From AP-
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. – Former NHL player Rick Tocchet pleaded guilty Friday to running a sports gambling ring, but might not have to serve any jail time.
Tocchet, who played for six NHL teams in a 22-year career, is on leave from his job as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes. He pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to promote gambling and promoting gambling. Such offenses usually do not carry a jail sentence for first-time offenders.
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The maximum sentence for the charges Tocchet pleaded guilty to are 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Paw would not say whether prosecutors will ask for jail time for Tocchet.
The 43-year-old Tocchet is the third man to plead guilty in the case, which New Jersey authorities dubbed “Operation Slapshot.” The others, including state Trooper James Harney, are expected to get jail time.
Janet Jones, the wife of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, was accused of betting but was not charged in the case.
Prosecutors said in February 2006 that the ring handled $1.7 million in wagers during a 40-day stretch that began at the end of 2005 and included college football bowl games and the Super Bowl. They said there were no bets on hockey games.
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Marino said Tocchet has not spoken with the NHL about how his guilty pleas will affect his coaching career.
Coyotes president Doug Moss said he did not know enough about Tocchet’s plea to comment.
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Tocchet played in 1,144 regular-season games for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington and Phoenix, scoring 440 goals and 952 points. He also appeared in 145 playoff games, with 52 goals and 112 points.
To maintain the sport’s integrity, the NHL may be best advised to suspend Tochhet indefinitely. A team coach or official with a gambling problem may allow his illness to effect his work. Even if it doesn’t, the question will always remain.
In another case of “Don’t you have anything better to do?”, we have the Canadian Parliament looking into the selection of Shane Doan as team captain of Team Canada for the Ice Hockey World Championships.
A parliamentary committee has summoned Hockey Canada officials to explain their choice of Shane Doan as captain of the national team at the IIHF World Hockey Championship under way in Russia.
At issue is an alleged derogatory remark by Doan toward a French-Canadian referee during a game in 2005. The Phoenix Coyotes forward denies making a slur and was cleared by the NHL.
On Tuesday, all parties supported a Bloc Quebecois motion that demands officials from Hockey Canada and Sport Canada appear before the House of Commons’ Official Languages Committee.
This wouldn’t even be an issue if the French-Canadians didn’t get bent out of shape about everything (or if Phoenix had made the playoffs). The justifcation they use is that Hockey Canada recieves government money, but if he denied the allegations of making French-Canadian slurs and was cleared by the NHL why can’t the let it go? Unless of course they are overly sensitive to any potential insult to their French-Canadian-ness.
Update: Shane Doan offered to step down as team captain, but the team wants to keep him.
Today brings the NHL Trade Deadline, a national holiday in Canada. Of course most of the trades won’t many anything except to Canadians and the five die-hard American fans, I’ll just bring you some of the big name/impact trades as they happen through out the day. But if you are Canadian or one of the five, visit TSN.ca’s site they will give you everything from Edmonton and Toronto trading 7th round draft picks to the guy traded for a bag of pucks. (oh yes they have a live broadcast too.)
Deals of Note
To NY Islanders: F – Ryan Smyth
To Edmonton: F – Robert Nilsson, F – Ryan Omarra, 2007 1st Round Pick
The inability of Edmonton to reach a new contract agreement with Ryan Smyth forced this trade. Edmonton gains nothing and loses the cornerston of their franchise who has been with the team since they drafted him in 1994. Great move by the Islanders, that will help them in the playoff push. I am suprised Edmonton didn’t get a bidding war going, but it was reported that they refused to deal him to a Western Conference Team.
