Last year saw very contentious labor battles and lockouts in both the NFL and NBA. With new collective bargaining agreements in both, as well as in Major League Baseball, fans and bettors won’t have to worry about work stoppages in three of the top four American team sports any time soon. However, there could be trouble looming on the horizon for the NHL.
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That league’s CBA is up after this season, which will end next week following the Kings-Devils Stanley Cup Finals. The NHL canceled the 2004-05 season before an agreement was reached that included a salary cap for the first time. Officially that agreement expires in Sept. 15. The bad news is that the sides seem far apart and the head of the NHL union is now Donald Fehr, who was instrumental in MLB players going on strike on Aug. 11, 1994, which led to the cancelation of the rest of the season, including playoffs.
So will there be a new CBA in the NHL by Sept. 15? Yes is the -500 on Bovada’s hockey futures odds with no at +300. Talks will begin between the owners and union in a few weeks. Last time, the owners won huge concessions in the CBA following the canceled season, getting players to roll back existing contracts by 24 percent and getting a hard salary cap.
As of right now, the projected salary cap would rise to $70.3 million for next season, but there’s little doubt the financial structure of the NHL will change in the new CBA. The NHL posted revenues of $3.3 billion this season, marking the seventh straight year the league has rewritten its record. Still, NHL owners will want a bigger piece of the revenue share. NHL players currently take a 57 percent cut, while the NBA and NFL just bargained their players down to the 50 percent range.
The Los Angeles Kings franchise has been in existence for 45 years, and the most important hockey game in its history happens Wednesday night at Staples Center as L.A. looks to finish off a sweep of New Jersey and hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time. The Kings are -180 favorites on Bovada’s NHL hockey odds and there will be live play-by-play betting available.
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Is there any reason to think L.A. won’t finish things off? The Kings are an incredible 15-2 in these playoffs after Monday’s 4-0 Game 3 victory over the visiting Devils, who actually outplayed L.A. in many respects in Games 1 and 2. The Kings have tied the 1988 Edmonton Oilers for the best mark ever at this stage of the playoffs and they are the first team since the playoffs went to an all best-of-seven format in 1987 to take a 3-0 lead in all four rounds. Since the NHL playoffs expanded to four best-of-7 series in 1987, the ‘88 Oilers' 16-2 record is the best in a single postseason.
A win tonight would be the first sweep in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1998. L.A. is the 12th team to win the first two games of the Finals on the road, with seven of the 11 finishing things off in Game 4. A win also make the Kings the first team since the 2007 Anaheim Ducks to win the Cup on home ice. Of course, L.A.’s only two losses in these playoffs came at home. It would also become the first No. 8 seed to hoist the Cup.
Kings goalie Jonathan Quick has all but locked up the Conn Smythe Trophy in allowing just two goals in this series so far. That is tied for the fewest scored through the first three games of the Finals since 1943-44. Thanks to Quick, the Kings have not allowed more than three goals in any of their 17 playoff games. That ties the NHL record.
To have any chance, the Devils will have to penetrate was has been an impenetrable L.A. penalty-killing unit. New Jersey has yet to score on the man-advantage in 12 tries in this series, including a 5-on-3 in the first period of Game 3 – failing to tally there really changed Monday’s game. The Kings now have killed off 64 of 69 opposition advantages (92.8 percent) in the playoffs overall and matched the five goals they've allowed by scoring five times while shorthanded.
Game 4 could be the final game as Devils for two New Jersey stars: goalie Martin Brodeur, a certain Hall of Famer, might not be back because he is 40 years old; and Zach Parise, who had 31 goals and 38 assists during the season but none in this series, will be a free agent who might be too costly for New Jersey to keep. If the Devils can win, Game 5 is back at their place on Saturday. Three teams in NHL history have rallied to win a series after trailing 3-0.
The Vancouver Canucks have won the Presidents’ Trophy in the NHL the past two seasons and all they have to show for it is a collapse in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals and an upset to the No. 8 Los Angeles Kings in the first round of this year’s postseason. So changes are clearly coming, and in the biggest could be in net with Roberto Luongo.
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Luongo was the scapegoat vs. the Bruins in the 2011 Finals. He had another solid regular season but was outplayed by backup Cory Schneider. And in the playoffs vs. the Kings, Luongo was benched after dropping the first two games after allowing seven goals in 64 shots. It’s really time for him to go, and Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault recently said Luongo had asked for a trade. GM Mike Gillis has denied that but did admit that Luongo is open to a trade and the team would try to move him this summer.
