Around the League

Well, as we all get ready for the really big show of the summer--The NHL Awards Show--it almost seems like nothing is going on in the NHL. And that is true--except that Speculation Time is afoot and we all know how fun, important, and time-consuming speculation can be. But, you know, what else are we going to do?

The Entry Draft is coming up and so far, from what I have seen around the web, the Islanders are planning on taking everyone but Steven Stamkos with the #5 pick. A lot of people seem to want (are begging?) the Isles to draft the dynamic Russian Nikita Filatov on the 20th. He starred for the Russian entry in the WJC this past December and is the #1 ranked European player on the final CSS ranking. Will he be there at #5 a week from Friday? He may be. After Tampa picks Stamkos, many believe that there will be a run on puck-moving defensemen, assuming that no team, trades up to snag Filatov.

I'm still not sold that Filatov is going to be The Guy. I think the Entry Draft has got to be more about picking the best athlete and getting him into the system than anything else. You can't exactly go with need (scoring, in this case) if you aren't picking first overall and Stamkos is sitting there in his tuxedo waiting to go to the prom. This isn’t the NFL where you're all of a sudden committing all sorts of cap dollars to a player who is 22 or 23. The Entry Draft is all about choosing kids who are still, for the most part, still growing into the players and adults they'll become.

Plus, let's not forget the fact that there is no transfer deal between the NHL and the Russians that makes any contract in North America binding throughout the hockey world. Also, with the new Russian KHL starting up, the oil barons who own the teams in the "super league" are not going to think twice about trying to keep and/or lure Russian players home with all sorts of crazy money contracts. It's the Wild West for them.

In other news, Toronto has hired Ron Wilson to coach the Bad News Leafs today. Wilson was fired by San Jose last month. So, let's see. The Leafs--who are completely too screwed up to be called dysfunctional, have hired a so-called name coach who is a known task master and yet, they have not hired a new general manager yet. Hmm. Brian Burke has been refused a chance by the owners of the Ducks to talk to the Leafs brass but in the surprise of all surprises, is very good friends with said Ron Wilson. Burke has one more year on his deal as GM of Anaheim and Toronto has a guy as old as the hills named Cliff Fletcher working as a placeholder until the Leafs GM Search Committee can agree on giving someone the job. I mean, Fletcher couldn't be more of a Caretaker if he was making prison wine in his toilet.

Is it sad to root for another team to lose? I say, no. Been doing that with the Rangers for a long time now. I also get a strange satisfaction with seeing the Leafs constantly mess up because the media in Toronto really enjoyed sticking it to the Islanders during the lean years. Plus, it is going to be fun to watch the Burke Charade as it continues and Wilson is ripping his players in the press. Ron Wilson can talk all he wants about having a Canadian passport (as he did in the Star) and having played for the Leafs but Toronto is not Anaheim or DC or San Jose. It is a totally different animal and that animal is going to hang on his every word and his every lineup change.

I love all of this Brooks-Orpik-to-the-Rangers-talk. Um, does anyone remember when he was playing the wing in December because he wasn't being aware enough defensively? Does anyone really think that the continued employment of Mike Therien as Pittsburgh's head coach is going to drive Brooks Orpik away from the Penguins? The guy is a free agent and man, someone is seriously going to over-pay him. He's sort of like in the seat Adrian Aucoin was in with the Isles. Everybody (including myself) were falling over themselves to pat the guy on the back and after getting a 4 year/16m dollar deal with the Blackhawks, we all know that Kenny Jonsson was doing the real heavy lifting for the tandem back in the day. I'm not dissing Aucoin or saying anything bad about him at all. I am just pointing out that at no time in his career did he enjoy the kind of league-wide success that he had when he was an Islander...and that he partnered with Jonsson the overwhelming majority of the time.

Orpik is going to strike it big all because of that one shift where he flattened half of Detroit (the city, not the team) in spectacular fashion. Good for him. I just hope it isn't with our boys. We need puck movers. Let the Rangers overpay for another guy who gets skated around more often than he makes the play.

I guess that's it for today. We'll try to have something live for the NHL Awards show and some updates as we feel the need. Thanks to everyone who wrote in about the RLB of the WHA vs. USSR game. It was a fun one to do.

Here are all of the Islanders' draft picks for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft:
1st Round: #5
2nd Round: #36, #53 (Ana to Edm to NYI)
3rd Round: #66, #73 (Edm to NYI to Edm to Ana to NYI)
4th Round: #96
5th Round: #126, #148 (Phi to NYI)
6th Round: #156, #175 (Min to NYI)
7th Round: None

And last, you're probably wondering why Ken Stabler's mug shot is included in this post. Well, it is simply because he has one of the most hilarious quotes of all-time. I lifted this straight from the AP story that is everywhere: ...Stabler has long been a notorious drinker. Once when asked about his divorces he reasoned, "All I wanna do is drive around in my truck and drink Jack Daniels... and they just don't understand." Now that, my friends, should be the real Raiders motto. But doesn't he look like a well-meaning-but-hammered Mall Santa in that picture?