Taylor Hall Warns Incoming Teammate Via Twitter

In all the pomp and circumstance of the traditional NHL entry draft broadcast, a little bit of news got under the radar of some of the hockey writers, bloggers and other shows. It was wall-to-wall talk of Connor McDavid and just how things would play out after he was the presumptive #1 overall consensus choice.

They're no strangers to building a hall-of-fame riddled Stanley Cup winning dynasty before in the 1980s, it looks like this roster will contain a few more stars that could pan out in the same way. I bet this is what they are thinking. 

This is now the ticking clock of doom to the Oilers franchise. What I find wrong with this scenario is that the Edmonton Oilers have been stocking up on #1 overall draft picks for the past 5 years. In today's salary cap league, it has been known to give a "casualty" to teams trying to keep all of their stars on the same roster happy. A few players drafted within the top 5 for the last 5 years or more have already been traded to a new team. Once the rookie contracts expire, they are set to negotiate a higher salary commensurate to their production.

Via Twitter

Taylor Hall actually lets the cat out of the bag here in this tweet that was re-tweeted 3,000+ times and no one on the NHL Network or Rogers media affiliated stations this day. Completely glossed over.

How are we to interpret the Taylor Hall tweet. Sure, reading text on a computer is open to the reader's context, but I personally can not see any other intention as the sentence was constructed. This is a hostile and cold response to his team drafting Connor McDavid.

Questions still remain on this tweet. Is Taylor Hall expected to be pushed asside for the attention that McDavid will surely garnish? Will McDavid be quickly given the "A" or even "C" during his time in Alberta? Just whom will McDavid push out of room on the salary capped roster?

NHL Entry Draft 2013 Recap

Credit: NHL

Hosting the National Hockey League has become the try-outs to give the best impressions on the NHL selection committee to host a future All-Star game. But the marvelous weekend that has become the NHL Player Entry draft has become an event in and of itself. I've seen it first hand when it was here in Pittsburgh. The Prudential Center, in downtown Newark, NJ, had the unique flavor of the Devils fans and Jersey experience. They had a giant cake effigy of Martin Brodeur.

TSN took care of all the footage as the NBCSN in America just syndicated their feed. Why bother having it on NBC if they're just going to have someone else's talent on it?

Leading up to the draft, the Colorado Avalanche had time to think about the new direction they were going. They had a new front office with Avs legends Sakic and Roy. Were they going to make the new #1 selection by keeping it in the state by selecting Seth Jones knowing he would want to be an Avalanche. When the Avs won the earlier draft lottery, many fans felt as if the draft was fixed in the Jones' family's favor. But as the draft start time crept near, it was learned that Sakic and the gang actually coveted another prospect.
Nathan MacKinnon, of the Halifax Mooseheads and recent hero of the Memorial Cup, is a tall centerman that looks to be in the same Joe Sakic style. But instead of comparisons to the legacy hall of fame center, MacKinnon was immediately compared to Sid Crosby because he comes from the same Cole Harbor and studied at Shattuck-St. Mary's prep in Minnesota (much to the ire of many Crosby-haters in attendance.)

Listening to the TSN analysts in shock and disappointment believing that their #1 Seth Jones was passed over not once, but three times - finally going 4th overall to the Nashville Predators. His dad, Popeye Jones, was born and raised in Tennessee - so at least the family can show poetic justice.

Here is how the first 5 picks in the draft went:

1. Nathan MaKinnon - Avalanche
2. Aleksander Barkov - Panthers
3. Jonathan Drouin - Lightning
4. Seth Jones - Predators
5. Elias Lindholm - Hurricanes

How many former Stanley Cups champions are among those teams? I count 4. It just goes to show you that the League can get cyclical.

There were some trades that went on, but not quite enough as to what was expected in preparation to the July 5th FA Frenzy. But the biggest shocking deal made on the draft floor was felt like the spur-of-the-moment decision to send hot prospect goaltender Cory Schneider to the host New Jersey Devils. Cory Schneider, was one of the goaltenders involved in the Vancouver Canuck goalie controversy where Roberto Luongo and his long term expensive contract wore out his welcome.

Cal Clutterbuck, a Minnesota Wild favorite, was dealt to the New York Islanders for Neno Niederreter. I'd call this a very fair deal. What do you think?

My hometown Penguins traded Tyler Kennedy to the San Jose Sharks to move up to the second round where they previously had no selection.

Lastly, the Toronto Maple Leafs picked up the Chicago Blackhawks intimidating center and Stanley Cup hero Dave Bolland.

In a final note, the NHL decided that it would be fitting that one of the last picks in the draft, Marty Brodeur in host team city New Jersey can draft his son to the New Jersey Devils. It's charming on one side, but nepotism on the other. What would an undrafted player say that Brodeur's son got taken over him?

COHF Meets Miss Mandy Starling

Of all the truly remarkable people that I have encountered during my 10 year run of hockey blogging, I would have to give a recount to my blessings for having a great gal like Miss Mandy Starling in my online life. While I continue to make new friends on BlogTV, I became a fan of Mandy's shows on the popular self-broadcasting social media website. I became a regular guest chatter in the text chatroom. But once in a while, I would be invited as a co-host and most of that time be talked into doing something silly like dancing.

After a while of getting to know Mandy and talking with her live on camera, she became interested in working with me further. I spoke to her candidly, as I do with everyone. For a while now, I've felt as if she challenged me and made me feel like I wanted to be a better person. She asked me to try and lose weight, something that I'm definitely keeping seriously.

