That's right, it seems like there hasn't been Hockey since that album was released. I know, we were in the SCF and then the NHL Awards... the closing of the 08 Season, and my feverishly erasing my primary NHL 08 file (which had my Create-a-93-goal-scoring-power LW) to send Hossa packing. No more riding Sid's digital coat tails on his way to 149 digital points.
So now, the only things in the Hockey world appear to be Toronto creating McCabe trades to see if they'll gain any traction, and Scandinavian all-star forwards who won't sign contracts, and the discussion of the proposed "Nordic League", which will have top Scandinavian club teams against each other. The early problem apparently is that this league would be made almost entirely of Swedish teams, with only 2-3 from Norway, Finland, and Denmark.
It is true that the Fins don't like to be called Scandinavian, but they won't actually confirm who they're tolerant of so as to link them to a major land mass. They're taking the aggressive "we hate everyone" stance. They share a border with Norway, Sweden, and of course, Russia... I'm really not sure where they feel they can leverage an argument that they aren't "part of Scandinavia" without being lumped into the Soviet sphere. You see, if you try to just say "We're independent of the larger countries", you end up being Estonia, the Haiti of Europe.
I also need to see more serious discussion about floundering NHL franchises being moved to Canada. I think this is the make-or-break season, hopefully, for such discussions. Atlanta doesn't have a shot in hell at signing Kovalchuk to an extension, and when he leaves via UF Agency, there will not be anything resembling an NHL franchise. This would be OK if the fans loved the team and could survive an honest rebuild, but I think there is already a lot of trepidation regarding the team's future. Sure, they drafted Bogosian, but who's their second most promising defensive prospect? Boris Valabik?
Florida, similarly, put half the rumor monger core out of business as they finally traded Olli Jokinen. They now cannot seem to gauge the interest long-term of awesome talent Jay Bouwmeester, who seems intent on playing for a legitimate team. That is the trend, players not wanting to end up like Kovalchuk or Hossa before him; making the dollars, but being out of the playoff hunt (in a terrible division) by February. Who can blame them? Who wants to only start making the playoffs by the time they've played 7 or 8 years in the league?
Carolina and Washington, on the other hand, have a future. Carolina has won a championship and remain competitive every season. There are quite a lot of transplants from the Northeast that keep their building rockin, and although there aren't any mega-stars in the lineup, they win games by committee.
Washington had better start selling their building out. Ovechkin is the most marketable commodity in the league (yes even more than Sid) because it is very easy for the casual U.S. fan to quantify his worth. Last time I looked, D.C. has a good economy in place and plenty of diversity in terms of who attends their games. Honestly, if they don't sell that building out every game after OV signed that ridiculous contract, I would rip that team away from them.
NHL Hockey exists for the most part on ticket revenue, so for the league to not squeeze every nickel out of their greatest asset is a horrific possibility. Washington can have a team back in 5 seasons or something, but a team worthy of playing in front of 80% capacity crowds. D.C. had better attendance figures on the road, which should be as embarrassing as shitting your pants in public, but the much-heralded love affair between the Southeast and Gary Bettman remains as incredulous as ever. Their ranking is #24 both at home and overall, meaning they're behind New Jersey in attendance.
Just for some perspective, Pittsburgh is #16, but not for lack of persons shelling it out to see the team. We average over 100% attendance at home (100.7) a n d on the road (105.5). Once we get the New Igloo with its' capacity of more than our average 17,076 fans, that will all change. We lead the NHL in average overall attendance with 103.2% of seats sold, with the only other teams breaking the 100% margin being Buffalo (101.8) and Calgary (101.7).
Washington? 88.2, good for 26th.
Look at the home % for Toronto, Buffalo, Ottawa, and Montreal. All above 100% home attendance, even as two of those teams miss the playoffs. Quebec and especially Ontario can facilitate these teams.
Before I forget, Tampa has a very respectable home attendance record. Also, it is a circus down there at the moment, too much fun to relocate... although you could argue the feasibility of creating 2 run-and-gun teams given the number of forwards under contract. Their strategy: Roll all six lines, like the trap-era teams of the mid-90's. Horrible.
Carolina, as it turns out, is putting up an 88.8% home figure. That isn't terrible, and their overall is padded by a 91.2% on the road. They remain competitive, have won a championship, and have a few legit NHL stars despite winning games by committee. There are tons of Northeast transplants in the Carolinas, and I could actually see each Carolina with an NHL team. That would be an instant rivalry... plus, the team concept is good. Yes, I just said South Carolina could have its very own NHL team, and still have one in North Carolina. What you do is take the team you erroneously placed in Columbus, change the logo's colors to reflect the Confederacy, move it to Charleston (Where Fort Sumter is), call the team "Rebels", and market the idea that "The Charleston Rebels; beating the North at their own game". Believe me, they'll support that.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
What can be called "news" in August...
