box scores, trade madeness, boo boos

Wow, five games last night ended up 1-2 (three in shoot outs, one in OT). I wonder if that is some sort of record.

As you may know, there is this thing out there called Twitter. All three of the writers here have accounts - but as I told one of my cohorts who found glee in jobbing me when I showed up on the 28th, I have my twitter for two days: Trade deadline day and Opening day of Free Agent hunting season (every now and again, I look around and find a gem.... green gun, green knife, green something. [don't worry if that doesn't make sense, Nutmeg and I are cracking up]). So when I logged on to Twitter Monday, I was there with a purpose.

One of the bloggers I follow in Tweetville is Down Goes Brown - if you don't read it, really you are only hurting yourself. It's brilliant. But when he posted about having everyone tweet about a player being moved, he was up front about it and made it very clear it was not a hard and fast fact. The problem was that once it started, certain websites picked it up as the truth. Then the talking heads got duped (that and fake twitter accounts). Then DGB got lumped in with all the parodies. Which was too bad. If you want a more detailed account of the madness, please check out ChuckAPucker favorite, Puck Daddy

Look, I get it that we as a society have this almost desperate need to know everything first. Breaking news and first alerts are jammed down our throats but look. There is this thing called fact checking. Reporters used to do that (well aside from that whole "Dewey beats Truman" thing) but now, any hint of a rumor is splattered as fact. And that should be more disappointing.

Both the Pens and Sabres were quiet on deadline day which I'm ok with. The Slugs in essence, replaced Craig Rivet with Brad Boyes (I'll take that anyday); I wished they could have gotten Connely's salary off the payroll but that day is coming. And with the new owner in place? Maybe July 1 will be a happy day in the Queen City.

The Guins took a different approach and went proactive. Picking up Alex Kovalev for peanuts was a great move. He's showed his worth already. Then trading Goose for James Neal and Matt Niskanen (who shares my birthday) who are both under contract was a smart move. Nicely done GMRS.

From the Pens site on Yahoo:

Brooks Orpik Feb 24, 2011 Injured Reserve Broken finger
Nick Johnson Feb 18, 2011 Injured Reserve Concussions
Eric Tangradi Feb 12, 2011 Injured Reserve Concussion
Chris Kunitz Feb 8, 2011 Injured Reserve Lower-body injury
Evgeni Malkin Feb 5, 2011 Injured Reserve Torn right ACL, MCL
Arron Asham Feb 2, 2011 Injured Reserve Concussion
Sidney Crosby Jan 6, 2011 Injured Reserve Mild concussion
Mike Comrie Nov 26, 2010 Injured Reserve Hip surgery

Riddle me this: at what point does Sidney Crosby lose the "mild" in front of his concussion tag? He's not played a game in two months for something that was supposed to keep him out a week or two.

So on that note, I'm going to go eat my mild breakfast.

The weekend comes and I fall off the planet

With Amy out of town, the blogging ball was in my court and man, did I whiff or what?

Turns out that Vancouver pushed the hardest to get JayBo away from the kitties. From the Sun Sentenital:

Vancouver General Manager Mike Gillis was willing to give up winger Mason Raymond and a first-round pick, the Vancouver Province reported, but when Panthers GM Jacques Martin made it clear he wanted either defensemen Kevin Bieksa or Alex Elder, a potential deal was dead.

I gotta say I don't blame Gillis for not trading for him at that price. Again, I ask will Martin have his job if JayBo is in another sweater come fall?

I wonder if the Flames deadline sploosh will make a difference in the long run or not? The west is still a brutal division and it will be tough to get out it without a lot of banged up players. Their trades might make things closer out their way.

Considering I started this post three days ago, I can now toss in some hockey. Pittsburgh got a big two points last night. I watched the third period and it was some damn good hockey. I got the Cats feed and groan are they awful. I'm sure someone likes 'em but I'm not a fan. Granted Steggy and Bob can be a bit much but geeze. When you are scrambling as the Panthers were in the third, you're going to take some penalties. We they all heinous penalties? No. We they callable penalties? Yes.

I'm not gonna talk about the Philly game. I might start to cry. CRUNCHY COME BACK!

The Wings had to go to overtime against the desert dogs. A game I did not see one second of live and caught the highlights on NHL on the Fly this morning over breakfast.

