The Hockey Herald

via The Dallas Morning News:

“I think Osgood thought Ribeiro was going to try to run him, and Osgood sticks his stick out,” Tippett said. “Then Ribeiro turns around and slashes him, which is not right, but something made Ribby do that. He’s not going to turn around and hit the goalie like that. That’s not the way that works.”

Ribeiro didn’t make himself available to the media after the game. He was escorted out of the arena by a Stars spokesman.

Osgood said he was standing his ground and didn’t intentionally hit Ribeiro.

“I was just trying to stand out there to make sure Nicklas Lidstrom didn’t get run because I could see two guys coming,” Osgood said. “Whether I hit him or not, it was an accident. He probably skated through my stick and that would be it. I was more or less trying to protect our best player.

“But I don’t think that justified a two-hander over the top of the net. He could have went about it a different way or said something to me. We’re professionals out there and we can go about it in the right manner.”

Osgood fell to the ice after Ribeiro slashed him.

via The Associated Press:

Minnesota Wild coach Jacques Lemaire says he’ll return for an eighth season with the team.

Lemaire, who announced his decision in a news release Saturday, has a career record of 500-381-168 over 14 years, including 60-52 in the playoffs.

via Globe and Mail:

One of the names at the top of the list in terms of AHL options is John Anderson, a former Maple Leafs player who has coached the Chicago Wolves for the past 11 seasons.

Anderson has won four championships as a minor-league coach - two in the old IHL, one in the old Colonial Hockey League and the Calder Cup in 2002 - and has a regular-season record of 506-283-99 in the AHL and IHL.

Chicago general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff says he thinks it’s a matter of time before the 51-year-old Toronto native finds a home in the NHL.

“We’d be like proud parents if he got the opportunity to go on to coach in the NHL,” Cheveldayoff said. “I know from John’s standpoint, he would obviously welcome the opportunity. Like anybody that’s at a level below the top level of the game, you want to get there.

“John and Bruce are, literally, best friends. If you check their cellphone records, back and forth, there’s probably not a day that goes by that the two of them don’t speak with each other. Bruce’s story is not unlike John’s, and I think the success that Bruce has had, it is a great story because there are a lot of good coaches that work exceptionally hard [in the minors].”

via Ottawa Sun:

It looks like the Senators and longtime defenceman Wade Redden have officially parted company.

When Ottawa’s season ended in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Penguins, both the Senators and Redden left the door open a crack for the return of the potential free agent.

It looks like the door is now closed. The Redden camp is apparently not interested in discussing a contract similar to that of veteran blueliner Chris Phillips and Redden appears ready to hit the market as an unrestricted free agent July 1, according to Sun Media sources.

Redden told Sun Media during the season he would take a paycut from his current salary of $6.5 million (all terms US) to stay with the Senators — the only NHL team for which the 30-year-old has played in his 11-year career — but the big question was how much?

via Washington Times:

In the aftermath of the Washington Capitals’ Game 7 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup playoffs, I ran into Olie Kolzig waiting for the elevator to leave Verizon Center.

He was standing there waiting with the man who had replaced him in goal — Cristobal Huet.

Kolzig shook my hand, and I said to him, “I really don’t know what to say.”

He said something about how they had gotten close and things just didn’t go their way, but I wasn’t talking about the game. I knew Olie Kolzig was leaving Verizon Center for the last time as a Washington Capitals player.

via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Right in front of our eyes, while almost no one is noticing, one of the greatest come-from-behind sagas in the history of Pittsburgh sports is unfolding. The Penguins, not all that far removed from bankruptcy and a string of four consecutive last-places finishes, are in the process of surpassing the Steelers as Pittsburgh’s favorite sports team.

The Penguins haven’t passed the Steelers — yet — but they’re coming hard after having long ago whizzed by the Pirates.

Although some might think it is the height of foolishness to suggest the Penguins could supplant the Steelers, who have long been followed with a religious fervor, as the region’s No. 1 team, it’s not so crazy.

There are signs of the Penguins’ gains everywhere — from attendance, to television ratings, to media coverage.

Just last month, for example, the NFL draft, once an event that commanded the top of the sports page and the lead on the 11 o’clock sports news for days, found itself playing second banana to the Penguins. The draft was still a major event April 26, its first day. But the big story April 25 was the first Penguins-New York Rangers Stanley Cup playoff game. The big story April 27 was the second Penguins-Rangers game.

via Raleigh News & Observer:

Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos is expected to travel to Raleigh to meet with coach Peter Laviolette next week in a face-to-face meeting that may determine Laviolette’s future with the team.

Karmanos said almost two weeks ago that he wanted to let the emotions of the season “cool off” before making any decisions going forward.

“I want an opportunity to talk to the coach and with [general manager] Jimmy [Rutherford], and talk about what kind of moves we might want to make with the playing team and all that kind of stuff,” Karmanos said on April 28.

Laviolette referred an interview request to the Hurricanes’ media relations department Wednesday, which said he is unavailable for comment. Rutherford also declined to comment on the coaching situation, beyond a reiteration of his previous position.

“There’s no change from my point of view,” Rutherford said. “I don’t have anything to comment on. Everything is the same.”

via Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel:

The Panthers have signed their top draft pick from last year, defenseman Keaton Ellerby, to a three-year, entry level contract.

Ellerby, 19, played 53 games last season for Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League after being traded from Kamloops for prospect Brady Calla 16 games into the season.

Ellerby had two goals, 21 assists and a plus-6 rating with Moose Jaw. The 6-foot-4, 188-pound blue-liner, who has drawn some comparisons to Panthers’ defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, was the 10th overall selection in the 2007 draft.

via St. Paul Pioneer Press:

Jacques Lemaire still loves coaching. But he has been wrestling with a simple question since about halfway through the season: Is he the right coach for the Minnesota Wild at this point in their history?

Lemaire was extremely frustrated at times during the 2007-08 season. He would see certain players who could perform better, yet he couldn’t seem to bring out their best.

“I was thinking that I didn’t want to disappoint Doug (Risebrough),” Lemaire said. “It hurt me. It hurt me. It felt like I’m failing.”

You know it’s a tough season when a hall of fame player and Stanley Cup-winning coach is having self-doubts.

“I want to have fun coaching, OK?” Lemaire said from Tampa, Fla., where the coaches and front office are reviewing the season. “I want to be proud of my team. I want to be proud when they jump on the ice and I look at them and say, ‘This is my team.’

“When the game starts and everyone jumps on the ice, I want to look at the players and be proud that they are working as a team and giving a good show to the fans.”

via Toronto Sun:

As the Dallas Stars slammed the Maple Leafs’ door on Fabian Brunnstrom, the Leafs might have been unrolling a welcome mat for Dave Nonis.

Speculation is percolating that Nonis will be in Toronto early next week, possibly on Monday, for an interview with the Leafs regarding the vacant general manager’s job.

During an interview on Vancouver radio station TEAM 1040 yesterday, Nonis was asked about the stories that have linked him to the Leafs. Toronto asked the Canucks for permission to speak to Nonis, who was fired as GM of the Canucks a few weeks ago. But Nonis said the Leafs did not have to have permission to talk to him, and that the request was done out of courtesy.

“I haven’t spoken to Toronto about their intentions,” Nonis said. “If they do decide to bring me in and tell me what they think, at that point there would be a decision to make.”