The Atlanta Flames made 3 substantial trades this week. The first trade sent shockwaves through the league and the organization. The team sent superstar goalie, Jose Theodore and rookie Ryan Suter out to the Young Guns. This move was done for various reasons. FIrst, as good as Theodore has been in the regular season, he has been average for the Flames in post season. A change was needed. Also, the Flames were able to get a very young defenseman back, Brett Skinner, to compliment their future defense core. Skinner has all the makings to be a top pairing defenseman in the near future.
The second trade sent #6 defenseman Kloucek for Tommy Salo. Klouckek was no longer needed and Salo gave the Flames a legit starting goalie to rent for the rest of the season. Salo gives the Flames insurance if Marc Denis cannot sustain his current level of play.
The last trade sent Marek Chvatal for super star veteran Andy Delmore and rookie Ruggeri. Delmore brinsg that final piece to the backend. The defense was quick young before and Delmore brings a ton of leadership and top notch play. Also, Chvata was overrated by playing on a lethal top Flames line and Grebeschkov made up for lots of his mistakes.
The Flames now have a well balance defese with 3 rookies and 3 solid veterans. Its going to take a bit of time for the team to gell and get rolling but that is why the trades were made this week and not later in the year. It gives the team time to develop together. The Flames defenseman squad is quite stacked. The final reason the trades were made was to ensure the defenseman swuad would remain intact after this season. Before the trades, 4/6 defenseman were due a new contract. Now the trades have balanced out who needs what in the offseason.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
PR - Young Guns
PATRIOTS ANNOUNCE NEW GM, NICKNAME TO CHANGE
Dec.5, 2006
Dec.5, 2006
Today, finally the search is over. After a 3 year hiatus, the Ottawa Patriots will announce today the have signed Jeremy Kirk to a lucrative 20 year contract, worth a reported $85.7 million dollars.
When asked about the staggering figures, Kirk turned and smiled, "if they can give DiPietro 15 years, I'm worth 20!" Many TFHL GM's will remember Kirk's brief stint in the league, however he will be the first to say his heart wasn't in it the first time around. " I wasn't dedicated to winning a championship, but after some much needed sole searching, I'm back and more energized than ever." And you don't need to look hard to see why Kirk is so excited. With the likes of Crosby, Nash, Zherdev, etc. this is a team loaded with young firepower, and depth at every position. As for the GMs' first order of business, he sent D Brett Skinner, C Nicklas Backstrom and a 2nd round pick to the Flames in exchange for G Jose Theodore and D Ryan Suter. When asked about the deal Kirk said, "Nothing can replace goaltending. Jose was with us on the Capitals, so I know just how dedicated he is. You only get the chance to get a goalie of his calibur once in this business, and I jumped at it." With the Flames, Theodore posted a 26-17-4 record with a 2.65 GAA and 4 shutouts. Not to be forgotten in this deal is Defenceman Ryan Suter. "Ryan is a talented young defenceman that needs some guidance and discipline," said Kirk, "but he can only get better with age." All in all the future looks bright in Ottawa once again, and the sky is limit with Kirk steering the ship.
When asked about the staggering figures, Kirk turned and smiled, "if they can give DiPietro 15 years, I'm worth 20!" Many TFHL GM's will remember Kirk's brief stint in the league, however he will be the first to say his heart wasn't in it the first time around. " I wasn't dedicated to winning a championship, but after some much needed sole searching, I'm back and more energized than ever." And you don't need to look hard to see why Kirk is so excited. With the likes of Crosby, Nash, Zherdev, etc. this is a team loaded with young firepower, and depth at every position. As for the GMs' first order of business, he sent D Brett Skinner, C Nicklas Backstrom and a 2nd round pick to the Flames in exchange for G Jose Theodore and D Ryan Suter. When asked about the deal Kirk said, "Nothing can replace goaltending. Jose was with us on the Capitals, so I know just how dedicated he is. You only get the chance to get a goalie of his calibur once in this business, and I jumped at it." With the Flames, Theodore posted a 26-17-4 record with a 2.65 GAA and 4 shutouts. Not to be forgotten in this deal is Defenceman Ryan Suter. "Ryan is a talented young defenceman that needs some guidance and discipline," said Kirk, "but he can only get better with age." All in all the future looks bright in Ottawa once again, and the sky is limit with Kirk steering the ship.
