Will Garth's new main man be a Maine man?

OK, so Ted Nolan is out at the Mausoleum, and the Islanders need a new coach.

Let's deal with the first half of the statement: Supposedly, the issue was that Garth Snow thought the Isles were underachieving, and Ted didn't think he had enough talent to work with. Much as I'm no fan of Ted Nolan, I think it's pretty obvious who wins that argument.

Now, as for who gets the job. Write this down: John Tortorella.

Unlike Ted Nolan, who has shenanigans on his résumé involving the University of Maine (remember the Simon Danis-Pepin affair when Ted was at Moncton?), John actually went to the University of Maine, like Garth Snow. It also helps that Torts has a Stanley Cup on his résumé. I also think it's kind of funny that Ted didn't get pushed out the door on the Island until Torts was fired by Tampa.

It's a fairly obvious move for the Isles, but is it the right move? Torts isn't known for his patience with his players, and with a young lineup, whoever takes the reins on the Island will need a lot of patience. Bob Hartley, late of the Thrashers, may be a more natural choice, having both a Calder Cup and a Stanley Cup to his name with the Hershey Bears and the Avalanche, respectively.

Still, I think the Old (Orono) Boys Network is going to make it happen on the Island.

And since I brought up Simon Danis-Pepin, let's finish up with talk about who is changing where he plays his amateur hockey: Patrick Wiercioch, who changed his commitment from Wisconsin to Denver. I really don't have much of a problem with this. For him to be able to play at Wisconsin would involve putting off his college hockey, and probably, by extension, his pro career. Given the potential for injury in the sport, there's a limit to the amount of waiting that a young prospect should do at the junior level, where you're not getting your college education and you're not getting paid. If Wiercioch is ready now to play college hockey, he should be playing, and Mike Eaves should understand that. And if he's going to go someplace else, I'm glad that it's Denver, where they had a tough situation with David Carle.

And by the way, speaking of Carle, I love the new Lightning owner Oren Koules...good guy for drafting David Carle, and I think it was cool that the Lightning traded for Matt. And of course, I'm happy to see Barry Melrose back behind the bench.

Finally, a fond farewell to Ryan Hollweg, traded to the Maple Leafs, where he could resume his fine chemistry with Dominic Moore (recall the OHM line with Jed Ortmeyer in 2005-06), in exchange for a fifth-round pick. With the additions of Dan Fritsche, Pat Rissmiller, and Aaron Voros, not to mention the potential return of Brendan Shanahan (who's best suited to a third/fourth line role at this point in his career, plus special teams time), something had to give, and Hollweg, with his tendency for taking bad penalties, was the obvious choice. That said, I'll miss "Hollywood," with his personality and style (check out his pics from the Rangers' Casino Night), and I'll always remember that when the Canucks came to the Garden in December '05, he was the one who stepped up and fought that worthless scumbag Todd Bertuzzi. His brother, Bryce, is moving on after completing his career at Army, and Ryan is now moving on, too. So long, Hollywood, and thanks for the memories.

New Looks

Looks like my concerns about the Rangers were mostly unfounded. The team's acquisitions, for the most part, seem to make sense. The Rangers may have overpaid for Wade Redden, but he fills a definite need for the Blueshirts as a No. 1 defenseman and a quarterback on the power play.

The biggest concern I have is that the Rangers will be relying on Nikolai Zherdev for a lot of offense next season, and of all the adjectives that could be used to describe Zherdev, "reliable" is not necessarily one of them.

I like the signing of Markus Naslund. Yes, he's on the back end of his career, but so is Brendan Shanahan, and he's been a real asset to the Rangers the last couple of years. Besides, he's getting the $4 million per year that Sean Avery wanted, and if I have to choose between two years of Naslund and four of Avery - much as I like Avery - I take Naslund. He's a leader and a veteran, and he'll produce more than Avery without wearing out his welcome in the locker room. All that for less than the Oilers are paying Dustin Penner (speaking of which, memo to Gary Bettman: let Kevin Lowe and Brian Burke have at each other all they want. It's summer, we need the entertainment).

And yes, I know that Avery was a vital part of the Rangers' chemistry the last couple of years, but this is going to be a different team. Jaromir Jagr is gone to Avangard Omsk of the KHL, Martin Straka is playing in the Czech Republic, and we still don't know if Brendan Shanahan is coming back (probably not). This is going to be a different team, and if we're lucky, it won't be a team that needs Sean Avery in the lineup for the other guys to play like they give a hoot.

