Summer is the time for blockbuster movies.

Right?

Man, Have I got a trailer for you.

We all thought when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 that the cold war was officially over.

Come to find out the National Hockey League has found themselves embroiled in a cold war of its own.

The NHL and the Russian Hockey Federation are currently in a stalemate over the IIHF transfer agreement after the Russians rejected the latest offer. The primary issue at hand (besides greed) is the desire of Russian teams to negotiate individual transfers with NHL teams in an attempt to lure millions of dollars in fees from the NHL clubs as to the proposed $200,000 dollars negotiated in the latest offer.

(Seems greed is a little more involved than one originally thought.)

While the NHL was fighting over their own financial squabbles, the Russian Super League was suffering from its own money woes, even to the point that Dynamo Moscow couldn't pay their players and coaches, resulting in the team filing for bankruptcy just one year after winning the RSL Championship.

Unfortunately, the NHL was dragged into this issue despite the fact this has little to do about them. Rich oil companies purchase hockey clubs and run them like toys or trinkets, not having any regard for the financial wellbeing of the league as a whole. Small market teams were unable to afford talent due to the high cost and sponsorships were tough to seek out, even big market clubs fell victim, when sponsorship money began to dry up as Dynamo Moscow found out.

Newly installed Russian Hockey President Vladislav Tretiak took over the fledgling league with the intentions of returning a stable hockey league to Russia. He began by moving forward with a new economic model, where under the new rules of the league, teams had to pay an assortment of fees in order to be eligible to play in the league, such fees included a fee to import a foreign player and a even a larger fee for the importation of a foreign goaltender.

This of course didn't sit well with the owners of the RSL, adding the transfer fee only added chaos to havoc already being created. According to sources with in Russia, several teams wrote a letter to Tretiak threatening him that they would pull out of the playoffs, should they be force to comply with these new financial rules.

Tretiak didn't budge and neither did the owners as they each had their own bargaining chip in the negotiations. Tretiak has the ultimate say in the end as to how the RSL would be managed, he simply can give the boot to any team who fails to comply, however the owners can likewise hold a gun to the head of the RSL, opting to not giving their blessing to the IIHF transfer agreement.

Tretiak was left little choice, but to say no to the NHL and IIHF, given the fact he was able to work out a suitable agreement with all parties involved. The owners of the RSL were not going to be told what to do by the NHL and IIHF.

This impasse has left a bigger impact on the hockey world. Players such as Ottawa's Alexei Kaigorodov and Edmonton's Alexi Mikhnov, who would have found there way to there respective NHL club this season aren't able to play this year because the transfer agreement has yet to be signed.

One issue by not having this agreement in place is its affect on more than getting prospects signed. Less Russian's are being drafted, in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, no Russian player was selected first overall by any club, whereas 10 Americans were selected in the first round. Only one Russian was selected in the first round with Washington's second overall pick, they selected goaltender Semen Varlamov from Yaroslavl.

Another factor is players leaving Russia and the club not getting any compensation, most notably is Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, who story took an interesting twist this week, while in Finland with his Russian club Metallurg Magnitogorsk, he took his belongings and passport, vanishing into the night for Canada as it is believed that Malkin had a Canadian visa according to his former Russian agent, Sergei Isakov

The Penguins or the NHL will neither confirm nor deny that they know the whereabouts of Malkin.

"We can neither confirm nor deny this action from happening. Mr. Malkin needs to make a consensus decision on where he wants to play, however, we will be more than glad help Mr. Malkin in the best way possible," said a high-level NHL official.

Malkin's agents JP Barry and Pat Brisson won't say anything about the whereabouts of Malkin; though they are confident his is out of harm's way.

''I can tell you I think he is safe, but I cannot comment on anything else,'' said Brisson in an AP interview.

It's firmly believed that Malkin is currently in Canada waiting to receive the proper paperwork in order to come to the United States and eventually sign with the Pittsburgh Penguins, taking to the ice this fall.

