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Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:59 am EDT

Puck Headlines: EA Sports' NHL 09, now featuring Barack Obama

By Greg Wyshynski

Here are your Morning 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.

• You may recall hearing that virtual campaign ads for Sen. Barack Obama would be popping up in several video games from Electronic Arts. That includes EA Sports titles, which includes NHL 09. Japers Rink published the screen shot featured here, with one basic question: "Keep your politics out of my video games or cool and clever?" Can we suggest a third option: Uh, creepy in a Big Brother sort of way? [Japers]

• Jaroslav Halak gets the start tonight for the Montreal Canadiens against the Florida Panthers, and Andrei Kostitsyn may not play until Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks after that nasty hit over the weekend. [Habs Inside/Out]

• For the record: Panthers/Habs is your Versus game of the night. The Dallas Stars and Sean Avery playing in MSG against the New York Rangers, with Avery being billed as "Garden villain" in the NY papers? Local television. Honestly, this just boggles the mind. [Daily News]

• The Ottawa Senators are inconsistent. In other news, water remains wet. [THN]

• Big news in the world of hockey blogging this morning: Our friend James Mirtle has a new home at Fromtherink.com, taking over as the manager of NHL blogs for SB Nation. We'll hopefully have more about this as the new gig develops. Congrats to James, who certainly is one of the true pioneers of this medium and a valued Friend of Puck Daddy; and congrats to SB Nation, which is going to have quality writers swarming them like Tkachuk to a buffet with Mirtle at the helm. [Mirtle]

• The irrepressible Mark Madden is giddy about the Alexander Ovechkin/Evgeni Malkin feud, to the point where he believes the Pittsburgh Penguins should go after the "disrespectful" Washington Capitals star. "If Ovechkin won't respect Malkin's status as a superstar, the Penguins can't respect Ovechkin's status as a superstar. If that means that Eric Godard does Ovechkin a favor by rearranging his face, so be it." [Beaver County Times]

• Speaking of the Caps, a really interesting look at former NHL player Darcy Verot; a reckless player during his days in the League, and now a burgeoning star for that style of play in the KHL. [The Red Skate]

• We'll give Tampa Bay Lightning beat writer Damian Cristodero credit for one thing: If the Bolts can actually turn this train wreck around, he'll look like a genius. [Lightning Strikes]

• Is Marian Gaborik too fragile for a $9 million a year free-agent jackpot? And will his lower-body injuries reduce his trade value should the Minnesota Wild have to deal him? [Boston Globe]

• This Adam Burish photo needs to be a poster.

• Potential topic of conversation at this week's GM meetings: Hiding big salaries in the AHL, like Kyle McLaren and Peter Schaefer. Should teams be forced to pay for their mistakes via the salary cap hits for these guys? [Ottawa Sun]

• Meanwhile, Larry Brooks takes an interesting look at how the NHL is "inflicting 13.5-percent escrow deductions from its players' paychecks during the first quarter of the season," perhaps in preparation of some tough revenue times. [NY Post]

• After newspaper columnist Bob Smizik slammed hockey fighting, The Pensblog absolutely owned Bob Smizik. [Pensblog]

• Puck the Media has a grand opening live chat at 1 p.m. today. [Puck the Media]

• Great feature story this weekend about disgraced Nashville Predators co-owner "Boots" Del Biaggio, and how he increased his cred by being a hockey groupie for players like Luc Robitaille and Mario Lemieux. [Tennessean]

• At what point exactly should the Rangers start getting concerned about Markus Naslund? [Scotty Hockey]

• Finally, some fantastic classic NHL commercials appeared on YouTube this morning, with varying degrees of video quality: One about "Scoring," one about "Winning" and this one about "Skating." Get the action reaction, yo:

Related: Goons and Pugilism, Gary Bettman, Commissioner for Life, When Hockey and Hollywood Collide, Puck Videos, Rumors, scuttlebutt, innuendo, Crosby vs. Ovechkin vs. Malkin

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  1. jibblescribbits
    1. Posted by jibblescribbits Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:34 pm EDT

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    Naslund just fills the Ranger's "Overpay for a washed-up over-the-hill veteran" quota. Next season they'll be signing John Kerry and John McCain for $5M/year each.
  2. Journeyman
    2. Posted by Journeyman Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:49 pm EDT