As Jagr goes "To Russia with Love," Ray Emery is going to Russia with glove, signing for $2 million, tax-free, with Atlant Mytishchi, also in the KHL. So, basically, with the exception of Jagr, who decided that exile in Siberia was preferable to Edmonton, the major KHL acquisitions out of the NHL are, for all intents and purposes, real exiles.

Of course, Emery only signed a one-year deal with Atlant, so he may be back someday soon. Still, when I think of Emery, and the fact that I am sorry to see him go, I'll always be reminded of this classic.



Of course, with Emery going to the suburbs of Moscow, he won't be going to Los Angeles, where I anticipated him being a holdover until Jeff Zatkoff is ready for the NHL. They may still go with Gatorade pitchman and "yo mama" joke master Jason LaBarbera, although it could also be a destination for Nikolai Khabibulin, whom the Blackhawks will likely need to move with Cristobal Huet coming on board. Of course, the Kings still need a coach, too.

Finally, while I'm digging into YouTube, it is my opinion that every WCHA arena with video capacity - except the Kohl Center, of course - should make this clip a regular part of programming when Wisconsin comes to town.

Here comes the money...

So, yesterday was my day off, and NHL free agency began. How did I mark the occasion? I slept until 3:30.

(In my defence - oh geez, "defence?" Reading TheHockeyNews.com is getting to me - I worked until 4AM last night, then went to the gym to pass the time until my 5:40 AM train).

Anyway, starting with the Rangers, the fate of Jaromir Jagr remains unknown. The interesting thing is the involvement of the Penguins, although I have doubts about how much Jagr actually wants to play in Pittsburgh again.

One way or another, I think things should happen pretty quickly with Marian Hossa landing in Detroit. HockeyOverstock.com has a great deal on Jagr replica jerseys right now, so if he stays in New York, I just might have to get one.

Meanwhile, the Rangers have made some nice moves already, headlined, of course, by Wade Redden. Redden will give the Rangers a real No. 1 defenseman and a quarterback on the power play, both of which the Blueshirts have sorely needed, and he'll be a good mentor to the Rangers' young D like Marc Staal, Bobby Sanguinetti and Dan Girardi. I also like the signing of Pat Rissmiller - nice to have Holy Cross' contribution to the NHL on the roster - and former Alaska Nanook Aaron Voros should fit in nicely as well.

Meanwhile, I now have to bid farewell to Sean Avery. It's not like we didn't know this was coming, and if he had to go somewhere, I'm happy for it to be someplace like Dallas, where it's not going to bite the Rangers too hard. Last night, it occurred to me that the Islanders might get him - they'd give him the money he wants because they have to overpay anyway, and he could still be close to New York and his society and fashion circles - but if he wants to go to Dallas, then I suppose I'll just say, "Thank you and Zach Bless." I guess the Stars make enough trips through

I think the Rangers will be OK without Avery. For all my talk about the Attitude ADJustment Line, Dubinsky and Jagr seemed to have the real connection there, as Jagr kept it up when Avery came off that line late in the season. Of course, the Rangers need to re-sign Jagr now, since most of the other options are off the table. And to be honest, as lukewarm as I was to the idea of signing Mats Sundin, if it's what the Rangers have to do to keep Jagr, then fine, as long as it's not some ridiculous multi-year deal. I'm still not sure it'd work, but I like the idea of having both Jagr and Sundin better than not having either of them.

In other news, I like what the Oilers and Blackhawks have done. Chicago, in particular, got the big blueline prize in Brian Campbell and a hell of a young goaltender in Cristobal Huet. With all due respect to Nikolai Khabibulin, he's on the tail end of his career, and Chicago should have a goalie who's going to be part of this team for the long run with this group of Kane, Toews, Jack Skille, etc. I like the young nucleus that Chicago has, and it should be a nice group together for the league to show off in the Outdoor Classic against the Red Wings.

Edmonton, meanwhile, gets scoring punch from the blueline with Lubomir Visnovsky - imagine how he'll look with Sheldon Souray on the power play - and Erik Cole should fit in nicely with the Oilers' forwards, and the young forwards like Andrew Cogliano and Sam Gagner will benefit from his Stanley Cup experience.

Finally, how about that Kings d-corps? Jack Johnson, Matt Greene, and Drew Doughty with Rob Blake as the elder statesman and mentor...that team is going to be nasty to play against. Sean Avery may want to watch his behavior in LA when he comes through with the Stars...

More to come, of course...let's hope it includes comments on Jagr re-signing.