Dear Hockey Fans

Think you're bored? Apparently Terry Frei over at ESPN has you beat regardless of how mundane your hockey-free lives seem to be. Frei takes a look at NHL players and where they would fit in at the summer olympics. He must have been on some awesome combination of LSD and coffee when he wrote this one. I was trying to come up with some clever post for today considering it has been a while since I posted but thanks to the Mr. Frei I was able to put off being creative for at least another day or so.

I also want to take a second in this post to mention that the Canadian World Ju

nior Championship coach, Benoit Groulx, has stepped down from his position for a head coaching job in the AHL. That leaves Team Canada 4 months and change to find a new coach before the competition. If I was on that team I would be worried. I mean, its not like they have won the last four straight tournaments or anything...

Apparently the Minnesota Wild are "pushing hard" to re-sign forward Marian Gaborik. I'm not quite sure how this is headline worthy at TSN but honestly, is anyone surprised? Apparently Gabo thinks he could be more productive in a more offensive minded team. I ag

ree with that but listen to to this line of stats (thank you TSN):

1. Gaborik was the Wild's leading scorer last year
2. Gaborik is fourth in the league in goals per game played
3. Gaborik is first in the league in goals per game played since the lockout (behind Ovechkin, Kovalchuk and Heatley)
4. Gaborik is first in the league in even strength goals per minute
5. Gaborik is second in the league in goals per 60 minutes played (behind Ovechkin)

That all leaves out that he is also the face of the franchise. Oh yeah, did I mention that Gaborik has 3 years left on his current contract? WTF?

NHL Deputy Commissioner (and future owner of Bettman's job) Bill Daly has once again refused monetary compensation from the KHL for taking Alexander Radulov while he was stil under contract with the Nashville Predators.

"The bottom line from our perspective is that the player has a contract which our rules obligate him to respect,'' Daly said. ''Our rules don't recognize a player (or his new team) being able to 'buy' the way out of an existing contract. It's not a scenario that our existing rules contemplate or allow."

I love how the NHL is playing hardball and not giving in here. Daly is pretty much the man as far as I'm concerned. He is well liked by everyone around the league, including the NHLPA, and always has the league's best interest in the forefront of his mind. For Nashville's sake I hope he can get Radulov back becasue the team's depth at forward is lacking.

Thats it for now, until next time keep two hands on that stick.