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Omark is a decent bet in light of that inability to find the right fit. He is a good low-cost option on a two-way contract.

Ales Hemsky is a soloist who does his best work when surrounded by support players. Newly-acquired centre Boyd Gordon and Omark can be those support players, with Gordon doing the heavy lifting down low in the Oilers zone, like Shawn Horcoff used to do with and for Hemsky. Gordon will also be the guy coming back hard on the backcheck. Omark can win pucks on the boards all over the ice, while Hemsky is on the puck, advancing it up the ice, his great strength as a player.

This would not be a line that the Oilers could necessarily match every night against tough competition. That job is again going to fall to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and his linemates most often, but this line would have a chance to get the job done by cycling the puck in the offensive end, and surviving in the Oilers end due to the efforts of Gordon. Hemsky and Omark also have the ability to move up into the Top 6 if there’s an injury there, or lack of performance.

A strong signing by the Oilers, in that it makes a weak situation on the wing somewhat better, gives the team more competition in a spot that really needed it, and addresses a weakness, in that Omark has some grit on the boards.

Good move by Oilers GM Craig MacTavish.

Edmonton Journal: LOADED: 08.28.2013

715883 Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton Oilers in need of Penner-like wingers who can make tough plays at the net

August 27, 2013. 1:00 am •

David Staples

Magnus Paajarvi was improving in this area, but he’s no longer an Oilers, along with real non-performers like Eric Belanger

Where toughness and net presence is going to come from on the Edmonton Oilers in 2013-14 remains a mystery, even as the team has rid itself of non-physical players such as Eric Belanger.

In his two seasons with the Oilers, Belanger played 1,154 even strength minutes. In all that time, only four times did he make a hard play at the net on a scoring chance.

That works out to 0.05 hard plays at the net for every 15 minutes of even strength play. Not good.

A hard play at the net is defined as screening the goalie, jamming at a loose puck in the crease, charging hard at net with the puck or deflecting or tipping a puck on a scoring chance opportunity. It’s the kind of thing you will hear NHL coaches go on about, and on about, and on about.

For a comparison with Belanger, fellow Oilers centre Shawn Horcoff played 1,506 even strength minutes the past two seasons and made 27 hard plays at the net on scoring chances. That works out to 0.26 hard plays per 15, about five times as frequent as Belanger.

Belanger was brought in as a checker, not a scorer, but that soft style of play around the net is likely part of the reason that he scored just 19 points in 104 games with the Oilers.

Perhaps when he was a regular 30-plus per season points scorer Belanger made more hard plays at the net. Or maybe he just played a superior skill game at that time. A number of players put up a good rate of even strength points without making numerous hard plays at the net. It’s not crucial to point scorer, but it’s a required element on any NHL team, where greasy goals are needed to win.

Hard plays at net 2013

Hard plays at net 2013

Magnus Paajarvi, on the other hand, was a team leader in this category, even though he was often criticized by some hockey bloggers and commentators for not having enough grit in his game.

In fact, Paajarvi, now traded to the St. Louis Blues, was improving on taking the puck hard to the net, so much so that at even strength, no Oilers forward came close to putting up as many hard plays at the net in 2013.

Paajarvi made 26 of them. Next best was Jorban Eberle with 15, but Eberle played more minutes. He put up 0.30 hard plays at the net per 15, while Paajarvi put up 0.75 per 15.

Next best was Ryan Jones, 0.44 per 15, then Ryan Smyth, 0.36 per 15. While no one questioned Jones or Smyth for their compete level, that was a constant theme with Paajarvi. It seems like not only the old “enigmatic Russian” label is hard for players to kick, but so is the old “chicken Swede” tag, even if it’s not rooted in fact.

Paajarvi was constantly lowering his shoulder and driving the puck hard to the net, and often screening the goalie on shots as well.

Most importantly, he had done much better in this regard than he had in 2011-12, when he made just 9 hard plays at the net on scoring chances at even strength, 0.28 per 15.

In 2010-11, Paajarvi’s rookie season, he had been at the same lesser rate, 20 hard plays in 1082 minutes, 0.28 per 15.

