Open The Door And Let In A Draft
OK kids, now that the fun and excitement of the Stanley Cup Playoffs are over, it’s time once again to turn our attention towards offseason activities…starting with the NHL entry draft on the 26th of this month.
But before we jump into the discussion, I want to take this opportunity to recall last summer when the Thrashers had the third overall pick in the draft. Do you remember how you felt when… just after Tampa Bay and Los Angeles were finished with their respective turns and we were sitting on the edges of our seats ready to hear that Zach Bogosian was indeed a Thrasher…Gary Bettman took to the podium and proclaimed that there was a trade to be announced?
A collective “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” type of atmosphere permiated throughout the masses that had gathered at Philips Arena for the draft party. Certainly Don Waddell didn’t just blow it…did he?
Turns out it was the deal that sent Olli Jokinen from Florida to Phoenix…whew
Now, barring any trades that might occur between now and then that would shuffle the top of the draft order, I would expect that what I’ll watch from TJs party room next Friday night is the Islanders selecting John Tavares, the Lightning then picking Victor Hedman and the Avalanche then taking Matt Duchene…leading up the the Thrashers and the fourth pick. The safe bet is that Don Waddell will then be standing on the podium shaking the hand of Evander Kane…maybe Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson.
But, as I said, that’s unless their is some sort of deal between now an then.
One general manager that could make an attempt to work his way up the draft order is Toronto’s Brian Burke, who would love nothing more that to climb his way from the seventh pick toward Tavares. Of course, my suggestion to Charles Wang is to send Garth Snow on a long vacation…without his cell phone… not to return until June 26th. If I were in the Islanders position, I wouldn’t make any deals that would deny the organization the talent that comes with John Tavares.
As for the Bolts, I’d be surprised if they were involved in some sort of deal that would send their second overall elsewhere. Tampa Bay is need of help on the blueline and Hedman could be for them what Bogosian was for us during last year’s draft.
Colorado is looking to bring in a starting goalie and it’s been speculated by some that maybe that #3 overall pick could land one. Personally I think they’re better suited to sign one during UFA signing season next month. Certainly if the Thrashers had that pick, I’d want them to take Duchene.
That brings us to Atlanta’s draft position. Personally, I don’t want him dealing away his number four pick. Either Kane or MP-S would look just fine in our system, IMHO. But I’ll leave the question to you. Got any deals up your sleaves that you’d play if you were in Waddell’s position…or are you like me and would sit on the pick and use it yourself?
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145 comments Add your comment
Rawhide
June 15th, 2009
4:32 pm
Hokie – Believe me…I hope you are closer to being right than I am. But we’re talking about Levenson and the Spiriteers. I heard what he said…however, these guys have a track record of running things on the cheap around here.
Brendan
June 15th, 2009
4:35 pm
Sounds like the “Guess the Opening Night Budget Contest” is a go! Voting ends September 1. Though, Waddell hinted, in the Q&A, that the budget would be $45-46 million. Second thought, there is a certain LW Captain to be appeased, lest the Spirit has already quit on him.
I hope not. I hope they haven’t quit on Ilya, and are now just FORCING him to play out his contract. That’d be sad. I don’t want to let myself believe that. I think they’ll give it a try, to bring in someone for Ilya, at Center. But, if they’ve decided to QUIT ALREADY, I suppose there’s nothing that can be done about that decision. It’s their money. It’s their team. They’ll run it any jolly well way they please. I’ll be overly optimistic with a guess of $48.3 million. I think the Spirit is going to let Waddell ‘try’ to keep Kovalchuk. What if the team actually started out well, at $48+ million? If they go 16-10-4 in their first 30 games, maybe that would change their ‘rest of the season’ financial strategy? Of course, these games would need to be well-attended during that stretch, to give the owners a stream of revenue. But for now, I think almost everyone concerned is in full ‘wait-n-see’ mode.
