The Best of the Nation - 9.24.12
Jonathan Willis
September 24 2012 10:34AM
Nathan MacKinnon is the consensus pick as the best player eligible for the 2013 Draft. Who else is available? What NHL list that nobody wants to be on did Ryan Kesler just make? What kind of livestock did an NHL executive compare NHL players to? Why is Toronto slamming the “best goalie coach on the planet”? When will the NHL lockout end?
All that and more, after the jump.
John Carlson's contract with the Washington Capitals likely to be a bargain
Jonathan Willis
September 17 2012 12:24PM
After a slow summer for hockey news, teams got busy in the twilight hours of the last collective bargaining agreement, with more than 20 players signed to new contracts in the last few days. Among those signed was Washington Capitals defenceman John Carlson, to a six-year, $23.8 million contract.
NHL Math: When 51.6% Is Actually Less Than 50%
Jonathan Willis
August 29 2012 11:35AM
Details about the NHL’s new CBA proposal have come out – TSN has the details here - and at first glance it looks like a significant step in the right direction. There’s no roll-back, and the players will earn more than 50 percent of hockey-related revenue in the first two years of the deal, a little less in year three, and then 50 percent for the next three seasons. Given that most feel the deal will eventually be a 50/50 split between owners and players, that sounds fair, right?
It’s a step in the right direction, but the proposal is nowhere near as good as it looks at first blush.
Edmonton Oilers 12-13 Preview: Improvement is Inevitable. Right?
Jonathan Willis
August 27 2012 11:08AM
Oilers select first overall at the 2011 Draft (Bri Weldon/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0)
The model was clear enough when the Oilers first decided they were going to make the best of a bad situation midway through 2009-10: having found themselves rather good at losing, the team would keep right on doing it, earning a bunch of top draft picks. With that nucleus of young talent, some patience, and some shrewd rebuilding, the Oilers core would be good enough when the team finally rebounded that they could contend for years.
2011-12 – judging by the statements of Oilers executives, the shift in tactics by (and end of season departure of) head coach Tom Renney – was supposed to be the start of the return to respectability. Instead, the Oilers picked first overall again. Is 2012-13 the year the team starts putting some distance between themselves and the NHL basement?
Detroit Red Wings 12-13 Preview: Life After Lidstrom
Jonathan Willis
August 15 2012 01:31PM
For years, the demise of the Detroit Red Wings has been popular to predict. With an older core, the idea that the team would fall into decline after it lost Yzerman, Fedorov, Shanahan, Hull and the rest was a popular one. It didn’t happen.
Now, Nicklas Lidstrom, the man who has arguably been the most important Red Wing for the last decade and a half, has finished his NHL career. Is the decline and fall of the Red Wings about to become reality?
