Hockey cards, collectibles and culture
We’ve made it to the second round of the playoffs. That has created drama on and off the ice. In the past week, coaches have been fired and agents have posted controversial tweets, among other things. Keep reading to learn about the entertaining week that was in the NHL.
Continue reading “Blake’s Takes: Fleury Stabbed in the Back”
The headlines were plentiful around the NHL last week. So plentiful, in fact, that I had to change the title of my column three times because major things kept happening. We had a number one goalie opt-out of the playoffs mid-series, the draft lottery winner was revealed, and we saw a game go into five overtimes. Keep reading to catch up on all the news around the NHL.
Continue reading “Blake’s Takes: Rask Opts Out, Rangers Win the Lottery”
It took what felt like forever, but Round One of the 2020 NHL Playoffs is finally underway. (And yes, this blog post is two days late; I’m working on “Quarantine Time” here, so bear with me.) After a four-and-a-half month pause, followed by Round Robin and Qualifying Round games, we have our 16 playoff teams, ready to put it all on the line to be winners of the 2020 Stanley Cup Championship.
But with the playoffs, the inevitable questions are always raised:
What player hasn’t yet won the Stanley Cup yet during their career?
What grizzled old vet will retire at season’s end without ever hoisting the Stanley Cup?
What all-time will never get to sip champagne from Lord Stanley’s Cup?
And considering the COVID-19 pandemic, I don’t think any NHL player is going to want to drink from the Stanley Cup this October. Regardless, there are players who play for nearly two decades who will never have the opportunity to drink from the Cup then think better of it.
Every year, playoff teams are chock-full of young, eager players who have seemingly all the time in the world to win the toughest championship trophy to win in all of sports. But every team also has some more experienced players who know that they don’t have all the time in the world, or even a wily old veteran that has stuck around to give it one more go before hanging ’em up.
Here is a look at the oldest player on each 2020 Stanley Cup playoff team and why we’re hoping for each one of them to win, even if we don’t like the team they play on.
Sunday night marked the end of the Qualifying round and the beginning of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The most important takeaway of that sentence is that the NHL has succeeded in building a bubble to protect players and staff from COVID-19. Because of that, the odds that a Stanley Cup champion will be crowned in 2020 look higher than ever.
The Qualifying Round was exciting and upsets were plentiful. In this week’s column, I’ll revisit some of the most notable matchups of the Qualifying Round and a few other interesting tidbits from the last week.
Keep staying safe everyone.
After a week off, I’m back to share some takes with you all. If you want to see some pictures of my (socially-distanced) road trip vacation, here you go.
Otherwise, the last two weeks could not have been a busier week in the NHL. Real, live, hockey games took place and the NHL is back! Also, Seattle finally announced the name of their new franchise, the Seattle Kraken.
Keep reading to find out my thoughts on what’s going on in the world of hockey.
It’s been over a year of anticipation, but the newest NHL team finally has a name: the Seattle Kraken! On Thursday morning, the Seattle Hockey Partners revealed its name, logo, colors and uniform design. Last year, the writers at Puck Junk gave their suggestions for potential team names for the NHL’s 32nd franchise. Now, they’ve teamed up again to share their thoughts on Seattle’s brand identity.
Continue reading “Release the Kraken! We Crack Wise at Seattle’s NHL Team Identity”
Hockey is right around the corner! The NHL will officially be back on August 1st. With that being said, the league has a lot of work to do before that. Just this week they announced most of their award finalists and have continued to test players for COVID-19. There was also some interesting news surrounding the league including a stupid lawsuit and an international signing.
What is the worst kept “secret” in the NHL right now?
Definitely the announcement of the Ottawa Senators jersey re-branding, which uses a slightly modified version of the 1997 Senators logo.
Is it time?
Are we ready?
Will it help?
Continue reading “Are Any of Us Ready for Another Senators Jersey?”
It was about the pucks and bucks, first and foremost, but lest we forget the acrobats, blood-soaked mascots and accidental on-ice sex acts. There’ll never be another partnership like the one between the Pittsburgh Penguins and CSKA Moscow, which changed Russian hockey forever.
It’s 1993, and the historic CSKA Moscow program – a.k.a. the Central Red Army Hockey Club – is nearing defeat. All of the team’s best players – Igor Larionov, Slava Fetisov, Pavel Bure, Sergei Fedorov and many others – have headed for the greener pastures of the NHL. Funding for sports clubs is no longer a priority for the Russian government, and CSKA is broke. It can’t afford uniforms or equipment, and almost no fans come to watch the team.
SERGEI BRYLIN: (Left winger, CSKA 1991-92 to ’92-93 & CSKA/Russian Penguins 1993-94) The whole country was going through a transition, from the Soviet Union to Russia. Obviously, hockey wasn’t the main priority. My first two years playing for the Red Army were pretty challenging years.
CSKA reaches out to several NHL teams looking for support. The Pittsburgh Penguins answer the call. The Penguins’ ownership group, which includes Tom Ruta, Howard Baldwin and his wife Karen Baldwin, forms Penguins Army International Limited, a joint venture between the Pens and Central Red Army. Superstar Mario Lemieux and actor Michael J. Fox are also involved as silent partners.
TOM RUTA: (Co-owner, Pittsburgh Penguins; co-owner/president, Russian Penguins) We created a company where the Pittsburgh Penguins owned 50 percent and the Russian partners owned 50 percent. That’s the structure they required at the time. You couldn’t have Americans owning 51 percent of a Russian company.
HOWARD BALDWIN: (Co-owner, Pittsburgh Penguins; co-owner/chairman/CEO, Russian Penguins) We thought we could make money because good players were coming from the Red Army team. If a Russian player was drafted, the NHL team who picked him would have to pay a pretty fat fee to his Russian team, I think it was around $250,000 for a first-rounder.
RUTA: At first, we’d give all the draft money to CSKA, until they got on their feet, and then we’d split it with them. So, in the beginning, they’d be able to rebuild their program and pay all their bills. And then eventually, we’d get a 50-percent share.
HOWARD BALDWIN: We also thought a partnership would give us an edge in knowledge on Russian players and give us a way to get sponsorships, because North American companies were looking to come over and start doing business in Russia.
RUTA: The Red Army was a great hockey program, and Howard didn’t want to see it die. And it was dying for want of a small amount of money. Read the rest of the story at The Hockey News.
The NHL continues to dominate sports in a world infested with COVID-19. The NHL and NHLPA agreed to extend the CBA last week. The new CBA confirmed quite a few details regarding the future of the NHL. That includes firm dates for the league’s Phase 3 and Phase 4 Return to Play Plan, an approved international calendar, and many other awesome things. I’ll break it all down with my takes for this week.