Hank

I think another part of these rulings is that both sides have to submit how much money they think they're worth and the arbitrator decides, based on what's submitted by both sides, where the total will fall.

First, great topic for what's turned out to be a long summer. (Imagine if the Wings got bounced in the 1st round? This would have felt like an eternity). 1. Wil Kronwall reach #1/#2 Dman status within his current contract (next 5 years)? Yes. 2. Will Grigorenko prove to be a capable top 6 forward this season? My heart wants to answer 'yes' but I think he'll be more of a 3rd line winger who will get looks on the top 2 lines. 3. Will Hudler score 20+ goals this season? Yes. (but all depends on how Babcock uses him) 4. Will Filppula have a 45pt season? Yes. 5. Will Lilja get in more than 5 fights? No. (but he'll still lose the 3 he gets into) 6. Will Rafalski have a career offensive year? Yes. 7. Who will be the alternate captains when Zetterberg gets the C? Datsyuk. Homer. 8. Does Cleary turn out to be a one hit wonder, or does he repeat with another 20+ goal showing? Yes. No more 20 goals for Cleary. Still love the guy though. 9. What one forward, that is an 08 UFA as of now, would you like to see the Wings get at the deadline? Marleau.

Look for a Senior "A" league. Not sure where you live but there should be around in some areas.

Played hockey since I was a kid. I currently play in a mens 21 and over beer league. It's a pretty good league. There's 6 teams and they redraft the teams each year. It helps keep guys honest. Who wants to be a dick to someone they've played with before or might play with next year? Anyway, there are some guys that've played NHL, AHL, semi-pro, major junior all the way down to houseleague heroes. It's a fun league and is very well run. I can't say that about any of the other beer leagues I've played in. Congrats on wanting to get into hockey. It's a blast.

I think Ballsille has been officially black-balled from the NHL. The only team I could see them approving a sale to him would be Phoenix. The NHL doesn't want any of their teams moving to Hamilton.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=215628&hubname= What a steal for the Kings. This guys is easily a $4-5M/year player. I'm still not sure why they didn't try to lock him up long term.

There's a mall off of Eurecha road that has a collectibles store in it with TONNES of photos of all the Detroit teams. I can't remember the name of the mall (I'm from Windsor) but I believe there was a Target nearby. Hopefully that can narrow the name of this mall down. From what I remember the prices were pretty high for framed photos but you could buy some out of the frame and they had quite a selection. There's a photo I've wanted for years but have never been able to find. It was of Stevie standing up on the bench and yelling. It was a wide shot so you could see a lot of the other players on the bench. I saw this photo in a hockey pool magazine but never online or in any store. I'd love to get this photo blown up, framed and set over my fireplace.

Well there you go. I still think the Leafs are morons for not doing everything in their power to get Bowman on board. If Scotty Bowman walks into my office and says "you're current GM is an idiot and you need a new coaching staff" I'm filling out pink slips for those guys before Bowman finishes talking. In the Denver Post there's a mention of what's going on in this saga and apparently there's just too many cheifs in the Tee-Pee to get anything done in that organization. But that'll never change. The Leafs don't need to win anything. They'd sell out every game if they went 0-82 for the next 100 years. It doesn't matter how bad or good the Leafs are or who runs them. There's no incentive to win if the fans come no matter what product you pinch out on the ice.

Toronto media is about as reliable as Eklund rumours. I wouldn't put stock in anything they say. But lets pretend that this could be true. I'd be extremely disappointed if Stevie left for the Leafs. This guy should be a Red Wing for life in any capacity. And I don't see him uprooting his family anytime soon. If anything, I could see Bowman leaving for Toronto and taking Jim Nill with him.

I know this isn't Yzerman-book related but if you're into reading biographies on hockey players here's a few I read that were excellent: Thunder and Lighting - Phil Esposito Grapes: A Vintage Age of Hockey - Don Cherry Jean Beliveau: My Life in Hockey The Hammer: Confessions of a Hockey Enforcer - Dave Shultz These were all excellent books filled with great anticodotes and humour. It was amazing to read that Shutlz was a self-professed 'chicken' when he was younger. He said, while growing up in Saskatchewan, he did whatever he could to avoid fights on and off the ice. And love him or hate him, Grapes' book is a very funny and easy read. Lots of great stories about his playing days and Bruins. One story I loved was about Terry O'Reilly (who Dave Shutlz used to have nightmares about). It was in the offseason and he was spending some time at the beach. Some surfer-dude asked him if he wanted to try surfing. Terry turned him down but the guy kept pestering him saying "You're a big guy, this should be no problem. What are you chicken?". So O'Reilly grabbed the board and went out there to try. He almost drowned. Grapes said it took every ounce of his strength to get back to shore after being flipped over and over again by the waves. And the fact that he wasn't a strong swimmer made the whole ordeal that much worse. When O'Reilly finally made it back to the shore he collapsed on the sand trying to recover his breath and energy. The surfer-dude walked over and said something like, "Geez. That was rough. You shouldn't have done that". O'Reilly, despite having almost no strength left in his body, managed to use his rage from this comment and beat the crap out of the guy.