Now, Paajarvi didn’t play many minutes in 2013. It was a small sample size, as the stats guys say. But by my eye, and these numbers appear to bear it out, he was becoming a much more physical, determined attacker, while maintaining his defensive edge. He’s been a responsible backchecker since the day he entered the NHL.

In St. Louis, it will be no surprise if Paajarvi raises the physical nature of his game even more, becoming more of a gritty attacker to go along with his solid defence. There’s no doubt that new Oilers winger David Perron is a fine attacker, and a much superior point producer to Paajarvi at this point, but Paajarvi’s defence, size and increasing defensive grit, plus his cheaper contract, make him a helluva pick up for the salary-cap challenged Blues.

As for the Oilers, when it comes to making tough plays in the blue paint, the team has shed some of its best in this category, such as Dustin Penner, Paajarvi and young Teemu Hartikainen.

There’s no shortage of immensely skilled, smaller attacking forwards on the team, but it’s a huge unknown right now whether or not the Oilers will get the necessary physical play from bigger wingers like Ryan Jones, Jesse Joensuu, Ryan Hamilton (dark horse to get major opportunity with the team) and a possible budding power forwards like Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov .

It looks like a hole in the line-up right now, which is likely why the Oilers chased winger David Clarkson so hard. With some skill in the scouting department and good luck, perhaps the Oilers can soon pick up one or two more big, aggressive wingers willing to make hard plays at the net.

The need is there.

Edmonton Journal: LOADED: 08.28.2013

715884 Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton Oilers sign hot-and-cold Linus Omark to a one-year contract

By Derek Van Diest ,Edmonton Sun

First posted: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 09:38 AM MDT | Updated: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 02:09 PM MDT

Linus Omark is not prepared to give up on his NHL dream.

And coming back to the Edmonton Oilers, the Swedish winger is not expecting any preferential treatment.

Omark is prepared to work for everything he earns, whether it’s with the Oilers or their AHL affiliate in Oklahoma City this season.

“I’m looking forward to it and am excited to come back to Edmonton,” said Omark from Sweden. “I want to play in the NHL. That’s my goal and so I’m happy to be back.

“I don’t expect anything to be given to me. I’m just going to go over and do my best and we’ll see what happens. If they send me down to Oklahoma City, I’ll go down and do my best there. Hopefully I’ll get a chance and that’s all I’m looking for.”

On Tuesday the Oilers announced they had signed Omark, 26, to a one-year, two-way contract.

The Overtornea, Sweden, product spent last season in Switzerland with EV Zug. He led the Swiss league in scoring with 17 goals and 52 assists for 69 points in 48 games.

“Things went pretty well for me there last season,” Omark said. “We had a good team and especially during the lockout, it was really fun. We had three NHLers on our team and a bunch of NHL guys on other teams. It was a really good league and it was fun to play in it.”

In part due to his success in Switzerland, Omark wanted to give the NHL another shot.

Originally selected by the Oilers in the fourth round – 97 overall – of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, Omark spent two seasons with the organization before heading back to Europe.

His first arrival in Edmonton was highly anticipated due to a shootout goal scored with the Swedish national team that became a YouTube sensation.

However, he was unable to earn a permanent spot on the roster and spent part of his first season in Oklahoma City. In 51 games with the Oilers in 2010-2011, Omark scored five goals and added 22 assists. The following season, injuries limited him to just 14 games with the Oilers, registering three assists.

Coming back to Edmonton, Omark says there are no hard feelings with the Oilers.

“I like the Oilers, I always have,” Omark said. “There are a lot of good players on the Oilers now and it’s hard to get ice time. But hopefully I can play really well and they give me a chance.

“I’m going to have to play well, work hard and play well defensively. When I get the chance, I have to play hard and do the things I do best. Hopefully they like the things I do and I do better than the last time I was there.”

Omark admits the first time around, he had certain expectations from the Oilers coming over to North America after successful stints in Sweden with Lulea HF and a solid season with Dynamo Moscow in the KHL.

When he felt he wasn’t being given the opportunity he deserved, the relationship between the two sides soured.

“I think I’ve matured a little since then,” he said. “I feel more mature and I don’t expect anything anymore. I just want to play hockey have fun and do my best and there’s nothing more you can do.”

