Did Rivet Make That Big Of A Difference?
Oct 31, 2008 NHL
A terrible, terrible effort all around last night. Nobody to move the Lightning players out from in front of the net, bad passing, and general lazy skating. Ruff held a meeting before practice today, according to WGR, and after which it appeared he had juggled the lines. Mike Weber was out, not surprising considering Tallinder was back last night. That also may be explained by the fact that Connolly practiced, centering Pominville and MacArthur. Vanek and Roy were with Kotalik (which has worked for short stretches in the past), Goose had Paille and Kaleta and Mair was with Stafford and Afinogenov. Hecht, Ellis and Peters all practiced but you may have your forward scratches for Saturday right there if Hecht isn’t ready yet.
Speaking of Saturday, Ovechkin is still out for the Caps, back home visiting his ailing Grandfather. Alexander Semin has picked up the scoring so far this year, though, so you can’t discount the Capitals. 7pm start time at HSBC Arena…if they begin the game the way they have for the past few, expect the natives to be restless.
Tags: alexander ovechkin, Alexander Semin, buffalo, connolly, Drew Stafford, ellis, gaustad, hecht, Hockey, kaleta, kotalik, lightning, macarthur, mair, Maxim Afinogenov, NHL, ovechkin, paille, peters, pominville, roy, ruff, sabres, tallinder, tampa bay, the kaleta, Thomas Vanek, weber
Goose Returns! Mair Aims For The Laughs…
Oct 29, 2008 NHL
WGR is reporting that Paul Gaustad will be back in the lineup for tomorrow’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was skating with Peters and Kaleta, talk about a line that can bang! Wonder why he’s not on the third, letting Mair slip back to the fourth line? Anyway, speaking of Mair, he had this to say to the News’s John Vogl:
When asked what he was trying to communicate to the Senators, he said, “We don’t play those guys until January, so I wanted to wish them a Happy Halloween.”
What did they say back?
“I think they said Merry Christmas.”
The Buffalo News’ John Vogl asked if Mair was trying to talk to Chris Neil or Jaarko Ruutu?
“It’s Halloween for everybody, John.”
Special thanks to the commentariat at BfloBlog for pointing some of this out.
Tags: buffalo, gaustad, Hockey, injury, kaleta, lightning, mair, neil, NHL, ottawa, peters, ruutu, sabres, senators, tampa bay, the kaleta
NHL “Opening” Day!
Oct 4, 2008 NHL
The NHL season opens a week early, with two games played in Europe. At 12pm Eastern time, the New York Rangers take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Czech Republic. At 2:30pm, you can see the Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators battle in a rematch from last year’s playoffs. The Pens cruised past the Sens on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Today’s games are on CBC in Canada and the NHL Network in the US (see the previous post about that deal), and the teams do it all again tomorrow (Versus will have those in the US). Game ON!
Tags: Hockey, lightning, new york, NHL, ottawa, penguins, pittsburgh, rangers, senators, tampa bay
Stamkos Contract Fun
Jul 30, 2008 NHL
Considering Stamkos is pretty much guaranteed to make the Tampa Bay Lightning roster day one, contract details like this always make me laugh:
This doesn’t mean that Stamkos has made the team as he could still be sent back to juniors if he fails to make the team out of camp or is sent back before he plays 10 games next season. If he doesn’t make the team, or plays less than 10 NHL games, his contract would then kick in starting next season, although the 10 percent signing bonus is his to keep. Maximum yearly base is $875,000 with an additional $2.85 in potential bonuses available each year.
From Erik Erlendsson at TBO.com. By the way, if you’ve ever wondered what the performance bonuses available for the Entry Level contracts are, here you go (max of $212,500 can be assigned to each one):
(i) Ice time (aggregate and/or per Game). Player must be among top six (6) forwards on the Club (minimum 42 Regular Season Games played by Player and comparison group). (Note: an Entry Level SPC may contain bonuses for both aggregate and per Game ice time; however, the maximum aggregate amount the Player may receive on account of the ice time category is $212,500.)
(ii) Goals: 20 Goal Minimum
(iii) Assists: 35 Assist Minimum
(iv) Points: 60 Point Minimum
(v) Points Per Game: .73 Points Per Game Minimum (minimum 42 Regular Season Games played)
(vi) Plus-Minus Rating: Among top three (3) forwards on the Club (minimum 42 Regular Season Games played by Player and comparison group).
(vii) End-of-Season NHL All-Rookie Team
(viii) NHL All-Star Game (selected to play or plays)
(ix) NHL All-Star Game MVP
These are the details from the CBA, specific to forwards. H/T to Puck Daddy for getting me started looking at all this.
Lecavalier - Lightning 4 Life
Jul 13, 2008 NHL
Vincent Lecavalier has signed an 11 year $85 million contract to stay with the Tampa Bay Lightning. As reported by TSN, that takes him just about to his 40th birthday. What is interesting here is the structure of the deal:
Lecavalier will earn $10-million per season in salary and bonuses for the first six seasons of the deal, before dropping to $8.5-million in 2016-2017, $4-million in 2017-2018, $1.5-million in 2018-2019 and $1-million and 2019-2020.
