Latest News Updates

Canadiens hire Rick Dudley as assistant GM (The Associated Press)

MONTREAL (AP) The Montreal Canadiens will have two assistant general managers after hiring Rick Dudley on Friday.

 

Canadiens hire Dudley as assistant GM (The SportsXchange)

The Montreal Canadiens have hired Rick Dudley as their assistant general manager, the team announced Friday.

 

Winnipeg's Scheifele might be destined for another learning year (The SportsXchange)

What to do with center Mark Scheifele?

 

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?)

 

Coyotes beat LA Kings 2-0, avoid West final sweep (The Associated Press)

LOS ANGELES (AP) Shane Doan has played 16 NHL seasons without ever getting this close to lifting the Stanley Cup. Although his ultimate goal is still a good distance away, Captain Coyote's inspiring performance in the face of elimination got Phoenix's backs off the glass in the Western Conference finals.

 

Jersey Fouls: Penner Pancakes; Attack of the FrankenJerseys; Winnipeg’s beer tribute (Puck Daddy)

Jersey Fouls is our ongoing exploration of the rules and etiquette for proper hockey jersey creation and exhibition. If you spot what you think may be a foul in your arena, email a photo to us at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com for inclusion in future installment. Well, this was bound to happen. Perhaps no other athlete has been defined by a particular food item like Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Penner has been with pancakes. At least not since David "Morning Kegger" Wells of the N.Y. Yankees. Ever since he was "injured" while eating a stack of pancakes , Penner has been associated with flapjacks and has been more than willing to embrace the meme for a good cause. John Hoven ( aka The Mayor ) passed this along before Game 3 of the Western Conference final. Foul? Well, yes, but we respect someone for using the official (or close to official) nickname of a player. But for the record: We're not sure how a couples' jersey in which the other one reads "MRS. BUTTERWORTH" would affect the acceptability of the original jersey. ( Coming Up: God-awful Devils/Rangers FrankenJersey, and another one from Dallas; the Jets celebrate return of hockey and beer; Danny Briere Fouls; and a rather offensive Flames fan.)

 

Boston Bruins at the World Championship Update for May 17: Fan's Take (Yahoo! Contributor Network)

Boston Bruins fans will get to enjoy a different kind of deep playoff run as the two Bruins in the IIHF World Championship advance to the semifinals and keep their medal hopes alive. Sure, it's not the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but either Zdeno Chara or David Krejci could very well bring their home country some glory soon.

 

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.

 

Slovakia ousts Canada 4-3 at ice hockey worlds (The Associated Press)

HELSINKI (AP) San Jose Sharks' Michal Handzus gave Slovakia the winning goal in a 4-3 victory over Canada in the quarterfinals of the ice hockey world championships in Helsinki on Thursday.

 

Tippett talks Game 2; Torres hearing; Dale Hunter Hockey debate (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. • All of this has happened before, and will happen again. (via reader Jon Ward) • Dave Tippett on the keys to Game 2: "First and foremost, if you're not willing to jump in and win a few more one-on-one battles, then the tactical stuff you might as well throw out the window." [ AZ Central ] • Alex Semin on Dale Hunter Hockey: "The whole year it was up-and-down, we win a game, we lose a game. By the time we got to playoffs, the team finally understood how to play the game he wanted, defense first, no mistakes, blocking shots, all five guys together. But during the regular season, intensity is not the same as in the playoffs. In postseason, every goal is worth its weight in gold." [ Russian Machine ] • What on earth did Alex Ovechkin mean about jealousy in the Capitals' locker room? [ Puck Drunk Love ] • Larry Robinson will not be heading to Montreal: "Devils assistant coach and 2000 Cup-winning head coach Larry Robinson vehemently ripped a report suggesting he is interested in joining the new Montreal regime, saying that comments attributed to an agent, whom he called a friend, were five years old and that there has been no such contact or interest." [ NY Post ] • Raffi Torres will watch Gary Bettman deny his appeal on Thursday. [ Sportsnet ] • Oh, it only the Coyotes had moved to Winnipeg; then it would be the Jets making this run in the Western Conference. [ QMI ] • Elliotte Friedman, on Dale Hunter Hockey: "This is where I strongly disagree with statistical analysis, which mocked Hunter's system as being terrible for puck possession and, therefore, determined he was coaching a style that allowed opponents to control the game. This is one where numbers don't tell anything close to the real story. They played hard, they played together and I would've liked to see how things evolved over the offseason. If it's decided that the team must go in a different direction, there are going to be some very unhappy players. It's a delicate balance for McPhee." [ CBC ]