Running 2007 NHL regular season thread

yeah, I don't like rent-a-players. They only come after the March trade deadline and boom win a Cup! The worse part is if they come to a team environment where the other players on the team have worked their butts off all season long with each other to get to the Cup final. It is unfair in a way for the rent a player to get their name on the Cup when he hasn't played more than a couple of months with the winning team.

 

Didn't go well, did it?

Well, at least you didn't have to put up with his Sideshow Bob acst for the first couple of years.

 

Luckily, he, Lukowich and their ilk were gone from Kamloops before I got there ... they had free run of the city and they damn well knew it ... but they don't have to act like it when they go back there.

Smug, overbearing, and downright aggravating.

They present a stark contrast to people such as Jarome Iginla and homegrown talent Darcy Robinson (the late).

 

Didn't I read a newspaper article that Tucker's father was downright hard on him as a youngster.

 

The late Bramalea Blues? They're no more?

 

Team has suspended operations for this season pending a sale. They've been fucking horrible for the last few years anyway.

The Dixie Beehives have returned to Tier II after years away. I grew up a huge Beehives fan and spent many nights at the old Dixie Arena. That barn has been gone for more than 20 years so I have no idea where the new 'Hives are playing.

 

You all should, if you did not get a chance to hear Prime Time Sports, or watch it. McCown had Dave Nonis Vancouver GM, Kevin Lowe, Edmonton GM and Ron MacLean about his contract and other issues.

Tomorrow's program is supposed to have NHL commish Gary Bettman on air live and will be repeated. May get preempted because of the baseball playoff game. They plan to talk about everything from Bell and Downie suspensions to the collapse of the Nashville bid and marketing (also the Dolan lawsuit against NHL)

 

They're playing at the Weston Arena at Lawrence & Weston Rd, one of the great old barns built by the Lions Club after WW2.

When my kid played for the York Toros, that was his home rink for three years. They spent a few million about ten years ago doing some structural refurbishments. Great ice as well.

(Remember that Tim Horton's ad when a Chinese-Canadian grandfather walks into a rink to see his grandson play? That was shot at Weston)

Best french fries of any rink in the city.

 

I love Tier II and the barns the teams play in ... man, there was nothing like the days when the Amherst Ramblers came to town or when Jim Bottomley brought his squads of goons and cheap shots in ...

Go Bulldogs!

 

Woo hoo! Opening night of hockey!

 

Burke lights up on Lowe again! Fun read ... wish I had seen the show.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=219774&hubname=

The 2007/08 NHL season will be a wild one if the fireworks on the NHL on TSN's preview show are any indication.

Anaheim Ducks executive vice president and general manager Brian Burke made his feelings regarding Edmonton Oilers' GM Kevin Lowe clear during an interview with James Duthie. Click here to see the complete interview.

Burke has been critical of some of the moves made by the Oilers this past off-season and did not mince words when talking about Lowe.

"If I had run my team into the sewer like that I wouldn't throw a grenade at the other 29 teams and my own indirectly," said Burke. "So I have no intention of speaking to him anytime soon."

When Duthie asked what would happen if the Ducks needed to talk to the Oilers about a player late in the season Burke explained his assistant GM, Bob Murray would make the call.



Burke took issue with the Oilers executive vice president and general manager when Edmonton tendered a 5-year US$21.25 million offer sheet to Group II restricted free agent Dustin Penner back in July. The Ducks did not match and Penner joined the Oilers.

At the time Burke blasted Lowe, telling the Canadian Press the move was "an act of desperation by a general manager who is fighting to keep his job."

Burke explained his reaction was not due to the offer sheet being put forward but instead over the amount of money involved. Penner's salary took a large jump from $450,000 a year in 2006/07 with the Ducks to $4.25 million for this season with the Oilers. The Ducks' GM was also critical of the process employed by Lowe and the Oilers.

"I was not notified of this until an agent faxed it into us," Burke told Canadian Press in July. "I thought Kevin would have called me and told me it was coming. I thought that was gutless."

It was the second time the Oilers went the offer sheet route this past summer. They also put forth a 7-year, US$50 million offer sheet to Buffalo Sabres forward Thomas Vanek. The Sabres decided to match the offer.

 

Brian Burke's act is wearing thin. He used to be a grumpy old bastard, now he's just a prick with ears