NHL: National Hockey League

By Paul Whitney’s troubles aside, Therrien was pleased with the results of a busy offseason for the Penguins, which saw fan favorites Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts leave for Tampa Bay, veteran forwards Matt Cooke and Miroslav Satan come to Pittsburgh and young stars Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andr...

By Greg Wyshynski Re-sign Evgeni Malkin, watch Marian Hossa skate over to the team that defeated you for the Stanley Cup. Retain Brooks Orpik, watch the Tampa Bay Lightning become Penguins South. Break ground on a state-of-the-art arena, listen as Mario Lemieux reveals he played fans like a bunch of sucker...

By Eric Kuzmiak During last week's groundbreaking ceremony for the Pittsburgh Penguins' new arena, Pens' owner, Mario Lemieux, was once again on center stage. This time, the grueling 18 month battle between Lemieux and Pennsylvania politicians topped the list of every media members' question sheet.

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney will be out three to five months following surgery to correct a chronic problem with his left foot. The team didn't describe the nature of the problem in a statement released Saturday. Whitney told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review his left foot i...

Related articles from fans.nhl.com, areyouwatchingthis.com, sports.yahoo.com.

So who is Jordan Staal really? He has now played two full seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Other current top 2 offensive draft picks for the Penguins have panned out already. Nobody can argue with the pure ability of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Love or hate, they are around for the lo...

By Eric Kuzmiak Seating capacity in the Penguins' new arena will be 18,087, approximately 1,100 more than Mellon Arena. Perhaps no one was as relieved to finally break ground as Penguins' owner, Mario Lemieux was this afternoon. Lemieux told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that leaving Pittsburgh was n...

By Greg Wyshynski The Pittsburgh Penguins broke ground on their new home today, with Mario Lemieux as the main attraction and "using shovels with shafts made from star Sidney Crosby's sticks." From NHL.com, here's a glimpse at the Penguins new arena: Still only two Stanley Cup banners, huh?

Sedin - Sedin - Bernier Demitra - Sundin - Raymond Burrows - Kesler - Pyatt Hansen - Johnson - Pettinger The Canucks defense was terrible last year, but should be much better this year. Every single one of our top 6 defensemen suffered inuries.

By noreply@blogger.com (The Falconer) Let a new GM come in and sell the youth movement to fans AND potential free agents. If you're the agent for Brian Campbell and Don Waddell calls you says "we want your client to be part of our young core of talent we're building in Atlanta" doesn't that player and his agent have the right to ask "w...

The Trib's interview with Crosby about his 21st Birthday plans & changes. Sidney Crosby's offseason training gets serious Monday when he hits the ice. The only day he plans to take off between then and Sept. 17 -- the opening of Penguins' training camp -- is Thursday, his 21st birthday. Ye...

By noreply@blogger.com (Lowetide) The first bullet basically tells us he's going to fill Jarret Stoll's role on next season's team, and the second bullet implies (probably correctly) he's in the "In-Crowd" amongst management and ownership. Brodziak's being a part of a major Edmonton event involving Oilers ownership is...

By Tom Gulitti One of Brent Sutter's first moves as the Devils' head coach was to take the captaincy away from Patrik Elias on the first of training camp last September. Don't expect a similar move with Jamie Langenbrunner this fall, though. Halischuk, 20, credits his trade from Toronto to Kitchener afte...

By ryebreadraz I'll have a post as soon as the August 15 signing deadline passes with updates on who has signed and who will be in Westwood next season and I will also have another post detailing how our Bruins fared in their respective summer leagues. Until then I don't expect much baseball news. GO BRUINS!!...

By lesgardiens Los Angeles Kings Gone – Michael Cammalleri, Lubomir Visnovsky, Rob Blake, Jon Klemm, Ladislav Nagy, Scott Thornton, Brian Willsie, Dan Cloutier. Patrick O’Sullivan – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown Los Angeles Kings* Gone – Michael Cammalleri, Lubomir Visnovsky, Rob Blake, Jon Klemm, L...

By KOPISTAR I'll start with Team B who was on the ice first. And Team A Feel free to agree or disagree with my assessments. Just got back from Sundays session, good to see a lot of Kings fans their bright and early. I tried to focus on different players than yesterday but most of my...

By Rich Hammond Question: Can you talk about your draft-day experience, and what you thought about being picked by the Kings? Azevedo: Well obviously the main goal is to make the big team, but if that doesn't happen then Manchester for sure. I think that would be my next goal, to make that team.

Ron Artest told ESPN's Marc Stein last week that he was kicking himself for not opting out of the final year of his contract and bypassing his chance to become an unrestricted free agent. On Monday, Artest sent a follow-up to Stein and two Sacramento reporters, saying he still regrets the de...