So, Sid can get his drink on. Everyone is speculating over the Crown Royal vs. how stupid is a 21 year drinking age in America saga, but just you remember how massive Mr. Lemieux's wine cellar is.
What do you purchase Sid for his birthday? A duster for his trophies? He's got the shoe endorsement, still rocks Tim Horton's, and a can of mace for any and all trips to Greenfield.
We all look at the acquisitions Pittsburgh has made since the run to the Finals, the Fedotenkos and the Cookes. Keep in mind that we've got the superstar talents already; we don't necessarily need to go out and get them. A number of teams (see: Toronto) would murder some guys to pry a Penguin away. The latest from that black hole, by the way, is that they won't leave Bryan McCabe alone and are speculating that he'll be persuaded to waive his No Movement Clause for a King's Ransom, you know, because although he's not a very good defender, the virtue of him playing in Toronto enhances his trade value and the fact that everyone owes Toronto a favor for being über stands as the singular point of reference. Bouwmeester is on the way out of Florida is exhibit A, and the extreme covetousness of one Jordan Staal is exhibit A1. All they need is a fulcrum, and they think McCabe is the guy. If I was Cliff, I would be waiting to see what Buffalo wants to do with Afinogenov.
At this time, I would like to point out something that I think applies to Sid and another former Penguin Captain.. Jags. In the history of the NHL, Jagr's style simply doesn't reflect any predecessor's. He is unique, something which cannot be said about very many players. The way Sid plays, in my opinion, is one of a kind. His rookie season, for instance, he backhanded his way to a ridiculous point total and continued to dig in every corner. He backcheckd to the point where Palffy was five steps behind the play. He wanted to do squats on the bench between shifts. Adam Hall at this point was still an auto mechanic who really liked Diamond Rio...
Ottawa continues to suck at running a hockey organization. I'll be interested to see what reaction Ruutu gets when he comes back to town, as if it isn't obvious. Eric Godard will most likely introduce himself, and the law will have been established. I just remember when former Penguin stalwart Darius Kasparaitis tried to produce one of his patented open-ice hits on Mario, whereupon Kaspar was stiff-armed a shocking 7 feet down and across the frozen water. We all remember when Ovechkin lined up Gino from 20 feet only to be repelled helicopter-style into the boards.
Brian Burke is looking everywhere for Teemu Selanne. Teemu, meanwhile, is sitting adjacent to Jim Morrison around a remote campfire, roasting a marshmallow discussing the psycho social ramifications of their PS3s "getting a bug just as they thought they triggered the event which leads to the Gray Fox appearing in Bruma". Just then, J. Edgar Hoover laments the absence of new strips of "Peanuts".
The NHLPA won't stop goading the League Office into defending their position on expanding to Canada. Any knowledge of basic economics promotes the idea that, even though the Canadian dollar is competitive in the World market, the complete lack of corporate industry in the key cities mentioned remains a wedge between even relocation of the NHL's "ugly sisters", specifically Florida and Atlanta, and the poor cries of bringing back the Nordiques or Jets which are falling upon dead ears.
I will reiterate that the Florida Panthers™ should play a very special "home game" in Hamilton, Ontario 41 times starting in 2009-10. "Hamilton Ice-adaptable Panthers" has a nice ring to it as well. Sooner than later, Phoenix and Wayne will loose its magic. Imagine Wayne setting up a play to try and tie the game with the goalie pulled.
"Ok. You, you will win the face off clean by slashing the other centre on and about the wrists and forearms. Our defender will then control the puck and pirouette around thier RW, working a give-and-go with (points at the Phoenix LW) you. At that point, make a 71-foot saucer pass to the centre who will be cutting to the middle of the ice, splitting the defence as his mullet sways and flutters with each elegant stride. Do a little forehand-fake, then roof it far side from the bottom of the hash marks. I used to do that all the time. The key to this working is you (nods to RW) will have to obstruct thier LW by pointing to a random space on the ice, distracting the second referee, and high-sticking thier LW in the neck. At that point, go in for the backdoor play in case we hit the post".
Finally, I wonder if this will finally be the year New Jersey stinks to high hell. It has to happen one of these years, why can't it be this one? It has been proven that Brodeur can win games even when left comletely unguarded. I seem to remember him shutting us out one home opener, eschewing an abysmal 20-game stretch resulting in multiple retirements and disappointment. I'll never forgive those assholes for letting the Rangers reach the Finals in 94, the worst year of my life. Kurt Cobain, Ranger mercenaries win, and The Cowboy Way™ is released in theaters. Brutal.
What do you purchase Sid for his birthday? A duster for his trophies? He's got the shoe endorsement, still rocks Tim Horton's, and a can of mace for any and all trips to Greenfield.
