Hockey Back In The Headlines

In a summer where there have been far too many days of no hockey news to report, August 25th, 2010 certainly made up for it with a couple of significant headlines.

First, a rapid fire checklist of some happenings today

• Willie Mitchell signs with Kings for $7M over 2 years. That's pretty good money for good defenseman with a bad concussion history. Big gamble, but could pay off nicely.
• Raffi Torres signs with Canucks $1M for 1 year. Low risk gamble with potentially good reward for Canucks. I'm not sold on his defensive game but a good third line addition especially given the lack of UFA options right now.
• Ilya Kovalchuk's agent contacts the KHL. Maybe Kovy can't get the deal he wants in the NHL and is heading home to Russia? Stay tuned.
• Tampa Bay signs UFA Ryan Jones and RFA Steve Downie. We're finally starting to see the free agent stand-still get rolling again.
• National television schedules released: CBC - TSN - NBC - Versus - American fans continue to be unhappy with their television coverage.

And then, the two biggest pieces of news of the day:

Debating The Future of Olympics at World Hockey Summit

• An emotional Brian Burke states (accurately) that too many people get too emotional about the NHL's decision to return or not return to Olympics. People need to think this through rationally, and they will clearly see the NHL's point.
• Out of places unknown the number of $200M is floated out there as revenue generated by international hockey by using NHL players. Those players get next to nothing, while the NHL's business is inconvenienced to the tune of millions of dollars.
• Burke even went so far as to suggest that hockey move to the Summer Olympics.

Donald Fehr accepts NHLPA Executive Director position

• I'm surprised this decision took so long. I kind of figured Fehr must not have wanted it given the length of time this took. 
• Now that he is in power, look out! The perception is that Donald Fehr vs Gary Bettman will make Bob Goodenow vs. Bettman seem down right friendly.
• NHL fans still perceive Bettman as a basketball guy. Now the next most powerful man in hockey is a baseball guy.
• They players finally have a strong voice, but for fans this is not good news. Labour peace is in great jeopardy. Especially since NHL owners are already whining about franchise instability. I thought the last lockout - which cost us an entire season and a Stanley Cup champion - was supposed to fix that. Good luck trying to get more out of the players with Fehr around.