How the Last 13 Stanley Cup Champions Didn't Repeat, Part 4: Fan's Take (Yahoo! Contributor Network)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 12:46:00 PDT)
In the past 13 years, all 13 Stanley Cup champions fell short of raising the Cup another consecutive time. The first part of my series looked at how the champions from 1999, 2000 and 2001 failed to repeat. Part two studied how the 2002, 2003 and 2004 champions missed the chance to win again. Last week, part three explained how the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 champions were undone the next year. Finally, this series ends by exploring the way the 2010, 2011 and 2012 champions went home early.

What We Learned: Embarrassing LA sports media moments while covering Kings playoff run (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 06:58:22 PDT)
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and 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. It's possibly the greatest bit of investigative journalism conducted since Woodward and Bernstein brought down Richard Nixon. This exemplary, collective effort of sleuth work is currently ongoing in Los Angeles, Calif., where an entire media market has unearthed the NHL's shocking secret: The city has a professional hockey team. Over the past week or so here at Puck Daddy, we've tried to document every startling discovery made by the intrepid Los Angeles media, like how to properly pronounce Anze Kopitar's name (it's hard because he's from Bosnia or something), the real name of this Drew Doughty character ( it's actually Brad !) and that hockey is in fact not played with a ball, but rather a little piece of rubber known as a "puck." That last one makes me pretty uncomfortable because of the word it rhymes with. ("Duck" — sorry, I just don't trust 'em; they have weird beaks). Just how villainous is this team, operating as a sort of sporting sleeper cell? They got all the way to the Western Conference Finals without one local noticing. That takes real criminal talent. And not only that, but, the NHL had the diabolical idea to hide it right under the Los Angelinos' noses, by having their home games played at the Staples Center. You know, where the Lakers play. Further, they named the team the Kings to intentionally confuse even the savviest media organization into thinking they are the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Astonishingly devious stuff. More twists and turns than the Da Vinci Code, which I've read three times just to make sure I understood it all. The best bit of this journalism on this pressing issue comes, of course, from the city's paper of record, the Los Angeles Times, winner of 44 Pulitzer Prizes since 1942, including three in 2012. It was for that towering beacon of journalistic excellence that columnist Chris Erskine successfully scruted several of the team and sport's most inscrutable mysteries . For instance, that thing I said earlier about the puck (again, yuck… oh and that's another gross word it rhymes with), I learned it from Erskine. Apparently they even freeze the thing. And that's a huge point of concern, because, "The hardest shots can reach 110 mph and tear flesh, crush bone, even kill you if you're not careful." Yikes, you guys! ( Coming Up: Rick Nash to Boston?; Tororella defends Prust; Ryan Suter faces his future; Evegni Malkin is having a pretty good season; why Lundqvist is King; why the Capitals can't win with Ovechkin; the Islanders know how to party; Canucks might keep Luongo; Ryan Miller on the CBA; Flames and Oilers coaching news; and are the Kings in trouble?)

Predators’ Erat suffers concussion after headshot vs. Slovakia at World Championships (VIDEO) (Puck Daddy)
(Sun, 20 May 2012 06:15:14 PDT)
Martin Erat's Czech Republic team suffered a major blow Saturday when it was upset by Slovakia, 3-1, in the semifinal game of the IIHF World Hockey Championships. But Erat personally suffered a major blow when he was absolutely crushed by Libor Hudacek in the corner midway through the first period. I don't speak the language this clip is in, but that uncomfortable exhalation is the same in any language, and I'm about 99 percent positive the word "blindside" is uttered at the 0:31 mark. That said, Erat does some high-quality puck-watching here. First he's looking back over his left shoulder. Then he swivels his head and looks back over his right shoulder. Then Hudacek drills him, with the Slovak forward's shoulder connecting with his chin. Erat left the game and would not return, and according to Czech GM Slava Lener, he won't return for the bronze medal game either. The Nashville Predators' forward has a concussion. Here's hoping he's recovered in time for training camp next fall.

