EHM The Blue Line

http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbo ... sp?id=1436

Zednik to the NYI for a 2nd round pick.

Sportsnet says Smoke to Van for 2nd round pick

Great deal boys! Radio is reporting as done deal here.

Sorry..Sportsnet is now saying deal is close to being done?? What the?



Arrghhhhh....Eklund must have phoned in. But radio station here is still running with the deal.

TSN has yet to pick up on the Smolinski deal.

Edit: LOL, Sportsnet's source seems to be Eklund.

I'd sooner trust a pathologic liar than Eklund

Team 1040 in Vancouver reported it as done too. Separate sources they say.Then they backed off too. Christ. Now they are adding in Jason King to the rumor. A friend who is a Hawks fan says this with Jason King rights going to Chicago plus a 2nd (not saying which 2nd--LaKings, the Canucks, or the other one Nonis has) is going. Ed Olczyk who works for Hawks broadcasts says he has not heard a thing, but he is in Boston working for Versus tonite. Who the hell knows?

Sportsnet needs to put Eklund on WAIVERS!!!

rubbish tomorrow is gonna be boring..Kukkonen, Calder, Jason Williams 3 way between Philly, Chicago, Detroit

Kukk and 3rd to Philly
Calder to Chi

Then Calder to Detroit for Jason Williams. Tsn.ca

WOW! Boring tomorrow, today is the deadline. SO Basically the Hawks give up Kukkonen (a good prospect) and a 3rd for Jason Williams? Jason Williams? Tallon has his head up his you know what. Thankfully, for Vancouver.

Minstrel? What do you think of these Hawk moves? Is Toews next?

As I said the Smolinski trade is nother in a long line of no good deed going unpunished, Smolinksi gets dealt again because he was an ideal team guy and great guy to have in the room; the kind of guy you'd want to keep but no, we'd rather have another 2nd rounder to continue to claim how great the team will be in the future yippee!

Along the same lines Calder was the dutiful soldier here for years playing as "leader" of a glorified AHL team and they rewarded him by not resigning him and his going to Philly, so just to toy with him a bit more they trade for him again but only keep him for long enough for the ink to dry on the deal before sending him to Detroit the ultimate insult for a one time live and die for the team Blackhawk. This is the second time they've screwed Kukkonen actually as he was first derailed by Brian Sutter who would scratch Lasse in his first tour with the Hawks in order to play Alexander 'The Walking Wound' Karpovtsev and Steve Poapst for 28 minutes a night. Now they deal him again for playing well this year and showing he belongs in the NHL.

All of this has Pully written allllllll over it, get picks, deal players that are good for the team and clog the lineup with 3rd liners so you don't ever have room to actually give the so-called "youth" a chance to prove they are worthless. It's Blackhawk Bidness As Usual

yeah,,seems to be the general reaction to what Tallon is doing another Hawk fan I know is telling me.

Smolinski should look good with Markus. Markus is similar to Alfie in Ottawa (for good and bad reasons) and Smoke knows Alfie!!

Great news for Canucks fans! Brent Sopel: " My family and I ARE JACKED for this trip back to Vancouver. I sooooooo cannot wait to play for them again!"

Normally guys say the right thing, but they sure do not sound this excited. Soapy should be a great 5th dman with this attitude!

Philly is really starting to do some nice rebuilding lately. Their moves almost remind me of the things I would do in EHM. Trade away the older and more expensive players for youngsters with a lot of potential. Good plan!

Well, now that I have my "how this affects my hometeam" rant out of the way... I think the deals Vancounver made are extremely smart. I never understood them dealing away Sopel in the first place and he should be a great add. Smolinksi is a great team guy any team should be happy to have and he's a much smarter add due to the lower price everyone knew he could be had for.

The original deal sending Sopel out of town, was because of his relationship with the BIG MAN ON CAMPUS wearing smelly old #44. I believe it was causing a bit of an issue in the dressing room! Plus Brent was tired of being Crow's whipping boy when the lazy big man was sitting right next to him glaring, and snoring, and going offside.

The brass of other teams in the West, and more specifically the NorthWest are not smiling at the moves Nonis pulled off today. Especially in Anaheim where every time he turns around Mr. Burke is being asked for Corey Perry. Including I believe from Chicago. Mini-Burke is looking pretty good right now.

He has officially acknowledged Chouinard was a big mistake by waiving him, and has added to puzzle pieces...without giving much up at all. Now if he can get rid of Bulis tomorrow.....

As a Habs fan, I can say with certainty...Jan Bulis is ALMOST equivalent to Cullimore. What was he going for again? Used water bottle and tape, I believe.