Magnitogorsk general director Gennady Velichkin has informed the Penguins through press that they will fight any attempt by Malkin to play for the Penguins this fall. Malkin just signed a new one-year deal last week after tearing up his prior deal, which would have kept him in Russia until 2008.

''We all are really shocked by his departure and we will take legal actions against the NHL club Penguins from Pittsburgh,'' Metallurg general director Gennady Velichkin told Itar-Tass news agency.

Unclear is what process Velichkin will take as there is precedent set in the U.S. that would appear to favor Malkin. Nikolai Zherdev left his team in Russia to play for Columbus and Alexander Ovechkin left Dynamo Moscow for the Washington Capitals, both were sued and lost, resulting in no compensation.

In January, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed a case brought forward by Ovechkin's former Russian club Dynamo Moscow, suing the Washington Capitals for compensation.

No one knows for sure what is contained in Malkin's contract with Magnitogorsk, but some believe that their's a clause that allowed Malkin to leave his club should he receive an offer from the Penguins. Malkin has made mention to that fact in several interviews prior to his disappearance.

Not since the fall of communism has a player defected to the United States as the last player to do so was Alexander Mogilny in 1989, when he fled Russia for America to play for the Buffalo Sabres.

It should be interesting as the plot thickens.

Pass the popcorn, please?

What the "bleep" is this world coming too? The new NHL is starting to give me a headache. I recently learned that being a fan of the NHL now requires you to be a certified accountant. Speaking with a friend who works in the hockey world, he told me to take a vacation to cure my ills

The NHL went through a war with the NHLPA, costing the fans a full season because Gary Bettman and his flock were crying fowl, claiming they were losing millions and millions of dollars. Remember Arthur Levitt and the Levitt report were he proclaimed that league losses were in excess of $273 million dollars. The NHL was fighting the fight for the small market teams by getting a salary cap and cost certainty. This will prevent salaries from being inflated beyond our ability to run the business as a whole.

Anybody remember this?

Guess what folks!

We are heading back to that point again as only one year after carnage and destruction of the lockout, salaries are beginning to head back in the direction of instability.

But wait the NHL got their salary cap, that was suppose to be enough to the save the owners and general managers from themselves.

Because of how late the free agency period began last season, teams and players really didn't have enough time to absorb the new CBA, but as soon as the July 1^st bell on unrestricted free agency rang, it was like watching women at Macy's during the wedding dress sale. You know the one on television where women are literally walking all over each other, stabbing other women in the back to get that perfect dress, willing to pay any price.

Well this was the same thing.

Shortly after 12pm on the 1^st, Zdeno Chara signed with the Boston Bruins after countless GM's tried to undercut one another in an attempt to lure away from the Senators what was considered the prize of the NHL free agency period.

Oh by the way, Chara signed for a 5-year, 37.5 million dollar deal.

As deal-by-deal went down, it left you scratching your head. Did anybody learn anything or are all GM's inept when it comes to handling the bosses' money. Great hockey minds, poor accountants.

Now we find ourselves into the infamous period where restricted free agents get to have their value judged by an independent third party.

Seems harmless right?

NOT!! Daniel Briere was awarded a one year deal worth 5 million dollars, which the Sabres now have 48 hours to decide if they will sign him or let him walk. Furthermore, is he even worth that amount?

Well because of how arbitration works, when the yahoo GM in Chicago signed Martin Havlat to a three year, 18 million dollar deal, it immediately inflated the marketplace making it almost certain that players who are considered comparable will be getting a big raise.

What makes things worse is an arbitrator giving Briere a raise of 163%, going from 1.9 million to 5 million dollars.

I wish I could go to my boss and say "I want a raise of 163%" if I did that I would promptly find myself heading for the curb.

This is the same process that happened during the last CBA that sent the NHL into a tailspin.

What is slowly developing is a system where your good players are getting the big bucks and then rest of the roster is filled with lower end talent, bypassing the middle ground.

Now you have Buffalo GM Darcy Regier, who had this decision taken out of his hands, he is now forced to either sign him or let him walk. Let's make things even more complicated, Regier will be battling this issue again next year as Briere will be an unrestricted free agent and can walk without any compensation, which means it is almost assured that Regier will deal Briere to get something.