Being away from the NHL has given Omark a new appreciation of what it takes to play in the league. Once the two sides decided to part ways, the Oilers attempted to move Omark, but there weren’t any takers.

“When you’re there you feel like you want to be there,” Omark said. “I remember when I came back to Europe, I felt that right away, I wanted to go back and wanted to play in the NHL because it’s the best the league in the world.

“I like everything about this situation in Edmonton. It seems like a great opportunity for me to come back there and see how it goes. I’m excited.”

With an abundance of talented wingers already on the roster, Omark will be hard-pressed to make the team out of training camp. However, this time around he’s more willing to accept an assignment to the minors and work his way up.

The two-way contract allows the Oilers to add depth to their organization at a reasonable price.

“I could make more money in Europe, but I wanted to chase my dream and be an NHLer one day and hopefully this is a step in that direction,” Omark said. "I’ll come to camp and hopefully I can make the team, but if I don’t, I’ll go to Oklahoma work hard and wait for a chance to return.”

Edmonton Sun: LOADED: 08.28.2013

715885 Florida Panthers

Sources differ as to whether Panthers minority owner knowingly invested in porn sites

By Harvey Fialkov Sun Sentinel

3:33 p.m. EDT, August 27, 2013

Although a source last week claimed that Florida Panthers minority owner and Fort Lauderdale-based advertising mogul Jordan Zimmerman had unwittingly invested in a pornographic, another source challenged that assertion on Monday.

A lawsuit was filed in Palm Beach County court by Zimmerman and co-plaintiff Al Malnik against Boca Raton businessmen Marc Bell and Dan Staton to recoup their $2 million investment (IPO) into Friendfinder.com, a legitimate social networking website. The defendants’ lawyer has since filed for a dismissal.

The Friendfinder Networks, formerly known as the Penthouse Media Group, plummeted and the parties involved lost most of their investment.

The new, contradictory source said that Zimmerman was fully aware that Bell, an outside director of Friendfinder.com and CEO of Marc Bell Capital Partners in Boca Raton, is a minority owner of Penthouse magazine and affiliated with hundreds of X-rated websites.

This source said that Zimmerman was interested in investing in pornographic sites in order to obtain some or all of their approximate $30 million advertising account. The source showed e-mails to the Sun Sentinel that indicated an executive vice president of Zimmerman Advertising was in the early stages of developing a project involving shock-jock Howard Stern and two of Friendfinder’s subsidiary pornographic sites, Adult Friendfinder.com and Cams.com., which features live sex shows.

However, that project never got off the ground and the unnamed executive VP is no longer with Zimmerman. The original source contacted last week said that Zimmerman had no knowledge of the project and would never knowingly invest in a porn site.

Sun Sentinel LOADED: 08.28.2013

715886 Los Angeles Kings

Hello Neighbors: Calgary Flames

Staff

Other than that magical run, the Flames are a combined 0-10 in playoff series since 1989 and endured a seven-year postseason hiatus from 1996-2003 and are currently in the midst of a four-season playoff drought.

Unless a bevy of questions are followed by resoundingly positive answers, the Flames’ playoff drought will extend by another season.

It really isn’t even right to think about the upcoming Calgary season that way. Early in a full-fledged rebuild, the addition of Los Angeles, San Jose, Anaheim and Phoenix to the Flames’ division doesn’t do much to help a team that will be looking to build an identity and strive for consistency while demanding a work ethic that surpasses that of its opponents every night. If Calgary doesn’t receive that work ethic consistently, there’s a good chance they’re going to lose a lot of hockey games.

Familiar to many Kings fans as Colorado’s head coach when the Kings and Avalanche battled head to head in a pair of seven-game series in 2001 and 2002, Bob Hartley returns for his second season behind the Flames bench and will look to distance himself from a disappointing conclusion to the 2012-13 season in which Calgary lost 14 of its final 22 games and fared poorly in possessing the puck and generating scoring opportunities.

His vision will be executed without mainstays in Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff, and considering 31-year-old Mike Cammalleri will be paid seven million dollars in the final year of a contract that carries a six million dollar cap hit, there’s a strong chance he could get moved to deepen the club’s pool of prospects.

