All-purpose hockey thread...

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Congrats to Dave Bolland of Mimico, Ontario, for taking the next step in his career. Even if it is a step down, going from one of the best teams in junior hockey to one of the worst in the NHL.


CHICAGO (CP) — Dave Bolland, who helped Canada win world junior gold and who led the OHL with 57 goals for the London Knights this season, has signed a three-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, general manager Dale Tallon announced Thursday.

Bolland, 19, was selected by Chicago in the second round, 32nd overall, of the 2004 NHL entry draft.
The six-foot, 176-pound centre appeared in 59 regular-season games for the Knights this season and amassed 130 points — second-best in the OHL — while serving 104 penalty minutes and posting a plus-7 plus-minus rating. In 15 playoff games, he scored 15 goals and assisted on nine.

A member of the 2005 Memorial Cup-champion Knights, Bolland was named to the 2005-2006 OHL first all-star team.

Bolland had three goals and two assists while helping Canada win the world junior championship last January.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Broadcaster and writer/editor get the call to the Hall. Congratulations to both.


TORONTO (CP) — Peter Maher and Scott Morrison have won the Hockey Hall of Fame media awards for 2006, chairman Bill Hay announced Thursday.

Maher, the radio voice of the Calgary Flames, will receive the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for his outstanding work as an NHL broadcaster.

Morrison, managing editor of hockey at Rogers Sportsnet, will receive the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for a career of distinguished hockey writing.

Maher has called Flames play-by-play since the franchise moved from Atlanta in 1980. The native of Cambellton, N.B., was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

“Peter has been synonymous with the Calgary Flames since their arrival from Atlanta in 1980,” said Chuck Kaiton, president of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association. “He distinguishes himself as a true professional in all of his endeavours.”

Morrison became sports editor of the Toronto Sun in 1991 after more than 11 years as a hockey writer and columnist. He continued to write columns, and under his guidance the newspaper was deemed in 1999 to have one of North America’s top 10 sports sections.

Morrison, who served two terms as president of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, has also authored several hockey books. The native of Toronto joined Rogers Sportsnet in 2001, and he continues to be an industry leader in both developing and breaking hockey stories.

“Scott Morrison has blended class through reporting and a sense of humour to become one of hockey’s most admired journalists,” said Kevin Allen, president of the PHWA. “As a past president of our association, he championed the cause of improved journalistic access.

“His colleagues are all extremely grateful for his contributions to our profession.”

Maher and Morrison will receive the awards at a luncheon on Nov. 13. The Hockey Hall of Fame induction weekend will take place Nov. 10-12, culminating with TSN’s live broadcast of the induction celebration Nov. 13.

The 2006 inductees will be announced June 28 following the annual selection committee meeting the same day.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Ray Shero says no to Bruins, yes to Penguins.


PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ray Shero was hired as general manager of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday, a day after the Nashville Predators assistant general manager broke off talks with the Boston Bruins about their GM’s job, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The Penguins have a called an afternoon news conference. The person with knowledge of the deal, speaking on condition of anonymity because the hiring was not yet official, said Shero’s hiring would be announced then.

Shero replaces Hall of Fame executive Craig Patrick, whose contract was not renewed in April after 16-plus years on the job.

The Penguins, who won the Stanley Cup with Patrick as GM in 1991 and 1992, are coming off four consecutive last-place finishes in their division. They have won no more than 28 games in any season since reaching the Eastern Conference final in 2001, following a series of salary-shedding moves that saw them deal off stars such as Jaromir Jagr.

Shero, 43, is the son of former Stanley Cup-winning coach Fred Shero of the Philadelphia Flyers. The younger Shero spent eight years with Nashville after serving as Ottawa’s assistant general manager for seven years.

Shero was a player agent before becoming a front-office executive. In college, he was a two-time captain for St. Lawrence University.

Shero was hired after Penguins president Ken Sawyer conducted a search to fill the position, declining to comment on all candidates.

While in Nashville, Shero oversaw the Milwaukee Admirals minor-league club and was involved in contract negotiations, scouting and various day-to-day club operations. He has been pushed for a general manager’s job by Nashville GM David Poile.

Shero appeared ready to take the Bruins’ job earlier this week, but talks apparently broke down over compensation and authority issues. Shero is expected to be given wide latitude involving player issues in Pittsburgh, where Patrick was always in charge of all player acquisitions.

Shero becomes the ninth general manager in Penguins’ history.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Fred Shero's son not to be the Bruins' next GM:

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/bruins_blog/2006/05/shero_to_be_nam.html
http://bruins.bostonherald.com/bruins/view.bg?articleid=140806

Jeremy Jacobs + Harry Sinden = confederacy of dunces.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Read the post immediately above yours, HB.

You can take a Shero out of Pennsylvania, but.....

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Double J: I posted, then I read your post. Great minds think alike, eh?

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Yep. 8)

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Gang of bumble B's here
Search for a GM stinging reminder
By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff  |  May 25, 2006

Answer: Twists, turns, hair-raising lane changes, and in the end, a debilitating breakdown.

Question: A bad day on the Southeast Expressway?

No, sir. Only one thing describes yesterday's torturously bumpy road here in the Hub of Hockey, and . . . it's . . . called . . . Bruins.

A number of sources in Boston and around the NHL painted a picture of grandiose Black-and-Gold ineptitude, one that left Ray Shero, who on Monday was offered the position to become the club's new general manager, no longer interested in coming to Causeway Street.

