2.28.2007

It's over, let's go back to hating Bettman now

After yesterday, here’s where the teams in the West seem to fall:

Hoping for the reward over the risk: Detroit, Nashville
Injected size and pugnacity
: San Jose and Anaheim
Filling their rank and file
: Calgary, Vancouver, Dallas
Simply cursed
: Edmonton
Praying for unbelievable draft classes
: Phoenix, Kings, Blues

I, honestly, feel very bad for both Edmonton and Florida fans. Ignore I mocked the Oilers earlier since, if you haven’t noticed, I mock everyone including the team I root for. But I do feel very bad for their fans. It seems Lowe did his best to get Smyth on paper for five years, but the numbers didn’t work. Nilsson and O'Marra should assuage the anger in a few years, but to plummet from last year’s run to basically throwing up their arms and surrendering now (and losing someone like Smyth to boot) sucks. There isn’t even an applicable comparison for Vancouver in this situation; the Oilers moved Mr. Canadian hockey to friggin Uniondale. It makes business sense sure, but the anger will be palpable for some time to come. Considering their history, sometimes business needs can take a backseat. What a sport.

As for Florida, hey, at least you have nice weather. Panther fans had to deal all year watching Luongo shine while seeing Bertuzzi play for them a paltry seven times. And now he's gone for quite little; as On Frozen Pond notes, Luongo was basically moved for what amounts to Bryan Allen, Alex Auld, Shawn Matthias and the conditional picks from however Detroit and Bertuzzi do respectively in the coming weeks. As with Lowe, I won’t fault Florida’s business rationale, but in hindsight, this has got to be one of the most lopsided trades since Mike Milbury ran the Isles’ asylum.

Also, there was an obvious failure of entertainment over information yesterday up North. Fools and their money soon part as they say. In contrast (for what it's worth) Paul and Alanah provided everything a stuck at work guy needed to stay informed and Big Body Presence and JJ kept me chuckling the rest of the day. Good jobs guys.

…mercifully moving on…

The Canucks didn’t waste long to start sucking again. Hearing Shorty ask "where was the defense?" on the first Weight goal was disheartening. Since the Flames play the Wild tonight, their division lead will be gone by the morning. So at least their best player is pissed…now, let’s see if anyone else on this squad feels the same.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for Edmonton fans. I don't like the Oilers but this must've been a shock to them. The situation is different but it reminds me of when Linden was traded.

Yeah, last night's game sucked but Luongo isn't blameless for the loss. He should've had those three goals. They weren't spectacular shots or anything. It's not like he was overworked all night. I just get mad that it's never Luongo's fault. He's perfect, blame the rest of the team! The Canucks would never say anything but I'm wondering if more of the guys are suffering from the flu.

Mike said...

Luongo definitely could have been better. But, considering he has saved the team so often over the past two months, he's forgiven for a bad goal here and there. Even a bad game...but it was the Blues and Sanford. It's still confusing how they couldn't generate more opportunities.

Then again, it's better the have this lesson that nothing should be taken for granted now rather then later. I hope they come out full force and for 60 full minutes tomorrow.