Speaking of that asset pool, there are several intriguing names that will be competing for heavy minutes up front. Swiss forward Sven Baertschi, who turns 21 the opening weekend of the regular season, ended his personal campaign on a seven-game scoring streak that netted nine points and certainly has the skill – as well as some underrated two-way smarts – to emerge as a breakthrough candidate. It would serve the Flames well to see Baertschi take off, as there are a collection of forwards more suited for a second-tier role that will continue to be used heavily. Lee Stempniak, Curtis Glencross and Jiri Hudler have all been productive NHL forwards who will see plenty of minutes against the opposition’s top players. The sixth overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, Sean Monahan played two seasons with Tyler Toffoli for the Ottawa 67’s and will likely be given a long look through training camp and perhaps the first nine games of the regular season. He doesn’t turn 19 until October 12. TJ Galiardi, who totaled two points in 11 playoff games despite heavy usage alongside Joe Thornton and Brent Burns in San Jose last spring, returns to his hometown and the city where he played junior hockey to compete for a top-six role.

Though Calgary struggled defensively a year ago, there are some useful puck-moving skaters that have the capacity to generate offense and sustain a power play that ranked ninth in the league last season and converted one out of every five opportunities. Dennis Wideman is mobile and averaged just over 25 minutes of ice time last season – including a power play time on ice average of 3:29 per game – to lead all returning players. Mark Giordano doesn’t receive the most attention but remains a versatile defenseman who blocks shots and is difficult to play against; he totaled 43 points as recently as 2010-11. 23-year-old TJ Brodie is certainly a candidate for a breakout performance in the team’s second defensive pairing after performing well with over 20 minutes of ice time per game a season ago.

There are major questions in net. Karri Ramo, who was 20 years old when he began a three-year stint with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2006, returns to the NHL after four seasons as a dominant goaltender with Siberia-based club Avangard Omsk, guiding the KHL team to Game 7 of the 2012 Gagarin Cup in a losing effort to Dynamo Moscow. He’s likely slated into a rotation with veteran Joey MacDonald, while 6-foot-4, 26-year-old Swiss netminder Reto Berra, who has never played club hockey in North America, will battle for a roster spot. Kiprusoff remains property of the Flames but indications are that he will not fulfill the final year of his contract, and reports suggest that a Kipper sighting at training camp is highly unlikely. Calgary clearly possesses the weakest goaltending rotation in a division that features Jonathan Quick, Antti Niemi, Roberto Luongo, Mike Smith, and the rapidly improving Devan Dubnyk.

The post-Iginla, post-Kiprusoff era of Calgary Flames hockey has arrived, and not a minute too soon (perhaps two years too late?) for a team that had delayed its inevitable rebuild. Still, of the team’s three draft picks this past June, only one – Monahan, at sixth overall – was a top-20 pick. During their recent mediocrity, the Flames have been beset by usually finishing on the playoff cusp and outside of the elite drafting bubble that would have increased the likelihood of selecting a major impact player. The Flames also traded away several high draft picks. After reaching the Finals in 2004, Calgary’s first selection was taken 6th (2013), 21st (2012), 13th (2011), 64th (2010), 23rd (2009), 25th (2008), 24th (2007), 26th (2006), 26th (2005) and 24th (2004), a period in which they did not win a playoff round.

For Hartley and his staff, the primary goal will be to successfully foster a team identity based around a tireless work ethic that cedes no ground to its more talented opponents on a nightly basis. Though that may be established, this still shapes up to be a long, challenging year for the C of Red.

LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 08.28.2013

715887 Minnesota Wild

Olympic hockey camp filled with Minnesotans thrilled to be there

Article by: MICHAEL RUSSO , Star Tribune

Updated: August 28, 2013 - 12:55 AM

ARLINGTON, VA. – Wearing a dark blue jersey with the No. 42 on the back and a red, white and blue USA crest on the front, David Backes couldn’t contain his pride in being one of 48 players who unveiled the 2014 USA Olympic sweaters Tuesday.

