Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.
Tom Petty said it best and it's certainly true. With the NHL keeping us collectively holding our breath in anticipation of the Stanley Cup Finals, they can't get here any sooner. The past few days have been a barren wasteland of hockey nothingness, more reminiscent of late-August than late-May. And heck, there have been some stories, but they're nothing when compared to the elephant in the room -- the Finals. Modano is coming back? So what. I want to see Datsyuk/Zetterberg vs. Crosby/Malkin. The NHL is putting out killer commercials? Whatever. I want to see Lord Stanley's silver chalice.
But here we are. It's Friday and we're only a day away. Almost ... Almost ... I feel like I'm getting my freaking teeth pulled here. Thanks a lot, Gary. Nice scheduling.
Oh, hey! Look ... News updates after the jump!
Cammi Tony Granato takes over the snow pile that intends to come down the mountain and crush you. Again. Tony Granato, possibly most famous for being Cammi Granato's brother, has been promoted once again to head coach of the Colorado Avalanche. If you remember, he was the head coach from 2002-04 and was relegated to assistant when Joel Quenneville was brought on board. But no more! Coach Q is out and Granato is back to captaining the ship. That is, if a hockey team can be accurately described as a boat. Somehow I don't think that analogy works.
Granato's track record is good and he enters with a better winning percentage in Colorado than his predecessor. He also faces one major challenge -- harnessing the power of the wild Paul Stastny. And you thought coaching in New York was tough.
The Texas Two Headed Monster is, somehow, good at managing a hockey team. The Dallas Stars' two headed GM experiment was given validation yesterday, if only by owner Tom Hicks. The tandem of Brett Hull and Les Jackson signed matching three year deals with the Stars establishing the co-GM system in Dallas for the time being. Personally, I'm still not sure what Hull does exactly and Hicks didn't do anything to clear the situation up.
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Hicks says the two work well together because Jackson brings the analytical approach bred from more than 20 years as a Stars scout and executive, while Hull offers unconventional wisdom and fosters a strong relationship with the players.
'Brett Hull' and 'unconventional wisdom' in the same sentence. I have to say, I did see that coming. It's still hard to say what Hull does. Does he throw wild badgers in the showers after practice and then take the team out on the town Saturday night? Those actions would certainly qualify him as unconventional and a relationship builder. But the team's performance speaks louder than anything Hicks could say. Unconventional as it may be, Brett Hull and the co-GM system in Dallas helped take the team further in the playoff than it has been since the Stars won the Cup in 2000.
What we're writing about
- Matt Saler's got the low down on Thursday's Red Wings practice and anything you could ever need to know on the status of Johan Franzen.
- Is our own Bruce Ciskie going to get stolen by the MMA craze? Hopefully not, but it's still worth giving the sport a fighting chance. See what I did there??
- The Good Doctor Mirtle is always on call. Yesterday he sat down and checked up on the well being of a couple Pens and Wings blogs. I imagine they're seeing visions of large, silver cups.
- If you've got a lot of cash to spare, check out some of the memorabilia you can spend it on with JP. If you don't like that idea, then send lots of money to me, c/o FanHouse.
- The E Mac Attack never rests. When he's not saving the world here at FanHouse, you can check him out at the Sporting
NewsBlog. - Broken bats are a safety issue in baseball ... Do broken sticks pose a similar threat to hockey? Jes Golbez is on the case.
- And, for what it's worth, I was busy taking pictures of cars yesterday.
Your Friday musical montage
The Stone Temple Pilots are back on tour and in honor of said tour that I wasn't able to get tickets to (dammit) here's Interstate Love Song. Hey, it's Friday! Kick back and relax.
Got a story that you absolutely have to share? Well, share the love and tip your local FanHouse bloggers. Feel free to drop us a line at nhlfanhouse@googlegroups.com. The best part? We're not asking for any money!
