All the news that kinda, sorta, maybe fit to print.
Local (Lightning)
Lightning Girl Auditions 2013-14 Video – NHL VideoCenter – Tampa Bay Lightning
Video of the auditions for the 2013-14 Lightning Girls. The squad will be announced on Thursday.
National (NHL)
2013-14 NHL schedule: team-by-team TV schedule – SBNation.com
How many games will each team have on national television? Steve Lepore spent a lot of time putting this together. So at least go look at it, okay?
NHL Travel Miles: The 2013-2014 Super Schedule is Here! – On the Forecheck
Or you can go look at this one, which shows how travel is divided up by team. The Detroit Red wings should pin this to their wall as a trophy.
Hockey’s History, Part 1: The Beginnings (1875 to 1909) – Mile High Hockey
Andi D. over at Mile High Hockey (the SBNation Colorado Avalanche site) has some time on her hands. And so she put that time to good use with history and stuff. There are pictures for those who like picture books best. Part 1 focuses on 1875-1909.
Arron Asham: Some Rangers were fed up with John Tortorella’s act | Hockey | Sports | Toronto Sun
Arron Asham has opinions about John Tortorella.
Coyotes saga: Investigation launched into ‘possible violations’ by Glendale council in state open meeting law | ProHockeyTalk
And this will never, ever end. Ever.
International (Europe & World)
It’s almost time for the Olympic evaluation camps to get started. I can’t wait, partly because it’s hockey in August and there’s almost never hockey in August, but mostly because as long as NHL players are involved the Olympics are like the fantasy hockey come to life. No caps, no contracts, just the best players in the world competing against the best players in the world.
Reminder that camp rosters are not the same as the eventual team rosters, so stop worrying about the snubs and the long shots and start dreaming about Sidney Crosby playing with Steven Stamkos.
Team Canada orientation camp invitations extended to Lightning forwards Stamkos and St. Louis – Raw Charge
Of the Lightning’s players, a total of five have now been invited to Olympic camps for their respective nations.
@BoltProspects is reporting that both Radko Gudas and Ondrej Palat have been invited to the Czech Republic’s camp but I haven’t seen an official roster.
Meanwhile, Johnston on NHL: Sochi is just the beginning – Sportsnet.ca
The fifth straight trip to the Olympic Games for NHLers will only be the start of an expanded calendar of international events across the sport.
Farm Report (Syracuse & The Minors)
Hockey Prospectus | Top 10 Prospects 2013: Tampa Bay Lightning
Corey Pronman of HockeyProspectus.com gives his top ten Lightning prospects.
The Market (Numbers)
Cam Charron of (among other places) Backhand Shelf did a series of posts wading into the renewed debate over why #fancystats are or are not good tools. He’s generally pretty good at this, so if you’re confused about exactly why stats folks think these things are important, Charron’s probably the best place to find an explanation. He did two pieces this time around: Shot quality in which he talks about what shot quality is and why it isn’t really used in analysis (and how shooting percentages don’t really tell you much over a season or so) and Shot quantity in which he talks about how Corsi tracks year to year and why players and teams who take more shots are usually better teams.
The Faker’s Guide to Advanced Stats in the NHL – The Triangle Blog – Grantland
If that’s still too much, but you haven’t given up yet, DGB’s faker’s guide to advanced stats is actually pretty much spot on. Just a warning, if you talk about wins for goalies on Raw Charge, a little fist will come out of your computer screen and punch you in the nose.
Choose the free agent, 2013 edition
One of my personal favorite numbers guys, Corey Sznajder provided his (Carolina Hurricanes) readers with their free agent choice based on the numbers only. My choice? Player C. Shoots a lot, good at puck possession and 48 points a season. Not a penalty killer, though.
Nuts and Bolts: An Analytical Profile of Valtteri Filppula | Bolt Statistics
“If forced to make a projection,” says Kyle Alexander, “my inclination would be to guess that a reasonable expectation for Filppula in 2013 with Tampa Bay would be somewhere in between the highs of 2012 and the lows of 2013 (something like 15 goals and 40-45 assists for 55-60 points) which would spell an adequate but unspectacular return on the 5-year, 25 million dollar investment the club has made.”
Funnies
With the closing of Rich Clune’s twitter account, there’s only one place left for the funny: Down Goes Brown.
Down Goes Brown: Do’s and Don’ts for your upcoming NHL arbitration hearing
