Philadelphia Flyers Cannot Regret Trading Mike Richards and Jeff Carter: Fan's Reaction (Yahoo! Contributor Network)
(Thu, 24 May 2012 17:17:00 PDT)
The day of June 23, 2011 seemed like any other relatively normal early-summer day. It was sunny. It was warm. It was welcoming. It wasn't for Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, whom the Philadelphia Flyers dealt to the Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets respectively, and reshaped their entire franchise in one fell swoop. Now come the complaints from many Flyers fans who say the team made the wrong moves at the wrong times, as Richards and Carter find themselves four games away from doing something they couldn't do in Philadelphia: hoist a Stanley Cup.

Dodger Stadium Winter Classic; 10 worst NHL fans; ‘While The Men Watch’ debate (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:54 PDT)
Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media. • Viggo Mortensen is a huge Montreal Canadiens fan. What better way to remind the world of this fact than by wrapping Kirsten Dunst in a Habs flag at Cannes, continuing an odd red carpet tradition for Aragorn. [ OMG Yahoo! , via Martin Leroux] • Marty Brodeur on the Mark Messier guarantee ghosts of 1994 haunting the New Jersey Devils in Game 6: "I know if you guys look at it, it looks the same, but it's different teams and a different way of playing the game and it's 18 years ago and that's a long time. I know I'm feeling a lot different. I'm feeling a lot more appreciative of what's going on." [ Fire & Ice ] • Bruce Driver on 1994: "I ended up going to New York and played with Mark, a tremendous leader and one of the best captains of all time. In 1994 against us, Mark did what he did, backed it up and scored three goals. But from our standpoint, the way we looked at it, we blew the game." [ NYT ] • Great piece on the friendship between Devils fans and Rangers fans, unnatural that it is. [ WNYC, via Michael Raphael] • No structural damage in Michal Rozsival's knee after that Dustin Brown hit. [ Sportsnet ] • Mirtle with poll on fighting that finds hardcore fans love it, non-fans loathe it. [Globe & Mail, and see graphic ] • Earl Sleek sees a lot of the 2003 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the 2012 Los Angeles Kings. Say, are those the Devils on the other side of the bracket? [ Battle of Cali ] • Los Angeles Dodgers President Stan Kasten wants to pursue a Winter Classic at Dodger Stadium. Read this and other stories in our new book "[Expletive] No One Would Be Saying If The Kings Weren't In The Cup Final." [ LA Times ] • Rich Hammond on the matter: "Gary Bettman has sneered (literally) at any suggestion that a Winter Classic could be played in a warm-weather environment. And while the Kings would love to host an outdoor game — Luc Robitaille is a particularly big proponent — AEG is also in the planning stages of a new downtown football stadium, which would probably be a more likely location in the event that Bettman stops sneering." [ LA Kings Insider ] • The 10 most annoying hockey fans. Including you, Guy Trying To Get on TV. [ THW ]

Blue Jackets re-sign Ryan Russell to 1-year deal (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 24 May 2012 11:40:36 PDT)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Columbus Blue Jackets have agreed to terms on a one-year, two-way NHL-American Hockey League contract with center Ryan Russell.

Blue Jackets sign RW Dorsett to 3-year deal (The Associated Press)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 13:55:32 PDT)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed right wing Derek Dorsett to a three-year contract after his finest NHL season.

In which Dustin Penner, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards edit their NHL narratives (Puck Daddy)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 09:00:40 PDT)
Why are the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final? Because the two drunk, locker room cancers helped set up a lazy fat-ass for the game-winning goal. At least that's how it would have been framed about eight months ago, when the narratives about Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Dustin Penner had defined them as players. The first two were banished from the Philadelphia Flyers, ostensibly for cap relief in the pursuit of a No. 1 goaltender (or, failing that, Ilya Bryzgalov) but mostly for a culture change in the dressing room. Penner, meanwhile, was (a) a waste of salary compared to production and (b) out of shape and (c) lazy to the point where his general manager suggested he might be better off playing for the El Cid Lounge in a men's softball league . In overtime of Game 5 in the Western Conference Final on Tuesday night, Richards won the faceoff near the defensive zone. Slava Voynov moved it up the boards, and Penner kept the puck alive in the attacking zone on the forecheck, sending a nifty backhand pass to a streaking Carter. He fired the puck off of Phoenix Coyotes goalie Mike Smith with Richards causing chaos on front of the net, helping to clear the slot for Penner to fire home the rebound over Smith's glove. With that, the Kings were headed to the Cup Final. This trio was maligned and decried for the better part of 2011-12. Yet it was this Dry Island of Misfit Toys that has the Kings four wins away from the first Stanley Cup.