“Just being on a second Olympic team, those words coming out of my mouth give me chills,” said Backes, the former Spring Lake Park High and Minnesota State Mankato standout. “First Olympic team in 2010, I was flabbergasted, to be honest with you. Being on a second Olympic team blows my mind. It’s so humbling.”

Backes, the captain of the St. Louis Blues, is one of 14 Minnesota-born players who spent the past three days at the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey orientation camp.

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The number of Minnesotans was double the next highest state, Michigan, with seven. U.S. assistant coach Todd Richards, the former Wild coach who now coaches Columbus, says there was an undeniable pride Sunday night when players introduced themselves at the team hotel.

In fact, it seemed every other player introduced during Tuesday’s jersey ceremony was from the self-described State of Hockey.

“Obviously, we’re representing the USA, but when you heard the names, there’s a lot of pride that comes out of the state of Minnesota,” said Richards, the former Gophers defenseman and native of Crystal. “It’s what every Minnesotan takes pride in. We’re a hockey state. To have 14 guys here, that says a lot.”

The Wild’s Zach Parise is not only the most famous, but he’s also a role model for a lot of the young Minnesotans. Ask Parise which players he looked up to as a young U.S. hockey player at his first Olympic camp in 2006, and he utters names such as Bill Guerin, Chris Drury, Mike Modano and Keith Tkachuk.

None is from Minnesota. Ask the young Minnesotans at this camp, and one after another says Parise.

“It’s a cool feeling,” a blushing Parise said.

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Other Minnesotans in camp were defensemen Dustin Byfuglien, Justin Faulk, Jake Gardiner, Erik Johnson, Nick Leddy, Paul Martin and Ryan McDonagh; and forwards Nick Bjugstad, Kyle Okposo, T.J. Oshie, Derek Stepan and Blake Wheeler.

Martin, a native of Elk River, a former national champion with the Gophers and a Pittsburgh Penguins veteran, badly wants to make the 2014 team. In 2006, he and former Wild center Matt Cullen were members of the U.S. taxi squad in Torino, Italy. But they didn’t stay in the Olympic Village, didn’t get in a game and weren’t part of most team activities.

In 2010, Martin was a lock to make the U.S. team in Vancouver until a broken forearm ruined his Olympic dream.

“That’s been my biggest disappointment as an athlete to this point,” Martin said. “It took a long time for me to accept the fact that I wasn’t going. It was fun to watch. The guys did great. Selfishly, I wish I could have been there. I think that makes this opportunity that much more special for me just being able to hopefully get a chance to finally play a game.”

This is also a dream for Richards, who was cut from the 1988 Olympic team.

“As a kid growing up in Minnesota, you always dream of the Olympics,” Richards said. “The progression back when I played was high school, college for a couple years and then the Olympics. And I didn’t make the team. So I lost that opportunity. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get another opportunity.”

The 2013-14 season will be, for about half the players at the camp, “a tryout,”as Gardiner called it. So a youngster like Stepan, a Rangers forward, must prove himself, although the Hastings native has a tremendous shot because center is the one position where the U.S. lacks depth. Then there are young puck-moving defensemen such as Minnetonka’s Gardiner and Eden Prairie’s Leddy.

On the international ice sheet — 15 feet wider than an NHL rink — skating “is more at a premium, so I think that suits Jake’s game perfectly,” said forward James van Riemsdyk, a Minnesota resident who is Gardiner’s camp roommate and Toronto Maple Leafs teammate.

Youngsters such as Blaine’s Bjugstad and South St. Paul’s Faulk are longshots, but orientation camp was still a positive experience.

“I don’t know if it’s the time for every one of these younger guys, but I do know USA Hockey has a bright future ahead of us,” said David Poile, general manager of the U.S. Olympic team. “I clearly see our present and I clearly see our future.”

And many players in it come by way of Minnesota.

Star Tribune LOADED: 08.28.2013

715888 Minnesota Wild

Parises have twins on the way

Posted by: Michael Russo under Wild off-season news Updated: August 27, 2013 - 4:37 PM

One big reason why Zach Parise wanted to return home to Minnesota and sign a 13-year contract in the summer of 2012 was to build a family.