We could speak about the Sabres being cheap and how Larry Quinn and Tom Galisano have a self imposed salary cap so they can dip into the revenue sharing despite the fact they made a healthy profit last year, but that is for another day.

Another example would Luscious Lou of New Jersey, who has been able to escape the cap like a contortionist. Scott Gomez was awarded a one year, 5 million dollar award, which the Devils would hardly afford as they are pushing 47 million with Gomez signed and they need to get Brain Gionta, David Hale, Paul Martin and Erik Rasmussen still need to be signed.

Not a good situation for Mr. Lamoriello, It is almost certain that he will need to deal Gomez because he can afford him and the worse part of the whole thing is going to be he won't be able to get true value in return because they can't afford him.

You can thank arbitration for that.

Where's the Tylenol, better yet, I am going to take a that vacation now.    

This has been a busy month for the Anaheim "don't call them mighty" Ducks as they have begun to fill out the roster and begin putting the pieces in to place for the Portland Pirates upcoming season.

Along with trading for Chris Pronger, Anaheim has signed several players, who have a chance of playing in Anaheim, but most likely will find their home overlooking a sunrise over the Atlantic as to watching the sun set over the Pacific.

The Pirates should find themselves familiar with several of the signings. Starting with Colby Genoway, who played with the Hartford Wolf Pack last season. He played in 77 games, scoring 26 goals, 35 assists for 61 points; he also played 13 games in the playoffs, scoring 4 goals, 8 assists for 12 points. Genoway was considered a force to be paid attention too because of his scoring prowess. Genoway has good wheels and an accurate shot. The 6-1, 201-pound native from Morden, Manitoba is an alumnus of the Winkler Flyers, who Dustin Penner tried out, but failed to make the team. Genoway will be expected to make a significant contribution to the Pirates as he will be a nice addition on a line with Ryan Shannon and Pierre Parenteau.

Added to the growing list of forwards is Ryan Carter, who left Minnesota State University - Mankato just after completing his second year. In his two seasons at university, he played 76 games, scoring 34 goals, 24 assists for 58 points, prior to that the Minnesota native played for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. Carter signed a two-year entry level contract worth 850,000 and he also received a signing bonus worth 85,000 for deciding to leave school early.

"If you would have asked me before my freshman year if I thought I'd get an opportunity to sign a pro contract after my sophomore year, I would have said, 'No way,'" the 22-year old forward said in a phone interview from California at the Ducks prospects camp.

Carter gives Pirates Head Coach Kevin Dineen a ton of talent to work with as he attempts mold a forward for the new NHL.

The Ducks continue to help the Pirates maintain that edgy toughness with the addition of Shawn Thornton, former captain the Norfolk Admirals. Drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 7th round (#190 overall) of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, Thornton has been for the most part a career AHL player as he played for the St. John's Maple Leafs and Norfolk Admirals, where he spent the last five seasons.

Last season, Thornton set career highs for assists (22) and points (32), but it's the gritty toughness that Thornton is known for as he has averaged over 200 PIM's.

Thornton does have NHL experience with 31 games with the Blackhawks and although he may land in Portland for the majority of the season, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him wearing a Ducks uniform at some point this season.

The Pirates will face significant change on the back end as Ladislav Smid was traded to Edmonton as part of the Chris Pronger deal. Shane O'Brien and Maxim Kondratiev will be fighting for the 7th spot on the Ducks roster pending potential pitfalls.

O'Brien originally declined his qualify offer instead looking to negotiate a new deal, but in the end he accepted a new one year deal and could have a heads up going into training camp as Maxim Kondratiev is still negotiating for a new deal which contains a one-way clause in his contract. There have been rumblings under the surface that he may be heading back to Russia because he can secure a bigger contract.

Who expects Burke to balk at that request?

He will gladly drive the car to the airport, while giving a proper sendoff to Kondratiev. Burke isn't one to be bullied into a deal and like all other cases Burke will offer what he believes is Kondratiev's fair market.