What We Learned: Embarrassing LA sports media moments while covering Kings playoff run (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 06:58:22 PDT)
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. It's possibly the greatest bit of investigative journalism conducted since Woodward and Bernstein brought down Richard Nixon. This exemplary, collective effort of sleuth work is currently ongoing in Los Angeles, Calif., where an entire media market has unearthed the NHL's shocking secret: The city has a professional hockey team. Over the past week or so here at Puck Daddy, we've tried to document every startling discovery made by the intrepid Los Angeles media, like how to properly pronounce Anze Kopitar's name (it's hard because he's from Bosnia or something), the real name of this Drew Doughty character ( it's actually Brad !) and that hockey is in fact not played with a ball, but rather a little piece of rubber known as a "puck." That last one makes me pretty uncomfortable because of the word it rhymes with. ("Duck" — sorry, I just don't trust 'em; they have weird beaks). Just how villainous is this team, operating as a sort of sporting sleeper cell? They got all the way to the Western Conference Finals without one local noticing. That takes real criminal talent. And not only that, but, the NHL had the diabolical idea to hide it right under the Los Angelinos' noses, by having their home games played at the Staples Center. You know, where the Lakers play. Further, they named the team the Kings to intentionally confuse even the savviest media organization into thinking they are the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Astonishingly devious stuff. More twists and turns than the Da Vinci Code, which I've read three times just to make sure I understood it all. The best bit of this journalism on this pressing issue comes, of course, from the city's paper of record, the Los Angeles Times, winner of 44 Pulitzer Prizes since 1942, including three in 2012. It was for that towering beacon of journalistic excellence that columnist Chris Erskine successfully scruted several of the team and sport's most inscrutable mysteries . For instance, that thing I said earlier about the puck (again, yuck… oh and that's another gross word it rhymes with), I learned it from Erskine. Apparently they even freeze the thing. And that's a huge point of concern, because, "The hardest shots can reach 110 mph and tear flesh, crush bone, even kill you if you're not careful." Yikes, you guys! ( Coming Up: Rick Nash to Boston?; Tororella defends Prust; Ryan Suter faces his future; Evegni Malkin is having a pretty good season; why Lundqvist is King; why the Capitals can't win with Ovechkin; the Islanders know how to party; Canucks might keep Luongo; Ryan Miller on the CBA; Flames and Oilers coaching news; and are the Kings in trouble?)

Rangers rookie Chris Kreider making it look easy in impressive jump from NCAA title to NHL playoffs
(Fri, 18 May 2012 12:15:57 PDT)
Kreider went from big man at Boston College to a rushed-in rookie on a tight-knit Rangers team, but his power-forward skills and quietly confident ways have eased the transition.

Richards to stay as Columbus coach permanently (The Associated Press)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 13:23:33 PDT)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) When Todd Richards took over the woeful Columbus Blue Jackets in January after the firing of coach Scott Arniel, he was also interviewing for the job.

Blue Jackets name Richards as coach
(Mon, 14 May 2012 10:22:34 PDT)
Todd Richards, who took over as interim coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets midway into this past season, was named the National Hockey League team's coach on Monday by general manager Scott Howson.

Blue Jackets keep Richards with two-year contract (The SportsXchange)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 08:20:17 PDT)
The Columbus Blue Jackets are sticking with Todd Richards.