Sara
June 15th, 2009
4:37 pm
World Be Free impossible scenario. Under this CBA, teams cannot split the cost of a contract (like Washington and NYR did with Jagr as an example). So Philly can’t compensate us for any of Briere’s salary. We get him, we have to eat the whole thing.
Brendan
June 15th, 2009
4:37 pm
LAC won the contest last year.
World Be Free
June 15th, 2009
4:44 pm
Thanks Sara-did not know that. Just trying to do the “what if” scenarios. So we have to decide if we are going to take all of briere’s contract, assuming he would come here or look somewhere else. Kessel would cost us allot more.
Smoothie
June 15th, 2009
4:48 pm
“I think they’ll give it a try, to bring in someone for Ilya, at Center”
Why do so many assume we will try to lure a center? I think Ilya would be content with a stingier blueline (Top 4 D-man) and a bona fide scoring threat to round out the 2nd line such as a Mike Knuble, Phil Kessel or even Michael Ryder. Let’s not forget that Bryan Little has the potential to score 40 goals and should only get better as a top-line forward this season.
As for centers, I think it may be more likely to see a trade of the Accountant, Todd White as his value has never been higher. He’s coming off a career year and can certainly bring value in a trade with a team who is looking for 2nd C depth, defensive responsibility and savvy on the PP. But that is not to say I advocate trading White just yet. As the FA pool seems a bit deeper for C in the summer of 2010, I would be inclined to wheel and deal if White can stay above 65 pts next season.
Tony C.
June 15th, 2009
5:11 pm
I think you’re actually going to see Little regress some this coming season (yes I DO hope I’m wrong), his best numbers came with Slavamatic and White, you’ll notice that his production started to dip when he and White moved to #17’s line. While you could say that there were “points on the table” that #17 gobbled up, the fact is that he went from the #1 option on his line to the #2 option. If that line stays together I see him potting less goals but more assists.
I’d like to see us make that 2nd-round pick for Ryder move that somebody mentioned. I think it could be done, we may have to sweeten the pot, but I’d be ok with cutting somebody stuck in Chicago loose. The question is; can we get the same Ryder that plays for Julien? The guy has shown that he can be a very effective O-ffensive contributor, but once Julien left MTL., so did Michael Ryder…to be replace by PlayerFormerlyKnownAsMichaelRyder. Then, he gets on a Julien-coached Boston squad and TA-DA!!! We see the return of Michael Ryder.
I would make that trade-once The Walrus and Cunneyworth have a chance to “bump into each other”, and get to know which guy would be coming on down here.
Lupul-never really seen what made everybody so ga-ga over the guy… I think he could be the just the sort of guy JA likes, but the only game I saw him in last year showed me a guy who glides back to the defensive zone-we don’t need anybody who does that.
What about taking Penner and his monster contract which shouldallow DW to pry a top prospect/high pick from Edmonton to go along with Penner? I know he was a disappointment this past season, but we need guys that play his sort of game. Again, this is low on the list of what I would do, but we’re talking about DW & The Gang That Couldn’t Sue Straight here.
Brendan
June 15th, 2009
5:19 pm
Ilya asked for a roster to compete for the Stanley Cup. Are we deep enough in the middle to challenge for the Cup? If the ownership is going to ‘try’ to appease Kovalchuk, a center is only PART of what the organization must do.
Smoothie
June 15th, 2009
5:29 pm
Tony, I see what you’re saying, but I recall Kovy and Little having really good chemistry on the west coast swing. Watching some of the replays I still have on my DVR from Mar / Apr, I see that Little had lots of chances but he wasn’t finishing like he was earlier in the year. Daren Eliot would contend that Little wore down as the season progressed due to the abuse he suffered playing in front of the crease all year. I would agree with Daren as Little’s assist and +/- numbers weren’t all that bad down the stretch. As Bryan has another long summer to bulk up and sharpen his conditioning, I think we’ll see a player who is ready to take it to another level. Plus, it’s a contract year for B-Littz which should only fuel his competitive fire.
