Parise and Suter sign with the Minnesota Wild

Minnesota hockey fans will be going wild over the NHL team’s reported signings. According to multiple reports, coveted free agents Zach Parise and Gary Suter will be signing with the Minnesota Wild. This will send teams that had Parise and Suter as the top two options on their free agent wish list scrambling for a plan b.

Parise, a forward who is a Minnesota native, and Suter, a defenseman, each received 13-year, $98 million deals according to people familiar with the terms.

In a deal that reminds many of the LeBron/Wade/Bosh signings, this was reported to be a package deal before all of the off-season wheeling and dealing. The signings won’t guarantee the Wild a Stanley Cup or being an instant contender, but it will give them some credibility.

Reebok comes up with a slick marketing campaign

The Los Angeles Kings have stunned the hockey world by making a run to the Stanley Cup finals. In the middle of it all is Kings goalie Jonathan Quick. He has stood tall in net and has played above his head this postseason.

Reebok saw enough of Quick to make him the center of a marketing campaign. It might be a ploy to sell more jerseys to women or just more Kings jerseys in general. But the billboard is pretty slick and could get more women to buy a Johnathan Quick jersey.

A clever sexual joke thrown in there, but it might work.
  

Parise and Suter a package deal?

Rumors concerning a package deal to the Red Wings between Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter and New Jersey sniper Zach Parise has been somewhat persistent this spring and early summer. Rumors continued on a Parise and Suter rendezvous in Detroit continued at the IIHF World Championships.

Gregg Krupa of the Detroit News reports it’s a “common assumption … Parise and Suter are intent on signing together with a new team” while the Wings have a mutual interest in the two 27-year-old players.

“I am assuming that, at least as of right now, they are a package deal,” one NHL team official told the Detroit News. “They certainly seem to have set it up that way, themselves.”

But before Red Wings fans start committing money to those new Parise and Suter Winged Wheel jerseys, there is still a chance that Suter re-signs with the Predators. Suter has made it clear so far that he intends to sign his last contract this offseason so the Wings and their fans need to be totally sure if they want Suter for the next 10 years or so.

With Parise, there may be little point speculating on his future considering the Devils are one win away from the Stanley Cup Finals.

But, if Suter and Parise do in fact hit the open market, it’s looking more and more likely that their preferred destination would be Detroit.

If longtime forward Tomas Holmstrom retires, defenseman Brad Stuart heads out west and Jiri Hudler signs elsewhere the Wings would have roughly $44 million dollars committed to salary in 2013 and should be able to accommodate both Suter and Parise without issue.

This is how Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, and LeBron James ended up with the Miami Heat.

Sergei Federov to become GM of Russian hockey club

According to a report in Sovetsky Sport, former Detroit Red Wing star Sergei Federov will retire from the game of hockey and concentrate on being a general manager for CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League.

Federov will play in one more game before assuming the duties of general manager next season.

“It’s a great possibility that CSKA’s first home game of the new season will be Sergei’s farewell. It will be sort of a farewell celebration and he will concentrate on the management work at the club.”

The highly skilled Fedorov defected from the Soviet Union in 1990 and helped the Red Wings win three Stanley Cup championships in 13 seasons in Detroit. He ranks fourth on the club’s career list for goals (400) and fifth in points (954).


He is the last Red Wing to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player in 1993-94 and is a two-time winner of the Selke Trophy as the league top defensive forward.


CSKA hasn’t yet confirmed the report and Federov has yet to make his retirement official.

Todd Bertuzzi enforces ping pong laws

It’s been an extremely physical NHL playoffs thus far as bitter rivalries continue like what we’ve seen between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and develop like what we’ve seen with the New York Rangers and Ottawa.

Red Wings fans also need to look no further than their own series with the Nashville Predators which got pretty ugly when Shea Weber decided to introduce Zetterberg’s face to the glass. This continued the following game when Todd Bertuzzi decided to get Zetterberg and himself some retribution when he dropped the gloves with the big Nashville defenseman.

But Bertuzzi doesn’t limit his enforcement skills to the ice, he’s also taking it to the locker rooms and under belly of The Joe Louis Arena.

In between the locker rooms at The Joe, the Wings have set up a ping-pong table to enjoy during off days as well as before and after practices (last I hear Darren Helm is the team’s ping-pong champion). However according to the Detroit Free Press, this is a ping-pong table that is strictly off-limits to the likes of the Nashville Predators and Bertuzzi is going to make sure it stays that way.


“I came out of our room, saw some of their guys wanting to play on our Ping Pong tables and told security,” Bertuzzi told the Free Press. “I didn’t do anything else. I didn’t move the table myself.”

Rumors that Bertuzzi had personally packed up the table and wheeled it away swirled around the morning skates today. The Wings host the Predators in Game 4 looking to even the first-round series. No one among the Wings had heard of Ping Pong Gate, but greeted it with delight.

The Free Press report further more states that Predators forward Brandon Yip confirmed that Bertuzzi was not around when he and Roman Josi were denied the opportunity to play Ping Pong by arena security at Joe Louis Arena on Monday.


“I don’t know where that came from,” Yip said of Bertuzzi being involved. “He wasn’t out there.”

