The Hockey Thread

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Watching Gretzky's first game as a Blue on ESPN Classic Canada. Paul Romanuk and Gary Green on the call, with Gord Miller stuck in the studio.

Paul: "If you're just tuning in, you've missed it - Gretzky's already scored his first goal as a St. Louis Blue."

Gary then no-sells this and doesn't even attempt a segue, jumping right into talking about Russ Courtnall's +/-.

[Enter Blue Guy]

No game at Olympic Stadium this year. Blame the Montreal Alouettes. Lol, CFL!

[Plubby]

This weekend my 21st Birthday present from my aunts finally arrived from the States.

I got another one, but damned if I can find the picture for it.

That one's awesome enough

[Toe]

Sweet gift, dude.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Jerry Reinsdorf has withdrawn his bit for the Coyotes...and the NHL is bidding instead. Lordy.

[Toe]

Unless they can enter a bid that is right with Balsille's bid, I think the bankruptcy court will have to sell the team to Balsille. After that, the real shit storm will erupt.

[Enter Blue Guy]

That fucking arena in the middle of nowhere is a huge roadblock for relocation.

[Toe]

Reinsdorf said one of the reasons he took away his bid was he couldn't come to an agreement on a lease for Jobing.com Arena.

[SeanDMan]

I have no faith in the NHL to successfully run an NHL team.

[SeanDMan]

Canucks add Christian Erhoff and Brad Lukowich for bust prospects.

[Gabriel]

Canucks add Christian Erhoff and Brad Lukowich for bust prospects.

What a steal... seriously, who did Gillis blow to pull that off? That's just a terrible move by San Jose. Terrible.

That team is just in all kinds of trouble right now. They'll make trades like this, but they won't move Joe Thornton? The same Joe Thornton who, when he gets a point or makes a hit in the playoffs, it's a huge deal? Seriously... that guy should have been the first player moved.

This is like self-sabotage.

[SeanDMan]

The move is a total salary dump for San Jose. They are trying to shed payroll because they feel they have prospects who can come up and challenge for defensive positions. In terms of improving at forward, they need someone who is willing to take on the deals of their forwards and teams willing to take on six million dollar albatrosses are pretty rare. That's why they need cap room, so they can swap mistakes.

[Gabriel]

The move is a total salary dump for San Jose. They are trying to shed payroll because they feel they have prospects who can come up and challenge for defensive positions. In terms of improving at forward, they need someone who is willing to take on the deals of their forwards and teams willing to take on six million dollar albatrosses are pretty rare. That's why they need cap room, so they can swap mistakes.

Didn't they state that they would not under any circumstances move Thornton though? I'm pretty sure they said that after they had their big blowup about nobody's jobs being safe.

In my opinion, he's the only piece that needs to be moved, and they refuse to do it. They have one key piece that works for them all year until the post-season, and then he's just a total dud... and it's been that way his whole career. He won't lead a team to anything, and it's fairly apparent at this point.

If they were creating space to move him and bring back salary, I wouldn't call these moves bad... but they're creating cap space with no intention of solving the actual issue... and that's just a huge waste on their end, and a massive gain for the Canucks.

[SeanDMan]

On another note, Tampa Bay is trying to bring the French Connection back. And the Leafs are bringing Jason Allison to camp. And Wendell Clark. And Gump Worsley.

[Plubby]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=487017

I can't believe I just saw the term bromance on NHL.com

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Yeah, they're usually at least six years behind pop culture.

[Plubby]

I can't believe that we couldn't sign Taylor Pyatt over PHOENIX. I mean, it's not even like Pyatt is that good, but honestly if a team with no talent or depth up front can't get a forward that Phoenix can something has gone horribly wrong

[SeanDMan]

Roberto Luongo resigns for 12 years at 64 million per.

[Plubby]

Holy New York Rangers!

[Hajjhowe]

I think he meant either 6.4 per year or 64 million overall.

Otherwise he's be like 20 million over the cap by himself...