Flyers Dump Richards, Carter To Sign Bryzgalov

To say the Philadelphia Flyers went through a massive overhaul on Thursday would be an understatement. General manager Paul Holmgren was certainly busy just one day ahead of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, dealing away two of his franchise's key players while signing their long-awaited savior in net to a long-term, high money contract.

Former 40-goal scorer Jeff Carter was dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for winger Jakub Voracek, a first round draft pick (8th overall) and a third rounder. The Flyers followed this move up by dealing captain Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings for forwards Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds, as well as the Kings' second round selection. With the money saved by dealing those two, Holmgren was able to sign Ilya Bryzgalov - whose rights were acquired by Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago from Phoenix in exchange for a third round pick, Matt Clackson and future considerations - to a whopping nine-year, $51 million contract that will see him donning the black and orange into his 40s.



There are certainly two schools of thought to this for Philadelphia. On the one hand, they were able to develop enough cap space to sign a top-level talent at the position that has been their downfall for numerous seasons. And in dumping salary, they were also able to acquire a good deal of young talent that could surely help the Flyers down the line. On the other hand, the Flyers just dealt away a combined 59 goals and 132 points from last season - not to mention Richards' strong leadership and two-play, as well as Carter's legitimate 40-goal ability.

The big issue at hand for Philadelpia was to gain enough flexibility under the salary cap to sign Bryzgalov. He was reportedly seeking a long-term deal somewhere in the neighborhood of $6-7 million a year. And even with cap going up to around $64 million for the upcoming 2011-12 season, that would still require Holmgren to shed some salary off the team's $59,626,551 payroll. While it was assumed Richards and Carter were made available based upon their contracts - Richards entering the fourth year of a 12-season deal at a $5.75 million annual cap hit and Carter about to start his 11-year extension that would provide a $5,272,727 cap hit annually, it was never figured that Holmgren would actually deal both of his team's 2003 first round draft picks.

Niklas Lidstrom Returning To Captain Red Wings Another Season



After another disappointing second round exit from the playoffs this past May, the Detroit Red Wings developed a laundry list of priorities that needed to be taken care of by general manager Ken Holland before the puck drops on the 2011-12 campaign. None of those tasks, however, were more important than learning of their captain's decision on whether to return for his 20th season in the NHL and with the team.

Detroit found out Monday that Lidstrom, 41, will give it at least one more go. He will do so on a one year deal at a pricetag of $6.2 million, according to The Associated Press.

Lidstrom is coming off another tremendous campaign in which he posted a league ranked second best among defenseman of 62 points while playing a full 82-game schedule. Lidstrom's 32 helpers on the power play ranked No. 1 among his position. Contribution like that are reasons why the Red Wings are thrilled to have him back. It's also why he is up for the James Norris Memorial Trophy on Wednesday for the 11th time over the past 13 years.

Lidstrom's decision was motivated by both his ability to still play at a high level and to help remove the bitter taste of departing the playoffs in the second round for the second straight season. Whatever the reason, however, Holland is just thrilled to have him back.

"I don't even want to think about the Detroit Red Wings without Nick Lidstrom," he said.

Already without Brian Rafalski due to his retirement following Detroit's elimination, losing Lidstrom would have created another huge void among an NHL defesensive corps that would have seen Niklas Kronwall and Brad Staurt carry the load in front of goaltender Jimmy Howard. Now, Holland only needs to immediately concerns himself with using the $6 million left by Rafalski's retirement to acquire just one big name asset. He does not need to panic at the moment about having to replace two key cogs.

But despite his reluctancy to envision a team without Lidstrom, it will happen at some point. And Holland should be thinking forward about what the team will be like without the franchise's best defenseman. For a team constantly saying it needs to get younger but not entirely following that credo, perhaps planning a course of action for when Lidstrom does finally decide to hang them up might not be the worst idea.

For now, though, Holland can rest a little easier and look forward to the draft and free agency - and decide whether 39-year old Jaromir Jagr is that young stud forward they desire to fill a top six spot alongside Pavel Datsyuk next year.

NHL's Salary Cap Set To Rise Again To $64 Million

It seems almost baffling now that we lost the entire 2004-05 season because players and owners could not agree on the financial state of the league. While players obviously wanted their share of the pie, owners relentlessly contended that the league could not continue in its then-situation of economic peril if player costs were not reduced. And thus, a much debated salary cap was instituted that called for team payrolls to not exceed $39 million for the 2005-06 campaign.