World Be Free
June 15th, 2009
7:20 pm
GaVaHokie-do your homework on van Remsyk and you will see he has had some issues in college and his short stint in the AHL that have made people question whether he was worth the #2 overall pick. That’s why he may be available.
Brendan
June 15th, 2009
8:25 pm
I must say I find it very suspicious that the Flyers would seriously want to part with vanRiemsdyk so soon. Imagine Atlanta trading Heatley in 2002? Or trying to unload Kari in 2004? VanRiemsdyk was just drafted two years ago, in 2007. Is his contract OVERBEARING? Can’t be!! It’s a capped 3-year deal. That’s NOT the way a team sheds payroll. The Flyers control vanRiemsdyk’s rights for many, many more years. If they are dissatisfied with vanRiemsdyk, the Flyers would be wise to find a trading partner with a history of misjudging talent.
Uht-oh. On whose door did the Flyers knock, offering vanRiemsdyk for Lehtonen, last trade deadline? Allegedly, supposedly. And that’s important to note. That was never substantiated by Waddell that the Flyers ever came forward with such an offer. That was just ‘rumor mill’ material.
Rawhide
June 15th, 2009
8:58 pm
World Be Free
June 15th, 2009
9:18 pm
You know Brendan, his name keeps coming up in so many rumors. And the rumors start in a number of different places. Makes you wonder what’s up; as you stated, he was the no. 2 in 2007.
But remember that the Flyers are one of the instant graficiation franchises in the NHL. They like to make a splash in free agency, if for no other reason then to show up the Rangers.
At least Flyers ownership is always trying to build a winner. Ed Snider is always trying to build a winner.
LAC
June 15th, 2009
9:41 pm
An interesting evaluation on Evander Kane from TSN…
Do not let the outside package or his statistics fool you, as Kane is just as competitive and nasty as he is talented. Once on the ice, Kane wants the puck in all situations and is capable of breaking open a game with his ability to score goals and create offence. The feisty winger plays a fearless game and drives to the net with a reckless abandon. He loves the challenge of facing the top defensive pair every night forces them to be at their best. He owns all world puck skills when it comes to stickhandling and is perhaps the most dangerous sniper coming off the wing. Although he can make some pretty passes, he has a tendency to hold and shoot the puck and could use his linemates a little more. It is hard to knock him since he pays the price to score and is not afraid to take a high level of punishment. His overall skating is excellent, as he shows the two-step quickness to create separation and the high-end gear to break away. What gives him an edge is that his crossovers are flawless and he can produce a tremendous amount of speed in turns. His physical edge is a bonus, considering he is only 6 foot 0 and 185 pounds, so once he matures and gets stronger he will be a handful. He will hit you with everything he has and will stick on you if you try to take any liberties with him. From a defensive standpoint, Kane has been well coached in the value of being responsible in all three zones without the puck. He supports his teammates well and hustles to break up passing lanes and opportunities while keeping good body position. His addition to the U20 WJC team at the age of 17 says something about his accountability. Overall, he is the arguably the best clutch goal scorer in this year’s draft.
I like the last part !!!!!!
GaVaHokie
June 15th, 2009
9:44 pm
They probably want to trade JVR because they have enough long term contracts on their top two scoring lines… Briere, Richards, Carter, Lupul, Gagne, Hartnell… JVR is no good to them on a 3rd or 4th line, and he’s certainly not taking playing time from any of those guys anytime soon… he’s the perfect asset to get them goaltending and defense.
… just a theory.
WBF… I looked through a few scouting sites… I couldn’t really find anything negative. I’m not doubting you… just saying.
All I can go off of was during the college Frozen Four, the commentators were saying Philly is happy to be getting JVR next season, “finally” as they put it… I thought that they wanted him out earlier, but he insisted on doing all 4 years.
I think if they can get Lupul or Hartnell off the payroll so they can entertain Jay Bouwmeester, they’re happy to move forward with JVR.
