NHL Awards Predictions

A fine acceptance speech, we suppose, but not nearly as good as the time Nicholas Cage and Cher presented him with the 1988 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (The Untouchables, dude).

Anyway, the NHL Awards are happening TONIGHT in Vegas. Is this all Jay Mohr does these days? This is not a facetious question.

Hart

Corery Perry
Daniel Sedin
Martin St. Louis

Who Should Win: Martin St. Louis
Who Will Win: Daniel Sedin

Vezina

Roberto Luongo
Pekka Rinne
Tim Thomas

Who Should Win: Pekka Rinne
Who Will Win: Tim Thomas

Norris

Zdeno Chara
Nicklas Lidstrom
Shea Weber

Who Should Win: Nicklas Lidstrom
Who Will Win: Lidstrom

Calder

Logan Couture
Jeff Skinner
Michael Grabner

Who Should Win: Jeff Skinner
Who Will Win: Jeff Skinner, surely.

Selke

Pavel Datsyuk
Ryan Kesler
Jonathan Toews

Who Should Win: Ryan Kesler
Who Will Win: Ryan Kesler

Jack Adams

Dan Bylsma
Barry Trotz
Alain Vigneault

Who Should Win: Barry Trotz
Who Will Win: Dan Bylsma

The other awards bore me to tears, so I'll stop here.

The Pevs Dispenser Strangled the Stanley Cup

Nationalisms

Really good piece at Deadspin about the attempts of some to make the Vancouver-Boston Stanley Cup Finals into a proxy U.S. vs. Canada war. I won't quote from it because the whole thing is quite good and useful. Click on o'er.

For my part, I've never understood cheering for some random city (in this case, Boston) just because it happens to be within the borders of this gargantuan country. People in Seattle and Portland have far more in common with Vancouverites than they do Bostonians, and when you consider the other side of North America, you can easily understand why London, Ontario's Rachel McAdams is cheering for Boston.

Speaking of Rachel McAdams, go see the new Woody Allen movie. It's delightful!

There's also the inconvenient fact that most NHL teams are a mongrel hodge-podge of different nationalities. Are the Canucks a "Canadian" team even though only one of their biggest stars is Canadian (the others being Swedish and American)? What about Boston, which is one prominent American goalie plus a load of Canadians (including at least two guys from British Columbia! Should Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi be rooting for Vancouver?) plus a Slovak space monster and a Czech who's risen to the occasion? Should Lionel Messi join the Spanish national team? Etc...

Group Who Wasn't True North Wanted to Buy the Thrashers, Sez Report

Peering into our email box this morning, we found this, courtesy of Mr. Rawhide:

DALLAS — A bid has been made by a minority business group to purchase Atlanta Spirit, which owns the NBA's Hawks, the NHL's Thrashers and Phillips Arena, for $500 million, those bidding told USA TODAY.

The Spirit already are in the process of selling the NHL franchise to Winnipeg. When the Thrashers officially vacate, the bid then would be adjusted downward.

The CEOs of Global Wellington Financial Corp. and Oriana Capital Partners put forth a bid May 20 to acquire both teams and the arena before the 2011-12 NBA season. The new ownership group would be called W/C Holdings.

Well I'll be. Who knows why the Duke of Wellington would want to buy the Thrashers and the Hawks, especially since he's been dead at least 150 years.

Dudley Gone, Ramsay...Who Knows?

What about Rick Dudley?

Rick Dudley, who was the general manager of the Atlanta Thrashers last season and signed a four-year extension in February, is out as general manager.

Not that surprising. And what of Craig Ramsay?

The decision to remove Dudley has to make head coach Craig Ramsay a little uneasy.

Ramsay said Saturday night that he has been contacted by True North saying there will be a discussion about his future coming up. However, his thoughts were with Dudley on Saturday night.

“It’s very sad“,” said Ramsay. “(Dudley) is a top flight hockey person and a long time friend.”

Ramsay certainly warrants an interview at the least, but Manitoba Moose head coach Claude Noel is certain to garner consideration for the job as well — if permission is obtained from the Canucks.

Haha, "Claude Noel." He'll probably turn down the job because his year-round Christmas shop takes precedence.

Misery Loves Company (But not the ASG, LLC Company)

So it has been four days since the guillotine dropped on us all. As bad as it was braced with our heads in that vice for three weeks anticipating it, the anticipated sting was no less painful.

Stats is hosting a "wake" for the Thrashers today at 11am at their location near Philips Arena. (Corner of Marietta Street and an unnamed side street across from the Embassy Suites.) They will be collecting your unwanted Thrashers gear to donate to charity.

Most folks can't make it all the way to downtown Atlanta during the middle of a work day (a lot can't make it in the evenings, either, so maybe the Thrashers should have played further out), but those that can will surely have a good time reminiscing and crying on one another's shoulders.

A more convenient event for most of us will be an informal gathering with Sir Rawhide at TJ's Sports Bar in Alpharetta Saturday night at 8:00. That event will feature a spirited contest between the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins, brought to us live by satellite. At least one or two of your Chronicle staff will be there for one last hockey hurrah with Mr. Tiller and our fellow Thrasher fans. Come on out and make sure you have a designated driver or the number of a reputable cab company that you're reasonably sure won't violate your drunk ass on the way home.

Fuck You

You might remember this ukulele-strumming lady from the Puck Bunnies song. Here she is performing a slightly altered version of jaunty Cee-Lo anthem "Fuck You."


Precious. Atlanta native Cee-Lo Green should be proud.