We all look at the acquisitions Pittsburgh has made since the run to the Finals, the Fedotenkos and the Cookes. Keep in mind that we've got the superstar talents already; we don't necessarily need to go out and get them. A number of teams (see: Toronto) would murder some guys to pry a Penguin away. The latest from that black hole, by the way, is that they won't leave Bryan McCabe alone and are speculating that he'll be persuaded to waive his No Movement Clause for a King's Ransom, you know, because although he's not a very good defender, the virtue of him playing in Toronto enhances his trade value and the fact that everyone owes Toronto a favor for being über stands as the singular point of reference. Bouwmeester is on the way out of Florida is exhibit A, and the extreme covetousness of one Jordan Staal is exhibit A1. All they need is a fulcrum, and they think McCabe is the guy. If I was Cliff, I would be waiting to see what Buffalo wants to do with Afinogenov.
At this time, I would like to point out something that I think applies to Sid and another former Penguin Captain.. Jags. In the history of the NHL, Jagr's style simply doesn't reflect any predecessor's. He is unique, something which cannot be said about very many players. The way Sid plays, in my opinion, is one of a kind. His rookie season, for instance, he backhanded his way to a ridiculous point total and continued to dig in every corner. He backcheckd to the point where Palffy was five steps behind the play. He wanted to do squats on the bench between shifts. Adam Hall at this point was still an auto mechanic who really liked Diamond Rio...
Ottawa continues to suck at running a hockey organization. I'll be interested to see what reaction Ruutu gets when he comes back to town, as if it isn't obvious. Eric Godard will most likely introduce himself, and the law will have been established. I just remember when former Penguin stalwart Darius Kasparaitis tried to produce one of his patented open-ice hits on Mario, whereupon Kaspar was stiff-armed a shocking 7 feet down and across the frozen water. We all remember when Ovechkin lined up Gino from 20 feet only to be repelled helicopter-style into the boards.
Brian Burke is looking everywhere for Teemu Selanne. Teemu, meanwhile, is sitting adjacent to Jim Morrison around a remote campfire, roasting a marshmallow discussing the psycho social ramifications of their PS3s "getting a bug just as they thought they triggered the event which leads to the Gray Fox appearing in Bruma". Just then, J. Edgar Hoover laments the absence of new strips of "Peanuts".
The NHLPA won't stop goading the League Office into defending their position on expanding to Canada. Any knowledge of basic economics promotes the idea that, even though the Canadian dollar is competitive in the World market, the complete lack of corporate industry in the key cities mentioned remains a wedge between even relocation of the NHL's "ugly sisters", specifically Florida and Atlanta, and the poor cries of bringing back the Nordiques or Jets which are falling upon dead ears.
I will reiterate that the Florida Panthers™ should play a very special "home game" in Hamilton, Ontario 41 times starting in 2009-10. "Hamilton Ice-adaptable Panthers" has a nice ring to it as well. Sooner than later, Phoenix and Wayne will loose its magic. Imagine Wayne setting up a play to try and tie the game with the goalie pulled.
"Ok. You, you will win the face off clean by slashing the other centre on and about the wrists and forearms. Our defender will then control the puck and pirouette around thier RW, working a give-and-go with (points at the Phoenix LW) you. At that point, make a 71-foot saucer pass to the centre who will be cutting to the middle of the ice, splitting the defence as his mullet sways and flutters with each elegant stride. Do a little forehand-fake, then roof it far side from the bottom of the hash marks. I used to do that all the time. The key to this working is you (nods to RW) will have to obstruct thier LW by pointing to a random space on the ice, distracting the second referee, and high-sticking thier LW in the neck. At that point, go in for the backdoor play in case we hit the post".
Finally, I wonder if this will finally be the year New Jersey stinks to high hell. It has to happen one of these years, why can't it be this one? It has been proven that Brodeur can win games even when left comletely unguarded. I seem to remember him shutting us out one home opener, eschewing an abysmal 20-game stretch resulting in multiple retirements and disappointment. I'll never forgive those assholes for letting the Rangers reach the Finals in 94, the worst year of my life. Kurt Cobain, Ranger mercenaries win, and The Cowboy Way™ is released in theaters. Brutal.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Regarding Bettman
I give GB a wide margin of error basically for checking into the Westin for 2 weeks and leveraging a deal between the City/State and Lemieux LLP. We're not going to have to watch what Quebec did (Team moves and immediately wins a Cup) because he mediated that deal on behalf of the NHL.
On the other hand, he refuses to stand up for the marginalization of our game by re-upping with Versus and letting the rules committee diminish aggression. People in taverns in non-hockey markets are either watching ESPN, which has roughly 2 minutes of NHL coverage an hour, or ESPN2, the network of billiards, darts, and poker tourneys.
I wish the short bastard would promote Hockey as Hockey. Yes, people may indeed fight one another. No, there aren't mixed messages. They are there so that nobody is boarded at 25MPH or elbowed in their orbital bone, hence, enforcers.
The guys who know those oft-mentioned unwritten rules, ones which I hope Gary Bettman isn't planning on someday jotting down for the purposes of printing them on a tee-shirt for $29.99.
