Ian Mendes Takes Erik Karlsson to Ikea

Sportsnet's Ian Mendes took the Senators' first-round selection to Ikea to get to know the prospect a little better.

The entire article can be found here.

As we cruise down the 417 highway towards IKEA, our conversation flows effortlessly from topic to topic. Erik explains how he worked out with NHL players last summer near his hometown of Landsbro, Sweden. He proudly mentions that he scored three times on five penalty shots against New York Rangers superstar Henrik Lundqvist during one session.

Though these pieces are largely fluff, it still offers some insight into the prospect that hockey fans will surely enjoy over a long, hockey-less summer.

News You Can Use Late in the Day

1. There is still playing time for grabs in Team Canada's lineup.
2. TSN is reporting that the Leafs have asked the Canucks for permission to speak to Dave Nonis.
3. The 3rd edition of the Sportsnet Playoff Magazine.
4. The Stars owe their 4-OT win to...pizza?
5. Mike Toth wonders about the timing of Paul Maurice's firing.
6. Fabian Brunstrom...blah, blah, blah...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
7. Looking back on the Dustin Penner signing.
8. Check out this Art Gallery of Nova Scotia page, featuring hockey art.
9. The Chicago Blackhawks are raising ticket prices.
10. Evgeni Malkin is old-timey.
11. Darren Eliot credits coach John Stevens with the Flyers resurgence.
12. In a move that should surprise no one, a Quebec publisher want the Canadiens to play more French language music at the Bell Centre.
13. Dany Heatley has been the show at the World Championships thus far.
14. In upset news, the Swiss defeated the Swedes and Norway downed Germany.
15. Jacques Lemaire, perhaps unable to find a new way to trap, may not coach the Wild next year.
16. Philly vs. Pittsburgh: The Tale of the Tape.
17. Damien Cox reminds us that the MLSE is still in charge in Toronto.
18. Darryl Reaugh butchers a Fergie song.
19. Jamie McClennan's Top Ten moments from Japan.
20. Chris Osgood is still looking to prove himself after all these years.
21. Ed Willes says the writing is on the wall for a Burke-Nonis reunion in Toronto.
22. Adam Thompson of the Wall Street Journal notes that hockey is back in a big way.
23. TSN is reporting that the Leafs have been denied permission to speak to Doug Wilson.
24. The New York Islanders have signed Robin Figren, who was impressive for Sweden at last year's World Juniors.
25. Ten NCAA teams to watch in 2009.

News You Can Use Late in the Day

1. Scott Burnside profiles Bruce Boudreau and the Capitals as they drive for a playoff spot.
2. David Amber interviews Alexander Ovechkin.
3. John Ferguson Jr. has joined Team Canada as a scout.
4. Defying all possible logic, Darren Dreger thinks the Oilers might be buyers at the deadline.
5. Dreger follows up with his list of 10 Players likely to move at the deadline.
6. Jim Kelley says the Oilers need to try harder. Why isn't this guy coaching in the NHL?
7. Mike Toth calls for a federal inquiry into the skyrocketing cost of ice-time in Canada.
8. Puck That Hit gives us their list of the 10 Best Names in Hockey.
9. Tony Esposito has been named a Blackhawks ambassador.
10. Princeton Tigers forward Landis Stankievech is a Rhodes Scholar. I assume that means he spends his summers at Damien Rhodes' goaltending school?
11. Winkler, Manitoba will play host to this year's Hockey Day in Canada.
12. Crashing the Net looks at USA Hockey's NDTP.
13. Marc Savard hopes to join the Canadian Tour when his hockey career is over.
14. Mike Zigomanis is making the most of his demotion to San Antonio.
15. The Kelowna Rockets are considering adding forward Brock Trotter to their roster after Trotter was dismissed from Denver University.
16. Tom Glavine is still involved with hockey in the Atlanta area.
17. Russian hockey greats Slava Fetisov and Vlad Tretiak put their endorsement behind the new Continental Hockey League. In Soviet Russia, league endorses you.
18. Brian Costello looks at the mathematics involved in winning the draft lottery.
19. The Toronto Star tells us that the NHL salary cap is set to rise again next year, to the tune of about $3 million dollars, meaning that the Leafs can sign another 30 yr old plus defenseman to a 5 year deal.
20. Joe Juneau is coaching hockey in Nunavik. Also note that he holds a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from RPI.
21. Is Daryl Katz Batman?
22. San Jose acquired defenseman JD Forrest (who?) from the Carolina Hurricanes today.
23. The latest Hockey News installment on the Roseau Rams.
24. Former USHL'er Teddy Purcell is tearing up the AHL.
25. Parts One and Two of Mark Seidel's draft preview.

