Puck Daddy

Overshadowed by a back-and-forth game against the Dallas Stars and Rick Nash's OT heroics, Columbus Blue Jackets center Michael Peca's incident with referee Greg Kimmerly went fairly unnoticed, even though it earned him a game misconduct.

That is until tonight, when the NHL announced it has suspended Peca indefinitely for making contact with the official on Friday night. Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch breaks down the incident:

At 5:21 of the second period, with the Blue Jackets leading the Stars 1-0, Peca was tripped up by Dallas forward Brenden Morrow, who swung his left leg -- and possibly his stick -- under Peca's right leg and sent him sailing.

Moments later, as Peca was getting up off the ice. Morrow redirected a Mike Rebeiro shot to score a power-play goal. Peca immediately skated behind the goal to plead his case with Kimmerly, who began skating in the other direction.

"The only contact was me grabbing his arm to slow him down," Peca said, "because he was skating away and I wanted to plead my case ... They've claiming I hit (a) linesman with my stick after I hit the glass with it, which is completely false."

Peca has appealed the suspension, telling the Dispatch that he regrets some of his word choices but "I can't regret anything to do with abuse of an official, because I didn't abuse an official."

His hearing is later this week; Portzline writes that Peca can be suspended "a minimum of 10 games" under Rule 41, Category 2. Which is different than rule 41.2, apparently.

The Philadelphia Flyers fans greet Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on opening night against the New York Rangers. And the Wachovia Center speaker system has the final say:

Metallica just politely asked to turn the volume down on that music. (UPDATE 8:30 p.m. EDT: The sound quality of the original video was a little poor, so we swapped it out for a newer one -- the boos are a tad more prominent than before. Check out the original YouTube here.)

Behind the music, you'll have heard a mix of cheers and boos; and as predicted, the lower bowl near the glass was in a standing ovation. (Except for whoever was holding up that Obama/Biden sign. Viral!) In the end, the boos won out because this is, after all, Philadelphia. But it wasn't the vicious hellfire that some predicted. No one threw a beer at her. Probably because they didn't want to hit her daughter. Or waste the beer.

One point of criticism that may cut across party lines: The most famous hockey mom in American doesn't come out in a jersey? C'mon now.

More reaction from The 700 Level, which participated in our predication/analysis roundtable on the Flyers' invitation to Palin.

For the record, the Rangers announcers earlier claimed that Philadelphia fans once "snowballed Santa Claus" at an Eagles game.

It's been a good stretch of luck for Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi. He saw first-round draft pick Drew Doughty make the cut, played a successful game of hardball with RFA Patrick O'Sullivan and then, late last night, the cherry on the sundae: Star center and poker ace Anze Kopitar agreed to a seven-year contract extension that will run through the 2015-2016 season. (UPDATE: $47.6 million over seven.)

Rudy Kelly celebrates at Battle of California. The Two-Line Pass thinks the Kings are set up at the forward spot for quite a while. A Queen Among Kings relays a note that "Kopi's 7-year contract is the second longest ever signed by a King. The longest was 8 years by Wayne Gretzky in 1988."

The sudden nature of Kopitar's deal is remarkable when you consider how much tough-guy posturing Lombardi had this summer in preparation for other teams attempting raid his RFAs (Kopitar and defenseman Jack Johnson) next year. Perhaps that talk was as much for Kopitar's people as it was for rivals: Hey, he's not going anywhere, so let's get this thing done.

Getting your offensive star locked in during the first week of the season is a coup, because it's no longer a distraction; ask the Minnesota Wild about pending free agency and distraction.

Is this indeed the start of a new era for the Kings? It'll take more than Kopitar to make that happen, unless he learns how to play goal. But as this terrific feature story in the LA Times explained, Anze is a special player who's mature beyond his years:

He wasn't quite 17 when he traveled from his home country of Slovenia to Sweden, settling by himself in a cramped apartment and joining the only club that extended him a tryout. He walked, bicycled or hopped a bus to get to the 6,200-seat arena, where he competed with and against grown men. "I had to," Kopitar says, "if I wanted to improve."

