GM Garth Snow conducted an extensive search for a head coach following Ted Nolan’s departure in July. He interviewed several former NHL coaches, some of whom have won Stanley cups (John Tortorella and Bob Hartley).

In the end, though, Snow decided that Gordon was the man to reverse the Isles’ fortunes. Gordon earned AHL Coach of the Year honors last season and compiled a 221-141-20-27 record with Providence.

I feel that Snow made the correct move. Gordon has extensive experience grooming young players, a facet that made him attractive as the Islanders roster will certainly feature plenty of inexperience in the next few years. He stresses a strong defensive and positional hockey philosophy which should keep the team involved in many close games. A key factor is that Gordon is a former goaltender and should be in a position to enhance All Star netminder Rick Dipietro’s strengths and work with him on his weaknesses.

I like the fact that the job was given to a man who will be motivated to prove he can coach at the NHL level. Gordon brings an energy to the position that should be infectious and my guess is that the Islanders will ice a hardworking team every night.

The noted philosopher Lao Tze once said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” The team has a long way to go before they will be considered to be serious contenders. However, with hiring of Gordon, they make have taken that all important first step.

The 24-year old played in 78 games with Detroit last season, scoring 19 goals and adding 17 assists.

The third round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft has 29 goals in 25 assists in 155 career games in the NHL.

The Philadelphia Flyers locked Joffrey Lupul up with a four-year contract extension. Lupul is one of several players the Flyers are committing to for years to come as they believe only good things will come from these young talents.

The Phoenix Coyotes re-signed left wing Daniel Carcillo in which they feel this sparkplug brings great balance of speed and toughness to the team. Carcillo led the league in penalty minutes last season as a rookie and that seemed to be the type of player the Coyotes want as they deal is undisclosed but was a 2 year contract.

The New Jersey Devils signing center Fedor Fedorov, who is the brother of Sergei Fedorov and has been playing in Europe the past few seasons.

Other signings this week included the Anaheim Ducks agreeing to one year contracts with left win Josh Green and center Eric Boguniecki. The biggest signing of the week has come from the Vancouver Canucks, as they signed six players Wednesday. Those players include RW-Ryan Shannon, C-Rick Rypien, RW-Mike Brown, Defs-Nathan McIver, Zach FitzGerald, and James Sharrow. Make sure to check back to see all the NHL’s top news as this year the Stanley Cup will truly be up for grabs. All this action is getting fans excited for the 2008-2009 season and with opening day being less than three months away it will be interesting to see what other deals come our way.

Drake was a sixth round pick in the famous 1989 Entry Draft. He scored 177 goals and 477 points in 1009 regular season games and 14 goals and 33 points in 90 playoff games.

I always liked his playing style caused he didn’t play with his hands or feet, he played with his Heart.

Ted Nolan and the New York Islanders officially parted company today in a move that has been brewing for months. GM Garth Snow announced that he will immediately begin searching for a replacement and has several candidates in mind.

I feel this was the right move for the organization to make. Clearly, the honeymoon was over and the Islanders weren’t lying when they stated the move was prompted by “philosophical differences”. Those differences couldn’t be more apparent: Nolan did not believe in the current youth movement and the Isles need a coach who will support one.

People can argue all day long about why quality free agents don’t come to Long Island. The fact is that they don’t and, for many valid reasons, I don’t see that changing anytime soon. New York also does not have the assets to improve itself through trades without sacrificing valuable draft picks. Therefore, the only way to right this ship is by drafting and developing quality prospects. There’s no doubt that there are going to be growing pains associated with this route. However, in the end, the organization will be better off.

Speculation is rampant over who might be hired as the next coach. There are several high profile contenders: John Tortarella, Paul Maurice, Bob Hartley and Dave Lewis are only some of the names being bandied about among fans. Rest assured, whoever takes the job must first and foremost be ready to develop young kids into NHL players and shouldn’t expect as much as a sniff of the Stanley Cup for quite a while.

Laraque accepted to sign a three years contract with the Habs that is going to bring 1.5millions a year. Other teams were interested in Laraque services, but he prefered to play for his own city and come back to montreal. Montrealers are very happy about this and Laraque is certainly a great addition and I’m sure he is going to do a very good job crashing the net during the powerplay.

