Imagine you’re 18 years old and had worked so hard just to get to this point playing the game you loved hoping one day to make it and get drafted by an NHL team only to find out that your dream was over before it began.

That’s unfortunately what happened to David Carle as the younger brother of Tampa Bay defenseman Matt Carle found out during testing that he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)- a rare condition where the heart thickens and could lead to sudden cardiac death due to overexertion.

Just like that, Carle knew his NHL ambitions were over with a family advisor informing teams not to draft him as it would be a wasted pick due to the unusual circumstance. However, with the 2008 Entry Draft winding down in Ottawa, his brother’s new team decided to select him regardless in the seventh round 203rd overall. Their reasoning was that he had worked too hard not to get drafted even informing him that they selected him for the person he was.

“(Tampa Bay co-owner) Oren (Koules) called and told me I worked too hard in my life to not get drafted and he just said to worry about staying healthy,” the younger Carle recalled during an NHL.com feature on the former prospect making the most of the unorthodox situation.

“He told me he drafted me more for the person I am.”

A very noble gesture on the part of the new Tampa Bay Lightning management who were fortunate enough to scoop up Steven Stamkos first overall.

Carle had earned a scholarship to the University of Denver. Instead, with his playing days behind him, they’ve decided to honor that scholarship and make him a special assistant coach allowing the freshman to still be part of the team. Just in a different capacity than was originally expected.

Still, it wasn’t lost on him what it meant for his younger brother to at least have such a unique opportunity over the next four years at his alma mater who he helped win a national title with as well as a Hobey Baker Award as college’s top player.

I’m a few days late but the Rangers have brought back forward Fredrik Sjostrom for another year. The 25 year-old Swede came over from the Coyotes last Feb.26 before the trade deadline along with Josh Gratton, David LeNevue plus a 2009 fifth round pick for Marcel Hossa and Al Montoya.

In 18 games as a Ranger, he tallied two goals and registered an assist during the postseason. Overall, Sjostrom played in a combined 69 regular season games with Phoenix and New York registering a career high 12 goals and nine helpers for 21 points along with 22 penalty minutes.

Expect the speedy left wing who provides energy to shifts to be a fixture on the checking line with Blair Betts. As for who plays alongside them, that could just depend on camp where a few prospects will be pushing club enforcer Colton Orr for ice-time. Figure former first rounders Lauri Korpikoski and Hugh Jessiman to be in the mix.

Oddly enough, one of the dreams I had last night saw the 2003 first rounder from Dartmouth finally debuting for the Rangers and netting a goal off some hard work behind the net before coming out and going to the backhand five-hole. I then came away impressed with his skating which had improved and liked the power move he made to finish. Keep in mind this was a dream and most of mine never seem to make logical sense.

Still. Who wouldn’t want to see Jessiman do exactly that finally after five years?

As Hasan noted in his previous entry, the three locals’ preseason schedules are finally out. So, be sure to check them out. The Rangers host Ottawa on September 22 at the Garden completing a home and home with the Sens with the exhibition season starting Sept.20. They’ll play just six games including a couple versus the Devils before heading to Prague for a two-game series with the Lightning Oct.4-5.

For more Blueshirts, check out Bobby Sanguinetti’s NHL blog from Rangers Youth Camp with recently drafted third rounder Ryan Hillier.

Earlier today, the Red Wings came to terms on a new five-year contract worth a reported $15 million with forward Valtteri Filppula.

The 24 year-old Finn who Detroit tabbed in the third round back in 2002 attained new career bests across the board in games played (78), goals (19), assists (17), points (36) and plus/minus (16) last season. He also fared alright in the Wings’ run to the Stanley Cup posting five goals and six helpers for 11 points in 22 playoff games.

By getting the deal done, both sides avoided the headache known as arbitration. While he’s only played two full seasons, Detroit GM Ken Holland feels investing in Filppula will work out:

“We love everything about him because he’s a complete player with great character, and we think he can get even better. He plays hard, he plays hurt. He’s got great speed and talent along with versatility because he can play left wing or centre. … The only thing no one knows is how good he can be. But even if he doesn’t become a 70-point scorer we think he might be, we’ll still love everything about him as a player and person.”

“We’re really excited about locking in a player this young and this good that keeps him off the market as an unrestricted free agent for a couple of years,” Holland added. “He’s the kind of player we can build around in the years to come.”

More and more, we’re seeing these kinds of contracts handed out so that clubs can avoid arbitration and RFA. From my vantage point, Filppula is exactly what Holland described. A versatile gritty forward with speed who can shift from wing to center if called upon. He looks to be a solid two-way player who can play in any situation.