-Also sticking with the theme of youth, Ottawa has announced the team nickname has changed from Patriots to Young Guns, complete with new logo and uniforms.
Ottawa Free Press
Monday, December 04, 2006
PR - Wheat Kings
WHEAT KINGS IN TAILSPIN
The Wheat Kings have had a rollercoaster of a season, losing skid, winning streak, .500 doldrums, now another losing skid.
"If we could only play consistently at some level," lamented coach-GM Tyler Young, "then I could at least figure-out how to handle the situation. We have talent, but the talent is on and off, or simply non-existent."
Going into the All-Star break the Kings were middling along in and out of the playoffs, playing well defensively but were impotent offensively. So Mr. Young initiated a series of deals to try and increase his forward corp's scoring, acquiring Mike York and Dan Bertram for Mats Ritola, then shipping Mike York with Eric Fehr for Matt Ellison and Kristian Huslius, the latter of whom was then shipped as part of a blockbuster that brought into the Wheat-fold Paul Kariya, Glen Murray, Lance Ward, Kevin Montgomery, Dan Snyder, and Nik Antropov for Sergei Zubov, Jason Smith, Brian Rolston and Dan Bertram.
"The idea with all these deals was to get scoring and strengthen our team enough to make a solid run into the playofs, but since all these guys were added our offense has gotten even worse. It's almost like we're cursed," GM Young joked, "I've commented on it before, guys that are mediocre for us go to another team and are stars, and stars come to us and are mediocre. And what I don't get is that Kariya and Ellison are getting to play with better players now than they were on their previous clubs."
Point in fact: Ellison and Kariya had a combined 69 points (28g, 36a) in 95 games for the Mauraders and Misconduct, but only 5 points (0g) in 17 games for the Kings.
"If we don't get our act together soon, we will miss the playoffs," said Tyler Young. "I am content to just ride-out the season and lay the groundwork for next year, but still it's frustrating. I think on paper we have improved our team, but we have not improved on the scoresheet."
Asked if there will be any further trades, he replied: "I don't know, it seems the more I do the worse things get. But if we continue to lose and we're out of the playoffs 10 or so games before the deadline, I will try to move some of our veterans, Kariya and Vokoun I think especially would be on the market... heck, they're on the market now!"
The Wheat Kings have had a rollercoaster of a season, losing skid, winning streak, .500 doldrums, now another losing skid.
"If we could only play consistently at some level," lamented coach-GM Tyler Young, "then I could at least figure-out how to handle the situation. We have talent, but the talent is on and off, or simply non-existent."
Going into the All-Star break the Kings were middling along in and out of the playoffs, playing well defensively but were impotent offensively. So Mr. Young initiated a series of deals to try and increase his forward corp's scoring, acquiring Mike York and Dan Bertram for Mats Ritola, then shipping Mike York with Eric Fehr for Matt Ellison and Kristian Huslius, the latter of whom was then shipped as part of a blockbuster that brought into the Wheat-fold Paul Kariya, Glen Murray, Lance Ward, Kevin Montgomery, Dan Snyder, and Nik Antropov for Sergei Zubov, Jason Smith, Brian Rolston and Dan Bertram.
"The idea with all these deals was to get scoring and strengthen our team enough to make a solid run into the playofs, but since all these guys were added our offense has gotten even worse. It's almost like we're cursed," GM Young joked, "I've commented on it before, guys that are mediocre for us go to another team and are stars, and stars come to us and are mediocre. And what I don't get is that Kariya and Ellison are getting to play with better players now than they were on their previous clubs."
Point in fact: Ellison and Kariya had a combined 69 points (28g, 36a) in 95 games for the Mauraders and Misconduct, but only 5 points (0g) in 17 games for the Kings.
"If we don't get our act together soon, we will miss the playoffs," said Tyler Young. "I am content to just ride-out the season and lay the groundwork for next year, but still it's frustrating. I think on paper we have improved our team, but we have not improved on the scoresheet."
Asked if there will be any further trades, he replied: "I don't know, it seems the more I do the worse things get. But if we continue to lose and we're out of the playoffs 10 or so games before the deadline, I will try to move some of our veterans, Kariya and Vokoun I think especially would be on the market... heck, they're on the market now!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)