Oilers torched for Renney firing; Milan Hejduk back; Alex Radulov fallout (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Fri, 18 May 2012 13:26:44 PDT)
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. • Look, JGL: "Inception" was the bomb. You were Han Solo in "500 Days of Summer." You probably become Batman when Bane breaks Bruce Wayne's back (/speculation). But please do not wear the Lakers gear to the Kings game. That said, feel free to wear the Kings gear to the Lakers game, if there are still going to be Lakers games this spring. • The Ryan Suter watch begins next week. Hold on to your butts. [ Malik ] • Shea Weber on Alex Radulov's quasi-suspension in Round 2 for the Nashville Predators: "You feel a little bit betrayed, but I am sure he feels bad about it now and he looks back on it and wishes it didn't happen. Those are the things you can't take back and we've got to move forward." [ Examiner ] • Pekka Rinne on Radulov and the curfew issue: "It didn't affect as much as media made it seem like. The way I see it, Radulov joining the team mid-season affected the atmosphere more than the incident that happened in the playoffs." [ On The Forecheck ] • Milan Hejduk is back with the Colorado Avalanche for one year and $2 million. Says Dater: "Yeah, I'm a little concerned about where/what Hejduk's role might be. I mean, it's a little worrisome to think he'll be relied upon perhaps as a top-six forward. And yet, would he really be effective on a third or fourth line? Those are questions Joe Sacco will have to grapple with next season." [ All Things Avs ] • Great work here by Nick Cotsonika on burgeoning New York Rangers star and rookie sensation Chris Kreider. [ Y! Sports ] • Ryan Callahan says his left hand isn't injured, despite blocking a shot with it back in the Ottawa series. [ NYDN ] • Darryl Sutter, on the growth of Los Angeles Kings forward Dwight King: "Growth?" Sutter said. "He's still 232 (pounds). After games, he's 228." [ LA Kings Insider ] • Kerry Fraser on embellishing players in the postseason: "The Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs is not the time for the referees to strap on the six guns in an effort to clean up embellishment in Dodge. The refs must however, ramp up their radar and if any doubt is created in their mind as to the legitimacy of a foul, then I would suggest they keep their arm down and play on. I also hope they will seize every opportunity to enforce obvious embellishment by calling a penalty (whether as a 'stand alone' penalty or a coincidental minor when embellishment occurs as the aftermath to a legitimate foul)." [ TSN ] • John MacKinnon torches the Edmonton Oilers for firing Tom Renney. "This move — anticipated as it was — was a long, slow slap in the face to a coach who deserved better. If you're the incoming man, it would be wise to at least ponder the fashion in which the Oilers will ultimately dump you. That might help you decide whether you want to accept the job in the first place." [ Journal ] • David Staples does much the same: "My bottom line on Renney? He  earned a new deal. He made a few big miscalculations, but much more was going right than wrong under his direction." [ Cult of Hockey ] • From Black Dog: "The Oilers are like the opposite of that and maybe this should be their master plan. Howson has already destroyed Columbus. Maybe Messier can take over the Rangers and Prendergast can move to Chicago. Let Tambo move back to Vancouver and Buchberger coach the Avs. Let them go forth and multiply and take their special brand of incompetence to the rest of the league, like the Black Plague, destroying franchises as they alight from their private jets, just as flea ridden rats destroyed cities as they swarmed ashore from ships manned by infected doomed sailors." [ BDHS ] • Ellen Etchingham on the Los Angeles Kings: "These Kings, they just look so brilliant. So clearly and completely and definitively ass-whoopingly eye-catchingly heart-liftingly brilliant. They play the way I'd always hoped a Cup-winning team would play. They play like they are actually so much better than everyone else that they ( *gasp* ) deserve to win. There's still a part of me that can't wholly believe they're for real. There's a part of me that's still tensed for the inevitable fall. But, nevertheless, I hope. I would like to see a team take the Cup this decisively, in less than twenty games. I want to see a juggernaut victory." [ Backhand Shelf ] • Alex Ovechkin was named the 11th most marketable athlete internationally in 2012. [ Alex Ovetjkin ] "A finalized lease agreement with a potential Phoenix Coyotes buyer has yet to emerge publicly but a Glendale City Council majority appears poised to approve a $17 million fee to operate the city-owned arena." [ AZ Central ] • Hopefully, when Daniel Alfredsson says he may have played his last competitive game, he means all 82 games next season for the Ottawa Senators (plus playoffs) are blowouts. [ Senators Extra ] • Finally, the New York Mets all wore hockey jerseys on their road trip to Canada. Expected to see more Islanders sweaters, given that both franchises have been living off the glory of the 1980s for decades… ( Kukla )

