Shane Doan meets with Habs; Steve Staios retires; Nail Yakupov is rich now (Puck Headlines)

Reddit Hockey

• Brandon Dubinsky reacts to his trade to the Blue Jackets. [Reddit]

• Now that they've spent all the money in the world on Shea Weber, how do the Predators manage their roster and budget going forward? [On the Forecheck]

• By being drafted 1st overall, Nail Yakupov made $1.65 million US more than Sarnia Sting teammate Alex Galchenyuk. [Edmonton Journal]

• The Nashville Predators prove they mean business. By spending all their money on one asset, like any good business. [The Hockey Writers]

• Here's an article on CBA talks where, somehow, no one manages to say anything at all. [Toronto Star]

• Steve Staios has retired, and will join the Toronto Maple Leafs staff as a player development advisor. [USA Today]

• The Niagara Falls Reporter steps in to defend Lenny Palumbo, who revealed himself as a big ol' homophobe last week. [Niagara Falls Reporter]

• .... And Battle of California responds, hilariously. [Battle of California]

• Shane Doan will be meeting with the Montreal Canadiens, because why the Hell not. [The Globe & Mail]

• With Rick Nash off the table, what's next for the Sharks? Probably not much. [CSN Bay Area]

• Dustin Penner, on his target weight for training camp: "I'm going to be pretty specific here and say less than what I weighed-in at for last year's camp." [Mayors Manor]

• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette chats with new Penguin Brandon Sutter. Here's a quote taken out of context: "They were rubbing it in pretty good. Hopefully I can rub it back at him." [Post-Gazette]

• What should the San Jose Sharks expect from a healthy Michal Handzus? [Fear the Fin]

• Take a look at James van Riemsdyk and Luke Schenn in their new uniforms. As Pension Plan Puppets noted, now Schenn looks really like a pylon. [The Backhand Shelf]

• Do yourself a favour and check out this collection of stills from EA's NHL games through the years. Seriously, you guys, we live in the future. [Reddit Hockey]

• Hindsight, extenuating circumstance, blah blah blah, but the Leafs gave up more for Phil Kessel than the Rangers did for Rick Nash. [Vintage Leaf Memories]

• Dillion Donnelly takes blame for breaking the Memorial Cup. Apparently, he dropped it. Presumably into a wood chipper. [Mile High Hockey]

• Since I know you have time because it's the offseason, here's the entire pilot for a Canadian comedy about a minor hockey team called the Ramsay Downholers.

Why Shane Doan should go; Stanley Cup witnesses marriage proposal (Puck Headlines)

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

@kwesty19

• Kevin Westgarth of the Los Angeles Kings shows us exactly what 76,000 pages of NHL financial documents looks like. [@KWesty19]

• "The Players' Association still has not received all the financial documentation -- primarily the independently audited information for the league's clubs -- requested from the NHL and has no intent to submit a proposal until that information is received and then analyzed." [ESPN New York]

• The Detroit Red Wings announced that Slava Fetisov, Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov and Igor Larionov will participate in the Winter Classic alumni festivities. Fetisov, Fedorov and Larionov will take part in the Alumni Game against the Maple Leafs. Konstantinov will serve as an ambassador. [Red Wings]

• Bourne with a strong take on why Shane Doan should move on from Phoenix. [Backhand Shelf]

• P.K. Subban was reportedly offered a 2-year, $5.5 million contract that his agent quickly shot down, adding nothing is imminent. It's Aug. 2 and Subban is still a restricted free agent. Where are the offer sheets? [Hockey Inside/Out]

• Bruce Ratner, a real estate developer who's currently building a state-of-the-art arena for the Brooklyn Nets, on the potential of luring the New York Islanders there: "I am trying like hell to get the Islanders to make Barclays Center their new hockey home." The Islanders' lease at Nassau Coliseum is up in 2015. [NY Daily News]

• USA Hockey announced that its 2012 Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held in Dallas. Among this years nominees includes Mike Modano. How fast will tickets go now? [USA Hockey]

• Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown will be the honorary starter at the Finger Lakes 355 NASCAR race at Watkins Glen next weekend. [Syracuse.com]

• It's almost fantasy hockey season. Speaking of that, who are the top fantasy hockey players of all-time? [NHL.com]

• Please welcome Not Another Hockey Blog to the blogosphere. [NAHB]

• If you could choose only one, would it be Pavel Datsyuk or Joe Thornton? [Eye on Hockey]

• An adult rec league hockey game in Texas ended when a player hit an opponent in the face with his stick after a baseball-style swing. The player was later arrested under suspicion of assault. [KHOU]

• The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed college free agent Jayson Megna to a 2-year, $1.87 million deal. The 22-year old scored 13 goals and 31 points last season at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. [Penguins]

• Do you like novels? Do you like romance novels? Do you like hockey romance novels? Then Daniel Wagner has a Top 5 list for you. [Backhand Shelf]

• After losing his brother, Detroit Red Wings forward Jordin Tootoo is supporting the Aboriginal Youth Council as they try to help prevent youth suicide. [CBC]

• Off-season winners and losers in the Pacific Division. [Fear the Fin]

• Finally, Justin Williams' brother-in-law decided to propose to his girlfriend with the Stanley Cup in their presence. The couple then celebrated with a drink:

Why Shane Doan should go; Stanley Cup witnesses marriage proposal (Puck Headlines)

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

@kwesty19

• Kevin Westgarth of the Los Angeles Kings shows us exactly what 76,000 pages of NHL financial documents looks like. [@KWesty19]