Promote them. Those types of men are the ones at every Hospital visit, in the communities, and generally giving of themselves on behalf of the team and their sport.
The Parroses and the Laraques are the guys taking little kids' slappers off the junk at the Boys and Girls clubs whilst retaining a smile, after all.
I don't wanna see Marty Turco hit in the face with a pie. I want to see the average NHLer's athleticism and toughness put on equal terms with any other sport. At least equal terms.
I'm talking to you, Shaq, and your injured toe. You big bitch. You know what? Dmitry Yuskevich played in a Quarterfinal series with 9 broken toes for the Leafs, and the mainstream would maintain that he's a Soft Euro, nowhere near as tough as, say, Kyle Farnsworth.
It would be nice to see NHL Hockey in certain Canadian cities again, but Bettman can't expect investors to start popping up to build arenas and take a multi-million dollar risk. Save for Hamilton, ON, that's exactly what it would be.
Until then, get back on mainstream TV, and stop marginalizing junkie fans like me, Gary. I hate Joe Bennenatti. Hit him in the face with a pie. Do it, Gary! Stay out of your own way.
Footnote: I can't wait to smoke Toronto 5-1 on "Dougie Night". He was a punk in Toronto, and especially in Buffalo. I'd fight him right now, left handed, but his punk buddies like Vaclav Varada would charge me when I was trying to pick up my morning paper next week.
On the other hand, he refuses to stand up for the marginalization of our game by re-upping with Versus and letting the rules committee diminish aggression. People in taverns in non-hockey markets are either watching ESPN, which has roughly 2 minutes of NHL coverage an hour, or ESPN2, the network of billiards, darts, and poker tourneys.
I wish the short bastard would promote Hockey as Hockey. Yes, people may indeed fight one another. No, there aren't mixed messages. They are there so that nobody is boarded at 25MPH or elbowed in their orbital bone, hence, enforcers.
The guys who know those oft-mentioned unwritten rules, ones which I hope Gary Bettman isn't planning on someday jotting down for the purposes of printing them on a tee-shirt for $29.99.
Promote them. Those types of men are the ones at every Hospital visit, in the communities, and generally giving of themselves on behalf of the team and their sport.
The Parroses and the Laraques are the guys taking little kids' slappers off the junk at the Boys and Girls clubs whilst retaining a smile, after all.
I don't wanna see Marty Turco hit in the face with a pie. I want to see the average NHLer's athleticism and toughness put on equal terms with any other sport. At least equal terms.
I'm talking to you, Shaq, and your injured toe. You big bitch. You know what? Dmitry Yuskevich played in a Quarterfinal series with 9 broken toes for the Leafs, and the mainstream would maintain that he's a Soft Euro, nowhere near as tough as, say, Kyle Farnsworth.
It would be nice to see NHL Hockey in certain Canadian cities again, but Bettman can't expect investors to start popping up to build arenas and take a multi-million dollar risk. Save for Hamilton, ON, that's exactly what it would be.
Until then, get back on mainstream TV, and stop marginalizing junkie fans like me, Gary. I hate Joe Bennenatti. Hit him in the face with a pie. Do it, Gary! Stay out of your own way.
Footnote: I can't wait to smoke Toronto 5-1 on "Dougie Night". He was a punk in Toronto, and especially in Buffalo. I'd fight him right now, left handed, but his punk buddies like Vaclav Varada would charge me when I was trying to pick up my morning paper next week.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
August starts when?
I've been looking for anything to write about. Perhaps the presence of Paine, Rikku, and Yuna on Kari Lehtonen's helm? Bringing back the "Hockey Fights cancer" pink stick weekend? Always nice to see Owen Nolan winding up one of those. Wrigley and its' historic content and the resurgence of Blackhawks hockey in Chicago? The unveiling of the New York Rags'™ latest sponsor, AARP, was announced; it, however, fell on deaf ears as most New Yorkers are currently occupying recently established territories along the New Jersey shore destined to spawn a new generation of horrible, weasel-like deviants, primed to revel in a toxic, Bruce Springstein-Bon Jovi sympathising hellscape.
There's that "free word association" thing in action again. Deviant » Ted Nolan. He got the axe, for reasons unknown, by Garth "I didn't draft Luke Schenn" Snow. Seriously, if I'm a NY Islanders fan, I'm wondering why there are such a succession of blunders piling up. Trading Chara for Yashin... not keeping Luongo... not drafting Luke Schenn. Then they signed Doug Weight. Hey, Doug Weight used to play with Ryan Smyth, so he's just as good, right? Glaring errors which have and will cost that franchise for decades.
Pittsburgh looks to have completed its' NHL roster last week, and there's really no news save signing Kris Beech to a 2-way and the schedule allowing those in The Steel City to know when to book passage to DC. We continue to look fondly to the North, where Ottawa's woes continue and their writers are creating trades to see if they'll gain traction. It is very Toronto-esque; however, Ottawa doesn't have the league by the balls like the Leafs, so the 3-way LA-Chicago-Ottawa rumor everyone is familiar with isn't looking very realistic.
