What does Georges Laraque bring to the WHL table?

It was a wild day a few weeks ago when the 18 month old conversation culminated in a Union for CHL players.  What?  Yes a Union with reps mandating that the players get better treatment.  So when did the high school team go on strike to go to college?

I know that the prospects of getting into the NHL are a key driver to the boys down in the juniors.  The notches to the keys for each one of these players is socialization in the hockey world. They need to acquire that key knowledge of where their chemistry strengths and weaknesses are on the ice and in the locker room.  The need to know when a fore-check is powerful enough to change the game and that a pay check will come with practice.  They need to learn that the net is only 1 percent of the ice surface.  These skills are what will get them the time into the NHL.  But what Can the CHL offer them?

The CHL has the players in mind when signing a standard players contract.
First to know what the CHL Players Union is looking for we must know what the most similar contract is offering.  So far they are offering nothing that the Dub does not already give out.

What first made me pause at the news of this was one, the demographic that the Union was to represent, and what dues players (a majority of which who don't get paid) must pay to join this ill conceived idea with no benefits to it. I still near a month later can't get a full grasp of why the CHL needs a Union.

To answer my first question.  Nothing he brings nothing to the table.

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.