Finns, Russia go through, Slovaks upset Canada
(Thu, 17 May 2012 14:23:16 PDT)
Holders Finland advanced to the semi-finals of the world ice hockey championships with a last-gasp winner against the United States on Thursday, but Olympic champions Canada were shocked by Slovakia.

ESPN’s Colin Cowherd vs. NHL writers; longest game record; Roenick, Modano beards (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 13:09:31 PDT)
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. • In case you haven't heard, Colin Cowherd of ESPN insulted the entirety of the hockey media on Thursday (you can watch the video at the bottom of the post) by calling coverage amateurish and saying, "You're getting a lot of young, cheap people covering hockey and it's not like newspapers send their best people to hockey." He's of course talking about summer interns like Michael Farber of SI, Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe, Eric Duhatschek of the Globe & Mail, Kevin Allen of USA Today, Jeff Klein of the NY Times and Pat Hickey of the Gazette. Not to mention the scores of writers over the age of 40 in any hockey press box Cowherd's never been in. [ Awful Announcing ] • Here are John Tortorella's 13 minutes of media time from Thursday's conference call. [ NYDN ] • Mirtle makes the case that the New Jersey Devils should be embraced by Canadians: "To many, the Devils are still this no-nonsense, Scott Stevens led defensive squad that celebrated its three Cup wins in the parking lot -- even though they're now full of personality, led by Parise (who talked at length after Game 2 about how DeBoer pushes them to be aggressive in the offensive zone) and have a beautiful new rink that has a read-and-black pavilion out front to potentially parade around in." [ Globe & Mail ] • Glendale's funding of the Phoenix Coyotes has partially led to 49 people losing their jobs. [ Globe & Mail ] • No Adrian Aucoin for Game 3 vs. the Los Angeles Kings. [ Orlesky ] • The Dino Ciccarelli Award for best postseason rookie. Has to go to Holtby, right? [ Backhand Shelf ] • GM George McPhee is going to take his time before naming the next Washington Capitals coach. [ Capitals Insider ] • Sad news: The Dayton Gems are folding. [ Dayton Daily News ] • Big congrats to the 40 men who played hockey for 246 hours and raised $1.4 million for charity in the "world's longest hockey game." [ Calgary Sun ] • Carrie Underwood totally sticks up for her man Mike Fisher during Nashville Predators games, ya'll: "When somebody trips Mike or does something dirty, I'm like: 'Are you KIDDING me?' Yeah, I get pretty heated." [ Metro ]

Canada living the life of O'Reilly at ice hockey worlds
(Tue, 15 May 2012 14:06:31 PDT)
Olympic champions Canada's impressive form at the world championships continued here on Tuesday as they rounded off their preliminary group campaign with their sixth win out of seven a 5-1 thrashing of Belarus.

