What's In My Five

So the Puck Daddy himself, Greg Wyshynski, has been running a daily feature this month where he is having various luminaries from around the hockey world list the five ways in which they would change the NHL. This series has spawned some interesting lists from around the blogosphere as well, and I figured it was about time that I unleashed my list on an unsuspecting public. You will have to forgive me if a few of these entries look a bit familiar.

1. Penalties last the full two minutes - This is an easy way to increase offense without really screwing with the integrity of the game. It rewards teams with a good power play while also getting the skill players more ice time. Ideally this would also lead to teams ultimately taking fewer penalties, which in theory would improve the pace of the game.
   
2. Eliminate the trapezoid - As I have stated before, I really hate this rule. It just blows my mind that the NHL changed the game because goalies had become too skilled for its liking. I am getting rid of this rule and allowing goalies to take whatever risks they want with the puck.
   
3. Reserve 5% of all tickets for the day of the game - There is no better live sport to behold than hockey, and the NHL needs to find a way to get some new blood in the seats. My plan is for teams to hold 5% of their tickets for each game and to put them on sale about 15 minutes before they open the arena doors. Not only would this be about the only way for an "Average Joe" to get tickets in a city like Toronto, but it would allow someone to decide to take in a game on a whim. There really is no downside to this plan as places like Florida and Columbus probably would not have sold those tickets anyway. At the same time you could breathe some added life into an already full arena, much like the Student Rush program did in Pittsburgh the past few seasons.
   
4. Contract four teams - With minimal apologies to fans in Miami, Nashville, Atlanta, and Columbus... I am taking your teams away. The skill level in today's NHL is a little too watered down for my tastes, and this should help remedy that. My process would be simple; these four teams cease to exist and all their players become unrestricted free agents. To allow the remaining teams to take on some of these players I would allow the remaining 26 teams to buy out two contracts on their current roster with no cap hit. In reality a move like this would require some kind of compensation to the players who no longer had teams to play for to get the NHLPA to sign off on the move, but I am not going to worry about that here.
   
5. Introduce the "Play In" game - On the day after the final day of the regular season the #8 seed in each conference will host the #9 seed in a single-game playoff to determine who goes into the post-season as their respective conference's #8 seed. Clean and simple. Post-season overtime rules apply so we do not have to worry about a post-season spot being decided by a shootout (shudder). I have to admit this is a bit gimmicky and really goes against my general trend of maintaining the integrity of the game, but I think it would be a fun and exciting way to get the post-season underway.

So there is my list for better or worse. In all honesty I could come up with another five ways to improve the NHL without even blinking, but I think these five would be a big step in the right direction. There are probably a couple people in Nashville and Atlanta who would disagree though I'm guessing.

Southeast Division 2008 Free Agency Preview

It's time to kick of week two of my free agency extravaganza! We now find ourselves in the friendly confines of the Eastern Conference, and the Southeast Division to be exact. It is hard not to think of the Southeast as the worst division in the NHL, but that could lead to a lot of activity this off-season. The good news for most of these teams is that it shouldn't be too tough to upgrade their rosters through free agency.

Atlanta Thrashers

Pending UFA's:

• Bobby Holik ($4,250,000)
• Mark Recchi ($1,750,000)
• Steve McCarthy ($725,000)
• Mark Popovic ($535,000)
  
• Eric Boulton ($525,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• Kari Lehtonen ($2,200,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $26.9 million
Notes: The Thrashers could be real players in the free agent market. They have plenty of cap space and no noteworthy free agents with the exception of Lehtonen. They also don't have any high end players entering contract years. They figure to be major players in the Marian Hossa sweepstakes if he does not re-sign in Pittsburgh. In reality, the biggest challenge the Thrashers will probably face will be convincing top flight players to come to Atlanta. This team could revamp their roster this season, or they could struggle just to hit the cap minimum. Atlanta should definitely be one of the more interesting teams to watch this off-season.

Carolina Hurricanes

Pending UFA's:

• Brett Hedican ($2,432,000)
• Trevor Letowski ($800,000)
• Wade Brookbank ($500,000)
• Keith Aucoin ($475,000)
• Ryan Bayda ($475,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• Tuomo Ruutu ($2,250,000)
• Tim Gleason ($1,175,000)
• Dennis Seidenberg ($850,000)
• Tim Conboy ($550,000)
• Chad Larose ($500,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $39.8 million
Notes: The Hurricanes do not have many holes to fill in their roster this off-season. They do have a little cap room to work with, but Erik Cole and Eric Staal are both entering the final years of their contracts so the Hurricanes brass will need to keep that in mind when planning their spending. Especially when you consider that Staal could easily command $8-$9 million from another team if they were to sign him to an offer sheet. The biggest move the Hurricanes make this off-season should be to sign Staal to a long extension to keep their franchise player in place for many years to come.

