Battle Of Hudson

The Devils have signed former Islander Aaron Asham.

Good signing for the Devils. You can tell Lou wants a toughness on this year’s Devils that simply wasn’t there last year, particularly during the Ottawa series.

VERSUS’ schedule of NHL games, along with likely NBC’s, will be released the week of August 13. Of course, NBC’s games will be flex-scheduled, with the 1 Game of the Week chosen 2 Weeks in advance.

Also, I’m sure many of you would be wondering if VERSUS is going to go to England and cover the two Ducks-Kings games at the 02 Arena in London.

The answer is yes…and no. They will be covering ONE game in England, the Sunday game on 9/30. It is not known yet whether or not they will air the Saturday game.

The thought behind that is that…NBC will air it if the plans for an outdoor game fall through, or VERSUS will move the start time of the TBD Big 12 Football Game from 12:30 to as late as 4:30, since they have less wiggle room than usual because they have a PBR event at 8 and a Mountain West game at 10

Thought you’d all like to know.

When I was a kid in the mid-late 90’s, my dad tried hard to get me into hockey. I played the sport in grade school on the floors of gyms, but it was hard to watch the games as my bedtime fell before the then 3-hour games would end.

That’s when network TV came in. I LOVED the NHL On FOX and ABC as a kid. It gave me an oppurtunity to see all my favorite players, since the Devils were rarely on. Watching the New York Rangers get crushed on National TV every week against guys like Lemieux, Fedorov, Lindros and Amonte in the early part of the contract. I watched the Devils win the Stanley Cup in 1995 on FOX. In later years, the Devils would actually get an appearence against the Rangers or the Islanders once in a while, and many of the Devils playoff heartbreaks were broadcast on FOX.

By the time 1999 came around, I was 10 and watched the NHL On FOX every week. It was the game’s last year on FOX, and they only showed a couple of regional games a week, which meant once in a while, the Rangers WOULDN’t BE ON. That was fun. At the end of the year, they showed Wayne Gretzky’s final game as an NHL player on the network. After yet another Devils heartbreak in the playoffs in ’99, I stopped watching the games (except for the Finals) and that was it for FOX NHL Saturday.

The NHL On ABC continued the tradition of afternoon hockey, but by the time that came around, my dad would let me stay up to watch most games. That, combined with the fact that ABC rarely broadcast games, and I couldn’t stand Gary Thorne (who would do the game of the week) I kind of lost interest.

NBC and VERSUS have sort of revived my love affair with the game, outside of the Devils. NBC broadcasts nearly as many games as FOX and devotes time to an online pre-show. VERSUS has been interesting to follow as well.

My point is, the NHL needs to keep some games on network TV to get kids interested in the games. It would help if there were more games, but I’ll take what we have now.

The New York Rangers signed 19 year old centerman Artem Anisimov to a professional contract. Could this be the answer to the third line center position in question? Possibly. From articles I have read, he seems like he could be the real deal. Any thoughts?

This is a new feature I’m going to be toying with over the next few weeks. The Top 3 Columns of the Day from the Hockey Blogs:

3. “That’s Coach Hawerchuk To You, Kid” by Greg Wyshynski at NHL Fanhouse (http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/08/02/thats-coach-hawerchuk-to-you-kid/)
2. “Refuse and Redeemers” by pucksandbooks at On Frozen Blog (http://www.onfrozenblog.com/2007/08/02/refuse-and-redeemers/)
1. “Dustin Penner is an Edmonton Oiler” by James Mirtle (http://mirtle.blogspot.com/2007/08/dustin-penner-is-edmonton-oiler.html)

Check out the Facebook for Hockey Bloggers at the Following Link:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2233092946&pwstdfy=ac152ac975a0ccd34abac5a0166c6b13

A hearty Hi ho to our new Rangers blogger, Lenny. He will be joining us to comment on the day-to-day actions of the Broadway Blueshirts.

Say hi in the comments!

Hey everyone. My name is Lenny and I’ll be doing some New York Rangers blogging. It’s been a busy couple of days, so let’s get right to it.

July 31- Rangers sign Marcel Hossa to a 1 year, $780,000 contract. Hossa earned a $180,000 raise from last season. Hossa played a large part in helping the Rangers get to the playoffs last season, playing on the top line with Jagr and Nylander. He scored 10 goals and had 8 assists in 64 games.

August 1- Sean Avery awarded $1.9 million for 1 year by an arbitrator. NYR accepts. Avery registered 10 goals and 12 assists in 29 games with the Rangers last season.

Both of these moves were strong moves for the Rangers. Hossa provides a strong board presence, plays a strong, physical game and has always been tabbed as “underachieving” when it comes to his point totals. Avery seemed to rediscover himself in New York following the trade last season. Instead of being an arrogant distraction, Avery became an agitating, intimidating force that had surprising offensive talent. Avery also provides penalty killing ability, which the Rangers took a hit on when Ortmeyer moved on to Nashville and Cullen was traded back to Carolina.

The biggest few questions that remain:
1) Who will be backing up Lundqvist this season? Valiquette? Montoya? Free Agent signing?
2) Who will be centering the third line? Avery? Dubinski? Another prospect? Michael Peca?
3) Who will be the starting six defensemen? Is Kasper back to NHL form?

There are plenty of possibilities that can happen over the next 63 days before the Rangers’ season opener. Feel free to discuss this and let me know how my first try at this looks.

Zach Parise re-signed with the Devils today! 4 years, $12.5 Million.

Well done by both parties. Parise is clearly this franchise’s offensive future. It will be key for him, as well as Gionta, Elias and Zajac, to step up their games in Gomez’s absence and the unknown that is Dainius Zubrus.

However, if Paul Martin ends up getting more money, I’ll be pissed.

And it’s one of them fictional TV comedies too! And a good one at that.

This from the NHL Today:

Former NHL player Willie O’Ree will film an episode of The CW’s “Everybody Hates Chris” on Thursday, August 9 in Los Angeles. In the episode entitled “Everybody Hates Gretzky,” Chris (played by Tyler Williams) and his brother, Drew (played by Tequan Richmond) ditch school to meet his hockey hero, Wayne Gretzky, when the Edmonton Oilers visit the New York Islanders. When they realize they are lost, they stop an older gentleman (played by Willie O’Ree) for directions but also get a hockey history lesson. An air date for the episode has not been set.

Very interesting. Can’t wait to check it out. “Chris” is a pretty good show, though it’s 2nd season wasn’t quite up to snuff with the first. Think an urban version of “Malcolm in the Middle” sparked by Chris Rock’s unique comic voice.

Another strike in my “NHL on CW” campaign!