Thanks to Backhand Shelf, you can find out about ten hockey player commercials that are worse than Alex Ovechkin representing Eastern Motors. Sadly there aren't any featuring Minnesota players because they don't exist outside of Mikko Koivu's Finnish Nike ad (which lets face it, that's just pure awesome sauce) and Cal Clutterbuck's clone make a Call of Duty cameo, but there are lots of hockey players acting like robots..
Minnesota Wild
-Bad news for Dany Heatley as he's suing his former agent for $11 million over failed housing deals. (Globe and Mail)
-Good news for this season because The Hockey News predicts Minnesota 5th in the West
-Single-game tickets go on sale Thursday September 22nd and there are 5 game packs which are available at the Minnesota State Fair beginning tomorrow. (Wild.com)
-NHL.com covered Minnesota in their "30 for 30" series yesterday, which you can see here. And here. And here, here and here. They're all great articles and discuss things like the arrival of Zach Parise, if Dany Heatley will rebound and the top Wild prospects.
-Mike Doyle of Wild.com survived a workout with Minnesota strength and conditioning coach Kirk Olson and a handful of college and NHL players enough to write about it. It's a great read if you want to know how NHLers train and/or need motivation to get off the couch.
Wild Prospects
- Mikael Granlund mentioned a month ago that he would play in North America and reiterated that would happen regardless of whether there is a lockout to Finnish tabloid Iltalehti a couple days ago. The article is in Finnish but we have it translated thanks to our resident Finn Sampsa F.:
The views on the new CBA agreement by the owners of the NHL and by the NHLPA still greatly differ from each other. Mikael Granlund who is heading to Minnesota Wild for the next season, has a backup plan if debut season in the NHL doesn't start on time.
- "I get to decide where I play if the lockout happens. The AHL most likely option for me, Mikael says".
Speculations about Granlund's return to his team of the past seasons, HIFK, can be according to Granlund be stopped.
-"As I said, AHL is my primary choice, and most likely I won't return to HIFK for the next season".
If the NHL season is played like usually, the finnish star is looking for a spot in the starting roster. AHL is fine too, if he doesn't break into the Wild's roster straight away.
-"I'm positively looking towards beginning of the season, we'll see if the season starts or time, do I play up (NHL) or down (AHL).-In other "Finnish tabloids treat Mikael Granlund like he's Tim Tebow" news, Seiska says this is Granlund's new girlfriend. Sorry ladies that don't read this blog...
-Louie Nanne is now in Canada.
-Erik Haula was in Finland.
-Mario Lucia now is at Notre Dame (last 3 are all Twitter updates), where he looks to help get the Fighting Irish back into the NCAA Tournament. (The Observer)
Prospect Lists
While everyone in my head is eagerly awaiting the complete First Round Bust top-20 prospects, there are a couple others who have come out with their own..
-State of Hockey News' top-10 prospects.
-Joesph Gunther of the Examiner has his top 20 best Wild players under 25.
Matt Kassian Ridiculous Moment Of The Week (@kassassination)
I once saw a polar bear fight a penguin in the wild...Hello new Nordy theory...
— Matt Kassian (@kassassination) August 17, 2012
Lockout-Related
-Ben Goessling of the St. Paul Pioneer Press spoke with Minnesota player rep Darroll Powe
-Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune broke down the NHLPA counter-proposal and was fairly optimistic. And then a day later he wasn't as optimistic. If this was a political blog we'd call Russo a flip-flopper but since it's not, he's just reporting the news (and doing a damn good job of it).
-Chris Peters of the United States of Hockey discusses how a potential Lockout could harm growth in US
-Over at my stomping grounds SB Nation Minnesota, Jon Marthaler writes an open letter to Gary Bettman
-Another prospect tourney bites the dust. This time it's Florida's. (Litter Box Cats)
Houston Aeros
-Houston Aeros president David Burke took a new job after being hired by the MLS Colorado Rapids (Box Score News)
-Simply put, it's not something Aeros fans are happy with given the state of their lease. (The Third Intermission)
We Are Not NHL Insiderrs But Occasionally Have Sources
August 18th
Heard Paul Ranger and the Toronto Marlies have a one year deal in place, wont be announced til later this month.August 21st#supposedly
— Dan Shrader (@ShraderD) August 18, 2012
-Former Lightning Defenseman Paul Ranger inks AHL deal with Toronto (Pro Hockey Talk)
Miscellanious:
-The actual HockeyInsiderr who slings more rumors than Eklund is likely 17 years-old. (Deadspin)
-The good folks at Hockey Wilderness pissed off an unnamed team that may play in a town with a monorail and Journey in the latest LA Kings 4 on 4.
-Giles over at Team of 18,001 celebrated his one year blogoversary today. Happy to help you out!
-The Minnesota Twins are leaving 1500ESPN for the team-owned KTWN 96.3, which leaves the sports station with Gopher basketball and hockey. There remains plenty of sports to talk about in the Twin Cities market but it's hard for any sports station to lose their flagship team. It also goes to show the growing trend of sports (and sports talk stations) heading to FM stations; something KFAN themselves did last year. (MinnPost)
-Predator fans aren't as upset with losing Ryan Suter as one might think. At they very least they're sane with 80% picking him as the best #20 in Nashville history. (On The Forecheck)
-There's a chance the new CBA might hurt Minnesota more than most teams with the Parise and Suter deals. (Pro Hockey Talk)
-KFAN is going all out at the Minnesota State Fair trying to find a Twins blogger a woman. (AaronGleeman.com)
-Former Gopher forward Nico Sacchetti, a second round pick of the Dallas Stars in 2007, signed a contract with Valerenga in Norway. It's in Norwegian and no, we don't have a translator for this one.
-Lastly, 2012 Hobey Baker winner Jack Connolly scored two goals in his Farjestad debut, a 5-2 win. (Rink and Run)
(No, Jonas Brodin didn't play.)
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