I’ve been away….

… so I am going to ramble off on as much stuff that I can think of in the next 5 minutes. I hate the end of the semester, been wired for 3 days.

1. Sean Avery is douche. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The “sloppy seconds” comment was too far. Sure that kind of stuff is said all the time within locker rooms, in fact much worse is said, but the key point is that they are said WITHIN the locker room. The way he did, it was completely premeditated, and the fact that he had the media gather around him, and he was acting (horribly by the way) was too much.
2. Burkie is finally in Toronto. I am meh on this matter, I like the way he talks and handles the media. Although I am not sure that he is that good of a GM, I think he’s overrated a little, but what do I know. He has a cup, he did manage to bring Pronger and Niedermayer into Anaheim, sure it was dumb luck, but he did it. And to think Ferguson wouldn’t let go of Kaberle and Steen for Pronger. That’s ok, we got Stempniak out of Steen…
3. Laviolette out, Maurice back in. What is this? A revolving door in Carolina? Should we expect Lavi to be head coach there again 3 years from now? I loved was Maurice was able to accomplish in his time in Toronto, it was his fault that JFJ can’t put together a decent roster.
4. I love the McDonald’s commercials!

And thats all I can think of, I have to go to school now. Later

Ovie Vs. Malkin

Wow, that’s all I have to say about what happened tonight, in this rare hockey-filled Wednesday. (Good Ol’ American Thanksgiving, wouldn’t want to show any hockey while the entire US has a day off eh, Bettman?) Anyways! Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin just keep on rolling, and continue to amaze us.

Alex for his part, pretty much single-handedly beat the Thrashers tonight, rattling off a Hat trick, scoring on 50% of his shots, adding an assist, and his goals counted for two on the PP and his one that wasn’t on the PP just happened to be the Game Winner. I’d say that was successful outing.

Malkin on the other hand, decided that he didn’t feel like losing tonight. After the Pens go down two on a late in the second, (read: normally a momentum boost) he comes out and sets up some Crosby guy to pull within one, then says ‘ef this noise, and scores a natural hat trick, meanwhile registering on 75% of his shots. Take that Ovechkin.

I personally love this rivalry between these two superstars, but one has got to wonder what is going happen come 2010. Rumour has is, that there is no way they could agree to play with one another, so Russia might have to make due with only one of them. Which puts them in one helluva squeeze. First off, which guy do they pick and at the same time, which guy should they completely piss off to the point that he’ll probably never return to ‘Mother Russia’? Or do they just try to persuade them both to share a locker room and hope that their hate for each other doesn’t spread throughout. We all know how well that situation is working out in the Dallas locker room with Avery.

Honestly who knows, but I for one, cannot wait to see what will happen. I just wish that they would have been playing against eachother when they decided to pop off those hatties.

Front Offices Somewhat Busy This Monday

Ok, so of course the news of the Maple Leafs making the Steen & Colaiacovo trade for Lee Stempniak trumps all the other activity today. As a Leafs fan I have some mixed feelings about this trade.

First of all, I don’t think Steen was ever given a fair chance to play up to his potential. Being stuck on the 3rd and 4th line for the better part of your career is not going to give you the chance to put up a lot of points. Case in point, look at how well Stajan is responding to the increased ice-time. I just fear that Steen is going to be the next Brad Boyes. I don’t think Steen will ever reach the level that Boyes could reach, but I think he’s going to make an impact for sure. Colaiacovo for his part, well I loved the guy’s style, but that style isn’t going to help when his sitting in the booth because his style is realistically his undoing. If you can’t be healthy well then you aren’t much use, just don’t go pull a Wellwood and suddenly become healthy and one of the biggest surprises in the league! (Who can honestly say they saw Wellwood coming on like that? Vancouver didn’t, because he didn’t even make the team!)

Lee Stempniak, for his part, well I don’t know much about him. I do know he’s relatively young at 25, decent size at just over 200 lbs and is having an excellent, yet quiet season. Granted that season was in St. Louis and no the media-meca that is Toronto. He does have this though, which is quite fitting actually. Hopefully we can make that term a little more popular.

In my opinion, I think the Silver Fox could have gotten a little more, even if it was just a late pick. I think just a 4th or 5th rounder would have been better than two players for one. Truely, I think that the Buds are doing too good for Fletcher’s liking. If there is two things the Leafs brass want more than anything in the world right now, its Brian Burke, and Jon Tavares. If the Leafs keep playing like they are, they’ll go one for two, because mediocracy doesn’t bring high picks, and we know that all to well.

Oh yeah, before I forget, the other BIG news. The San Jose Sharks have agreed to a try-out contract with Claude Lemieux. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Good luck with that. I get that he’s been clutch in play-offs and whatnot, but he also hasn’t played in the NHL for FIVE years, and he’s no Chelios. At 43 years of age, I am pretty sure Lemieux’s playing days should be over!