Four years later, Kopitar is a third-year center on the Kings and is considered one of the most exciting players in the NHL. "Hockey has always been first in my life," he says. "I knew I'd have to sacrifice something for that and I did."

Two fights worth spotlighting from last night's action, for very different reasons.

First up is Jared Boll of the Columbus Blue Jackets taking on Krys Barch of the Dallas Stars, who really put on an ironman competition of a fight. The announcers gushed over Barch's "sneaky lefts," one of which knocked Boll on his behind, but this thing is nearly two minutes of bomb-throwing by two weary warriors.

That was a well-matched battle of hockey brawlers. Donald Brashear of the Washington Capitals against 18-year-old rookie defenseman Zach Bogosian of the Atlanta Thrashers? Not so much.

The fight above occurred in the final moments of an embarrassing 7-4 loss for the Capitals in Atlanta. Bogosian actually attempted to land a few blows before smartly tumbling down to the ice.

By far the best part of this fight: The hysterical reaction from the SportSouth announcers, sounding very much like the WWE's Jim Ross when a face wrestler is getting a beat-down from his hated rivals in the loading dock area of the arena. "Someone's gotta get in there ... you don't want Brashear ... oh my goodness!"

H/T to HockeyFights.com for all of it.

No. 1 star: Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets

With the Dallas Stars up 2-1 in the third period of their home opener, the Columbus Blue Jackets scored three goals in 4 minutes, 47 seconds to go up 4-2. But as the Dallas Stars Blog wrote: "Never leave a hockey game." Brad Richards and Trevor Daley scored 33 seconds apart to send the game into overtime. That's where Rick Nash's shot from the slot with 21 seconds remaining gave the Blue Jackets an exhausting 5-4 victory. If the BJs are going to be a playoff team, squeezing an extra point against a team like Dallas on the road -- this is only their second victory in the last 19 games against the Stars -- is essential. Also essential: That Nash become the kind of player who comes up huge in spots like this throughout the season, earning that 10-year contract he's looking for.

Here are your Evening Puck Headlines: A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

Preview: Chicago Blackhawks at New York Rangers (7 p.m. EDT; TV: CSNC, MSG). Fred Sjostrom is in and Petr Prucha is out tonight for the 2-0-0 Rangers, who will have Adam Graves, Harry Howell, and Andy Bathgate dropping the ceremonial first puck at the MSG home opener. Hawkey Central has already played this game out on the PS2, and the "final was 3-2 Rangers with two goals from Scotty Gomez and one from Markus Naslund. Patrick Kane and Brian Campbell scored the goals for the Hawks."

• You know, on the list of all the things the NHL needs to do in order to point hockey in the right direction, "move the press boxes closer to the ice" is ranked right below "make the players paint animal faces on young fans between periods." Idiot. [Fox Sports]

• Mark it down: The Detroit Red Wings make their final trip to see Dubya on October 14. [Wings]

Preview: New York Islanders at New Jersey Devils (7 p.m. EDT; TV: MSG2, MSG). Martin Brodeur begins his quest for every other goaltending record he doesn't currently hold as Devils fans formally welcome Bobby Holik back to Jersey. (Oh, and if you see an old guy with a mustache complaining about the Devils never getting any calls, tell him you enjoy his son's Yahoo! Sports Hockey Blog.)

• Breaking down TSN's top 20 rookies, from Steven Stamkos to Nikolai Kulemin. [World of Junior Hockey]

• Speaking of the Toronto Maple Leafs: One lone fans has decided to stake out his territory for the team's Stanley Cup parade this season. [FanHouse]

(Ed. Note: So we're getting into our fantasy hockey coverage here, and this is one of two weekly fantasy features. 'I Hate My [expletive deleted] Fantasy Team!' is a chance to vicariously live through two Yahoo! fantasy hockey players as they provide snarky fantasy analysis while experiencing the headaches and heartburn of their chosen addiction -- even if things look great on paper now.

