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Ratings down for conference finals; Ted Nugent backs David Booth; NHL 13 teaser (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media. • You're probably seen Zdeno Chara's tribute to Pavel Demitra by now, but here's Slovakia's Branko Radivojevic rocking a tribute T-shirt after their semifinal win over the Czech Republic at the Hockey World Championship in Helsinki. • NBC audiences were down over the weekend for the conference finals. Lepore: "Saturday's Rangers-Devils game drew a 1.3 overnight rating, down 13% from last year's Game 4 between Boston and Tampa Bay. It may have been hurt by the early timeslot, or the fact that there was a huge dip in ratings in the lone local market, New York. Game 3 drew a 4.2 in the Big Apple, well down from the 6.2 for Game 1 on the NBC Sports Network.  Sunday's Game 4 between the Coyotes and Kings drew a 1.1 overnight, down 15% from last year's Game 4 between the Canucks and Sharks, which was a 2-1 series, as opposed to the 3-0 lead the Kings had heading in. The game drew a series high 2.7 in Los Angeles." [ Puck The Media ] • Henrik Lundqvist on the New York Rangers fans that invade the Rock: "We always have played there in Newark. It's one of the things that makes it special to play these types of games, play New York teams.  We have a lot of support, and talked about it earlier, a couple days ago, when you see the way that the fans react to things that happen during the game or even the results, it's exciting." [ Rangers Rants ] • Looks like Stu Bickel will move up to forward to replace the suspended Brandon Prust. [ Slap Shot ] • Larry Brooks believes the hate-o-meter is slowly seeing the needled move on the Rangers and New Jersey Devils. [ NY Post ] • Sports Business Journal is reporting that the Detroit Red Wings have settled on a designer for a new 18,000-seat arena to replace the Joe. [ Detroit News ] • Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has agreed to terms with defenseman Jamie McBain on a two-year contract. The deal will pay McBain $1.7 million in 2012-13, and $1.9 million in 2013-14. [ Hurricanes ] • They signed Bobby Sanguinetti and forward Nicolas Blanchard to two-way contracts, too. [ Canes Country ] • Zach Parise is a free agent … risk? "It is very likely that he will elevate whichever team signs him in the short run, but as teams weigh the idea of making him an offer, they need to keep in mind the distinct possibility that he will underperform this contract in the near future and eventually become an anchor on the team's salary cap finances." [ NHL Numbers ] • Bear killin' David Booth has a friend in Ted Nugent. [ PITB ]

 

What We Learned: Embarrassing LA sports media moments while covering Kings playoff run (Puck Daddy)

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. It's possibly the greatest bit of investigative journalism conducted since Woodward and Bernstein brought down Richard Nixon. This exemplary, collective effort of sleuth work is currently ongoing in Los Angeles, Calif., where an entire media market has unearthed the NHL's shocking secret: The city has a professional hockey team. Over the past week or so here at Puck Daddy, we've tried to document every startling discovery made by the intrepid Los Angeles media, like how to properly pronounce Anze Kopitar's name (it's hard because he's from Bosnia or something), the real name of this Drew Doughty character ( it's actually Brad !) and that hockey is in fact not played with a ball, but rather a little piece of rubber known as a "puck." That last one makes me pretty uncomfortable because of the word it rhymes with. ("Duck" — sorry, I just don't trust 'em; they have weird beaks). Just how villainous is this team, operating as a sort of sporting sleeper cell? They got all the way to the Western Conference Finals without one local noticing. That takes real criminal talent. And not only that, but, the NHL had the diabolical idea to hide it right under the Los Angelinos' noses, by having their home games played at the Staples Center. You know, where the Lakers play. Further, they named the team the Kings to intentionally confuse even the savviest media organization into thinking they are the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Astonishingly devious stuff. More twists and turns than the Da Vinci Code, which I've read three times just to make sure I understood it all. The best bit of this journalism on this pressing issue comes, of course, from the city's paper of record, the Los Angeles Times, winner of 44 Pulitzer Prizes since 1942, including three in 2012. It was for that towering beacon of journalistic excellence that columnist Chris Erskine successfully scruted several of the team and sport's most inscrutable mysteries . For instance, that thing I said earlier about the puck (again, yuck… oh and that's another gross word it rhymes with), I learned it from Erskine. Apparently they even freeze the thing. And that's a huge point of concern, because, "The hardest shots can reach 110 mph and tear flesh, crush bone, even kill you if you're not careful." Yikes, you guys! ( Coming Up: Rick Nash to Boston?; Tororella defends Prust; Ryan Suter faces his future; Evegni Malkin is having a pretty good season; why Lundqvist is King; why the Capitals can't win with Ovechkin; the Islanders know how to party; Canucks might keep Luongo; Ryan Miller on the CBA; Flames and Oilers coaching news; and are the Kings in trouble?)