You have to figure he’ll continue to improve as a secondary contributor. It looks like the Wings once again found a good player in the middle of a draft. Full marks to their scouting staff who continues to get the job done at a very successful rate.

Lightning Sign Stamkos: The Tampa Bay Lightning signed 2008 No.1 overall pick Steven Stamkos to a three-year rookie entry level contract. He’ll earn an average of $875,000 and could make over $8 million in performance bonuses.

The 18 year-old out of Markham, Ontario knows it will be a challenge going from juniors to the pros this Fall:

“I know it’s not going to be easy for me to step in right away. Hopefully I can earn my stripes and play well and really deserve to be there.”

In case you never realized, Jay Feaster still was part of the Lightning organization though he hardly had a say in of the team’s moves under their crazy new management which has become quite forwardsessed that it plans on fielding the first ever NHL roster without any defensemen on it.

We here at Battle of NY feel this is a novel concept and considering that the last time Barry Melrose was behind the bench with the highscoring Kings some 13 years ago, it makes logical sense. Did I really just say that?!?!?!?!?! Well, of course because it’s fairly obvious that the new people running the Tampa franchise apparently must’ve had a previous job with Disney.

Hey. You got to appreciate this philosophy. I’m sure Mickey, Minnie, Daffy and Goofy would be proud.

Apparently, Feaster got tired of being the gopher boy watching the Lightning version of Dumb and Dumber sign forward after forward including Mark Recchi when they already added Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts. They’re apparently going to rename themselves the Pens.

Remember, Feaster once was a GM of a laughingstock before turning it into a Stanley Cup champion. But when it was apparent that he wasn’t calling the shots (would he really ask Dan Boyle to waive his no-trade and even toss in physical vet Brad Lukowich), he did the wise thing and handed in his resignation.

While this was taking place, you got to figure John Tortorella was somewhere on a beach laughing at this.

It’s true. The Lightning have apparently decided to become a circus. And well, why not? They should enjoy the cellar for quite a while.

Well, at least they still got one of the game’s best in Vincent Lecavalier.

Copyright Getty Images 

They have a new old familiar face returning to the bench. Now, it looks like he’ll get to coach their best player for a long time if things work out.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and superstar center Vincent Lecavalier are very close to announcing a new mega-deal worth a reported $77 million over nine years. The 28 year-old Quebec native has played his entire NHL career with the franchise after being selected first overall a decade ago helping lead it from league doormat to Stanley Cup champions four years ago.

One of the game’s best players had another outstanding season amassing 40 goals and 52 assists for 92 points finishing in a three-way tie for sixth in scoring. Over the past couple of seasons, he’s totaled exactly 200 points (92 goals, 108 helpers) while netting a combined 26 power play goals, six SHG and 14 game-winners. In fact, Vinny has posted seven deciding markers in each of the last three seasons proving just how clutch a performer he is.

The 6-4 223-pound pivot was entering the final season of a four-year $27.5 million contract where he’ll make $7.167 million. In 710 career games over nine seasons, he’s tallied 273 goals and 329 assists equaling 602 points.

Tampa will be charged an average of $8.55 million when the new deal takes effect. However, if Lecavalier’s still playing in the final year at age 37, he’ll only get $3 million.

Analysis: This was a no-brainer for the new management in St. Pete. Lecavalier’s easily one of the top five best players in the game and would’ve been wildy sought after had he become available next summer. In order to assure Lightning fans that they’re serious about competing, they needed to get their best player locked up and looked to have done just that here. Now, they just need a couple of solid defensemen and hope that Mike Smith proves his worth in net after coming over from Dallas.

Did anyone watch the way overhyped NHL Draft Lottery earlier tonight? In case you weren’t aware, this ridiculous process was on either Versus or the NHL Network.

I’ve always been a fan of the NBA version because it actually gives every team which doesn’t qualify for the postseason a chance at getting the No.1 overall pick. So, even if the weighted system odds are slim for a team that’s further down, there’s at least that remote chance. And that’s still much better than my chances with Brooklyn Decker.

Out of curiosity, I decided to flip on the NHL Network to see TSN’s Lottery coverage which basically went like this: Whichever of the five worst teams won would get the upperhand in drafting hot shot Canadian prospect Steve Stamkos, who actually was interviewed during the half hour segment before and after this silly process.