Speaking of realistic, Montreal continues to astound me with their sense of entitlement. I've seen (but not read) long, long lists of reasons why Mats Sundin will wear bleu, blanc, yadda yadda instead of Vancouver. If that fails, of course, they're gonna top their woeful first-place finish from last year by not losing to a pretty average team in the playoffs. It is also expected that they can just "sarifice everything and go for it like Pittsburgh last season" before the deadline. They have to insinuate that we'd traded our whole future because their best young player just signed on Long Island. Anyway, they assume that San Jose, for some reason, will accept a trade of Marleau to Montreal for garbage player. See: 2007, Ryder.
Habs77953798524: "Man, Ryder sucks. We need to trade his ass. What would good market value be? Bleu, Blanc, Rouge. I just am havings such a boner for Steve Begin".
IrresponsibleMtrlWriter: "Excellent question. I heard a rumor just this morning that Marleau and a truck containing $10,000,000,000 US dollars were heading our way in exchange for Ryder, which is a shrewd deal for Montreal. There is no such thing as fair market value for a Canadien, because their players would obviously become the best on their new team. Ryder is a prime example, because while he totally sucks in our colours, he would make average non-Canadiens centres like Joe Sakic shit their mind. We can only have s o many hall of famers, you know?"
Finally, Pittsburgh South continues to become more entertaining as it is rumored that Craig Patrick is a candidate for the GM post recently vacated by Jay Feaster. If he's the man for the job, expect him to fire phone calls to German Titov and Sebastien Caron with great haste. Contract already rumored to be on the table for Krzysztof Oliwa. Seriously, once Recchi signed there, it just got pretty out of control. If they hire Crag Patrick, you can expect Jan Hrdina and Rico Fata to jump in the mix. Hey, why not. They already have an 8-line team with nobody to defend the goal except for Filip Kuba, and Darryl Sydor if they want him. Just add Stu Barnes and you have a gated community for Old Penguins.
There's that "free word association" thing in action again. Deviant » Ted Nolan. He got the axe, for reasons unknown, by Garth "I didn't draft Luke Schenn" Snow. Seriously, if I'm a NY Islanders fan, I'm wondering why there are such a succession of blunders piling up. Trading Chara for Yashin... not keeping Luongo... not drafting Luke Schenn. Then they signed Doug Weight. Hey, Doug Weight used to play with Ryan Smyth, so he's just as good, right? Glaring errors which have and will cost that franchise for decades.
Pittsburgh looks to have completed its' NHL roster last week, and there's really no news save signing Kris Beech to a 2-way and the schedule allowing those in The Steel City to know when to book passage to DC. We continue to look fondly to the North, where Ottawa's woes continue and their writers are creating trades to see if they'll gain traction. It is very Toronto-esque; however, Ottawa doesn't have the league by the balls like the Leafs, so the 3-way LA-Chicago-Ottawa rumor everyone is familiar with isn't looking very realistic.
Speaking of realistic, Montreal continues to astound me with their sense of entitlement. I've seen (but not read) long, long lists of reasons why Mats Sundin will wear bleu, blanc, yadda yadda instead of Vancouver. If that fails, of course, they're gonna top their woeful first-place finish from last year by not losing to a pretty average team in the playoffs. It is also expected that they can just "sarifice everything and go for it like Pittsburgh last season" before the deadline. They have to insinuate that we'd traded our whole future because their best young player just signed on Long Island. Anyway, they assume that San Jose, for some reason, will accept a trade of Marleau to Montreal for garbage player. See: 2007, Ryder.
Habs77953798524: "Man, Ryder sucks. We need to trade his ass. What would good market value be? Bleu, Blanc, Rouge. I just am havings such a boner for Steve Begin".
IrresponsibleMtrlWriter: "Excellent question. I heard a rumor just this morning that Marleau and a truck containing $10,000,000,000 US dollars were heading our way in exchange for Ryder, which is a shrewd deal for Montreal. There is no such thing as fair market value for a Canadien, because their players would obviously become the best on their new team. Ryder is a prime example, because while he totally sucks in our colours, he would make average non-Canadiens centres like Joe Sakic shit their mind. We can only have s o many hall of famers, you know?"
Finally, Pittsburgh South continues to become more entertaining as it is rumored that Craig Patrick is a candidate for the GM post recently vacated by Jay Feaster. If he's the man for the job, expect him to fire phone calls to German Titov and Sebastien Caron with great haste. Contract already rumored to be on the table for Krzysztof Oliwa. Seriously, once Recchi signed there, it just got pretty out of control. If they hire Crag Patrick, you can expect Jan Hrdina and Rico Fata to jump in the mix. Hey, why not. They already have an 8-line team with nobody to defend the goal except for Filip Kuba, and Darryl Sydor if they want him. Just add Stu Barnes and you have a gated community for Old Penguins.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Roster looking finished, Therrien expected to fig nose at 2-yr extension offer
First, apparently, Darryl Sydor has formally asked to be traded. Perhaps he's unaware that we've been trying to trade him since we waived Mark Recchi. Its an attempt to save some face... like that psychotic girl who interrupted you breaking up with her to interject that she was, in fact, breaking up with you first. Tampa remain the front-runners, naturally.
