Leafs Lose Pre-Season Opener

The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming into this season with high expectations. Fans expect a playoff berth for the 1st time in 2 years. They got their season started yesterday against the Edmonton Oilers.

The Oilers got the 1st goal of the game, when Slava Trukhno scored late in the 1st. But the Leafs came back just 2 minutes later with a goal of their own to tie it up. In the 2nd period, there was no score, so on to the 3rd. In that period, the Leafs got the lead when Bryan McCabe fired a shot past the Edmonton goalie. But just like the Leafs in the 1st, Edmonton came back quick to tie the game back up. The game ended up going into overtime.

In the O.T period, the Oilers scored early when Denis Grebeshkov scored just 3 minutes in to give the Oilers the win. Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish says the whole organization is still discovering what the 23-year-old Grebeshkov brings to the table.

``He has all kinds of skill,'' he said of Grebeshkov. ``For him to win the hockey game has to be a good feeling for him. There were other aspects of his game that we all saw can use some fine-tuning but there is obviously a lot to work with there.''

The Leafs will play tonight against the Coyotes.

Hockey News

Yesterday was Barry Bonds' day. He hit his 756th career home run and passed Hank Aaron to become the all-time home runs leader. But lost in all of the excitement was the big day in the NHL.

The 1st thing that happened was about the Edmonton Oilers. The Edmonton Investors Group, the group that owns the Oilers announced that the group rejected the latest bid from local pharmacy tycoon Daryl Katz to purchase the team for $185 million.

This is the 3rd time that Katz's bid has been rejected by the Oilers. And Katz will probably not get another chance to buy the Oilers because the Investors group has voted to take the 'For Sale' sign off the franchise. Katz will still be a part of the Oilers, as he owns the Rexall Pharmacy chain, and Edmonton's arena is named after Rexall.

''Clearly I'm disappointed that the ownership group has elected not to proceed with a sale but I accept their decision and wish them well,'' said Katz in a statement. ''As an Oilers' fan and the franchise's largest corporate sponsor, I will continue to be a major supporter of the team.''

Chairman of the Investors group Cal Nichols said that after some research, the money was not all it seemed. "This morning, our shareholders voted resoundingly to reject this offer," Nichols said at the news conference in Edmonton. "The reported sale price was $185 million, but in fact, it is actually closer to $160 million after capital adjustments and adjustments for tax treatment."

''I hope that this, at least for the near term, puts an end to the offer thing because this has been a bit of a circus for four months and no one in our group was going to continue doing what we were doing,'' Nichols told reporters in a news conference at the city's tony Petroleum Club."

The real problem in Edmonton is getting a new arena. This latest rejection of Katz's bid hasn't shed any light on how the Oilers are going to get the money for the new arena and when it will be built.

One bid to buy a team did go through though, as former Panthers coach Doug MacLean bought the Tampa Bay Lightning yesterday. A group led by MacLean bought the Lightning yesterday in a deal that includes the leasing rights to the Lightning's arena and adjacent properties.

''Typically, you come into a situation where ownership has been an issue,'' MacLean said at the news conference. ''We're following a great ownership group that took the Tampa Bay franchise and really put it on the map.'' When asked about re-location, MacLean quickly answered. "0% chance of that happening".

MacLean led the Panthers the Stanley Cup Final and will look to get Tampa back to their winning ways.

The final news of the day was the resigning of Mike Cammalleri. The forward for Los Angeles had 34 goals and 80 points last season, but will only be making $3.1 million next season after an arbitrator awarded him a 2-year deal worth $6.7 million.

''We got there the hard way,'' Kings GM Dean Lombardi told the Times. ''Nobody wins at these things. I think it is safe to say it came out closer to our end. But these situations aren't for winning and losing.''

Ducks Decline Offer Sheet for Penner

Brian Burke and the Anaheim Ducks have decided not to match the Edmonton Oilers' offer sheet to Dustin Penner. The offer sheet was worth over $4 million dollars per year, which seems to much for the Ducks to pay.

This means that the Oilers will owe Anaheim their 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks next year. Last season, Penner scored 29 goals and added 16 assists for 45 points in 82 games. In the Ducks run to the NHL Stanley Cup, he scored three goals and added five assists for eight points in 21 playoff games.

Earlier in the week, Brian Burke, Anaheim's GM lashed out at Kevin Lowe. "I have no problem with offer sheets, they are part of the CBA," Burke said on a conference call. "I think it's a tool certainly a team is entitled to use. My issue here is this is the second time this year in my opinion Edmonton have offered a grossly inflated salary for a player, and it impacts on all 30 teams and I think it's an act of desperation by a general manager who is fighting to keep his job."

"I have not (called him) and I don't plan on it," Lowe said on a conference call. "I have one responsibility and one responsibility only - and that's to the Edmonton Oilers fans and the Edmonton Oilers ownership.

"I'm not in the business of trying to make friends. Never have, never will be."

Edmonton is now gradually getting back to the level that took them to the Stanley Cup Final 2 years ago. They got Penner, and they also signed Sheldon Souray during the free-agent frenzy. People should be looking out for them next year.

Despite all of the this controversy about "a grossly inflated salary", the Oilers still got their man. He will play a big part next year for the Oilers.

Oilers Sign Penner To Offer Sheet

The Edmonton Oilers are back at it tendering another offer sheet to a restricted free-agent.

Edmonton signed Dustin Penner, a group 2 restricted free-agent tendering a five year, $21.25 million offer sheet to Penner. This is the 2nd time this year that the Oilers have gone after a restricted free-agent after failing to pick up Tomas Vanek from the Buffalo Sabres.

The Ducks have 7 days to match the Oilers offer, and if they don't, get a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick from the Oilers!

''We're going to wait and see what happens here in the next seven days before we make a comment,'' Penner's agent Gerry Johannson told The Canadian Press.

Penner had 29 goals and 16 assists in his 1st full NHL season last year.