So I spent a week with the family out in a cabin cut off from all forms of media for the past 10 days. Frankly it was a blast! Kind of makes you realize just how much time a guy can waste monkeying around with different forms of online activity and TSN. The problem is you spend some of that time worrying though which is kind of sad really, but lying to you does me no good. My 3 biggest fear was missing something about the Oilers, a major trade in the NHL as a whole, and maybe the most perplexing, not knowing what was going on for 10 days with the old keep league. I’m one of those guys that will spend hours trying to make my team better and being out of the loop for that long did drive me nuts! Upon getting back home last night I realized I haven’t missed much, especially in the keeper pool with the only thing being done is a few GM’s swapping some picks back and forth for the most part. There are a few things that went down though that I would like to comment on however.
Kovalchuk. Sweet mother of God does this mean the craziness of these contracts is done?!?! I sure hope so, in the very least in the sense that no more GM’s will attempt to orchestrate such contracts because they have no cap space left to play by the rules. I’ve talked about this before, we as fans lost year of hockey so the playing field could be level for all team in the NHL. We shouldn’t be happy when teams find loopholes that allow them to sign players they don’t have the cap space to sign. It screws with the balance we all want in the league. Frankly I hope the league does cancel a few of the contracts out there that haven’t started yet as well. I also wonder through this entire ordeal, just what shape the NHLPA is truly in. Is it just me, or does the NHLPA still seem like a complete toothless wonder and the NHL knows it?
Kaberle. Brian Burke has gone on record in saying that he expects the trade offers for Thomas Kaberle to sharpen up by this Sunday. This coming from the same guy that said he won’t trade Kaberle unless the Toronto Maple Leafs get exactly what they want, yet for the past 2 months has been slowly and quietly bring down the expectations of return so his fan base isn’t totally pissed at him. In short, the Leafs aren’t getting a top 6 forward for this guy in my opinion. They will trade him, that I would bet on, but it will be for futures and maybe a depth player or two. What I don’t get is why they don’t like Kaberle in the plans for the future. Burke himself said it once already, they will trade Kaberle away, and then spend the next 4 months trying to figure out how to replace him. I think that exact story plays out still.
Pronger. News breaks last night that he will almost certainly will miss training camp due to a knee injury suffered in the playoffs in the spring. Now this isn’t just a Pronger rant, he just happens to be the player this year that fits the example of what bugs me. The playoffs have been over for a long friggin time now, yet Pronger just went under the knife 2 weeks ago and his status for opening night is now doubtful. This seems to happen to a couple of key players every damn year! How the hell do these teams have millions of dollars tied up in these assets, yet allow them to not be ready for the next hockey season? I’m no doctor, but based on Pronger’s explanation of the injury it seems pretty clear he should have had the surgery the day after the Flyers lost to the Hawks in the finals. I get that no one wants surgery unless they absolutely need it, but I think one could make the argument that when someone is paying you millions of bucks to be ready to play hockey, you absolutely need the surgery. Get her done! Be ready.
Then again, this is just another damned opinion.