Our authors this season are Hextall454 of Melt Your Face Off and The Rev. Zamboni on The Palm Isle, who will be featured in alternating weeks beginning next Thursday. First, here are introductions to their fantasy teams this season.)

By Hextall454

You need to know this about me: I'm fiercely loyal to the team that I draft. Even though I wouldn't be charged a dime should I make a transaction, I take a lot of pride in carefully selecting the roster of skaters that will lead me to my first-ever Lord Manderville's Cup.  (Named after Kent. Don't ask.) I'd rather let Vaclav Prospal drive my plus/minus into the ground rather than drop him for an equally streaky and mediocre wing.

Unless an injury, AHL demotion, or ethical conflict arises, I dress the players that I handed an oversized jersey and crappy truckers' hat to on Draft Night.  Nonetheless, the commissioner steps to the podium, ethical conflict in hand.

With the 2nd pick in the draft, the Red Bank Salsa Sharks select Sidney Crosby.

Look, I didn't expect Ovechkin to drop. But the clock started ticking and I froze as if Fulton Reed was winding up in my direction. Who to pick? Iginla's got zero help on his line, Dany Heatley fails my "No Germans" rule, and Zetterberg was an absolute ass in "Panic Room." That leaves me, a Philadelphia Flyers fan, with a choice between two forwards from Pittsburgh who weren't old enough to see The Matrix in theaters without the accompaniment of a parent or guardian. Is the second pick too early to reach for Mike Richards?

Note: I still ended up with Mike Richards. I'm going to sweep Intangibles this year.

And now, PD Nation, your 2008-2009 Red Bank Salsa Sharks.

Centers: Hockey Jesus, Richards, Anze Kopitar, Patrick Marleau, Steven Stamkos
Left Wings: Thomas Vanek, Patrik Elias, Markus Naslund, Prospal, Dustin Penner
Right Wings: Marian Hossa, Jason Pominville, Nikolai Zherdev, Mike Knuble
Defense: Lubomir Visnovsky, J.M. Liles, Marek Zidlicky, Mathieu Schneider
Goaltending: Miikka Kiprusoff, Jose Theodore and Tomas Vokoun

A pair of interesting NHL economics lessons for this afternoon.

The first comes from The Puck Stops Here, which opines that the salary cap space for contending teams can be a indication of postseason success, depending on what they do with it at the trade deadline. Please recall the Carolina Hurricanes adding Doug Weight and Mark Recchi before winning their only Stanley Cup a few years back. This year's models, according to TPSH:

The Dallas Stars currently project to have over $4 million salary cap room left at the end of the season.  However, this number is probably not reality.  They have this room because Sergei Zubov and his $5.35 million salary cap hit are on the long term injury reserve. When Zubov returns their available cap space should be used up. That leaves the New Jersey Devils as the potential contender with the most salary cap space free. They project to having over $2 million cap space available with no long term injury reserve players. When only about a quarter of the season remains at trade deadline time this might allow them to add over $8 million in payroll to beef up for a cup run. 

TPSH floats the names Jay Bouwmeester and Marian Gaborik as potential acquisitions, and there's no question a defensive rock like Bouwmeester could be a transformative figure for the Devils' tissue-paper blueliners.

But if we're talking teams on the cusp of the postseason that could easily add salary (if they so desire) in an attempt to become contenders, how about the Buffalo Sabres (currently at $6.8 million) and the Columbus Blue Jackets ($7.38 million)? Both franchises are better known as sellers than buyers, but they have the space.

Meanwhile, Lyle "Spector" Richardson of Fox Sports (and our own live rumors chats) has a sobering look at the NHL's future during our global economic downturn.