By Sam Weinman Sean Avery, Mitch Fritz, Andrew Hutchinson, Jaromir Jagr, Darius Kasparaitis, Marek Malik, Paul Mara, Michal Rozsival, Brendan Shanahan, Martin Straka, Jason Strudwick, Steve Valiquette. Update, 12:32 p.m.: Reader Bill asks regarding Jaromir Jagr:

More news about Orpik courtesy of the Tribune Review. Today could bring developments involving on-going dialogue between the Penguins and representatives for defenseman Brooks Orpik. The sides are actively engaged in discussions aimed at keeping Orpik in Pittsburgh. He is one of 12 pla...

By The Falconer(noreply@blogger.com) Home run. I expect him in the opening night lineup as he is already in NHL condition and we need defensemen badly. Very skilled but also mean--potentially a smaller version of Chris Pronger. The Thrashers strongest decision the entire draft was simply hanging on to this pick and not trading d...

By Sean(noreply@blogger.com) Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is reporting that Hossa is the number one free agent in the Penguins pool and that a deadline could be in place for him to accept any sort of deal, as early as after the NHL Draft next weekend. The deadline would help Shero make his next move with the ot...

Related articles from The Pensblog, London Free Press, Kuklas Korner, areyouwatchingthis.com, hockeyfights.com.

By Eric Kuzmiak The Pittsburgh Penguins made one final visit to the Mellon Arena on Friday afternoon. It was a day which included locker cleaning and sparatic interviews with the press. Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, and Brooks Orpik each enjoyed breakout seasons in their own repsective ways this year.

Salutations once again hockey fans, thanks for stooping by The Crease today. Man what a game last night right? Let's delve right into it shall we? - *Game 4 Review:* - The Penguins came out with the fire from Game 3, no doubt. Hossa netted his first goal of the Finals and Detroit was definitely o...

The Hatcher Alert: Inspired by: The Philadelphia Flyers, The Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Montreal Canadians -Derian Hatcher is not allowed to touch any player under 25 with his stick or hands at any time. This will result in a 2 minute minor. -If the player happens to be a superstar the pena...

By Rich Hammond The next question was about acquiring a goalie, and whether the Kings would do it. Hextall said, ``If you slotted Hickey this year, he wouldn't go fourth. Last year, there were 10 or 12 guys who could have gone fourth. ... He reminds me a lot of (Lubomir Visnovsky).''

By Sean(noreply@blogger.com) Other musing on a huge Game Two win for the Penguins: In 25 games since returning from his high-ankle sprain, Marc-Andre Fleury has allowed two goals or less in 21 of them. So much for Marian Hossa being a playoff time ghost, eh? Let's Go Pens!

Related articles from The Pensblog, London Free Press, Kuklas Korner, areyouwatchingthis.com, hockeyfights.com.

By CarlaMuller • Anze Kopitar • Dustin Brown • Patrick O’Sullivan • Lubomir Visnovsky • Rob Blake Prior to the relegation rounds at the World Championships, Team USA won the teams they were supposed to win: Slovenia, Germany, and Latvia and lost to Canada. Now, Team USA fell to Finland in a bit of a heart bre...

They didn't. It's the same this summer with regard to Shawn Horcoff. The Sheldon Souray and Dustin Penner deals are going to look even more ghastly should Edmonton sign Jarret Stoll and allow Shawn Horcoff to come to camp as an impending UFA.

By Bubba the Kings Fan Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Oscar Moller Profile and Interview One of the bright stars in the Kings organization is Oscar Moller. Many draft experts had him pegged as a mid first-rounder but he fell to the Kings in the second round of the 2007 draft. One of the great aspects of Oscar is that he was a t...

By PJ Swenson Getting to Detroit for the playoffs last year was a farce. The connecting flight to Dallas was cancelled. All the subsequent Dallas flights were full. I ended up flying San Jose to Austin, Austin to Chicago, Chicago to Detroit. I arrived in Detroit at 1:30 a.m., but my luggage didn't.

Here is how the Canucks stand heading into the summer. UFA - Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison, Aaron Miller, Trevor Linden, Byron Ritchie, Curtis Sanford, Mike Weaver, Brad Isbister, Brad Moran RFA - Marc Bernier, Mike Brown, Ryan Shannon, Rick Rypien, Nathan MacIver

By Tibbs The Bergen Record Hero and Goat of game Sullivan: Devils in hole, Brodeur needs help Devils in a deep hole The New York Times This Time Staal Gives Victory to Rangers In Lou We Trust Game 4: Devils 3 - Rangers 5 Interchangeable Parts Devils-Rangers: Round 1, Game 4

By hoopsjunky Split Sedins. (Jim Jamieson, Vancouver Province; Payback's a bitch. (Ed Willes, Vancouver Province; Ben Kuzma, Vancouver Province; Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun; Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun)Ohlund speaks to the press. (Jim Jamieson, Vancouver Province; Elliott Pap, Vancouver Sun)....

