Your First Trade Is Always The Worst

I am excited to see Brian Campbell head out west, I think his skills on the power play and his leadership on the ice will be a huge value add in the Sharks organization. I don’t know how it felt for Brian when he was notified that he was just traded, but if I were to equate the feeling it would be like knowing a lay-off is coming, knowing that your department is being cut, and finding out at 4pm on Friday that today is your last day (all the while asking your boss “just tell me if I am going”). Brian’s emotional interview was touching, as you could tell he was extremely upset, and at the same time, had to be positive about going to the Sharks.

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Montreal Canadiens Mistake

Hockey is essentially about goaltending and no team can win the cup without it. In fact, you can’t win a cup without amazing goaltending, average goaltending just won’t get it done. So Bob Gainey, the GM for the Habs who’d publicly announced his intent to acquire an “impact player,” thought that it would be a good idea to send out Cristobal Huet, a veteran goaltender who’d been leading the team much of the year, for nothing but a draft pick and thrust the 20-year old phenom, Carey Price, into the starting role for the stretch run and the playoffs.

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For once, I’m Speechless

Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis from the Boston Bruins for Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito and a first round draft pick.

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Amazing Goals - Nash and Toews

Saw a comparison the other day and would like to see the reaction here. Leave a comment if you would - let me know which goal you like better. I love both of them … but for pure talent, I have to give it up to Toews. Being a rookie this year and making those D-men stand there holding their lunch like that was awesome! I am looking forward to the next few years to watch Jonathan grow up and mature into a strong leader in the NHL!

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Third Verse Same as the First in Buffalo

Buffalo Sabres fans have taken a beating over the last 12 months. They watched the Sabres stumble in the playoffs and then waived good to their top pivot Daniel Briere before watching their heart and soul leader Chris Drury follow suit. Now, it appears that fans will be on the verge of a mutiny as they will have to suffer through another loss. It appears to be almost certain that Brian Campbell, an extremely talented smooth skating defenseman who has been the leader of the defensive corps for the last few seasons, will be finding a new home after failing to reach a new deal with the Sabres. Campbell stands to become an unrestricted free agent in the off-season and at 28 he’s in the prime of his career and exactly the kind of defenseman that teams cherish in the “new NHL.” Campbell is on pace for a career year as he has 43 points through 62 games and Buffalo didn’t appear to want to pay him his due. Now, I have no access to the inner-workings of a deal like this but I can’t imagine how any of the leaders in Buffalo could allow this to happen yet again. They’ve truly struggled without Briere and Drury, Thomas Vanek has been a shadow of himself without them, and now they’re willing to lose the kind of defenseman that every team wants. Campbell was reportedly willing to accept a hometown discount to stay in Buffalo, but they could not come to terms and if there’s one thing that powers-that-be have learned in Buffalo, it’s that allowing a top player to walk for nothing in return is equally as foolish as failing to retain them in the first place.

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Rob Blake, the Definitive Rental Agrees to Be Rented

Rob Blake earlier refused to waive his no-trade clause but he has apparently changed his mind and is willing to move on to a contender for the playoff run. He’s coming off a fractured ankle but should be healthy in time for the playoffs. I’m not convinced he’s got much left in the tank, but an injury depleted Detroit will most certainly make a bid. Rob Blake will most certainly return to the LA Kings, his home town and home team, in the off-season.

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Dan Boyle Re-signs Sending Brad Richards Out the Door

The Lightning re-signed Dan Boyle, a 31 year old puck-moving defenseman coming off a career year last season with 20 goals and 63 assists, to a 6-year deal worth $40 million. Boyle has suffered through a variety of injuries this season including a freak accident where his skate fell from his locker and severed a number of tendons in his wrist costing him 36 games. He’s been healthy for less than a month and it didn’t take long for the rumor mill to get rolling. Tampa’s ownership questions left everything in the wind but apparently the new owners wanted Boyle to stay. So much so that they signed him to a deal that pretty much guarantees that one of the “big three,” which is Brad Richards, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St Louis, will be moved by tomorrow’s deadline. Lecavalier is a Lightning for life, if they have any sense at all, and St Louis is most likely staying put leaving Richards and his $7 million a year the odd man out. My guess would be that he’ll take his league worst plus/minus rating of -25 to Vancouver who is desperate for offense. At 27, Richards is in the prime of his career and, having only played for Tampa Bay in his entire career, he know has an opportunity to take his Stanley Cup ring and try to add to it in the heart of hockey country.

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Tanguay to Stay

After weeks of speculation and even public acknowledgment of said speculation, the Flames have announced that they do not intend to trade the suddenly surging Alex Tanguay. The Flames need to free up some cap space to re-sign key free agents so most assumed that they would do that by sending Tanguay and his $5 million + salary out the door but it appears that is not the case which is smart on Darryl Sutter’s part. Tanguay has a year left on his three year deal which includes a no-trade clause so any deal would have had to have 28 year old winger’s stamp of approval. The question now is, will they trade Kristian Huselius, who’s mired in a lengthy goal scoring slump, instead?

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Foppa Returns

So I write this relatively lengthy entry about how great Forsberg is and how sad I am that we’ll most likely never see him play again and today it was announced that not only is he back, he’s gone back to play for his original team the Colorado Avalanche. No details on the length of the contract, but he is officially back. While I’m quite excited to see the man known as Foppa back on the ice and hopefully embarrassing people like Ryan Whitney (read my previous post), I’m surprised to see him go back to a team that is struggling to even make the playoffs much less compete for the Cup. While I know Colorado is his home team, they currently sit in 10th place, suffer through inconsistent goaltending and have a number of quality teams ahead of them in the race. I’m not sure what to make of the fact that he signed a one-year deal with a team that has, at best, a 50-50 shot at making the playoffs. If I had to make a guess it’s that Peter doesn’t want injuries to determine when he retires, something he’s always stated publicly, and by coming back and playing the rest of the year he’ll be proving to himself that injuries didn’t “force” him to retire. I would assume that he figures going back to the place where he had most of his success was the best way to close his career. It’ll be interesting to see, but at least we get to watch him one more time.

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Sundin Trades a Cup Run for Class

Mats Sundin, a Canadian golden boy and perennial hockey leader, has informed Leafs GM, Cliff Fletcher, that he will not waive his no trade clause. Sundin, who’s spent 13 of his roughly 17 years in the league with the Leafs, will be an unrestricted free agent in the off-season and Fletcher was hoping to rent him out to a cup favorite in order to aid in the rebuilding process in Toronto and give Mats a chance at his first Cup. At age 37, Sundin has few years left to win his first cup but despite having his pick of nearly every playoff-bound team, Mats declined saying,