Puck Daddy

As this point, your heart just goes out to Steven Stamkos. The No. 1 overall pick in 2008 for the Tampa Bay Lightning, the kid battled through absurd expectations placed on him through offseason marketing -- and his own struggles -- in a season that saw him earn just three third-place sympathy votes for the Calder.

But he played better as the year wore on, and played very well for Team Canada in the 2009 world championships. Olympic hockey analyst Pierre McGuire thought his international experience might be enough to earn Stamkos a roster spot for Team Canada in the 2010 Winter Games; but then again:

"The age factor may be as it was for Crosby and Phaneuf when they weren't chosen to go to the 2006 Olympics. Age will be part of the equation but not all of it."

Stamkos is 19. Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty will be 20 when the Team Canada orientation camp opens in August. Doughty, drafted right behind Stamkos, was invited; Stamkos was not.

Some other interesting omissions at the Team Canada 'who will lose to the gold to the Russians?' orientation camp roster was revealed this morning:

Chris Osgood, Detroit Red Wings: A long-shot to make the cut, considering the caliber of the five goalies invited to the camp. But with Steve Yzerman as the executive director, one figured he might have an 'in.' His Canadian Red Wings teammates rallied behind him as a candidate when asked about it during the Stanley Cup finals.

Marc Savard, Boston Bruins: The competition at center is obviously steep, and neither he nor Brad Richards of the Dallas Stars received an invite. (Yet Andy McDonald did.) McGuire had him as a bubble player to make the team, so not getting a call for camp is a little surprising. 

Jason Spezza, Ottawa Senators: Good lord, how the mighty have fallen. Three world juniors appearances, two world championship appearances and a reserve on the Canadian team in the 2006 Games in Turin. Now, he doesn't even get a skate in the door.

Coming up, the full camp roster. Any other omissions catch your eyes? Brian Campbell? Ed Jovanovski? Marty Turco? Zack "Huggy Bear" Stortini (jokes)?

MVP of the offseason for the Washington Capitals? That would be Chris Pronger(notes).

Not giving up the package the Anaheim Ducks were seeking for Pronger -- which included one of the elite young goalies, an elite prospect, a roster player and a top pick -- might be looked back upon as a key "non-move" on their path to a championship.

Then, as Pronger's contract was added to the Philadelphia Flyers' roster, Mike Knuble(notes) was shaken loose as a UFA and ends up with the Washington Capitals for a two-year, $5.8-million contract.

Let us join the chorus of saying this was a great signing. He's a bigger Chris Clark(notes) with better results, about four years older and with a $140,000 higher cap hit. Or he's their Bill Guerin(notes), to put it in Pittsburgh Penguins terms: The no-nonsense, veteran (37 next season) North American player who will get dirty in the crease and stir it up on the ice. The Flyers loved him as a teammate. Not the second line center fans have been screaming they need, but a very important addition in building a winner.

• Meanwhile, Capitals enforcer Donald Brashear(notes) goes to the New York Rangers (two years, $2.8 million) in one of the most bat-crap crazy, unforeseen moves of the day. Like with Fedorov, Washington was a better sports town with him in it. Rangers fans will learn to like him, too, once they get finished cleaning up pieces of Blair Betts from the Garden ice.

• Scott Niedermayer(notes) ends a bit of drama with a one-year contract worth $6 million (per TSN) with the Anaheim Ducks. He had a $6.75 million cap hit last season. The Canucks and Devils were mentioned as "kicking the tires" on Niedermayer, but it would have been public relations suicide for the Ducks to have made the Pronger deal and then lose Niedermayer, too.

• Finally, the Columbus Blue Jackets have made their offer to Rick Nash(notes), who hits free agency next summer. Have to love the timing, as Nash watches the Marian Hossa(notes) deal and the Sedins' deals go down. 

The Colorado Avalanche are looking for a starting goaltender, or at least one that will get the majority of the starts with Peter Budaj filling in the blanks. Like the Dallas Stars and the Toronto Maple Leafs, they're flirting with Jonas "The Monster" Gustavsson before the Free Agent Frenzy begins this week.

If it's not the Swedish netminder, Adrian Dater of the Denver Post predicts the other possibilities for the Avs:

My money is on Marty Biron or Ty Conklin being the next Avs' starting goalie, with Boods as the backup. We'll see.

Yeah, that's about where we are with the goalie free-agent crop in 2009: Bidding for Europeans that have never been in the NHL, hoping that big-name keepers like J-S Giguere are dealt or settling for the mismatched sock drawer of unrestricted free agent goalies that should hit the market this week.

Here are your 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.

