toby91_ca

I read his Player's Tribune article earlier this summer and it was pretty scary stuff he was dealing with, so this isn't shocking at all, but you could really tell he had the burning desire to get back into the game and probably worked harder than most players to get there.

You can probably find musicians sporting the gear of several different sporting teams as a lot would wear gear from the local team in cities where they perform.

So, I'm impatient and normally can't wait through commercials, so I flip to other games. While watching the Oilers and Wings tonight, I flip to the Pens and Jackets game and for the 30 seconds I watched, caught the craziest call. Malkin is standing there, one hand on his stick, blade laying on the ice and a Jackets player hacks at him over the arm/stick and breaks his (the Jacket's) stick.....you guessed it, Malkin gets called for slashing. So, at first I think, crazy, funny....but then I get a bit angry. The ref clearly did not see what happened (I'm assuming, because if he did and made that call, I'd have a bigger problem). So, assuming he didn't see it, what the hell is he doing making a penalty call on a play that he didn't see? I can understand making mistakes when you see something from the wrong angle, etc., but there is no way he could have even seen any bit of it.

The game used to be pretty awesome...not so much anymore, but it's not because the game or format or efforts have changed, it's because I've changed, I've grown up. As a kid, I loved allstar weekend (still like some of the skills comp), but the game gave me the chance to see all the starts playing at once. It wasn't often that I got to see a lot of them (there was no Centre Ice back then). Anyway, I think people just need to accept it for what it is....kids love it, leave it for the kids. Trying to improve it is a waste of time. Trying to make it competitive where guys will try harder is not the right move.

Before last night, they had scored 6 goals in 8 games, so the positive for them is that scoring 3 goals in 1 game is a bit of an offensive explosion.

Not sure how you can say Ovechkin is the goal scoring god and no one is even close. You'd have to at least admit that Stamkos is close. If you take the past 6 seasons, both have missed sometime, but Ovechkin has scored 256 goals and Stamkos has scored 253 goals. Stamkos has a better gpg stat over that period....if that's not AT LEAST close, not sure what would be as some would argue that Stamkos is the better goal scorer using those stats. Perhaps it's because Ovechkin had 53 last year to Stamkos' 43 and the year before, Ovechkin had 51 to Stamkos' 25, but Stamkos only played 37 games, so that's a 55 goal pace over 82 games.

It's definitely the largest (public) donation in Canada by an athlete. Lindros would still have the highest one time donation of $5M though.

I'm not a fan of the publicity of this either, but I'm sure it's not PK's choice. Either way, hard not to think this is anything but good. Quick correction on original post though....not the largest donation in Cdn history though, not even close. Ken Thomson donated approx. $370M in 2002.

MLSE does not own the Argos....not that it would make much of a difference in the value of the MLSE either way.

Alfredsson, Weiss and Richards cannot be in any way considered top free agents. Green is an interesting one, but also probably not everyone's first choice.

I don't know what percentage of the MLSE deal would come from the Leafs...but it's the majority and don't forget that the value of MLSE was closer to $1.8B as it wasn't 100% of the company that sold. The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan sold its interest to Bell and Rogers (Larry T didn't sell his interest, he actually increased it slightly).

Leafs already sold for way more than that, but no US team has ever sold for that much and unlikely Pittsburgh would, the market just isn't big enough. The most recent Forbes valuations I saw had the Wings and Pens valued at close to the same amount ($570M and $565M respectively). The more valuable US teams were the Rangers (obviously), Chicago, LA, Boston and Philadelphia (this one surprised me)

Not only what the Oilers did after them, but what the Canadiens did before them.

Haven't seen his actual contract, but pretty safe bet that there is a morality clause...almost all professional athletes (or public figures) have them. The question would be how clear it is though.

I know you go in with a high number to start with, but a bit much if you ask me. I'm not sure why I can't cut and paste links or even quote others posts....but there is an article at tsn.ca

You're probably right, but still too high in my opinion. Club is starting at $5.1M, so you know it's going to come up quite a bit from there. Midpoint in two positions would be $6.55...Carey Price money (albeit signed at a different point in time).

Umm...no....didn't add the "her"...there are already 3 women (players) in the HHOF and a 4th to be added later this year. Edit: also, the NHL doesn't run the HHOF.

Players are making more money today than prior to the first lockout....there should be no debating that fact. Sure, there may have been the odd player (Lidstrom) making as much as the highest paid players today, but team payrolls from 2003-2004 to today have increased by about 50-55%

Kohl center is owned by the university. It is extremely rare for the name on a building to represent ownership. The name on a building normally indicates that person or company paying naming rights (normally requires annual payments over the duration of agreement....if payment stops, name comes down). When it comes to university buildings, the names on the buildings generally indicate that they have been named after a significant donor, which is the case here. Mr. Kohl donated $25 million.

Due to the bump, I read some of the earlier comments in this thread, specifically with the issues around Pronger being eligible for the HHOF even though he isn't "technically" retired. To be clear, retirement is not part of the eligibility criteria. The actual requirement is as follows: "Must not have played a game in a professional or international hockey game during any of the three (3) playing seasons prior to his or her election."

This isn't any worse than earlier reported is it? I thought the early reports were that he likely wouldn't be game ready until November. Doesn't sound like the timeline has really changed from that. However, it is a big guessing game this far out.

I travelled every week between Toronto and Chicago from January to April this year and I can tell you....the travel was very draining and that's only 2 flights per week and the flight is very short. That said, their travel would be slightly different than mine, so it wouldn't be as draining, but they do more of it. It has an impact, not sure how much though (so DET travelling 50% less than some of the Western teams is helpful, but my guess....without looking at the document, is that the teams DET is really competing against have similar travel schedules).

Let's not forget about the pre-Yzerman era in Detroit though.

I still can't figure out how he landed an 7 year deal at $7.5M per. That puts him pretty far up the salary chain (only a handful of guys make more than that). I do understand it's because he's a UFA, he signed his deal more recently than the others, etc., etc., but it's still far too much for him. He's a very good player, but now being paid like a superstar.

Interesting, Devane was drafted 68th in 2009 and was traded for Beck, who was drafted 70th, same year. I think it's a good deal for the Leafs, but really nothing significant. I'm not even sure if Devane will ever get any NHL playing time.