Talent-wise, Luongo, even at age 33, would be in high-demand even with his checkered postseason history. The problem is that Luongo still has 10 years and approximately $47 million left on a $64 million deal he signed in 2009. The Canucks will have to give the 26-year-old Schneider a new contract as he will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and could be an unrestricted free agent a year from that date. There’s almost no way the club can afford both Schneider and Luongo.
Bovada’s NHL hockey odds has a prop on whether Luongo will be dealt before the start of the 2012-13 season: yes is the -150 favorite with no at +110. There are rumors flying that the desperate Toronto Maple Leafs could make a play for Luongo. Toronto was reportedly interested in Capitals goalie Tomas Vokoun, but he was just traded to Pittsburgh. There’s really no other goalie of much quality left on the market other than Luongo. The Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning also might be looking for help in the net.
The Los Angeles Kings have the Devils right where they want them for Saturday night’s Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals: in New Jersey. L.A. gets a second chance to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, but the Devils are -120 favorites on Bovada’s NHL odds to send the Finals to a Game 6 back in Los Angeles. There will be live play-by-play betting at the book for Game 5.
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There’s something about Game 4s in these playoffs for the otherwise dominant Kings: They have taken a 3-0 lead in every series so far – the first team in NHL history to do so -- and all three of their losses have come in the potential sweep game at home.
New Jersey finally solved Kings goalie Jonathan Quick in Wednesday’s 3-1 victory, with all four of the game’s goals coming in the third period. Rookie Adam Henrique scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:29 to play, and Ilya Kovalchuk added an empty-netter (his first point of the series) as the Devils scored as many goals as they had in the first three games combined. Martin Brodeur made 21 saves to keep his Hall of Fame career going – it’s possible the 40-year-old retires after this series. The Devils became just the third road team to avoid a sweep by winning Game 4 and the first since 1945. New Jersey has played 43 best-of-seven series in franchise history and has never been swept.
L.A’s top line struggled in Game 4. Dustin Brown had five of the team’s 17 giveaways, Justin Williams had no shots on goal and three turnovers and Anze Kopitar had no shots on goal and two giveaways. Quick stopped 21 shots for the Kings but lost his streak of nearly 139 shutout minutes when Patrick Elias gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 7:56 of the third.
The good news for the Kings, who are trying to become the first No. 8 seed to win the Cup, is that they have won all 10 playoff games this season, including Games 1 and 2 in New Jersey by identical 2-1 OT scores, to set an NHL record. L.A. is 4-0 in its past four games as a road dog. The Devils are 1-5 in their past six games after allowing two or fewer goals in the previous game.
After struggling to clinch in the last two games, the Los Angeles Kings have won the Stanley Cup by exploding in Game 6 with a 6-1 win. The Kings won the series 4-2, starting as the eighth seed and dominating as underdogs versus NHL Playoff odds in the Western Conference.
The Kings ensured there would be no Game 7 with three first period, power-play goals, taking an early 3-0 lead which all-but ensured the franchise's first ever Stanley Cup.
Captain Dustin Brown had a goal and two assists as Los Angeles ended its dominant two-month playoff run in front of spirtited fans who waited 45 years for their first look at the Stanley Cup since the Kings' expansion in 1967. The Kings are also the first No. 8 seed to ever win the Cup.
The Kings started their improbable run versus the No. 1-seeded Vancouver Canucks, knocking off last year's Western Conference champs by winning four of five games. The Kings went 16-4 after barely making the playoffs. Including the Canucks they eliminated all top three seeds West in overwhelming fashion, matching the second-fastest run to the title in NHL history. Although the Devils gave them a little trouble, the Kings took down every opponent in their path after an inconsistent regular season.The key to that upset and their road to the Cup is due to the amazing performance of goaltender Jonathan Quick. Quick stopped 17 of 18 shots in Game 6.
Brown capped his own impressive playoff work by finishing with 20 points, tied for the postseason scoring lead with linemate Anze Kopitar.
''You never know. You get to the dance, you never know what's going to happen,'' Brown said. ''We calmed down after losing two. It was the first time we had done that all playoffs, and we finally got off to a good start.''
There’s really no doubt at this point that the pressure in the Stanley Cup Finals has fallen now on the shoulders of the Los Angeles Kings as they try for a third time on Monday night to win the first Cup in franchise history. The Kings are -165 favorites on Bovada’s NHL odds and there is live play-by-play betting available at the book.
