Flames Trade Karlsson To Chicago

The Calgary Flames have made their first trade of the season, trading goaltender Henrik Karlsson to Chicago.

The news was released on Twitter a short while ago, no further details were given.  We'll update this post as soon as we have more information.

//  UPDATE  //
Karlsson is headed to the Blackhawks for a 7th round draft pick at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

Earlier in the day the Flames assigned the 6'6" goaltender to the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League.

Flames Announce Opening Day Roster

Here's a look a the Flames official opening day roster from www.flames.nhl.com.

Puck drops in Calgary on Sunday January 20, 2013 against the San Jose Sharks.  Puck drop is set for 4:00 PM MT.

Irivng Earns Spot on Flames Roster

Going into training camp there was no clear backup goaltender for starter Miikka Kiprusoff.  Leland Irving knew he would have to battle with last years backup Henrik Karlsson.  Today all that hard work payed off for the 24-year-old as he was named to the Flames opening day roster.

Irving will serve as Kiprusoff's backup to start the season.

The opporuntiy has been long awaited for Irving, who's spent the past five seasons in the American Hockey League, playing in 182 games after the Flames drafted him at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

"It's awesome, no better feeling," Irving said of being named to the opening day roster.  "It's taken a lot of hard work and a few obstacles along the way but I couldn't be happier."

Irving has appeared in six games for the Flames' top affiliate in Abbotsford posting a 2-3-1-0 record 3.72 GAA and a .871 save percentage.  In fact was the Heat's third string goaltender behind Danny Taylor and Barry Brust.

With one final opportunity to show he was ready to be the number two man in Calgary, Irving posted a a shutout in a 40 minute exhibition and turned aside all five shots he faced in a shootout.

"We felt he was better," Flames head coach Bob Hartley said shortly after naming his backup.  "It was a battle but we felt from the first day to yesterday Leland was the clear winner.

Irving traveled between Abbotsford and Calgary frequently last season, seeing action from December onward.  During his six games with the Flames he psoted a 3.20 goals against average and a .912 save percentage.

"I came out here, took every day very seriously.  I didn't want to waste a day, I tried to get better every day and I proved I can play at this level."

With just two days until the Flames hit the ice, much is left to be seen with regards to Irving's playing time.  Kiprusoff played 70 games last season.  With just 48 games this season, how much rest with Kipper really need?

Red Wings, Flyers Name New Captains

The Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers have named their Captains for the 2013-13 season.

Zetterberg, right, is just the third Wings captain since 1986.

Detroit named 32 year old Henrik Zetterberg their captain this afternoon at a press conference in Detroit.  He becomes the third Captain since 1986, taking over for Niklas Lindstrom who retired at the end of last season.

"He's not afraid to communicate," coach Mike Babcock told reporters.  "He doesn't mind getting mad at me one bit.  He's just not shy about what he thinks.  We've had a relationship like that for a long time."

Zetterberg has spent nine seasons with the Red Wings, scoring 252 goals and assisting on 372 more for 624 points.  He's had 68 points in each of the past seven seasons.  Zetterberg signed a 12 year, $73 million contract in 2009, a contract that will keep the forward in Detroit until he's 40.

Giroux takes over as captain for the Flyers.

The Philadelphia Flyers replaced injured captain Chris Pronger today, naming Claude Giroux to the position.

"Claude is the undisputed leader of this team," general manager Paul Holmgren said. "He always exhibits a tremendous work ethic in games and practices. He is a great professional both on and off the ice."

Giroux is entering his fifth full NHL season, all with Philadelphia.  The Flyers picked him in the first round (No. 22 overall) at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.  He scored 28 goals last seasons and finished third in the NHL with 93 points.  The 25-year-old center was the best players in the NHL on the power play scoring with 38 points, including 32 assists.

Red Wings 2013 Schedule "Leaked"

The ink hasn't dried on the NHL's new Collective Bargaining Agreement and already we have our supposed first look at what a 48-game season will look like...in a word:  brutal.

