Kukla's Korner

Morning Line

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

06/17/13 at 11:27 AM ET | Comments (1)

"... honestly, what has Shanahan done to be considered for such a pivotal role? He’s never scouted, never run a hockey team, never made a trade and never juggled a roster or a salary cap. He has worked on player safety for the NHL, issued suspensions and fines and he has initiated talks and ways to improve the game. Kudos to him for that, but converting that into a director of hockey ops gig is a major leap, one the Flames are in no position to make.

This is a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs in four years, an organization now in a rebuilding mode with three picks in the first round of this month’s NHL entry draft. This isn’t the time to hand the keys over to a novice and say, “Go take it for a test drive. See what you think.”

-Allan Maki of the Globe and Mail.  More from Maki on this topic and other NHL notes...

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  Tags: brendan+shanahan

Notes Before Game 3

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

06/17/13 at 11:08 AM ET | Comments (0)

Inofrmation provided by the NHL PR folks...

GAME 3 NOTES
* The Bruins are 3-0 in Game 3s this postseason. The Blackhawks are 0-3.
 
* Home teams have won the last nine Game 3s in the Stanley Cup Final. The last road team to win a Game 3 in the Final was the 2002 Red Wings over the Hurricanes (3-2 in 3OT).
 
* The referees for tonight’s game are Chris Rooney (#5) and Brad Watson (#23). The linesmen are Shane Heyer (#55) and Brian Murphy (#93).

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SCF Winner - It May Come Down To Survival Skills

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

06/17/13 at 10:41 AM ET | Comments (0)

from Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times,

Neither team wants you to feel sorry for it. In fact, both teams would prefer not to discuss it. Getting an NHL player to talk about his physical state is like getting a rogue state to talk about labor camps. Part of the code is to not complain about aches and pains, especially this time of year, when the rallying cry is to play, no matter what. Because, you know, it’s the Cup.

Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask said something Sunday that I hadn’t really spent much time considering. A reporter asked him what the strain of a three-overtime game is like for goaltenders compared with skaters.

“You’re standing for five hours,’’ he said. “You’re obviously not making saves all the time, but you’re still standing and being focused. It’s a lot of mental stress, and your legs get tired at some point, too, when you’re standing up for hours.’’

You sort of forgot that simple fact, didn’t you? Goalies don’t get to sit down, except between periods. I tried to think of the last time I stood for hours. Besides at the airport security line. Waitresses are on their feet a lot. But imagine doing that while wearing humongous pads that make you look like a Michelin Man who has let himself go.

The skaters get to sit down. On the other hand, they also can be knocked down, unlike goalies. After the Hawks’ first-period domination in Game 2, the Bruins put some big hits on them, and it made a difference. Pain tends to speed up the tiring process, as any boxer will tell you. The Bruins believe their forecheck started to wear down the Hawks.

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Report- New Jersey Devils Still In A Financial Mess

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

06/17/13 at 10:10 AM ET | Comments (5)

from Josh Kosman of the NY Post,

The New Jersey Devils are again skating on very thin financial ice, The Post has learned.

The team’s cash-strapped owner, less than six months after restructuring its debt, has missed an interest payment and now risks defaulting on its new loan, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said.

The latest financial blow-up at Devils Arena Entertainment — a missed interest payment in April of nearly $3 million — has surprised those close to the once-proud NHL franchise.

“How can you do a restructuring Dec. 31 and default in April?” the source said. “It’s astounding.”

continued

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Red Wings overnight report: on raising summer prospect camp $, Weiss and Brunner auf Deutsch

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

06/17/13 at 04:24 AM ET | Comments (11)

This entry is going to be a little more rambly than usual, so please bear with me:

First and foremost, Pavel Datsyuk is facing off against St. Louis Blues goaltender Jake Allen in TSN's Play of the Year semifinal, and he is trailing by a SIGNIFICANT margin. Voting ends at Midnight EDT on Tuesday (i.e. 11:59 PM on Monday night).

There is some good news on Datsyuk's goal vs. Jonathan Quick battling Jake Allen stopping a Flames shot with a turnaround save: James Duthie says that Datsyuk's goal through all the Nashville Predators' players will be in the other semifinal.

Here's the goal vs. Quick...

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General interest entry: there is no ‘off-season’ this year, and that hurts the Cup Finalists (good)

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

06/16/13 at 10:43 PM ET | Comments (5)

This is a general interest-type story/topic, but I felt that my Wings-centric perspective merited posting it here. Feel free to read or ignore as you wish:

If any consolation could be taken from the Red Wings' second-round loss to the Chicago Blackhawks--and it was somewhat heartening to know that Niklas Kronwall stated that the Wings' collapse still stings when he attended the MIS 400 on Sunday--it's the fact that the Wings' outgoing division rival and their new division rival, the Boston Bruins, can't wrap up their Stanley Cup Final series until at least June 21st, by which time even stragglers like Kronwall and Pavel Datsyuk will have headed back to their off-season homes.