But according to the collective bargaining agreement, that figure could rise each year based on league-wide revenue. And every year since the lockout, that's exactly what has occured. Now, coming off the 2010-11 season in which the cap was at $59.4 million, teams and player agents have been informed that they should expect another $4.6 million addition. According to TSN, the salary cap will be $64 million - a staggering $25 million increase over the course of six years.

The salary floor will move to $48 million.

This will naturally be welcomed news to all high payroll teams that desperately need that extra cushion. The Philadelphia Flyers immediately come to mind as a squad that needs to ink recently acquired goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov before he can go unrestricted on July 1, but will have a hard time squeezing his salary in based on the reported $6-7 million per season he is reportedly seeking. The New York Rangers, who are juggling whether or not they can buy out Chris Drury or wish to do the same with Wojtek Wolski, will also benefit from an extra $5 million their pockets to pursue pending-free agent center Brad Richards.

The Inevitable Vancouver Riot

UPDATE: There is now a Facebook page opened up for folks to post Vancouver Riot Pics. Sgt. Peter DeVries would like posters to include some location information to help investigators.

ORIGINAL: It just wouldn't be a championship moment without the losing team setting things on fire, flipping cars and causing all sorts of other mayhem in the streets. After watching the Vancouver Canucks blow Game 7 and the Stanley Cup, the fans did their damage.
  
As mentioned in the video, this is reminiscent of what happened when the Canucks lost in seven to the New York Rangers back in 1994.

As of right now, there have been no reported injuries as a result of the chaos. However, several arrests have naturally been made.

Be safe, Canada.

Video courtesy of Versus postgame coverage. Check out more video and photos over at Puck Daddy

Boston Bruins Secure 2011 Stanley Cup Championship

This was perhaps one of the most intriguing and awkward Stanley Cup Finals series in recent memory. Two teams that longed to hoist the greatest prize in the games; the Vancouver Canucks having never won one in its two previous tries and the Boston Bruins last declaring itself as champion 39 years ago despite every other sports franchise in its city feeling the glory of title success over the past decade.

For Vancouver, home ice advantage meant everthing. Though doing so narrowly, they took each game on Rogers Center ice prior to Game 7. Contrarily, each game held at TD Garden went Boston's way in convincing fashion. But all bets are off when its left to the do or die Game 7 - and the road team finally snagged a victory when it mattered most.

Courtesy of a two-goal nights from Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, as well as another perfect performance from 37-year old Tim Thomas in between the pipes, the Bruins secured a 4-0 win and snagged the Stanley Cup for the first time since defeating the New York Rangers in 1972.

Bergeron got the scoring going late in the first period when he netted a pass from Brad Marchand that slid just to the right of Roberto Luongo. Marchand added his first goal 7:47 into the second period with a wraparound on an out-of-position Luongo. Bergeron posted his second goal of the game a bit over five minutes later with a drive into the crease that enabled him to slide the puck past Luongo. And finally Marchand popped in his second to put the nail in the coffin on the Canucks with an empty netter with 2:44 left in the game.

A four-goal night put the Vancouver fans in silent mode, but it was undoubtedly another splendid showing in net from Thomas that enabled Boston to come out on top. The Conn Smythe Award recipient for Finals MVP posted his second shutout of the series and fourth overall of this year's playoffs on a 37-save effort - a number matching the age of the Flint, Michigan native likely set to add another Vezina Trophy to his accolades of the 2010-11 season.

Vancouver's downfall was being unable to consistently come up strong against the Bruins. Key players such as Ryan Kesler, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, and Luongo were all unable to follow through on the key contributions they offered throughout both the regular and postseason prior to the Finals. They were completely flat on the road, surrendering losses of 8-1 (Game 3), 4-0 (Game 4) and 5-2 (Game 6) in Boston. It also didn't help that Vancouver provided plenty of motivation to the Bruins players when Nathan Horton, who had some clutch performances through these playoffs, was knocked out of the series with a concussion courtesy of a late, blindside hit from defenseman Aaron Rome. Rome was subsequently suspended for the remainder of the series.

Canada's drought of playoff success now reaches 18 years, with the Montreal Canadiens being the last squad from up north to take Lord Stanley on the shoulders of goaltender Patrick Roy.

Of note, this was Mark Recchi's third Stanley Cup Championship during his 22 years in the NHL. He previously hoisted the trophy in 1991 with the Pittsburgh Penguins and in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes. The 43-year old forward illuded in post-game interviews that retirement is likely on the horizon.