To Dallas: D – Mattias Norstrom, F – Konstantin Pushkarev, 2007 3rd and 4th Round Pick
To Los Angeles: D – Jaroslav Modry, D – Johan Fransson, 2008 1st Round Pick, 2007 2nd and 3rd Round Pick
This wins the award for most complex trade of the day and most difficult for many Kings Fans. Dallas gets Kings’ Captian Mattias Norstrom a solid (but old school) defensive defenseman to shore up their defensive core, who is under contract for next season. Dallas also picks up Pushkarev who can play bigger than he is, but has attitude problem caused mostly by Russian Clubs who consistently tell him he gets no respect in the NHL and should be playing in Russia. The Kings eat the salary of turn over machine Modry (who is a free agent on July 1st) and get the first right to Swedish prospect defensive Fransson. As for the picks… The Kings net a 1st rounder in the stronger 2008 draft and swap around draft positions in 2007 (the Kings’ original 3rd round pick would be higher than Dallas’ original 3rd round pick based on this season standings. Overall the Kings moved up in the draft board in 2007 while Dallas moved down.
To Colorado: F – Scott Parker
To San Jose: 2008 6th Round Pick
Nothing major here, San Jose just picks up an additional draft pick and frees up some roster and cap space.
To Toronto: F – Yanic Perreault, 2008 5th Round Pick
To Phoenix: D – Brendan Bell, 2008 2nd Round Pick
Yanic, who was unsigned for the frist two months of the season, pays off for Phoenix with a higher draft pick and a defensive prospect to build for the future. Toronto picks up a healthy and effective center for a playoff run in what will be a tight playoff push in the east. This is Yanic’s 3rd stint with Toronto.
To Buffalo: F – Dainius Zubrus, D – Timo Helbling
To Washington: F – Jiri Novotnv, 2007 1st Round Pick
Buffalo adds a talented forward but raw forward (with motivational issues) and a defensive prospect to build for the future and a playoff push. In return Washington gets a low 1st round pick in a weak draft and a talented foward who lacks finishing skills and is prone to laziness
To Detroit: F – Todd Bertuzzi
To Florida: TBA Pending Trade Call with NHL Head Office F – Shawn Matthias, 2007 Conditional Draft Pick, 2008 Conditional 2nd Round Draft Pick
Florida gets a top prospect and picks for rebuilding while giving Detroit Bertuzzi who has only played 7 games this seasons. When healthy Bertuzzi is a force on the ice, but no one knows if he will regain his for and if he can avoid sucker punching other players.
To San Jose: F – Bill Guerin
To St. Louis: F – Ville Nieminen, F – Jay Barriball, 2007 1st Round Pick
San Jose gets a first line winger, Stanley Cup Winner and six time All-Star. He possess a big shot, a mean streak that combine power and speed. He will help the Sharks immensely as they make a push for the Stanley Cup.
To Pittsburgh: F – Georges Laraque
To Phoenix: F – Danny Carcillo, 2007 8th Round Pick
Pittsburgh gets one of NHL’s best heavyweights and enforcers to protect their young stars for the playoff run.
To Philadelphia: G – Martin Biron
To Buffalo: Undisclosed Draft Pick 2007 2nd Round Pick
This deal unloads unhappy goalie Biron to Philadelphia. Biron had lost his starting spot in Buffalo and was going to walk away from the team this summer as a free agent, so they pick up what they could for him. I imagine the draft pick will be determined based on Philadelphia’s ability to sign Biron this summer. (in a minor deal, Buffalo acquired Ty Conklin from Columbus for future considerations a 2007 5th Round Pick to fill Biron’s role as backup for the rest of the season and playoffs)
To Pittsburgh: F – Gary Roberts
To Florida: D – Noah Welch
Roberts is a power forward who loves to crash the net and battle for loose pucks. At 40 years old, he is a short term rental for the young Pittsburgh team to provided leadership and grit from past Stanley Cup Playoffs. Welch is a 24 year old defenseman; he’s a big presence on the blue line (6’4″) with a big shot from the point. With his upside this could pay off for Florida in the long run.