Cold Hard Rants

NB: This rant applies to all sports, not just hockey.

Every now and then there is an event of such epic proportions that words can not do it justice. The shock is significant, leaving you feeling shaky, irritable, and uncertain about what to do next. Unfortunately, I had one of these experiences this past week. In the course of my usual travails around the digital universe, I had the great misfortune to land on a sports highlight show. Now normally, this is not an issue that causes me such anxiety, but in this specific instance the aforementioned highlight show was showing, complete with in-depth analysis, I repeat in-depth analysis, clips from an exhibition hockey game.

Here’s one of my rules in life and I encourage all television producers or aspiring television producers to adopt it as well. Under no circumstances should exhibition ANYTHING take precedence in a highlight package over a sporting event that actually counts in the standings. Period. While I would readily apply this rule to any sport, the incident that has most recently left me scarred was an exhibition game involving the Toronto Maple Leafs. I do not know who they were playing against. I do not care who they were playing against. All I know is that I had the great misfortune of having John Liu or some other “informative” TSN personality breathlessly analyzing the Leafs game as if their defeat of the North Carolina State Ice Hockey team (or some similar team) is some barometer of success during the regular season. Newsflash to the leafs fans actually putting some stock in these games; get a life.

In sports, despite all the clichés and assorted other crap we were inundated with as youths, the only thing that matters is who wins. That’s why the only categories listed in the sports pages are wins, losses, and the occasional tie. There isn’t a column for giving 110 percent, or trying your hardest, or games you should have won but didn’t. That’s why exhibition games do not matter and as such should not be reported on with the detail shown by TSN, SPORTSNET, and The Score. At the end of the exhibition season, do you get any reward over the team that finished dead last? Of course not. Exhibition games are bastardizations of sport and should be treated as such by the respective media.

So, I say to you Steve Kouleas of The Score, stop screaming at me about the great play of random Ottawa Senator defenseman who will be returned to his OHL team before the NHL season begins, because I do not care. And listen up Hockeycentral panel on Sportsnet, I really do not need your breaking news that the Los Angeles Kings have placed Dan Cloutier on waivers—if he was any good, he would not be on waivers in the first place. And last but not least, listen real good TSN SportsCentre producer, under no circumstances should Toronto Maple Leafs exhibition highlights, with or without post game analysis, be shown on my screen before I am fully updated on the pennant races in Major League Baseball, any occurrences in the NFL, and for that matter any professional sports league that is in the process of playing a game that actually counts. Even Nascar. And I hate Nascar.

For Illegal Curve, I am Andrew M.

About the writer: Formerly a speech writer for a Canadian Federal Politician, Andrew will be bringing his unique take on the hockey world to the illegal curve blog once a week, or more often if the rage needs to be released in a manner other than clobbering a referee over the head with a whiskey bottle. Mainly because he doesn’t have enough empty whiskey bottles at his disposal.

Morning Musings: Exhibition Overload

After watching TSN and Sportsnet on Thursday night, I began to wonder whether the NHL was already in the middle of the regular season. Not only are there pre-game reports (held live at the arena no less) previewing meaningless exhibition contests, but in the evening, the highlights are looped so that the highlights from these games are shown twice in a one hour show. Does anybody else consider this to be overkill? How can TSN justify showing exhibition highlights of a Sens/Capitals game when there are four tremendous division/wild card races taking place in Major League Baseball? The increased television exposure of every training camp/pre-season moment is unnecessary.

Additionally, why are you showing us who the exhibition scoring leaders are? Exhibition scoring leaders rarely tear it up when the games actually matter. If TSN and Sportsnet cut the exhibition highlights, or at least, showed them after meaningful games in other sports have been highlighted, I would be one happy fan.