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Los Angeles opened the playoffs 15-2, tying the best start in postseason history, but has since dropped back-to-back games. Only three teams in NHL history have rallied to win a playoff series after trailing 3-0. Thanks to Saturday’s 2-1 victory, the Devils became the first team since the 1945 Red Wings to even force a Game 6 in the Finals round after losing the first three games. Entering Game 5 without a power-play goal on 15 consecutive attempts, New Jersey finally capitalized on captain Zach Parise’s first goal of the series. It was Parise's first goal since May 23 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Rangers.
The Kings scored four times on Martin Brodeur in Game 3, but they have only one regulation goal in each of the other four games. The Devils have been able to neutralize L.A. star Dustin Brown. He has only one assist in this series and was pulled off the top line in Game 5 and played 18:58 minutes of ice time, his fewest since Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals. He did not play in the final 3:56. A terrific penalty killer, Brown played only 36 seconds shorthanded. L.A.’s leading scorer in the playoffs, Anze Kopitar, hasn’t recorded a shot on goal the past two games.
If the Devils can win tonight, Game 7 is back in New Jersey on Wednesday night. Three of the Kings’ four losses in these playoffs have come at home.
The Los Angeles Kings just won the Stanley Cup for the first time in their 45-year history. In the process, they became the first ever eighth seed to win Lord Stanley's Cup since the present playoff format was adopted in 1994.
No team in the NHL has repeated as the Stanley Cup champion since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997-98. In fact, only twice this century as a Stanley Cup winner even returned to the Finals the next season – the Devils lost to the Avalanche in 2001 and the Red Wings lost to the Penguins in 2009. Thus it’s rather unlikely that the 2012 NHL champion Los Angeles Kings hoist the Cup again in 2013, but they are 11/1 second-favorites behind Pittsburgh to win it next season on Bovada’s NHL futures odds.
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Los Angeles does seem to have the pieces in place to be a top contender again next season as almost all of the key pieces should return. Goaltender Jonathan Quick, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner, has one season and $1.8 million remaining on his contract. Quick was named the MVP of the playoffs after yielding just 29 goals in the Kings' 20 playoff games on the way to their first title. With a 1.41 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage in the postseason, Quick set NHL records for goalies who played at least 15 postseason games. Look for him to get an extremely lucrative long-term deal this offseason.
But No. 1 on GM Dean Lombardi’s list of things to do is re-sign unrestricted free agents Jarret Stoll, a center, and Dustin Penner, a winger. Stoll had six goals and 15 assists in the regular season and five points in the playoffs. Penner had 17 points during the season and then 11 in the playoffs.
In the Kings’ favor is that they have the top young defenseman in the league in Drew Doughty, who likely only will get better. And they will get a full season with Darryl Sutter behind the bench (he took over for the fired Terry Murray) and a full season with Jeff Carter, who was probably the key piece in L.A.’s title run after he was acquired from Columbus. The Kings’ record under Sutter, who arrived in late December, was 25-13-11 in the regular season and 16-4 in the postseason. Carter, meanwhile, had eight goals in the postseason, including two in the Game 6 clincher vs. New Jersey.
But recent history suggests a new champion next summer. Nine different teams have won championships in the last nine seasons.
When Bovada posted odds to win the 2013 Stanley Cup after the Los Angeles Kings finished off the New Jersey Devils in last month’s Finals, the Minnesota Wild were tied as the longest-shots for the Cup next year at 75/1. That’s about to change in a big way.
The Wild have landed the two most sought-after free agents on this year’s market: former Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter and former Devils winger Zach Parise will head to Minnesota in a package deal.
Parise and Suter are friends and former teammates on the 2010 U.S. Olympic team, and they had often discussed trying to play together in the NHL. Parise got a 13-year deal worth $98 million, while Suter's 13-year deal is expected to be about the same number. That locks them up through the 2024-25 season and each would carry a salary cap hit of $7.538 million per campaign.
Suter, truly a rare franchise defenseman, scored a career-high 46 points last season and averaged 26 minutes, 30 seconds a game – third-highest in the NHL and a minute higher than any one of his previous seasons. Parise, who was born in Minneapolis, ranks fourth in Devils history with 194 goals, ninth with 410 points, tied for fifth with 51 power-play goals, fourth with 37 winning goals and fifth with 1,699 shots. He had 31 goals and 38 assists last season for the Eastern Conference champs.
The Wild needed all the help they could get after finishing 12th in the Western Conference -- despite a strong start – with 81 points. Minnesota ranked last in the NHL in goals per game at 2.0 and 27th in power-play percentage at 15.1. Dany Heatley was the Wild’s leading scorer with 53 points.