Brendan
June 15th, 2009
9:52 pm
The Rangers have their own set of problems. They ‘barely’ made it into the playoffs, despite starting out the year like gangbusters. Once in, they choked away a 3-1 series lead to Washington. Will there be lots of changes on Broadway? Shrugs. We’ll find out soon enough.
For the Flyers, they’ve got to remember the rule. What rule? “Handle your business.” What does that mean? It means, you take stock of what you have and what you need, and make an informed decision. And sometimes, that best decision is to stand pat or tweak, not ‘rock the boat.’ In the end, and especially in a salary cap era, GM’s are severly scrutinized for their decisions. And it’s hard to run from a bad decision.
I’m sure Waddell regrets ever giving Holik $4.25 million-a-year, for 3-years, to be a 3rd line center, when the cap was $39 million. Paul Holmgren didn’t take the Flyers from DEAD LAST in the NHL to the CF in the space of a season by making “poor decisions.” If he wants to move vanRiemsdyk, it must be because he’s unhappy with him. Number 2 picks, overall, are FOUNDATION/ROOF pieces of your house. You don’t trade them on a whim. Or a hunch. While I’m sure the Flyers always want to be ahead of the Rangers, and all their division rivals, they’ve got to use ’sound judgement’ to make that happen.
Then again, it’s just rumors. Rumors get started so easily. GM’s call each other all the time. Surely, they discuss trades. And trade possibilities. Along these lines, a name like vanRiemsdyk occasionally gets mentioned. It doesn’t mean, necessarily, that the player is truly on the move. Like Brian Burke said, “Wayne Gretzky got traded. And if he can get traded, no one is safe.” Especially, from trade discussions. If the Flyers actually move vanRiemsdyk, I’ll be very surprised. And watching to see if an injury emerges, or character flaw issues arise. Etc.
World Be Free
June 15th, 2009
10:06 pm
Good that we are having “what if” discussions as we come up on the draft and free agency. Next 2 weeks should be fun.
But like you guys have said all along, it’s the $$$ the manmagement has to work with that counts, along with good judgement.
Just watched the Battle of Quebec 1993, Montreal vs. Quebec. You can youtube the fights from that series.
Adam
June 15th, 2009
11:09 pm
Correct me if I’m wrong but Waddel saying they spent 46mil last year doesn’t mean that was where they were capwise, we know it was less, that was the total they spent on payroll total. So “IF” he gets 4-5mil more then that gives him 50-51 mil to spend. Figure a cap hit of 45-47mil. That would leave 12-14mil on the table. If he can sign Kari, Thorburn, Army, Slater and Valabik conservatively there could be 6mil or so left.
With the cap likely to come down salaries should drop some too
StateBird
June 16th, 2009
12:35 am
Keep the pick and draft Kane …. HOWEVER … if you are 100% confident that Kovy will ultimately not resign, then trade him now to NYI for #1 and pick Tavares … and still pick Kane at #4. Then take the money you saved and find a YOUNG RW in this off-season’s FA buyer’s market. Then you’ve got a solid, complete young line to build around.
R. Stroz
June 16th, 2009
2:41 am
Although most of you don’t care about the Hawks, I would advise that you pay attention for the next few weeks. I can hear a “collective WHY?”
1) the NBA draft is June 25, one day before the NHL draft.
2) the Hawks are rumored to be trading problem child Josh Smith for a top ten draft pick. Why? Clears salary space and a player with a BAD attitude.
3) Mike Bibby, the starting point guard, is entering UFA status if the Hawks don’t re-sign him. Bibby made 14 million last season.
The point is this: money is fungible, the Hawks may be clearing salary from their books, and when Hossa’s salary was cleared from the Thrashers books the Hawks brought in Mike Bibby and his $14 millon/year contract.
Starting to see the tie in?
The ASG may love basketball more than hockey; but, they also know that they had to use Chick-fil-A promotions to sell Hawks tickets in the first round of the playoffs. Translation, many Hawks playoff seats had to be discounted to sell them.
