The Official NHL Thread

[Dave's PA Rental]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
Yeah, now watch him go to the Leafs or Red Wings...

Just watch....

Theres no way he doesnt play for the Rangers...

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan

You see, 6.25% compared to 2.08%, ain't too much, ya know ???

I'm telling ya, it's gonna be one of the heavyweights.....

I really think that percentage may be much bigger than it seems. However, I wouldn't rule out a trade...

[UGS]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
I can understand the feeling that an entire year was lost...

But the difference between the better teams and lesser teams, in terms of the percentage of getting Crosby, is not much at all...

The Penguins will be one of four clubs -- Columbus, Buffalo and the New York Rangers are the others -- that will have a 6.25 percent chance of landing Crosby...

Ten other clubs will have a 4.17 percent chance, while the remaining 16 will have a 2.08 percent chance....

You see, 6.25% compared to 2.08%, ain't too much, ya know ???

I'm telling ya, it's gonna be one of the heavyweights.....

For sure. . .There's 4 teams with 3 balls each, so 12 out of 48 chance of first pick going to one of those teams.

There's ten teams with 2 balls each, so 20/48 chance for first pick to be w/ one of those teams

Then finally 16 teams w/ one ball each, so 16/48 chance for first pick to go to one of the best teams in the league.

So statistically speaking, one of the middle teams will most likely get first pick. Go figure, the liklihood of Crosby going to one of the teams that "needs" him the most is the smallest for all the three groups as wholes.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I don't necessarily say that the better teams should be completely shut out, but I think the lesser teams should have been given a much higher of percentage of getting the pick....

[ALinChainz]

NHL free agents

Here's a list of prospective unrestricted free agents that could hit the market Aug. 1. Also listed are players whose contracts could be bought out.

Unrestricted free agents

Forwards: Jason Allison, Jason Arnott, Andrew Brunette, Valeri Bure, Anson Carter, Pavol Demitra, Tie Domi, Martin Gelinas, Greg Johnson, Peter Forsberg, Ron Francis, Jan Hlavac, Paul Kariya, Alexei Kovalev, Martin Lapointe, Eric Lindros, Mark Messier, Mike Modano, Alex Mogilny, Glen Murray, Markus Naslund, Joe Nieuwendyk, Andrei Nikolishin, Ziggy Palffy, Gary Roberts, Luc Robitaille, Martin Rucinsky, Martin St. Louis, Miroslav Satan, Teemu Selanne, Martin Straka, Cory Stillman, Tim Taylor, Scott Young.

Defenseman: Adrian Aucoin, Chris Chelios, Adam Foote, Roman Hamrlik, Alxeander Khavanov, Brian Leetch, Boris Mironov, Scott Neidermayer, Teppo Numminen, Sandis Ozolinsh, Brian Rafalski, Mike Rathje, Chris Pronger, Mathieu Schneider, Scott Stevens, Don Sweeney, Jason York, Alexei Zhitnik, Sergei Zubov.

Goaltenders: Roman Cechmanek, Byron Dafoe, Mike Dunham, Curtis Joseph, Nikolai Khabibulin, Chris Osgood, Garth Snow.

Could be bought out

Forwards: Tony Amonte, Vincent Damphousse, Dallas Drake, Sergei Fedorov, Bill Guerin, Bobby Holik, Jaromir Jagr, John LeClair, Darren McCarty, Owen Nolan, Keith Tkachuk, Pierre Turgeon, Doug Weight, Ray Whitney, Alexei Yashin, Alexei Zhamnov.

Defensemen: Eric Desjardins, Derian Hatcher, Darius Kasparaitis.

Goaltenders: Ed Belfour.

[UGS]

Alexei Yashin is a joke. . .I hope no one buys him out and he gets sent packing back to Russia. Best thing Ottawa ever did was get rid of him.

Ottawa got the pick they used to get Spezza who is going to be a superstar for the Sens, and they also got big Chara who is arguably the best d-man in the NHL.

To the NYI, a fourth-line bum with a $90M contract hahahahaha

[ALinChainz]

NHL going live with draft lottery

By Kara Yorio - SportingNews


Well, what do you know? The NHL has changed its mind and the draft lottery will be shown live on Canadian television network TSN. At 4 p.m. ET on Friday, there will be a half hour show to see what ball emerges.

The live viewing eliminates most of the possibility for conspiracy talk -- the idea that in some back room, the league leaned on the Board of Governors to decide it was in the best interest of the league and therefore all teams for Crosby to go to the Rangers.

