Game 1 Goes To Hawks By 1, 6-5

If NBC was worried about offensive output being a problem as a correlation to ratings, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals gave the Peacock a bit of a breather where that's concerned.

Flyers goalie Michael Leighton had the three shutouts in the Eastern Conference Final. In Game 1, he gave up 5 goals on 20 shots in just over 35 minutes before he was replaced by Brian Boucher.

The game had four lead changes and 5 tying goals as the Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup Finals game since Game 5 of the 1973 series 6-5 over Philadelphia.

Let's take the evening chronologically...
Here's the anthem no one heard... thanks to nhl.com


The Hawks' Tomas Kopecky was in the lineup only because of an injury.

A healthy scratch for the last five games, Kopecky was playing because Andrew Ladd's shoulder injury meant he had to sit. He took Ladd's spot on the third line with Kris Versteeg and Dave Bolland. They combined for the game-winner with 11:35 left in regulation.

Here's the highlights, thanks to the NHL on NBC...


And here's Marian Hossa and Troy Brouwer, thanks to our friends at the NHL...


How did the Hawks' Kris Versteeg sum up the night...???
"It was a lot of fun. And, I almost had a heart attack."

Game 2 is Monday night in Chicago...

NHLPA Filing Grievance Over Blackhawks Offers

((HT: TSN/Dreger))

Sources tell TSN the National Hockey League Players Association has filed a grievance over the Chicago Blackhawks mishandling of a number of its qualifying offers and intends to argue the players affected by the mishap, who remain unsigned, should be ruled unrestricted free agents.

The NHL will be notified and can agree with the NHLPA's filing, or the league can disagree and the case will move on to an expedited hearing.

"In response to various media inquiries, the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) confirms today that it has filed a grievance regarding the failure of the Chicago Blackhawks to submit Qualifying Offers to its 2009 Restricted Free Agents prior to the deadline stipulated in the CBA. The NHLPA will make no further comment on the matter, which is now pending before the Impartial Arbitrator," said Jonathan Weatherdon, NHLPA Spokesperson.

At this moment, it's the Players' Association's contention, these players are unrestricted free agents and free to negotiate with any team.

The NHL is sure to fight back.

If the PA is accurate and the players involved are deemed unrestricted free agents, the Blackhawks could lose both forward Kris Versteeg and defenceman Cam Barker ((pictured, thanks Dave Sandford/Getty)) to the open market.

The interest in these two players league wide as UFA's would be significant. In Barker's case, one league source cites his value at $3 million on the low end, and as much as $5 million on the high end.

The Chicago Blackhawks have cap issues and may not be able to afford to compete in the feeding frenzy without making drastic moves to free up money.

This issue is far from resolved, but early indications suggest it may not end well for the Chicago Blackhawks.

UPDATE: The Chicago Blackhawks have responded very quickly to a grievance filed by the NHL Player's Association of mishandling their qualifying offers to restricted free-agents by signing defenceman Cam Barker to a three-year, $9.25 million contract extension.

Barker was one of five players whose qualifying offers from the Hawks reportedly were mailed but didn't arrive on time. Had Barker not agreed to a deal, and the grievance had gone through, he could have potentially become an unrestricted free-agent.

23-year old Barker had six goals and 34 assists in 60 games for Chicago last season and added three goals and six assists during the Blackhawks' playoff run.

The Winnipeg native was originally selected third overall by the Blackhawks in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Blackhawks Signings Now With NHLPA

((HT: TSN/Dreger))

The National Hockey League has concluded its portion of an investigation into the Chicago Blackhawks mishandling of a number of qualifying offers made last week.

At the request of the Players Association, the league has forwarded its findings to NHLPA and now awaits reaction to determine what happens next.

Unless the NHLPA chooses to grieve the situation, the issue could be dead.

Last week, sources with hands on knowledge of how qualifying offers have to be filed told TSN that some restricted free agents on the Blackhawks didn't receive proper notification from the team.

Blackhawks stars Kris Versteeg ((pictured, thanks Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty)) and Cam Barker are among that group.

Dale Tallon told TSN he believed all of the qualifying offers were post marked for June 29th and didn't sound concerned when the matter was discussed on Friday.

Tallon acknowledged there was a mistake made and wondered if the July 1st holiday may have interfered with the players and player agents receiving the qualifying offers via mail, on time.

Multiple sources say it's clearly stated in the collective bargaining agreement, qualifying offers, or QO's, as they're commonly referred to, are not supposed to be mailed, but rather faxed or delivered by courier.

Blackhawks Signings Investigated...?

((HT: TSN))

Sources tell TSN the NHL and the NHLPA are investigating what might have been an enormous mistake by the Chicago Blackhawks.

Chicago tendered qualifying offers to several key players this week, including Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Aaron Johnson and Troy Brouwer, however the investigation underway is to determine whether the qualifying offers were filed correctly.

If not, there is the remote possibility the qualifying offers could be ruled invalid and the players listed above, conceivably, could be deemed unrestricted free agents because of the blunder.

There are few details, but one source says the players involved didn't receive the necessary notification of the offers.

The National Hockey League is in the process of trying to determine whether the situation was remedied in time.

Chicago general manager Dale Tallon says the qualifying offers were mailed to the players in time, on June 29th, but says because of the July 1 holiday, some of the players didn't receive them in time.

Additional sources say qualifying offers are not supposed to be mailed.

Overnight delivery via courier and direct fax to the players agent is preferred and certified or registered mail is acceptable only if the other means are unavailable.

Tallon says fax copies of the offers were sent to the league, so he doesn't anticipate any significant fall out.

However, sources say some of the qualifying offers were not faxed to the agents.