Yeah, that was an excellent book as well. I'm still bummed that there isn't, and probably never will be, a biography on the man with his assistance. I can't get enough of sports biographies and it would be awesome to read one about my favourite athlete. I'm reading "The Rookie" right now. It's about Crosby and all that he experienced in his first season. It's a great read.

I'll save you some money, don't buy "Yzerman" by Doug Hunter. It's not that he's a bad writer or it's a bad book, it's just that Yzerman is so private that Hunter has a really hard time getting any information from those Yzerman's related to, played with or worked with. There are some good tidbits about Yzerman's life in there, but because of the lack of information the book ends up being more about how someone becomes a good leader. I'd highly recommend finding it at a local library first. I really enjoyed "The Captain" by the Free Press. It's a quick and easy read, has some great articles (especially from when he was young) and an excellent array of photos. I bought this one and it was worth the cash.

Fedorov to the Griffins - H5.

Hahaha. Actually, it's been confirmed, he is a Wings fan. Someone on his site asked him and even pointed him to this website.

I agree. He's no idiot but that team was built by Bryan Murray. Burke signed Neidermayer (which he really had nothing to do with because Scott wanted to play with his brother) and made that deal with Edmonton for Pronger. But now he's signed Schneider and Bert. And while those aren't bad players to pick up, Bert is making too much money and Schneider isn't that great defenisvely. He would have been better off saving his money and getting some solid dmen like Aaron Miller so he could get a legit scorer like Smyth even.

See, that's just it. For someone that claims to be so 'tapped in' there's no way you should have beaten him with 2 correct guesses. This man has NO sources. They're all fake and all his 'rumours' come from his anal plug or from his garbage man. He's even too stupid to even suggest how rediculous some of the deals he posts are. For instance; after the trade deadline and all the way until he was signed, he claimed that Ryan Smyth was absolutely going to sign with Calgary. But if you broke down Calgary's cap situation along with future RFA's you would see that there was no way the Flames could sign another $5M+ guy without seriously hurting them in the depth department. But not Ek. His rubiks cube told him that Smyth was a lock. But it wasn't even close. He even went on XM Radio and said "The NHL playoffs will start on X date. It's guarenteed. This info is coming from the top. Beleive me." And yet when the schedule came out, you guessed it, he was wrong. He has NO sources at all. And from that latest article anyone that opposes him he tries to give them a job so as to eliminate another non-believer. The fact is, all of his lying aside, his website could be good for some of the articles that are posted there by legitimate writers, or even for use of the message boards. But most of the writers there are idiots too (with a lot of them being bloggers just like Eklund or Peklund with little to no information of what's actually going on) and the message board is filled with empty heads that really believe a McCabe for Hejduk deal is a good deal for both sides (Oy-Vay!). So in conclusion, Eklund sucks.

Yes, comparing him to a pedophile is a huge stretch but my point is that not everyone that can make a buck exploiting peoples passions deserves respect or even credit. I loathe the man because he's getting publicity and invading genuine, respectable mediums like newspaper, radio and TV with his lying, frauding, vomit he calls 'rumours and sources'. It looks like people that are forced to work with this idiot are finally getting somewhere in outing him and revealing him to be the lying snitch that he is. "I wrote a very successful novel that gave me enough money that I don't have to work", "I was an intern for the Quebec Nordiques before working under Zeigler and Bettman". Yeah right. Both of those have been found to be lies. And now this douchebag is trying to lie his way onto the PHWA. Can you imagine having to deal with this skidmark when reading USAToday or NHL.com? I'd sooner start watching the WNBA.

Not mine. Lying and frauding people out of their money by using their hopes against them isn't something I hand resect to. There's pedophiles out there that make lots of money too running 'legit' businesses that cater to their sick fantasies. I guess anyone that makes a buck deserves respect?

