The Stanley Cup was handed out Monday but that doesn’t mean the NHL shuts down.

 

A labor dispute in the fall may curtail the league but at the present time there are two major events next week and that will be followed by the free agent frenzy that begins July 1^st.

 

The Entry Draft is scheduled for June 22^nd and 23^rd in Pittsburgh. Jujhar Khaira, who spent the past two seasons with the Prince George Spruce Kings, should be a middle round pick as he is the top ranked eligible BCHL player for the draft, listed 74^th among North American skaters by Central Scouting.

 

It will be interesting to see if and where Paul De Jersey is taken. He led the BCHL in scoring as a line mate of Khaira and is listed 98^th, but is two years older than most of the ranked players.

 

I suspect P.G. Cougars forward Troy Bourke will be a late round pick. His stock appeared to rise during the latter part of the WHL season and he did impress playing for Canada in this year’s world under-18 tournament in the Czech Republic. Surprisingly he is only ranked 123^rd among North American skaters.

 

 

Prior to the draft, the NHL will hand out its individual awards on Wednesday, June 20^th in Las Vegas.These awards are based strictly on the regular season. Here are my projected winners.

 

Hart (MVP) and Ted Lindsay (Most Outstanding): (Lindsay voted on by the players)

 

Winner: Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh)
Runners-up: Henrik Lundqvist (NYR) and Steven Stamkos (Tampa)

Lundqvist has his own award, the Vezina. Stamkos had 10 more goals than Malkin, but Malkin won the scoring title by 12 points as he carried the Penguins when Sidney Crosby missed most of the season.

 

Vezina (Top goalie):

Winner: Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)
Runners-up: Jonathan Quick (LA) and Pekka Rinne (Nashville)

 

Rinne is a distant third. Lundqvist (1.97 and .930) and Quick (1.95 and .929) have similar GAA and save percentage numbers but Lundqvist gets the nod in part because his team came first and Quick’s team was 8^th.

 

 

 

 

Norris (Top defenceman):

 

Winner: Erik Karlsson (Ottawa)
Runners-up: Zdeno Chara (Boston) and Shea Weber (Nashville)

Karlsson had 25 more points than the next closest defenceman although his +16 is less than Chara (+33) and Weber (+21). Voters tend to select offence, especially when a player like Karlsson is on a less talented team than the other finalists.

 

Jack Adams (Top coach):

 

Winner: Ken Hitchcock (St. Louis)
Runners-up: Paul Maclean (Ottawa) and John Tortorella (NY Rangers)

 

This is a “guaranteed” win for Hitch. By far the best bet. The Blues made a coaching change after a 6-7 start, and they responded to Hitchcock going 43-15-11 under his leadership finishing third in the entire NHL.

 

 

Calder (Top rookie):

Winner: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Edmonton)
Runners-up: Gabriel Landeskog (Colorado) and Adam Henrique (New Jersey)

They all finished within a point of one another at the top of the scoring chart among first-year players. Nugent-Hopkins and Landeskog had 52 points and Henrique had 51. Nugent-Hopkins played fewer games than the other two but Landeskog was an eye popping +20 compared to Henrique +8 and Nugent-Hopkins -2. Look for the voters though to go with the flash.

 

 

“Booby” (most boo boos):

 

Winner: Milan Jurcina (NYI): Did you know that four players on the NYI were in the bottom six of the NHL in the plus-minus department? Jurcina, a 29-year old defenceman from Slovakia, finished 894^th out of 894 with a minus-34 rating in 65 games. Surely there has to be some kind of recognition for that kind of (dis)honor.

 

Runners-up: All players on the Toronto Maple Leafs, who as a team enjoy the distinction of the longest drought (eight years) without making the playoffs. Perhaps GM Brian Burke can upgrade the defence by making a trade for Jurcina.

 

 

 

 

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The NHL didn’t get a break and as a result suffered through one of the lowest rated Stanley Cup Finals in recent memory.

The Kings and Devils finally had the sports spotlight to themselves for game six thanks to an off night in the NBA and yet the game was over in the first period with three LA power-play goals.

For the first time in the series, the teams combined for more than four goals in a game, but six of the seven came from one team.

 

Other than the local markets, New Jersey and LA wasn’t an attractive match-up and there was nothing compelling in the series to draw interest.

The Kings had no less than four players, playoff MVP Jonathan Quick, as well as Doughty, Kopitar and Brown that were far better in the post-season than anybody wearing a New Jersey uniform.

Defenceman Bryce Salvador was arguably the best of the Devils and Stanley Cups are not won when he is the top all around player on a team.

LA is the 9th different team in as many seasons to win the big prize, which is an NHL record. Let’s hear it for parity, which has turned into nothing more than mediocrity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie Sheen launched into a profanity-laced tirade after being denied re-entry to the Kings-Devils finals after stepping out for a cigarette. The posted video is entitled ‘Two and a Half Periods".

 

 

Bob Arum, the promoter for both Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, is asking Nevada officials
for a full investigation into the controversial scoring of their championship fight in Las Vegas. Isn’t
that like Nixon asking for an investigation into Watergate?

 

 

 

 

 

Judges awarded Bradley a split decision over Pacquiao in which observers called “unbelievable”. Who knew that some Major League umpires were moonlighting as boxing judges?

 

The CFL started this week with exhibition games. Message to Terrell Owens, wherever you are: The CFL can finally afford your services if you want to further your career.

Comedy writer TC Chong of Vancouver (http://alwaysfunny.com/)

 

About a dozen protesters rallied in front of the West Vancouver home of the man bidding on two Downtown Eastside hotels, saying he plans to buy the buildings and hike rents. The protests have put
a crimp in the training camp of the BC Lions as most of the low income tenants were CFL players on two year maximum contracts.

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan says backup quarterback Tim Tebow will take snaps only with the second-team offence during the team’s three-day minicamp. Asked why this was happening Ryan pointed out the Jets don’t have a 3rd team offence.

 

 

Union Rags won the 144th Belmont Stakes,…but, it was I’ll Have Another, recently put out to stud, who was grinning ear-to-ear.
Retired and put out to stud?? And, you thought “I’ll Have Another” was a perfect name before!

 

 

 

 

Andriy Shevchenko, 35, led Ukraine to a 2-1 win over Sweden, and became the oldest player ever to score 2 goals in a game during the Euro Cup. Wonder if Andriy Sheychenko is Ukrainian for “Jamie Moyer?”

 

Long suffering Los Angeles Kings fans have waited 45 years for a championship. “Wimps!” can be heard all the way from the shores of Lake Ontario.

 

 

Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, Californiawww.leftcoastsportsbabe.com

Authorities have said that NY Giants lineman David Diehl was so drunk when he was arrested after crashing his car the other day, that he thought the Maple Leafs were in the Cup finals.

 

 

 

 

 

An English firm is reportedly selling a range of salts harvested from human tears. The big sellers are tears of laughter, anger and sorrow, known as the Maple Leafs collection. 

L.A. Weekly says a tattooist is getting international attention for recreating some of history’s most iconic paintings on bananas. Apparently, the art has a peel. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.”

 

 

Charles Wadsworth