Tippett talks Game 2; Torres hearing; Dale Hunter Hockey debate (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 13:04:35 PDT)
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. • All of this has happened before, and will happen again. (via reader Jon Ward) • Dave Tippett on the keys to Game 2: "First and foremost, if you're not willing to jump in and win a few more one-on-one battles, then the tactical stuff you might as well throw out the window." [ AZ Central ] • Alex Semin on Dale Hunter Hockey: "The whole year it was up-and-down, we win a game, we lose a game. By the time we got to playoffs, the team finally understood how to play the game he wanted, defense first, no mistakes, blocking shots, all five guys together. But during the regular season, intensity is not the same as in the playoffs. In postseason, every goal is worth its weight in gold." [ Russian Machine ] • What on earth did Alex Ovechkin mean about jealousy in the Capitals' locker room? [ Puck Drunk Love ] • Larry Robinson will not be heading to Montreal: "Devils assistant coach and 2000 Cup-winning head coach Larry Robinson vehemently ripped a report suggesting he is interested in joining the new Montreal regime, saying that comments attributed to an agent, whom he called a friend, were five years old and that there has been no such contact or interest." [ NY Post ] • Raffi Torres will watch Gary Bettman deny his appeal on Thursday. [ Sportsnet ] • Oh, it only the Coyotes had moved to Winnipeg; then it would be the Jets making this run in the Western Conference. [ QMI ] • Elliotte Friedman, on Dale Hunter Hockey: "This is where I strongly disagree with statistical analysis, which mocked Hunter's system as being terrible for puck possession and, therefore, determined he was coaching a style that allowed opponents to control the game. This is one where numbers don't tell anything close to the real story. They played hard, they played together and I would've liked to see how things evolved over the offseason. If it's decided that the team must go in a different direction, there are going to be some very unhappy players. It's a delicate balance for McPhee." [ CBC ]

Kings-Coyotes Preview (The Associated Press)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 09:03:22 PDT)
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) The Phoenix Coyotes survived stretches of playing on their heels in the playoffs' first two rounds, absorbing everything the opponent threw at them before counterpunching with a winning goal.

Kings, Coyotes know a little bit makes a big difference heading into Game 2
(Mon, 14 May 2012 20:40:40 PDT)
Los Angeles was loose and laughing, while Phoenix was already grappling with a "must-win" desperation scenario early in the Western Conference final series.

Kings dominate opener of West final (The Associated Press)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 15:46:32 PDT)
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) The Phoenix Coyotes survived stretches of playing on their heels in the playoffs' first two rounds, absorbing everything the opponent threw at them before counterpunching with a winning goal.

Memorial Cup trip worth the wait for Sea Dogs defenceman Roussel
(Mon, 14 May 2012 10:21:37 PDT)
Defenceman Charles-Olivier Roussel has waited a long time for his party.

What We Learned: What to make of this Washington Capitals season? (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 05:28:10 PDT)
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and 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. There's been a lot of talk about what this season has meant for the Washington Capitals in the hours leading up to, and then immediately following, their final game of the remarkably eventful 2011-12 season. Wysh had a pretty good recap of the reasons the Capitals felt this little run to a pair of one-goal Game 7s against the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the Eastern Conference — both having been heavy favorites — vindicated the Dale Hunter system of everyone playing defense and collapsing to within three inches of the crease, and it's perfectly reasonable for people to feel that way. Certainly, no one expected these Capitals to do much damage in the postseason given that they frittered away a division they were picked to dominate. But the thing that everyone seems to forget is that, again, they were picked to dominate the Southeast, be a superpower in the East and the League at large. If the team tuned out Bruce Boudreau, and it appears they did, then wasn't his replacement, whoever it happened to be, more or less expected to get this far? Therefore, it becomes a question about what changed, and really, what didn't. Let's not forget, Boudreau came in originally and let guys like Alex Semin, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green have their run of the rink. Two-minute shifts? Sure! Goals aplenty? You bet. But in the end, what did it get them? Bounce-outs, and if you believe the talk, disappointing ones at that. So Boudreau changed the style, focusing more on defense, tethering Ovechkin and Co. to an extent, and … getting the same amount of success. Under each of the two clearly definable Boudreau regimes, the team lost in the conference quarter- and semi-finals. Which is of course notable because the latter is exactly how far Hunter got in his first chance at the tiller, despite doing everything in his power not to: like limiting Ovechkin to fewer than 20 minutes a night in every game in this series save for Saturday's Game 7 and the three-overtime Game 3, in which he played 35:14 — or, if you prefer 17:37 per three periods of play. This therefore vindicates Hunter only as far as it vindicated Boudreau; which, with a roster like this, and given the "choker" label being hung liberally on the former Caps coach this time last year. The philosophy changed radically under Hunter, and worked only as far as it did for Boudreau. Why? ( Coming Up: Team USA, international ass-kickers; getting stupid about Patrick Kane's drinking; Parise's future; Could Brad Stuart return to the Sharks?; Kevin Lowe says Ryan Murray is the top player in this year's draft class; Suter/Weber questions; Pancakes Penner's revenge; Bruins pumped for Dougie Hamilton; Alfredsson retirement watch; Leafs/Penguins trade?; Lundqvist is King; Alex Burrows runs and hugs a goalie; and Winnipeg Jets fans are burning Coyotes jerseys.)