 

Stanley Cup Playoffs Continue, as the Philadelphia Flyers Shift Their Focus: Fan's Take (Yahoo! Contributor Network)

It's difficult to know if Philadelphia Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren believed that the massive roster revolution he led last year would result in a Stanley Cup victory this June.

 

Finns, Russia go through, Slovaks upset Canada (AFP)

Holders Finland advanced to the semi-finals of the world ice hockey championships with a last-gasp winner against the United States on Thursday, but Olympic champions Canada were shocked by Slovakia.

 

Devils vs. Rangers in Game 2; top NHL free agents; top 10 playoff saves (Playoff Puck Previews) (Puck Daddy)

Back by popular demand, here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished. Via Lockhart Steele on Twitter: "Guy wants to sell me these for $150 each. seeing Callahan lay out Deron Williams worth it? Thoughts?" Insert your shot-blocking and/or goaltending joke here. [ Deadspin , s/t @Tedislaw ] Eastern Conference Final Game 2 Preview: New Jersey Devils at New York Rangers, 8 p.m. ET. No lineup changes for the Rangers but the Devils could have a new look for Game 2: Coach Pete DeBoer reunited Zach Parise with Travis Zajac and Ilya Kovalchuk, and will have Patrik Elias skating with Petr Sykora and Dainius Zubrus. The Devils are going to try to find a way around the Rangers' shot blocking that doesn't involve maiming. By the way, that whole "keep Rangers fans out of the Rock" thing the Devils were doing? It's disappeared, and the team hasn't explained why. Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page . For tonight's starting goalies, check out Left Wing Lock. Evening Reading • Listen to today's Marek Vs. Wyshynski here. • Adam Proteau presents the top 10 UFAs this summer. You know Nos. 1 and 2; did you know No. 3 was Dennis Wideman of the Washington Capitals? [ THN ]

 

Anaheim's Ryan helps U.S. defeat Switzerland at worlds (The SportsXchange)

The Anaheim Ducks' Bobby Ryan scored the first of four unanswered goals to help the United States to a 5-2 victory over Switzerland at the ice hockey world championships in Helsinki on Tuesday.

 

Trade Patrick Kane; Rangers vs. Devils previews; Nickelback’s favorite hockey song (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media. • Yeah, about that … • The latest Bovada odds on winning the Stanley Cup: Los Angeles Kings (7/5); New York Rangers (11/5); New Jersey Devils (10/3); Phoenix Coyotes (6/1). • Neither Game 7 of the conference finals will appear on NBC, but rather on NBC Sports Network. [ Puck The Media ] • Simon Gagne has been cleared for contact for the Los Angeles Kings, but won't begin practicing quite yet. [ LA Kings Insider ] • Who might coach the Washington Capitals now that Dale Hunter's out? How about Marc Crawford, Ron Wilson or Patrick Roy? [ NHL ] • Nikita Filatov will play in the KHL next season, which is probably the best thing for all parties. [ TSN ] • Here's Yahoo! Sports' own Nick Cotsonika on the Evolution of John Tortorella: "Tortorella's style has worked with the team because he has the right players, stays consistent and, yes, shows another side of himself behind closed doors." [ Y! Sports ] • It's only $900 to watch the Devils and Rangers at the Garden. Wow. [ NYT ] • Dater picks the Devils in six: "The Rangers have lived dangerously this spring, barely escaping their series against Ottawa and Washington. You can only do that for so long. The Devils have more offensive depth than those teams, and they like to forecheck. Brodeur has won four conference titles. Lundqvist? Zero." [ SI ] • Ken Campbell on how the Rangers' shot-blocking style is terrible for the NHL: "I think the New York Rangers are bad for hockey. And if we've learned anything about the NHL over the past century, it's that once one style of play garners some success, teams will be lined up to steal the blueprint." [ THN ] • Patrick Kane's drunken weekend in Madison has now become fodder for the Chicago media, urging for the Blackhawks to trade him. From Steve Rosenbloom: "Everyone at the Madhouse on Madison would have a reason for wanting to be rid of Kane. The reasons would be legit, too, more legit than Kane playing center. So, maybe the Hawks' silence isn't because they're hoping this goes away but because they're fighting to see who gets the honor of making the problem child go away." [ Tribune ]

 

What We Learned: What to make of this Washington Capitals season? (Puck Daddy)