Remember all those who illustrated their obviously jealous "Tampa North" scenario? Irony mildly describes the scenario today; Tampa Bay is Pittsburgh South. Its a destination for Penguin retirement and/or mediocrity. I guess Jagr and Straka weren't Penguins recently enough to qualify? The even feature an all-lefty defence. So now, there are the WB/S Baby Penguins, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Tampa Bay Old Penguins.
If they import Sydor or Scuderi, who is being packaged to make Sydor more attractive, they'll be two of Tampa's top 4, rivalling The Rangers for "most pathetic blueline" this upcoming season. Their top guys as it stands are Paul Ranger and Shane O'Brien. I've seen enough Matt Carle to place him 4th, with the aging Filip Kuba just itching to try and avoid physicality en route to collecting his $3M.
We're signing depth players to 2-way contracts, so basically unless something irrefutable comes our way, the roster is looking finished. It remains to be seen who plays where, it is up to Mike Therrien and his assistants. This is troubling to me. Mike played Staal as the top line LW and Petr Sykora on the 3rd line at the beginning of last season. If we had started better, I think we could have won the President's Trophy and the SC Finals could have been much different.
Anyway, I'm not an NHL coach. I don't know what goes into the decision making process. I do know, however, that Therrien looked ridiculous getting shut out for 2 games, dressing Laraque, and scratching Kris Letang for Darryl Sydor. I remember the mid-season policy with rotating defence. Everyone except Gonchar (including new $4M Ryan Whitney) was going to be scratched occasionally so that Therrien could make room for his boy Scuderi. Shocking. He, of course, used the policy to single out Brooks Orpik and didn't simply ignore Sydor indefinitely.
I know that he really, really wants Dany Sabourin to succeed. He wants him to win 15 games. Its asinine, but he's going to get the minutes to try and do that. He wanted Michel Ouellet to score 25 goals once, but he's with the Tampa Bay Old Penguins now. The guy loves minor-leaguers. Jeff Taffe is going to be on the team all season, and he's going to play Scuderi a lot. Goligoski is going to have a very frustrating season, full of lengthy scratches and awkward situations so that Scuderi can be nice and comfortable. The career potential will remain meaningless.
Remember all those who illustrated their obviously jealous "Tampa North" scenario? Irony mildly describes the scenario today; Tampa Bay is Pittsburgh South. Its a destination for Penguin retirement and/or mediocrity. I guess Jagr and Straka weren't Penguins recently enough to qualify? The even feature an all-lefty defence. So now, there are the WB/S Baby Penguins, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Tampa Bay Old Penguins.
If they import Sydor or Scuderi, who is being packaged to make Sydor more attractive, they'll be two of Tampa's top 4, rivalling The Rangers for "most pathetic blueline" this upcoming season. Their top guys as it stands are Paul Ranger and Shane O'Brien. I've seen enough Matt Carle to place him 4th, with the aging Filip Kuba just itching to try and avoid physicality en route to collecting his $3M.
We're signing depth players to 2-way contracts, so basically unless something irrefutable comes our way, the roster is looking finished. It remains to be seen who plays where, it is up to Mike Therrien and his assistants. This is troubling to me. Mike played Staal as the top line LW and Petr Sykora on the 3rd line at the beginning of last season. If we had started better, I think we could have won the President's Trophy and the SC Finals could have been much different.
Anyway, I'm not an NHL coach. I don't know what goes into the decision making process. I do know, however, that Therrien looked ridiculous getting shut out for 2 games, dressing Laraque, and scratching Kris Letang for Darryl Sydor. I remember the mid-season policy with rotating defence. Everyone except Gonchar (including new $4M Ryan Whitney) was going to be scratched occasionally so that Therrien could make room for his boy Scuderi. Shocking. He, of course, used the policy to single out Brooks Orpik and didn't simply ignore Sydor indefinitely.
I know that he really, really wants Dany Sabourin to succeed. He wants him to win 15 games. Its asinine, but he's going to get the minutes to try and do that. He wanted Michel Ouellet to score 25 goals once, but he's with the Tampa Bay Old Penguins now. The guy loves minor-leaguers. Jeff Taffe is going to be on the team all season, and he's going to play Scuderi a lot. Goligoski is going to have a very frustrating season, full of lengthy scratches and awkward situations so that Scuderi can be nice and comfortable. The career potential will remain meaningless.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
The long and winding road
We signed Fedotenko, for whom I can't wait to have higher stats in all categories than Ryan Malone in 08/09, and Miro Satan. He's 33, 6'3, has only missed 3 games in the past 3 seasons. $3.5M. Because of all the 3's, I'm going to have to predict him putting up 33 goals in the regular season.
