Tuesday Wrap Up: It’s Kinda Hard Bein’ Snoop D-O Double G

Where have all the cowboys hockey games gone?

It’s been a long, busy Tuesday afternoon in June, and there’s a lot of NHL news to catch up on. Seriously. How crazy is that? A busy news day in June. It’s almost as if the off-season doesn’t exist anymore, which depending on your point of view could be a great thing.

• First things first: This isn’t hockey related, but that doesn’t really matter. Some sad news, Terry Hoeppner, the head football coach at Indiana University, died today at the age of 59. He fought through an awful lot, and should be an inspiration to all.
• Your obligatory mock draft round up: The NHL draft starts on Friday, and everyone and their cousin’s, best friend’s, dog has a mock draft up on their website. You can see what the folks over at TSN have to say, or you can take a look at Alan Muir’s (from SI) predictions.
• Poaching the Predators: Nashville reacquired it’s first round pick, traded to Philly in the Forsberg deal, after sending Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell to Philly. The Flyers have reportedly signed both Timonen and Hartnell, who are UFAs to be… James Mirtle brings up a great point. Chances are the Flyers would not have done this deal if they knew that they wouldn’t be able to sign these players. Tampering, anyone?
• An Eastern Conference title just isn’t enough: In a typical NHL managerial move, the Sens have let GM John Muckler go, handing over the title to coach Bryan Murray. Yes, this Bryan Murray. Rejoice! There will be no more whining in Ottawa!
• The Bruins did not hire Mike Milbury… Yet: I had my money on the guy, too. Anyway, the Bruins have hired Claude Julien to replace ex-coach Dave Lewis. A huge upgrade, as Julien essentially coached the Devils to the Atlantic Division title this season before Lou Lamoriello had to jump in and take all the credit.
• Someone over at the Canadian Press is trying to write action movies: Doesn’t this sound like an opening to the trailer of some hockey/action/thriller movie?

  “The Anaheim Ducks knew they might lose veteran winger Teemu Selanne if they won the Stanley Cup. But losing superstar defenceman Scott Niedermayer was never in the cards.

  Until now.”

• The latest on Jose Theodore, although you probably stopped caring in November: The Denver Post has a sneaking suspicion that Jose Theodore and his $6 million dollar cap hit will not be bought out, but we sort of already figured out that what would happen.
• He has the greatest last name in hockey: That’s right, after all these big news stories were lumped together, I gave Derek Boogaard his own post. The man introduced us to his camp for fighting, a kid’s dream, and I think the least we can do to thank him is by glorifying the dropping of his assault charges. Besides, by the time you stumble over to BMR, chances are you’ve heard all there is to hear about Murray, Niedermayer and the Preds/Flyers trade. Someone has got to pick up the scraps. _uacct = “UA-1868762-1”;
  urchinTracker();