Social media is a wonderful thing for NHL fans, especially over the off-season. It's the fastest source for trades, re-signings, and especially signings of unrestricted free agents after July 1st. Unfortunately, it's also the fastest source for unsubstantiated rumors that tend to freak out fanbases. This off-season is the first of those for Winnipeg Jets fans, and aside from the happy news about Jim Slater's re-signing, they get to deal with rumors that their leading scorer wants out. Evander Kane netted 30 goals this year, and he also accumulated quite a bit of negative publicity from rumors regarding his nightlife. I advocated people to stop fixating on him back in February because hey, he's a 20 year old talent in a city who takes more note than Kane's previous stop in Atlanta. 

The Los Angeles Kings are the latest team to hoist the Stanley Cup. The victory parade hasn't even taken place and already rumors are surfacing about what the Los Angeles Kings may or may not do over the summer in terms of free agency.

The Kings will have plenty of new revenue this summer if they are looking to expand their current payroll. The Cup victory should bring in a healthy stream of revenue and the team also recently agreed to a new television deal that will pay them handsomely. If the Kings desire to add a new piece, they'll have the money to do it along with plenty of money left over to extend the players they'd like to retain such as Jonathan Quick.

Zach Parise has likely skated in his last game for the New Jersey Devils in his team's Game 6 loss in Los Angeles. He appears set to test the open market. Could he be returning to the STAPLES Center on a regular basis in 2012-13?

You might remember a little kerfluffle a few off-seasons ago, in which the New Jersey Devils signed Ilya Kovalchuk to a flagrantly front-loaded contract of huge length. The league basically deemed it cap circumvention, scrapped the contract, and had the Devils pay a hefty fine and give up their 2011 third round pick, as well as give up their first round draft pick in either 2011, 2012, 2013, or 2014. Last year they held onto it, choosing Adam Larsson fourth overall and injecting their franchise with some young blood. They had up until today, June 12th, to notify the league if they intended to give up their pick this year. According to Tom Guilitti of the Fire & Ice blog, they are not giving up this year's pick.

That's an interesting choice by a franchise that doesn't have a 100% chance of having a first round pick this low again in the near future. They'd be choosing 29th overall by virtue of being the Eastern Conference Champions. You can't have a better pick to give up as a penalty, but either the Devils are shopping this years' or are confident that they'll be choosing 30th overall next season.

When the regular season starts in October, every single team in the National Hockey League has dreams of hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup. To win the prized trophy, each team must go through 82 regular season games, qualify for the playoffs, and then win four best-of-seven series. Today, a champion was crowned.

On behalf of the entire Puck Drunk Love staff, we'd like to say congratulations to the Los Angeles Kings on winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. We would also like to congratulate the New Jersey Devils for having a terrific season. Aside from the Steve Bernier play, you pretty much matched the Kings step for step. If you would have asked us at the start of the playoffs, I hardly doubt anyone would have picked a Los Angeles-New Jersey Final.

In typical Hollywood fashion, this year has been a roller coaster for the team. Besides having to overcome plenty of offensive doubts, they also had to adjust after a mid-season coaching change. The Kings finished the season with a record of 40-27-15 (95 Points), which placed them as the 8th and final seed in the Western Conference. Once the playoffs began, you could say the rest is history:

Sidney Crosby may have a new contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins prior to the 2012-13 season. Rumors on Twitter (source) are reporting that Crosby may sign a new contract that would keep him with the Penguins for an additional 10 seasons. The same source believes that Crosby's cap hit would weigh in at $9 million a season, or in other words, be a 10-year, $90 million deal. 

If these numbers prove to be accurate, are the Penguins getting a good deal or paying a bit too much for Crosby? Are they taking too big of a risk by extending their star given his recent history of serious injuries?

Ondrej Pavelec has had more NHL experience by age 24 than most goaltenders have had in a lifetime. Not all of it has been good -- he was relied upon heavily when injury prone Atlanta Thrashers starter Kari Lehtonen went down, and after the trade that sent Lehtonen to the Dallas Stars, Pavelec was going to be the Thrashers' goalie of tomorrow. As fate would have it, he's instead the Winnipeg Jets' goalie of today.

Pavelec's numbers have steadily improved over the seasons, although his goals against average did take a bit of an uptick this past season. That particular stat has always been abnormally high for a starter, but that's more towards the Thrashers/Jets inability to form a solid defensive corps than almost anything else. Pavelec also occasionally hasn't been the best conditioned athlete, at least in his early years, and the pressure of being tossed from the Wolves onto the Thrashers basically cold could have left him shell shocked. He's still praised as a solid goaltender around media circles, and he is. Consistency isn't his strong point, however great his abilities are.