• Dan Wood of Ducks Blog writes a rather compelling defense of Chris Pronger both as a player and an individual: "Booed mercilessly in nearly every NHL arena except his own, Pronger is perhaps the league's most misunderstood individual." We'd agree that Pronger isn't "nothing but evil" as Wood writes as a devil's advocate. We will say that he's an Ulf-level cheap shot artist, and that behavior has tarnished what otherwise could be (should be?) a Hall of Fame career. [Ducks Blog]

• Mikael Samuelsson, Tomas Kopecky, Ty Conklin and Marian Hossa: Soon-to-be former Detroit Red Wings? [Snapshots]

• Gotta love the negotiating prowess of New York Rangers GM Glen Sather, who said this about Nik Antropov's agent seeking a long-term deal at $5 million per season: "There's a snowball's chance in hell that's going to happen. It's ridiculous. I hate to criticize an agent, but let's have a little bit of reality here." [NY Post]

• Our content partners at SB Nation unleash the awesome power of their fully armed and operational battle station with a catchall Free Agent Frenzy blog. Bookmark it, Dan-o. [SB Nation]

• NHL.com, meanwhile, attempts a ranking of the top 50 free agents heading into this week's frenzy. We're pretty sure Rob Scuderi of the Pittsburgh Penguins might garner a tad more interest than Jordan Leopold. [NHL.com]

• Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk is "disappointed" that Dany Heatley has requested a trade. And if there's anyone who knows about disappointment ... [Sun Media]

• Why it's time for Joe Sakic to say goodbye to the NHL. [Denver Post]

• "Fanarchy" on Versus was pimped hard during the network's Stanley Cup coverage. To the surprise of exactly no one, there's a backlash now that it's on the air. From First Cuts: "Sports bloggers of the blogosphere: This is not progress. Rather than having your voice taken seriously, you're being sold as mouthbreathing knuckledraggers when you're paired next to stuff like this. The show is actually the opposite of progress when it comes to giving fans a voice." [First Cuts]

Hello, this is a feature that aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

Remember a couple years ago when the Islanders announced that Garth Snow, the guy that had been their backup goalie just 15 minutes before, would be their general manager?

Oh how we all laughed and laughed. "HIM?" we scoffed. "Garth Snow? The guy went to MAINE for God's sake! How smart could he be?" And, quickly, he gave us an impetus for more laughter than we knew what to do with, floating Rick DiPietro a 15-year contract that probably even had DiPi snickering under his breath as he put ink to paper.

And then of course something funny happened: he started making prudent decisions. He signed Viktor Kozlov to a one-year deal for less than a million dollars (he scored 25 goals and 51 points that year), offloaded some terrible contracts and traded for Ryan Smyth to help push the Isles into the playoffs. For this, Sports Illustrated named him the 2006-07 NHL Executive of the Year and everyone out in Nassau was very pleased with themselves.

And, of course, the Islanders collapsed right back into crumminess, finishing with an average of 70 points over the last two seasons, and we all resumed our joyous, self-satisfied laughter.

But then ole' Garth pulled six fast ones this weekend, and everything I've read since then says we should be in awe of him right now. So why not?

(Coming up: Why the Bouwmeester/Flames thing isn't a big deal; a look inside Chris Pronger's plan to get suspended for the entirety of the 2009-10 season; Stan Fischler owes someone an apology; the debate over the Red Wings' obscure Scandinavian seventh-round pick rages: Future Hall of Famer or merely a six-time Norris winner?; and how Matt Duchene honed his sniper skills by bulls-eyeing womp rats in his T-16 back home.)

MONTREAL -- There are probably reasons why the NHL Draft is important besides creepy photos of rookies, but we're just not sure what they are.

In any event, the first round of the Draft commences tonight beginning at 7 p.m. EST, and we'll be at Bell Centre to watch the carnage. We'll be Twittering away with random thoughts, rumors and general goofy fun, so be sure to also follow the Tweets.

This post will serve as the "live blog," as we'll have news, analysis, interviews and coverage from all over the draft updated throughout the night, followed by a wrap-up post at the end of the evening.

In lieu of a live chat, feel free to use the comments section to discuss the happenings, ask us anything or curse the day your general manager was born.

The New York Islanders pick first; the Pittsburgh Penguins pick 30th; in between, it's going to be a hell of a night. Thanks for reading.

Here are your 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.

• Kevin Paul Dupont reports on this morning's blockbuster rumor that the Boston Bruins proposed sending Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Tomas Kaberle and the No. 7 pick. Turns out the No. 7 pick wasn't in play, and that the Bruins may have been trying to blow the Leafs away with an offer before Kaberle's value increases post-Jay Bouwmeester signing somewhere. [Boston Globe, with good commentary from Lowetide as well]

• What's that you say? You'd like to read some NHL Mock Drafts for 2009? Here's what the National Post, Edmonton Journal, USA Today, Pierre McGuire and Craig Button, The Program and Craig Custance. Lots of love for Victor Hedman as the top choice in these.

