Lots of changes for idle teams and a mostly-idle league; new rules, new coaches, new uniforms, new bloggers… All this, and the Syracuse Crunch remain good at the hockey. Read more below.Introduction text goes here.
Tampa Bay Lightning News
- Rick Bowness joins the Tampa Bay Lightning coaching staff, focusing on defense. He’ll be replacing Dan Lacroix and contributing his 20+ years of experience to rookie NHL coach Jon Cooper’s staff [TBO.com]
- …and Rick went right out and gave his GM a vote of confidence. [Tampabay.com]
- This is a couple of weeks old but still worth noting: Russian goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy wants to come to North America and start his career here and the Lightning want him here. The question is – will he be able to come over, and when he does – where is he going to play? [Tampabay.com]
Syracuse Crunch News
- Riku Helenius returned to the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday after his lengthy absence [Syracuse.com]
- Former collegiate and pro-rookie J.T. Brown is proving himself a dependable commodity on the Crunch [Bolt Prospects]
- Good news: Richard Panik will be available to the Crunch Bunch this weekend when they start the Calder Cup Finals, the bad news is Radko Gudas is likely out [Syracuse.com]
- Speaking of the Calder Cup Finals, the Western Conference Championship will go to 7 games after the Oklahoma City Barons came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Grand Rapids Griffins last night, 4-3. [Syracuse.com]
- A Capella, all together – Alllllllllllllllllll In! [YouTube]
NHL and General Hockey News
- New rules are forthcoming for 2013-14, including mandating visors for newcomers in the NHL. Let’s be frank, though, grandfathering in visors was long past due [Lightning Shout]
- So, what do you think of the Dallas Stars new duds? [Defending Big D]
- And while we’re at it, what is your opinion of the Carolina Hurricanes new uniforms? [Canes Country]
- Anarchy in the N-Y-C: Are you aware Mark Messier wants to coach the coach-less New York Rangers? Wayne Gretzky? [SNYRangers Blog]
- Long time Colorado Avalanche blogger David Driscoll-Carignan is stepping away from the keyboard. [Mile High Hockey]
- File this under “Further reasons ESPN should be considered irrelevant to Hockey fFans”:
For the record, @sportscenter is reading Donald Trump tweets, about A.Rod, rather than covering the NHL playoffs.
— Jack Wilson (@JACKaWILSON) June 5, 2013
- Hockey Wilderness has been holding a community mock draft (where some of the big names around SB Nation are posing as GM’s for their respective teams. For the record, yours truly drafted for the Lightning on June 1st. I could use input on the Bolts 2nd pick (#33 overall) [Hockey Wilderness]
- And Arctic Ice Hockey has its own community vote / poll / survey on the top 5 players on the draft board [Arctic Ice Hockey]
