Hand it to Sports Illustrated and it’s lackluster coverage of hockey to give you a “no, really” recommendation for players to watch next season. It may be nice to hear that all except two players are from the Southeast Division… but you knew before this season to watch all but 2 of the mentioned players — and you were watching all but one of the players from the beginning if you didn’t listen to the talking heads of the media exclusively.

Ilya Kovalchuk, Dany Heatley, Marian Hossa, Roberto Luongo, Rick Nash and Brad Richards all made this “Player of Next Year” list… but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. The young guns on this list have been forces on each of their respective rosters for quite a while sans-Nash.

If you really want to make a statement about players of Next Year, do some research and / or wait until next season (if it ever starts) begins in order to make such bold predictions. One transaction may make a lesser-known player as marquee as Jarome Ignila or as big a disappointment as Alexander Daigle for any given team.

Congratulations to the Detroit Pistons for winning the NBA Title tonight.

Hearty congratulations to William Davidson. I don’t know if he is the first NBA owner to win titles in two sports in one year — hell, just over a week! Whatever the case is, he is due props.

Plenty of Bolts fans and Calgary fans alike have already found this video but I want to make mention of it just in case you haven’t seen it in the last week. It’s an absolutely great piece of work and I give high props to Kingsmediazone.com for it.

Right click this link and select SAVE AS.

The Tampa Tribune is putting out a T-shirt commemorating the Lightning winning the Cup.

Oh gee, that’s nice, but there is probably a better story for them to put on the front of the shirt if they really want to let people remember the quality of their journalism during the Stanley Cup Final.

Just saying… :tongue

To the chicks around the Bay Area, I want to remind you of an earlier post saying the Lightning are holding open audiitons for Ice Girls next season. June 19th is the planned date for that.

The offseason is in full swing - maybe I say that specifically because when you see the captain of your hockey team hanging out with Lord Stanley’s Cup at Walt Disney World you know that the season is over.

Yes, we are still rejoicing here in Tampa, yes we are still excited… but also terrified to know that there is no hockey besides the World Cup for months - or possibly longer.

grumble, grumble…. stupid work stoppage…

But at any rate, I had been planning for a while a post with regards to the future of the Lightning — next seasons roster specifically. I would love to make this a more in-depth post and make mention of our new AHL Affiliate (new? Old, really, but we now have full rights over the team) the Springfield Falcons and who we will be sending there…
(more…)

Well, you had your chance to nominate them, now you have your chance to vote for him — twice…

Martin St. Louis has been nominated for the MVP honors on the NHLFA Fan Awards poll. And of course, for yet another year Marty finds himself nominated for the Best Bang for the Buck player in the NHL…

I believe you need to be a member to vote but then again, does it really hurt to be part of a group that is trying to be a voice for the fans?

Marty got my vote twice of course, and Jarome Ignila got a much deserved “Best Role Model” vote from me on this poll.

Well, I was told over and over that the Lightning did not want the Presidents trophy because it is cursed… Now I am being told John Tortorella is done for in Tampa Bay (eventually :-p ) because the Jack Adams award is also cursed….

Here’s the past 15 winners (before Tortorella). Only Jacques Lemaire is still employed with the team he won with.

2003 Jacques Lemaire - Minnesota Wild
2002 Bob Francis - Phoenix Coyotes
2001 Bill Barber - Philadelphia Flyers
2000 Joel Quenneville - St. Louis Blues
1999 Jacques Martin - Ottawa Senators
1998 Pat Burns - Boston Bruins
1997 Ted Nolan - Buffalo Sabres
1996 Scotty Bowman - Detroit Red Wings
1995 Marc Crawford - Quebec Nordiques
1994 Jacques Lemaire - New Jersey Devils
1993 Pat Burns - Toronto Maple Leafs
1992 Pat Quinn - Vancouver Canucks
1991 Brian Sutter - St. Louis Blues
1990 Bob Murdoch - Winnipeg Jets
1989 Pat Burns - Montreal Canadiens

But of course, that fact I gave you was misleading and don’t really support the curse idea. I say that because Jacques Martin was fired just this year (5 years after he won), as
was Joel Quenneville (4 years after he won). Scotty Bowman retired.

Bob Francis is an interesting story which I don’t know full well because he’s in the west. Was he hired under Gretzky’s ownership tenure? The team direction has changed the last few years, I know that much….

Barber was a scapegoat for the Flyers first round playoff loss in 2002.

Also - Pat Burns was fired from Boston in 2000… 3 years after he started with the Bruins (1997-98 - which was also when he won the Jack Adams).

Nolan is an exception out of the lot… Not only is he gone form the Sabres but he has not coached in the NHL since, which is attributed to his attitude.

So basically the Adams means you will be fired — eventually… Which is the truth for most coaches in the league and any league for that matter. Some years there is a higher coach turn over than others…

Mario is being a little more adamant on the Penguins getting a new arena.

He’s been trying to get something built for the last few years and I would THINK that it’s about time for Pittsburgh to step up and save the team after Mario had been the one to step up and save the team for the city in 1999. I don’t look at him as a villain if he decides to save the franchise by getting his ass out of Pittsburgh all together…

It’s sorta sad to see that no progress has been made with either the team or replacing Mellon Arena in the last five years. It’s also sad for me to recollect that I was told by a Pittsburgh fan, “I could live for another 80 years and never see your team win the Stanley Cup.” I guess the jokes on them now :biggrin

Want to know what Lord Stanley’s Cup does with the Tampa Bay players? Where it goes, what it sees, etc?

Check out this pseudo Web Log of the Stanley Cup