Shanahan To Take Offers

This has kind of confused me for the greater part of the last 5 months or so. I thought going into the off-season that Brendan Shanahan would be one of the more sought after Free Agents on the market. At first I was shocked that he wasn’t getting at least a couple of offers from around the league, but then I found out about his love affair with Slather, and that he wouldn’t be taking any offers from any other teams but the New York Rangers, yet nothing came…

Fast forward to training camps, when a lot of teams were said to be looking for that offensive player with leadership qualities (read Mats Sundin). Now, I am in no way comparing Shanahan to Sundin, but Shanahan is right up there in my opinion with offensive abilities. Shanahan can’t take control of the game like Sundin can or anything, but on the power-play, this is lethal on the off wing. The Habs went out and traded for Robert Lang almost for that exact reason, I would imagine they would have rather of had Shanny.

It wasn’t until today that Shanny told his agent that he would be willing to listen to other offers. Seriously Brendan? It took you this long to realize that the Rangers weren’t going to sign you? You had to wait until an 8th of the season was gone to entertain other offers? Wow. Well whatever, Shanahan will be signed within one or two weeks. I imagine some teams with the salary cap room would be eager to jump on him, like say… Vancouver?

Thrashers Suck!

Okay, no big secret here, but the Thrashers are awful.  Not only because they just finished their latest masterpiece, a 7-0 loss to the Flyers (who are insanely hot as of late) but because they’ve pretty much always been bad.

Since their inception to the NHL, the Thrashers have qualified for the Stanley Cup play-offs, which remarkably is one more time than the Columbus Blue Jackets (which is a story for another day). Oh by the way, the Thrashers were subsequently swept by the Rangers, so they have just as many play-off wins as the Jackets. It’s not only their stats that make them terrible, but some of the players they’ve brought in. I mean seriously, Patrik Stefan? First Overall? And the fact that they’ve had 7 Top 10 picks in the last 10 years only 3 of which are currently on the roster.

And then there’s the ownership. The initial owners, Time Warner last only 6 years, selling the franchise to a group called Atlanta Spirit in 2003. Not to mention their attendance. In an article published by the Globe and Mail in March of 2007, it was said that the Thrashers held the honour for giving the most tickets away. “The league’s numbers show the Thrashers gave away an average of 2,827 tickets a game in their first 25 home games.” Which just happens to be up…. 840% from the year before.

The only other thing I want to mention…these terrible jerseys from a few years ago. Oh… and the Thrashers suck.

TSN’s Shoot-Out For a Million Returns & Ovie Leaves

OK, so I am unsure if anyone inside or out of Canada knows (or cares for that matter), but the details for TSN’s Shoot-Out For a Million were announced today, and wow!

First of all, if you don’t know what the contest is, well here is a little Reader’s Digest version of it. There is a big draw, and whoever gets selected has the chance to go on the ice during the intermission of a game with some buddies. First, everyone shoots pucks from the centre line at an empty goal and depending on how many pucks go in, up to 4 vehicles are given away. Next, the person that won the draw, moves back to the far blue line and shoots 20 pucks in 24 seconds, and if 15 go in, that person wins a million dollars!

I’ve been a huge fan of this since it started a couple seasons ago, this will be the third year. Last year, Darwin Head won the big payout, and the year before Jason Hall barely missed the payout, but only because one of his shots hit a puck that had bounced out of the net.

This year’s shootout will be held at the World Junior Championships during the Canada/USA game on New Year’s Eve, rather than an NHL game like it had been in the past. This, however, is going to be a much larger venue, and will probably have higher ratings than an NHL game anyways. So hopefully, I’ll be on the ice in Ottawa on New Year’s Eve, instead of sitting at home in Lethbridge.

In other news, Alexander Ovechkin has returned to Russia in order to be with his ailing father. It’s only the second that Ovie will miss in his career and breaks his 203 game streak. All the best to the Ovechkin family.