• B.D. Gallof's mocked draft. If you're a fan of his Photoshop contest work on Puck Daddy, this is your Christmas morning. [Islanders Independent]

• Cycle Like The Sedins has been running an epic blogger-based draft preview that's just terrific. In-depth, detailed and with some great writing. [Cycle Like The Sedins]

• TSN has a live blog rolling all day for the draft, and says that top prospects Nazem Kadri and Landon Ferraro "will also be tweeting in the blog." Seeing as how some feel Kadri could be this year's first-round dropper, that could be a show. [TSN]

• Tampa Bay Lightning GM Brian Lawton hedges a bit on the team keeping its No. 2 overall pick: "It's starting to get very interesting now. ...People would be shocked at the quality of names." Then again, the Bolts are currently trying to figure out who goes up to the podium for the pick. Is it Oren's day or Len's day with the kids? [Joe Bolts Fan]

• After reports yesterday that his client had agreed to a new contract extension with the Vancouver Canucks, Roberto Luongo's agent says everybody just needs to take a chill pill about the goalie's future with the team. Oh, and that John Buccigross shouldn't get into the rumors business. [Province]

• The Detroit Red Wings decline to renew their lease for Joe Louis Arena. [Y! Sports, and more from Snapshots]

• Man falls from the roof of the Hockeytown bar in Detroit, and Deadspin has an eyewitness account. [Deadspin, and not for the squeamish]

MONTREAL - Some news, notes and nonsense from the halls of the hotel headquarters and the many minds roaming it at the NHL Draft.

• You can't walk three feet in this joint without hearing someone mention Jay Bouwmeester's name. Barring something completely unforeseen, the Florida Panthers defenseman's UFA negotiating rights will be traded and various sources have teams like the Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres reportedly in the mix.

Tim Panaccio of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia breaks some news today that the Flyers don't believe they're going to land his negotiating rights:

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said Thursday he doesn't think the club will return to Philadelphia with the rights to any top free agent defenseman, which also includes Montreal's Mike Komisarek and Anaheim's Francois Beauchemin.

"Not really," Holmgren said of getting a rights deal done. "Right now you might be better off with scenarios of a players we've looked into, it's a lot for an unknown [on whether you can sign them]. We've done this in the past with Nashville.

"We had a clear picture going in [then] and probably more cap space, too," he added, laughing. "Right now, it's Thursday and I'd just as soon wait on those guys until July 1."

Two NHL executives here say Bouwmeester has told Florida Panther officials he would prefer playing out west. Although he has not eliminated the Flyers, the Canucks now seem to have the inside track.

• Interesting. But as Panaccio writes, there's a bit of difference for the mild-mannered Jay-Bouw between Western Canada and the city that will torch him on sports talk radio if he doesn't perform. More from Clockwork Orange and Black.

• As an offshoot of the Bouwmeester stuff, Darren Dreger of TSN reports that someone has blown away the Toronto Maple Leafs with a trade offer for Tomas Kaberle, whom TSN says the Leafs were looking to move later in the summer. Any guesses?

After Tuesday morning's news that NBC was lobbying hard for the Philadelphia Flyers instead of the Washington Capitals in a Fenway Park Winter Classic, Times beat writer Anthony J. SanFilippo reports that the Flyers are in fact the Boston Bruins' opponent on Jan. 1, 2010. From the Daily Times (Pa.): 

The NHL was stubborn for a while... mostly because the Flyers were more interested in a Jan. 1 date with Pittsburgh than Boston. However, the NHL assured the Flyers that a future Flyers-Penguins outdoor game could still happen in a couple years.

The Flyers were satisfied and agreed to play. The NHL then confirmed for NBC that the Flyers would in fact play.

No official announcement has come from the league or the Flyers, but sources have confirmed to me that this is the case.

So there you have it: Another source nailing down a Flyers/Bruins Classic for 2010, and confirming the fanatical opposition by NBC to having arguably the League's biggest star in next season's Winter Classic. Joe Haggerty of WEEI spelled out the ratings story behind NBC's decision. Alexander Ovechkin(notes) will have to wait for Yankee Stadium or an outdoor date with the Pittsburgh Penguins (one imagines).

That's not to say Philadelphia and Boston isn't a compelling matchup, because it is: Two great hockey towns within a reasonable distance of each other, and two franchises that carry decades of gravitas and immediate emotional connections for sports fans.

Once this is official, the NHL will have set the groundwork for the third straight combination of compelling competition and a spellbinding venue on New Year's Day.

H/T Philabright for the story.