It remains to be seen if these two huge deals will hamper the Wild going forward under the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement. In fact, it remains to be seen if the 2012-13 NHL season will even begin on time with the owners and players far apart on a new deal. But this was a no-brainer deal for a team in a hockey-mad part of the country.
The path is clear for Mikhail Grigorenko to play in the NHL next season.
The Buffalo Sabres signed Grigorenko, their first-round pick last month, to a three-year entry-level contract Wednesday. The 18-year-old centre, the 12th player taken in the draft this year, likely isn't going back to junior now that he's under contract.
"Now I really can feel that I'm 100% a part of the organization," Grigorenko said. "I was so excited yesterday. I was real excited when they drafted me, but after the draft, it was like the next step to sign a contract, and now I signed. Next step is to make the team and play in the NHL."
That could happen as soon as this fall, according to Sabres general manager Darcy Regier.
Read More: NHL notes: Grigorenko signs with Sabres | Hockey | Sports | Toronto Sun
To all those teams awaiting veteran free agent Shane Doan’s decision, let it be known that it’s wearing on him, too.
The 35-year-old forward, one of the top offensive talents remaining on the market, wants to see his situation resolved soon.
Doan repeatedly has stated his desire to return to the Phoenix Coyotes, but he currently is monitoring the ownership situation in Glendale, Ariz., before making a decision on whether to stay or sign elsewhere.
"I want to make it as soon as I can," Doan said Thursday outside NHL offices in Manhattan, where he and other NHLPA members gathered to participate in the latest round of labor discussions.
Coming off a 50-point season, Doan said he has received varying degrees of interest from several teams but does not want to mislead any about his first priority: to remain with the organization for which he has played for the past 16 years.
Jim O’Brien, a former 1st round pick, who was selected 29th in the 2007 NHL draft by Ottawa Senators, is now re-signed by the same team in a two-year, one-way deal which is worth $1.275 million. This is the second contract that O’Brien has signed with Senators after his entry-level three-year contract in 2009-2010 which was worth $2,037,500.
Jim O’Brien started his hockey career with team USNTDP in North American Hockey League (NAHL) in 2004 and played there for two seasons, before moving to university hockey in Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) for University of Minnesota.
Read More: NHL's Ottawa Senators re-sign Jim O?Brien for two years in a one way deal | bettor-com
Alexander Semin is still on the market, and the Carolina Hurricanes are still interested in signing the veteran winger, The Raleigh News & Observer’s Chip Alexander reports.
Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford says "Canes still interested to add a top-6 forward. Says still interested in one-year deal with Semin," Alexander tweeted.
As ProHockeyTalk adds, two weeks have passed since the Canes first admitted their interest in signing Semin.
“We would look at Semin on a short-term basis,” Rutherford told the News & Observer in early July. “We wouldn’t want to get locked into anything, because we’ve all heard the stories about him. We do like his skill level. It could be that we could bring him in for a year, get to know him and go from there."
Semin has spent his entire career with the Washington Capitals, totaling 408 points in 469 career games. He recorded 21 goals and 33 assists for the Caps last season.
Read More: NHL Rumor Rundown: Canes still want Semin
Dan Quinn birdied three of his first seven holes Sunday to pull ahead and then stretched his lead on the back nine to earn a six-point victory over former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien in the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course.
Quinn, a former NHL star who will caddie for Sunday's British Open winner Ernie Els next week at the Canadian Open, was hoping for the same come-from behind victory at the American Century Championship. He started the day three points behind second-round leader Rypien.
Quinn finished with 66 points in the modified Stableford scoring system to win the event for the fourth time. Rypien was second with 60 and Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway finished third with 59.
Quinn, who earned $125,000 from a total purse of $600,000, started the day three points behind second-round leader Rypien, who had 43 points after 54 holes.
Read More: Former NHL star Quinn wins Tahoe golf event - sportsnet.ca
Last week, the Philadelphia Flyers shocked the hockey world by throwing a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet at Nashville Predators’ defenceman Shea Weber.
As it turns out, given the history of the league and offer sheets, this kind of offer should not come as such a surprise to anyone. Nowadays, NHL general managers are more aggressive in going after top end players because if they are not, they could be out of a job.
With that in mind, here are the top 10 examples of offer sheets being given out in the league and what the outcome ended up being.
Read More: Top 10 Significant NHL offer sheets - sportsnet.ca
The NHL Players’ Association is almost ready to table its own vision for a new collective agreement.