LOL! "Panda Watch! The mood is tense; I have been on some serious, serious reports but nothing quite like this. I, uh... Ching... King is inside right now. I tried to get an interview with him, but they said no, you can't do that he's a live bear, he will literally rip your face off.[to the Panda] Hey, you're making me look stupid. Get out here, Panda Jerk! " P.S. The news about Burke not matching Lowe's offer for Penner made me laugh because Eklund was going on and on about his 'sources' all told him Burke would match the offer. But I guess that's what happens when your source is a "Leapfrog electronic story book". Eklund: Source, what trades will happen today? Leapfrog book: Help Dora find the Valcano. Eklund: Dammit he's right! Sakic will be traded for Wade Belak! <hugs LeapFrog book>.

You guys have to check out the comments for the blog entry for July 14th. I'm not sure if it's just someone impersonating Eklund but I can see it being him. He sounds pretty bitter. It's good comedy. EDIT: SORRY, I just saw that someone else posted this info. Sorry.

At Peklunds site he says that Eklund came on there and 'lost' it. I searched the archives but I couldn't find it. Has anyone seen this?

Great article! And it's funny that Eklund himself has threatened Peklund. Talk about hypocritical! Anyway, I think the article hit it on the head. "Eklund" was a collection of people that knew nothing about hockey but might have known a janitor for the Oilers or the mail-boy for the Coyotes. "Eklunds" popularity soared and eventually the 'head puppet' Dwayne took the reigns and now runs with it. So basically, through lies and a pile of fraud, he WAS able to gain some access to real sources (not good ones though) and has no firmly planted himself inside the NHL. He was on XM yesterday and I made myself into a hypocrite by listening to him (train crash mentality I guess). Anyway, he spewed some of his nonesense to which the staff shot down and presented a more realisitc scenario. In each case, Dwayne (sorry, Eklund) sounded as if he was way over his head. At one point, when asked a detailed question, he had no answer so he began stumbling and making up non-sensical statements. I couldn't help but think of that scene in Anchorman when Brick starts yelling "Loud Noises!!!" because he's unaware of what's going on. That's Eklund.

Giguere's garbage. Look at his numbers from the '05 playoffs. Under .900 in save% and close to 3.00 in GAA. The guy is nothing but pads and defense in front of him. If the NHL ever grew a pair and forced them to wear reasonablly sized pads or expanded the size of the net, Giguere would be finished. He's a horrible fraud that gets to sleep on a pile of money because his gutless union allows him to take advantage of a horribly unfair standard enforced on the NHL. He's the ONLY goalie in the NHL where if you took away his oversized pads he'd be in the ECHL as a backup. Every other goalie's stats would suffer but almost all of them would still be starters because they're all athletic enough to make big saves when you didn't think it was possible. Remember Franzen's goal in game 4. Giguere was playing the shooter who was almost to the corner. By the time he saw that the pass made it's way out to Franzen he just stood there like a monkey on a stick. Most other goalies would have tried to dive back but Giguere can barely see anything under that mountain of equipment. I really can't tell you enough how much I hate this guy (as far as being a goalie). He's been a main contributor to destroying the NHL from what it was. And as long as those *#*&-ers in the PA continue to protect stupid-assed, no-talent goalies like Giggy the game will continue to suffer.

Well stated. The issue is also that if Penner, a 45-point guy, gets $4M+ then Perry will want at least that much and Getzlaf would then ask for over $6M (quite possibly $7M). Not only that, but every GM in the league would know that Burke is up against a wall come July 1st next season when Getzlaf and Perry are RFA's. You better believe another rogue GM is going to offer Getzlaf a HUGE amount of money that Burke will have trouble matching. And if you're Getzlaf's agent I would strongly advise my client to not accept any extention deal during the season. That agent will know full well the circumstances and will be execpting a giant offer sheet for his client. It's for that reason that I think Burke should keep Byrz around. If he's going to be tight on salary his best bet would be to deal Giguere and resign Byrz to a long term, more affordable deal.

It's a bad combination of both. I truly believe that if you swapped Thornton for Datsyuk things would be different. I don't think it's a prejudiced thing agianst European players but it's natural for people to associate easier with athletes that have the same background or common name. Sure, Thornton is Canadian but he's a North American and he has a name that's easy on the tongue. I'm the same way. I love our European players but I'd be lying if I said I don't miss having a Canadian (or American) superstar leading our team the way Stevie did for so many years. That's why I'm really hoping that Cory Emmerton can develop into a solid NHLer. P.S. Illitch really needs to get his head out of his ass. The prices are atrocious and it would be nice to get a few more blue-collar fans in the building. This is very true. But someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that there's no income tax in Boston. That would put a lot more money into everyone's pocket if that were the case across the US.