The Origin of National Hockey League

NHL is a professional ice hockey league consisting 30 teams which are located throughout North America. It is one of the North American major professional sports leagues. Also the Stanley Cup is the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, being awarded to the champion team at the end of each season every year. There are an increasing number of hockey fans now wearing their favorite hockey jersey and supporting their favorite teams and players.

Sergei Shirokov joins in Canucks

Vancouver Canucks President and General Manager Mike Gillis announced last week that the team has signed right wing Sergei Shirokov. He is a native of Moscow, being drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

Shirokov recorded 41 points in 56 games with the KHL in 2008. He has also appeared in two World Junior Championships as a member of Russian team in 2005 and 2006. Shirokov registered 13 points in 12 games over two seasons.

Prospal and Messier come to Rangers

It is reported that the New York Rangers will acquire Mark Messier as a special assistant to President and General Manager Glen Sather and forward Vaclav Prospal."I couldn't be more thrilled with the opportunity to move back to New York with my family, to learn from Glen and to work for the Rangers," Said Messier.

Prospal had signed the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier this summer. He played for Rangers and scored 19 goals and 26 assists last year.

Irbe becomes goaltending coach in Capitals

Vice president and general manager George McPhee of Washington Capitals announced that the team have hired Arturs Irbe as the goaltending coach. Irbe originally served as the goaltending coach for Dinamo Riga last season. Irbe is also a former teammate of Capitals’ assistant coach Dean Evason, and both of them played for the San Jose Sharks from 1991 to 1993.

Irbe has played for several clubs including Sharks, Ducks, Canucks and Hurricanes.
His last NHL season was 2003-04. After he left the NHL and retired Irbe played professionally in Europe in 2006.

Goaltender John Curry continues to stay in Penguins

Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero told the media that Pittsburgh Penguins, the Stanley Cup Champion have agreed to term with goaltender John Curry on a two-year contract. Curry made seven post-season appearances with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which is a team of AHL.

Curry played three games with Pittsburgh during the 2008-09 season, helping the Penguins secure a 5-3 victory against the New York Islanders. Now his penguins jersey is printed with Stanley Cup patch.

Milan Jurcina joins in Washington Capitals

Vice president and general manager George McPhee announced Washington Capitals have signed defenseman Milan Jurcina to a one-year contract. Now fans can see him playing on the ice in the Capital jersey.
He was acquired by the Capitals from Boston on Feb. 1, 2007. He has played in 275 NHL games and has 14 goals and 32 assists in his career. Jurcina appeared in 79 games for the Capitals in 2008-09. He had three goals and 11 assists , ranking first on the club with 131 blocked shots.

Ryan Getzlaf was operated successfully

It is reported that on July,29 Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf underwent successful surgery which was performed by Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia.

The club said the injury became serious during summer tests and did not recover at all, therefore surgery was arranged by the Ducks medical staff.Recently Getzlaf is getting ready for the training camp. Fans are hoping to see him coming back to the team with his Ducks jersey.

Red Wings continue to sign McGrath and Oulahen

Red Wings executive vice president and general manager Ken Holland told the media last month that the team continued to sign forwards Evan McGrath and Ryan Oulahen to one-year contracts.

McGrath was Detroit’s fourth round pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He spent the last three seasons with the Red Wings' American Hockey League team, recording 47 points in 68 games in the 2008-09 season. Oulahen also finished his fourth season with AHL team, and recorded 31 points in 73 games.

Mike Sullivan was hired by New York Rangers

New York Rangers hired Sullivan as an assistant coach last month. Sullivan spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach with Tampa Bay Lightning. Sullivan served as coach for the U.S. Men's team at the 2007 World Championships in Russia. He also served as an assistant for the U.S. Men's Olympic Team at the 2006 Olympic Games.

Sullivan began his coaching career in 2002 in American Hockey League, and was hired coach of the Bruins in 2003-04. Sullivan skated in 709 career NHL games in 11 seasons with San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins, and Phoenix Coyotes, scoring 54 goals and 82 assists with 203 penalty minutes.

Auld was sent to Dallas Stars

Auld was sent to the Dallas Stars by Ottawa Senators for San Jose's sixth-round pick, he finished the season with 25 record in 43 appearances, 20 of which were more than the previous year. He began his career with Vancouver Canucks and has also played with Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes and Boston Bruins.

It is told that Auld was one of the most surprising stories in the 2008-09 season when he stole the job from established beginner Martin Gerber. Maybe we will not see him wearing senators jersey any more.

Aucoin was acquired by Coyotes

Phoenix Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney announced to the media that the Coyotes club have signed defenseman Adrian Aucoin to a one-year deal. "We are excited to add Adrian Aucoin to our team," said Maloney. "He is a defenseman who played over 22 minutes per game in Calgary last season. He is an intelligent puck-moving defenseman who will help improve our power play and bring leadership to our locker room."

Last season Aucoin got 46 penalty minutes in 81 games with the Calgary Flames and ranked second among team defensemen.

A new guest for NHL Hour

It is reported that Dave Ogrean,the USA Hockey Executive Director has been in the program called NHL Hour With Commissioner Gary Bettman on the radio.As a new guest,Ogrean discussed the second annual festival Hockey Weekend Across America.This festival was going to celebrate hockey games and attract much more volunteers and fans.Ogrean also introduced the one-year countdown to the beginning of 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Usually NHL Hour broadcasts live on Thursdays from 4 to 5 pm on NHL Home Ice and NHL.com.It supports communication through phone or e-mail.

Kolzig's recovery needs 4 months

Because of the serious injury of a distal biceps tendon in Kolzig's left forearm,the Lightning announced that Kolzig might miss the regular season.The major surgeon Dr.Ben Shaffer will operate on him and Kolzig's recovery will need 3 or 4 months.Luckily,the doctor from the Washington Capitals has operated on him before.

The Head Athletic Trainer Tom Mulligan said that 50 percent of Kolzig's tendon was torn and going to be ruptured.He also compared Kolzig's injury to that of Matin Brodeur from New Jersey,but actually he did not konw the real extent of Matin's injury.

Kuba was acquired by Senators

Ottawa Senators made an annoucement that they decided to continue to sign the defenseman Filip Kuba.The contract lasts for about three year and other terms of the deal were not know.

Kuba was originally acquired frome Tampa Bay Lighting this summer.He had 29 points and plus-8 rating in 54 games.In 585 career NHL games he had 236 points and 263 penalty minutes.Now Kuba is having a caree year ,so does Andrej Meszaros and Alexandre Picard.