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    Smizik is an idiot. He chimes in on hockey to complain about fighting and occasionally when the Pens are in the playoffs. Otherwise he is MIA.
  3. Wyshynski
    3. Posted by Wyshynski Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:21 pm EDT

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    @ jibblescribbits --
    You know, Kerry voted for the lockout before he voted against it.
  4. Jon A
    4. Posted by Jon A Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:11 pm EDT

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    @ Wysh: LMAO! So true, so true.
  5. Gary D
    5. Posted by Gary D Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:08 pm EDT

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    For the record: Panthers/Habs is your Versus game of the night. The Dallas Stars and Sean Avery playing in MSG against the New York Rangers, with Avery being billed as "Garden villain" in the NY papers? Local television.
    FFurther proof that whoever decides these thing should be tied to a goal Goldberg style without pads in front of MacInnis,Chara,Rolston and whoever else you want.Let them have a hardest shot competition.Thankfully im in the NY area and know which one I'll be watching.Also noticed Devils recalled Letorneau(sp?)-Leblond just in time for Wednesday night's arrival of the dbag in Newark.
  6. GT
    6. Posted by GT Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:14 pm EDT

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    How dare you say that the Panthers matchup will not be as exciting as Avery's return to New York. Why the Panthers have...err, you know that one dude that does stuff and...alright, fine, the folks at VS are idiots!
  7. Wilf
    7. Posted by Wilf Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:46 pm EDT

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    The only way those Obama ads are anything other than awful is if he somehow loses the election and they become a testament to fail, like Enron Field or Dewey defeats Truman.
    I wouldn't say Madden was giddy about Ovechkin's sound and fury against Malkin-- he said the feud was bad for hockey. I'm not so sure, personally.
  8. 5 4 fighting
    8. Posted by 5 4 fighting Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:01 pm EDT

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    You guys are missing the point its not about Montreal's opponent its all about Montreal.
  9. The KBBL Party Penguin
    9. Posted by The KBBL Party Penguin Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:04 pm EDT

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    Smizik is a baseball fan that poses as a "sports reporter." He keeps abreast of the Steelers just enough to earn a paycheck because that's his bread and butter in the PG. His hockey IQ is non-existant and he mainly slams hockey because he can't stand the notion that now his beloved Pirates are so far behind in third place (and have been since the 90's) in Pittsburgh's heart that they're in danger in being replaced by The X-Plosion or the Passion give or take a few more disasters the Nuttings call baseball seasons.
  10. Garth
    10. Posted by Garth Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:07 pm EDT

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    I like that the article is on the "Malkin/Ovechkin Feud", as if there IS A feud. There's no feud. Ovechkin runs over Malkin, then Ovechkin runs over Malkin, then Ovechkin runs over Malkin, but Malkin dacks down on his ass to miss the hit (BTW, was that the headhunting?).
    There's no feud, there's Ovechkin just sominating Malkin phyisically.
  11. Garth
    11. Posted by Garth Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:07 pm EDT

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    Or "dominating". Either way.
  12. Dan
    12. Posted by Dan Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:45 pm EDT

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    Is there anyone who actually knows what Ovie has against Malkin? I heard Madden's comments and he was debating between a team response or having Malkin handle it himself. The conclusion reached was that this battle is apparently so personal that Malkin would have to take care of it himself.
  13. Garth
    13. Posted by Garth Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:07 pm EDT

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    HAH
    "Malkin shouldn’t retaliate personally. That’s not his job. It might help Malkin’s street cred, but what if Malkin broke a finger?"
    Is this the biggest [profane] remark ever?
  14. Wilf
    14. Posted by Wilf Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:46 pm EDT

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    The fact that the Post-Gazette lets Smizik write about hockey would show a lot of contempt for the team's fans, except that the P-G's editors know that few of the team's younger fans read the dead tree edition of the paper anyway, and it's easy to skip Smizik in online form. But they need to give Seth press credentials and start breaking in a sub-60 hockey writer for general purposes.
  15. jibblescribbits
    15. Posted by jibblescribbits Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:34 pm EDT

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    @ Wysh:
    McCain thinks the fundamentals of the NHL economy are strong.
  16. Dan
    16. Posted by Dan Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:45 pm EDT

