Florida Panthers Are Morons
The Florida Panthers didn't trade defenseman Jay Bouwmeester and now when they lose in the 1st round of the playoffs (if they make it at all) he will walk in the off season for nothing. To me this is the most idiotic move a franchise can make as once you realise a player has no interest in resigning you need to get rid of said player. You need to get SOMETHING for him. I don't care what it is but you need to be compensated. You cannot allow a player to leave for nothing. The Canucks offered Kevin Bieksa, Mason Raymond, and a 1st round pick. Now I know this isn't the greatest offer ever but it is better than nothing which is what Florida is gonna get for Bouwmeester when he goes to free agency in the summer. Way to blow it Florida.
Buffalo is Also Dumb
Someone tell me why the Buffalo Sabres waited until Tim Connolly was going to leave to finally take a stand against players going to free agency. In the past they have let both Chris Drury and Daniel Briere walk for nothing at the end of the season because they didn't want to pay them. But now all of the sudden the Sabres decide to pay someone and they pick Tim Connolly? In his beast season ever Connolly put up 55 points (16 goals, 39 assists) and he hasn't played a full season since the 2002-2003 season. Now they are paying him $4.5 million a year. What are you thinking? This is the time when you should have traded him, when his value was high and you could get solid return on an average player who is often injured. Buffalo blew it almost as hard as Florida did.
Leafs Give Up On Pogge
When the Leafs claimed Martin Gerber off waivers it was a symbolic end to the chances of Justin Pogge ever being the starting goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Pogge was drafted in 2004 aka 5 years ago and has been "developing" ever since. In the games he has been called up the NHL he has been lit up and while at times standing tall has never shown the flashes of greatness the Leafs, and fans, were hoping for. Toronto wants to lose this season and despite what Brian Burke and Ron Wilson may say the worse the team does the better. There are 17 games left in the season. If Pogge was ever going to be a full-time NHL goalie for the Leafs why not bring him up now and have he and Curtis Joseph split time? It would allow Pogge to gain experience with no expectations for him to win. To me this shows me the Leafs have given up on Pogge and he will never pan out to be the great goalie all Leaf fans had hoped he would be.
Sad Yet True
When the Ottawa Senators acquired goalie Pascal Leclaire from the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday people were saying that he is the best goalie the team has ever had. I thought to myself that there was no way that this could be true. So I did a little digging and discovered that over their almost 20 year period the Senators have always had shitty goalies. Here is a list of some of the bums that they have paraded out and tried to pass off as starting goalies:
Alex Auld
Mike Bales
Tom Barrasso
Don Beaupre
Daniel Berthiaume
Craig Billington
Brian Elliott
Ray Emery
Mike Fountain
Martin Gerber
Dominik Hasek
Jani Hurme
Mark Laforest
Patrick Lalime
Simon Lajeunesse
Darrin Madeley
Mike Morrison
Martin Prusek
Damian Rhodes
Peter Sidorkiewicz
Ron Tugnutt
Steve Weeks
Now I know Hasek is in there but I don't think he counts seeing as he only stayed for 1 year and he was over the hill at the time. So other than him look at all the clowns they had had in net. I guess Leclaire really is the best they have ever had.
What's With TSN?
I watched the whole deadline day on TSN and throughout the day I noticed that the analysts on TSN were crazy unprofessional. They were yelling across the room at one another, they would stop mid-sentence to check the Blackberry, and I honestly think Darren Dreger's laptop wasn't even on. At one point when Gord Miller was explaining that Mark Recchi had been traded to Boston a seemingly random crew member off-camera yelled "YES!" really loud that it was clearly audible to viewers at home. I know it's deadline day and everything guys but show some professionalism.
Random Youtube Video: (This Was oo Funny Not To Post):
