Today could go a long way to determining the future of the Islanders. Nassau County residents are voting on funding $400 mil for a new coliseum.

I hope it passes.....I want the Islanders to stay because they do a long history (even if almost 30 years ago), and (selfishly) I like having 3 teams worth of games to watch during the year.

(Of course, I don't live in Nassau county, so I can say I want them to stay since I wouldn't be paying for it.)

I voted YES on the new arena earlier today.

If I lived there I'd certainly vote YES. They can either have a vibrant new building for hockey, concerts, circuses and events or have an empty lot and have to travel into NYC for loads of shows.

Versus to become NBC Sports Network in rebranding move

By Tim Molloy
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Versus, formerly the Outdoor Life Network, will become the NBC Sports Network effective January 2.
OLN launched in 1995 and was rebranded as Versus in 1996. The company will also introduce a new logo with a slightly larger peacock and other minor changes.
"This effort is a major step toward a complete strategic alignment of all our platforms and businesses," said Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Sports Group. "This is more than just a name change for Versus. It's a complete repositioning of the brand to provide value for marketers, consumers, as well as all our affiliates and distributors. We want anyone who comes into contact with any of our assets to immediately connect with the NBC Sports brand promise."
Lazarus announced the change at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. Other recent changes for Versus include adding horse racing and Notre Dame football-related programing.
NBC chose the January 2 date in part because the NHL Winter Classic on NBC will allow for cross promotion and because January 1 will conclude the NFL's regular season. The January 7 NFL Wild Card doubleheader and February 5 Super Bowl will also provide opportunities to promote the new name.

Penguins' Malkin grasps training benefits

Perhaps fans of Penguins center Evgeni Malkin should not have confused his eye-popping talent with some sort of innate sense of how to fully harness and nurture it.

As with English and North American culture, Malkin is still mastering the art of conditioning -- and he apparently has scaled a sharp learning curve this summer.

"I think this is my fifth year knowing Geno, and I have never seen him this committed to wanting to get better and get well," Penguins strength and conditioning coach Mike Kadar said Thursday.

Kadar just returned from spending 17 days in Moscow overseeing Malkin's offseason workouts and rehabilitation from a knee injury. Malkin had surgery Feb. 10 to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He also rehabilitated a torn medial collateral ligament in the knee from the same hit by Buffalo's Tyler Myers.

The shortened season left the former NHL scoring champion and playoff MVP with 15 goals and 22 assists in 43 games.

Kadar believes Malkin will be in top form, maybe the best of his life, when training camp starts next month.

"There's a slight weakness in the right leg compared to the left," Kadar said. "We've addressed that. That was part of the reason I went over, to assess that."

Another reason was to put Malkin -- who suggested the visit -- through a rigorous training regimen.

"As soon as I landed, we worked out," Kadar said. "We did two-a-days at least five or six times a week -- lifting, swimming, plyometrics, on- and off-ice skill development.

"Just because he's a hockey player doesn't mean he knew how to work out properly. I think Geno has made the realization that to stay in the game, you've got to stay healthy. I'm not saying that if he was in unbelievable shape when his knee problem happened it might have been different, but he's learning."

Kadar said that despite "missing a few key things in my mind that would be hockey-specific," he liked the training center Malkin frequents in Moscow.

Along with a better awareness of training techniques, Malkin, who turned 25 Sunday, seems to have more drive than ever and probably will return to Pittsburgh earlier than usual.

"He wants to win," Kadar said. "I know he's excited to come back. He's committed to winning the [Stanley] Cup."

With the cultural tables turned, Kadar got a sense of the difficulty Malkin and other European hockey players face when they arrive in an NHL city without knowing the language or culture.

"It's extremely difficult," he said. "I give those guys a lot of credit, to be able to play and understand the game if you don't know the language and you can't communicate. You're lost."

Kadar said he was fortunate that Malkin and the family of former Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar were gracious, taking him to Red Square, a Russian circus and a monastery where a monk guided them on a tour.

He also was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the restaurant food, other than the fact that most things were dolloped with sour cream. Very little was deep fried, the fruits and vegetables were fresh, and there was good sushi. One night, at a grand opening of a restaurant, they ran into Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin.

It helped that Kadar had a full-time driver -- their mode of communication was an electronic tablet with a translation app that they passed back and forth at red lights -- because otherwise navigating the megalopolis would have been a challenge.

He called traffic on roads up to 10 lanes wide "organized chaos" and was flabbergasted that at times drivers stuck in gridlock simply left their cars to get coffee.

Malkin spends most of the offseason in Moscow, with visits to his family in his hometown of Magnitogorsk. Kadar believes that suits Malkin because he rarely gets recognized or bothered in Moscow -- although they did make it onto TV when they attended a soccer game.

Kadar is battling some jet lag, but, after his first trip to Russia he said, "I would most certainly go back."

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2011/08/ ... peaks_out/

Kovalev rips Clouston, Ottawa writers

"There are different journalists. My opinion of Ottawa journalists is that they don't watch hockey at all. When they fly with the team and go through the (metal detector) at an airport, their bags are filled with beer. You realize right away what these people do when they write about the NHL,"

Penguins' Shero says Crosby's symptoms not constant
Monday, August 15, 2011
By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Penguins general manager Ray Shero today said he's not sure what type of symptoms team captain Sidney Crosby is still experiencing as he recovers from a concussion, but that they appear only when he pushes himself hard in offseason workouts.

It was the second day in a row Shero addressed Crosby's recovery, coming after a Twitter report that Crosby would not be ready to play when the Penguins open the season Oct. 6 at Vancouver. Shero reiterated that such a determination has not been made. However, Crosby will have to be symptom-free before he is cleared to have contact.

Training camp starts in mid-September.

Shero said Crosby's rigorous offseason workout routine "has been pretty similar" to his regular summer regimen and that Crosby's "spirits are good."

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said he has contingency plans with his lineup for the upcoming season but noted that's a standard procedure because injuries are common.

Crosby was diagnosed with a concussion Jan. 6 and did not play again last season.

Winnipeg Jets center Rypien found dead in home

COLEMAN, Alberta (AP)—Winnipeg Jets center Rick Rypien(notes) was found dead in his home Monday, nine months after he took a leave of absence from the NHL to deal with an undisclosed personal matter.

An official with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police called Rypien’s death sudden, but not suspicious. He was 27.

“Rick was a talented player with an extremely bright future,” the Jets said in a release. “His hunger for the game made him a valued team member both on and off the ice. This loss has impacted us as more than just a hockey team.”

Rypien, a native of Alberta, was the second active NHL player found dead this offseason. Former New York Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard(notes) died in May due to an accidental mix of alcohol and the painkiller oxycodone.

Rypien signed a $700,000 (euro485,000), one-year deal with Winnipeg last month after spending parts of six seasons with Vancouver. He had nine goals and seven assists in 119 career NHL games.

The Canucks announced on Nov. 25 that they had granted Rypien an indefinite leave of absence. It was the second time in three years the forward had left the team to deal with an undisclosed personal matter.

Rypien also received a six-game suspension from the NHL last season after grabbing a fan on his way to the locker room in Minnesota. And during the 2008-09 season, he took an extended personal leave after a rash of injuries, missing 70 games.

Rypien was the cousin of former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien, a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player.