Now, the only reason I remembered to put it on in the first place was because good Buffalo Sabre buddy Brian Sanborn (grosek18) called me after work on his way back home to Long Beach, California. So, this is what our always cynical former St. John’s alum had flipped on XM radio for. Cause he wanted to see who it was “catered to.”

Would the Bettman fix be in? But wait. As we learned, if only the five worst teams have a shot, that meant little to a Sabre fan whose team teased them to death tanking at home in crushing defeats to Ottawa and Montreal. Once again, Brian’s team was getting the screw job and they weren’t even in the playoffs.

If only it were that simple. What about teams such as Columbus, Phoenix or even Sanborn fave Toronto? You’re telling us it’s fair for them to not even be included. This was just another typical BHL move. Anyone who follows today’s shootout induced league chock full of three-point games knows just how tough it is to make the playoffs.

Sure, many races were left undecided which makes it all the more exasperating for teams such as Buffalo, Carolina and Edmonton, which just missed. So I don’t believe in throwing Vancouver a bone for that tank job.

When is this league going to realize that just over half its teams make the playoffs? Shouldn’t all 14 which miss have a shot at that lottery? Which brings me to how boring and pathetic the process was.

Here you had all this talk trying to make it sound thrilling. And what do they give us but Mr. Clean himself Bill Daly revealing the top five order. He’s about as boring as one of those voicemail machines with 9,000 different options.

There you had the percentages on the five worst teams which included the New York Islanders, St. Louis Blues, Atlanta Thrashers, Los Angeles Kings and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

As Daly opened up the first three NBA-esque draft envelopes to reveal the Islanders fifth, Blues fourth and Thrashers third, it became painfully obvious that there would be no drama as myself and Brian on speaker mocked it.

Instead of announcing who was picking second a la NBA commisioner David Stern, Mr. Clean had his own process going right to who would pick first overall. As expected, the NHL worst Lightning won. This was what we tuned in for?!?!?!?!?!

God. At least the NBA gets it right. And there in a nutshell is what’s wrong with our product. Even a simple draft lottery which should be a little unpredictable lacked excitement as more laughter came from myself and our Buffalo blogger who is probably preparing the mother of all columns entitled either “Why the Shootout killed Buffalo” or “How Bettman Got His Wish.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

So here’s the NHL Draft top 14 official order:

1.Tampa Bay Lightning

2.Los Angeles Kings

3.Atlanta Thrashers

4.St. Louis Blues

5.New York Islanders

6.Columbus Blue Jackets

7.Toronto Maple Leafs

8.Phoenix Coyotes

9.Nashville Predators (Fla)

10.Vancouver Canucks

11.Chicago Blackhawks

12.Anaheim Ducks (Edm)

13.Buffalo Sabres

14.Carolina Hurricanes

Hey. As I remarked earlier to Brian, there was at least one positive out of this wasted half an hour process. Buffalo finally got the better of Carolina (pronounced Cry–o–lin–ah by Sabre fans).

AP Photo Courtesy The Canadien Press by Ryan Remjorz

The game ended a while ago but it really was over once Carey Price shut the door on the Devils in the fateful second. His timely stops kept the usually feisty Atlantic leaders from getting back in the first place Eastern tilt at Bell Centre tonight.

By the end of the night, the 20 year-old Canadien rookie netminder had his second NHL career shutout turning away all 38 Devil shots including 20 in a busy first and 33 through the first 40 minutes before his teammates finally clamped down making the last five saves routine.

Fourth liner Michael Ryder produced the final goal of the night finishing off a strong shift by Maxim Lapierre for his 13th with 2:21 left. If the Devs played hard for 40 minutes, they essentially mailed in the third. Or maybe it was a combination of them being resigned to their fate and the Canadiens elevating their game outshooting Brent Sutter’s first place Atlantic club 15-5.

Fyi…on that Ryder tally, the immortal Karel Rachunek was victimized badly for the second instance. On the third goal, the former traffic cone foolishly stepped up leaving his partner naked for Lapierre’s tap-in off a two-on-one. The ex-Ranger on the Habs’ final tally decided it would be a novel idea to vacate the goalcrease where the battle for the puck was going on. It made it an easy finish for Ryder with Marty Brodeur left to fend for himself.

Sure. The game was long over by this point but it was nice to see that Rachunek showing why he was hated across the river. Oh. And I’m sure quite a few Devil fans can’t wait to see his role diminish once Paul Martin and Colin White return. Plus so far deadline acquisition Bryce Salvador has been steady playing his physical style which is more popular. Mike Mottau’s also better than Rachunek and before the season, he was a nobody. Amazing.