The Rangers, by the way, deserve their legitimate shot at Crosby by the nature of their terrible play and lack of success over the last few years. The Rangers, Penguins, Blue Jackets and Sabres each will have three balls each in the lottery, giving them better odds at Crosby. Ten teams (Mighty Ducks, Thrashers, Flames, Hurricanes, Blackhawks, Oilers, Kings, Wild, Predators and Coyotes) will have two balls each, and the remaining teams will each have one.

Good work by the league to get this televised, even if there is no U.S. outlet for the show.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

That's not entirely true...

They're going to show what team will pick where, starting at #30 up to #1, but the actual drawing of the balls will be backstage in a conference room with the team reps...

http://www.canada.com/sports/hockey/story.html?id=5d7ca8be-1b26-40bf-b473-ce3a81eaec5d

NHL changes its mind: draft lottery made into live event Friday

Pierre Lebrun
Canadian Press

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

TORONTO (CP) - The Sidney Crosby sweepstakes will be on TV after all.

It was confirmed Tuesday that the NHL draft lottery in New York will be televised Friday. But like the NBA, only the results of the draw will be shown. The actual drawing will take place away from the cameras. The original plan had been to hold the entire lottery behind closed doors during Friday's board of governors meeting, with commissioner Gary Bettman subsequently announcing the results at a news conference.

Now hockey fans will get to see how it unfolds. The order of the draft will be unveiled, starting with the 30th pick and ending with the prized first.

The event will be carried live on TV, starting at 4 p.m. EDT following the 1 p.m. board of governors meeting.

"Given the fact that we have been without NHL hockey for a year and that we have a lottery system in order to select the draft order it was imperative in my opinion to have a live event," said Crosby's agent Pat Brisson. "It obviously helps having Sidney Crosby part of the mystery."

The draft itself will be July 30 in Ottawa.

The league has promised to come back after a 301-day lockout showing more accessibility, wanting to open up for fans and media. Given the hype surrounding the draft lottery, with hockey phenom Crosby the top prize, it makes sense to make the most of the moment.

Crosby, the consensus No. 1 pick in the July 30 draft in Ottawa, will be hooked up to the Friday news conference via a satellite feed from his home town of Cole Harbour, N.S.

The Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers have the best mathematical shot at winning the lottery, with three balls each.

The Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators and Phoenix Coyotes will have two balls each.

The rest of the teams in the league will have one ball each.

The NBA traditionally televises its draft lottery, but the show is actually 90 minutes after the actually drawing of the balls takes place in a conference room in the league's office in New Jersey.

Every team has a representative in the conference room, and "once you go in, you have to give up your cellphone, the whole shebang," said NBA spokesman Tim Frank.

The team representatives in the studio are unaware of the results until they are announced 90 minutes late on live television by the league's deputy commissioner Russ Granik.

The actual drawing is conducted by the NBA's legal department.

"Our event people do the drawing of the balls, they have a person with their back to the bin with a stopwatch that says, 'Now,' and then they draw four balls," said Frank. "That's how they make sure nobody's watching, to take away any of that suspicion, and then our lawyers are there to legitimize the decisions."

[Nickdfresh]

Big Vote Coming:

NHL Players Set to Vote on New Contract
Thursday, July 21, 2005 10:35 AM EDT
The Associated Press
By IRA PODELL

New York Islanders' Michael Peca walks through the lobby of a hotel in Toronto where the NHLPA will will meet later in the day, Wednesday July 20, 2005. The union will hold a two-day meeting so players can voice their opinions on the tentative deal that was reached last week with the NHL board of governors and then vote on it. (AP PHOTO/CP, Adrian Wyld)
TORONTO (AP) — The NHL players' association entered ratification mode Thursday morning, the last step before approving a tentative deal reached last week between the union and league.

Talks went well into the night Wednesday, with players still milling about with each other well past 1 a.m. Just hours later, the approximate 225 players in attendance got together for a communal breakfast before resuming discussions at 8:30.

The ratification meeting began around 10 a.m., and was due to wrap up following lunch.

"Hopefully things are moving smoothly upstairs and we are able to get some good results and get back to work," St. Louis defenseman Chris Pronger said as he was leaving the hotel.

Many players are unhappy that a full season was lost and the union ended up accepting a salary cap anyway. They came to Toronto to find out why, and look forward.

Surely, many of the 700-plus players voiced displeasure over the deal after finally seeing it on paper. Those not in attendance will be able to vote via the Internet.

