Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Canada Day eve

3 hours left before the Heatley bonus - I'm assuming it's midnight for the bonus.

Gomez and Bouwmeester are settled - does that make the Rangers and Flames more likely to dance?

Edmonton is supposedly hot and heavy for the malcontent. Penner and a D coming back? Would we have cap space then for a Tanguay, Cammalleri, Gionta, or even Knuble?

UPDATE: Cogliano, Penner, and Smid
Cap numbers:
Heatley 7.5
Penner 4.25, Cogliano 1.113, Smid's an RFA - I see Lowetide says prob around 1

About 180 comments at Lowetide here btw.

UPDATER: Nope. Heatley didn't waive his NMC. Asshat.

Really helpful

Family friend of Heatley defends Dany in a letter to the Citizen.

My favourite part is where it says "According to Molloy, Heatley was with many of those teammates at a "bachelor party" last week for Senators centre Jason Spezza, Heatley's longtime linemate."

Then, later on; "Alfie is a god," Molloy said of Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, "and nobody wants Spezza in a trade."

Nice - was it a bachelor party or a roast?

The letter says:
"The new coach (Cory Clouston) has decided that Dany is a second- or third-line player, uses him on the second power play and plays him 14 minutes a game. Dany had many closed-door conversations with him and was told that the situation would improve, but it didn't in the two months they were together."

Sure.
Here's the data:

Goals per gamePoints per gameTOI
Hartsburg0.460.9421:00
Clouston0.50.7918:50

His gamelog can be seen here.

Spezza's icetime went from 20:14 to 18:54 per game after the coaching change.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Draft!

New thread for tonight.

What does Burke do besides tapping the buffet line? Does Dany go? Does Mtl finally get Lecavalier? Definitely one of the more exciting draft days I can remember.

Actually, this calls for an official warmup tune. What to do? Hmmmm. Maybe Murray will pull off the deal of the day and will steal some great players for Heatley - a la his Luongo/Jokinen robbery - a smooth criminal indeed. Go. Go!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Trade him right f*#!ing now!*

Senschirp says Minny has a good offer up. I like a few on their roster including Clutterbuck and Burns and their pick is in a nice spot. Clutterbuck would make Neil's salary demands a nonissue - the guy broke an NHL record for hits and put in 11 goals. If they key player (Burns? - maybe a mistrust between him and the Wild over a possibly misdiagnosed concussion issue last season) makes in the 4 million range it might allow the Sens to pick up a guy like Cammalleri, Gionta, or someone else to play in the 'top six'.

*Le Heatley

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The candidates

Yesterday on TSN:
With regards to the Canadian teams; the Toronto Maple Leafs have the 7th overall selection and McGuire has them taking bruising defenceman Jared Cowen (Spokane - WHL). Button thinks there will be a Schenn family reunion in Toronto with Brayden joining older brother Luke.

The Ottawa Senators have the 9th pick and Button thinks they will add depth on the blueline by selecting Sweden's Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Leksand). McGuire thinks the Sens will go with a forward and take Nazem Kadri (London - OHL).

Here are the details on the prospects.

If Heatley ends up in Minny (12th), Nashville (11th) or maybe even St.Louis (17th) and their pick is part of the deal, it'll be hard not to go for Kassian. Gotta love the report on him:
Last season as an under-ager there were overage guys in the league who would not take him on. He has not fought much this season (because) he has not had to.
That and a point a game.

I'm curious to see where Ellis (5'9") and Schroeder (5'8") end up getting picked.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Chaka Khan and Robin Thicke

Oooohh yeah!!!!


Was that punishment for something?
I think I'd rather have seen this.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

One of the more reasonable scenarios I've seen

Quite the post here by gallagher at St. Louis Game Time. He suggested to the Silver Seven Sens a package including Jackman and Perron.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Playoffs Done. Draft now the focus.

This is shaping up to be one of the more interesting drafts in a while as far as the BoO is concerned. We're still almost two weeks away, but already there's much drama building for both teams heading into June 26th.

OTTAWA: As if the 9th overall draft pick wasn't enough, Ottawa now have Heatley to dangle in any pre or post draft trades. Will Murray trade down with Heatley, get another first round pick, or wait it out until the UFA market opens to see what he can do there before dealing with his former 50-goal man? What about Spezza? Are the Senators heading for wholesale changes? It's doubtful something that big is brewing, but maybe Murray sees this summer as his last stand as far as getting the Sens back to something of their former selves.

TORONTO: Ever since Burke made his campaign for Tavares known, we haven't heard many rumours of him actually making headway. Stay tuned, this guy will work up until 6:59pm next Friday to make it happen. Toronto also can trade Kaberle and Kubina starting June 26th (until mid-August). One has to think that one of these guys are gone with Beauchemin heavily favoured to land in Toronto as well as Matius Ohlund. We're still waiting on some indication where Gustavsson will sign, which will have much bearing on whether Gerber stays in Toronto and how Burke will draft at the G position.

Please pass on any rumours, thoughts or outlandish trade scenarios you have. One can only take so many "coming of age" stories around the Pens in the sports pages. Plus BeRed has rejoined the conversation, which is more fun for Leaf fans.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Is it just me or is it Dany Heatley in here?

Sorry for the over post Muppet but I thought this may be of interest to some.

What the?

So long Cujo

The one-time franchise tender will not be resigned in Toronto, and is expected to retire this summer.

Rumours also persist that Pogge is the next to be cut loose, while Gerber may still be on Burke's radar (along with a few others) depending on what happens with "The Monster"...

***

If you really have nothing to do this afternoon why not follow the Phoenix court hearings live? You can find the link here - trial starts at noon ET.

Friday, June 05, 2009

Gilbert a gonner and looking forward to 10/11

Greg Gilbert and his coaching staff were handed pink slips today by Brian Burke. For those not familiar with the Marlies coaching staff (really, why would you?), Gilbert took over for Maurice when the latter was promoted to the Leafs a few years ago.

"The Marlies went 39-29-5-7 in the regular season, Gilbert's third with the team. They went on to lose in six games to the Manitoba Moose in the North Division semifinal."

Frankly, he did a pretty good job taking the team to the conference finals the year before, but seems Burke and co. have other ideas for the team. Brian Murray once he gets fired?

***

I was looking through the Leafs salary commitments earlier today (as one does in June), and noticed that as of today the Leafs (not including 2-way contracts), only have 5 players signed for 10/11. They are: Jason Blake, Niklas Hagman, Luke Schenn, Thomas Kaberle and Jeff Finger. Their combined salary amounts to 17M in cap hit.

Some UFA eligible players going into their final year of contract: Kubina, Toskala, Ponikorovsky, Mayers and Stempniak. One wonders if any of these five will be Leafs by December. A lot is going to happen. That you can bet on.

Burke's greatest asset right now could also be his demise. He has a fairly clean slate roster-wise, a chance to build the team the way he wants and over the next calendar year or so get the players he wants. It also means it's his neck alone on the chopping block if it doesn't work. One gets the feeling he's perfectly OK with that.

Have a good weekend.