Blue Jackets name Todd Richards head coach, because what else were they going to do? (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 07:39:44 PDT)
Can a coaching move symbolize both stability and instability? The Columbus Blue Jackets removed the interim tag from coach Todd Richards on Monday, making the former Minnesota Wild bench boss the sixth head coach in franchise history. He took over from Scott Arniel on Jan. 9, and went 18-21-2 under Richards at a time when Rick Nash's future cast a foreboding shadow over nearly every game. [ Related: Dale Hunter steps down as Washington Capitals coach ] From a stability standpoint, it could be argued this was a smart decision. The Jackets showed resiliency late in the season, going 11-8 in March and April. They also showed a cohesion and competitive spirit that was missing at the start of the season, when James Wisniewski's suspension, Jeff Carter's apathy and Steve Mason resembling Sonny Corleone's car at the toll booth. So maybe that's something to build on.

What We Learned: What to make of this Washington Capitals season? (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 05:28:10 PDT)
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. There's been a lot of talk about what this season has meant for the Washington Capitals in the hours leading up to, and then immediately following, their final game of the remarkably eventful 2011-12 season. Wysh had a pretty good recap of the reasons the Capitals felt this little run to a pair of one-goal Game 7s against the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the Eastern Conference — both having been heavy favorites — vindicated the Dale Hunter system of everyone playing defense and collapsing to within three inches of the crease, and it's perfectly reasonable for people to feel that way. Certainly, no one expected these Capitals to do much damage in the postseason given that they frittered away a division they were picked to dominate. But the thing that everyone seems to forget is that, again, they were picked to dominate the Southeast, be a superpower in the East and the League at large. If the team tuned out Bruce Boudreau, and it appears they did, then wasn't his replacement, whoever it happened to be, more or less expected to get this far? Therefore, it becomes a question about what changed, and really, what didn't. Let's not forget, Boudreau came in originally and let guys like Alex Semin, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green have their run of the rink. Two-minute shifts? Sure! Goals aplenty? You bet. But in the end, what did it get them? Bounce-outs, and if you believe the talk, disappointing ones at that. So Boudreau changed the style, focusing more on defense, tethering Ovechkin and Co. to an extent, and … getting the same amount of success. Under each of the two clearly definable Boudreau regimes, the team lost in the conference quarter- and semi-finals. Which is of course notable because the latter is exactly how far Hunter got in his first chance at the tiller, despite doing everything in his power not to: like limiting Ovechkin to fewer than 20 minutes a night in every game in this series save for Saturday's Game 7 and the three-overtime Game 3, in which he played 35:14 — or, if you prefer 17:37 per three periods of play. This therefore vindicates Hunter only as far as it vindicated Boudreau; which, with a roster like this, and given the "choker" label being hung liberally on the former Caps coach this time last year. The philosophy changed radically under Hunter, and worked only as far as it did for Boudreau. Why? ( Coming Up: Team USA, international ass-kickers; getting stupid about Patrick Kane's drinking; Parise's future; Could Brad Stuart return to the Sharks?; Kevin Lowe says Ryan Murray is the top player in this year's draft class; Suter/Weber questions; Pancakes Penner's revenge; Bruins pumped for Dougie Hamilton; Alfredsson retirement watch; Leafs/Penguins trade?; Lundqvist is King; Alex Burrows runs and hugs a goalie; and Winnipeg Jets fans are burning Coyotes jerseys.)

Perfect Finland thrash hapless France in ice hockey
(Thu, 10 May 2012 13:51:36 PDT)
Defending champions and co-hosts of the world ice hockey championship Finland thrashed France 7-1 here on Thursday to move top of their group and maintain their perfect record.