Does anyone remember discounted playoff tickets for the Thrashers? NO.
EXACTLY. So, if you are ownership that only cares about positive cash flow, do you put more money into the Thrashers this season to keep your only ticket draw, Ilya Kovalchuk, or do you spend on your other product that had difficulty selling free cash flow playoff tickets?
So, where does the money come from to keep Kovalchuk and bring a player or two in to appease Kovalchuk? Think Josh Smith and/or Mike Bibby.
Hossa out, Bibby in.
Josh Smith out, (fill in hockey player) in.
So, for the next few weeks, you may want to keep an eye on the Hawks in addition to the Thrashers.
R. Stroz
June 16th, 2009
4:17 am
Correction: Mike Bibby made 15 million last season for the Hawks. For those of you who may be interested, the Hawks salaries are linked below.
http://hoopshype.com/salaries/atlanta.htm
Nikita
June 16th, 2009
7:20 am
(From the owners’ perspective, they alternate between investing in one team and investing in the other. Which should mean that this year they’ll be relatively generous with the Thrashers.)
Ogie Ogelthorpe
June 16th, 2009
7:36 am
Let’s hope they wake up someday and realize that financial return is based on the depth of your financial commitment. Not that you have to spent stupidly, but sign the right fresh blood (free agents) and properly reward your proven, existing talent.
These are fresh ideas in Atlanta.
World Be Free
June 16th, 2009
7:47 am
If you think Thrashers’ fans are pissed, you outta go over the Braves’ blog on AJC. They are taking no prisoners over there! There are more people under the Braves’ team bus than in it!
At least we are talking about ways to improve the hockey team.
GaVaHokie
June 16th, 2009
8:20 am
Stroz… I’ve thought about that before… how the Hawks and Thrashers are never good at the same time. Almost like they’re “taking turns” getting the money. Hopefully, the ownership sees the “swing” opportunity to make the Thrashers better next season.
It’s much more affordable to field a competitive hockey team than a competitive basketball team. The Hawks had a great team this year and still couldn’t sell.
All we’re asking for is an extra $5 million… they can easily take that from the Hawks budget.
The Real Fan
June 16th, 2009
8:36 am
The scoop on Kane:
NHL Central Scouting’s Blair MacDonald
“He has power forward qualities from the blue line in. He’s the type of player who doesn’t like being denied access to the net. You can almost see when he’s got the puck he’s going to the net and defying people to stop him. He’ll be a 200-pound forward in the National Hockey League. He plays like he’s 6-2, 6-3, bigger than his size. He’s surprised a lot of people with his strength going to the net.”
Vancouver Giants head coach Don Hay
“Evander has been a really good player for us. From the blue-line in he really has a nose for the net; he takes the puck to the net very hard and is very competitive in that area. He’s learned over the past year to be more dependable and more responsible killing penalties and playing a two-way game. His biggest improvement is that he always wants to make a difference on the ice. A lot of players that age don’t want to be on the ice, or don’t want to be in that situation when the game is on the line, but Evander wants to be in that situation all the time.”
This is what we need. A scoring, physical center!
The Real Fan
June 16th, 2009
8:52 am
Average attendance for 2008-2009 season:
Hawks 16,748. Rank-20
Thrashers 14,626. Rank-30
There is your cash flow. Since the Thrashers have made the playoffs only once who know’s what promotions would have been necessary to fill the seats.
R. Stroz
June 16th, 2009
9:34 am
The Real Fan – Wins put butts in seats. The Hawks finished fourth in their conference last season. The Thrashers finished 13th.
Now, do me a favor and post the attendence figures for both teams for the past four seasons to present a true attendance comparison between the Hawks and Thrashers.
BTW, if you look at the attendance rankings for the Hawks and Thrashers, you will find a correlation between attendence rank and relative payroll. The Hawks ranked 20th in attendence and around 20th in payroll expenditure and the Thrashers ranked 30th in attendance and 30th in payroll expenditure.
