Well, July 1st wasn’t exactly a banner day for the Wings. I spent the better part of the day on Puck Daddy’s live “chatterbox,” a realization which has caused me to reevaluate my life a little bit. (I swear I was doing other things during those fourteen hours too. Things like being in class and writing papers and eating food. I swear.) It was hard to watch at times, as team after team nailed down free agents while the Wings just stood there and held the door open as Marian Hossa, Tomas Kopecky, and Ty Conklin left for other teams. I felt like everyone else was improving their rosters while the Wings were just sliding backward. It’s not that I didn’t see this coming (I’m not that far out of touch with reality.), but there was a little part of me that was still hoping that things would work out better. By the end of the day, I wasn’t feeling particularly good about next season. But then I took a step back and remembered that the Wings are still going to be fielding a roster that includes the likes of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Dan Cleary, and, yes, Darren Helm. And I don’t think there are a lot of fans in this league who wouldn’t be thrilled to have those guys as the core of their team. So I don’t think the Wings are in the dire straits that some would say. I also don’t think they’re going to be able to get away with cakewalking their way through the majority of the regular season the way they did last year, but that might not be the worst thing in the world. A little bit of a challenge is sometimes what you need to get your head in the game and go to work.
Also, I spent more time cursing the salary cap yesterday than at any other point in its existence. Of all the things Gary Bettman has done over the years, this is the one that I hate most. Of course I realize that it’s not entirely his fault, but let’s face it, he’s the fall-guy for anything and everything that displeases me about the NHL. Seriously, yesterday someone asked me to hand them their water bottle cap that had fallen on the floor by me and I might have let out an involuntary growl at the mention of the word “cap.”
First off: Hossa. Am I disappointed that he went to Chicago? You bet. It’s possible that that’s the last place I would’ve wanted him to go to. Seriously though, you know the line in the Most Interesting Man in the World commercials about how he, “once had an awkward moment just to see how it feels?” I think Hossa heard that and decided to make it his philosophy in life. But I can’t find it within my heart to begrudge his decision. He got the cash the Wings couldn’t offer, and actually has a legitimate chance at a Cup. It’s not a bad career move at least the way it looks right now. We’ll see how things go next summer when all of Chicago’s young guns are asking for raises. I was a little surprised that he got twelve years, but I would expect him to get bought out after his big money years are done. I’m still not entirely sure what to make of the guy. I respect him for the risk he took in coming to Detroit and all of the money he passed up, but…I don’t know. It’s possible that he’s the Slovak answer Dominik Hasek’s Czech crazy train. Not in the “what was he thinking signing there?” sense, but because his decision process is as inexplicable as the one used to dole out NHL “justice.” Although I’m disappointed to see him go, I still haven’t decided if I even wanted him to stay. A while back when I heard that he’d been floated a 10-year offer from the Wings, I was pretty excited, but I knew that the team would have to give up a lot to keep him. After spending several hours mulling it over, I just reverted to my default stance, which has become sort of a Wings fan mantra over the last little while: In Kenny We Trust. It was much easier to just sit back and let him go to work. I did find it interesting that Holland gave him permission to talk to other teams last week instead of trying to trade his rights as a kind of 'thank you' for taking a chance on Detroit last year. If you're looking for some Hossa-related brilliance, head on over to The Triple Deke. It'll be worth your while.
The upside of all of this? We’re much more likely to see Hudler wearing the Winged Wheel next season, which is good if for no other reason than that we might get another super-awkward intermission report on that creepy tongue thing he does with Ozzie after victories.
In other Chicago news, Kopecky followed his apparent BFF to the Blackhawks. I don’t have a lot to say about that move. Mostly because I don’t really care. Except for those few games when we though he might be the second coming of Tomas Holmstrom because he did a better than average job fronting on the powerplay, his time with the Wings has been entirely forgettable. Unless you count the fact that his tragic orbital bone injury during the playoffs this year inspired the now-legendary quote, “Don’t break your face!” which will be repeated every time a Wing is involved in a fight from now to eternity in my house. So thanks for that. And maybe try to avoid those pesky season-ending injuries in the future… (Okay, this sounds overly hostile. I really don’t dislike Kopecky. I just don’t have any particular reason to like him either.)
The Wings other free-agent loss thus far was Ty Conklin. This is the one I can’t wrap my head around. How can the Winter Classic go on this year sans Conklin? Someone needs to orchestrate a deal in which he’s leased to either Philly or Boston just for that one day. Or maybe the NHL will have a sudden change of heart and have the Blues play instead of the Flyers. Right now he’s slated to back up Chris Mason, but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he was the starter there by the end of the season. With Conks gone, it falls to Jimmy Howard to be Ozzie's backup this year. That has to frighten all but the most steely-nerved Wings fans out there. Seriously, I just shuddered while I typed that sentence.
