Brooks Liach Arbitration

Today kicked off the beginning of the 2007 Arbitration Hearings, with the Washington Capitals and Brooks Liach on the top of the list. A restricted free agent may file for arbitration if negotiations between the player and the team holding their rights reach a stalemate. This off-season 30 players filed for arbitration on July 5th, 11 of those cases have since negotiated a new agreement.

In front of the Salary Arbitrator each side makes their case, with a great deal of attention paid to statistics and the compensation of other players with similar statistics and history. Within 24 hours the Arbitrator will fax the decision to both parties, and the team has 48 hours in which they must decide to agree or "walk" from the decision. If the team elects to walk from a decision the player becomes a Unrestricted Free Agent.

Brooks Liach

Year	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
2003-04	OTT	1	0	0	0
	WAS	4	0	1	1
2005-06	WAS	73	7	14	21
2006-07	WAS	73	8	10	18
Career		151	15	25	40

Brooks Liach was drafted in the 6th round of the 2001 draft by the Ottawa Senators, and made his first appearance in the NHL during the 2003-04 season. It was post lock-out that Liach made an extended showing in the NHL. At 24 years old, with 151 NHL games under his belt, Brooks has accumulated 40 pts.

At the hearing the Liach camp may point to the Columbus Blue Jacket's recent resigning of 24 year old Alexander Svitov, who went for $2.25 over 2 years, to set the benchmark.

Alexander Svitov

	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
2006-07	CLS	76	7	11	18
Career		179	13	24	37

On the other hand the Capitals can reference Vernon Fiddler's resigning with Nashville, 2 years $1.7 million.

Vernon Fiddler

	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
2006-07	CLS	72	11	15	26
Career		148	23	21	44

In the end, I'd expect the decision to be closer to Fiddler's deal then Svitov's. Somewhere around $800,000 a year. Alexander Svitov received a more lucrative contract from the Blue Jackets because he's a past top draft pick (#3 overall in 2001) and has the potential to develop into a first line NHL forward.

NHL Stanley Cup Final

It's taken a month and a half, but the Eastern and Western Conferences have dwindled themselves down to one representative for this years NHL Stanley Cup Final.

From the East, the Ottawa Senators. Lead by the deadly line of Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, and Danny Heatley, the Senators took down the best of the competition in the East and barely broke a sweat. None of the three series (Penguins, Devils, Sabres) went more than 5 games. They have played solid and smart in front of goaltender Ray Emery, who in turn has made the big save when needed.


Coming out of the West, the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks fought through the West, downing the Wild, Canucks, and Red Wings. Offensively, they have seen a consistent contribution from the all the members of the top 3 lines. In between the pipes, Giguere has played strong since returning late in the first round, posting a .930 Save Percentage.

The series should be a hard fought matchup. Both teams are play very smart hockey on both sides of the ice and have faired well on special teams. Of the two, the Ducks are by-far the more physical, which could become a factor. The Senators haven't run into a team as physical as the Ducks in the playoffs. Also working against the Senators is their reliance on the first line for scoring. If the Ducks could shut down Ottawa's top line, they could tilt the ice in their favor.

This should be a great Stanley Cup series and I'm picking the boys from Anaheim in 6.

Preakness Trumps Senators OT winner

The NHL is currently experiencing it's most exciting post season of recent, showcasing it's elite teams and players in highly contested match ups. Attendance is up. Profits are up. And all this in only the second year after returning from an embarrassing lockout that shut down the league for an entire season. So why, after Saturday's Eastern Conference Finals game was the NHL's face 14 different shades of purple? It's humbling US Nationwide television contract.

With the Senators leading the series 3-1 and the score deadlocked at 2 a piece, Buffalo and Ottawa were preparing for sudden death overtime. The Sabres knew keeping their season alive meant scoring next. A Senators goal would elevate the team to it's franchise first Stanley Cup Final appearance. And hockey fans tuning in across America were fumbling with their remotes in search of the Versus Network, after NBC announced they'd be dropping the coverage due to time constraints, and heading to the live pre-race coverage of the Preakness. An NHL overtime game trumped by the hour and a half long coverage of a 2 minute horse race.