Will they be the top line? Who knows. Dupuis is back as well, but I think he'll be a depth guy/PK specialist. Apparently we're trying to import one Janne Pesonen, 26, who looks real sick online. He's been throttling the Finnish top division at 5'11, 180. Instantly the pundits say "his size awf fuh fuh fuh fuh"; watch this video of him pull a Drury under-the-poke-check move, get held but elbow the D-man, freeze the goalie, and proceed to pick the far corner on the backhand. There's a few vids of him dangling defenders, scoring on penalty shots, etc. The video is much better when you imagine the defenseman be Derian Hatcher.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaVNLqhiPa8&feature=related
Then there's Staal. What will we do with him? I guess last season he was supposed to be the #3 wing, not the #3 centre. Depending on who else we sign, its looking like Talbot is our 3rd line C, which is awsome. Whats with all the 3's? Anyway, I really don't know what is going on with Staalsy. Is he an even strength/PP wing and PK centre? I guess. Therrien will likely do something shocking like make Ryan Whitney the #2 LW for the first 5 games to try and get Sydor moved. In an unfortunately related note, Tampa seems interested in a Sydor/Scuderi/pick? in exchange for former Therrien saddle-bronc Michel Oulette.
If we for some reason bring Oulette back, that means he's going to be a top-six wing. No joke. All those times Mark Madden went on those rants about Therrien refusing to use better players in all situations were completely justified.
So what would I do? We've got ~$3.8M in cap space, and its looking like Sydor's 2.5 will be gone soon. I play Staal at 2nd-line LW, and I create a third line based around our PK unit of Talbot-Dupuis. Will Pesonen make the jump? It could make for a very fast two-way 3rd line. Will we come to terms with a guy like Matt Cooke? Unknown.
The first thing I would do with the cap room we d o have is sign Yannick Perreault. He scored 21 goals for a garbage Phoenix team for 38 pts in 66 games, could be had for $1.250M, and is the mac on face-offs. Sure, he can't skate. He's 5'11, plays as ruggedly as you would expect a Smurf. We need a face-off specialist, and our young guys need to learn the art from a guy who went 64.3% last season. Sick.
Something I saw Toronto do a lot last year, which was the only decent strategy they used, was have Sundin win all their PK draws and then change. I wouldn't have a problem with playing him ~6 minutes to take face-offs, especially since the new "face-off is automatically in your zone if you take a penalty" rule is going to create a lot of chances. He would be a specialist forward with a clear role, much like Eric Godard is a specialist forward with a clear role. In addition, that gives us the optional C after we load 2-3 onto our PP unit.
I would really like to sign Matt Cooke. If our third-line was Dupuis-Talbot-Cooke, we have a lot of speed, grit, and agitation. Part of covering top lines is skating with them, then again Therrien has shown no interest in paying attention to the tactics of the opponent. Anyway, Cooke is an outstanding PK forward as well. He's ultimately going to cash in with one of the NHL's ugly sisters, like St. Louis or Atlanta, so I'm not going to get my hopes up.
In any event, I love that we're not committed to quite a bit of salary after this season. Gaborik will be out there next summer, and from all indications, he'll be on our trade radar all season. What if that doesn't work out? When we're set to open our new building, point-per-game (466gp, 466 pts) and perrenial 50-goal threat Ilya Kovalchuk will be a UFA, probably of the defunct Las vegas Thrashers.. although his career -73 shocks and awes.
Will they be the top line? Who knows. Dupuis is back as well, but I think he'll be a depth guy/PK specialist. Apparently we're trying to import one Janne Pesonen, 26, who looks real sick online. He's been throttling the Finnish top division at 5'11, 180. Instantly the pundits say "his size awf fuh fuh fuh fuh"; watch this video of him pull a Drury under-the-poke-check move, get held but elbow the D-man, freeze the goalie, and proceed to pick the far corner on the backhand. There's a few vids of him dangling defenders, scoring on penalty shots, etc. The video is much better when you imagine the defenseman be Derian Hatcher.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaVNLqhiPa8&feature=related
Then there's Staal. What will we do with him? I guess last season he was supposed to be the #3 wing, not the #3 centre. Depending on who else we sign, its looking like Talbot is our 3rd line C, which is awsome. Whats with all the 3's? Anyway, I really don't know what is going on with Staalsy. Is he an even strength/PP wing and PK centre? I guess. Therrien will likely do something shocking like make Ryan Whitney the #2 LW for the first 5 games to try and get Sydor moved. In an unfortunately related note, Tampa seems interested in a Sydor/Scuderi/pick? in exchange for former Therrien saddle-bronc Michel Oulette.