Later on the Canadiens signed offensive defense man Alex Henry to a one year contract. No word yet if he is going to be part of the Canadiens plan long term, but Henry is probably going to play in Hamilton next season.

The Canadiens then signed ex-Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Marc Denis to a one year contract too. The signing of Denis leaves many options for the Habs. Marc could either go play in Hamilton with Cedrick Dejardins, which by the way just signed a two year contract with the Canadiens earlier today. or he could play on the Canadiens team as early as next year behind Carey Price, and that would give the opportunity for the Habs to trade someone like Jaroslav Halak. Why? Well because since Carey Price is set to become the number one goalie in Montreal for many years to come and since Halak has enough potential to take over a number one spot in many NHL cities, adding Halak to a blockbuster deal could bring a superstar player to Montreal.

Keep up the good work Gainey. All you need to do next is convince Mats Sundin to play in Montreal and that would definitely give you a star in the hall of fame.

Now Ryder was expected to leave, especially with the venu of Alex Tanguay, but a lot of people in Montreal were hoping Streit was still going to be a Habs next season? Personally, I wouldn’t have payed such a price for Streit since he didn’t really score all his points playing defence, he scored them playing forward and on the power play. People thought Montreal was going to lose their powerplay skills when they lost Sheldon Souray to free agency, but Streit was able to take over. Now I truly believe it is not going to take long before someone else takes Streit’s place and believe, we will forget his name faster than we forgot Souray’s.

Now Danis had already mentioned it to press: he does not intend on having a future with the Canadiens. Good enough. But it is going to be pretty hard for him to build a future when you are behind a guy like Rick DiPietro!

Mats Sundin is not sure yet of where and if he wants to play next season? Good, we respect your decision, we’ll allow you a week, maybe two. What? You need a month? Hell no. Sundin has been acting very disrespecful to all the teams that are showing interest for him. If he feels he is not interested now, don’t make them wait after you so that you can say no later and watch them end up with nothing. That is not professional at all and coming from a classy guy like Sundin really dissapoints me. What he is doing to the Montreal Canadiens could en up hurting them real bad, after all the interest they have shown in him he still doesn’t have the guts to say yes or no and always come up with the same miserable excuse he uses over and over again, the ones that says he’s not sure if he’s coming bac to the NHL for next season. Montreal might have had a chance to sign other very good players on the first of july, but ww are never going to know what they could have gotten their hands on if Sundin was not in the picture or if Sundin would have said no from the start. The latest rumors about Sundin is that the Habs are still all over him and appearently they have just offered him a 2 years/15millions$ contract for next season.

Will he say yes, will he say no? Is it even true or is Bob Gainey simply working on something so big it has to be kept underground? I am definitly dying to find out all of the answers, but I guess like Mr. Sundin said, it could very well take up to next month to know them.

Grabovski definitly had enough talent to stay in the NHL, but one thing he didn’t have yet to deserve a spot on the Canadiens’ roster is maturity. Grabovski, unfortunately, is the kind of player that thinks to much of himself and believe me, when you do not show up at the practice simply because you are not playing the next game, that is not only unprofessional, but very immature. It is a good thing he is no longer in the Habs’ plans and that Montreal head coach Guy Carbonneau won’t have to put up with his bull**** anymore.

I’m just surprised Toronto is so desperate.

To be honest with you I never ever thought Hossa would have signed with Detroit.

In 72 regular season games with Atlanta and Pittsburgh Hossa scored 66 points, in 20 playoff games with Pittsburgh he scored 12 goals and 14 helpers for 26 points.

Stuart played in 9 regular season games, after being dealt at the deadline by the Los Angeles Kings, with Detroit recording 2 points and a plus 6. In playoffs Stuart played 21 games recording 7 points and a plus15

Lilja played 79 regular season games all with Detroit recording 12 points and a minus 2. in Playoffs Lilja recorded 1 assist and a plus 3 in 12 games.

Conklin’s signing was a big surprise (at least for me) that July 1st had. Conklin started in 33 regular season games with 18 wins and a .923 save percentage. He didn’t start any playoff games.