To Vancouver: F- Bryan Smolinski
To Chicago: 2007 Conditional 2nd Round Pick
To Vancouver: D – Brent Sopel
To Los Angeles: 2008 2nd and 4th Round Pick
In both of these trades are to improve Vancouver, currently the #3 seed in the West. Smolinski is a veteran center, who becomes a free agent on July 1st, while Sopel can play like a top 4 defensemen (but is prone to stupid mistakes) and provides additional offensive spark at the blue line. The picks are a wash; Los Angeles got a better deal than Chicago as the 2008 draft is projected to be stronger than the 2007 draft.
To NY Islanders: F – Richard Zednik
To Washington: 2007 2nd Round Pick
Islanders pick up extra offense to sneak into the Playoffs, provided Zednik doesn’t go into one of his prolonged scoring slumps.
To Atlanta: F – Keith Tkachuk
To St. Louis: F – Glen Metropolit, 2007 1st and 3rd Round Picks, 2008 2nd Round Pick
Atlanta gets a veteran scorer (with historic playoff scoring problems), while St. Louis gets a career reserve forward and a bunch of picks to rebuild the time. This deal is mainly to set the price for Bill Guerin.
To Philadelphia: D – Braydon Coburn
To Atlanta: D – Alexei Zhitnik
Philadelphia gets a young defenseman with lots of upside, while Atlanta gets a veteran defenseman with a big slap shot and the ability to play a big man’s game…when he’s motivated to.
To Carolina: F – Anson Carter
To Columbus: 2008 5th Round Pick
Carolina gets Carter, who had been a disappointment from Columbus on the cheap. Could pay dividends for Carolina IF Carter rediscovers his scoring touch.
To Nashville: F – Peter Forsberg
To Philadelphia: F – Scottie Upshall, D – Ryan Parent, 2007 1st and 3rd Round Pick
Nashville sold the farm to get Forsberg, which means this is the year they are really going for the Cup hard. Forsberg is a immense talent and game changer, but recent history shows he is one big hit away from the injured list. By far the biggest risk-reward player out there and really could push Nashville over the top. On an ironic side note, Nashville now has two of the biggest divers in the League on their team in Peter Forsberg and Paul Kariya.
The owners wanted a cap and after losing an entire season they got it. Included in the new CBA were rules to allow a shorter path to free agency and a two-way waiver system to prevent teams from stockpiling players in the minors. Not all of these moves are for the good, shortly Pittsburgh will be face with having to decide which of its young stars to part with after years in the toilet, they stockpiled talent with high draft picks and now have a small window to utilize it. Now the salary cap has created some so called “parity†in the league but has severely limited the ability of teams to tweak their roster before the trade deadline to make a run at the Stanley Cup. Team who are on the verge of making the playoff are generally spending near the cap limit, which prohibit them from trading prospects and picks for a proven veteran player because they cannot absorb the cap hit. Well than I came across this op-ed that provides a reasonable solution, the trading of cap space:
A better solution would be a floating cap, whereby teams have the flexibility to “trade” salary cap space. A team like the [Florida] Panthers could essentially take on a significant portion of [Todd] Bertuzzi’s salary in order to maximize his trade value, thereby increasing the likelihood that they’d be in a much better position to compete in 2007-08 and beyond. While this system isn’t perfect, as long as the money to pay Bertuzzi actually comes out of the Panthers’ pockets, it’s unlikely to be a scenario they’d repeat season after season.
To prevent the salary system from becoming a complete quagmire, salary cap space — or the absorbing of a player’s salary on behalf of another team — would only be allowed for the current system. So, for example, if the Phoenix Coyotes were to want to trade Ed Jovanovski and his five-year, $32.5 million contract, they could only absorb salary for 2006-07, leaving the Coyotes’ trade partner fully responsible for the remaining four years and $26 million.
It comes across as a completely reasonable idea, it will allow teams who know they are in a rebuilding phase to shed large contracts and older players and in return get picks and prospects to build their team up. It’s a solution that would deserve a shot to be tried out and maybe applied to other sports involving caps if it works (because getting rid of salary caps isn’t going to happen).
