Battle Of Hudson

There are few players as intriguing as our goalie. Henrik Lundqvist is a rock star persona who happens to be at the top of the list when he’s in net for the Rangers. He’s engaging and fun. All part of what makes the rating Vezina winner so much a fabric of New York City. Henrik wrote a guest article in the NY Post apologizing to fans about the lockout. He genuinely cares and is a true example of what a hockey player should be.

With the work stoppage finally over, he took time out to pay a visit to Jimmy Fallon where he emulated Slash with the electric riff of GNR’s “Sweet Child ‘O Mine.” Hopefully, it’s the start of a memorable ride.

With the NHL officially open for business at last after four months in the dark, teams all around the league had their first real practice of this mini-season.  With it, camp rosters were officially set and for the Devils there were few surprises on it.  Among goalies and defense, only Adam Larsson was ‘called up’ from Albany, though he’s expected to be a full-time starter this year despite the current logjam on D with seven starting-caliber players plus supersub Peter Harrold.  Overall, the Devils invited twenty-eight players to camp with two goalies, eight defensemen and eighteen forwards in the mix to be among the final twenty-three man roster on Opening Night this Saturday.

Among the forwards are a few newer faces, including first-round pick Stefan Matteau who was recalled from his junior team.  Though he was left off the US junior gold-medal team, he will be getting a looksee from coach Pete DeBoer and the rest of the Devils’ staff.  Also getting a look are a few forwards from Albany, including recent signee Bobby Butler, expected to win a spot as a scoring winger after an impressive stint in Albany during the lockout with 15 goals (23 points) in 32 games with a +8.  Another looking to make an impression is recent overseas signee Harri Pesonen, who has a 6-8-14-E line in 31 games.  Butler was given #9 – last worn by the departed captain of last year’s Eastern Conference Champs – and Pesonen got #15, an indication that Petr Sykora (who wore that number last year) will also not be returning.

Obviously Jacob Josefson, Stephen Gionta and Adam Henrique – after he comes back from thumb surgery in a couple weeks – are all locks to be on the team, but after 100+ NHL games Mattias Tedenby is getting one more chance to impress.  Following a slow start in Albany he’s picked it up a little recently (9-8-17 and -5 in 30 games) but probably has an uphill climb in order to win a roster spot this time around.  Also in camp is Tim Sestito, who always seems to be hanging around the fringes.  And our one non-roster tryout is none other than Mathieu Darche, the 36-year old winger most recently of Montreal (5 goals, 7 assists in 61 games during 2011-12).  Best known these days for some of his strong opinions during the lockout, he does provide another option to fill in on the third/fourth line with PK duties.

Of the 28 players invited to camp, 25 were on the ice this afternoon in Newark.  Only the injured Henrique and Josefson (only day-to-day) did not practice, as well as Ilya Kovalchuk who was still in Russia playing in the KHL All-Star game.  Until recently, Kovalchuk’s absence was somewhat contreversial but GM Lou Lamoriello finally spoke in depth this afternoon and revealed that he had no issue with Kovalchuk playing in Russia, but couldn’t give ‘official’ permission because of insurance concerns.  After a week of what turned out to be much ado about nothing and didn’t need to be as dramatic as it was – the Devils’ expensive winger will be flying back Tuesday and participate in practice Wednesday.  His teammates are already planning to give him the business – about video of a figure-skating competition that Kovy participated in during All-Star weekend.  Let’s just say I’m sure he won’t be switching careers anytime soon.

Speaking of Kovalchuk, the issue of whether he will be captain or not should be resolved shortly.  According to coach DeBoer, they have had internal discussions and will probably name a captain before the season opener.  DeBoer also said that he and his staff ‘watched every minute of every game in Albany’ this year, so clearly even with a mini-minicamp, the Devils are more than well-versed on what the seven recent callups from the AHL have done.  DeBoer’s also covered his bases talking with former coach Jacques Lemaire and former Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice about coaching in a 48-game season (both were coaching in 1995, the only other time the NHL played 48 games in the modern era).  Still left unresolved on the ice is the logjam on defense, but given a market where former Devil Kurtis Foster astonishingly got a two-year deal from the Flyers, I’m sure Lou will let the market develop before making a move.