What We Learned: Do mediocre divisions produce better Stanley Cup Playoff teams? (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 07 May 2012 07:24:34 PDT)
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. Occasionally you will hear that playing top teams several times a season, like those in the Atlantic and Central Divisions did this season, is a great way to prepare yourself for the postseason. They say it makes you ready to face the tougher competition in the playoffs, and by extension, those teams playing in softer divisions must logically be ill-prepared for similar rigors once the postseason rolls around. Both of the Atlantic and Central divisions were littered with 100-point teams, boasting eight of the league's 10 to eclipse the century mark between them (the other two being Boston and Vancouver), and it therefore stood to reason that they would likely send the lion's share of competitors to the conference finals. The better teams in the regular season tend to do about as well in the postseason, because they are, after all, very good teams. That makes sense. It turns out, though, that having a bunch of teams even in the neighborhood of 100 points in your division at the end of the regular season actually may be more of a detriment to a squad's postseason success. Since the lockout, only two teams have played in a Stanley Cup Final after playing in a division with three teams that managed 100 points. However, both those teams (Anaheim in 2007 and Chicago in 2010) won the Cup. If you expand that number out to even 97 points — which typically assures you a playoff berth but not home ice — only two more teams are added to the mix, the 2008 and 2009 Penguins. Conversely, teams coming out of divisions with two or fewer 97-point teams got into the Cup Finals with far greater frequency, doing so eight times since the lockout (including both Boston and Vancouver last year). But now we've seen the Los Angeles Kings advance to the Western Conference Final for the first time since 1993, and the Phoenix Coyotes stand on the precipice of doing the same for the first time since ever. Phoenix won the Pacific Division with 97 points, and is only a home ice team by virtue of its division title. Had seeding been based on points, they'd have slotted into the sixth spot. Los Angeles, meanwhile, finished with 95. The now-eliminated Sharks were sandwiched between them with 96. Three teams from one division in the playoffs, yes, but one terribly underwhelming division from which not much was expected. (Coming Up: America is a hockey superpower, thanks to Jack Johnson; Barry Trotz is wrong; Dustin Brown is awesome; Jordan Staal of Carolina; Thomas Vanek makes bank; Luongo to the Blackhawks?; Rick Dudley to the Habs; Jonathan Quick vs. Terry Sawchuck; trading Sidney Crosby; Todd McLellan-to-Calgary rumors; and the best and worst of the Capitals.)

Bad luck, losses stalk Blue Jackets franchise (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 03 May 2012 19:48:01 PDT)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Columbus Blue Jackets' logo is an Ohio flag wrapped around a silver star.

NHL roundup: Suspended Nashville players may not be back for next game (The SportsXchange)
(Thu, 03 May 2012 15:40:21 PDT)
Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz had said earlier this week that if his team won Game 3 against Phoenix he would keep the same lineup for Friday's Game 4, and Trotz on Thursday hinted he may stick to that plan, even though it would mean leaving forwards Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn out of the lineup again.

Blue Jackets' Johnson named captain of U.S. team at World Championships (The SportsXchange)
(Thu, 03 May 2012 13:40:09 PDT)
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson has been named captain for Team USA at the 2012 world championships, which begin Friday in Helsinki and Stockholm, USA Hockey announced Thursday.

Blue Jackets D Johnson named US captain for Worlds (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 03 May 2012 10:41:30 PDT)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson has been selected captain for Team USA at the 2012 World Championships, which begin Friday in Helsinki and Stockholm.

Stanley Cup Playoffs vs. the Rick Nash Derby (Puck Daddy)
(Tue, 01 May 2012 07:43:21 PDT)
It's been a surreal offseason for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Celebrating the 2013 NHL All-Star Game, while losing the draft lottery. Finally acknowledging that Steve Mason's been a liability, yet being reminded that good things happen for others when the Blue Jackets jettison talent — 17 former Jackets were in the playoffs, and 10 are still playing, including four critical players for the Phoenix Coyotes. It's only going to get more surreal when the time comes to trade Rick Nash, the team's captain and franchise player. Barring an unprecedented change of heart, he's played his last game with the Blue Jackets; the question now becomes where he plays his next game, and it may be an easier question to answer after the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Elliotte Friedman of CBC touched on this last week: Are the biggest first-round winners Columbus Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson and Rick Nash? Look at all the aggressive spenders who lost early. Will they chase Nash, the kind of power forward needed to counter the Western teams who won, i.e. strong, aggressive and smothering over multiple lines? As another GM said, "Even if Zach Parise hits the market, there's not a lot else out there." San Jose is one of the teams Nash would like to go to and the Sharks could use him. "They looked old," said one coach. Wilson doesn't believe in long-term deals, so there is flexibility. Only eight players, all from the core, are signed past next year and only two (Brent Burns, Martin Havlat) into 2015. The difference between Parise and Nash is that everyone is going to be in on Parise. The Carolina Hurricanes were the first ones to informally enter the derby , making the New Jersey Devils forward a top priority. Nash, meanwhile, still has a no-movement clause that will allow him to select the Jackets' dance partner. Have the playoffs added some clarity to that list?