Kukla's Korner

Looking At The NHL

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

01/10/06 at 01:14 PM ET | Comments (0)

Kevin Allen of USA TODAY gives his view of the NHL season at the halfway point:

Most desirable players two months before the trade deadline: 1, St. Louis center Doug Weight (would have to waive no-trade clause). 2, Washington goalie Olaf Kolzig (GM George McPhee says he isn't trading him). 3, Buffalo goalie Martin Biron (teams need goalies, and Buffalo has a surplus). 4, Minnesota goalie Dwayne Roloson (will be a free agent). 5, Everyone on the New Jersey Devils.

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Steve Thomas Still Wants A Chance

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

01/10/06 at 12:43 PM ET | Comments (0)

from the Toronto Sun,

"People can say I'm a dreamer all they want, but that's all I care about. My wife says 'Go for it.' She's totally supportive. My kids are supportive. My son said 'Dad, if you've got a chance, go, I want you to play.' "I don't want to seem like one of those of old guys just trying to hold on. I don't feel that way. I still have a passion for it like you wouldn't believe. This is what I love to do."

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Devils Trying To Clear Up Arena Situation

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

01/10/06 at 12:36 PM ET | Comments (0)

from the Star-Ledger,

Newark officials and Devils executives sat down yesterday to temper growing acrimony that has put the construction of a downtown hockey arena in jeopardy. During a four-hour meeting supervised by Prudential chief executive Arthur Ryan and Seton Hall Law School Dean Patrick Hobbs, the team's owners and city representatives tried to nail down a deal to provide enough money to complete the project -- expected to be more than $310 million -- without leaving taxpayers on the hook.

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Canucks Don’t Want Changes

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

01/10/06 at 12:30 PM ET | Comments (0)

from the Globe and Mail,

The Canucks should be vastly better than they are and, according to Morrison, their crafty centre, they're not exactly sure why that's failed to happen. What is certain is that the strain of losing will eventually take its toll on a lineup that hasn't produced as intended. "If we don't show improvement there's a definite possibility something could happen," Morrison agreed yesterday at GM Place. "Guys don't want anything to happen because the bulk of us have been together now for four years and we feel we have some unfinished business. "We want to be the guys who go out and prove we can do it."

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Devils Getting Comfortable

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

01/10/06 at 12:26 PM ET | Comments (0)

from the NY Post (reg. req.),

The speculation continues regarding who will take over from interim coach Lou (6-5) Lamoriello — or when. Skeptics doubt that Brent Sutter would leave the junior team he part-owns, but he's surely the leading candidate, and the Devils might not be the only possible suitor. Rick Dudley remains the other prime possibility, while Dave Lewis and Paul Maurice seem to have dropped from contention. Instead, Lamoriello might just ride this streak until he loses, letting this era of good feeling grow. "They should feel good right now about themselves," Lamoriello said. "But they can't feel too good because of the position we find ourselves in. "They deserve tremendous credit because of the way they handled extenuating circumstances the past month."

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The Dark Year

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

01/10/06 at 12:21 PM ET | Comments (0)

from Al Strachan of the Toronto Sun,

At the recent NHL governors meeting in Phoenix, Bettman speculated the salary cap will rise by at least 8% next year. It will be somewhere in the neighbourhood of $45 million. That means that next year, the average salary will be approximately $1.7 million. In other words, Bettman and his friends shut down an entire league for a year and inflicted untold damage to its future so they could spend roughly an average of $9.2 million more per team that would have been the case had they taken the players' offer. Now the game is back in its more exciting form, and in Canada, where fans always were going to give it a second chance, it's more popular than ever. But in the United States, where Bettman killed the market, the fans are not coming back.

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Hunting Buffalo

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

01/10/06 at 12:07 PM ET | Comments (0)

from the Buffalo News,

"We've talked about how good we're going to have to play because teams are gunning for us," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "It's a speech we've had and a speech we'll continue to have." "We know teams are going to adjust," Ruff said. "Some teams are going to play a real tough defensive game where maybe the first 10, 15 minutes of the game teams aren't even going to try to score and just not turn over the puck or give us chances. "Teams are looking for ways to disrupt our speed and disrupt the things we've got going good. We have to be even better."

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Raphael In Action

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

01/10/06 at 12:01 PM ET | Comments (0)

Raphael needs to practice more. He'll never beat a goalie with those moves (will open wmp video). In case you missed the news, a guy jumped on the ice of a Canadiens practice and tried to beat Theodore.

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Stop The Net Crashing

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

01/10/06 at 11:34 AM ET | Comments (0)

from the Calgary Sun,

Add Miikka Kiprusoff to the list of goaltenders fed up with crease crashers. The Calgary Flames netminder has been in plenty of collisions over the past few weeks. He believes the league must crack down on the goaltender interference with the same fervour it has gone after obstruction this season. "They should call it more," Kiprusoff said yesterday. "It's been like that the whole year but they should be calling it more."

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Talking Chelios

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

01/10/06 at 11:06 AM ET | Comments (0)

I haven't read or heard anything about Chris Chelios being named captain of Team USA. As a matter of fact, I saw an interview with Mike Modano a few days ago and the interviewer stated Modano probably would be the captain of Team USA; Mike reponded with a "We'll see". from the Detroit News,

Also last month, not really expecting to even be selected, Chelios instead wasn't just named to the U.S. Olympic team, but was chosen as the team's captain. If Chelios stays healthy and is on the ice for the February Olympics, he would be, along with St. Louis' Keith Tkachuk, the first four-time U.S. Olympians in hockey. "If you would've said 10 years ago that I'd be playing at this level, I would've doubted it very much," Chelios said.

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