Of course, practice was not (and will not be) open to the public today, a sore spot for Devil fans since the move to Newark after they left South Mountain – where practices were open.  Whatever real or imagined security concerns, or distraction concerns, it’s an opportunity missed to get people more excited about the Devils.  Judging by the early returns, fans just want to see their teams again.  Like in Tampa, which attracted 5500 to a team autograph session/open practice today.  Or St. Louis, where 6000 fans attended their team’s first official practice with this tweet from Darren Pang afterward:

Clearly, despite the (cough) best intentions of the NHL, they still haven’t been able to drive the true fans away yet.  That said, I wouldn’t want to be Gary Bettman in June when the commisioner awards the Cup at a rink to be determined, then will undoubtedly be showered with boos during the draft in Newark.  Clearly for better or for worse, the majority of fans are putting the lion’s share of the blame for this work stoppage and most of the league’s issues on a commisioner who’s locked out the sport three times and apparently are not in the mood to punish players or their teams for it.

After a predictably long wait for the lawyers working on the CBA Memo of Understanding to run up their billable hours, finally the NHL was open for business as of midnight.  With the MOU signed, sealed and delivered at last along with the players’ ratification, schedules finally were able to be published late last night.  There’s generally some good and bad in every schedule.  Derek’s Rangers, for example have ‘only’ six back-to-backs which is a plus, though two are coming right off the hop as the Rangers begin their schedule with a tough four game in six night stretch playing the Bruins twice, at Philly and their home opener against the Penguins.  New York’s longest homestand and road trip are four games apiece (once), with the four game road trip coming in early March, going to Washington, Buffalo, Winnipeg and Pittsburgh in the span of a week – yes they only have one day off before and after going to Winnipeg.

New Jersey on the other hand, made out surprisingly well with their schedule.  Yes, the Devils have ten back to backs but with goalies Martin Brodeur and Johan Hedberg they’re at least equipped to handle it in net.  What’s key is none of those back-to-backs come in January, and the team can get its sea legs a little before the schedule starts to tighten up in February.  Also travel is farcially easy (even compared to other East teams), considering the team only gets one Florida trip, as well as one trip to Winnipeg.  Only that Winnipeg game on the last day of February is out of the EST, and even that’s an 8 PM start local time, with three travel days before the game – though only one after it as the team goes to Buffalo immediately after.

In the category of weirdness, the Devils have back-to-back road games in Washington over a three-day span…but I ain’t complaining, one less charter for the team to get on.  Also, the Devils play the Flyers and Islanders the extra division game and not the Rangers.  The teams won’t even meet in Madison Square Garden until the final week of the regular season (when they have ‘two’ games there, including the season finale), which is unfathomable.  That final game of the season – Saturday, April 27 – could have major impact, or just be a tuneup game for one or both teams going into the playoffs.  The teams’ first meeting since their memorable Conference Final is Tuesday February 5, 7 PM at the Prudential Center.

Looking at the Isles’ schedule real quick, they only have seven back to backs but the league really didn’t do them any favors with an ugly five-game eight-day road trip all throughout North America after their opening two-game homestand.  Toronto on the 24th, Boston on the 25th, Winnipeg on the 27th, Pittsburgh on the 29th and New Jersey on the 31st is just brutal.  While the Isles do have a whopping seven-game homestand in late February and early March to balance that out, they also end the season with a difficult five-game road trip (in nine days) travelwise to Toronto, Winnipeg, Carolina, Philadelphia and Buffalo.  Incredibly, the Isles also only have four games with the Rangers, and both their trips to the Garden in an eight-day span in early February though they do have five with us, so the Battle of NY standings will be slightly uneven this year.

Of course we all have to remember scheduling’s going to be an inexact science this year with having to add on an extra couple of weeks at the end of the season, and changing things around to accomodate an all-conference schedule.  Even the schedule format itself seemed to be a debate till the very last minute, with the original version being a lopsided seven division game to two conference game format.  Plus the league wanted to get in 50 games (which would have been five division games/three conference games), but delays on all fronts hindered that so they eventually settled on 48 games by chopping off a pair of division tilts.  It does make you wonder what would have happened if the NHL had literally gone up to the deadline negotiating the CBA, would the entire schedule have to be pushed back a week or would it have been chopped up even further, past Bettman’s 48-game mandate?

At least now the waiting’s over, in any case.  Teams can sign UFA’s, RFA’s and make trades and with less than a week to go before the puck drops at 3 PM Saturday, it’ll be a mad scramble not unlike the trade deadline.  Incidentally, this year’s trade deadline will be on April 3, three and a half weeks before the end of the season.  In the Devils’ case they’ll have played 36 of their 48 games before then, so teams should have a good idea whether they’re contenders or not.  On the other hand, with fewer games, more teams will be in it longer, so we’ll see how that – and last year’s decreased cap – impacts the trade deadline.

