Whats with the 20's?

This past week both Portland and Everett picked up 20 year old goalies.  I say why?

For PDX, Brendan Burke was a good pick for their general game play style, he is a goalie who could endure the 64 games on the ice without blink of the eye.  Like Mac Carruth before him Brendan a sixteen year old proved to Mike Johnston that he could step out of the shadow of the goalie who took the most shots in the WHL last season.  He proved that he could face high Shots On Goal games with out getting to frazzled which lead this fan to believe he could manage the pipes this season.  As for Everett Austin Lotz was the next inline, but a bit too eager while standing the blue paint. Yet the eagerness is being calmed as we speak turning Lotz into a solid back door defender.

But why bring in guys who will be shipping off at the end of the sesason?  I think for a managed exposure bringing the 2013-2014 season into a new style of play for each team.

CHL's prize: It's all ruined, sort of.

In 2008 the US division's own Spokane Chiefs won the CHL's Memorial Cup, and promptly dropped it on the ice in this viral video moment. Well we are not the only ones to destroy the Mem Cup.  Apparently the 2012's finest have done just as much damage to the cup while touring homes of the players.  Shawinigan Cataractes now live in the hall of fame and shame by not returning the pristine cup in the condition they received it.   Apparently one of the players was suffering from a balance problem and dropped the cup cracking the wooden base and denting the metal cup.  

The Silver lining is that the cup is already a replica, sigh of relief, the real cup is the Hockey Hall of fame in Toronto.

Summer Video

This summer we saw a titan of the ice retire his skates to the NHL hall of fame.  I hope you enjoy the day in the life of Nicholas Lindstrom.

Tips get a Tip of the hat.

Everett Silvertips have made and gave some big moves in the off season.  With Ryan Murray going second the NHL draft, the larger league has taken notice and the ownership feels the pressure of the Scouts.  Everett found a gold pot at the end of the rainbow in the  the 4 boys (Reece Wilcox, Ben Betker, Tyler Sandhu, and Mitch Skapski) trade for Seth Jones. The pressure by the scouts has only fueled the team to make some other oustanding moves, most recently moving into PDX scouting territory bringing Micro Muller into the mix with Luke Gordon and capping of what has been a solid off season of plugging the holes that plagued them at the beginning of last season.


It will be nice to see what the ice will do for the Silvertips this season.

Summer Video: Neal

Quick update:  The WHL is starting to gear up for camps seeing who has improved their conditioning over the past few months and who will shot up to camp looking for a standard WHL contract.

This video, with 2 games a new contract this boy mean business and surprisingly funny business.  Watch all the antics above.

The Players future in jeopardy

The 2012 NHL season was a coming of age season tale, greater viewership at all levels and the anticipation for the upcoming season 2013 season being the season that viewership could take a bigger leap.  But and this is a big but, there is an imbalance in the Big League of pushing pucks.  A major publication the  New York Times recently published an piece on the negotiations between the two entities within the organization Players vs Owners.


As some publications do, they choose sides;  So I'm going to go over some facts. There have been 5 major bankruptcies and NHL interventions since the expansion era.  The teams are
1975 Pittsburgh Penguins, 1995 Los Angeles Kings, 1998 Pittsburgh Penguins, 2003 Ottawa Senators,  and 2003 Buffalo Sabers.  In recent history we have the 2009 Phoenix Coyotes and the 2011 Dallas Stars who have filed for bankruptcy in accordance with the NHL constitution.  Beyond that, there are 3 current teams in the NHL who's Net Assets do not meet the valuation of the team.  Meaning if the team sold the owner would still have to file for bankruptcy because their investment is not paying off.


All of this makes the NHL look like losing bet and not popular to have outside investment come.  What is the NHL going to do about making it's position to investors more enticing, instead of changing the NHL Constitution, it is going to seek profits from the teams themselves so if another team declares bankruptcy the NHL can remain solvent to till the team returns to profits.  So for the good of the league the profits must be redistributed so that owners have a chance to bet on a winning game.


That is what the league is doing,  but the teams the teams are self correcting their payrolls to reflect the demand (or what the teams view as the lack of demand) for the grinders, the grunt workers, and men down in the AHL. The teams are doing so that the net payroll for the players will save them enough cash to not end up being in the red.  All teams are emulating the near bankrupt teams hoping that the 3 teams can bring back their profit margins and grow the sport. The  most evident eviedence of this is the median contract holders.  these middle of the road contract players are falling by the way side.  The boys who used to make 1.3 million to 2.4 million have been reduced by 20 percent this summer contract cycle.  This is growing the bottom line for the Stars of the league leaving the 20 players on the bench with less coin.


The players of the WHL are watching,  The NHL's biggest talent pool is watching both the League and the Owners shrink their exposure to the teams who make the cup a reality.

WHL Schedule release

The New Western Hockey League season is going to start in just two months,  and this time we all are going to be ready. I know that the schedule was actually released about 2 weeks ago,  I have scoured the schedule and and found some nuggets.  This next season I am going to keep a running tally of games to look out for, games that are pivotal to the new season's US Division champs.

On September 22nd I foresee the first 395 rivalry setting the tone to who will control the middle of the division.  If Tri-City and Spokane will face off with ferocity meanwhile Portland and Seattle will once again spell out who is going to dominate their competition this season. I have a list a games for the month of September below.   

Month of September

September 22nd   Tri-City vs Spokane and Portland vs Seattle 

September 26th    Everett vs Tri-City

September 28th    Everett vs Vancouver

September 29th    Portland vs Kelowna

Summer Videos

Since we cant get out to watch a game in the middle of the heat.  How about some recaps why we love the game.  Once a week I will be posting a video of to keep us upbeat for the 2012-2013 season.  Starting today

Who from the US Div will play all 82 in NHL sweaters?

Last season we saw a great consolidation of young talent trickle into the dub.  South of the boarder we also had a great showing at the 2012 draft with 2 of the top 8 draftees from the US division.  So Whats next?

Prospect Camps.  Camps are an unofficial invite to a team interested in highly skilled player who was over looked during the frantic excitement of the draft or scouting reports.  The players have a chance to prove themselves amongst what soon could be their peers.  They might also walk away with a contract in hand too?

In my finite wisdom I am going to list off who is at camp and who is going to make it out of camp into a  NHL contract.

Toronto:  Brad Ross, Adam Hughesman
Nashville: Cam Reid
Pittsburgh: Joe Morrow, Dominic Uher,  Derrick Pouliot
Winnipeg: Zach Yuen
Calgary: Sven Bartschi, Tyler Wotherspoon
San Jose Taylor Peters
Vancouver Jesse Mychan, Corbin Baldwin
Dallas: Branden Troock
Ottawa: Darren Kramer
Columbus: Ryan Murray
Montreal: Patrick Holland
Minnesota: Josh Caron
Florida: Josh Birkholz
Buffalo: Matt Mackinzie
Chicago: Mac Carruth
ST Louis: Ty Rattie (already signed) Nick Walters
Philadelphia: Mitch Elliot, Taylor Leier