Bowman Scores, Ward Stays in Beantown, and Yahoo Goes Blogging

by Bob Wage on May 21, 2008 2:36 AM EDT

Drayson Bowman did it again. Last night, the Spokane Chiefs beat the Gatineau Olympiques by a score of 3 to 1 in Memorial Cup play, and leading scorer Drayson Bowman lit the lamp one more time for the Chiefs. The red-hot Carolina prospect now has 7 points in 3 games so far in the tournament.

The Chiefs have yet to lose a Memorial Cup game and have already qualified for the tournament finals on Sunday.

It's almost a shame that the Canes are so loaded at the forward position right now. In year's past, the organization would have been more than ready to welcome a prolific scorer like this with open arms, but at this point he would really have to shock and awe the coaching staff at training camp in order to crack this roster.

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Yesterday, it was announced that ex-Hurricanes defenseman Aaron Ward re-signed with the Boston Bruins. "Wardo" had a very good year for the Bruins and played in their top pairing with Zdeno Chara. Terms of the deal were not yet disclosed, but it was a multi-year contract.

Some fans would have been happy to see Ward return to Carolina, but if he indeed demanded a multi-year deal as rumored, (at his age of 35), he certainly wouldn't have helped the Canes to get any younger.

How about a return of Mike Commodore instead?

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James Mirtle, a journalist blogger who we follow closely here, recently posted a detailed story about the possibility of a new Super Russian/European league. A rich billionaire oilman is behind the idea. The concern is that the new league could possibly entice high quality NHL players away from North America and eventually water down the talent in this league.

This reminds me of a similar threat during the lockout. Some other hot-shot over in Europe was going to start a new Euro super league which supposedly would suck the NHL dry of talent. But after the lockout was over, the new league never materialized and over 95% of the NHL'ers that were playing in Europe came back to the NHL.

While some Europeans will always choose to play near home, regardless of the money, it would surprise me to see a great number of North American born players leave home to play in Europe, unless the money was off the charts. The threat of this new league doesn't concern me......yet.

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Yahoo Sports has stepped up to the plate and hired a full-time hockey blogger. Will other professional online sports organizations be far behind? Mr. Greg Wyshynski, who has formerly blogged for AOL's Fanhouse, Deadspin, and The Fourth Period, landed the new gig.

The blog has been extremely active so far and Wyshynski makes several updates a day. This is great news for hockey fans and bloggers alike. The name of the blog is "Puck Daddy" and it is now listed in the Canes Country blogroll on the left sidebar. Mirtle features an in-depth Q and A here.

Good luck "Puck Daddy", we'll be watching.

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Comments

1) As we wrote on the afrementioned Mirtle article, we don’t see the RHL as being any threat to the NHL at this time. It’ll be more a bargaining tool for UFA’s and become ’Florida’in that all the retired/washed up NHL-ers will go there for one last big pay cheque.
2) Nice to see blogging becoming more mainstream. Good for Greg! We wonder how Bob Costas and G. “Buzz” Bissinger feel about this? LOL

by fauxrumors on May 21, 2008 10:16 AM EDT reply actions

Do we want Commodore back?? Im undecided on whether I’d like him back or to see the team go a different direction…..what do you think?

by Tyler on May 21, 2008 12:32 PM EDT reply actions

I’m with you, Tyler. Different direction – they need someone who’ll make the opposition pay for going to the net on D. Commodore was big and could hit, but wasn’t that annoying in your face d-man like Ward used to be.

Good article on ESPN today, called “Men Who Love Goons” which includes in it a game between the Syracuse Crunch & the River Rats. Should stir up some discussion.

by marc on May 21, 2008 2:24 PM EDT reply actions

Mirtle is just repeating what the Hockey News has been talking about for the past year. This is the league that I was referring to on your first post about Grahame leaving for Russia a few days back.

by Fred on May 21, 2008 7:48 PM EDT reply actions

Create Your Very Own European Hockey League…

Bubba from Canes Country tells about a story by James Mirtle all about a possible european russian super hockey league.
It seems to be that there is concern about good NHL players leaving to play in the European League – I personaly find this a really…

by Detroit Red Wings Fan Club on May 22, 2008 1:47 AM EDT reply actions

Faux-

Buzz is probably swearing up a storm, no matter where he is. L

Tyler-

I would take Commodore back under 2 conditions.

1. If we could get him at a reasonable price. (no more than 1.5 million)
2. If we had already picked up another stud dman. I think that Commie can be okay as long as he isn’t playing 20 minutes every night and isn’t being called upon to do too much. But he is not the sole answer to our problems.

Marc-

I didn’t see that one yet.

Fred-

Good point.

by Bubba on May 22, 2008 1:57 AM EDT reply actions