Other random free agent notes:
-Donald Brashear to the Rangers? Seriously? Are they planning on putting his locker next to Blair Betts’ too? Maybe they can room together on the road. Toss in Sean Avery, and their locker room is going to be like the set of a bad reality show.
-Rob Scuderi signed in LA. I have to say that I’m not unhappy to see him leave the Penguins. His plays at the end of Game 6 are going to haunt Wings fans for decades to come. It’s much better to tuck him away on an irrelevant team where he can’t do much damage to the Wings, even if he’s in the same conference now. Pittsburgh also lost Hal Gill, the human obstruction machine, so they’ve got some holes to fill too.
-No news on Sammy as of yet. I'm waiting for some foolish team to throw a few million bucks at him in the hopes that his aim magically improves over the summer.
-How did Marian Gaborik talk his way into that contract? Seriously. No way I’d be comfortable with that if I were a Rangers fan. His injury history is too ugly to merit that type of commitment.
-I’m eagerly anticipating hearing what the “real story” of what went down between Martin Havlat and Chicago is. There’s nothing like good NHL gossip to keep me entertained over a long holiday weekend.
-In the league’s other soap opera, I have to wonder what is going on inside Dany Heatley’s head. Seriously. Let’s recount his career: He started in Atlanta where he killed a teammate in a car accident. Then he asked to be traded so he could get out of there. Now that he’s in Ottawa, he wants to be traded again. Edmonton is doing everything they can to persuade him to allow himself to be traded there, but he won’t waive his NTC. Plus he just picked up a $4 million bonus from the Sens. My question at this point is: Why on earth would anybody want this man on their team? He’s a perennial malcontent and he has to be the equivalent of locker room poison. How can his fans or teammates in Ottawa support him after he publicly stated that he wanted out of there? And if he does end up in Edmonton, how are his new teammates/fans going to feel about the extraordinary lengths management had to go to just to convince him to come there. Not to mention the fact that now that Ottawa’s paid him his bonus, they’re going to want more in a trade, so whatever foolish team ends up with him is going to be weaker than they would’ve been if he’d made up his mind beforehand. There aren’t a whole lot of guys in the hockey world who I can’t respect under any circumstances, and Heatley’s proving once again why he’s one of them.
Showing posts with label Donald Brashear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donald Brashear. Show all posts
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Part Three...
The ugly:
The final installment of my season recap features the worst of the worst. It's the stuff that was too bad to make the cut for the bad post. Not all of it's nice, but (most of) it's all in good fun.
--The NHL has a long and storied history of featuring guys like Scott Hartnell. And I say, "keep it coming." There's nothing more beautiful in this world than seeing a guy like Hartnell step out on the ice in full hockey regalia. He wouldn't even need to play a shift. Simply sitting on the bench with that face would be enough.
--The Handshake Incident. I have nothing to add to this. I don't even care that Crosby didn't shake everyone's hands. I'm mostly irritated with the way the media handled it all. They somehow, I'm assuming through a great deal of effort, managed to be less professional than Sid the Kid. They should be ashamed of themselves.
--At one point during the regular season, I watched a game against Dallas on Versus with my brother. By the end of the first period, we weren't sure that the announcers were aware that they were calling a hockey game. We lost count of the outside sports metaphors that were used to describe plays being made on the ice. I don't remember all of them, but they included the announcement that someone had just tried to "alley-oop" the puck into the net, that the score was currently 1-Love, and several others that went beyond the standard "quarterbacking the powerplay" that's commonly used. Even better, later on, they described this save by Chris Osgood as "mastodonic." We still haven't figured out what that means. I'm assuming it was a compliment, but honestly, there's no way to tell. If you happen to know exactly what he was trying to say, by all means, enlighten me in the comments section. The highlight of the game, however, was when one of the Versus guys said that Pavel Datsyuk played with, "such fabulosity," thus introducing me to my new favorite word. There was a month there where my brother and I couldn't have a conversation without dropping "fabulosity" at least a dozen times. This is perhaps the only thing for which I've ever been grateful to Versus. Oh to have had my DVR back then...
--This picture will probably haunt me forever. Not to mention the fact that I can't even bring myself to post one of Crosby hoisting the Cup.
