampa nightclub, in the early morning hours of Feb. 11. O’Byrne was accused of stealing a woman’s purse and Kostopoulos was accused of resisting arrest.

The incident occurred following the Canadiens’ annual rookie dinner, where new recruits pick up the tab for an expensive meal at a restaurant.

Blues Charging Fans More For Certain Games

Brad From St. Louis Game Time Presents:

Monday the Blues issued a brief news release announcing that single game tickets go on sale Aug. 16. Ok, fine. Until you get to the third paragraph.

In addition, the Blues are introducing Premium Pricing for 10 key match-ups

Pardon me? What the heck? The Blues are going to charge more for select games? Didn’t they already raise ticket prices for this season? Oh yeah, they did raise ticket prices an average of 3.8 percent. And remember what owner Dave Checketts said at the time? We do.

I think it’s a fair price increase. I don’t think it’s aggressive. And I hope by now that we have done our part in terms of showing fans that we’re serious about providing a better experience and putting a winning club on the ice.

Really? Anything change from February until now? The list of the Blues’ most notable off season moves begins with trading away the popular/gritty Jamal Mayers and ends with trading for a backup goaltender in Chris Mason with a bunch of nothing in between. The only other moves have been for depth at Peoria.

Free Agency Fumbles

In all fairness, few if any of the players available in free agency would make the Blues much better or would even consider signing with the Blues at this point. But that’s not the point. When they announced higher prices for this season, they didn’t say anything about charging $10 OR $20 more for select games. And how stupid is making the premium that different based upon the seat location? And by adding to the cost for some seats for some games, how much is the average ticket increasae for the premium games?

Here are the premium games (don’t worry, none of the thrilling Columbus games will cost you more):

• Blackhawks on Oct. 18, Jan. 17, and Feb. 13
• Red Wings March 3 and 14
• Holiday match-up against the Oilers Nov. 29
• Holiday match-up against the Sharks Dec. 27

They also chose three Eastern Conference games (the press release lists it as the Atlantic Conference — thanks for not knowing the league) to charge more for: the Penguins on Nov. 1, the Flyers on Jan. 31 and the Rangers on Feb. 16.

The Blues last season did have 20 sellouts in 41 home games with attendance increasing by 43 percent compared to 2006-07. So we guess the team is trying to build on that uptick in attendance and justify charging more for those high profile games. But this team isn’t noticeably better than it was the last day of the season.

Why Charge A Premium?

Obviously these premium games are designed to push fans toward buying season tickets, but for a lot of fans that’s either not affordable (even with the cheap Scottrade seats) or practical (41 games is a huge time committment). This from Peter McLaughlin, CEO of St. Louis Blues Enterprises:

As we announce Single Game pricing, including our new 10-Game Premium Pricing, we want to remind our fans that their best value, as always, is to purchase Season Tickets.

Thanks for all the proper nouns, Peter. And John Davidson is obviously smart enough to not connect his name to increasing the price of tickets, especially for a team that is already picked to finish last in the Central Division.

What a way to creat a buzz about the team, Blues. If beer prices are any higher come opening night (if that’s even possible), we may have to teepee the Drinkscotch Center. Allegedly.

What are your thoughts on charging a “premium for certain games?

Svatos Back With Avalanche

Shane Giroux of Avs Talk Submits:

Adrian Dater has been keeping us up-to-date on late breaking news this offseason – what little there has been – via his blog as well as Twitter and has just reported that Marek Svatos has re-signed with the Avalanche. The deal is $4.1M over 2 years which strikes me as quite reasonable. On a cost per goal basis, he will likely be the second-best deal for the Avalanche this coming season.

We all pick on Svatos for his injury issues – and for good reason – but I love watching him play. Not only does he have a nose for the net but he’s got a chip on his shoulder about his size. If he ever gets bowled over by someone, keep an eye on him. Odds are that he’s going to get up, shake himself off and lay a bone-crushing hit on the next opposing player he can catch. He may be small but that gives him a low center of gravity and he knows how to use it.

Injury Plagued History

Unfortunately for Svatos, he has been a bit fragile in his career. His career high for games played was in ‘06/07 when he played 66 games while struggling with groin injuries. Prior to that he had surgery on his left shoulder. Last season he tore his ACL. You start adding that up and you can see why he wouldn’t ask for – nor would the team give him – a long-term, big money contract. For all his upside, he comes with a lot of risk.

