-Today I posted my analysis and predictions for the 2013 NHL draft. This is a detailed overview of the entire draft. I will narrow the scope for just the Sens in a separate article, but I do include a preliminary look at who they might draft with each pick.
–The Raaymaker jumps on Elliotte Friedman’s comment yesterday that the Lightning are trying to move Ryan Malone. He makes a pitch for the Sens to get the 33-year old forward who is coming off a rough, injury-filled season. Malone has one year left on his deal and if a pick is thrown in I’d be fine with the move. I do have to wonder if the Lightning will part with him though–with both Lecavalier and Malone off the roster the team will have players like Nate Thompson and B. J. Crombeen on their second line…yikes!
–Jamie Neugebauer believes the Sens will take Ryan Pulock with their first pick.
–Matt Brigidi notes that Columbus is willing to move any or all of its first round selections (14, 19, and 27) via trade, but I’m not sure they pick high enough to interest the Sens.
–Travis Yost takes a look at what stats actually matter in the NHL and he dismisses the traditional ones (raw hit numbers, PK percentage, etc) to say only puck possession really indicate how a team is doing. He’s right that traditional TV media simply ignores Corsi and Fenwick numbers, either because it doesn’t fit the clichés they grew up with or some other reason. It’s worth keeping in mind that many commentators aren’t exactly analytical (Hockey Night in Canada and Sportsnet in particular come to mind), and are generally on-screen to provide entertainment rather than insight (ala Don Cherry).
–Larry Brooks writes about how the NHL closed a potential buyout loophole:
The league would deem re-signing a player following a trade and a subsequent amnesty buyout as circumvention, and thus would not register the contract. It is believed the Lightning and Maple Leafs had discussed such a maneuver regarding Vincent Lecavalier [bought out by Tampa today], who has seven years and $45 million remaining on his contract, with the buyout thus worth slightly more than $30 million. The clubs theoretically would have concocted a swap in which Tampa Bay would have sent an asset — perhaps a draft pick — to rolling-in-dough Toronto along with Lecavalier, who would have re-signed a more modest deal with the Lightning after being bought out by the Leafs.
-The Phoenix saga continues and it looks likely that the latest NHL agreement will be rejected by the city, although I’d take comments about Quebec from Bill Daly as simply an attempt to apply pressure ahead of that vote rather than some kind of commitment.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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eyeonthesens 
Pete,
W.r.t. traditional media not yet accepting or endorsing the new stats — exact same thing happened in baseball.
The importance of OBA and OPS (instead of Batting Average & RBIs) were being widely discussed by baseball statheads in the early 90’s, but it wasn’t until Billy Beane built a winning team around those concepts in 2002 that anyone in the media was even remotely interested.
It takes time and even more importantly, some GM or head scout to start stressing those stats in their player evaluation before the mainstream will pay attention.
Wayne
That’s a good point Wayne–it will be interesting to see when that happens.