So, was losing to Les Habitants crushing for a third straight time marking this season the first once since 1992-93 that Montreal took a season series and we all know what happened that year. Well, every Canadian supporter sure does no matter who they root for when it comes to Lord Stanley.

I mean when you consider the Devs didn’t have Martin- their best blueliner and White- a physical D who makes opponents pay the price- maybe it’s not so damaging. However, to not even score once on Price has to hurt. Especially when it’s possible they could see the 20 year-old former Mtl first round pick late this Spring. We shall see.

What hurts most is a lost opportunity to pick up ground on both the Pens and Rangers, who are closing fast. Three points still separates first from third in the Atlantic race and won’t be decided probably until that final week.

As for the Habs, I’ve been a broken record here and will continue to be. This is the best team they’ve had since the 24th Cup was hoisted by the great Patrick Roy. If you saw tonight’s game, you know why. Even with their No.1 ranked power play failing to connect on just two chances, they capitalized on some bad NJ turnovers. Their transition game is very dangerous. It just might now be better than Ottawa, who got a Dany Heatley hat trick to stay two back with each Northeast rival having 11 remaining.

This Habs team is a superb skating one which can hurt you offensively and can put the clamps down defensively when called upon with the omnipresent Mike Komisarek everywhere getting in the path of shots and freight training into opposing forwards.

They also seem to feed off a frenzied home crowd. Just ask the Rangers at 5-0 last month.

Home ice would be significant for the Original Six franchise. Just imagine those French Canadian fans going nuts cheering on their team and Price as they chase a league record 25th Cup.

If you’re a Ranger or Devil fan, maybe it’s better off you don’t.

Lecavalier tricks Isles: Vinny Lecavalier snapped out of his recent funk in a big way, netting a hat trick in a crushing 8-4 home win over the fading Islanders. Last year’s Rocket Richard winner scored a five-on-three goal in the first and twice more in an explosive third which saw the Lightning break open a two-goal game with a ridiculous three consecutive goals in a 42 second span.

Having already notched his second of the night early in the period, the electrifying Tampa center completed it when he converted a Marty St. Louis pass at the goalmouth beating Rick DiPietro for his 36th at 17:43. The Bolts then added two more before Islander leading scorer Mike Comrie closed out the scoring with his 21st at 19:23 ending another disappointing night.

Despite the Flyers blowing a three-goal third period lead in a 4-3 OT loss at Toronto, the eighth seeded Flyers moved to eight points ahead of the Isles and four clear of the Sabres.

The conclusion of regulation also featured one of the coolest things ever. With his team desperate to get the first of an all or nothing home-and-home, Leafs’ coach Paul Maurice pulled Vesa Toskala for an extra attacker in the last minute giving his team who was already on a power play an unusual seven-on-four advantage. However, they couldn’t find a way to beat Martin Biron, who got away with tossing his stick to deny a rebound out of mid-air.

The wild drama made for an entertaining end to regulation leaving the Air Canada Center buzzing at what they’d seen. I remember being told stories such as this by my Dad where teams needed to score a certain amount of goals to qualify for the playoffs back in the old days. This was just awessssome!

Maurice’s team did pull it out in overtime when Pavel Kubina banked one in off Biron from behind the net with three Leafs in front. They still trail the Flyers by seven points with one less game (11) remaining. They must get that rematch at Wachovia Center tomorrow night in regulation.

With a goal and an assist in his team’s miraculous comeback, Toronto center Mats Sundin now has 16 points in the last nine games. What a player!

Congratulations to Tampa coach John Tortorella on becoming the winningest American-born coach with his 235th career victory behind an NHL bench.

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images 

The Devils took on the last place team in the East on Friday, and in front of a good crowd a The Rock, did not make things easy for themselves. They pulled out with a key two points, that gave them back the Conference lead, and gave them a chance to rest Marty Brodeur on Saturday, but we all know that’s never assured.

The Devils did look good to start this one off. They came out the more ready team to play, despite having three days off and the Lightning having played and lost last night. Usually you expect a team that got beaten last night to come out firing and not look tired, but early on the Lightning did. Mid-way through the first, Patrik Elias made a beautiful pass to Zach Parise, one that actually bounced and Zach had to whip out of somewhat mid-air in behind Tampa ‘tender Karri Ramo.

That’s not to discredit Ramo, who was the better goaltender tonight, as Marty Brodeur did have one of those nights where he was seldom tested, but early in the first made some great saves as the Bolts swarmed the net. Ramo was named the third star of the game, behind Parise and Elias.