The Detroit Red Wings schedule was allegedly leaked earlier this evening...you can see the full schedule here.  Here's the run down:

• Detroit opens the season January 19 against the St. Louis Blues.
• Their final regular season game is scheduled for April 27 against the Dallas Stars.
• No  games are scheduled vs Eastern Conference teams, mostly divisional opponents with some inter-conference games scheduled as well.

For the record thats a 69 day season with 48 games being played.  If this schedule holds true it's going to be a brutal season in the NHL.

...more to come as things unfold.

Flames Coach Wants Up-Tempo Approach

 In just a few days the Calgary Flames will open training camp at the Saddledome and start preparing for the 2012-13 season.  Taking over for the fired Brent Sutter behind the bench is Bob Hartley.

Hartley is no stranger to coaching at the NHL level.  He coached the Colorado Avalanche from 1998-2003.  In each season with the Avs his team made it to the Western Conference Finals and won the Stanley Cup in 2000-2001.  Hartley was fired after 31 games at the start of the 2002-2003 season and landed in Atlanta where he coached until the 2007-08 season.

He takes over a team that hasn't made the playoffs in nearly five seasons.  The past three seasons under former head coach Brent Sutter were marred by inconsistent leadership, sloppy play and the inability to finish games.  

Hartley's coaching style is much different from his predecessor.

Hartley inherits a Flames team that hasn't made the playoffs in five seasons.

"We're going to be a fast-paced, up-tempo hockey team.  One thing that I can promise our fans is that we won't be sitting on the blueline waiting for the other team to attack.  I believe in pressure, I believe in moving the puck smartly and I believe in great puck possession."

He also places great emphasis on conditioning stressing that in order for a team to be successful they must be in peak physical condition.  Some of his favorite drills include Mountain Climbers, which sees players skate blue line to goal line, red line to goal line, blue line to goal line and far end to goal line in 45 seconds and Sweet Sixteens, 16 laps around the rink in four minutes.

"Conditioning is probably the most important factor because we're going to have a really tight schedule.  We're going to play three games in four nights, so the ability to recover from a big game will be crucial.  The only way that you can recover mentally and physically is to be fit."

With only 48 games to play during the regular season, the Flames will have to treat each game like a playoff game.  If the Flames can stay healthy and produce on the offensive end, they have a shot at making the post season.  With Hartley's continued focus on being mentally and physically ready the Flames will be well prepared for a shortened 2012-13 campaign.

Flyers Interested in Canucks Luongo?

The twittersphere was in overdrive today with wild rumors about Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo and his future with the team.

Are the Flyers the latest team interested in Roberto Luongo?

It might be the Canucks worst kept secret:  Luongo wants out of Vancouver.  Rumors have flown around blogs since the Kings won the Stanley Cup about a possible trade involving the Canucks goalie.  Florida and Chicago were the first teams rumored to be highly interested in obtaining the veteran, more recently Toronto was the rumored destination.  Now it seems the Flyers are throwing their name in the hat and trying to land the former All-Star.

Luongo, who signed a 12 year, $64M contract in 2009, is a huge contract to unload and with the new salary cap rules under the newly agreed to Collective Bargaining Agreement it will be harder for Vancouver GM Mike Gillies to trade him, especially to the Flyers.  Lets not forget that next season the salary cap drops again down to $64.3M.

According to CapGeek.com, the Flyers are sitting at a cap hit of $67.44M this season, just $2.75M below the agreed cap of $70.2M for the 2012-13 season.  In order to get Luongo to Philly, the Flyers would have to give up Ilya Bryzgalov, who signed a 9 year, $51M contract with the Flyers in 2011.  Luongo and Bryzgalov have nearly identical cap hits this season at $5.33M and $5.66M respectively.

Here's where things get interesting.  Lets assume for arguments sake that the trade happens sometime this season, Luongo is now a Flyer and Brygalov is now a Canuck.  Both teams can choose to terminate their contracts.  How?  Per the new Collective Bargaining Agreement each team is allowed two amnesty buyouts to terminate contracts at the end of this season or next season.

If the Canucks and Flyers chose to terminate Luongo and Bryzgalov's contracts, the teams could choose to renegotiate new contracts with each goalie, possibly at a more reasonable rate and for a shorter term thanks to the limits placed on contracts under the new CBA.