--The Goal that Wasn't. Things worked alright in the Anaheim series, so this goal won't cause Wings fans to convulse the way Buffalo fans do when shown this goal, but still... The worst part was the way the NHL closed ranks to defend Brad Watson and his patently obvious error. A few days later, an NBA referee blew a call that changed the outcome of a close game, and the league acknowledged it publicly. While it didn't change the fact that the mistake had happened, at least it gave the NBA the appearance of being a professional organization with standards and accountability, something the NHL is sorely lacking.
--Then there was the matter of the lowlife who stole Henrik Zetterberg's game-used stick from a kid after the Winter Classic. Seriously. Stories like that make me wonder what the world has come to. The whole incident had a happy ending, as the guy who bought the stick from the thief sent it back to the kid, and both ended up with something. Conclusions like that at least partially restore my faith in humanity. Props to the guy for returning the stick to the kid after he read about the incident. There need to be more people like that in the world.
--The saga of the Phoenix Coyotes and Jim Balsillie was timed perfectly so as to serve as a distraction from the league's showcase event: the playoffs. While I never bothered to delve into the financial/legal aspects of the mess, I have to admit that a little part of me wanted Jimmy Balls to come out on top, just so Gary Bettman would lose. I don't know, maybe that makes me a bad person or even worse, a bad hockey fan, but I'm not sure I care all that much. I couldn't shake the feeling that a Bettman loss would be the beginning of the end for the commish, and that's enough to get me to support just about any bandwagon.
--"The Beard is Back." It's entirely possible that this is the worst playoff slogan ever invented. When you combine it with the signs saying, "You're entering a no-shave zone," it's a complete and utter disaster. I love a good playoff beard as much as the next fan, but there's a difference between having something as a quirky hockey tradition and using it as a major marketing campaign. Mike Ilitch needs to fire his marketing team. I'm assuming that they're the same people behind those atrocious Little Caesar's ads. Find a new line of work, people. Please. You wouldn't think it would have been that hard to find a way to market the defending Stanley Cup champions. My kid sister could've come up with a better slogan. Ugh. And was it really necessary to adorn the Al outside the entrance to the Joe with a big fake beard? I tried one of those on, and I'm pretty sure I have black lung disease now from inhaling the pieces it shed. Al deserves better than that.
--Donald Brashear's hit on Blair Betts during the first round of the playoffs was another truly ugly moment from the 08-09 season. If watching this video doesn't make you shudder, you're probably a sociopath and should leave this blog immediately.
--Valtteri Filppula's hair continues to get worse and worse with each passing season. You'd think that with all of the money this guy makes, he'd be able to find a better stylist. Until this season, I was unaware that he had a little cult-like following of girls who find him sexy. I can only assume that these are the Michigan-born cousins of the Sidney Crosby fangirls that plague the Pittsburgh area.
--This video of a distraught Sharks fan after his team's elimination is pathetic in every way possible. (Make sure you stay with it until the parents show up. That's when it really gets good.) It's like a trainwreck that you just can't stop watching. And yet, strangely, watching it makes me feel a little bit better about myself. Not even in my lowest moment have I ever approached the level of...I don't think there's even a word for it...that he displays in this video. I sincerely hope that his parents got him some psychiatric help.
--Last but not least, the NHL's disciplinary process managed to devolve into even more of a complete and utter joke. I'd link videos, but honestly, there are too many to choose from. Coming up with a comprehensive and consistent policy needs to be the NHL's top priority before somebody ends up with a life-threatening injury from one of these nasty hits that are tolerated so long as the victim is able to skate away with his head intact.
On a personal note:
-I managed to sprain my toe whilst flailing around on the floor in front of my TV during the final minutes of Game 7. Clearly, this was not a high point in my life.
Part One: The Good
Part Two: The Bad
The final installment of my season recap features the worst of the worst. It's the stuff that was too bad to make the cut for the bad post. Not all of it's nice, but (most of) it's all in good fun.
--The NHL has a long and storied history of featuring guys like Scott Hartnell. And I say, "keep it coming." There's nothing more beautiful in this world than seeing a guy like Hartnell step out on the ice in full hockey regalia. He wouldn't even need to play a shift. Simply sitting on the bench with that face would be enough.--The Handshake Incident. I have nothing to add to this. I don't even care that Crosby didn't shake everyone's hands. I'm mostly irritated with the way the media handled it all. They somehow, I'm assuming through a great deal of effort, managed to be less professional than Sid the Kid. They should be ashamed of themselves.