"When this is done, we're all going to be on the same side I hope," St. Louis center Doug Weight said. "It's OK to have questions and it's OK to be heated about them. This is our livelihood, after all."

If the deal passes, as expected, there will be no remaining obstacles in this labor war. The lockout will end soon after, and hockey talk will go back to which team is best instead of who came out ahead at the negotiating table.

"For people to judge whether we won or lost this deal, I think is ridiculous," Carolina forward Jeff O'Neill said. "We all got in this together and then some guys started piping off and maybe showed a few cracks in us as a group. But we're still in this together now."

The players' discussion of the collective bargaining agreement began in earnest around dinnertime Wednesday. Lots of information was exchanged before the vote that would determine the fate of next season.

Fans who sought autographs in the hotel lobby from hockey stars they've missed for a year will have to wait a little bit longer for some good news.

It looks as though it's coming.

"We had to stand up for what we thought we could get and that's the nature of the business. Now we have to move on," Weight said.

Players' association executive director Bob Goodenow took on the NHL and vowed not to take a salary cap or have player compensation linked to league-wide revenues.

By all accounts, this deal contains both.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's done what we asked him to do," O'Neill said. "He's led us and I think he's done the right things.

"Maybe as a group we underestimated how strong the owners were going to be. But we were all behind Bob and we were all in this together."

No doubt, the long night and day of internal talks brought out opposing opinions. That is what makes this meeting and vote so crucial and intriguing. It isn't even known if Goodenow will still be in charge of the union once the dust settles.

Some of those entrusted to negotiate a deal for the players are fellow players that make up the executive committee — headed by president Trevor Linden of the Vancouver Canucks.

It might not be the deal they wanted, but this is the one that will get the league back in action.

Hockey loyalty stretches beyond the 30 NHL rinks.

"You're not going to please everyone all the time, it's going to be good for some and bad for others, but it's a deal we have to live with at this stage," Pronger said. "(The executive committee) has been locked in a room for the last 12 weeks hammering this down. They deserve a lot of credit for getting an agreement with the league."

So all signs point to a ratification by the players. If that happens, commissioner Gary Bettman will join his adversary Goodenow at a podium in a Toronto hotel and announce that the NHL is back in business.

The league's board of governors will hold a ratification vote Friday during a meeting in New York, but that ballot is really just a formality. Bettman was sent out by the owners to get "cost certainty" — a hard salary cap tied to league revenues — and he has it.

That vote by the 30 teams is so much of a sure thing to pass that the league has already planned the televised draft lottery for Friday and an announcement on new rules changes for next season.

But for now, the biggest change is in how teams pay their players. The union liked the deal that stood in place for 10 years, following the previous lockout, and Bettman and the owners made it their mission to overhaul the system.

"I think it's unfair for guys to start to point the finger," New York Islanders forward Michael Peca said. "It is what it is. Any deal that we would have gotten was going to be significantly worse than the one we came off from.

"We tried to go in a certain direction, and at a certain time the executive committee tried to make the best of the situation they were in. I think they did that. I think they did a nice job."

Bettman's news conference Friday to announce the relaunch of the league won't have representatives from the players' association there, as the union will still be holding a meeting with agents to go over the CBA — a document numbering 600 pages.

Pending ratification, teams will have six days — beginning Saturday — to buy players out of their contracts to free cap space and nine days to negotiate with their unrestricted free agents.

[ALinChainz]

About 90% of the players have ratified this deal, that's great.

How about Jeremy Roenick though.

This dude has already said to the fans, "if you think we're spoiled, don't come to the games."

Now he wants the NHL to "rig" the draft lottery so the RANGERS get the first shot at phenom Sidney Crosby.

This guy's best playing years are far behind him, he's a walking injury now, and now he's drawing real negative attention for the league and his team.

[Fairwrning]

Fuck hockey..correct me if i am wrong ..the players basically held out over the salary cap...which 1 year later they agreed to so they can play this year..
Fuck em..go get a real job...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

All I know is the Penguins have no chance of winning the lottery, just not in the cards....

[guwapo_rocker]

The draft lottery is on TSN at 4pm.

[guwapo_rocker]

The draft in reverse order....


30. Tampa
29. Florida
28. Dallas
27. Colorado
26. Calgary
25. Edmonton
24. St. Louis
23. New Jersey
22. Boston
21. Toronto

[guwapo_rocker]

20. Philadelphia
19. Detroit
18. Nashville
17. Phoenix
16. New York
15. Islanders
14. Washington
13. Buffalo
12. San Jose
11. Los Angeles