Dustin Brown again saves Kings from a potential momentum-killing defeat in Game 1
(Sun, 13 May 2012 23:09:59 PDT)
L.A. is still undefeated on the road in the NHL playoffs, and that's in large part due to the play of Brown.

Puck Daddy’s 2012 Stanley Cup Playoff Conference Final Staff Prognostications (Puck Daddy)
(Sun, 13 May 2012 10:28:48 PDT)
In which your friends from Puck Daddy and Marek Vs. Wyshynski select the winners for Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Our terrible, terrible Cup picks are here. Greg Wyshynski, Editor Devils in 6 Coyotes in 6 The Rangers have played two grueling 7-game series after a grueling regular season that featured the "24/7" plus Winter Classic taxation. They've played, in the words of my radio partner Jeff Marek, a lot of "heavy hockey." They gutted out a victory against a Capitals team that believed the best defense was no offense, and now face a Devils team that's as offensive as they've had in the playoffs. Historically, the Rangers have handled the Devils in the postseason, and Henrik Lundqvist has been particularly difficult to solve for the Devils. But if New Jersey exhibits the same kind of offensive depth they had in previous rounds, and Marty Brodeur continues not to be a liability, the Devils will advance to the Stanley Cup Final in six games — 18 years after the Rangers prevented it from happening. The Coyotes will continue to be the story of the postseason, using Dave Tippett's system and Mike Smith's swagger between the pipes to eliminate the Kings in six. Jonathan Quick will be tested by Phoenix's underrated offense (2.64 GFA), and the Kings' power play problems will haunt them vs. the Coyotes. Watch out for Radim Vrbata, who had five goals in six games vs. the Kings. The Kings have been outstanding, no question. They've also had the benefit of playing two teams hit with significant injuries — Daniel Sedin, Alex Pietrangelo — at the wrong time. If the Coyotes can avoid the same misfortune, they advance to the Cup Final. Devils vs. Coyotes for the Stanley Cup. Yes, I may be picking this just to hear the collective heads of television executives, the NHL and the hockey media explode. Also because at this point, there's really no salvaging my prognostication record for 2012. Might as well go all-in.

Johan Franzen’s rough day vs. Russia ends with spear to midsection, broken nose (VIDEO) (Puck Daddy)
(Sat, 12 May 2012 07:19:18 PDT)
Detroit Red Wings and Team Sweden forward Johan Franzen spends a lot of time around the goal and therefore has taken his fair share of punishment over the years. This was on display Friday when the Swedes fell to Russia 7-3 during their round robin game at the World Championships in Stockholm. Franzen and Russian defenseman Alexei Emelin mixed it up throughout the game, including one occasion  resulting in this glorious dive by Emelin . In the first period, after Henrik Zetterberg's goal put Sweden up 2-1, Emelin was given a two-minute minor for "slashing", though watching the replay, it was clear it was more than a slash: The IIHF disciplinary panel reviewed the play and announced a one-game suspension for Emelin. He'll miss Russia's next game against the Czech Republic on Sunday. Nashville Predators fans are likely thinking, "Yeah, that's karma for this ." As if taking a stick to the midsection wasn't bad enough for Franzen, early in the third period as the puck was loose around the Russian net, Dmitri Kalinin (remember him Sabres fans?) attempted to clear the big Sweden from the crease with a cross-check to the face: Franzen suffered a broken nose and according to a Swedish report ( via George Malik ), he will not play against Italy today. Kalinin, for his efforts, was given a match penalty on the play, which equal an automatic one-game suspension. After a review, the IIHF added two more games to his total meaning he'll miss Russia's remaining round robin matches, along with the first game of the playoff round. So how was your Friday? Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

Canada come back to upset hockey hosts Finland
(Fri, 11 May 2012 14:36:48 PDT)
Olympic champions Canada battled back from two goals down to clinch their group lead with a 5-3 win over reigning champions, and co-hosts of the world ice hockey championship, Finland here Friday.