Red Wings’ Helm out for playoffs

The Detroit Red Wings got word Thursday that forward Darren Helm would be lost for the remainder of the season after undergoing successful surgery to repair lacerated tendons on his right forearm.

Helm suffered the injury when he was cut by the skate of Nashville’s Alexander Radulov in the first period of Wednesday night’s Western Conference quarterfinals.

“He’s an important guy,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. “I’m disappointed for Darren because he worked real hard to be back for the playoffs.


“He plays with tremendous passion and determination. I know how much he loves this game. It’s a big loss, but that’s playoff hockey.”

The injury is without a doubt a big loss for Detroit who relies heavily on Helm’s speed and fore checking ability, especially on the power play. It’s also ironic considering Helm was injured off the skate of a player in Radulov who many have questioned whether or not he should even be playing for Nashville given he just completed a season in the KHL.

Helm is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for the beginning of next season.

With Helm being gone, Babcock will more than likely move Justin Abdelkader up to the third line center, move Emmerton back down to fourth line center and insert either Gustav Nyquist or Chris Connor in the lineup Friday night.

Michigan State Thinking Of A Hockey Game On An Aircraft Carrier

Michigan State was the first school to play an outdoor hockey game (versus Michigan). The Spartans were the first to play a basketball game on an aircraft carrier (versus North Carolina). The people at Michigan State arer now thinking of another first. The first to play a hockey game on an aircraft carrier.

Athletic director Mark Hollis mentioned today that he has been approached about the possibility. He made a brief appearance at Munn Ice Arena before hockey coach Tom Anastos held an informal session with reporters. Hollis then traveled to Indianapolis to attend the NCAA convention and did not return calls seeking more details.

Anastos sounds like he’s in favor of the idea.

“I just think when you can create good, unique experiences for the student-athletes, it is definitely worth exploring.”

I don’t watch college hockey but if a game on an aircraft carrier materializes, I might actually take the time to check it out.  

Brooklyn Islanders? A Slight Chance They Could Go There

The once proud franchise of the New York Islanders might be looking for a new home when their lease is up at the old Nassau Coliseum is runs out in a few years. The Isles are looking for a new or refurbished arena and Nassau County isn’t making it easy for them to get one. It won’t be out of New York but they are having thoughts of moving.

Back in 2008-2009 there were rumors of Kansas City being a destination spot but it never materialized. Now the Isles have set there sights on something closer to home. Brooklyn could be that place. The new Barclays Center in Brooklyn will be the home of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets. Could it also double as the home for the Islanders? Maybe.

A source in Executive Ed Mangano’s administration said, “It will be a small miracle if they can even get it off the ground and keep the team here.  I really believe the Isles are going to Brooklyn, barring divine intervention.”

The Islanders might be giving the new place a test run as they are in discussions to host a NHL preseason game there. There are questions about the small attendance and the sight lines. The way the Isles have been playing in their recent history the small attendance won’t exactly be a problem.

Luc Robitaille’s Son Launches Music Career

Luc Robitaille enjoyed a very successful NHL career. He was one of the most prolific scorers with the Los Angeles Kings and won a Stanley Cup championship with the Detroit Red Wings. His 16 year old son Jesse plans on making it to the big time in a different way.

Jesse is launching a music career and is going by the name Jesserae. Although he is young he says he doesn’t do the Justin Bieber style (sugary pop) and sings “rock, soul, and groove”. He plays the guitar and is more acoustic rock than teeny bop. Even though he hasn’t hit it big, he has garnered around 40,000 hits on Youtube. Jesserae will be taking a tour of the Midwest and Robitaille is supportive of his son’s choice of career.

“It’s totally fine by me,” Robitaille said. “As long as I see him working hard, which he is doing, I’m a happy man and I’ll do everything to support him.”

Sounds like he won’t be getting by on the family name. This isn’t the first child out of the family to make it in another line of entertainment work. Luc’s stepson, Steven R. McQueen went into the acting field and Robitaille advised him not to take the Robitaille name. McQueen is the grandson of Steve McQueen. The R is a tribute to Robitaille.

 

Quote Of The Week: Dean Lombardi

After some alledgedly shady dealings with the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi had some words for the Oilers organization. This all comes on the heels of the Ryan Smyth trade, where Lombardi initially agreed to take forward Gilbert Brule in exchange for left wing Ryan Smyth but balked when he said the Kings’ lawyers determined Brule had not been procedurally cleared following a concussion. Unwilling to void the trade because Smyth had asked to leave Los Angeles — and because Smyth’s departure would take a huge burden off the Kings’ salary cap — Lombardi agreed to instead take center Colin Fraser and a seventh-round pick in the 2012 draft.

Fraser had yet to be medically cleared to play, but Oilers General Manager Steve Tambellini led Lombardi to believe Fraser was close to being cleared. However, Lombardi said the Kings’ doctors found not only an unhealed fracture but an alarming cyst in Fraser’s foot and a blood disorder. Lombardi said Fraser will require surgery that would keep him out four months.

Talk about getting robbed. Of course Lombardi wasn’t too pleased about this.

“The bottom line for me, I would have rather invested my money with Bernie Madoff than invest in Edmonton’s word.”

Of course Tambellini happened to be traveling and has no response.