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    Garth,
    Clearly you didn't see any Pens/Caps games or you'd see Ovie taking runs at Malkin all night. It's not playing physical, he's trying to put him out.
  17. Bidula21
    17. Posted by Bidula21 Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:18 pm EDT

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    Agreed with everyone so far - Smizik is worthless.
    He is the absolute worst sports writer to ever curse the pages of the Post-Gazette. Someone I know actually tried to defend him by saying that "he's just trying to stir up controversy". If having no knowledge of a given sport and making blind statements about its traditions, atmosphere, and rules is considered stirring up controversy, then I should be writing a daily column on the NBA. Now, Mark Madden stirs up controversy, but at least he can back his crazy talk up with knowledge.
    Smizik is also constantly negative, even through the Pens cup run. I suppose just to say "I told you so" when it was all said and done. I don't think he should be writing for a news outlet. His "legitimate" reports read more like op-ed pieces.
    Really, I can't describe how terrible he is. If anyone from any town (not just the Burgh) read his column, I think they would be shocked at the daily level of stupidity spewed on to section D of the good ol' PG.
  18. Michigander21
    18. Posted by Michigander21 Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:35 pm EDT

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    I am an Obama supporter and due to our ability to vote by mail here in Colorado have already voted for him.
    That said, adds in video games??? Not cool. We all know that young voters are one of Obama's strong bases. And seeing as the typical player of a sports video game on a console ranges in the 25 to 35 age range, it is speaking directly to his strongest base. He is mostly preaching to the choir (the reminder to vote isn't all bad though).
    Maybe McCain could counter by direct advertising to his strongest base, wealthy, white, senior citizens. Maybe put up adds at high rent nursing homes or something. Other than that I have no idea how he would target his other base, people with a hard on for wars over oil.
  19. Jeff
    19. Posted by Jeff Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:45 pm EDT

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    Yahoo needs to put "Hits In Frustration" (CIF) into fantasy league scoring. That would be the one category Ovie would lead the league in so far this season.
    Can I get AdBlock Plus for my PS3 copy of NHL09?
  20. Hans Gruber
    20. Posted by Hans Gruber Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:58 pm EDT

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    Versus shows the greatest games. That juggernaut in Florida is amazing. They might even score a goal tonight.
  21. Pension Plan Puppets
    21. Posted by Pension Plan Puppets Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:06 pm EDT

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    "congrats to SB Nation, which is going to have quality writers swarming them like Tkachuk to a buffet with Mirtle at the helm."
    That's the hope!
  22. Tacks
    22. Posted by Tacks Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:51 pm EDT

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    Is there a palin version of nhl 09? I'd like a refund for the obama advert - wait, what's a refund?
    The stars/devils game on wednesday will be much more interesting.
  23. J.S.
    23. Posted by J.S. Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

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    smizik is to the nhl as milli vanilli was to the music industry in the early 90s. just because you look like you know what you're doing, doesn't necessarily mean that you do. i have a feeling this quote will be used against me sometime. madden does talk a little more about the pens, but he is still a bit of a turd. he's been riding the same wrasslin' gimmick for a decade plus now. whatev.
  24. J.S.
    24. Posted by J.S. Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

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    i agree with the comment about making teams accountable for this high priced mistakes. if you want a player off the books, trade him. if not, too bad. you issued the contract, so suck it up. i know nj has made this common practice to hide money, and now it looks like other teams are too. id say count no less than 75 percent against the cap, maybe even 80 percent. it might even lower the value of some of these contracts that are being handed out.
  25. Al S.
    25. Posted by Al S. Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:51 pm EDT

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    I'm glad I do not have Xbox Live because I'd have been torn between either throwing my copy of NHL 09 out a window, or sending it back to EA Headquarters with a note about how I wanted a refund so I could buy NHL 2k9 without ads for the Wii. They can talk about how natural this is all they want, and maybe for a game like Burnout with actual billboards, fine. But there'd be chaos at the rink if any team ever put up an ad like that on the rink dasher, and I could care less who was in the picture. Obama, McCain, Palin, Clinton, Golisano. It just would not be tolerated in an NHL rink, and it shouldn't be in my virtual rink either.

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Puck Daddy is an NHL blog edited by Greg Wyshynski. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

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