By hoopsjunky There were a lot of good things to like about the Canucks' 6-2 win over the Nashville Predators. They played, perhaps, one of their most complete games of the season and six different guys scored. Most importantly, they overtook the Predators and put themselves back in a playoff position. Un...

By Tibbs The Courier News Lundqvist outshining Brodeur so far The Fourth Period Rangers targeting playoff scorers In Lou We Trust Game 3: Devils 4 - Rangers 3, OT Prior to Tonight's Game OK. About Last Night. Game 2: Devils 1 - Rangers 2 Variety Smith, Kaye pen NHL playoff blog

Penguins and Sharks in the Cup Finals? Nope. They’ll each be out by the end of the second round. WESTERN CONFERENCE Anaheim (4) vs. Dallas (5) Series pick: Anaheim Confidence ratio: 65/35 Comments: Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer.

By Derek Harmsworth The Philadelphia Flyers have slipped into the 7th seed in the East, dropping the Boston Bruins to 8th.  The Maple Leafs still play the Bruins a couple times this season, and they have been a hot and cold team all year, so this could be the time to make the move.  It could turn out to be much easier t...

By Danielle Marchell With this win, the Ducks trail the Sharks by seven points and the Dallas Stars are behind the Sharks by ten points. The Sharks still have one game in hand on the Ducks. Tonight's game created a good cushion between the Sharks and their division rivals. I don't want to say that the Sharks definite...

By Joseph Beare When I saw San Jose Shark Torrey Mitchell and Minnesota Wild Kurtis Foster collide violently into the endboards, Foster to get the icing called and Mitchell to help the Sharks avoid the icing, in Wednesday's contest between the division-leaders, it was obvious, even at full speed, that...

By Joseph Beare When I read that the NHL spent three hours determining whether or not the incident required disciplinary action on the part of league officials, I was shocked. The NHL has proven time and time again that they punish the result, not the action.

By Danielle Marchell The Sharks' hero in the shootout, Jeremy Roenick, scored once again for the Sharks. Roenick skated in fast and went five-hole on Backstrom. The Sharks face the Chris Pronger-less Ducks Friday night at the Shark Tank, a battle of the West Coast titans.

By PJ Swenson Early Monday Joe Thornton was named "Third Star" of the week by the NHL after registering 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points in his last 4 games. The win helped extend the San Jose Sharks winning streak to a franchise best 9 games. The NHL held a media conference call with Thornton this afternoon.

By fshinzawa Tim Thomas stopped 28 of 29 shots as the Bruins won their fifth straight game. Vladimir Sobotka won the team hard hat for his gritty effort. Sobotka blocked two shots, including a beast of a shot by Kris Letang, and recorded a team-best plus-3 rating.

By Dubi There's more -- there's a report on the contract situation of several key Rangers headed toward free agency, an article on defensive specialist Blair Betts, a profile of Wilkinson, a reader's encounter with Brian Leetch, five more numbers for the ages (one of which we now know will be ret...

Injury. Edmonton Oiler fans have seen a lot of good young defense prospects lose most or all of their careers to injury over the years. Selmar Odelein, Nick Stajduhar and Doug Lynch among the names who washed out before making names for themselves at the NHL level.

By Derek Felska The Vancouver Canucks, perhaps no other team in the National Hockey League makes Wild fans’ blood boil at the very mention of their name.  While Canucks fans and players dispute that a ‘rivalry’ exists between the two games, the games are always physical with incidents of chippiness and b...

By Christy Hammond Source: JULIAN H. GONZALEZ / Detroit Free Press Mike Babcock in the Detroit Free Press: Johan Franzen via the Detroit News: Nick Lidstrom and Kris Draper’s thoughts via the Detroit Free Press: Alex Tanguay (via Calgary Sun): Wings bloggers reactions Matt at On the Wings:

By The Falconer While the Thrashers have finally shaken free of the "never-made-the-playoffs" label, all that they have done is replace it with "never-won-a-playoff-game" moniker. The team has done little to dispel the casual perception that they are not winners. And in this market people want winner...

By DJRadiohead “Four O'Clock Blues” and the other tracks with vocals are reminiscent of early John Lee Hooker sides in that the sole instrument, guitar for Hooker and piano for McFarland, focuses more on rhythm and timekeeping than impressing listeners with chops and solos.

By brian I started covering the New York Rangers in 1999. During that stretch I've seen everything from a player getting busted for smoking crack in a hotel room with a hooker, to an oafish defenseman winning a game in a shootout by snapping a puck through his legs. I've watched Theo Fleury, Eric Lindr...