To be honest I thought the Detroit Red Wings would stick to a Chris Osgood/Jimmy Howard goaltending tandem.

The trade consists of Habs first round pick this year and their second round pick next year, for Calgary Flames forward Alex Tanguay and Flames fifth round pick this year.

Tanguay had this to say,

“I’m very excited about this great news. I’m a hockey fan, and I like the way the Canadiens play. It suits my style of play”.

Sportsnet  is reporting that former San Jose Sharks head coach Ron Wilson was hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs officially today. This after weeks of speculation. Wilson had this to say about his new endeavour,

“This is an unbelievable day for me. The last couple of weeks have been very exciting.”

Wilson also went on to say,

“I view the Leafs as a team in transition. It’s going to require a lot of work, and a lot of attention to detail.”

Wilson continued by adding,

“As a coach, you just want to put yourself in a position to knock on the door. And if we can be knocking on the door in two years, I think that will be a tremendous accomplishment. Then we’ve just got to knock the door down.”

Ron WIlson is a good coach. The Leafs have a person who could potentially turn the play of the team around. Unfortunately some people are crying tampering.

With the rumours still around that the Leafs are waiting for Brian Burke of the Anaheim Ducks to be their next General Manager, the hiring of one of Burke’s friends is sending flags up everywhere. Sure the Leafs can argue that they hired who they thought was the best candidate for them and leave it at that. If Burke somehow becomes the Leafs next GM however, there will be many people who will question the decision on WIlson.

For now congratulations to the Leafs. Wilson should put them in the right direction.

RDS is reporting that the L.A. Kings have fired coach Marc Crawford. Crawford still had one year left on his contract.

When questioned about his decision, Kings Gm Dean Lombardi had this to say,

“We appreciate what Marc has done here for the past two years. We believe however that a coaching change was the right decision to make.”

Too bad. The Kings young talent like Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Patrick O’Sullivan where starting to play well. Something to take note of however, the Kings have no starting goalie. Is that Crawford’s fault?

The Kings will be good in a couple of years. They also have the number two draft pick and should be able to pick someone of good abilities.

RDS is reporting that Maxim Lapierre was indeed signed by Bob Gainey–General Manager–for two years. Gainey had this to say about Lapierre,

“Maxim is one of our young core group of players that contribute to the success of our team. His grit, determination and energy are important attributes that we look for in our young players”.

With this signing, Gainey is starting to make his fourth line. Lapierre is quick and has some talent, however he hit the boards more than hitting the players last season and will have to change that if he is going to make a statement for the next two years.

Lapierre will also have to work heavily on his face-offs. Lapierre has some size at 6′2” and 200 pounds to win face-offs on a regular basis. Lapierre was decent in the circle at the end of the year, and in the play-offs. Unfortunately decent doesn’t cut it in the NHL.

Maxim who has the capability to be one of the best pests of the league, will have to improve on his fighting skills also. Going after P.J. Axelsson won’t get him any respect around the league. He has to be willing to back up all the words he uses during a game.

Gainey made a good signing. Lapierre won’t be expensive for the next two years and has gained experience while playing for the Habs last season. Lapierre has the talent to be a good third line player, possibly a fourth line player as well. He is young and well liked in Montreal. Lapierre knows his role, now he has to fully embrace it or run the risk of being sent back down to the minors like the early part of this past season. There will be many youngsters gunning for his job during training camp. Contract or not, it will be up to Lapierre to win his spot next season.

One RFA down, six to go. That is if there are no trades that happen before the next season starts.

Jay Feaster said that it was a very hard decision to take, seeing the good things John has done for the team, including winning the cup for them in 2004, but he says that the decision had to be taken and that signing an expansion to his contract wasn’t an option for them. For Feaster, it was one step further to a better future for the team. Feaster added that Tortorella changed the Lightning’s organization and that what he accomplished in Tampa is simply remarkable.

Players like Andre Roy weren’t surprised when they heard the news. According to him, many players weren’t getting along anymore with Tortorella and were sick of hearing the same speeches from him over and over again.

Now that this has been confirmed, is Barry Melrose going to take over behind the Lightning’s bench?

Where is John Tortorella going to coach next? Does he even intend on coaching again anyways?