--At one point during the regular season, I watched a game against Dallas on Versus with my brother. By the end of the first period, we weren't sure that the announcers were aware that they were calling a hockey game. We lost count of the outside sports metaphors that were used to describe plays being made on the ice. I don't remember all of them, but they included the announcement that someone had just tried to "alley-oop" the puck into the net, that the score was currently 1-Love, and several others that went beyond the standard "quarterbacking the powerplay" that's commonly used. Even better, later on, they described this save by Chris Osgood as "mastodonic." We still haven't figured out what that means. I'm assuming it was a compliment, but honestly, there's no way to tell. If you happen to know exactly what he was trying to say, by all means, enlighten me in the comments section. The highlight of the game, however, was when one of the Versus guys said that Pavel Datsyuk played with, "such fabulosity," thus introducing me to my new favorite word. There was a month there where my brother and I couldn't have a conversation without dropping "fabulosity" at least a dozen times. This is perhaps the only thing for which I've ever been grateful to Versus. Oh to have had my DVR back then...
--This picture will probably haunt me forever. Not to mention the fact that I can't even bring myself to post one of Crosby hoisting the Cup.--The Goal that Wasn't. Things worked alright in the Anaheim series, so this goal won't cause Wings fans to convulse the way Buffalo fans do when shown this goal, but still... The worst part was the way the NHL closed ranks to defend Brad Watson and his patently obvious error. A few days later, an NBA referee blew a call that changed the outcome of a close game, and the league acknowledged it publicly. While it didn't change the fact that the mistake had happened, at least it gave the NBA the appearance of being a professional organization with standards and accountability, something the NHL is sorely lacking.
--Then there was the matter of the lowlife who stole Henrik Zetterberg's game-used stick from a kid after the Winter Classic. Seriously. Stories like that make me wonder what the world has come to. The whole incident had a happy ending, as the guy who bought the stick from the thief sent it back to the kid, and both ended up with something. Conclusions like that at least partially restore my faith in humanity. Props to the guy for returning the stick to the kid after he read about the incident. There need to be more people like that in the world.
--The saga of the Phoenix Coyotes and Jim Balsillie was timed perfectly so as to serve as a distraction from the league's showcase event: the playoffs. While I never bothered to delve into the financial/legal aspects of the mess, I have to admit that a little part of me wanted Jimmy Balls to come out on top, just so Gary Bettman would lose. I don't know, maybe that makes me a bad person or even worse, a bad hockey fan, but I'm not sure I care all that much. I couldn't shake the feeling that a Bettman loss would be the beginning of the end for the commish, and that's enough to get me to support just about any bandwagon.
--"The Beard is Back." It's entirely possible that this is the worst playoff slogan ever invented. When you combine it with the signs saying, "You're entering a no-shave zone," it's a complete and utter disaster. I love a good playoff beard as much as the next fan, but there's a difference between having something as a quirky hockey tradition and using it as a major marketing campaign. Mike Ilitch needs to fire his marketing team. I'm assuming that they're the same people behind those atrocious Little Caesar's ads. Find a new line of work, people. Please. You wouldn't think it would have been that hard to find a way to market the defending Stanley Cup champions. My kid sister could've come up with a better slogan. Ugh. And was it really necessary to adorn the Al outside the entrance to the Joe with a big fake beard? I tried one of those on, and I'm pretty sure I have black lung disease now from inhaling the pieces it shed. Al deserves better than that.
--Donald Brashear's hit on Blair Betts during the first round of the playoffs was another truly ugly moment from the 08-09 season. If watching this video doesn't make you shudder, you're probably a sociopath and should leave this blog immediately.
--Valtteri Filppula's hair continues to get worse and worse with each passing season. You'd think that with all of the money this guy makes, he'd be able to find a better stylist. Until this season, I was unaware that he had a little cult-like following of girls who find him sexy. I can only assume that these are the Michigan-born cousins of the Sidney Crosby fangirls that plague the Pittsburgh area.
--This video of a distraught Sharks fan after his team's elimination is pathetic in every way possible. (Make sure you stay with it until the parents show up. That's when it really gets good.) It's like a trainwreck that you just can't stop watching. And yet, strangely, watching it makes me feel a little bit better about myself. Not even in my lowest moment have I ever approached the level of...I don't think there's even a word for it...that he displays in this video. I sincerely hope that his parents got him some psychiatric help.
--Last but not least, the NHL's disciplinary process managed to devolve into even more of a complete and utter joke. I'd link videos, but honestly, there are too many to choose from. Coming up with a comprehensive and consistent policy needs to be the NHL's top priority before somebody ends up with a life-threatening injury from one of these nasty hits that are tolerated so long as the victim is able to skate away with his head intact.
On a personal note:
-I managed to sprain my toe whilst flailing around on the floor in front of my TV during the final minutes of Game 7. Clearly, this was not a high point in my life.
Part One: The Good
Part Two: The Bad
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