“I Might Just Be A Hockey Fan In California” is a feature that is posted every Saturday here at the View From My Seats. There are plenty of things going on in the hockey world (and even the sports world); and you know everyone has an opinion. This is a place for some quick hits of the week that was.
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I might just be a hockey fan in California, but:
- There’s no way the Flyers are going to pay Bryzgalov upwards of $6 million per season—and if they do it would be a huge mistake. Didn’t we see the market for goaltenders go down last season?
- I have to give it up to The Hockey News for a public apology they issued regarding the Minnesota Wild ownership situation. They could have just tried to push the huge mistake under the rug, but they chose to step up and publically request for forgiveness. It’s a bad situation—but at least they’re handling it the right way.
- Even though Kevin Bieksa failed to help bring the Cup to Vancouver, he still had a successful postseason. Come July 1, the man is going to get paid.
- Coolest thing from Game 7: Nathan Horton pouring some Boston water onto the ice before the game. If I were a Bruins fan, I would have contemplated buying a Horton jersey right then and there.
- Why is it that whenever I hear Larry Brooks of the New York Post start bashing Mike Milbury, I start thinking about black pots and kettles?
- Devils fans know that Zach Parise is a restricted free agent this offseason. Between on-going negotiations and arbitration, he’ll be in a Devils jersey next season if Lou Lamoriello wants him to be. But remember this, arbitration sucks for everyone—and if they end up in front of an arbiter, there’s a good chance Parise will bolt as soon as possible. It’s all fun and games until your boss sits you down and explains why you shouldn’t make money because of all of your shortcomings.
- The Canucks should have considered selling the broadcast rights to their riot instead of pitching the rights to a Cup parade.
- If the Florida Panthers can figure out a way to get Adam Larsson, they’re going to have a ridiculously good blueline for years to come. Considering Dale Tallon is the GM in Florida, he knows a thing or two about piecing together a dominant defensive corps.
- Are we really going to have to deal with an entire summer of Sheldon Souray buyout speculation? Fantastic.
- Every year I see some of the more “mainstream” columnists make their annual appearance during the Stanley Cup Final; and every year I’m reminded that there’s no need for them. Stick to your Yankees/Sox stories and let hockey fans read stuff from people who know (and more importantly, care) about what they’re talking about. You’re not fooling anyone.
- In continuing with a seemingly annual tradition, Mark Recchi is the recipient of this year’s: “old, retiring guy who wins Cup and people rush to make Hall of Fame case.” Dave Andreychuk says hello.
- All of those “Canucks are one win away from the Cup” articles from earlier in the week just seem cruel today.
- With all of the coaching vacancies, it’s hard to believe that Kirk Muller or Ken Hitchcock are going to be left on the outside looking in when the music stops.
- Sticking on the coaching front, I have no idea how the Devils would go with a coach who doesn’t have some serious experience. John MacLean was a great move in theory last season, but turned out to be an abject disaster. Would a guy from Binghamton really have enough clout to get Ilya Kovalchuk to backcheck?
- It was great to see Mason Raymond in attendance for Game 7. The man is going to have an extremely long offseason of rehabbing, so it was nice for him to have his moment with the crowd.
- People aren’t giving the Sedins the proper amount of respect for their performance in the Cup Final. When faced with the tough comments of Mike Milbury, their responses were clutch.
- Congratulations to Jim Playfair on his new gig as associate coach in Phoenix. But just because he has a new job, I’ll still only have one thing on my mind when I hear his name.
- I’m still trying to get my mind around Tim Thomas’ 8 goals in 7 games Stanley Cup Final performance. Two shutouts, two 1-0 losses, gave up a meaningless goal in an 8-1 win and a few more meaningless goals in a 5-2 win. I know it’s fun (and easy) to blame Roberto Luongo for the defeats, but no team is going to win a series by scoring about a goal per game.
- Gary Bettman is a pompous little person that needs to be fired for the good of the game.
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Click here for our archive of past editions of our “I Might Just Be A Hockey Fan In California” feature.
Matt Reitz is the Editor-In-Chief here at ViewFromMySeats.com and former NHL Writer for ProHockeyTalk on NBCSports. When he’s not shoving a mic in the face of NHLers or explaining why home teams should wear white, he’s usually trying to figure out what song to play next on his iPod. It’s a never-ending job.