I must admit I was one who was all over this guy when he arrived in a Pirates uniform. I thought was he was lazy and unmotivated and for the most part he proved me right. That was until Kondratiev and Dineen had a man-to-man discussion and you watched a magical change in Kondratiev causing me to eat my words. Kondratiev was probably the best offensive defenseman on the ice for the Pirates in playoffs until he was injured. One should not be flabbergasted to see Kondratiev in Russia come October.

Among other changes to the defense for the Ducks organization is the addition of Clay Wilson, who played for former Pirates defenseman Todd Nelson in Muskegon of the UHL before playing 60 games with Grand Rapids Griffins, scoring 10 goals, 27 assist for 37 points. Wilson earned AHL Player of the Week on December 26, 2005 when he scored four goals and an assist in 4 games becoming the first Griffins defenseman to win the honor. Wilson is also a two-time recipient of the Gitzen-Loutit Memorial Award as the Huskies' outstanding defenseman at Michigan Tech. He will see significant time on the blueline in Portland.

Goaltending is also influx when the Ducks added goaltender Michael Leighton, who played in the Chicago organization until being traded to Buffalo and playing in Rochester with the Americans going 15-22-1 with a 3.21 goals against average and a .887 save percentage.

Adding Leighton has fueled the fire and speculation that Anaheim is about trade one of its goaltenders, either J.S. Giguere or Ilya Bryzgalov. The obvious choice would be Giguere based on the fact that we are now in the new NHL and the salary cap will dictate what a team will do for the most part. Giguere is scheduled to earn 3.99 million dollars for the upcoming season and is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent come July 2007. One would only have to the look at the Ottawa Senators to see the facts as they were unable to hold on to either Zdano Chara or Martin Havlat because both commanded big salaries with their new clubs.

Rumors have been rampant about where Giguere could go as Detroit, Florida, St. Louis are looking to secure their goaltending ranks.

Bryzgalov added even more fuel to the fire last week when he told Sovietsky Sport newspaper that he was told that he was going to be the number one goaltender. He also went on to say how the Ducks have tried to deal Giguere, but no one wants him. Ducks GM Brian Burke dismissed the comments as being lost in translation.

Maybe that's the safe thing to do because Kondratiev might have a partner on the plane back to Russia.

Bryzgalov came back a few days later defending his comments with the usual response. 

''All my words have been taken out of a context,'' Bryzgalov said in clearing his position. ''It is no wonder that they have caused a big (stir) in North America.''

Trading Giguere is on the minds of the Ducks front office staff, but in the back of their minds is what happens if they can't get Bryzgalov under contract.

They are still confident because Bryzgalov doesn't own any arbitration rights and therefore doesn't have much leverage other than to head back to Russia, but if he heads back to Russia he looks like a fool after making those comments back on July 15th.

Having Leighton gives the Ducks an insurance policy going forward. He could be in Portland with rookie David McKee which means Nathan Marsters, who played last season with the Pirates could find himself optioned to Augusta after playing 37 games for the Pirates last year.

One would say its part of the game, but it seems to be a slap in the face of a player who played admirably for the Pirates leading the team in wins (23), minutes played (2050) and saves (955).

Other signings important to the Pirates this upcoming season include Pierre Parenteau as he accepted his qualifying offer electing to sign the one year deal. This is a pivotal season for the forward from Montreal as he needs to prove to the Ducks staff that he can stay healthy for a full season while putting up big numbers. He began his stint in Portland last year injured with a broken wrist missing the first 24 games of the season.

The Ducks have also signed Stanislav Chistov to a two-year contract at 800,000 per season. He will be with the Ducks this season and Randy Carlyle and Brian Burke will look for him to put big numbers up over the course of his contract.

The Ducks have also resigned Andy McDonald to three-year 10 million dollar contract after having a break out year.

Another Duck who had a break out year was Chris Kunitz as he avoided arbitration when he signed a two-year deal worth 2.1 million.

Anaheim still have a lot of work in front of them as they try to get several players under contract like Vitaly Vishnevski, Ilya Bryzgalov and Zenon Konopka.

So much for summer eh?