Who is this team from Ohio and what have you done with the real Blue Jackets? Tenth shut out? Seriously? When you are 20th in the league in scoring, I suppose it's a good idea to have someone back in net who can stop the pucks (for the record, they are 8th in goals against). The 6th place Columbus Blue Jackets (that's still cool to say this late in the season) have a real shot at making some playoff noise and I'm just tickled about it. If I'm Rick Nash (I'd be tall, rich and good at hockey), I'm looking forward to the post season and hopeful the Jackets play Detroit - meaning they'd have to fall to 7th or 8th, but still, a first round playoff series is a real possibility for this team. Big win for them against Boston last night. Huge win (as both the Sharks and Wings got two points).

Who else played last night: Colorado? They were on the schedule but apparently forgot to show up. Shut out by Atlanta? Groan. Devils continued to roll and beat the Flames (guess those trades are not helping so much just yet), and in a game of "Who cares" versus "First pick overall or bust", Who cares....er, Toronto beat the Islanders.

That's all for now folks, you've read plenty!

That might go down as the most boring trade deadline day in history

Holy snooze, Batman. I kept waiting for something big to happen but gotta admit, the cluster Edmonton-Carolina-Kings deal was the most interesting just because of the WTF factor.

Now the playoff push gets really interesting.

Question of the day: Does Jacques Martin keep his job if the Panthers miss the playoffs AND they lose JayBo?

Also not a question but a comment - the Wings have been slowly moving up closer to San Jose... nicely played taking over the top spot boys. But don't be too happy, SJ will be back at it and some teams in the East are moving fast.

A New Day

In my adult life, I've always lived West of my employment destination. Why do I bring this up today? This morning was one of the first in a series of going to work as the sun was rising. The start of a new day. I'm not going to worry about the deadline or who ends up where. I mean in the big picture of things, it's a game that I have no control over or any input. Why should I stress? So I'm not going to.




Oh who am I kidding? After posting this I'm headed over to TSN to obsessively refresh their trade watch page ever five seconds.

Game on!

The LowDownTradeDay Blues

Yeah... so, first off I just want to say WORD to MittenChica's post. That is pretty much what I would say if I were in the Eastern time zone. :) But, after reading this, I started to muse while I was drying my hair; which as Lisa can tell you is where I get a lot of my scathingly brilliant ideas. So... without further adieu, I give you the result of Tylenol PM and styling spray fumes along with my own crazy mind.

'Twas the night before the trade deadline, when all thro' the league
All general managers' eyes burn with fatigue;
The trade bait are poised with their phones near their ears,
In hopes that the deadline soon would be here.
The significant others were pacing, no sleep in their beds,
While visions of moving vans danc'd in their heads,
And Lisa in the Mitten, and I in the West,
We'd been racking our brains about which move would be best —
When out on the Gore there arose such a clatter,
I fired up the compy to see what was the matter.
Away to Puck Daddy, I flew like a flash,
Tore through the entries, looking for Dupuis or Nash.
The names on the ticker, showed where they'd go,
Gave some statistics and a picture below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But rumors of a defenseman whose price tag is quite dear,
With a draft pick or two, that play in the O,
I had a queasy feeling that it might be my boy JayBo.
More rapid than eagles the stories they came,
The bloggers posted, and plotted, and call'd them by name:
"Now! Army, now! Recchi, now! Richards and Kovy,
"On! Guerin, on! Morris, on! Maybe Dandy not Ovie;
"To the Sens of Ottawa! To the Wild in St. Paul!
"Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
As the boys and their travel bags to their new homes fly,
their families pack up houses and start to say their goodbye;
So to Canada or Florida or Texas they flew,
With a fresh start and the Cup rattles in their brain too:
And then in a twinkling, I hear from a blog,
The trade with a team whose mascot is a hog.
As I thought in my head, and was surfing around,
That hopefully one of my boys is not New York bound:
They might be dress'd all in black, from his head to his foot,
And looks like a ninja, not with ashes and soot;
The hopes of better days strapped to his back,
And the coach hopes to make playoffs, no getting the sack:
Their eyes — how they twinkle! The dimples: how merry,
But one of these days they'll be jobbed by Don Cherry;
The plays needs be solid, passes crisp and not slow,
It must be very good to keep his place in the Show;
The wad of bubble gum he holds tight in his cheek,
goes through more Bazooka than a school class in a week.
He may have a round face, and a bit of a belly
But that's all the fat he has, his body is not jelly:
Not chubby or plump, but still a bit of an elf,
And I laugh when I see stories in spite of myself;
In the wink of an eye and a twist of your head,
The deadline has passed and they have nothing to dread.
They speak not a word, but go straight to their work,
And fill all the empty seats; then give the finger to Burke,
And laying his finger aside of his nose
He blows a snot rocket, all over an ice whore's clothes.
He springs over the boards, to his team gives a whistle,
And away they all flew, down the ice where there isn't a thistle:
But I heard the league exclaim, as that hour goes out of sight —
Happy Trade deadline to all, and to all a good night!

