JMLILESTRADE copyST. PAUL -- After Thursday's flurry of deals out of Philadelphia, the first trade on Draft Day was consummated hours before Commissioner Gary Bettman steps to the podium inside Xcel Energy Center to announce the 2011 No. 1 selection.

The Colorado Avalanche have sent defenseman John-Michael Liles to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange a 2012 second round pick. That pick was the one acquired by the Leafs in the Tomas Kaberle trade.

Liles was heavily rumored to be on the block before the trading deadline in February with one of the teams interested being Toronto.

Leafs Senior VP of Hockey Operations Dave Nonis said that after talks broke down at the trade deadline, but restarted earlier this week. Nonis said he sees Liles as the now-departed Tomas Kaberle's spot on the Toronto power play.

The 30-year old is entering the final year of his contract and his $4.2 million cap hit leaving the Avs gives them $36 million in room to spend this summer according to CapGeek.

So now the draft drama

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Dust off your Thomas Steen jersey -- the Winnipeg Jets are back, according to TSN.

News came out yesterday that True North Sports and Entertainment would announce both their new head coach (Claude Noel) and the moniker for the Winnipeg franchise during this weekend's NHL Entry Draft.

Noel was introduced on Friday, and Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff wouldn't answer whether or not the name would be announced tonight. But the news leaked, and the Jets have returned. Which should really move the needle on the Jets-o-Meter.

But is True North making the right decision in bringing back the Jets name, and not going about marketing their own brand as Winnipeg 2.0?

Yes they are.

Every Winnipeg hockey fan was clamoring for the return of the "Winnipeg Jets" and any other moniker would not have been embraced by the fans. It's good to see that True North came to their senses and fell to the pressure of fans in bringing the name back. The fans showed their dedication and excitement

It didn't take long for the Internet to find out what the Vancouver riot kissing couple's names were and it wasn't long after that before their worldwide media tour began, to tell the tale of the iconic smooch.

In a world of social media, it's also not surprising that new videos are being unearthed daily showing different scenes of the riots from all angles of the city.

One such video has been discovered that dramatically shows exactly how Alex Thomas was injured and how she and her boyfriend, Scott Jones, were knocked to the ground. After the story broke last week, some were skeptical of the photo, saying it was staged, but as you'll see in the most compelling video yet, it was far from it:

On NBC's "Today" show last week, Australian native Jones said he was in Vancouver as a "tourist" and wanted to see the reaction of the city whether the Canucks won or lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. "I didn't think we were in danger down there until the riot police came along," he said.

Why

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This used to be so much easier when the NHL announced the schedule in the middle of July.

But while free agency is sure to add a few "must watch" games to the list, there's still some tilts next season that we're already looking forward to.

The NHL released it's 2011-12 schedule on Thursday and now we can begin planning our hockey road trips for the next year ... and begin circling those dates on the calendar when we will have to apologize to our friends and family

NHL Premiere (October 7/8, 2011)

While it's odd to kick off the season overseas, the NHL Premiere games aren't going away and have become the official launch party of the hockey calendar. Helsinki, Stockholm and Berlin will host NHL games this coming season featuring the New York Rangers, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and Buffalo Sabres; and while games in Finland and Sweden have been done before, it's nice to see the League venturing into a different European hockey market in Germany.

We're just awaiting the day that

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Just like all of us, Mike Richards found out that he'd been traded by the Philadelphia Flyers to the Los Angeles Kings via the Internet, not long before his agent confirmed the news to him.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call on Thursday, Richards said that while he's excited about the new opportunity out west, he was shocked when he learned about the deal.

He wanted to end his career as a Flyer after inking a 12-year extension in 2007.

Had he known he'd be traded, Richards said he would have never signed that deal.

The Flyers approached Kings GM Dean Lombardi about Richards' availability four weeks ago and once Ilya Bryzgalov's rights were dealt to Philadelphia on June 7, the talks between the two clubs picked up.

Lombardi cited his philosophy of building a team from the back and down the middle. Strengthening the center position was something he wanted to do at the deadline, but the opportunity to do so wasn't there.

"It has to be two things: the timing has to

BRYZGALOV copyOn Thursday afternoon in Philadelphia, it was business as usual for Flyers fans. They were awaiting whether or not GM Paul Holmgren would finally get Ilya Bryzgalov's signature on a deal to finally solidify their goaltending, and were eager to see how Friday night's NHL entry draft would play out.

In the span of about two hours -- to paraphrase the great Bob Cole from CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" -- everything was happening.

Out goes Jeff Carter. Out goes Mike Richards; and in comes Bryzgalov, officially.

After the Flyers acquired his rights on June 7, negotiations finally came to an end as Bryzgalov signed a nine-year, $51 million contract running through 2020.

Per TSN's Bob McKenzie, Bryzgalov will make $10 million next season and things decline from there with the final two years of the deal at $2.25 million and $1.25 million.

Here's GM Paul Holmgren on the Bryzgalov's contract:

According to CapGeek, after Thursday's roster makeover, the Flyers have $7.57 million in cap space

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After 89 playoff games, the Stanley Cup was handed out on Wednesday night to the Boston Bruins. Hockey is gone from our televisions for the next four months and the goals that excite us on a nightly basis from October to June are put on hold.

There were exactly 499 goals scored in the 2011 playoffs. We managed to whittle them down to 10.

After the jump, our top 10 goals of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Enjoy.

And here ... we ... go ...

10. Nicklas Lidstrom vs. San Jose Sharks, Round 2

Is baseball big in Sweden? Or cricket? Another year, another feat by the 40-year Lidstrom that made us do a double-take. His ground ball swing takes a great hop and past Antti Niemi, who had no idea where the puck was thanks to a Johan Franzen screen:

9.  Todd Bertuzzi vs. San Jose Sharks, Round 2

In the same game as Lidstrom's baseball show, Bertuzzi put home a backhand from the left faceoff circle past Niemi. Normally, Bert saves the spin-o-rama for shootouts, but since we don't see those in the