To return the favor, Miss Mandy Starling and I arranged for another show to be one where I could be a guest on her blogtv.com channel. There, I got the chance to express how excited I was during this upcoming weekend that features the 2012 Entry Draft. I know she's done some other things involving the 2011 hockey classic in Georgia, so it was a pleasure talking to her about the NHL coming to my hometown in Pittsburgh. Some of it was recorded and you can watch it via her channel.
Hockey in Pittsburgh- Broadcast your self LIVEIf I'm not on my own blogtv.com channel, you can probably find me there watching Mandy with all of the other regular guests. Come check her out at her blogtv page It's Mandy's World. Or keep up on all her other adventures through broadcasting and check out her website - Mandy Starling.

Edmonton Oilers Win #1 Overall in Draft Lottery

courtesy: Rogers Sportsnet

Playing with the gift of last year's #1 overall selection in Taylor Hall, the Edmonton Oilers have again had the ping-pong balls fall in their favor. This allows them the next year's pick to help them again gain some ground on the competition and aid their rebuilding program.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of of the WHL's Red Deer Rebels is considered to be the top draft-eligible North America, but will he be passed by for a European prospect?

The Avalanche and Panthers get the #2 and #3 seeds. You can see the rest of the remaining selections to the right. The remaining seedings for this upcoming draft, hosted by St. Paul, Minnesota, will be determined once the playoffs eliminate more teams.

[Via: Rogers Sportsnet]

NHL 2010 Draft Lottery

Quietly, the NHL has announced the top draft orders to the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. It has been the moment that most Toronto Maple Leafs fans have been dreading to it's inevitable conclusion. It was potentially the worst result for them knowing that a top 3 draft pick helping out a Boston Bruins squad that made the playoffs. The pick of potentially gaining a junior player that could potentially turn around a team's wining and losing record will now wear the black and gold for a division rival.

Edmonton, often characterized by some players and fans as "the NHL's Siberia", will have the honor of being up on the podium as the #1 overall draft pick. It's the tale of two T's. Tyler or Taylor. I have heard of both of them, but I am not sure if either of them have the same household recognition that some other high draft picks have accrued. People knew who Sid and Alex and to a lesser extent who Steve was before being drafted #1 overall.

This is a critical moment for the new ownership of the Edmonton Oilers franchise. Once they were a strong dynasty, but now they are struggling to get people to even want to play there. Can they use one of these picks this year to gain a player to market themselves around or build a future playoff contender? We'll see.

And how about the NHL going out and finding a commercial opportunity to the NHL draft lottery! They got somebody to sponsor the draft lottery. Wow. An event that lasts all of approximately 5 minutes (but covered for 30) has a major sponsor.

[Via: NHL.com]

Tavares and No Man is an Island-er

When it became apparent that the consensus number 1 overall pick, John Tavares was going to be a New York Islander, the overall mood of the fans this day were lowered. There was no last minute trade offer from the Maple Leafs to move up. I was disappointed for my Leaf Nation fans and friends.

The coverage of Versus was almost nothing because they just decided to simulcast the TSN broadcast. I thought the coverage was very good and I think they just may be avant garde for the rest of the professional leagues to take notice. I really liked the spot segments where Brian Burke was wearing a microphone and picked up conversations with other GMs. Fans watching at home got to see what a bad ass personality he projects while he is working. Will the 4-letter network follow up with this idea and put microphones on coaches in the NFL and NBA next year?

The NHL draft stage was nice set. They had lots of room for each NHL team Entourage that walk up along together. Compared to the other league's entry drafts, the NHL does it right with nothing too extravagant or minimalist. Since the draft was in Montreal

My Penguins picked last, being the Stanley Cup champs, and that got more tense than watching some of the other familiar junior hockey names getting drafted. "Just what does Ray Shero do here?", I thought. He didn't make my dreams come true by drafting me, but chose a kid defenseman from St. Johns Sea Dogs, Simon Després. He's not a goal scorer, but he can work on it one more year in the Q.

Players Traded During 2008 Draft

With the #1 overall selection a sure thing this year (just like every year), the real surprise tonight during the NHL 2008 Entry Draft is the marquee players who were traded.

Steve Stamkos is expected to be a great (and cheaper) replacement for former TB Lightning player Brad Richards. I have not seen this guy play in the OHL yet, but the hype surrounding him could vault his moniker's value to "household name". Could Stamkos be a star player that the NHL is looking for to go through the 21st century? Only time will tell.


Mike Cammeleri, once rumored to be traded to Pittsburgh, found himself given to Calgary. And that acquisition left Alex Tanguay expendable.

"I'm very excited," Tanguay told TSN's sister station in Quebec RDS on Friday. "I'm really like the style the Canadiens play and I believe it fits my style of play."

A Ste-Justine, Quebec native, Tanguay is coming off a disappointing season that saw him score only 18 goals and 40 assists in 81 games while hearing his name mentioned almost constantly in trade rumours.

"Alex Tanguay was not comfortable with the Calgary Flames," general manager Bob Gainey told RDS. "He was on our list of coveted players and was always available. At 28 years of age, I think could be on our team for several seasons."

I like this deal from both Montreal's and Calgary's point of view. Alex didn't work out in a defensive grinding system like Calgary's roster had been built. But Montreal now gets a Stanley Cup champion and 80 pts scorer, something that they could have needed to get them through some dry spells in the opening rounds of the playoffs. Tangay is a true top-line center, but could fit in nicely behind Saku on the #2 line.

My Penguins do not have a draft pick this year in the first 3 rounds. That's okay. We can't afford the cap pressure right now as it is. Look for the Penguins to take a defenseman to replenish the ones that we may lose July 1st.

Check out Erin Nick's blog as she is the greatest Ottawa blogger there covering the draft and relaying a lot of extra anecdotes of the events going in and around Kanata, ON.

[Via: TSN.ca]