• "The Players' Association still has not received all the financial documentation -- primarily the independently audited information for the league's clubs -- requested from the NHL and has no intent to submit a proposal until that information is received and then analyzed." [ESPN New York]

• The Detroit Red Wings announced that Slava Fetisov, Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov and Igor Larionov will participate in the Winter Classic alumni festivities. Fetisov, Fedorov and Larionov will take part in the Alumni Game against the Maple Leafs. Konstantinov will serve as an ambassador. [Red Wings]

• Bourne with a strong take on why Shane Doan should move on from Phoenix. [Backhand Shelf]

• P.K. Subban was reportedly offered a 2-year, $5.5 million contract that his agent quickly shot down, adding nothing is imminent. It's Aug. 2 and Subban is still a restricted free agent. Where are the offer sheets? [Hockey Inside/Out]

• Bruce Ratner, a real estate developer who's currently building a state-of-the-art arena for the Brooklyn Nets, on the potential of luring the New York Islanders there: "I am trying like hell to get the Islanders to make Barclays Center their new hockey home." The Islanders' lease at Nassau Coliseum is up in 2015. [NY Daily News]

• USA Hockey announced that its 2012 Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held in Dallas. Among this years nominees includes Mike Modano. How fast will tickets go now? [USA Hockey]

• Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown will be the honorary starter at the Finger Lakes 355 NASCAR race at Watkins Glen next weekend. [Syracuse.com]

• It's almost fantasy hockey season. Speaking of that, who are the top fantasy hockey players of all-time? [NHL.com]

• Please welcome Not Another Hockey Blog to the blogosphere. [NAHB]

• If you could choose only one, would it be Pavel Datsyuk or Joe Thornton? [Eye on Hockey]

• An adult rec league hockey game in Texas ended when a player hit an opponent in the face with his stick after a baseball-style swing. The player was later arrested under suspicion of assault. [KHOU]

• The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed college free agent Jayson Megna to a 2-year, $1.87 million deal. The 22-year old scored 13 goals and 31 points last season at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. [Penguins]

• Do you like novels? Do you like romance novels? Do you like hockey romance novels? Then Daniel Wagner has a Top 5 list for you. [Backhand Shelf]

• After losing his brother, Detroit Red Wings forward Jordin Tootoo is supporting the Aboriginal Youth Council as they try to help prevent youth suicide. [CBC]

• Off-season winners and losers in the Pacific Division. [Fear the Fin]

• Finally, Justin Williams' brother-in-law decided to propose to his girlfriend with the Stanley Cup in their presence. The couple then celebrated with a drink:

Where in the world is Shane Doan?

shanediego

According to Vancouver's News 1130, Shane Doan was spotted in Vancouver last night, eating dinner with Francesco Aquilini, Mike Gillis and Laurence Gilman -- the owner, general manager, and assistant general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, respectively. Was it a sign that the Shane Doan derby is coming to an end?

Probably not. Just another sign that it's in full swing.

That didn't stop the Province from going into full-blown detective mode, mind you. They can even tell you where and what the dinner party ate:

In their latest attempt to woo Doan to the west coast, Canucks management and ownership broke bread with the highly-coveted unrestricted free agent Tuesday night at the Italian Kitchen in downtown Vancouver. While owner Francesco Aquilini, general manager Mike Gillis and assistant general manager Laurence Gilman didn't have to sell the 35-year-old winger on the merits of a cosmopolitan city to raise his four children, a competitive club and close proximity to Kamloops where Doan honed his junior hockey skills and met wife, Andrea, they had to sell him on the concept of dollars and sense. Regardless of what they receive in return for Roberto Luongo in an eventual trade, the Canucks are mindful of their salary structure and it's hard to imagine they would go north of the $6.1 million US cap hit for Henrik and Daniel Sedin.

Maybe that's why the dinner fare featured an antipasto rustico platter of cured meats and marinated olives, carne and pesce piatto of veal, trout, prawns and penne followed by desserts.

With word that Greg Jamison is $20 million short on his bid to buy the Coyotes (which doesn't include the racks on racks it'll cost to, you know, pay Doan) you can understand why Doan and agent Terry Bross have begun investigating other suitors, and why they might not mind being seen investigating them in public.

The winger remains the best free agent available by a landslide, and when you add the thin market to the high demand for guys that do what he does, he's going to be highly sought. When his private meetings with teams all over the continent keep getting out, it can only stoke the market. Lucky for Doan and Bross this keeps happening!

Thanks to someone's loose lips, we know Doan left Phoenix a week and a half ago and visited with the Rangers while he was in New York on Friday, July 20. Two days later, it was reported that Doan was in Philadelphia to speak with the Flyers. His next stop was apparently Montreal, and now, Vancouver.

Basically, keeping track of Doan as he uses the interest of NHL franchises to tour the country on their dime is like playing "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" at this point.

That in mind, it's possible that we can get one step ahead of Doan the same way we captured Carmen Sandiego: by plotting his movement using an ACME Crimenet detective kit and, hopefully, spotting a pattern:

doandiego

My findings: I have no idea where Shane Doan is headed next, but if he still plans to stop by cities with a reported interest in his services such as Buffalo, Winnipeg, Detroit, or Pitsburgh, he's not taking a very efficient route.

That's all I've got. Whatever. I'm sure Bross will surreptitiously let Doan's next destination slip sometime soon anyway.

Sing us out, Rockapella.