Sunday, June 25, 2006
Post-Draft Mourning
Yesterday was supposed to be a relaxing, fun, enjoyable day at the NHL Entry Draft.
It certainly started that way, but then this bombshell was dropped...
The Kings traded forward Pavol Demitra to the Minnesota Wild for Patrick O'Sullivan and the 17th pick in the draft.
If any of the TV feeds caught someone loudly yelling "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!", that was me.
The Vancouver chapter of the Pavol Demitra Fan Club (myself and my friend, Duc) just had their balls collectively kicked.
The Minnesota Mild? The most boring team in hockey? Jock Lemaire? A team I despite more than homework?
LA was a neutral team. I figured Demitra would sign there, and I could still cheer for him on a neutral team. What the hell am I supposed to do now?
For 0.37 seconds (an eternity for an android, apparently), I considered leaping off of the balcony at GM Place. If I survived, I would have risen up, carried my broken body over to Kings GM Dean Lombardi, and bodyslammed him through a damn table.
I had a great post-draft time with the duo from VCOE and JJ from the Canucks Hockey Blog as I dried to drink away the sorrow.
But then I wake up this morning. Nope, Demitra's still a Wild.
muthafucka!
Yes, the theory is that the Wild hope having Demitra around will convince fellow Slovak Marian "Potatohead" Gaborik not to bolt when he's UFA.
ORLY?
Now, Gaborik and Demitra might both be Trencin products, but they are a 'generation' apart and not really close buds.
On the other hand, the Slovak players in the NHL are known to be quite collective and stick together. How else could you explain the fact that Michal Handzus, a pretty straight and quiet guy, hanging around and rooming with a partyboy brat like Branko Radivojevic?
Look, if Gaborik hates playing for offensively-challenged Jock Lemaire (as will Demitra most likely), he's gonna bolt no matter if Demitra is there or not. Gaborik is not unhappy with the money he makes. He's just sick of being put on a short leash.
---
Other draft musings...
1. Phil Kessel is a mid-western boy, but he's gotta drop the mid-western diet. D00d looks chunkier than whole milk cottage cheese. On the plus side, his girlfriend is hawt and kinda reminds me of my own.
2. I feel kind of sorry for Jonathan Toews, who was drafted by the Blackhawks. Of all of the teams to be drafted to, being taken by the Hawks, who will always be a sad state of affairs under Bill Wirtz, has to rank up there with being told your dog has cancer.
3. Alex Tanguay to the Flames for Justin Leopold. This is a good deal for the Flames in that they get some badly needed offense. I'm not going to jump on the 'steal' bandwagon just yet, because Tanguay needs to prove that he can actually produce without Joe Sakic feeding him the puck all the time. Tanguay is a decent player in his own right, but he seems to me to be rather inflated thanks to his centerman. Leopold will also help the Avs defense that needs a good boost and their offense could take the hit. I'm sure Iginla will be happy to have somebody around who can at least get him the puck (presuming they play on the same line)
4. The Atlanta Thrashers traded center Patrik Stefan, their first draft pick, and defenseman Jaroslav Modry to Dallas for center Niko Kapanen and a draft pick minutes before the beginning of Saturday night's draft.
This is a bit of a strange trade for Atlanta, given their weak defense and the fact Stefan was their 1st ever pick. Wow, what a dud he turned out to be. He's not a bust, because he's still a useful everyday player, but you don't spend your #1-#1 pick on a guy who turns into a mediocre 3rd line center.
5. The Canucks grabbed Michael Grabner in the first round at #14, which made the crowd hush as they had no idea who he was and then found out he was ranked in the 20s or 30s.
Look, the dude is not a reach and he's not a bad pick. once you got past Tlusty at #13, the whole draft turned into a crapshoot. A lot of the next 20-30 picks were pretty quite similar from all I've read and heard, so this wasn't an easy draft to predict.
Grabner had 36 goals and 14 assists in 67 games. By those totals, and the style of play (I've seen him, and he's got good wheels), he's basically an Austrian version of SERGEI BEREZIN without the wicked, stylish Euromullet. I like the pick, and look forward to seeing him in the WHL again next season.
6. How many Swedes did the Blues pick? It seemed like every pick other than E. Johnson (a no-brainer) was an evil Swede. Of course, the Blues sweater colours are also similar to the Swedish flag. hmm...
7. What's with all the metrosexual pink shirts? Of course, it was only the Euros (Frolik and many Swedes) wearing them. PINK NEVER LOOKS GOOD ON GUYS!! It's like those oversized sunglasses that celeb women wear. Why? You look like an old granny. GET SOME REAL SUNGLASSES THAT FIT!
---
You would make everything clear...
make all the clouds disappear.
You're better than all the rest.
Who do I love the best?
It certainly started that way, but then this bombshell was dropped...
The Kings traded forward Pavol Demitra to the Minnesota Wild for Patrick O'Sullivan and the 17th pick in the draft.
If any of the TV feeds caught someone loudly yelling "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!", that was me.
The Vancouver chapter of the Pavol Demitra Fan Club (myself and my friend, Duc) just had their balls collectively kicked.