Florida Panthers

Pending UFA's:

• Branislav Mezei ($850,000)
• Steve Montador ($800,000)
• Magnus Johansson ($700,000)
• Wade Belak ($625,000)
• Jassen Cullimore ($535,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• Jay Bouwmeester ($2,250,000)
• Rostislav Olesz ($984,000)
• Greg Campbell ($525,000)
• Kamil Kreps ($495,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $37.4 million
Notes: The Florida Panthers have quite a few above average contracts for such a mediocre team. They could move Olli Jokinen to give themselves some more cap flexibility, but their top priority needs to be locking up Jay Bouwmeester to a long-term contract. Bouwmeester is one of the top young defenders in the NHL and he could realistically get a big offer sheet from another team. The Panthers would almost have to match if that happened, and that could throw their salary structure out of whack for years to come.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Pending UFA's:

• Chris Gratton ($1,500,000)
• Andre Roy ($1,000,000)
  
• Andreas Karlsson ($500,000)
• Craig MacDonald ($500,000)
• Junior Lessard ($500,000)
  
• Mathieu Darche ($475,000)
• Doug Janik ($475,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• Craig Ryan ($850,000)
• Alexandre Picard ($500,000)
  
• Karl Stewart ($475,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $35.4 million
Notes: Before Tampa Bay does anything else this summer, they need to figure out what they are going to do with Vincent Lecavalier. If they are going to keep him, they need to sign him to an extension before the season starts and get it over with. If they are going to trade him, his value will only go down the longer they hang onto him. Once that issue is settled the Lightning can move forward with their plan for rebuilding their team. Assuming they have one, which may be a big assumption.

Washington Capitals

Pending UFA's:

• Sergei Fedorov ($6,080,000)
• Olaf Kolzig ($5,450,000)
• Cristobal Huet ($2,750,000)
  
• Matt Cooke ($1,525,000)
• Quintin Laing ($475,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• Steve Eminger ($1,000,000)
• Shaone Morrisonn ($900,000)
• Mike Green ($850,000)
• Eric Fehr ($800,000)
• Brooks Laich ($725,000)
• Boyd Gordon ($650,000)

Cap $$$ Committed: $35.8 million
Notes: The Capitals are in pretty good shape right now as most of their roster players are under contract for at least another year. They should also be able to bring Sergei Fedorov back at a fraction of last season's salary. The two big issues for the Capitals are Mike Green and in goal. Mike Green is the best young defenseman in the NHL for my money and the Caps need to lock him up for the long term. Losing Green to another team, or even letting another club sign him to an big offer sheet could cause a big setback in the development of this promising young club. Cristobal Huet will most likely be back between the pipes for the Capitals, but I wouldn't blame them for taking a run at Pascal Leclaire or Dan Ellis first as either one of them is a better long term option than Huet.

In Response To The Richard Zednik Incident

By now I'm sure everyone has seen the video of Richard Zednik getting his neck cut by teammate Olli Jokinen's skate. It's pretty gruesome stuff and I have no intention of embedding or linking to it here (it's not hard to find if you're looking.) I do have a lot on my mind regarding what happened to Zednik though so I'm just going to lay it all out and let you all do with it what you will.

• First and foremost, prayers go out to Zednik and his family. It looks like he is going to make a full recovery. I'm sure playing hockey is the furthest thing from his mind right now, but I'm hoping he makes it back. If for nothing else than the ovation he should get when he hits the ice again for the first time.
• Hats off to the medical staff involved for keeping their cool and tending to Zednik. I don't care what the doctors are saying now, they saved Zednik's life.
• I really don't think they should have finished the game. There were only 10 minutes left in the third. The NHL could have easily called it an official game at that point and nobody would have batted an eye. I really feel for the guys who had to go out and play after seeing Zednik go down.
• How amazing is it that Zednik got himself all the way to the bench? Zednik's composure and toughness were off the charts.
• Did this really have to happen in Buffalo?
• Sabre's announcer Rick Jeanneret did a superb job of handling the call. I really can't stand the way Jeanneret calls a game, but you could really feel how hard it was for him to watch this situation go down, let alone have to talk everyone through it. You could tell from his voice that he was reliving the Malarchuk accident all over again and that he was really wishing he wasn't. It was genuinely hard to listen to him, but he handled it like a pro.
• Finally, I'm sure there are going to be people crying for mandatory neck guards on players after this. I'm so against this I can't even tell you. The players shouldn't be forced into wearing an uncomfortable and unnecessary piece of equipment because of a freak accident. I got hit in the neck with a skate once when I was playing Midget hockey (didn't amount to much more than a nasty scratch) and after I got the thought of "Whoa, that could have been bad." out of my head, at no point did I think I should start wearing a neck guard. They aren't worth the trouble and discomfort, and I'm not even convinced one would have prevented what happened to Richard Zednik. I don't actually think the NHL will actually consider making neck guards mandatory (if for no other reason than how uncool they look), but I just know the issue is going to come up.