Not much is happening in the world of hockey right now, and the other premier free agent left is Shane Doan.  Mike and Doug talk about his alleged contract demands, the CBA, and take some listener emails.

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Still plenty of things to talk about, as Doug and Mike discuss the Nash trade to the Rangers, the Shea Weber offer sheet, and the departure of Daniel Winnik, all driven by listener emails.

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First of all, listen to the podcast if you haven’t already.

Kevin Kurz has a post about a Q&A session Kevin Compton and Stratton Sclavos (two of the Sharks owners) had over the weekend about the state of the franchise. They revealed some (alleged) information about the Sharks’ financial situation, stating that they lost around $15M last year. In fact, here are the main points of the article as I read them:

1. The Sharks owners lost money last year, even through every home game sold out.
2. The Sharks consider themselves at about the midpoint of teams in terms of market size and revenues.
3. The cap has gone up a lot since the cap was first put in.
4. The Sharks owners don’t care about making money, they just want to win.

Reviewed in this easy, albeit jaded format, this could be a blueprint for the PR strategy of any ownership group in the NHL this summer. We lost a lot of money, even though we are doing everything right.  We sell out the building, we work hard to ice a competitive team, but our P&L looks like a horror show. But hey, that’s ok, we just want to win. It looks like this is the owners doing what owners have always done when labor negotiations happen, cry poor, but save personal face with their customers by saying it’s all just part of the deal, and they’re fine with it. In this context, the headline (“Should Sharks owners be allowed to profit?”) and the first three points are brilliant in serving those purposes. This makes me want to launch into a whole argument about the nature (and type) of profit the owners are in fact making, but that will have to wait for another day.

Frankly, I have no concrete reason to doubt Mr. Compton’s and Mr. Sclavos’ sincerity on any of this. However, it’s worth mentioning that only statement #3 above is proven. All the others either burnish the owner’s own reputations, or further the NHL’s bargaining position. It think it goes without saying that these points should be taken with a grain of salt.  Plenty of the commenters on the article noticed correctly that this loss number is not audited, and not present in any public disclosure statement, because SS&E (Sharks Sports & Entertainment, the entity that owns the Sharks) is not a publicly traded company, and therefore not required to release any such numbers. In fact, during the lockout in 2005, there was quite a row made over the players’ claims that they wanted to see the real financial statements of the teams, and they were not being provided the information requested.

The fact that this conversation took place less than a week after the owners submitted their initial bargaining position is not a coincidence.

Still plenty of offseason things to talk about, including the possible trade of Dan Boyle, more Rick Nash, more Shane Doan, and more.

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It’s the middle of the summer, but the Sharks news is abundant- two more assistant (or associate) coaches have been signed- Larry Robinson and Jim Johnson.  The Dudes break that down, talk about free agents still available, and the various signings that happened in the past week.

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The Dudes break down one of the most eventful days of the hockey year- the first day of free agency.  The Sharks signed Adam Burish to a 4-year deal, but seemingly parted ways with Daniel Winnik.  Mike and Doug talk about that, and many of the other signings that happened on July 1, many of them head-scratchers.

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Mike and Doug break down all the trades and goings-on of the NHL draft, and take a look at the top UFAs.

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The Dudes talk about the upcoming draft, Brad Stuart vs. Barret Jackman, and some possible trade partners for a certain Sharks veteran.

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It’s a milestone episode, and the Dudes have to face the fact that the Kings are the Stanley Cup Champions, and the long term de facto Pacific division favorite.  But in Sharks news, Brad Stuart is back, and the Dudes figure out what that means for the rest of the defensive corps.  Finally, Mike and Doug cover the entire Sharks lineup, particularly the RFAs and UFAs, predicting which will be retained, and which will be free to test the market.

Correction: Brad Stuart was a #3 overall pick, not #6 as we said in the podcast. (Matt D’Agostini)

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Our nightmare continues as the Kings are one win away from raising the Stanley Cup over their smog infested, Knotts Berry Farm loving, 45 minutes to get to anywhere heads. We just have to hope that the Devils can be the 2nd team in NHL history to come back from an 0-3 hole in the Stanley Cup Finals to win it all. The last team to do it, from what I understand, was the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942. (Matt D’Agostini)

Honestly, I fully expect it to happen because the Stanley Cup playoffs this year has been so bizarre. Like Richard Simmons bizarre. Why not cap it off with the completely absurd? Charlie Sheen throws a fit at Game Four at the Staples Center and the Kings lose. How did they ever let him into the building? He is the black cloud of all things good and he has infested the Kings with his madness.

The Curse of the Billy Goat.

The Madden Cover Curse

The Curse of Charlie Sheen. It has been laid upon the Kings and will forever live in infamy. Devils win in Seven.

Mike and I will be back next week with our landmark 200th episode as we begin to pick over the Sharks roster in our offseason preview.