The "off-season" term is something of a misnomer for the rest of the NHL.

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Red Wings lend Red Bird III to Griffins

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

06/16/13 at 09:05 PM ET | Comments (7)

Tomorrow, the Grand Rapids Griffins will head to Syracuse, New York to begin to prepare for a hopefully Calder Cup-clinching Game 6 of their AHL Final series against the Syracuse Crunch (Game 6 will take place on Tuesday and an if-necessary Game 7 would take place on Thursday, with both games held at the Onecenter War Memorial Arena).

As the Griffins attempt to rebound from losses in Games 4 and 5, they won't have to repeat their 12-plus-hour bus ride around Lake Erie's southern shore and into Upstate New York in a pair of sleeper buses (and it should be noted that the Crunch spent Saturday night and Sunday morning busing back to Syracuse).

According to the Grand Rapids Press's Peter J. Wallner, the Griffins will traverse the 480-or-so miles between "GR" and Syracuse in a little over an hour thanks to an assist from the Red Wings:

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Game Two

Blog: The Puck Stops Here By PuckStopsHere

06/16/13 at 08:23 PM ET | Comments (0)

I didn't comment on game two of the Stanley Cup finals yesterday because of the NHL award announcements.  It is a case of poor marketing that both the awards and a game in the Stanley Cup finals are reduced in importance by being run at essentially the same time.

Game two was another overtime game.  Boston won 2-1.  Although this game was not a three overtime game like game one, I think it\s clear that stamina will play a big issue in these finals.  The ice time of leading players was a lot more balanced than in game one with Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg, Duncan Keith and Niklas Hjalmarsson all over thirty minutes.  That is two players per team.  This is unlike game one where the Bruins had four of the top players by ice time.  I still believe that Boston has the edge if it's a stamina issue because of the easier travel they had in the East Conference, but it looked in game one like they might squander it.

Chicago could easily have won the game and some argue should have.  They put the puck in the net twice in the first period but Marian Hossa's was disallowed because the referee intended to blow his whistle before it was scored.  That is a problematic rule that the NHL needs to address.  If the puck is in and the whistle hasn't been blown yet, it should be a goal.

Tuukka Rask had a strong game.  While I still support David Krejci as Conn Smythe winner, Rask is making his case.  Should Chicago win the cup it is hard to argue that they have a more valuable player in the playoffs than either of those two.  At this point, Boston players have been the most valuable players in the playoffs, but I imagine that a Chicago cup win would mean a Chicago Conn Smythe winner despite that.

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The Exhausting Playoff Schedule

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

06/16/13 at 08:03 PM ET | Comments (1)

from Jack Todd at the Montreal Gazette,

Even without a lockout, last year’s six-game final ended on June 11. Go back to 1956, when the Canadiens beat the Red Wings in five games, the final game was played at the Forum on April 10. They had endured a grand total of 10 playoff games to win the Cup after a 70-game season.

The effect, especially with the number of lengthy overtimes in today’s game, accounts for the way Chara and Toews and every other player who is still in this looks at this point. It’s almost a crime that either team has to lose (although local Boston-haters won’t see it that way) after giving so much to get this far.

There will be consequences. One of the safer bets you can make is that neither Chicago nor Boston will be back in the final next spring. The way the league is today, Claude Julien’s Bruins have accomplished a remarkable feat simply by getting this far twice in three years.

The schedule is a dynasty-killer. The process is brutal. And the champion, when one team skates around the ice with that elusive Cup, will have survived something the champions in other sports can only imagine.

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Bettman Has Talked With Seattle Mayor

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

06/16/13 at 06:22 PM ET | Comments (4)

via KING5.com,

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has acknowledged recent discussions with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

In a statement, McGinn said about two weeks ago a representative of Chris Hansen introduced him to potential investors in an NHL team, who also met with a number of Seattle City Council members.  

And McGinn said last week he spoke with NHL Commissioner Bettman.  

"Our message to all parties has been the same:  We believe we can support an NHL team as a tenant at KeyArena, and as a potential tenant of a new arena, subject to all parties reaching agreement on terms," McGinn said.

McGinn went on to say "As recent news reports indicate, it appears the NHL is taking the new ownership proposal seriously. But we also know from experience that it may be some time before an NHL team is located in Seattle, as the home city for the Phoenix Coyotes is working to keep them. We will keep the public informed as we learn more about the possibility of the NHL in Seattle."

Friday reports surfaced stating the framework is in place for a lease agreement that would keep the Coyotes in Phoenix.

added 6:46pm, the story from KING5.com has had additional information added to it, so you may want to check it out.

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