If Nonis can get anything, ANYTHING for Bulis he should jump all over it. I couldn't stand him as a Hab and he seems almost as useless as a Canuck.

Smolinski and Sopel will put the 'Nucks over the top in the West, IMO. Let's see, who will challenge them?

Calgary? Nope, can't play on the road.
Anaheim? Maybe, but only if Pronger stays healthy and Giguere/Bryzgalov pull one out of their collective um...
Detroit? They haven't had it together in the post season for a few seasons. And really, Hasek? He's one step away from strained carrots for dinner and a sponge bath on Wednesdays and Sundays from a nice young nurse.
Edmonton? .... are not likely to even squeak into the playoffs. Although, 05/06...
Nashville? Here is their biggest threat. A healthy Forsberg+Vokoun+Karyia+etc etc etc. The Preds have got it all and are desperate for a Cup.
San Jose? Again, it comes down to goaltending...obviously the Sharks can score, and they're a nightmare on the PP. But can Nabokov/Toskala carry the weight in a long playoff run?

That my friends is why I predict Vancouver will win the West. LUONGO. He's ready......ready to show everyone that he can dominate in the playoffs. Adding Smoke to Nazzy and the Sedins and Morrison and Pyatt - that's a lot of offense to shut down. Adding Sopel to Salo and Ohlund and BIEKSA - well, that's a pretty decent backend.

I say again, LUONGO.

Sorry for the rant. Surprisngly not about the Habs....hmmmm.

Cheers!

[Yoda voice]Learning you are young Luke Skywalker. Learning you are [/Yoda voice]

That being said, you are not the first to make this prediction round these parts. But so far, no Flames fans around to yell at you, eh Minty?

<-------Only for tonight, while my Habs av is re-designed. But for now....Go Canucks!

Seriously, I really like their team right now and rumour is they've got an offer in for Jason Blake! We'll see how it shakes down tomorrow, but he'd look awesome in a Canucks sweater.

On another topic...I was re-reading some of the trades today and uh, Chicago....hello? Fire your general manager. Fire your board of governors. Seriously dynamite the whole organization - from the top down. Kukkonen and a 3rd for Williams? Really?

Cheers.

Firing everyone in Chicago won't help. As Minstrel has ranted several times...nothing will change until the OWNER KICKS THE BUCKET!

And yeah, nice Canucks avatar bud!

However, it remains to be seen that the Canucks do anything in the playoffs. I will reserve judgement for the time being to see whether Smoke makes Nazzy better, and Soapy makes the d better. Everyone here thought last season, with Carney And Weinrich the Canucks would be a force. Yeah some force.

I like the Canucks and their chances if they can keep this up, but yet at the same time I think they're being overvalued in this instance.

I know Bieksa has been a pleasant surprise from an offensive contribution, but that tailed off significantly recently. His goal the other game was his first in how long? Add to that that he really has to work on his defensive game. Adding Sopel won't help in that department, as his marginal offensive contributions help mask the fact that he's basically a pylon. Realistically, he's a K-Mart Jovo.

Vancouver's biggest threat come playoff time will be the other teams tightening up and putting their game faces on for the playoffs. When you couple this with how inconsistent far too many Canucks are, they could be in serious trouble.

They certainly made a step in the right direction with Smolinksi, I think that above all else there is no way that they'll be taken lightly in the postseason.

Roberts a Leaf???

Wouldn't surprise me in the least...

I personally would sooner trust TSN.ca

Roberts agrees to be sent to Pittsburgh for Noah Welch

TSN wrote:Roberts had made it abundantly clear that he would only waive his no-trade clause for a trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs or Ottawa Senators.

I still think this is the case. Maybe there is a deal on the table from Pitt, but I doubt Roberts ends up there. They were saying TOR had offered a 2nd, a 4th and a D prospect for Roberts during the Habs-Leafs game.

I'd take that if I were Florida.

From what I heard during the game, they were pointing out how Toronto's not offering anything really beneficial to the team, as in Brendan Bell.

But then again, the game was background while I focused on here so I could have missed it. Though it is their own network that said Roberts agreed to go to the Penguins, and just needs to sign the waiver for his NTC. I agree with the broadcasters, who wouldn't want to play on Pittsburgh right now?

CatchUp wrote:As a Habs fan, I can say with certainty...Jan Bulis is ALMOST equivalent to Cullimore. What was he going for again? Used water bottle and tape, I believe.

If Nonis can get anything, ANYTHING for Bulis he should jump all over it. I couldn't stand him as a Hab and he seems almost as useless as a Canuck.

That was the proposed deal but people were balking at the cost of tape

I reallllllllllly doubt Roberts will end up in Toronto. As much as he wants to, Toronto really has no use for him.