Although the hockey viewing public may be up in arms over the snub, it's hard to blame NBC. Between the NHL and the Preakness, the latter wins by several lengths. NBC pays nothing for the NHL broadcast rights. Instead the league and network split the profit from advertising revenue. And since overtime periods do not have TV timeouts, extended hockey coverage does not mean increased profits. On the other hand, NBC pays for the rights to broadcast the Preakness. And as part of Thoroughbred Racings Triple Crown, it promises higher ratings and more advertising dollars.

While it's hard to hold the ordeal against the Network, it is at least guilty of poor scheduling. It was, after all, NBC, weary of conceding prime time slots, who pushed the NHL to schedule Saturday games for the afternoons.

The black eye is instead on the NHL, and is just a sign, even as individual team markets thrive, of the poor state of the US nationwide television appeal of the NHL since leaving ESPN. Which is why, as the providence of Ontario celebrated the Daniel Alfredsson goal that sent the Senators to the Stanley Cup series, it was buried on Versus, deep in American cable packages. That is, for those that even had it.

Detroit Red Wings (1) vs. Anaheim Ducks (2)

The complaint around the sports world in March was the lack of upsets in the early rounds of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Of course the upside of which was the meeting of the giants in the later rounds of the tournament. Likewise, the Western Conference didn't see any huge upsets in the first few round. However we are rewarded with what has the potential to be the most exciting series of the entire post season.

The Red Wings came into the post season with the number one seed in the West, but after last years disappointment, facing questions about whether or not they were for real this year. Answering these questions, they overcame Kiprusoff and the Flames in the first round, and the San Jose Sharks in the second. While they haven't been able to open up games on the offensive side, they have played solidly in front of goaltender Dominik Hasek, who has allowed only 19 goals in 12 games.

With the pair of Ilya Bryzgalov and J.S. Giguere between the pipes, the second seed Anaheim Ducks have made quick work of defeating the Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks. Much like the Red Wings, the Ducks offensive talent has not created a scoring frenzy this post season. However, with their defensive play, the Ducks have dominated low scoring games.

I can see this being a long low scoring series, with multiple overtime games. I picked the Ducks for the Cup to start the season, and I'm sticking by them. Anaheim in 7.

Buffal Sabres (1) vs. Ottawa Senators (4)

The Senators have been the most exciting team in the Eastern Conference, handling both the offensive powerhouse of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the topnotch defense of the New Jersey Devils. And all with only dropping 2 games. Perhaps it's a few weeks early to be mentioning the Conn Smythe, but Daniel Alfredsson is certainly making a case. Spezza and Heatley are also playing well, and combined they have been the most potent line in the post season.

Buffalo came into the playoffs with the first spot, and heavily favored to represent the East in the Stanley Cup. And while they have advanced to the Conference finals, it has not been the post season the Sabres wished for. They've only played as well as they've had to, and instead of making quick work of the Islanders and Rangers, they dropped games and played far below potential. The Sabres need Chris Drury, Maxim Afinogenov, and Daniel Briere to step up and put goals on the board.

The bright side in Buffalo has been the consistent play of young starting goaltender Ryan Miller. He's played strong and kept them in games that he should not have had to. Ray Emery has also played well, but thanks to the Senators play he hasn't been tested, and if the Sabres can take the puck to the net hard, they may be able to crack him.

This is a great series, but I don't see it going past a game 5. Buffalo has underachieved, and as a result have had to play more games then Ottawa. Ottawa is playing great, and has been resting. The Sabres have the talented to beat the Senators, but I haven't seen it thus far this season. This may be Buffalo's best shot at a Cup, as in the off season they will face losing players to free agency, but I don't believe it's in the cards. Ottawa in five games.