It still remains unclear how teams will choose to use their buyouts, whether they will choose to buy out the outrageous, front loaded, long term contracts that have plagued the league over the last few seasons or choose to use the buyouts in a different way.

NHL, NHLPA Agree To New CBA Framework

The NHL Lockout has finally come to an end.  After 113 days and a marathon 16 hour negotiating session between the National Hockey League and the NHLPA, the two sides have agreed on the framework on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

At 4:40 AM Sunday NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr emerged from the negotiating room to announce the framework of a deal had been reached.  "We have to dot a lot of I's and cross a lot of T's.  There is still a lot of work to be done, but the basic framework has been agreed upon." Bettman told reporters in a brief statement.

Bettman and Fehr did not immediately release any details on what that framework was and said they would not comment on what the new CBA will include, thankfully TSN knows everything about hockey ever...

According to TSN the new CBA will include the following:

/  The CBA will be for ten years with an opt out clause after season eight of the CBA (Summer 2020).  Great news everybody wins here, we won't have to go through this again for a while and making this CBA a long term is better for the League.  Imagine where this League will be in ten years and the NHL has grown in revenue roughly 9% in five seasons.

/  The players' share of hockey related revenue (HRR) will be an equal 50-50 split with the owners,  steep drop from the 57% stake the players laid claim to last season.  Huge win for the owners who've been screwed as NHL profits rose the last five seasons.  The players gave up a lot of money here, but it's only fair they share the HRR with the owners.

/  Year One of the CBA will have a salary cap of $70.2M, Year Two will see the salary cap drop to $64.3M.  Both seasons the salary cap floor will be set at $44M.  The owners gave up a lot here, they wanted Y2 salary cap set at $60M.  It gives the teams flexibility in the first two years of the new CBA to get their payrolls in check and slowly bring their cap down to a reasonable amount.

/  Each team will be allowed two amnesty buy outs which can be used to terminate after this season and next season.  The buyouts will count against the players' overall share in revenues but not the team's salary cap.  Win for the owners who can now terminate these HUGE front loaded contracts *cough* ROBERTO LUONGO *cough* therefore helping themselves meet that salary cap.  If I was a player with one of those outrageous contracts I'd be crapping myself right now.

/  A player contract term limit for free agents will be seven years and eight years for a team signing its own player.  Lets be honest here, there are very few hockey players that have been given ten or fifteen year contracts that will actually fulfill these obligations...thankfully someone realized this during the CBA negotiations.  Huge win for the owners.

/  The salary variance on contracts from year to year can not vary more than 35% and the final year can not vary by more than 50% of the highest year.  Good bye front loaded contracts!  Giant win for the owners here.  Combine this with the term limits on contracts and you have a recipe for success for the owners.

/  The draft lottery selection process will change with all 14 teams fully eligible for the first overall pick.  The weighting system for each team will remain, but the four-spot restriction will be eliminated.  Wow, so all 14 non-playoff teams are eligible for the draft lottery, and any of those 14 teams could possibly get the #1 pick in the draft...now there's even less reason to tank your season because there's 13 other teams that also have a shot at the #1 pick at the draft.

/  Supplemental discipline for players in on-ice incidents will continue to go through NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan first, followed by an appeal process that will go through NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.  For suspensions of six games or more a neutral third party will decide if necessary.  The "Shanaban" returns!  He's done a fine job so far trying to change the game and make it more safe for the players, no need to change things here.

/  Teams can only walk away from a player in salary arbitration if the award is at least $3.5M.

/  No decision was made on NHL participation in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.  The NHL and NHLPA have decided to hold separate negotiations with the IIHF and IOC outside of the CBA.  There's no way NHLers won't be at the games.  They want to play...let them play.  Yes the Olympics are supposed to showcase the best amateur athletes in the world...but try telling that to Kobe and LeBron!  You can either let them participate in the Olympics or create some sort of professional tournament where players can represent their respective countries.

No date has been set as of yet on when the puck will drop on the 2012-13 season, but rumor is a 50 game season could begin on January 15 or a 48 game season could being on January 19.  It all depends on how long it takes to put the framework to paper and how long it takes to get the Board of Governors to approve this new CBA.