I'm still not a fan of the Jokinen/Lombardi trade. I'm not sure we get decent value out of the deal, besides the part where we obviously get to shut up concerned commentators who are worried we don't have a playmaking centre.
What really worries me about this deal is it tells me the status on Daymond Langkow's hand is, "we had to amputate and replace it with a cybernetic implant; we're trying to program him to not take over the world now." And that conclusion in itself is kind of depressing... there are few centremen in the league so underrated as Langkow.
Lombardi, in my eyes, was starting to hit his stride this year (of course, I've said this every year since the lockout). He's invaluable on special teams, was starting to not suck so much on playoffs, and well. We all know he's easy on the eyes. Prust is a "meh" type thing for me; it tells me the Phoenix brass are thinking long and hard about how to make sure all their hot little prospects stay safe on the ice.
I thought the Leopold move was a stroke of genius. You have to feel bad for Nycholat though; the Herald just this morning published a glowing puff-piece about how the local boy works hard and moves around a lot and finally comes home. Butnotsomuch.
My biggest concern with the moves today is that we traded younger steady players for older, more erratic and injury-prone ones. I'm not going to even thinking about the mutterings about Jokinen as a "locker-room cancer"... I do believe the leadership in the room (primarily Iggy and Regehr) is strong enough to keep the team together, but... sigh.
If there is any team in the NHL that Jarome Iginla must hate with a passion, it must be the Tampa Bay Lightning? Stole the Cup from you, yup. Beat your team the night you break a bunch of milestones, earn a franchise record, and bag five points, oh yeah.
So. Ugly game Sunday night, despite the Iggy-riffic moments. And I'm starting to just feel sorry for Curtis McElhinney. Seems like he never leaves the bench but for when his teammates need to toss a goalie under a bus.
So tonight! We're going to start off the road trip of brutal proportions. In Ottawa, no less. Now, a month ago, I would have shrugged and figured it was an instant win, but they've picked up considerably lately. In fact you can track it to when they traded for Hillary Duff...um Comrie? I'm kidding about that.
One of the things that cheers me considerably about this team is the mounting number of injuries. It lets us rest up a bunch of guys who we'll ride hard through the end of the season and the playoffs, gives the first bunch of guys we'd call up from the farm some experience working in the bigs, and you know, we're still mostly winning games.
Now, I don't like our chances if we were to stay like this for months and months. But for a couple of weeks, I think it's manageable. And useful even, for the long run.
So... goFlamesgo...and here's hoping Iggy breaks his own record again tonight.
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