Coyote Tracks - Offseason Begins TGIF June 11 Edition

Ok, regardless of my personal Flyers fandom, I'd like to congratulate the Chicago Blackhawks and their fans for breaking a long cup-less drought and bringing Jeremy Roenick to tears.  The above closing montage from CBC's broadcast last night is just flat out awesome.  Hopefully in the next few years we won't have to just settle for a brief Shane Doan goal-face cameo, but can be a focus of many of the later highlights as well.

NHL-owned Phoenix Coyotes face free agency issues - ESPN
Phoenix Coyotes general manager Don Maloney faces the tough task of maintaining the momentum of last season's surprising team while dealing with the financial restrictions put in place by the NHL.  In the article, GMDM raises the questions as to whether they will be able to re-sign Zbynek Michalek and Matthew Lombardi.  If I had to guess, I'd say Lombo is more likely to return, but both are going to have a lot of suitors.  It's good to know that GMDM has his budget, and we know he will use it well, it's time to get going.

Phoenix Coyotes optimistic about season ticket sales - Phoenix Business Journal
Good news from President Doug Moss on season ticket sales as he's reporting over 500 new holders and there's still a long way to go until October.  We may not be doing the absolute best job of plugging into last season's goodwill, but at least we aren't completely killing it either.

COYOTES RE-SIGN SCHLEMKO AND HOLLWEG - Phoenix Coyotes - News
The Coyotes on Thursday re-signed defenseman David Schlemko and left wing Ryan Hollweg.  Good news about the Schlemko signing.  As for Hollweg, I don't really care one way or another.  He's a less talented Paul Bissonnette and he's likely just being signed to fill out a spot on the San Antonio roster.

After the jump, Maloney reports feeling good for the future, asking the question of whether a Cup justifies bad contracts (probably), what the Stanley Cup means to one blogger, and more...

Phoenix Coyotes executives see bright future for NHL team
Coyotes executives tout strong season ticket numbers and expect success on the ice next year.

Don Maloney is feeling good about the Coyotes' future - ProHockeyTalk - Hockey - NBC Sports
Reporting on the reporting really...but good to see the various perspectives...

2011 NHL Stanley Cup Odds to Win – Blackhawks Open as 11/2 Favorites
Want to put some early money on the Coyotes for next year's Cup.  Current payout will be at 25/1 - not a bad gamble, probably. 

Phoenix Coyotes Hockey on AZ Vibe " NHL Finalizes 2010 NHL Entry Draft order
Now that the Stanley Cup has been awarded the order of the first round of the NHL draft has been finalized. The Phoenix Coyotes will pick 13th (from Calgary) and 22nd.  We're going to be doing a mock draft over at From The Rink, and we'll make sure to get you some good information about the prospects next week.

The other 14 teams - From The Rink
Mike Chen took a look back at the other 14 playoff teams and how we got to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Does a Stanley Cup excuse bad contracts? - From The Rink
The Chicago Blackhawks are filled with overpaid contracts. Does winning the Stanley Cup excuse these?

If only it was just that...but as James Duthie reported:

Twitter / james duthie: Toews gets a 1.3 million b ...
Toews gets a 1.3 million bonus for winning Conn. Because Chi was at cap, it will count against next year, so add that to their cap issues.

Wonder if the Chicago execs went ballistic when Bettman announced Jonathan Toews as the Conn Smythe winner...they are seriously cap screwed next year.

Eulogy: Remembering the 2009-10 Philadelphia Flyers - Puck Daddy - NHL  - Yahoo! Sports
The final eulogy was fairly disappointing, but I generally like these.

Hockey Hall of Fame - Stanley Cup Journals: Main
Follow the Stanley Cup's journey this offseason as the Blackhawks get to spend their time with the greatest trophy in all of sports.  Hopefully there won't be any Kris Draper-type incidents, but you know these young kids...anything is possible.

What the Stanley Cup really means to us all - Puck Daddy - NHL  - Yahoo! Sports
Justin Bourne with his personal take on what the Cup means to all of us...his perspective probably doesn't really mirror ours, but I do love his take that it represents the ultimate success, the culmination of just fabulous work by an entire organization.

Finally, not quite whimsy, but for you gamers, a first glimpse at what we can expect from NHL 11...I think it's time I upgraded my own version of the game because it's been several years...

EA Sports NHL 11's new features in depth - From The Rink
How will EA Sports make NHL 11 more realistic than ever before? A look at some of the new features hitting the virtual ice.