Chatting with Evgeni Malkin about signing woman’s chest, Lionel Messi and beer called Giroux’s Tears (Puck Daddy)
(Fri, 11 May 2012 13:42:26 PDT)
Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins saw what happened with countryman Alex Radulov and the Nashville Predators this postseason, when he was kept out for two games following a curfew violation. Would this have happened on another team? "It all depends on the team. But it is very difficult for me to discuss it because I have not spoken with Radulov and I don't know what is true and what is not. Maybe he was late, maybe he was a bit tipsy. Who knows? It's difficult for me to say anything on the subject," said Malkin to Pavel Lysenkov of SovSport in a recent interview. "And if this was the case then he was wrong because this was during playoffs and he shouldn't have done that. But at the same time [the media] blows everything out of proportions especially if you cannot find your game and then you're late everything is then intensified in America. If a player is playing well and scoring goals no one cares where he goes and when, people will carry him around with their hands regardless. But if you're not playing late and break team rules then it becomes like a snowball." Malkin is currently playing with Russia in the IIHF world championships. Here is the rest of Malkin's interview with Pavel Lysenkov , which spans from playoff MVP to Lionel Messi to a beer called "Giroux's Tears." Enjoy. Q. Dan Bylsma doesn't wait for you in the hotel lobby with a stopwatch during the playoffs, does he? MALKIN: "No. Look, everyone is a professional. Yes, sometimes it happens when you're late coming back from dinner. But it is not a big deal. Of course if someone is late and accidentally bumps into [Byslma] downstairs he can have a talk. But I have been playing in America for six years now and I have never witnessed anything like that. It doesn't happen with our team. And it happened to Radulov for the first time. I think everyone was on to him primarily due to his play, because he wasn't playing the kind of hockey people were expecting from him." Who is the hockey equivalent of Lionel Messi? "For me it is Crosby and Datsyuk. I only see Datsyuk as an opponent. But I can say a lot about Crosby because we are together at practices, I see him in the locker room, I see how he works very hard, how he is dedicated to hockey. And all of his victories, all of his awards came to him through the sweat and very hard work. He is very talented, but the way he works on himself — I don't think I have seen anyone who lives hockey like he does." Name the oddest thing you were asked to sign your autograph on? "It has to be a woman's chest. Not a naked chest, but on a T-shirt that was covering it. It happened after the charity game we held last summer. One girl came up to me and asked for an autograph. Of course I was surprised a little bit."

Final eight players announced in EA Sports NHL 13 cover vote campaign (Puck Daddy)
(Fri, 11 May 2012 06:57:50 PDT)
EA Sports' NHL 13 cover vote has now completed two rounds and the final eight players have been revealed as we make our way towards the announcement of the winner during the NHL Awards show in Las Vegas on June 20. Over the next week and a half there will be two voting periods involving two separate matchups. After over 16 millions votes, here are your final eight: In Bracket A will be Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings, along with Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers. Voting for this bracket begins today and will run through May 17th. Bracket B will feature John Tavares of the New York Islanders against Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers vs. Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators. Voting for Bracket B starts on May 18th and will end on May 23th. The final four players will be announced on May 24th. Some teams with players in the running have created their own campaigns to garner votes from fans. The Kings and Kopitar released a video last month, while the Islanders have pumped up Tavares' campaign by going old school with some promotional materials,  referencing the great NBA Jam . Boom Shaka Laka! Voting will take place at  NHL.com/CoverVote and fans can do so an unlimited number of times. A Twitter hashtag,  #NHL13Cover , will also track the cover athlete tournament discussion. Updates and other content will also show up on the  EA SPORTS NHL Facebook page . Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