The latest date the season can end is on Thursday, June 28.  That Friday and Saturday was supposed to be the two-day NHL draft at the Prudential Center, but instead both rounds will be crammed into one day – Sunday the 31st.  Free agency will begin July 5, so there won’t be much time to get out of hockey mode before planning for next year begins in earnest.  Final planning for this year is already underway, and as I wrote earlier, the puck will drop next Saturday at 3 PM with three games –  including the Kings’ long awaited banner-raising (with the Blackhawks coming to town) as well as Pittsburgh going to Philly and Ottawa traveling to Winnipeg.

Both US games will be on NBC, depending on market while Ottawa-Winnipeg commences a HNIC tripleheader that also includes Montreal-Toronto in primetime at 7 and Anaheim-Vancouver at 10.  All three local teams begin their seasons at 7, with the Rangers traveling to Boston in another Original Six tilt, while the Devils and Isles square off on Long Island.  Only Buffalo, San Jose, Calgary and Edmonton have to wait another day to drop the puck on their seasons.  Next Sunday’s national TV games include Philly at Buffalo on NBC at 12:30 and Chicago traveling to Phoenix in a playoff rematch at 10 PM on NBCSN.  Both Rangers games will be on the NHL Network, but that doesn’t affect us local fans who get the Rangers, Isles and Devils on all the MSG channels.  NHL Network will have a season preview tonight at 7 PM, probably will provide a good primer for those of us that forgot the offseason moves and changes pre-NHL war.

What also remains to be seen – aside from all the remaining signings and trades before Saturday – is just what the NHL and most individual teams plan to do to ‘make whole’ their customers, many of whom have been pushed to the point of distraction and beyond by the NHL’s third lengthy labor stoppage in two decades.  We don’t know yet the substance of anything the league or teams will do, but the above video is at least a better start asthetically than ‘Thank You Fans’ or their bad stock-actor commercials coming out of the last lockout.

After an ugly four months for the NHL, the end of the lockout Sunday seemed to finally signal the end of waiting for hockey fans.  However on Thursday, there have still been relatively few questions answered as the ratification process and drafting of the ‘Memo of Understanding’ (a condensed legal version of the CBA) has dragged on through the entire week, as well as haggling over dates such as the trade deadline.  Even after the NHL Board of Governors unanimously approved the CBA yesterday in NYC, commissioner Gary Bettman could offer few answers both as to the contents of the agreement itself – or more to the point for hockey teams and fans – an answer to what the 48-game schedule will look like.  Information has come at a slow trickle this week, but after the NHLPA officially finishes its ratification vote on Saturday afternoon then business can finally begin in earnest, and not a moment too soon since the season is scheduled to begin next Saturday on the 19th.

One thing we do know officially now – besides the incompetence of the Leafs as evidenced by the shock last-minute firing of Brian Burke in Toronto yesterday, as chronicled by Derek – is that it will be a 48-game season, with a schedule format as follows:

18 division games (5 against two teams, 4 against the other two)
30 conference games (3 against the other 10 conference foes)

Obviously there will be no games with the other conference for this season.  Conflicting reports have either 26 or 28 teams of the 30 teams opening the schedule of games next Saturday.  Although nothing can be announced formally for another couple of days, rumor has it that among the matchups are three Original Six clashes (NYR-Boston, Toronto-Montreal and Chicago-Detroit) as well as three all-Canada clashes (Winnipeg-Ottawa and Edmonton-Calgary to go along with the Leafs and Habs) as HNIC will surely kick off in grand style.  All I know about the Devils’ schedule is they can’t have a home game till the 22nd at the earliest because of Disney on Ice being booked from the 19th-21st.  So Devil fans at least will have to wait a little longer to see their team back at the Rock.

Camps will open on Sunday, after the PA ratifies the CBA, which probably gives Ilya Kovalchuk enough time to play in the KHL All-Star game before coming back, assuming he does come back.  I can understand why he’d want to pander to his Russian audience by offering up mixed messages over whether he’s coming back or wants to come back to the Devils after the official conclusion of the lockout.  To a degree, it’s commendable that he didn’t run out on his teammates until he ‘had’ to but that said, he’d better be on the first plane out of there once the CBA gets ratified late Saturday (which will be early Sunday in Russia).  Especially if he’s going to be the next captain of the Devils, in addition to its highest-paid and best player.

I don’t want to hear any vacilation after this weekend, particularly after everything the Devils went through to sign Kovy to the kind of contract he wanted and after a lockout which annoyed fans with both sides – players and owners alike.  Even if the rumors are true that Vladimir Putin is offering $30 million a season to retain Kovy – and other Russian stars.  You signed a contract for fifteen years, which the team paid for dearly with penalties.  Deal with it.  If you want to cry about how the NHL isn’t honoring its end of the contract, well every standard player contract contains the provision that a new CBA may affect changes in this deal so there’s no leg legally to stand on.

