Could NHL Be Back?

Posted on October 16, 2012 by christoph131

The NHL has made an offer to the players’ union for a 50-50 split in all hockey related revenue. It is now on the players to decide if they think that this is a fair deal for everyone involved. There are many more stipulations than that, but as far as the lock-out goes, it is starting to look good. This offer was unexpected by just about everyone.

They said that they would play a full 82 game season and playoffs beginning November 2nd if the players accept relatively quick. This is a huge turn in the hockey world, one that just about everyone thought was never going to happen. By no means does this mean it’s over, but at least they are breaking ground!

Lockout Talk

Posted on September 18, 2012 by jtulz07

Well, the NHL lockout is upon us and who knows when it’s going to end. Unlike last year’s NBA lockout, I’m putting all the blame on the owners for this one, but that’s a completely different story. Looking back at that last post about Rondo interning at GQ and seeing the above tweet from Seguin got me thinking. What would I do as a professional athlete if I were locked out of my sport? My first thought was absolutely nothing. Couch, TV, beverage, maybe sprinkle in a few vacations. But that would be too easy. I thought back to last year and did a little research to see what other athletes have done in the past during a lockout. Here are a few notable mentions.

Delonte West – Stock at Regency Furniture

Zoltan Mesko – Intern at Graham and Partners (private equity firm)

Troy Polamalu – Finished Undergrad History degree at USC

Paul Pierce – Played in Vegas’ World Series of Poker Tournament

Kobe Bryant, Chad Ochocinco – Play/Tryout for a professional soccer team

Blake Griffin – Intern for Funny or Die comedy website

Marcus Camby, Hines Ward, Pacman Jones – Get arrested

Chris Cooley – Opened a pottery studio

Kris Humphreys, Tony Romo – Get married (for no matter how long or short)

Ron Artest – Search for world peace and change name

A number of players – Travel overseas to play your sport

Clearly some athletes thought outside the box, intentionally or not. As much as it sucks, unfortunately lockouts happen. So it begs the question. As a professional athlete, what would you do with your time off during a lockout?

Seguin’s Here To Stay

Posted on September 11, 2012 by christoph131

Just as I stated yesterday while writing about the Bruin’s, the team has announced that they have continued to be in talks with multiple players in order to keep the core together for many years to come. They did so today by announcing that they have agreed to a new contract with star forward Tyler Seguin. The deal is averaged out to be $5.75 million over the next six years. He was supposed to be a free agent after this season.

Continue reading →

Bruin’s Notes

Posted on September 10, 2012 by christoph131

Bruin’s GM Peter Chiarelli confirmed late last week that their annual rookie camp and tournament have been cancelled for this season due to the expiring CBA and potential lockout. As of now, the regular camp is still set to begin on September 17^th.

He also said that he is in talks with other soon-to-be restricted free agents after extending Brad Marchand’s contract last week. He would not specify who he has been in negotiations with but Tuuka, Lucic, and Seguin are all set to be Restricted Free Agents after next season (assuming we have one). Who would you lock up first?

Bruins Lock Down Marchand

Posted on September 7, 2012 by christoph131

The Bruins agreed to a 4 year deal with 24 year old star forward Brad Marchand. The deal is worth 18 million and begins after next season. This will keep Marchand in the black and gold until after the 2016-17 season.

Last season he scored 28 goals and added 27 assists in only his second season with the B’s. This will make Brad the 3rd highest paid forward on the roster, behind Krejci and Bergeron. If we did not extend his contract, he would have been a restricted free agent after this season (if there is one). 8 days till the old Collective Bargaining Agreement expires and we see our third sports lockout in under a year.

NHL Locking Out?

Posted on July 17, 2012 by christoph131

The NHL’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires in just less than two months. So far, the players like what they are getting, but the owners want more. The rich trying to get richer, sound familiar? (See NBA/NFL negotiations). The last report shows that the players would make 46% of the revenue for the league, when they made 57% last season. Contracts would also be limited to 5 years in the new proposal. This is a big difference seeing as Zach Parise and Ryan suter both just signed 13 year deals with the Wild, worth $98 million each.

This sucks. Hockey is just becoming very popular again, especially after the playoffs of the past few seasons. They already cancelled the 2004-05 season, due to negotiating problems. Commissioner Gary Bettman is actually a pretty decent guy, especially compared to NBA commissioner David Stern. He said openly that he sees the players as 50-50 partners with the owners.

Since the season is starting on October 11 (hopefully), there isn’t all that much time to get things done. All we need is another lockout to ruin yet another sport.

