On Sober Second Thought...

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.

NO, MATTY, NO!!

I have to go and face my class and not beat them up too much now, so more later.

Les Habitants Flames de jouer, en attendant les émeutes

Bonjour!  I'm so hyped for tonight's game that I could tolerate a Frenchman!  I've always been a fan of Tangs so it'll be good to see him again, even if it's on the other side.  I'm also hoping the Flames can keep this momentum we've sustained,  Boyd will be back, which is good and bad.  Good 'cause I like the guy, bad 'cause the team has something going and I'm worried this'll throw a wrench in the works of a functional and successful team.  I'm always the pessimist.

I confess to being a quasi-Habs fan, they're perhaps my second favourite team in the league and have been for quite some time.  It doesn't hurt that they've been pretty good recently, but most importantly they're a fun team to watch.  The atmosphere at the Bell Centre is amazing, it seems to pump up the players who play in the arena (on both teams) and result in a disproportionate number of good hockey games.  Or so it seems, anyway.

I'm not sure why everyone has the hate-on for Bertuzzi as a disappointment.  The man signed for 1 year at $1.95M.  I look at disappointments from the angle of salaries combined with expectations.  My expectations with Bertuzzi were fairly low given his recent years' performances, and the salary is undoubtedly low.  For what he's being paid, I'd assert that Bertuzzi is what I expected and not a "disappointment".  On the other hand, Lombardi's performance has been decidedly lacking and definitely beneath his potential.  Sadly, if I had to peg a disappointment so far this season...it'd be Lombo.

The Beast, It Is Slain

Second ago, the Flames finally defeated the evil Vancouver Canucks for the very first time this season. It's about time, I think. It was officially "a gooder". Some brief notes:

• Glencross: What a machine! The chuckwagon racing has done him good. I don't see what else it could be, what a terrific signing. My hate for him last year is directly proportional to my love for him this year.
• Lombardi: He has been impressive tonight, in that he's been able to engage stealth mode and stay off the scoresheet while his linemates rack up the points.
• Kiprusoff: He looked like a starting goaltender.
• Iginla: Looked impressive, loved the pass on Cammalleri's 2nd goal. Perfect.
• Langkow: He got 2 assists and I didn't actually notice him too much, but obviously he was doing a lot of things right.
• Keenan: M-mi-mix-mix-mixmaster Mike is at it again. Keeps me on my toes, I suppose, but I still don't like it.

But it's not over yet. Time to kick the puppy while it's down, and enjoy doing it.

Who will be our Mikko Freakin' Koivu? | Pre-Game: Battle of Alberta

Mikko Freakin' Koivu killed me last night in various fantasy pools.  He also killed me because in one league (where I'm behind by assists), I drafted him but dropped him before the season started to get Peter Mueller (Ben Stein's voice is running through my head with that name still...).  Gaborik sat out with a shocker of an injury, and Koivu stepped up to deliver his team a win.

Do we have a player capable of that on the Flames?  It's got to be either Lombardi or Boyd right now, they need to play possessed and start delivering on their promise -- Lombardi in particular.  The Flames need some hope from the young guys offensively, we need a kid who can provide something new and exciting to the team and start lighting the lamp.  For years we've had to trade for new scorers, but in the process trade away an existing scorer -- we're just keeping the status quo.  Time to step it up, for my sanity.  As I've said before, this year is really Lombardi's last year to prove himself as someone with 1st or 2nd line potential, otherwise he'll be a career 3rd or 4th line grinder, which is such a shame with his speed.

Tonight we face yet another divional rival.  Is it just me, or do other teams get to play more teams from outside the division to start the season?  The Flames and most of their key players always "start slow"  so it's a bit of a pain in the ass to give our rivals so many points so early, especially to Vancouver.  I'm pumped for tonight's game, regardless, as I always am for games against the Oilers.  It's time to get a nice, solid, defensively-sound victory...please.

Who will be in net tonight?  We've got a back-to-back with the Oil...my guess is Kipper gets both, he need the practice.  But there is the distinct possibility that McElhinney will get one of the starts...and what happens if he outplays Kiprusoff?  And gets more starts?  I'm getting a headache already.

Hell on Wheels

Exacerbating the team's recent problems, the Flames suffered a 10-9 loss yesterday to the kids at the Alberta Children's Hospital. How bad is it? The Flames haven't won a single one of these in my lifetime. That's a lot of sick kids. Evidence from the scene of the crime is here.

Man, when your star d-man bags a hat-trick, and you still can't win...

Fine, back to the kids we actually should be worrying about.

Chicago is the new Nashville. Like Nashville in years past, they're going to be a fast, physical team that just leaves you gasping for breath. There are some weak spots - young players can be exploited for their mistakes after all. And Khabibulin is no Vokoun. Not these days, anyways, we'll forget about the spring of 2004...