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. There's been a lot of talk about what this season has meant for the Washington Capitals in the hours leading up to, and then immediately following, their final game of the remarkably eventful 2011-12 season. Wysh had a pretty good recap of the reasons the Capitals felt this little run to a pair of one-goal Game 7s against the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the Eastern Conference — both having been heavy favorites — vindicated the Dale Hunter system of everyone playing defense and collapsing to within three inches of the crease, and it's perfectly reasonable for people to feel that way. Certainly, no one expected these Capitals to do much damage in the postseason given that they frittered away a division they were picked to dominate. But the thing that everyone seems to forget is that, again, they were picked to dominate the Southeast, be a superpower in the East and the League at large. If the team tuned out Bruce Boudreau, and it appears they did, then wasn't his replacement, whoever it happened to be, more or less expected to get this far? Therefore, it becomes a question about what changed, and really, what didn't. Let's not forget, Boudreau came in originally and let guys like Alex Semin, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green have their run of the rink. Two-minute shifts? Sure! Goals aplenty? You bet. But in the end, what did it get them? Bounce-outs, and if you believe the talk, disappointing ones at that. So Boudreau changed the style, focusing more on defense, tethering Ovechkin and Co. to an extent, and … getting the same amount of success. Under each of the two clearly definable Boudreau regimes, the team lost in the conference quarter- and semi-finals. Which is of course notable because the latter is exactly how far Hunter got in his first chance at the tiller, despite doing everything in his power not to: like limiting Ovechkin to fewer than 20 minutes a night in every game in this series save for Saturday's Game 7 and the three-overtime Game 3, in which he played 35:14 — or, if you prefer 17:37 per three periods of play. This therefore vindicates Hunter only as far as it vindicated Boudreau; which, with a roster like this, and given the "choker" label being hung liberally on the former Caps coach this time last year. The philosophy changed radically under Hunter, and worked only as far as it did for Boudreau. Why? ( Coming Up: Team USA, international ass-kickers; getting stupid about Patrick Kane's drinking; Parise's future; Could Brad Stuart return to the Sharks?; Kevin Lowe says Ryan Murray is the top player in this year's draft class; Suter/Weber questions; Pancakes Penner's revenge; Bruins pumped for Dougie Hamilton; Alfredsson retirement watch; Leafs/Penguins trade?; Lundqvist is King; Alex Burrows runs and hugs a goalie; and Winnipeg Jets fans are burning Coyotes jerseys.)

 

Jonathan Quick vs. Mike Smith in the battle for Stanley Cup Final, Conn Smythe (Puck Daddy)

Los Angeles Kings Head Coach Darryl Sutter joked during a Thursday conference call that if goaltender Jonathan Quick were to get injured, Jonathan Bernier would be next in line, followed by team vice president and assistant GM Ron Hextall and goaltending coach Bill Ranford. The latter two were Conn Smythe Trophy winners in 1987 and 1990, respectively, while Bernier has yet to experience a playoff game in his NHL career. Quick is the current front-runner for the Smythe as the Kings go for their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Some teams can win in spite of their goaltending, but the Kings wouldn't be close to even a sniff of the Western Conference Final against the Phoenix Coyotes without the work of Quick. His 35-win season made him the first Kings goaltender to record three straight 30-plus win seasons. He also posted an NHL-best 10 shutouts and was top-5 in wins, goals-against average (1.95) and save percentage (.929). Aside from being a Smythe candidate, he was nominated for the Vezina Trophy; and while he fell short of being a finalist, many believe he was worthy of Hart Trophy consideration. Taking into account that nine of Quick's losses came in games where he allowed just a single goal, it's hard to ignore his inclusion into the MVP discussion. Sutter has seen this before. While coaching the Calgary Flames during the 2003-04 season when they came within a game of winning the Cup, he watched Miikka Kiprusoff post five shutouts and a 1.85 goals against average en route to Game 7 of the Final that year. To Sutter, what Quick brings to the Kings reminds him of Kiprusoff eight years ago. "I think they play a lot of the same way in their styles," Sutter said. "It's a bit different than other guys. Same practice habits, both have real similar work ethics, both have the same demeanor in the locker room, but there are real similarities between these two guys." While many saw this coming from Quick, what Mike Smith has been providing to the Coyotes wasn't predicted.

 

Maloney and Tippett making it work in Phoenix (The Associated Press)

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) Perched on a seat well above the ice, Phoenix Coyotes general manager Don Maloney peers down as the tip of his reading glasses rests between his lips, occasionally putting them on to glance at the papers piled in his lap.