Weekend Recap

Posted on April 2, 2012 by jtulz07

Not a bad Monday for us those of us here in Boston reflecting back on this weekend in the sports world. The Celtics stretched their win streak to 5 games, topping off the weekend with an absolute clobbering D. Wade and the Heat. With a month left of games, the C’s sit at the 4 spot in a crowded Eastern Conference playoff race and one game up on the 76ers for the lead in the division. A 14 game April will make or break the C’s and set the stage for what could be the last playoff run of the Big Three era. On the ice, the B’s took care of business in New York, taking one a piece from the Islanders and the Rangers while clinching the Northeast Division with three games left on the schedule. The Bruins wrap up the regular season Saturday at home vs. Buffalo before gearing up for playoff hockey once again in Boston. As if a weekend of winning wasn’t enough, today brings us one day closer to baseball season. The Red Sox open up regular season play this Thursday in Detroit, starting off a 6 day, 6 game road trip before baseball comes back to Boston on Friday the 13^th against the dreaded Rays. It’s a good week to be from Boston. Happy Monday!

Bruins Take Care of Ducks

Posted on March 26, 2012 by amazze

The Bruins took care of business against the Ducks last night and Marty Turco earned his first W as a Boston Bruin with some fine play in net. Last night’s game wraps up the Bruins three-game West coast road trip (2-1-0) with the B’s coming back to Boston for a Tuesday night game with the pesky Lightening. With only a handful of games remaining in the regular season, it looks like the Bruins will nab the number two or three seed in the Eastern Conference.

Last night, Big Z, Pouliot, and Brian Rolston all tallied goals. Rolston’s goal was particularly nice because it resulted from a nice breakout pass, some fancy footwork and nice feed from Chris Kelly. From there Rolston delivered a snipe pass Jonas Hiller that rang the post and then in. The Kelly-Pouliot-Rolston line has been effective since Claude has put them together and I would expect to see that line continue to stay in-tact even with Rich Peverley’s return to the ice for two reasons. First, the KPR has been good over the last couple games, finally getting Rolston involved, and secondly having Peverley and Marchand as Bergeron’s two wingers makes for a dynamic line with a lot of speed to burn.

Snowman

Posted on March 20, 2012 by amazze

The B’s put an absolute beatdown on the Toronto Maple Leafs last night in more ways than one. Four goals in the first, three in the second and one in the third equaled a snowman and showed the fans that this team may have just got its offense clicking again. Over the last few games each line has been playing well. They are causing turnovers, supporting the puck, and capitalizing on the other team’s mistakes by putting the puck in the net. Rolston is starting to get in sync with Big Z at the point on the powerplay and it is paying dividends. Pouliot and Caron have been playing their asses off lately and both have been showing up on score sheet as a result.

In addition to the scoreboard beatdown, Milan Lucic handed old sparring partner Mike Komisarek one uppercut after another in an all too familiar fashion. It was good to see that 6’4” 240lbs Komisarek is still as soft as he was when he was with Montreal.

Let’s see if the Bruins can keep this thing rolling. Tim Thomas is playing with confidence, the offense may have just lit a spark under itself, and they have a little motivation now with Ottawa seriously in the picture (a wake up call when they passed the Bruins in the standings).

Bruins Squeak By Leafs; Not So Fast on Turco

Posted on March 7, 2012 by amazze

UPDATE: Marty Turco has officially joined the Boston Bruins after being claimed off of waivers. Minutes after the waiver deadline passed, Turco joined the team on the ice for practice, even staying an extra 30 minutes after the team was done to get some extra work in.

The Bruins barely held on to beat the Maple Leafs last night in Toronto. The Bruins had a two goal lead in the 3rd period thanks to young guns Tyler Seguin and Jordan Caron who each netted two goals. However, Toronto pulled within one thanks a Mikhail Grabovski snap shot. In the waning seconds of the game, the Bruins were able to maintain the lead despite a 6 on 4 advantage for Leafs. The effort stopped the two game skid they were on and gave them a much needed win. Thomas had 25 saves on 29 shots, claiming he is on a little bit of a bad luck streak right now. He has definitely not had some bounces go his way; speaking like a Sox fan, let’s hope he gets his bad luck out of the way now, so it’s all good luck for the playoffs.

Jordan Caron Jordan Caron #38 of the Boston Bruins on the ice against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center on December 1, 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In other news, the Bruins and GM Peter Chiarelli are not overly optimistic that Marty Turco will join the club. Chiarelli put the odds at 50-50. The reason for this is because Turco has to clear waivers before the Bruins can sign him, and there are other teams out there who would benefit from Turco’s services during the stretch run. Any NHL team has until 12 p.m. ET on Wednesday to put in a claim for Turco. On Monday night, he signed a one-year contract with Boston for a pro-rated salary of $600,000 and had to be placed on the waiver wire because he had only played in Europe this season.

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