The Hockey Stop

HALAK TO BLUES

In the biggest trade of the offseason so far the Montreal Canadiens have dealt wunder goalie Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for prospects Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. This is one of the most baffling trades in recent memory. The Canadiens today almost gave away the goalie that single-handedly defeated the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins and was being compared to Patrick Roy and Ken Dryden by Montreal's media and fans.

The Habs will now go with 22-year-old Carey Price in net and after this move it looks like UFA Chris Mason will be playing between the pipes for another team next year.


MACLEAN TO COACH DEVILS

The New Jersey Devils named former player and assistant coach John MacLean to lead the team behind the bench next season. He replaces the retiring Jacques Lemaire. MacLean was a first-round pick and played 14 seasons with New Jersey and spent eight more seasons on the coaching staff.


DONOVAN'S HOCKEY ROOTS

World Cup fever is not only sweeping South Africa but is also starting to catch on here in the U.S. after the American team tied England 1-1 in the opener.

Why you ask am I writing about soccer on a hockey blog? Because star player Landon Donovan could have easily laced on skates instead of cleats when he was growing up in Ontario, California. Donovan's dad Tim is from Nova Scotia and was a semi-professional ice hockey player in Canada.


OVECHKIN'S NEW BOOK

A book on Caps superstar Alex Ovechkin will be released this fall. "The Ovechkin Project: A Behind-the Scenes Look at Hockeys Most Dangerous Player" tells the story of his meteoric rise from Russian athlete to NHL powerhouse. Writers Damien Cox and Gare Joyce reveal a side of the Great 8 most fans never see, including how the death of his older brother impacted him. It should be an interesting read.


LEONSIS REASSURES CAPS FANS

After officially taking over the Washington Wizards and the Verizon Center, Capitals owner Ted Leonsis felt compelled to write an open letter to Caps fans who might be worried that Leonsis will devote more time to the Wiz and neglect the Caps. Here is the letter followed by a video of Leonsis speaking at the National Press Club in Washington. He talks about his "moment of reckoning" when he thought his plane was going to crash and how it changed his life and the way he does business. Fascinating.

Open Letter to Washington Capitals Fans

Thursday, 06.10.2010 / 1:00 PM / News

By now you have probably heard the news that my partners and I have completed our purchase of the Washington Wizards and Verizon Center and created a new company – Monumental Sports & Entertainment – that owns those entities as well as the Capitals and the Mystics. You’re likely to see and hear more from me on this news in the coming days – in the media, on my blog (tedstake.com), at the NBA Draft. It’s big news, and something my partners, my family and I are very excited about.

But I’m here to assure you that even if you hear me talking about the Wizards a lot, I haven’t – and never will – overlook the Capitals and our commitment to bring a Stanley Cup to Washington. I will continue to be focused on your well being and happiness.

A few people have asked how I expect to juggle these new responsibilities. I believe I’ve always been someone with great “bandwidth” to cover a variety of interests, including different companies, film projects and, foremost, my family. The Wizards will have a place in those interests, no bigger or smaller than the Caps – just as I don’t choose between my son and my daughter!

The creation of Monumental actually creates opportunities that I hope Capitals fans are excited about. We now program Verizon Center and we hope to be able to offer terrific new cross-marketing opportunities to our fans. We plan to continue to improve the fan experience at Verizon Center and will count on your feedback to do so. And we will over-index on scheduling and maintenance-oriented projects related to all of your teams.

Thanks as always for your support, and I will see you at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, the Caps Convention and Verizon Center in the upcoming months. And I’m always available to you at washingtoncaps@aol.com.

Sincerely,

Ted Leonsis

The situation just keeps getting worse in St. Louis for suffering Rams fans.

Not only is the team the punchline of the National Football League, but now right-wing radio host and Missouri native Rush Limbaugh is teaming with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts (pictured above) on a bid to buy the woeful franchise.

The bid by Rushie could be the tipping point (no pun intended) for Los Angeles to step up its campaign to bring the Rams back to Southern California where the team played since 1946 until Georgia Frontiere moved the franchise from Anaheim to St. Louis in 1995.

Question -- Will Rush hope the Rams fail like he said he wants Obama to? Just asking.

The National Hockey League lags behind baseball, football and basketball when it comes to television ratings and national attention, however, when it comes to ESPN The Magazine's seventh annual Ultimate Standings, the fastest sport in the world simply dominates.

Many hockey fans will be pleasantly surprised as they read the latest issue of "The Mag," which hit newsstands on July 13. That's because five of the top 10 teams are from the NHL out of 122 professional franchises ranked from the NHL, MLB, NFL and NBA.

The teams are ranked based on eight major categories -- wins vs. ticket prices, fan relations, ownership, stadium experience, players, coaching and championships won or soon to be won.

The Carolina Hurricanes (2), Detroit Red Wings (4), Washington Capitals (6), Pittsburgh Penguins (8) and St. Louis Blues (10) are the five teams in the top 10. The Anaheim Ducks are ranked 11th.

There are only two NHL teams in the bottom 10 -- the New York Islanders (115) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (120).

The Islanders should be able to reverse their fortunes by recently signing No. 1 draft pick John Tavares to a 3-year deal and starting construction soon on their new arena, dubbed "The Lighthouse Project."

As for long-suffering Leafs fans? Maybe new president and GM Brian Burke can help bring the team back to its glory days just like he brought a Stanley Cup to Anaheim as GM of the Ducks.

Getting to the playoffs would be a nice start. While the Leafs haven't won a Stanley Cup in 41 plus years, it's been four years since they skated into the postseason.