Those last few years mean that his cap hit is a slightly more palatable $7.72 million per year. I guess the Lightning are trying to stay on the front page at TSN.
Tags: Hockey, lecavalier, lightning, NHL, signing, tampa bay
Pre-UFA Player Movement
Jun 30, 2008 NHL
Free Agency starts tomorrow, but several names are already off the market. The rights to Gary Roberts and Ryan Malone were traded from the Pens to the Lightning, with both players signing new deals (Malone 7 years, $31.5 million, Roberts 1 year, $1.2 million). The Lightning also acquired the rights to negotiate with Brian Rolston of the Wild. Colorado re-signed Adam Foote and Jean-Michael Liles, taking away two more D-men for the Sabres to pursue. Lubomir Visnovsky was also traded to the Oilers, in exchange for Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene. I know there are still plenty of possibilities, but there are times I wish the Sabres were in the mix for some of this.
Tags: avalanche, buffalo, colorado, foote, greene, Hockey, lightning, liles, malone, minnesota, NHL, penguins, pittsburgh, roberts, rolston, sabres, signing, stoll, tampa bay, trade, visnovsky, wild
Sabres and NHL News
Jun 3, 2008 NHL
Most of this was heard on WGR on the way home.
Buffalo will NOT be offering Dmitri Kalinin a contract this offseason, according to Darcy Regier. Not too surprising, considering the minutes Weber and Sekera were getting.
The announcement for the new AHL affiliate will be coming within “days”, and is thought to be Portland (last I heard).
Barry Melrose may be taking John Tortorella’s coaching job with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Who will ESPN roll out every few nights during the NHL regular season now?
Tags: buffalo, Hockey, kalinin, lightning, melrose, NHL, sabres, sekera, tampa bay, tortorella, weber
Sabres Storm Back in Third to Win 7-4
Mar 20, 2008 NHL
You almost feel bad for the Lightning, who probably thought they had this game in the bag after 2 periods. Buffalo looked downright terrible at times, with giveaways and gaffes costing them goals early. However, strong play from their current captain and the newly-reunited Roy-Vanek-Stafford line pulled it out for em’.
Jeff Halpern and Martin St. Louis staked Tampa Bay to a 2 goal lead midway through the first, before Jason Pominville netted his first of the night to cut their lead back to 1. Buffalo gave up two more in the second period, leaving the ice to a chorus of boos from the HSBC Arena crowd. The team responded in the third period, outshooting the Lightning 16-4. It was Pominville again with the first goal of the period, as Gaustad pushed forward with the puck on a faceoff and passed it to Pommers for the tap-in on a set play that had worked for them once before. Pominville and Goose worked the puck to Jochen Hecht for his 20th of the season less than 20 seconds later, and after that it was the Vanek show, co-starring Angry Eyebrows and Derek Roy. Roy ripped one toward the net that Vanek tipped (only credited with it after the game), and then picked up two more for good measure for the natural hat trick. Jochen Hecht got an empty netter to seal it.
You know, I had all but given up on this game, my wife sent me downstairs to watch it so she could watch Food Network uninterrupted on her pregnancy bed rest. I sat down for the start of the third, ready to change the channel if the pain got any worse. I perked up when the faceoff play worked, and I may have let out a whoop when the next one seemed to deflate TB. All in all, this was a MUCH better ending to my night than I thought it would be after the first two periods. Oh, and even better, the Caps lost so Buffalo has 9th place back, one behind the stupid Flyers. Toronto is in town on Friday, how about we go for 8 on them?
Tags: angry eyebrows, B-Lo Sports, Drew Stafford, gaustad, halpern, hat trick, hecht, Hockey, lightning, NHL, pominville, roy, sabres, st. louis, tampa bay, Thomas Vanek
Gameday - Lightning at Sabres
Mar 19, 2008 NHL
The Sabres got no help in the playoff standings last night, as Philly and Washington won, but they can do themselves a world of good tonight by beating the visiting Lightning. The lineup will stay the same as it was for the last game, as Timmy still can’t go. A win tonight would also complete a sweep of the season series with TB. However, Buffalo will be facing new goalie Mike Smith (acquired from Dallas at the deadline) who has been solid in net since, with a 2.44 GAA and .910 save percentage. 7pm start time from the Arena, let’s get back to within one guys!
Tags: B-Lo Sports, connolly, Hockey, lightning, NHL, sabres, smith, tampa bay
NHL Musings
Mar 12, 2008 NHL
I see Philly got a loser point tonight to keep 4 points ahead of Buffalo. Those shootout failures loom larger and larger.
…
Jeff Jillson is on re-entry waivers…wonder if Buffalo thought about grabbing him for depth in Rochester now that Weber is up?
…
I just don’t see the Leafs making up enough ground for that last playoff spot, even with the current suckitude of the Sabres and Flyers.
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Gary Bettman ‘advised’ the new Lightning owner to lay low until the deal is finalized…think they learned anything from that whole “Hamilton Penguins” debacle?
Tags: B-Lo Sports, flyers, Hockey, jillson, leafs, lightning, NHL, philadelphia, sabres, tampa bay, toronto
