Even the NHL makes Jersey Fouls

Really? "Miko" Koivu? Is the second "k" taking up too much space to spell out "Mikko"?

The NHL can't even get the name of FIRST (permanent) captain in the history of the Wild right? One would think some where along the lines someone, somewhere had to have gone over and proof read, or even just read the listings.

How has no one affiliated with the site caught this mistake?

Anteeksi Mikko.

***Special thanks to Bryan Reynolds over at Hockey Wilderness for capturing a screen shot of the lovely jersey foul brought to you by the official Shop.NHL.com site for the Minnesota Wild for me.

This week in WTF are you thinking...

This past week left some fan bases wondering "what the..."



The Detroit Red Wings announced that they reached an agreement with forward Todd Bertuzzi. Saying Bertuzzi is not a fan favorite in Hockeytown is a bit of an understatement. Fans were first shocked that he was brought back (it's not that he was horrible and I think in the play offs it looked as if he had finally found his place). What shocked fans was the two year $3.875 million no trade clause contract.



Up in Minne-so-ta the Wild managed to send their fans in to a panic when they announced the team had re-signed James Sheppard. The forward signed a one-year deal for just over $800,000. Not bad, still leaves plenty of room for the free agent frenzy that will hit July 1 and maybe, just maybe, he is working some of those kinks out of his game this summer.

The biggest "W-T-F" moment came from North of the boarder Montreal.

Halak.

In case you you have not heard about Halak's rights being traded to the St. Louis Blues for two prospects (Lars Eller and Ian Schultz). The trade prompted a fan freak out frenzy on Twitter enough to shut it down and cause mass "fail whales" on the social media network. Even after it had started to calm down Halak was still a trending topic WORLDWIDE on the social networking site. That means as many people in the entire world were talking about Halak being traded as they were the World Cup and the vuvuzela annoyance.

At least this piece of gold made it to the Internet...

So much for a boring off season

Breaking news over night that the Detroit Red Wings have signed Ilari Filppula has many asking, "isn't his name Valtteri?"




Ilari Filppula is the older brother for current Red Wings forward Valtteri Filppula.

Ilari spent the last few years with TPS Turku in the SM-liiga (in his native country Finland), winning this past seasons championship, and was named the winner of the 2010 Jari Kurri trophy (play off MVP).

For the 2009/2010 season Ilari played 58 games in which he had 12 goals and 37 assist. In the playoffs he played an additional 15 games with 2 goals and 12 assist.

Fitting song for the clip seeing as he is now on an NHL contact...



TPS Turku is partially owned by (current) NHL players Miikka Kiprusoff (Flames), Mikko Koivu (Wild) and his older brother Saku (Ducks).

How to battle hockey withdrawl

It’s that dreaded time of year. June.

The Stanley Cup has been handed to the Chicago Blackhawks; and The Cup is off on another whirlwind global tour (that I am sure does not involve a cab ride in Buffalo).

Now we wait. The 2010-2011 season does not start for a little over three months. Not a long time - but feels like eternity.

Here are some of my How-to-survive-what-seems-like-a-slow-agonizing-wait-for-the-first-puck-drop-of-the-regular-season suggestions:

Watch “vintage” games on NHL Network though out the summer (some are more vintage than others).

Tune in on June 23rd to the NHL awards show live from Las Vegas (List of Awards and finalist http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=62242 ).

Then get all your hockey buddies together and watch the 2010 NHL Draft on June 25-26 ( http://www.nhl.com/ice/eventhome.htm?location=/draft/2010 ).

Keep up on all the frenzy starting July 1st as the Unrestricted Free Agents hit the open market with the guys at “ProHockeyTalk on NBC” either on Twitter @PHTonNBC or on their website:
http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com

Read War and Peace.

Keep your cool. On hot summer days grab your skates (or a few bucks for rentals) and head to your local ice rink for either an open skate or a pick up game.

Find some replays on line and become an expert.

Check out www.isitoctoberyet.com

Watch “Slapshot”

Find out when your favorite (or local) teams prospects and training camps start and get your gear, a hand full of Sharpies, and your camera ready.

Way to go Blackhawks

*Picture brought to you by the awesomeness that is Puck Daddy.

Blake Geoffrion signs with Predators

The Hobey Baker winner has confirmed via Twitter that he is signing a two year deal with the Nashville Predators and there will be a press conference on Tuesday.

First to cross the Finnish line

History was in fact made last night as the Chicago Blackhawks hoisted the Stanley Cup. For the first time in history a Finnish goaltender will have his name engraved into Lord Stanley's Cup.

With so many great goalies coming from Finland (young stars like Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask along with Olympians Antero Niittymaki, Niklas Backstrom and Miikka Kiprusoff just to name a few) it was just a matter of time before this goal was met.

Antti Niemi come and claim your cup - it's yours to take back to Finland.