RSS Feeds
 |
Helene Elliott• E-mail
|
Recent Columns:
Marian Hossa set himself up for life with a 12-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, Marian Gaborik set a high-water mark by getting a five-year average of $7.5 million from the New York Rangers, and Scott Niedermayer set up for probably his last season with the Ducks, topping the list of players who became very rich on the first day of NHL free agency.
Now we'll find out how serious the Kings are about putting your -- and their -- money where their mouths are and adding an impact player who can accelerate their endless evolution.
This was the definition of unqualified draft-day success for the local puck purveyors.
With today's NHL entry draft hours away, the Kings were holding on to the fifth pick, the Ducks' plans were on hold while Scott Niedermayer decided his future, and New York Islanders fans held on to hope their downtrodden team could rebuild around consensus No. 1 pick John Tavares.
With today's NHL entry draft hours away, the Kings were holding on to the fifth pick, the Ducks' plans were on hold while Scott Niedermayer decided his future, and New York Islanders fans held on to hope their downtrodden team could rebuild around consensus No. 1 pick John Tavares.
Champagne doesn't flow freely around the Kings' offices, what with the playoffs a distant memory and one Stanley Cup finals appearance since 1967, but two bottles sat in a bucket in their conference room Tuesday beside a cake decorated with ripe strawberries and the words "Congratulations Luc."
Luc Robitaille plans to spend today at his desk at the Kings' El Segundo offices, but it won't be business as usual.
The NHL season ended with a riveting Stanley Cup finals that featured seven mini-dramas, the Pittsburgh Penguins upsetting the defending champion Detroit Red Wings on hostile ice, and affirmation that the game is great enough to thrive despite some of the dunderheads who run it.
The guy whose teammates joked about his bad hands scored twice, the goalie who was yanked in his previous game at Joe Louis Arena saved his team's season and the Pittsburgh Penguins dethroned the Detroit Red Wings as Stanley Cup champions in a Game 7 performance that will go down as one for the ages, if not the aged.
It's the game they played on rutted roads while the light faded and their toes grew numb, the scenario they imagined as kids in Slovakia, Sweden, Saskatchewan, Syosset, N.Y., Sverdlovsk, Russia, and Sault Ste. Marie, Canada.