That said, there's some good things happening on the Flames. I don't pretend that the win the other day solved all our problems. However, it's nice to see Nolan developing chemistry with at least a couple of other players: Lombardi, over the weekend, and now Conroy and Nystrom. Speaking of Lombardi, the guy is playing some of the hottest hockey of his career, and that's not just due to the dimples. His play has matured tremendously over the last year or so, and he has earned that spot on the first line - provided, of course, we see him playing on it tonight.

It'll be interesting to contrast Lombardi against Chicago's kids. While they won't be conducting footraces all night long, the crazy bursts of speed coming from both ends will be a treat to watch. So hang on tight tonight. There's been some amazing changes in Chicago since the last time we played them, and if both these teams bring their A game, it'll be a gooder.

I don't think the rollercoaster is over quite yet, though I won't be complaining that we're not playing a divisional rival. There's going to be quite a few things we're going to have to see before I'm convinced we've totally turned the corner. Special teams will have to be solid, with sustained pressure whenever anybody's kicking around in the box. I'm going to have to see that third line be plausibly dangerous again. And our d-men will have to look like, well, they left the wheelchairs at the hospital. Stuff like that...

Calgary's still going to win, course. 4-3 for the good guys.

I remember a time where we were short on centres

Yelle
Langkow
Conroy
Nolan
Lombardi
Primeau

Who is going? Who is staying? What are we getting?

Let's have some late-night fun with these questions:

Primeau: Seeing as he just signed a new contract, I'd reckon he's staying. (Projected: 4th line)
Nolan: Seeing as he just signed a new contract, I'd reckon he's staying. (Projected: 3rd line) [Edit: He's a RW, not traditionally a centre. My bad.]

That leaves us with two more starting centers to place, and four players: Conroy, Langkow, Lombardi, Yelle.

Lombardi: I have to believe he's staying, because I love him. The other part of me thinks he's probably going to be traded. Lombardi was never really a Sutter type of player...and he's certainly not a Keenan type of player. Plus after the Conroy acquisition he's sort of been the odd man out. [Edit: Seeing as Nolan's not really a centre, I say Lombardi stays.]

Yelle: I love the guy, but I think Primeau's liable to replace him, seeing as he's younger, potentially more durable. A lot of teams could use Yelle's PK expertise and leadership, so he may be moved. My prediction is he is going to be moved this summer.

Langkow: He's going to stay. (Projected: 1st line)
Conroy: He's going to stay. (Projected: 2nd line)

Now, I'm well aware Primeau is also listed as a LW...so potentially one of these guys can stay for 5 centres. But 6? There's no way. Expect a trade.

HENHENHEN

Apparently everybody's favourite boyfriend has been re-signed. A three year contract extension. Happy dance time!

Also Nilson. Which doesn't excite me nearly as much, but I guess Sutter's moving down the list and taking care of business, every day.

Job application

I'm trying out for the position of HG's link bunny.



(Courtesy of the Herald of course)

Thoughts on the third round

Are we done yet?

I was going to present my third round predictions, but then I realized that a) I had nothing new, b) my picks do not have any bearing on logic, reason, or any of that good stuff, c) if I publicized them no one (I'm looking at you, Anaheim) will off Detroit for me. What's a girl gotta do to get a good dose of revenge 'round these parts?

So, I have two main realizations.

Ottawa vs Buffalo. Despite living in Leafsland, I've been exposed to this matchup too many times this year. Yeah, yeah, it's emotional after that one game earlier this year...but...they played each other eight times total. I can't pretend I'm too interested. Blame scheduling, blame Bettman, blame the onset of spring and my resulting apathy.

Anaheim vs Detroit. There is no reason Anaheim shouldn't win, right? So why did they play a shit game yesterday? I'm not going to make any other comment on this besides that every time I watch Detroit in action this year, they win another series.

And my conclusion? Well, there's a fantabulous world championships going on, Canada just advanced to the gold medal game, and Lombo is having a helluva coming-out party. I'm delighted for him, though a bit apprehensive about what this means for him and his full time gig.

I've believed steadily in his potential at least since he came back from injury in '05-06 - there's at least one guy out there who will still blame me bitterly for picking him up for fantasy hockey. I'm liking what I see of his defensive play as much as his much-vaunted charge-down-to-the-other-end offense - I just hope that the Flames front office can figure out how to use him the way Andy Murray clearly has.

So...go Canada, and let me know when we're into the last round....

Lombardi Lights the Lamp

Our boy Lombardi keeps lighting it up...2 goals so far in today's game. Phaneuf's got 2 assists also.

Go Flames Go!

Lombardi! Oh, so dreamy.

Our Matthew "Dreamy" Lombardi has two goals so far in today's game versus the USA! Go Matty Go!

I don't even care that he was born in Quebec.

Edit: Hat-trick!