NHL News & Notes: Stanley Cup Lineup Changes & GM Extensions

Stanley Cup News

Looks like the Kings lineup will remain the same tonight while the Devils will be making a few changes. Henrik Tallinder enters in place of Peter Harrold and Stanley Cup Champion Petr Skyora goes in for rookie Jacob Josefson.

The Star Ledger: Devils’ Zach Parise reassured by dad that comeback from 3-0 is possible It’s always nice to have that fatherly reassurance, no matter how down and out things look. As Kevin Garnett once said, “anything is possible!”

Fire & Ice: After a long road back, Tallinder excited to get a chance to play in Stanley Cup Finals. This will be Tallinder’s first Stanley Cup Finals appearance, he suffered a broken arm in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2006 with Buffalo. The ’06 Sabres were a great team who were decimated by injuries as the playoffs went on. It was disappointing the way they went down.

Fire & Ice: Kings’ lineup should remain the same for game 4. No reason to change a winning formula. Glad to see that Simon Gagne’s name will be on the cup (assuming the Kings pull it off).

CBC.ca: Kings ready to write final episode of their Hollywood story. Glad to see the Kings finally put together some on ice success. However, I’m not sure what else it will take to get the local media to notice the team.

Movers & Shakers

The Edmonton Oilers announced today that they have signed GM Steve Tambellini to a contract extension. The Tambellini era has not been great to the Oilers. They haven’t made the playoffs since he became GM in 2008 and the Oilers will now be on their fourth coach in the last three years.

Edmonton Journal: Dave Staples wonders: Is it the right move to bring back Steve Tambellini as GM of the Edmonton Oilers? Early poll results have 52.87% voting no. (Although I’m not sure how official this poll is.)

Edmonton Journal: How would you grade Oilers GM Steve Tambellini on the moves he’s made? A comprehensive list of Tambellini’s transactions. His best move was having the team tank and winning the draft lottery, not once, not twice, but thrice.

TSN.ca: Habs fire Cunneyworth and Ladoceur; Lapointe to be hired. Can’t say this is too surprising. It has become standard practice for new GM’s to hire their own coach, and for that coach to hire his own assistants. Cunneyworth really got a raw deal when he was named Head Coach in Montreal last season.

The Globe & Mail: Panthers reward Tallon for playoff spot. This Panthers team came out of nowhere to win the Southeast Division. While they did have some help via a terrible Southeast Division, Tallon deserves credit for overhauling the team over the off season and revitalizing hockey in South Florida (for the time being). Throwing rats on the ice in Florida is one hockey tradition that I am happy to see back in the game.

Sportsnet.ca: Knuble not returning to Capitals next season. The 39-year-old winger spent the majority of the season on the fourth line, averaging 13:57 minutes per game. Knuble says he’d like to remain playing, but do any teams have room for the veteran forward.

The Tennessean: Nashville Predators to sever ties to Alexander Radulov. I wonder if David Poille is regretting his decision bringing him back as a “ringer” for the playoff run. At the time it seemed like the right decision, but the whole “Arizona bar-gate” incident was just unfortunate for the franchise.