You get what you pay for.
Ice Meister
June 16th, 2009
9:44 am
Real Fan-nice work getting this information!
R. Stroz
June 16th, 2009
9:54 am
Rawhide – The word is you were spotted sitting with Jeff Schultz at TJ’s last Friday during game seven. Care to elaborate? Any juice?
Alan
June 16th, 2009
10:11 am
Now, do me a favor and post the attendence figures for both teams for the past four seasons to present a true attendance comparison between the Hawks and Thrashers.
I’ll take over from here. As per ESPN. Higher number in bold:
2009:
Hawks: 16478
Thrashers: 14626
2008:
Hawks: 16280
Thrashers: 15831
2007:
Hawks: 15594
Thrashers: 16240
2006:
Hawks: 15071
Thrashers: 15550
2004:
Hawks: 13798
Thrashers: 15121
Glovesave29
June 16th, 2009
10:15 am
Thrashers would have EASILY out paced the Hawks in attendance by several thousand had they too been in the playoff hunt.
Anyone else notice the new base on the Cup? The new, modernized HHOF logo has replaced the old laurel leaves and torch logo – even though the logo was changed a decade or so ago when the HHOF moved to its new location. Why now?
The blogs in Canada are hysterical today. Balsille is playing this patriotic Canada angle to the Nth degree – wrapping himself up in the Red and White (start humming Oh Canada……NOW!). I don’t understand their jingoistic ramblings. Who cares if there are 6 or 7 teams there? If you live in Edmonton, you have your team…who cares if the competition comes to town with the name Phoenix or Hamilton on the logo? The Flames left for Calgary…I could have been Seattle, I’d still have been equally as devistated. Do you think the people in Winnipeg care where the Jets went to? Hell no, they lost their team. So if it was just over to Regina, they’d be cool with it? Of course not.
All of this is just silly. Phoenix, I agree is a failed experiment. But the city just plunked down $183M to build an arena. Do the citizens and community not have a right to try to keep their team to recoup their investment? Damn right they do! Montreal is for sale…go buy them.
Been gone all week so I gotta chime in on Heater. How the heck does he figure he can pick and choose what parts of his contract he can choose to enforce? He signs a long deal, gets the no-trade clause – then wants to be traded AND name the cities he will play in. Sorry Dany – you want to invalidate the contract, then you invalidate ALL of it. Not right to hamstring your GM like that…what if the Panthers offer a superior deal then your hand-picked Sharks? Going to screw the team over tow-fold? This is just a horrible situation, totally against what I percieve hockey players to be. I expect this from basketball or baseball – not hockey. Truth be told, he owes us here in Atlanta…we stood by him during all the Snyder ordeal, just to be walked out on at the first opportunity. Dany? Wanna heal? Stop running away and face your demons. Fix a past mistake. Become part of the community here and rejoin Kovy and let’s get this franchise heading back in the right direction.
Never happen…but I can hope, can’t I?
GaVaHokie
June 16th, 2009
10:27 am
Alan… the Thrashers average higher than the Hawks based on your numbers. Althought, they are relatively equal.
5 year attendance average:
Hawks: 15,444
Thrashers: 15,474
So, we’d have to delve into concessions and Team Gear purchases.
Alan
June 16th, 2009
10:46 am
So, we’d have to delve into concessions and Team Gear purchases.
I guess? All I was doing is posting a comparative as far as attendance is concerned, as per Stroz’s request. :p
Smoothie
June 16th, 2009
11:00 am
Someone ought post those attendance figures on the TSN.ca blogs to show Canada that this town is not a basketball town, but simply a bandwagon town. It may not be the hockey town Canada feels it should, but we can compete with any city in the nation when it comes to selling out Philips IF THE PRODUCT ON THE ICE IS WORTHY!!
GaVaHokie
June 16th, 2009
11:01 am
Actually, I could really give a damn. All I want is a first line Center.
