Forsberg and Näslund want to play on the same team.

I can understand this, Swedes are very particular. I think Forsberg and Näslund feel badly about the way they were treated in Sweden and they probably bonded while playing together for Modo. They both came under intense attack from the media for being rich, successful, and not loving every single thing about the motherland. Forsberg appeared here in Sweden in clothing ads with his girlfriend. The press bashed him for being greedy, even though he gave all the money he earned to the youth hockey club he learned to play in. The Swedes are famous for their jealousy and they have driven two great players back into the arms of the NHL.

Players cave-in

There will be a salary cap in the NHL next year, the players have all but capitulated. If you want more info on the upcoming agreement I recommend visiting Eklunds Hockey rumors which seems to have an inside track.

Closer to an NHL season

It looks "cautiously optimistic" on the other side of the Atlantic before the new season in the NHL. I think the NHLPA has caved in and allowed a salary cap, a victory for socialism over capitalism. I say let the free market decide how much to pay a hockey player, just like the free market decides how much to charge for season tickets. Do the owners ever implement a ticket price cap? Nope, they want it both ways; pay the least for product and get the most for sales of the product. They are merely hockey brokers and the NHLPA has no business allowing them to control payments to the players. But they wimped out and now it looks like there will be a season. From the NY Times;

"Now, the sides are reportedly discussing a minimum salary threshold and a salary cap that would start off below $42.5 million but that could go higher in proportion to any increase in leaguewide revenue. Another major issue under discussion is what happens to last season's player contracts, worth over $1 billion."

This agreement, if it goes through, will be good for Swedish hockey. While we will lose some of the best prospects, we will get back some veterans like Per-Johan Axelsson and Samuel Påhlson, both solid two-way players.

One is tempted to be excited over the prospect of keeping some players that helped us win the Eliteserien last year, but the loss of Henke is a serious blow. He is called the number one goalie prospect for the Rangers, who happen to be my favorite NHL team. Now if they could just get rid of Jagr . . .

Frölunda loses Henke

We lost Henrik Lunqvist to the USA this week. It is a bummer since he is clearly one of the main reasons for the success of the Frölunda Indians for the last few years. He goes to the New York Rangers now, and has a chance to play in the big leagues, in the NHL. The Rangers have some good goalies now, but they are older and they are probably ready to shed a couple of them and let some of their youngsters take over. They have four serious prospects in the organization right now and Henke is considered one of the two who could start in the NHL.

The CBC has some pretty good statistical information on Henke here.