The successful hockey coach of Detroit Red Wings Mike Babcock will soon be signing a new contract to be the coach of the team for next year and further. Babcock during the Stanley Cup final against the Pittsburgh Penguins revealed his intention of staying with the Red Wings and the contract terms are almost through. The Red Wings management is waiting for the playoffs to get over and as soon as the season gets over the contract will be mutually signed. The Detroit Red Wings hockey fans will be queuing to book their NHL tickets well in advance after the spectacular show by their team this season.

The Detroit Red Wings have found themselves in familiar territory in the Stanley Cup, as they have qualified to play in the finals for the 23^rd time in their NHL history. They are looking impressive for winning their 11^th championship and have last won the Stanley Cup final way back in 2002. They will be hosting Pittsburgh Penguins at Detroit in Game one of the Stanley Cup finals. Detroit coach Mike Babcock is pretty confident of his team’s chances of lifting the cup this season and his only worry for game one is that he will not be able to utilize the services of forward Johan Franzen, who is out with concussions.

It’s that time of the year again for the NHL to present the Coach of the Year with the Jack Adams Award. This time, three candidates were named. Those with potential to bring home the Jack Adams award are Bruce Boudreau from the Washington Capitals, Mike Babcock from the Detroit Red Wings and Guy Carbonneau of the Montreal Canadiens. Rumors are rife that Boudreau might be a shoo-in for the winner for this award due to his excellent contributions within the Washington Capitals. He became their coach only months ago in November 2007 and certainly proved to be a better coach, unlike Glen Hanlon, who might be the underlying reason as to why the Washington Capitals came in last in the Eastern Conference with a dismal 6-14-1 record. Boudreau took over and showed great results, including presenting the Capitals with seven wins in a row in their path to be champions in the Southeast Division.

Fans should stay tuned and witness the emergence of the award winner come June 12 when they attend the NHL Awards ceremony held in Toronto.

If the Washington Capitals win tonight at the Toronto’s Air Canada Centre it will be their first 5 game streak of wins in seven years.
With Monday’s 6-5 win over Pittsburgh the Capitals took their season-high streak of wins to four games . The Capitas Alexander Semin came up with the game-winning goal in the final round  for Washington.  Semin skated toward the net and finished with an impressive backhand past goalie Ty Conklin to clench the victory. Alexander Ovechkin scored two goals, and Viktor Kozlov has his second two goal game in a row. The last time this time won five games in a row was March, 2001.
Moreover Ovechkin has scored six goals and four assists in the last five games. The Russian player is leading the league with 38 goals.  Ovechkin has scored at least one goal in every one of his last five games while Kozlov has four goals in his last two contests. It would appears as though Washington is going to cause a ruckus in the Southeast Division. Washington has won five of their last seven games against the Maple Leafs and three of the last four in Toronto.

Modano broke Housley’s National Hockey League record for career points by an American-born player with 2 quick goals in the opening minutes of the Dallas Stars’ 3-1 victory against the Sharks yesterday night. Mike Modano’s 2 goals in the first 4:24 gave him 1,233 points in 1,253 regular-season games — 242 games fewer than Phil Housley played.

The Senators are off to the best start to a season in the National Hockey League history after Tuesday night’s 5-1 win over their rivals Maple Leafs. The Senators improved to an impressive 13-1-0, making this season’s Senators the fastest team in the league to reach the thirteen-win mark. Each Ottawa player got a phone call from John Paddock last summer warning against a letdown following their trip to the Stanley Cup final last year. Paddock warned against the type of meltdown that happened to 2006 Cup finalists Edmonton and the Panthers, both of which missed the playoffs last season.

It seems that a new exciting and prosperous new chapter for the NHL Players’ Association has begun. Boston lawyer Paul Kelly, 52, was formally introduced as the union’s new executive director at a news conference yesterday. Paul Kelly is going to replace Ted Saskin. The latter was fired in May amid allegations he ordered the spying of NHLPA player e-mails in the midst of a player uprising against his leadership. A 5-player search committee got help from a Chicago search firm and interviewed a long list of candidates before Paul Kelly was recommended.