As of last night, according to sources in Ottawa, the Bruins once again were heavily courting Peter Chiarelli, the assistant GM of the Senators, to take over the position that has remained vacant since the firing of Mike O'Connell March 25. One Internet report out of Canada early last evening stated the deal was finalized, and another source in the media said the Senators in the afternoon were soliciting names around the league for prospective candidates to replace Chiarelli.

Around the same time the Internet report was posted, on rds.ca., the Bruins issued a press release, stating that there was still no decision, and that they hoped to name a new GM next week.

``We are making a deliberative, thorough search on our own terms for the best candidate to lead our organization," read the release, which later continued, ``We will have no further comment until we announce the new general manager of the Boston Bruins."

Oddly, the release did not attribute the remarks to anyone in particular, making it a statement with an anonymous voice, a public relations version of a tree falling in the forest with no one to hear it. Like Oz, the franchise had spoken.

Meanwhile, as events unfolded during the afternoon, existing club management predictably got bashed on WEEI, especially by frustrated callers. In light of recently missing the playoffs for the third time in six seasons, the bumblings of Messrs. Jacobs and Sinden made for easy prey.

Other than home station WBZ, the Bruins are barely mentioned on radio these days, and their ongoing misfortune and mismanagement make for easy harpooning. Quite curiously, club president Harry Sinden and owner Jeremy Jacobs appear with some regularity on the 'EEI, a good number of its hosts quick to brutalize them as soon as Sinden or Jacobs are off the air. But again . . . it's called Bruins.

The Bruins last week had Chiarelli high on their wish list, and perhaps preferred to offer him the job ahead of Shero, but backed off making him an offer when the Senators asked for compensation from the Bruins -- believed to be a second- or third-round draft pick. The Los Angeles Kings last month surrendered a second-round pick to the Flyers when they named their new GM, Dean Lombardi, who spent this season as a Philadelphia scout.

Chiarelli, according to a source in Ottawa, would be eager to take the position, but sources were saying much the same about Shero earlier this week. However, if the Bruins and Senators can reach compensation terms, it's probable that the 41-year-old Chiarelli, who played for the Harvard Crimson in the mid-1980s, will become the seventh GM in Bruins history.

What went awry with the Shero negotiations? A number of sources -- perhaps all guessing -- painted contradictory pictures, encompassing two main theories.

(MORE)

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

(CONT.)

Theory No. 1 -- The Bruins low-balled Shero on money. One source claimed that John Ferguson Jr., who recently wrapped up his first full season as Maple Leafs GM, received a four-year deal from Toronto, paying $450,000 per year. Like Ferguson, Shero has never been a GM, and it's possible that Boston's offer mirrored what Toronto paid Ferguson and Shero simply deemed it too low. He is also considered a top candidate for the GM opening in Pittsburgh, where Chiarelli has also interviewed.

Theory No. 2 -- Shero was unwilling to accept the job while Sinden remained president, Jeff Gorton remained assistant GM, and Charlie Jacobs, son of the owner, would retain his title as executive vice president. The junior Jacobs is widely expected to take over Sinden's presidency soon after, if not before, the conclusion of the 2006-07 season. Sinden will turn 74 in September.

The truth? It's likely a little of each theory, and probably more No. 2 than No. 1. Contrary to public opinion, and that of many in the media, the Bruins haven't been skinflints, really, since opening their new building a decade ago. They've spent money, and often have overspent (see: Marty Lapointe and Alexei Zhamnov). They just haven't spent it prudently, which is part of the reason they have been all but rendered an expansion franchise. If fan support hadn't remained strong in recent years, it's likely the Jacobs family would have called for the badly needed management housecleaning some 3-5 years ago.

If it were the Sinden-Gorton-Jacobs troika that worried Shero, some of that could be well founded. But Sinden these days is all but out of the picture, tossed under the bus by Jeremy Jacobs March 25 in the wake of O'Connell's firing. He pointed to Sinden and O'Connell as the architects of a poor business plan that left the Bruins' roster barren headed into the September '04 lockout. He also made it clear Sinden's final days were approaching, saying, ``A man in his 70s isn't going to live as long as a man in his 40s."

Gorton, the interim GM, wanted the job on a permanent basis -- and was identified early on as a junior Jacobs favorite to assume the position. Club consultants, though, made it clear that Gorton would be hard for the public to accept, after so many years of dreadful results by the club. Gorton is loyal and bright, but most new GMs would want to name their own top lieutenant. It might not be fair that fans paint him with the same brush, but . . . the indelible stain of failure is often impossible to avoid.

As for the junior Jacobs, he intends to run the show, and according to a variety of sources on Causeway Street, he has taken the lead position over Sinden in this GM hire. That's not hard to believe, because Sinden, good or bad, no doubt would have put a new man on the job by now. If he still had his old clout, the hire probably would have been made on or near the end of the regular season in mid-April.

For now -- and this is all subject to change, by the hour -- Shero is gone. Chiarelli could be at hand. And a new day in franchise history could be about to dawn. Still waiting.

Above all, the events of the past few days have underscored that the club's new way of doing business, and the franchise transparency that the junior Jacobs promised, remains stalled in its backward past.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Repeating the pleas for links and highlight graphs, please.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

According to the Boston Globe, Peter Chiarelli is the Bruins' new GM.

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/bruins_blog/

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

ESPN just ignores hockey now. It's pathetic. In a 90 minute SportsCenter, they gave more air time to the couple who got married on Mike and Mike in the Morning than they did to hockey. And the only hockey was a stupid which is better debate between Barry Melrose and Bill Walton.

Other than Jason Smith's rants about his Hurricanes on his all-night show, the only NHL references on NHL Radio come on the SportsCenter updates.