John Tortorella won the Stanley Cup in 2004 with the Lightning and is 239-222-36-38 in seven seasons with them.

This all started at the end of the game when Mike Ribeiro passed around the net of Chris Osgood and caught Osgood’s stick in the face, for which Ribeiro then retaliated with a vicious slash to Osgood’s chest.

“Even if I did butt-end him, I mean it was an accident, I don’t think that justifies a two-hander over the top of the net, he could have gone about it a different way, or said something to me” said Osgood after game no.2.

When asked to explain or comment on his actions after Game 2, Ribeiro responded.

“He clipped me in the face. If he doesn’t do that, I don’t think I react, and I have no reason to do what I did. It’s a little bit of frustration and emotion in the game but I think that what he did is more dangerous than what I did.”

Both players were fined undisclosed amounts by the NHL, but were not suspended.

Both players commited dangerous acts with their sticks, why is it that they were not suspended? Could it be that both Ribeiro and Osgood are good players and an integral part of their respectve teams that it’s excepted for good players to not follow the rules?

The series between Detroit and Dallas resumes this evening, will there be fall-out from that event, or will both players remain calm?

The was a lot of wonder if Pronger would get suspended, as there was no penalty given in the game, and immediate indications showed he would not get a suspension. Chris Simon got suspended for the same infraction not long ago, but his was a more severe one, why? Chris Pronger was suspended on 7 occasions before this latest one, why did he only receive 8 games? Don’t kid yourself, Pronger is one of the dirtiest players in the league, so why was his suspension not as severe as Simon’s? Perhaps the fact that Pronger plays for the defending champions has something to do with it.

Chris Pronger is a good defenseman with a blistering shot and he’s also a physical defenseman, anyone would take him on their team, but his talent and longevity in the league should not prevent the NHL from handing him a severe suspension for his act, so what nothing happened to Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks, which received the step from Pronger, the intent on Pronger’s part was there, and he should be penalized for the intent, not the result, or give Chris Simon back the money he forfeited and things will be even.

This NHL season has seen players get smashed into the boards head first from behind ( Patrice Bergeron), as well as flagrant elbows to the head, kicking, cross checking to the face, and two seen at least occasions of players using the knives on their feet to step on someone. Has everyone gone mad? Since the instigator rule has come into effect, the cheap shots in the NHL have risen to unacceptable levels, why, because players will be less penalized to hit someone with a stick, or send them head first in the boards, than they will be if they start a fight. Gary Bettman has said that the U.S. doesn’t like violence in their sports and trying to market a violent sport in the U.S. doesn’t work, o.k. so I guess that cheap shots, and intent to injure players is alright, but fighting isn’t. Wake up people, maybe unfounded fighting is useless for the game, but when your best player gets a high stick to the face, that player should have his lights punched out, not smashed into the boards head first, or stepped on!

There was always cheap shots in the NHL, but not at this pace or severity, perhaps the league should take a look at the record of exceeding cheap shots that has increased dramatically since the inception of the instigator rule. Look, I’m not saying to have a team of goons, but Wayne Gretzky had Dave Semenko, and Gretzky himself has said it would be better if the instigator was taken out, skilled players now have the room to move about with the new NHL rules, unfortunately they are also targets, it doesn’t matter if they are goalies, or regular players.

Pronger got a suspension, not enough in most people’s eyes, but at least he got something. The NHL will have many things to look at at seasons’ end, and one of them will hopefully be suspensions, and the instigator rule, just imagine what would have happened if Pronger or Simon would have stepped on Alex Ovechkin’s leg and severely cut it, the league may have been deprived of one of their most talented players because there is not fear of retribution amongst players, where as if there was no instigator, Pronger, or Simon even given their size might think twice before acting as there would certainly be some fists coming their way. Again, I do not wish for a team of goons like the Broad Street Bullies, but some protection for the players when the need arises, which right now is almost impossible, unless it’s tooth for tooth, you slash, I slash, put the sticks down and deal with it like a man!!!

It is not known as of yet what the Thrashers gave up, or if any other players were involved in the deal.

More to follow.

The Kings got a seventh round draft pick in return.

More to follow.

In return the Maple Leafs will receive a third round draft pick in 2008.

More to follow.