Anyway, enough about that, which hopefully we won’t have to hear any more about after Sunday.  As far as CBA info goes, some of the new info that has come out was documented by Pierre LeBrun the other day:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/21219/trades-cheat-deals-and-more-cba-details

Among the changes are the ability to retain up to half a salary and/or cap hit in a trade, a change ironically championed by Burke, the recently deposed GM of the Leafs.  You can only do this a limited number of times, and with a certain amount of cap space though.  Also changing the cap is the new ‘cap recapture’ formula, which penalizes teams a certain amount of cap space when players on backdiving contracts – like Kovy, Roberto Luongo, etc – retire early while still under contract.  Essentially you would get penalized the difference between the player’s cap hit and their actual salary in those years, divided out by the number of years left on the contract.  There are provisions for teams trading for such players being charged with part of the cap hit too.

While I understand the need for such changes, it’s getting like the NFL where you need a law degree to fully understand the cap.  Not to mention it adds yet ‘another’ penalty for the Devils on their Kovy contract, in addition to the two high picks and $3 million fine they’ve already had to cough up.  At least this finally gives other teams some punishment for their similar cap-busting deals though.

Everyone knows about the more obvious changes already, such as the seven-year term limit on contracts (eight years if you’re re-signing your own player) and salary variance which should prevent future backdiving deals given the fact the lowest yearly salary can’t be under fifty percent of the highest yearly salary in a contract, despite the 35% year-to-year variance that is allowed.  Each team can have up to two total penalty-free contract buyouts in the next two offseasons, which means you can use two buyouts in 2013-14, or 2014-15, or one buyout in ’13-14 and one in ’14-15.

Although free agency – along with other things – will be pushed back this offseason, it will be July 1 every other offseason of the ten-year deal, assuming neither side exercises its opt-out option after the eighth year (the owners can terminate the CBA on 9/1/2020…if they don’t, the PA can do so on 9/15/2020).  Similar to the NBA there will now be an ‘interview’ period for free agents, meaning they can talk to other teams from the time the draft ends till the night before free agency officially begins.  Presumably that means they can also come to an agreement with other teams, which won’t be official until July 1.  Also taking their cue from the NBA, the NHL has expanded its draft lottery to give every non-playoff team a chance at the top pick, instead of just the five worst teams.

However, we have to wait a couple more days to learn other details such as the schedule, and what the NHL and individual teams decide to do to try and win back fans disillusioned by a third lengthy lockout inside of two decades.  During the reading of his statement after ratification yesterday, Bettman alluded to the fact that, ‘I read the blogs, the tweets, the letters (of people angry over the lockout), and we know we have a lot of work to do to earn back your trust’.  However sincere you want to say Bettman’s apology was, that little acknowledgement is a reminder of how small the world has become thanks to the Internet and Twitter, even more so than in 2004-05.

As I and others have said, a good start by the NHL would be making Gamecenter (their internet service where you can watch the games) free for the season.  Having Center Ice free on TV’s is tougher cause you have to go through the cable companies for that, whereas the NHL runs the internet stream – but you could still heavily discount CI as well.  Not to mention easier access to games will help bring back some of the casual fans you lost during this mess of a work stoppage.  I don’t really plan to shop there but a heavy discount at the NHL store – online and the one in NYC – would be nice for some.

On a team level, already the Tampa Bay Lightning have announced a promotion of ‘200 for $200’, a reference to the fact they plan to make 200 season tickets available for a total cost of $200 each – approximately $8 per game for 24 home games.  And the Penguins plan to have a 50% discount on merchandise for the first four home games at the Consol Energy Center, as well as vouchers for three free concession (food/drink) items to fans attending any of those games.  No doubt other teams are waiting for the official schedule release to unveil some of their plans, making this extra wait more annoying.

UPDATE: And just as I’m finishing this blog, word’s come out that the PA vote will begin at 8 PM tonight and last for 36 hours, finishing at 8 AM on Saturday morning.  So hopefully by the afternoon we can have some clarity over the schedule at last, and begin everything in earnest.  I’m sure it won’t be a moment too soon for the remaining UFA’s and RFA’s that still have to ink contracts with only a week to do it in.

UPDATE (part two): According to Tom Gulutti, the Devils will play the Isles on Long Island on the 19th, for each team’s opener.  We’ll see if that’s what the opener winds up being, but with the other games that have already been rumored this pairing seemed likely.