The Minnesota Mild? The most boring team in hockey? Jock Lemaire? A team I despite more than homework?
LA was a neutral team. I figured Demitra would sign there, and I could still cheer for him on a neutral team. What the hell am I supposed to do now?
For 0.37 seconds (an eternity for an android, apparently), I considered leaping off of the balcony at GM Place. If I survived, I would have risen up, carried my broken body over to Kings GM Dean Lombardi, and bodyslammed him through a damn table.
I had a great post-draft time with the duo from VCOE and JJ from the Canucks Hockey Blog as I dried to drink away the sorrow.
But then I wake up this morning. Nope, Demitra's still a Wild.
muthafucka!
Yes, the theory is that the Wild hope having Demitra around will convince fellow Slovak Marian "Potatohead" Gaborik not to bolt when he's UFA.
ORLY?
Now, Gaborik and Demitra might both be Trencin products, but they are a 'generation' apart and not really close buds.
On the other hand, the Slovak players in the NHL are known to be quite collective and stick together. How else could you explain the fact that Michal Handzus, a pretty straight and quiet guy, hanging around and rooming with a partyboy brat like Branko Radivojevic?
Look, if Gaborik hates playing for offensively-challenged Jock Lemaire (as will Demitra most likely), he's gonna bolt no matter if Demitra is there or not. Gaborik is not unhappy with the money he makes. He's just sick of being put on a short leash.
---
Other draft musings...
1. Phil Kessel is a mid-western boy, but he's gotta drop the mid-western diet. D00d looks chunkier than whole milk cottage cheese. On the plus side, his girlfriend is hawt and kinda reminds me of my own.
2. I feel kind of sorry for Jonathan Toews, who was drafted by the Blackhawks. Of all of the teams to be drafted to, being taken by the Hawks, who will always be a sad state of affairs under Bill Wirtz, has to rank up there with being told your dog has cancer.
3. Alex Tanguay to the Flames for Justin Leopold. This is a good deal for the Flames in that they get some badly needed offense. I'm not going to jump on the 'steal' bandwagon just yet, because Tanguay needs to prove that he can actually produce without Joe Sakic feeding him the puck all the time. Tanguay is a decent player in his own right, but he seems to me to be rather inflated thanks to his centerman. Leopold will also help the Avs defense that needs a good boost and their offense could take the hit. I'm sure Iginla will be happy to have somebody around who can at least get him the puck (presuming they play on the same line)
4. The Atlanta Thrashers traded center Patrik Stefan, their first draft pick, and defenseman Jaroslav Modry to Dallas for center Niko Kapanen and a draft pick minutes before the beginning of Saturday night's draft.
This is a bit of a strange trade for Atlanta, given their weak defense and the fact Stefan was their 1st ever pick. Wow, what a dud he turned out to be. He's not a bust, because he's still a useful everyday player, but you don't spend your #1-#1 pick on a guy who turns into a mediocre 3rd line center.
5. The Canucks grabbed Michael Grabner in the first round at #14, which made the crowd hush as they had no idea who he was and then found out he was ranked in the 20s or 30s.
Look, the dude is not a reach and he's not a bad pick. once you got past Tlusty at #13, the whole draft turned into a crapshoot. A lot of the next 20-30 picks were pretty quite similar from all I've read and heard, so this wasn't an easy draft to predict.
Grabner had 36 goals and 14 assists in 67 games. By those totals, and the style of play (I've seen him, and he's got good wheels), he's basically an Austrian version of SERGEI BEREZIN without the wicked, stylish Euromullet. I like the pick, and look forward to seeing him in the WHL again next season.
6. How many Swedes did the Blues pick? It seemed like every pick other than E. Johnson (a no-brainer) was an evil Swede. Of course, the Blues sweater colours are also similar to the Swedish flag. hmm...
7. What's with all the metrosexual pink shirts? Of course, it was only the Euros (Frolik and many Swedes) wearing them. PINK NEVER LOOKS GOOD ON GUYS!! It's like those oversized sunglasses that celeb women wear. Why? You look like an old granny. GET SOME REAL SUNGLASSES THAT FIT!
---
You would make everything clear...
make all the clouds disappear.
You're better than all the rest.
Who do I love the best?
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7. What's with all the metrosexual pink shirts? Of course, it was only the Euros (Frolik and many Swedes) wearing them. PINK NEVER LOOKS GOOD ON GUYS!! It's like those oversized sunglasses that celeb women wear. Why? You look like an old granny. GET SOME REAL SUNGLASSES THAT FIT!
I'll never forget how, at a Canes practice I attended way back in 2003, Jeff O'Neill emerged from the locker room wearing a pink golf shirt.
As much as I liked him then (and still like him...yeah, I know...), it was all I could do to keep from laughing in front of the guy... :D
I'll never forget how, at a Canes practice I attended way back in 2003, Jeff O'Neill emerged from the locker room wearing a pink golf shirt.
As much as I liked him then (and still like him...yeah, I know...), it was all I could do to keep from laughing in front of the guy... :D
ah a draft day state side luongo joke. iron mike interviewed between picks compares auld favorably to luongo, butwiththe caveat "now i'm not comparing the players, but i am comparing their stats"
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