Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter With the conclusion of the 2u009/’10 NHL season just a few days away everyone from fans to management is thinking playoffs. This season will be remembered for a lot of things, head shots, the emergence of Steven Stamkos as a superstar and the rise of the left for dead Phoenix Coyotes. Many NHL GM’s will remember this season for other reasons, such as, signing a player to a contract that broght great value to his club. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top ten bargain contracts of the 2009/’10 season. Ian White- $850,000: Defenseman, Toronto Maple Leafs/Calgary Flames. (81GP, 12G, 25A, 37PTS, +8, 51PIM, 3PPG) When the 2009/’10 NHL season commenced very few had Ian White on the radar. Through 81 games White has established himself as one of

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter With the addition of the salary cap the NHL has seen a record number of players changing uniforms each offseason. The days of a player making one NHL team his home for his entire career are all but gone, in fact, more often than not, an NHL player can bank on switching teams upwards of five times. The Toronto Maple Leafs are no exception to these rules, there will be change this offseason, in fact, there will be plenty. Heading into the summer the Leafs will need to address numerous unrestricted free agents, including Garnett Exelby, Wayne Primeau, Rickard Wallin, Jamie Lundmark and Mike Van Ryn. Add that to a list that includes restricted free agents Jonas Gustavsson, Nikolai Kulemin, John Mitchell and Christian Hanson and you have a team that will undergo

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter The Flyers have had what can only be called an up and down season thus far. Injuries, coaching changes and inconsistent goaltending have been the major factors behind the Flyers’ lack of success as has the teams overall chemistry, or lack thereof. No question about it, the Flyers number one priority this off-season will be bringing an adequate goaltender into the fold. Given the Flyers have a total of $48,610 (all numbers courtesy of nhlnumbers.com) already devoted to 16 players it will be tough for them to acquire said goaltender unless they are able to unload a large contract as part of a trade. Another issue facing the Flyers is the number of restricted free agents they have. Daniel Carcillo, Darroll Powe, Brayden Coburn and Ryan Parent are four players that will be

  With so many NHL fans calling for the head of current NHL commissioner Gary Bettman these days, one has to wonder just how long it will be before there is serious pressure to replace him? Bettman has served as the NHL’s Commissioner since February 1, 1993, which equates to just under two decades of work. While there are plenty of fans out there that are quick to throw Bettman under the bus it must be noted that under the guidance of Bettman the NHL has grown it’s revenues from $400 in 1993 to a whopping $2.2 billion sports industry. Bettman has also been on hand to add six expansion teams into the fold, albeit with various levels of success. Through it all Bettman has tried his best to give America what it wants, trusting in his belief that he

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter TSN is reporting that the NHL is looking at instituting the blindside rule without the National Hockey League Players’ Association’s approval and it says here they should be applauded for it. The NHL has been under a ton of scrutiny for not instituting the blindside rule immediately, the fact that they are now trying to speed up the process is an indication that the NHL is tired of screwing around with safety issues and may, in fact, be willing to risk backlash from the NHLPA if necessary. It’s beyond me why any player or anyone within the Players Association would want to put up any opposition to bringing the rule in right away, after all, the NHL only has the players’ best interests in mind, which should always be the priority and often

By now NHL fans are all too familiar with Alexander Ovechkin’s hit on the unsuspecting Brian Campbell, question is, was it dirty or clean? Needless to say NHL fans can debate Ovechkin’s hit on Campbell from both perspectives and, in all likelihood, make a strong case either way. The play in which Ovechkin and Campbell went for throttle for the puck on Sunday afternoon happens about a dozen times a game, the end result usually being that nobody gets hurt. Unfortunately, due to Ovechkin’s carelessness Campbell is now faced with a season ending injuries including a broken Clavical and perhaps a concussion to boot. For Ovechkin, the Campbell incident marked the third time that he was awarded a game misconduct. The first time was for the hit against the Buffalo Sabres Patrick Kaleta, the second, a hit against Carolina Hurricane