Brad Stuart began his career with the Sharks and thanks to today's long anticipated deal, he'll get a chance to return home to finish it. The Red Wings get Andrew Murray and a seventh round pick in the 2014 draft if Stuart signs with the Sharks. Stuart becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, unless the two sides work out a deal first.

Stuart back in familar colors

With the draft two weeks in the future and free agency still three weeks away, teams are well into their preparations for the 2012-13 NHL season, even as the Devils work to extend the Stanley Cup Finals.

For San Jose, shoring up their defensive corps was vital. St. Louis dispatched them in five games and throughout the series, the Sharks were plagued by a lack of phusicality and toughness. Though Stuart is not as adept at two way play, as a stay at home defenseman, he brings grit and aggressiveness.

Important to note, this deal is to the rights for Stuart prior to the commencement of free agency. That gives San Jose an exclusive negotiating period and nothing more. By hedging their bets they ensure they get a deal with Stuart with minimal exposure. For the Red Wings, they have the add Murray and the conditional pick for a player they were certain to lose during free agency.

With the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom and this deal, Detroit will feature new faces around Ian White and Jonathan Ericsson.

Stuart meanwhile rejoins the team that traded him away in 2005 along with Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau to acquire current Sharks Captain Joe Thornton. The Sharks drafted Stuart 3rd overall in 1998.

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The Colorado Avalanche like to do things a bit differently. As we've talked about previously here at Puck Drunk Love, the Avs prefer to handle negotiating contracts during the summer, after the regular season is in the books. This unique style prevents any unnecessary distractions during the regular season but it also forces added pressure and uncertainty as players wait to find out what their future holds.

As soon as their year ended the Avs started working on figuring out which players would be back for 2012-13. One of the biggest questions, Milan Hejduk, was answered when the club announced they had signed the veteran to a new one-year deal. 

David Jones was the next man on their list, signing a 4-year, $16 million contract. Shortly after the news on Jones surfaced, the Avalanche came to terms with Matt Hunwick on a 2-year deal. 

The Norfolk Admirals, who are the Tampa Bay Lightning's AHL affiliate, headed into tonight's game with a 2-0 lead over the Toronto Marlies for the Calder Cup. The Marlies have been on quite a run to give the city of Toronto their first taste of a major sports championship since the Blue Jays' World Series wins, but the Norfolk Admirals have been on a run of unbelievable proportions. They've lost three times since the Super Bowl back in February, and weren't about to lose tonight. They were so determined to win that apparently they paid a stanchion off to give them the upper hand (via SB Nation Tampa Bay):

Toronto netminder Ben Scrivens, who was also the first star of the game, came back behind the net to play the dump-in, only there was no dump in to be played. Admirals' defenseman Mike Kostka dumped the puck in, but it wound up bouncing off of a stanchion instead of taking the route that Scrivens expected... and it wound up being the game winning goal. 

The Marlies' fans weren't the only ones shaken up by the loss. Admirals head coach Jon Cooper actually said after the game that he was "sick to [his] stomach for Scrivens." Aren't we all (unless you're an Admirals/Bolts fan)?

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PHOTO CREDIT: Los Angeles Times Blog

Hockey fans've long known that the sport harbors some of the most modest, charitable, and all around good people of any of the professional sports. It's next to impossible to make it through a season without reading stories like Brooks Laich changing tires after a heartbreaking game seven loss or the Chicago Blackhawks coming together to support Dale Tallon in his time of loss. Where players are most notable is their charity work with children. Childrens hospitals are a favorite endevor of teams, as are food banks and community outreach programs into the rougher areas of the teams' home cities. Anyone who has seen a child's face light up when they see their favorite mascot and player walk in the door of their hospital room knows what a huge impact these guys have on their communities.

The Los Angeles Kings might have their eyes on the Stanley Cup tonight, but their heart is in their city. A 14 month old baby was killed the night before last in Watts, and the LAPD need help finding the child's killer. The Kings, as part of the 2000 Acts of Hope charity, have donated $50,000 to the reward fund for any information leading to the capture of the individual responsible for this terrible crime.  Amazing move by yet another hockey team invested in their community and their home. They haven't lost sight of what is important in life, even while they're trying to win the Stanley Cup, and that says volumes to the team's integrity.

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