There is a rumor Spring is coming....

Spring means the trade deadline - just a day or so away. I'm not a big fan of the deadline and all the hubbaloo about it. Honestly, I'm worried about some players I like moving and that sorta upsets me. Screw families relocating and friendships, certain players shouldn't move because I said so! Ok, ending my Vercua moment. And for your random thought of the day - verruca is "is part of the hpv viruses with some types causing cervical dysplasia." Thanks Wiki!

Will JayBo go? (hope so) Will the Wings stand pat? (hope not) Will Vinny go to the Habs? (not sure I care one way or the other) I'm sure we'll have more details as the next few days go on. But please for the love of GOD, will someone trade for Billy Guerin? I'm sick to death of hearing the Billy watch. Suicide watch would be more entertaining right now. Ok maybe I'm just sick.

The hockey gods are not smiling much on a few of my teams currently. Sure, the Guins are rocking the win column without The Kid, but the Slugs are not doing so hot. They will get Tommy Vanek back on Wednesday and they might have the services of Max AfinsomethingRussianov if he's not been traded. I'm not saying he should go, but please, a bag of pucks would be worth more than Max right now.

Is there any team sadder than the Colorado Avalanche right now? It is actually painful to watch them (and not just because they were on Versus either). A major shake up is needed but only a few people really know if that's gonna happen. As much as I've enjoyed seeing Raycroft this year, he's not the answer. Their hot mess of a defense hasn't found an identity (are they a shut down D or are they mobile puck carriers - most nights, they can't figure it out.) and their forwards are no where near consistent. Come Thursday morning, that could be a very different team. Hopefully for the better.

Hard to say what Pittsburgh will do. I do like the pick up of Kunitz but think they need just a tweek more. Do I think Armstrong is the answer? Probably not, but if it kicks number 87 into gear, I'm all for it. USSGill is probably gone. Too bad, I like him a lot (but maybe not since Whitney was moved). This is why I'm not a GM; I'd go with my heart more than my head.

Tonight on Versus (barf) the Guins play the Ning. To be honest, I'm sorta glad it's on Versus (barf) because as much as I complain, I really don't like the Tampa announcers and I could use a break from the Pens guys (I wanna put a cork in Bob most nights).

Interesting little bit over at Puck Daddy about the Don Cherry/Ovechkin celebration comments. I'm not a fan of Ovechkin's (nor of Cherry's either) and I think a valid point is being made. Keeping in mind I'm of the old school thought of 'act like you've been there before' Barry Sanders (remember him?) scoring motion, there is nothing wrong with celebrating your goals, but really a little goes a long way. Hug the boys and get to the bench or center ice.

Also on that point, if Steve Ott, Chris Neil, Sean Avery or any other of the leagues douchebags were to take runs at player like Ovechkin does, they would be out games.

Moving on to better things. It appears that Ethan Moreau will not require surgery to repair his damaged eye. While I did not see the game where he was injured, I saw replays of it and part of me gets angry. Even the trainer admits that a visor would have probably prevented this injury. When are the players going to look past the 'only pansies wear visors' theory and start protecting themselves? They wore face protection in juniors or college and they are required to wear certain protective equipment now, so why not visors? I don't understand it (and spare me the argument that they players can't see with them on - many of the top goal scorers in the league wear 'em so that doesn't float).

Just checked - no trades yet. Stay tuned.