The Lightning clearly looked to be taking over in the 2nd, and got their reward for playing so well, as Michel Ouellet got a nice pass from Dan Boyle on the man advantage and put it five hole as Marty was a little distracted by Jeff Halpern. The game stayed tied 1-1 through the third period.

Early in the third, as there really wasn’t too much action in the period, Zach Parise and Dan Boyle were shoving each other at the front. Boyle knocked Zach down, and Parise responded by… dropping the gloves? Wow, did not see that coming, but Zach answered the bell, and ended up drawing a rough, an instigator, and a misconduct to Boyle! Boyle was gone for 19 minutes of this one, and it’s only due to the Overtime that he came back.

When he came back, he likely made the biggest mistake of the game, turning the puck over to a pope check by Sheldon Brookbank, who got it ahead to Patrik Elias. Patty came in on a 2-on-1 with Parise, and ripped a shot past Ramo to end it at 4:02 of Overtime.

Notes: The Devils moved up to first in the Eastern Conference with 84 points… It was Elias’ 8th game-winning goal, and 4th Overtime-winning goal of the season, and his 60th GWG and 14th OT Winner career-wise… Colin White left the game with what the Devils termed “Upper Body Soreness”, and is questionable for tomorrow night… The big duo of Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis went without a point for the 8th straight game… Lecavalier is without a goal for his 12th consecutive game… The Devils will take on Toronto tomorrow night in Ontario. Game is at 7:00 PM ET, on FSN NY and WFAN.

There have been already 12 deals today including the biggest one seeing Tampa center Brad Richards shipped along with netminder Johan Holmqvist to the Stars for Mike Smith, Jussi Jokinen and Jeff Halpern.

As I am at work, it’s very hard to update everything. But I did manage to find time during lunch break to list these deals and analyze them on my Hitting Back site.

So please feel free to check it out.

I’ll try to have more later as I’m extremely busy today including a big concert tonight!

See ya’ll later!

Usually, the quotes they send from the NHL Today come from hockey players or coaches. But this one actually was made by NBA star LeBron James on 2006-07 Hart Trophy winner Sidney Crosby’s impact:

HE SAID IT

“I know he’s great at what he does. They call him ‘Sid the Kid,’ he’s been
great for the Pittsburgh Penguins and what he’s able to do, as young as he is,
is pretty good. I know they compare him to me and I’m excited to be compared to a guy who plays the game the way he does.”

How cool is that? When most would figure a basketball star wouldn’t even notice hockey, it turns out not to be true in LeBron’s case.

And while it’s fairly accurate that most puck fans can’t stand basketball, not all athletes who play one of the two winter sports feel the same way about the other.

Just look at Jaromir Jagr as example No.1. The Ranger hockey superstar has gone to Knick games (hopefully not this season though as they suck) and even used basketball terminology and applied it to the game he plays.

If you’ve also watched how No.68 uses his ass to protect the puck and back in opposing defenders, it looks eerily similar to a low post player making a move trying to score a basket. But in Jagr’s case, a goal in the net.

Team defense is actually similar in that you have to move with your man in the defensive end or they’ll get free to score an easy basket. In hockey, it’s a little more difficult because you still have to beat the goalie even with a quality chance.

But you have a much better opportunity to score if you get away from the defender and are one-on-one with the netminder.

Who would’ve believed that two totally different sports could be so similar? The more structured you are defensively with your system, the better chance you have of being successful in hockey terms. And the more fundamentally sound you are in your end, the better off you’ll be if you want to go far in the NBA playoffs.

This explains why the Spurs have won three NBA titles in the past five years and four dating back to 1999 proving just how valuable Tim Duncan really is. Sure, it helps to have played alongside David Robinson and now the fundamentally sound core of Finals MVP Tony Parker and the versatile Sixth Man Manu Ginobili.

That’s why high flying teams such as the Suns never win when it really counts. In the NHL, you have the Thrashers and Lightning who play wide open run and gun styles similar to the one Steve Nash runs in Phoenix. However, unlike Nash who has stars around him that can at least guarantee them some postseason success, Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa don’t have enough pieces around their respective teams to even guarantee making this year’s playoffs.

Whether it’s the lack of consistent goaltending or D as is the case with both Tampa Bay and Atlanta, they’re probably on the fringe as far as making the cut in the ultracompetitive East.

Maybe you never viewed these two different sports in this context. But it just goes to show you that LeBron appreciates how special a player Crosby is and can learn from him.

Now that rocks!