love the puck

Thursday, August 25, 2005

I really thought the Florida Panthers were making strides. They hired a great coach, an experienced (though not liked) GM, and they started signing players that will make an impact on their team. They have young players with a lot of skill and now some veterans that will provide leadership and grit. Oh, and they have one of the elite goalies in the game to boot.

However, it appears Florida is not on the up and up in the eyes of Roberto Luongo. He turned down a 5 year deal that would have paid him good but not great money, and at first glance it would make sense that he would take the deal and build with the Panthers. Now, I can understand as much as the next guy that Luongo wants to test the waters next year, and especially since Khabibulin took down near 7 mil this off-season. But who's going to be able to pay Luongo that kind of money and stay competitive? Probably no-one, so Luongo figures, if I'm going to end up taking 5 mil or even a little less a year, I'm not doing it in south Florida. This way, Roberto picks his team, and gives himself a greater likelihood of victory. And so because of the new CBA we see players thinking not just about money, but also more about situations. Here's hoping Roberto likes the colour Blue, and the shade White.

The NHL is going to try a new schedule this year, and I think that I'm having mixed emotions about it. On the one hand, it will be good to see rivals such as Calgary and Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa, Colorado and Vancouver, play 8 times a year. That will either add intensity or destroy it. I think it will add intensity, but also playing too much too often could bore fans, especially if it's against a weaker team in the division.

One thing I don't like about the new schedule is that certain teams don't play each other. I am an advocate for playing every team at least twice. Once at home, once on the road. For the simple reason that Toronto doesn't play Columbus this year, and there are fans that want to see Rick Nash play hockey. I want to see Rick Nash play against Toronto. And what makes Columbus (for example) the one team we don't play this year? Why do we play everyone else except two teams? It just doesn't make sense. I don't think it's something the NHL is doing to cut costs, because it still costs money to travel, Eastern Conference teams still play teams out West and vice-versa. It would cost Toronto less to go play Edmonton than it would to go play Tampa. So if it were a financial thing, it would be much more drastic.

As far as all these comparisons of Hossa and Naslund and who's better in the playoffs, they've both won nothing, so it's not a concern. They are both elite players, and I don't doubt either of their abilities to score goals regular season, or in the playoffs. I actually recall Marian Hossa scoring a great goal against the Leafs, in the ACC in game 6 two years ago that gave Ottawa a huge lift and they eventually won the game. There's a lot of people reading into this trade way too much. In the media especially. I actually heard Mike Hogan on the Fan 590 yesterday say that he would rather have Dany Heatley. That wasn't disconcerting, but his reasoning was; he went on to say that Heatley has way more "finish" than Hossa. Now I love Heatley, and would prefer to have him on my team, but Hossa definitley has an abundance of "finish". But everyone is fishing for reasoning as to why these teams did this deal, and the truth is it's simple. Hossa wasn't going to fit financially, and lots of teams were calling John Muckler. Heatley is the best deal out there when you consider his cost, and his age and endless potential. So Ottawa did well. Atlanta gets a proven scorer and power play man in return. They did well too.

It's not about who you like better all the time. In every trade there won't be a clear cut "winner". Sometimes a team has it's hands tied and looks to make a deal in that regard. And to get Dany Heatley in that situation is more than a good reason to be excited.

I was thinking about the Washington Capitals and how they did absolutely nothing this off-season. I don't really care about the Capitals running their team into the AHL, but I do feel bad for Olaf Kolzig. He was solid in his career, and never a complainer. He deserves better than to ride off into the sunset with a bunch of minor leaguers in front of him. Also, I think the Leafs should try to get Brendan Witt. I didn't even check the numbers to see if it could work, but he just seems like the exact type of player the Leaf's blue line is missing. I heard the Leafs are trying to make a deal to get another blue liner, but the rumour came without a name attached. Next time I write will be from BC, where the discussion will be rampid.

Posted by Jon at 5:33 PM | | e-mail me