Patrick Kane’s drunken weekend; Jaromir Jagr’s future with Flyers; conference final times (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Thu, 10 May 2012 12:53:10 PDT)
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. • Deadspin has pieced together the drunken weekend of Patrick Kane in Madison, Wis., including anonymous tales of choking a girl and getting involved with the police because there was almost a fight sparked by Kane's alleged anti-Semitic comments. Meanwhile, Jonathan Toews read a book. [ Deadspin ] • Jaromir Jagr done with the Philadelphia Flyers? "Jaromir Jagr was given several chances to say he wanted to return to the Flyers. He did not bite. It appears he will test the FA market." [ Broad Street Bull ] • In hindsight, how did Paul Holmgren actually do as Philadelphia Flyers GM? [ TPSH ] • The conference final times are set for Games 1 and 2: "The Western Conference Final opens Sunday, May 13 in Glendale, Arizona, where the Phoenix Coyotes will host the Los Angeles Kings at Jobing.com Arena (8 p.m., ET, NBC Sports Network, TSN, RDS). Game 2 of the series will be played in Glendale on Tuesday, May 15, beginning at 9 p.m., ET.  Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference Final will be played on Monday, May 14 and Wednesday, May 16, respectively, and pit the New Jersey Devils against the winner of the Conference Semifinal series between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals. That series currently is deadlocked at 3-3, with Game 7 set for Saturday night in New York (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, CBC, RDS)." [ NHL ] • Among the owners in Tom Stillman's group for the St. Louis Blues: John Danforth, former U.S. Senators, and Thomas Schiafly, the founder of the St. Louis Brewery. [ Blues ] • John Fontana on the NHL vs. the NHLPA: "With posturing in the media by the Commissioner and a lack of tangible movement on the labor front, the noxious bane's potency becomes more lethal, and an interruption to the 2012-13 NHL season becomes more possible." [ Raw Charge ] • What's the off-the-ice impact of the Nashville Predators' playoff disappointment? [ Tennessean ] • Injured defensemen Marek Zidlicky and Anton Volchenkov are expected to be ready by Game 1 of the conference final for the Devils. [ Fire & Ice ] • Marty Brodeur on getting taunted with "Matteau! Matteau!" at MSG: "It stopped not long ago," Brodeur said Thursday. "Same guy. Same spot. He would yell it at me over and over at the Garden. Since '94 they've been living off it for a long time, some of these fans. They have a great hockey club now. I expect if we do play them it will be somewhat similar." [ NJ ]

Will Ryan Suter stay in Nashville after all? (Puck Daddy)
(Thu, 10 May 2012 09:29:56 PDT)
The notion that Ryan Suter could become an unrestricted free agent must make anyone that handed out a 10-year contract to Christian Ehrhoff furious. Here's an all-star, minutes-hording defensive stalwart who'd be considered a franchise defenseman were it not for playing in the shadow of Shea Weber's beard. They don't come around often at 27 years old. So there's going to be heightened attention given to Suter over the next two weeks, as he allows the frustration of the Preds' loss to Phoenix subside and begins sussing out his future with David Poile. From The Tennessean: "I haven't really had time to sit back and talk with my family and figure out what we want to do. This morning I had a meeting with David (Poile) and we talked about everything and the future, and how everything will go, and I think we're going to meet again in a couple of weeks and kind of make a decision." … "Wherever I sign I want to be there for the rest of my career , and that affects my family, my wife, my kid, if we have more kids, everything plays into it." Cynically, one might read this as "I'll let Poile know where they should trade my UFA negotiating rights." It becomes even more cynical when you read this in The Province , in a wishful thinking post about Shea Weber coming to the Vancouver Canucks, on Suter: "Those around his situation claim he has a list of teams he wants to play for and Nashville isn't on it." So are we ready to write off Suter as a Predator or is there still a chance he'll finish his career in Smashville?