As negotiations with the NHL resumed Tuesday, NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr indicated that the union was getting close to responding to the league’s initial proposal, which included a decreased share of hockey-related revenue, term limits on contracts and a 22 per cent salary rollback.
“I doubt that it will be weeks, plural,” said Fehr. “But could it be two? Yeah. It could be two. It could be less.”
Read More: NHL talks: NHLPA prepares response to owners? first offer - thestar-com
The NHL made another proposal to the players on Wednesday that concerned a host of lesser issues in a new collective agreement.
But unless they close the enormous gap created by the owners’ opening proposal on the major economic issues two weeks ago, another lockout looms when the collective agreement expires on Sept. 15.
Now that the NHL Players’ Association has had time to analyze the owners’ first proposal, it is more unsettling than it first appeared.
Read More: NHL makes expanded proposal to NHLPA but enormous gap remains - The Globe and Mail
The Carolina Hurricanes have decided to take a chance on mercurial winger Alexander Semin, signing the 28-year-old to a one-year contract worth $7 million.
The talented Russian tends to run hot and cold. He is coming off a disappointing season with the Washington Capitals in which he had 21 goals and 33 assists in 77 games.
But he had 40 goals in 2009-10 plus two other 30-goal seasons during his six years with the Caps.
“I’m very happy to be a Carolina Hurricane,” Semin said Thursday. “It’s a great fit for me. I look forward to playing with great players, and putting together a winning season.”
Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said he hoped a fresh start in Carolina would serve Semin well.
Read More: NHL notes: Hurricanes ink Semin | Hockey | Sports | Toronto Sun
Steve Staios, a professional hockey player who had been playing in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the last 17 years and professional hockey for last 22 years, has finally decided to call it a day and end his long hockey career.
Immediately after his retirement he has also decided to join Toronto Maple Leafs’ management team.
Toronto Maple Leafs is not the first NHL team that Staios is associated with, as it is an interesting fact that he has been associated with six different NHL teams during his playing career but co-incidentally Toronto is not one of those six teams. Toronto is the seventh team that he would be joining.
38-year-old defenseman will occupy the position of Player Development Advisor as his job would be to advise and keep informed Maple Leafs management about all the coming up, emerging players and prospects. He would also have to do special assignments like amateur and pro scouting.
Read More: NHL veteran defenseman Steve Staios takes retirement; joins Toronto Maple Leafs as advisor ?NHL Update | bettor-com
In the mad, mad, mad, mad world of the National Hockey League, this is what now passes for sanity, as hockey fans from coast to coast wait to see whether there will be a season:
A few days after the details of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s proposal for drastic cuts to player salaries (delivered to the players’ union, with appropriate theatre, on Friday the 13th) the Philadelphia Flyers made an offer to defenceman Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators, a restricted free agent: 14 years, $110 million U.S., an average annual salary of $7.86 million from the 2012-2013 season through 2025-2026, when Weber, if he’s still playing, will be 40 years old.
The Philadelphia offer put the Nashville team in a very difficult position. Because Weber was a “restricted” free agent in terms of the basic agreement with the National Hockey League Players’ Association, the Predators would receive a compensatory package of draft picks if they let Weber go. But Nashville had already lost its other star defenceman, Ryan Suter, who went to the Minnesota Wild for a mere $98 million over 13 years, the same amount Minnesota will pay its other free-agent acquisition, forward Zach Parise, who jumped from the New Jersey Devils.
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That league’s CBA is up after this season, which will end next week following the Kings-Devils Stanley Cup Finals. The NHL canceled the 2004-05 season before an agreement was reached that included a salary cap for the first time. Officially that agreement expires in Sept. 15. The bad news is that the sides seem far apart and the head of the NHL union is now Donald Fehr, who was instrumental in MLB players going on strike on Aug. 11, 1994, which led to the cancelation of the rest of the season, including playoffs.
So will there be a new CBA in the NHL by Sept. 15? Yes is the -500 on Bovada’s hockey futures odds with no at +300. Talks will begin between the owners and union in a few weeks. Last time, the owners won huge concessions in the CBA following the canceled season, getting players to roll back existing contracts by 24 percent and getting a hard salary cap.
As of right now, the projected salary cap would rise to $70.3 million for next season, but there’s little doubt the financial structure of the NHL will change in the new CBA. The NHL posted revenues of $3.3 billion this season, marking the seventh straight year the league has rewritten its record. Still, NHL owners will want a bigger piece of the revenue share. NHL players currently take a 57 percent cut, while the NBA and NFL just bargained their players down to the 50 percent range.