Spud Webb
June 16th, 2009
11:01 am
LAC & the RealFan, thanks for the info on Kane. I think i’m getting small man crush on the kid!!!! hahaha, I hope we get him, sounds like a LOT of what we need.
Beating a dead horse here, but I just read about Cindy Crosby not shaking some hands after game 7. Check this out, AMAZING. This kid is a MESS…Zero respect for him…
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/hockey/nhl/06/15/zetterberg.crosby/index.html
Sara
June 16th, 2009
11:11 am
RE: attendance figures – are the Hawks’ numbers as artificially inflated as the Thrashers’ are?
thrashyou
June 16th, 2009
11:14 am
**GLOVESAVE29** the Canadians are not for sale they are being completely bought out by the Molson brothers.
I must agree on heatly…. sucks what he did here and he is about to reach the same level of “WHAT A PUNK” as sid the PU$$! is to me.
Glovesave29
June 16th, 2009
11:15 am
Wings are playing sour grapes, Spud. The Wings lined up to shake hands as the Pens were still celebrating. I saw Crosby jump in line shaking hands as soon as he saw what was going on. If he missed one or two, those players could have waited on the ice and searched him out, instead they chose to leave for their locker room immediately. I am not a Crosby fan at all, but this is a silly story by bunch of sore losers.
Glovesave29
June 16th, 2009
11:17 am
There are several interested parties for the Canadiens. The Molsons are just one of them.
R. Stroz
June 16th, 2009
11:20 am
Sara – During the 04-05, 05-06, and 06-07 seasons, the answer is yes. Philips was a ghost town except when the Cavs, Lakers, or Spurs were in town as well as opening night.
The “real” attendence picked up in 07-08 and 08-09, when the Hawks started winning.
Dwayne
June 16th, 2009
11:38 am
can the Thrashers take gretzky with the 4rth pick?
Don Waddell
June 16th, 2009
11:48 am
A draft, ok, I’ll have a beer, if Levensons buying.
Rawhide
June 16th, 2009
11:50 am
RStroz – Rawhide – The word is you were spotted sitting with Jeff Schultz at TJ’s last Friday during game seven. Care to elaborate? Any juice?
No juice…just a couple hockey fans enjoying the game.
Spud Webb
June 16th, 2009
11:56 am
Cmon Rawhide, you can tell us!!!!! You gotta egg Shultzy to write everyday about our piss poor ownership group!!!!
Glove, thanks, I didn’t notice that he didn’t shake. If that is the case, then shame on the wings.
So I gave the bro in philly a call, laughed at him about the Ray Emory signing!!!! Kiss that locker room GOODBYE, he will be a mess up there!!!
He wasn’t very happy about it!!!
Smoothie
June 16th, 2009
12:00 pm
http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/06/nhl-stanley-cup-ratings-.html
Well, this is certainly heartening news on the television ratings landscape. Not a huge surprise, but didn’t think it would be the most watched game in 36 years! Love him or hate him, Cindy Crotchby is good for the game. And so is Alex the Great and eventually the NHL will wise up and broaden the scope of their marketing to an even greater extent. There are other marketable personalities on every team and I hope that the NHL brass are moving in that direction.
World Be Free
June 16th, 2009
12:23 pm
Glovesave-being from Buffalo, I have been hearing the Canadian media whiners for many years. Hamilton had the big push for a team when the built Copps Coliseum in the 80’s. When the moved failed, they blamed everyone but themselves.
I purposely avoided the Canadian media outlets today, because I knew they would whine louder than ever!
Midfield
June 16th, 2009
12:28 pm
Yeah, what’s up with Zetterberg whining about Crosby not shaking hands? He should be so happy that Crosby did not whack his balls from behind during his brawl with Malkin.
Thrashers27
June 16th, 2009
12:34 pm
Somthing else to consider when comparing attendance records of The Thrashers and Hawks…there are more seats available for a basketball game.