Posted in Transactions February 28th, 2008
In what should come as a surprise to no one, Chiarelli made no movement before the trade deadline, similar to his approach in this past offseason. (with some Manny Fernandez guy being the exception)
Speaking of trade deadlines, it was somewhat amusing to see California Brad Stuart and his sun-loving wife traded from Los Angeles to Detroit. Let us know how the February surf is on Lake Michigan, won’t you Braddy boy?
In other news, John Paddock…former Chiarelli associate in Ottawa and once a consideration as Dave Lewis’ replacement…was fired from the head coaching job of the struggling Senators.
Posted in Transactions September 27th, 2007
Well, of course, I guess hoping for either Pronger or Niedermayer WOULD be a reach…
As transactions go, this is barely noteworthy. Mowers is 33 and wasn’t a major force on the team last year. The prospects they got for him…Nathan Saunders and Brett Skinner…are also not expected to be major players either. In fact, with Mathieu Schneider hurt and Scott Niedermayer’s retirement status up in the air, you wonder why the Ducks would move any defensemen at all.
Saunders is described by Hockey’s Future as a “big, physical, defensive defenseman” (Chara Lite?) and Skinner as a “offensive defenseman who is blessed with impeccable passing and playmaking abilities”.
Skinner sounds like the better prospect of the two, but Saunders gets brownie points for the condition of his left eye in this photo. If he ever makes it to the NHL, the Dropkick Murphys may take notice.
Also of note….
Posted in Transactions August 31st, 2007
Midway through my fantasy sports rant, news came across the wire that the Kings added Dave Lewis to their coaching staff.
Two funny quotes from the article:
- “Kings Coach Marc Crawford, who led Colorado to a Stanley Cup title in 1996, said Lewis is ‘a perfect fit for our staff.’”
- “Dave commands respect because he deserves respect, and he is really anxious to help get this team to be the best it can be.”
Apparently Marc Crawford didn’t watch the Bruins highlights in from this past spring.
The best quotes however, were the one that didn’t happen:
- Lubomir Visnovsky: “Feel…slower. Creativity…draining…from body. Must…fight urge to simply stand in front of net.”
- Brad Stuart: “We hired who?? Awwwww, craaaaaap.”
Posted in Transactions August 1st, 2007
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..(snort)….hmmmm? wha?
Oh wow, there’s some Bruins news to report on. Today the Bruins named Craig Ramsay and Geoff Ward as Claude Julien’s sidekicks in the coaching box.
Ward has about a decade of coaching experience in the OHL and AHL and even won the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award (yeah, I’ve never heard of it either, but it’s an award of merit!) in 2002-03 along with Claude Julien with whom he was coaching that year. Obviously, Ward and Julien are no strangers to each other.
Ramsay coached the Sabres in ‘86-’87, the Flyers in ‘00-’01 and won a Stanley Cup as an assistant with the Lightning in 2004. He also had a distinguished career with the Sabres in the ’70s and ’80s. I remember his hockey cards fondly.
Posted in Transactions, Toivonen, Ex-Bruins July 23rd, 2007
Today the goaltending situation got a little clearer as former prospect Hannu Toivonen was shipped off to St. Louis for center Carl Soderberg.
Who is this Soderberg guy, you say? Here’s a snippet from hockeysfuture.com who have him listed as the #5 prospect in the Blues organiazation. He was also the 49th player taken overall in the 2004 draft.
Talent Analysis
Söderberg is a very explosive player. He is a good skater and has a powerful stride. With his quick feet he very easily gets around the opponents. He has an accurate shot, has a fine scoring touch and is a good playmaker as well. His hockey sense is top-notch and the way he handles the puck in full flight is very impressive. A strong player with great size combined with good technical skills. Earlier his defense was somewhat questionable but he has become a much better player without the puck.
Even better, he looks frighteningly like Billy Idol.
I guess this was inevitable. With his performance last year and with the acquisition of Manny Fernandez, Hannu really had no shot in Boston this year. That, and with Tuukka Rask as the current goalie-prospect-du-jour, he had a questionable future with the team in general. Without a trade he would have been forced to fight for time in Providence. So right now it appears that it’s going to be Fernandez/Thomas in Boston with Rask probably getting most of the time in Providence.
As everyone knows, I’ve been a Toivonen backer. I’ve always felt he had more of a future than Tim Thomas did as a “franchise” goalie. But, hey, when he needed to step up last year, he didn’t. By placing him in a time share role with Thomas, the Bruins tipped their hand that they wanted one of the two to step up and claim the #1 spot as his own. And, to me, I always felt that the organization preferred Toivonen since he was the high draft pick while Thomas was the “pleasant surprise” in the organization. And with pleasant surprises, you’re happy with unexpected performances but your future expectations are tempered by past performances that may not have been spectacular as the recent past. And with Tim Thomas being a former 9th round pick who kicked around in five different leagues (AHL, IHL, ECHL, Finnish SM-liiga and Swedish Elitserien) for six years before playing in Boston, the expectations weren’t as high as Toivonen’s.
But c’est la vie. Toivonen isn’t the first prospect to fail and he certainly won’t be the last. Since he’s in another division and another conference, I wish him the best of luck.
That is, until the Bruins play the Blues for the Stanley Cup in 2009.
