May 2008 Archives

Starting in 2008-09, no more minor-league recalls from Georgia.

As it turns out, the NHL is open-shop; that is, players don't technically have to belong to the Players' Association. But there's a catch.

Sundays in Maine usually fly under the Southern California sports radar, but tomorrow should be an interesting one. 

I'd like to kick off the first of hopefully many blog entries on the NHL's current Collective Bargaining Agreement. Enacted in 2005 to end a year-long lockout, it's notoriously long (475 pages, to be exact). Brian Burke says even he doesn't understand it completely. My goal this summer is to come as close to a level of "basic understanding" as possible. Along the way, I'm sure I'll uncover some items of interest to the common man. Like this one ...

"CHP captain accused of fixing traffic ticket for hockey star"
SANTA ANA (AP) -- A California Highway Patrol captain has been placed on leave while authorities investigate whether he tampered with a speeding ticket issued to Anaheim Ducks  center Ryan Getzlaf.
Ken Rosenberg, whose office is decorated with Ducks memorabilia, is accused of removing the ticket filed by an officer who stopped Getzlaf March 14 after he was spotted driving about 84 mph on a toll road.
"We received information that this particular citation may have been improperly processed," CHP Assistant Chief Steven Lykins said.
Citations are normally sent to court and processed within 10 days, but a copy of the ticket didn't get to court until April 28 -- 45 days after it was issued.
"It's clearly inappropriate for anyone to circumvent the legal process by taking action with an official document such as a citation," Lykins said.
A phone number for Rosenberg, of Mission Viejo, was not listed.
Getzlaf, one of the Ducks' top scorers, is playing for Canada at the world hockey championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Here's the blog where I pretend to be able to run a hockey team. Seriously, after covering a team day in and day out, you gain a certain level of respect for how coaches and management are able to do their jobs. I know I certainly couldn't.

That said, here's how I think each Duck did in 07-08, plus their likely off-season fate. I could arrange these guys in alphabetical order, but instead I will arrange them in order of penalty minutes (in parentheses). Seems the appropriate thing to do with this team. This is long. Bookmark the page. Print it out, read it in bed. It might even put you to sleep. In lieu of letter grades I've included faces, just to break up the monotony ...