Agree To Disagree

When Svatos filed for arbitration, it didn’t sound like the two sides were at a huge crossroads in negotiations. Svatos was even quoted in a Slovakian paper (to which I can’t find the link now) as saying he was looking for around $2M so it’s not shocking that he re-signed before his arbitration hearing. And given that the contract is only a $2M cap hit, any “Sign and trade!” folks will likely fall silent. Unfortunately anonymous hockey bloggers who thought Svatos would get $4M will likely keep yapping.

One thing I found amusing in TSN’s news article -aside from the typo in the headline – was a quote from Francois Giguere:
“Marek Svatos has been a key ingredient to our success the last few years,” said Avalanche Executive Vice President and General Manager Francois Giguere in a statement.

Was that the success of missing the playoffs two seasons ago or the sweep by the Wings last season? Ah, now I’m just being a bitter old (young) man.

Action on The Island

Bubba From Canes Country Submits

Those of you who have followed the Canes Country blog for awhile, know that I have been somewhat infatuated with the concept behind the New York Islanders Blog Box since it’s inception. I still keep tabs on it from time to time.

After the season ending resignation of it’s creator, ex-Director of Media Relations, Chris Botta, there was a question in my mind whether or not the “Box” would be open again next season.

My question has been answered.

Blog Box

Apparently, the Blog Box was such a rousing success that not only will it be continued next season, it will be expanding. The Islanders recently put out a notification with the good news, which also requested that more folk apply for additional blogging opportunities.
It’s kind of funny, some of the current blogger’s have not updated their blogs in months, while others like B.D. Gallof and the 7th Woman, are very active and are usually a very good read. Good luck to the New Yorkers and keep up the good work!

While the team bloggers have been renewed for another season, Head Coach Ted Nolan was not so lucky. Apparently, he and Garth Snow had “philosophical differences” and Nolan was sent packing with a year still left on his contract.

So what’s going on in New York? Was Nolan quoting Plato while Snow preferred Socrates?

The word on the street seems to be that the GM wanted to stock the team with youth, while the coach preferred some more veteran presence. How about a mixture of both, boys?

Now the search is on for a new coach, with ex-Leafs and Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice in the mix. Perhaps Snow can find a coach who sees everything the exact same way that he does? Heaven forbid a coach and GM disagree about anything.

Canes Country has always liked Ted Nolan and we respect him as a coach. He seems to have a bit of an attitude, so it might be tough for him to land another gig right away. But we wish him the best.

Winter Classic Announced

In other brief news around the league, the NHL officially announced that the Winter Classic, Part Two will be held at Wrigley Field on January 1st. The game between the Red Wings and Blackhawks will be televised by NBC, just like the contest in Buffalo was last year.

If this was Bettman’s idea, it’s the best one that he’s come up with since he’s been commissioner. Now if the bigwigs can just keep it at one outdoor game per year, everyone should be happy.

But how long before they start calling it, the Gary Bettman Winter Classic?

Yikes…there is a happy thought to end the article with.

Draper’s Daughter De-Thrones Lord Stanley

According to the Detroit Free Press, Kris Draper has accomplished what no other person has in recorded history with the Stanley Cup.  No, we’re not talking about filling it with Tim Horton’s Tim-Bits, although that might be a good idea for Crosby’s next commercial.

Detroit forward Kris Draper revealed during the weekend that his diaperless baby, Kamryn, did a number on the Cup last month. A number two, to be exact.

“A week after we won it, I had my newborn daughter in there, and she pooped in the Cup,” Draper said. “That was something. We had a pretty good laugh.

“I still drank out of it that night, so no worries.”

I’m not too sure that he should have admitted that he drank from the cup later that night…but needless to say, that is one more sip from Lord Stanley’s Holy Grail than I will ever take!

Ron Hextall “Naked” Interview

The following video is a post-game interview with Ron Hextall after a disappointing Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Finals to the Edmonton Oilers.

Even though Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy as the best player in the playoffs, by his own admission it pales in comparison to winning the Stanley Cup.  Of course it does; did you really expect him to say anything different?

P.S. – I’m not sure who was running the camera during this interview, but I think he  gets viewers just a little too close to Hextall’s “5-Hole”…

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