If we for some reason bring Oulette back, that means he's going to be a top-six wing. No joke. All those times Mark Madden went on those rants about Therrien refusing to use better players in all situations were completely justified.
So what would I do? We've got ~$3.8M in cap space, and its looking like Sydor's 2.5 will be gone soon. I play Staal at 2nd-line LW, and I create a third line based around our PK unit of Talbot-Dupuis. Will Pesonen make the jump? It could make for a very fast two-way 3rd line. Will we come to terms with a guy like Matt Cooke? Unknown.
The first thing I would do with the cap room we d o have is sign Yannick Perreault. He scored 21 goals for a garbage Phoenix team for 38 pts in 66 games, could be had for $1.250M, and is the mac on face-offs. Sure, he can't skate. He's 5'11, plays as ruggedly as you would expect a Smurf. We need a face-off specialist, and our young guys need to learn the art from a guy who went 64.3% last season. Sick.
Something I saw Toronto do a lot last year, which was the only decent strategy they used, was have Sundin win all their PK draws and then change. I wouldn't have a problem with playing him ~6 minutes to take face-offs, especially since the new "face-off is automatically in your zone if you take a penalty" rule is going to create a lot of chances. He would be a specialist forward with a clear role, much like Eric Godard is a specialist forward with a clear role. In addition, that gives us the optional C after we load 2-3 onto our PP unit.
I would really like to sign Matt Cooke. If our third-line was Dupuis-Talbot-Cooke, we have a lot of speed, grit, and agitation. Part of covering top lines is skating with them, then again Therrien has shown no interest in paying attention to the tactics of the opponent. Anyway, Cooke is an outstanding PK forward as well. He's ultimately going to cash in with one of the NHL's ugly sisters, like St. Louis or Atlanta, so I'm not going to get my hopes up.
In any event, I love that we're not committed to quite a bit of salary after this season. Gaborik will be out there next summer, and from all indications, he'll be on our trade radar all season. What if that doesn't work out? When we're set to open our new building, point-per-game (466gp, 466 pts) and perrenial 50-goal threat Ilya Kovalchuk will be a UFA, probably of the defunct Las vegas Thrashers.. although his career -73 shocks and awes.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
I'm leaving the house in my slippers to get more beer.
I'm hearing Fedotenko and Satan, please no, no no please argh.
Update:
Apparently both have signed a 1 year deal. That, in part at least, explains paying Satan $3.5M. I guess he's durable, having only missed 2 games the past 3 seasons.. but he had 16G and 41 points and a -11 rating last year. He was a top six wing 4 years ago, a top-2 wing 8 years ago.
So, with the new signings (that make me feel like a laughing stock), we have about $8.5M in wasted cap space. I made a big deal last season about how organizations in the toilet have to buy top lines, like the Islanders did with Guerin, Comrie, and Fedotenko last season. Now, it appears as though we've alleviated the NYI of their garbage.
Fedotenko will have better numbers than Ryan Malone this season. That doesn't mean its a good deal, it just means that what Shero said about Staalsy's ice time was a lie.
Satan will more than likely get benched by Therrien. 3.5M? What the fuck? What did Naslund want, anyway? Its a goddamn good thing that its a 1-yr deal, thats for sure. 3.5M? I'd rather have the cap space, thank you very much. I went to be last night thinking "as long as we don't return Satan's phone calls...". I understand its admirable to have guys who want to play for you (Syko), but damn. How's 2.75m for an undersized, aging lefty?
This also sews up the forward lines, although its a fruitless tast to try and figure out Therrien's lines, etc. Damn it. I feel like we haven't done any better than those asshole teams that are still trying to sign Mats Sundin.
Update:
Apparently both have signed a 1 year deal. That, in part at least, explains paying Satan $3.5M. I guess he's durable, having only missed 2 games the past 3 seasons.. but he had 16G and 41 points and a -11 rating last year. He was a top six wing 4 years ago, a top-2 wing 8 years ago.
So, with the new signings (that make me feel like a laughing stock), we have about $8.5M in wasted cap space. I made a big deal last season about how organizations in the toilet have to buy top lines, like the Islanders did with Guerin, Comrie, and Fedotenko last season. Now, it appears as though we've alleviated the NYI of their garbage.
Fedotenko will have better numbers than Ryan Malone this season. That doesn't mean its a good deal, it just means that what Shero said about Staalsy's ice time was a lie.
Satan will more than likely get benched by Therrien. 3.5M? What the fuck? What did Naslund want, anyway? Its a goddamn good thing that its a 1-yr deal, thats for sure. 3.5M? I'd rather have the cap space, thank you very much. I went to be last night thinking "as long as we don't return Satan's phone calls...". I understand its admirable to have guys who want to play for you (Syko), but damn. How's 2.75m for an undersized, aging lefty?
This also sews up the forward lines, although its a fruitless tast to try and figure out Therrien's lines, etc. Damn it. I feel like we haven't done any better than those asshole teams that are still trying to sign Mats Sundin.
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