On to the morning papers:

• Mike Brehm profiles Martin Brodeur in this morning's USA Today.
• Vesa Toskala was not sharp in his debut writes Dave Shoalts of the Globe & Mail.
• Kyle Wellwood was scratched from last night's contest because of a minor groin injury, however, coach Paul Maurice is not overly concerned.
• Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star wonders why Wayne Gretzky won't talk about the Rick Tocchet issue with the press. (Writer's note: Why does Gretzky have to answer questions on this topic?)
• Jannik Hansen will be out of the Canucks' lineup 4-6 weeks with a broken thumb.
• Luc Bourdon is being outplayed by a number of other Canuck defenders who are vying for a spot on the Vancouver blueline writes Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province.
• Taking his family's needs into account, Glen Metropolit is hoping a decision on his future is made sooner rather than later at Bruins' camp.
• While Manny Fernandez had a fairly positive debut, the Bruins were defeated by the Devils 3-0 on Thursday night.
• Dennis Wideman possesses plenty of skill but the key to his development may be his decision-making ability; Stephen Harris has the story in this morning's Boston Herald.
• John Vogl of the Buffalo News reports that Teppo Numminen had successful heart surgery and is now resting comfortably.
• In less serious news out of Buffalo, coach Lindy Ruff is experimenting with splitting up his top defensive pairing of Tallinder and Lydman and putting each with a more offensive defenseman.
• As Michael Russo of the Star Tribune explains, Wild prospect James Sheppard made some positive plays in his NHL exhibition debut but also made a big mistake which left Jacques Lemaire fuming.
• Marian Gaborik is wondering who is going to be centering the top line in Minnesota this season.
• Losing a significant amount of scoring this off-season, the pressure is on the big guns in Nashville to carry the scoring load writes John Glennon of the Tennessean. The team's defensemen are also going to try and do their part to make up for the lost offense.
• Wings' coach Mike Babcock says the seating arrangement in the team's locker room is not by accident.
• Colby Armstrong made a point of thanking the fans of Pittburgh for their support. While defenseman Kris Letang was 'sent down' to the secondary group at training camp.
• Mike Richards will be used as the checking line center in Philadelphia this season.
• Sami Kapanen had an adventerous return to Philadelphia because of visa problems.
• The Capitals were defeated by the Senators 5-4 on Thursday night in Ottawa.
• When Andy Murray arrived in St. Louis last season, Eric Brewer took his game up a couple notches. As Jeremy Rutherford writes, Murray wants to see Brewer take his game up another notch by becoming a little more offensive minded.
• There may be a numbers crunch on the blue line in Anaheim but Joe Dipenta can be sure he has one important supporter in Randy Carlyle.
• Jean Lefebvre of the Calgary Herald details the battle for the final forward roster spot on the Flames and the competition is heated.
• Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun has the story of David Moss and his off-season training program in Russia this summer.
• Lorenzo Perez takes a closer look at Glen Wesley, the elder statesman on the Canes' blueline, in this morning's News Observer.
• Jonathan Toews is lucky he only has a small crack in his index finger and not a broken hand writes Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.
• A couple of pleasant surprises at Avs' camp are making the roster decisions that much more difficult for coach Joel Quenville.
• Joel Bouchard had an epiphany while he was laying sick in a hospital bed with a serious infection; now he is back healthy, and is attempting to crack the Blue Jackets' defense. (Writer's note: It is hard not to like Bouchard after reading this article. Lets hope he makes the Columbus defense.)
• The Stars have one of the top backup goalies in the entire NHL and as Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News points out, a good backup may mean the difference between just making the playoffs and finishing on the outside.
• Sheldon Souray's bomb from the point definitely impressed coach Craig MacTavish on Thursday night. (Writer's note: Oilers' fans are probably more concerned with his pinch at the blueline with 10 seconds remaining that led to the winning goal. But guys, it is only pre-season!)
• Rostislav Olesz will be looking for his own shot more this season writes Steve Gorten of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
• Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette has a neat story on the rising Canadian dollar and its effect on various members of the Habs' organization.
• Doctors are still unsure about whether Colin White incurred damage to his eye and the tough defenseman is understandably worried.
• The makeup of the Habs' lineup is beginning to become clear writes Pat Hickey. (Writer's note: More importantly, the practice referred to in the article was played at the Martin Lapointe Arena. Martin Lapointe has an arena??????? I hope it was given to him before he signed with Boston...)
• As Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports, the Senators sent down 13 players to their AHL affiliate on Thursday.
• Brian McGrattan is concerned about the new RBK jerseys writes Chris Stevenson of the Ottawa Sun.
• As Greg Logan explains in this morning's New York Newsday, both the Islanders and Andy Sutton are happy to have each other.
• Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen reports that Mike Fisher is almost ready for game action.
• Injuries are starting to pile up at Lightning camp.
• The battle for the backup goalie position in San Jose will not be decided solely on play in a couple of pre-season games writes David Pollak in this morning's San Jose Mercury News.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock