A New Era in Blogging

*Hands clapping, fans whistling, cheers reigning down*

*Takes a bow, shakes some hands, kisses a few babies*

Yes, yes. One sexy son-of-a-bitch is about to enter the room… Smith is back! And he’s got more opinions, advice and anecdotes than before! Let’s dive right in…

Sporer wrote about, ‘how to re-build a franchise’… And, I couldn’t agree more with the notion that you need to draft well; however, let’s not confuse this with Pittsburgh and Washington. When you finish dead last, like Washington, and Ovechkin is the clear-choice, franchise-defining once-in-a-decade-player, it doesn’t take rocket science to know who to draft (they also got Mike Green in that same first round). As for Pittsburgh, let’s remember, they didn’t even PLAY A SEASON to get Crosby… They won the Lockout Lottery. Again, it doesn’t take a genius to draft ‘The Next One’. And if you look at their next 3 years, they drafted: Jordan Staal #2 (common, he’s a 3^rd line checker), Angelo Esposito (Sporer’s favorite Quebecor) & in 2008, they didn’t have a 1^st round pick. Ovi & Crosby are franchise changers, players who you can build your team around and even build A LEAGUE around; Taylor Hall is not in the same class as those two. So, I don’t think those are the franchises we need to be compared too.

In fact, I don’t think we should be compared to any franchise! Because, I DON’T THINK WE ARE RE-BUILDING PROPERLY! Off the top of my head, the three young teams what come to mind, that re-built correctly are: Chicago, LA & St Louis. Why? Because, they drafted from the back-end!!! Look at the past 10 champions & their blue line (aside from Carolina & TB): Lidstrom, Pronger, Neidermayer, Gonchar, Keith, Stevens, Bourque, Blake, Foote, and Rafalski. Does Edmonton have any of those players now? DO THEY HAVE ANY IN THEIR FARM SYSTEM?! No.

Chicago drafted: Seabrooke, Keith & Barker (traded to MIN for cap issues).

LA drafted: Hickey, Doughty, Toubert, Derek Forbert (#15 in 2010) & traded for Jack Johnson.

St Louis drafted: Erik Johnson, Pietrangelo, Rundblad & already had success with Barrett Jackman winning the Calder as a Dman.

Where is Edmonton’s stock-piling of Dmen; and, not just ‘Dmen’, but 1^st-round-quality-NHL-Dmen? There is none; none on the team and none in the system and none coming through the pipe line… It’s safe to say that Edmonton has completely ignored their back-end. Chicago, LA & St Louis are all set for 10 years and are already top contenders in the West (say thank you to Montreal for dropping a gem into your lap, St Louis). To make things even worse, I don’t even see an end in sight… in a 2 year span (2011-13), Edmonton is going to have need to re-sign Gagner, Cogliano, Eberle, MPS, Hall, Omark, Penner, Hemsky, Brule and their entire 4^th line. I’m sure you can make the numbers fit because, you don’t want to lose any of those forwards (minus Cogliano), but where is the money for the Dmen?! How can you re-sign everyone (at a pay INCREASE) and still sign talent for the defense?! You can’t. Edmonton is going to have to make some tough choices in the future. And we haven’t even discussed their goaltending needs (which, to rub salt in the wounds, LA drafted Quick & Bernier, STL signed Halak & CHI has already won a cup, so they’re off the hook). It just adds to the old saying… Offence wins games, defense wins championships.

Now, on to other NHL topics…

Sean Avery. Wow. Seriously, the guy continues to amaze me. I wonder if, you took an internal poll of NHL players, how many would want him out of the league? Why doesn’t someone just two-hand him on the wrists or skate over his Achilles? Take the 5-game suspension and be known as the ‘The Guy Who Got Rid of Avery’. I wonder if, you took an internal poll of NHL players, how many would be against that? And how many would shake the hand of the man responsible? I’m just sayin’…

Steven Stamkos. Wow. I gotta say, I did not think that this was a guy who could carry a team on his back because, he didn’t need too with Vinny & Marty there, but is he proving the world wrong. Snubbed for 2010, the guy is pissed and he’s taking his anger out on every goalie in the league. The guy is on pace for 145+points.

Since the shoot-out, there are only 2 active players to have a 100% scoring average and take more then one shot. Answer is at the bottom. Also, Edmonton, as a team, is 4^th all-time with 80 shoot-out goals scored. That’s pretty impressive, in the clutch.

NHL.com listed its Top 10 Trades of All-Time
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=380611

It also listed its all-time Greatest 6 players (by position)
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=384554

Give me Hasek from 1994-1999 over Roy & Brodeur any day, any series, any period, any event.

Hall of Fame 2011 cases include: Dave Andrychuk, Tom Barrasso, Pavel Bure, Doug Gilmour, Eric Lindros, Kevin Lowe, Sergei Makarov, Joe Nieuwendyk, Adam Oates & Mike Richter. I’m going to go with…

1. Nieuwendyk – 3 rings with 3 different teams

2. Bure – 50 goals every year

3. Barrasso – 2 cups with Mario & Co.

4. Richter – 1994 Cup & 1996 World Cup upset

5. Makarov – Russian phenom

6. Lindros – changed two franchises (was traded for Forsberg)

7. Oates – best set-up man, ever?

8. Andrychuk – all-time leader in PPG

9. Gilmour – If Don Cherry could vote 1,000,000 times, Gilmour would get in no problem

10. Lowe – 5 cups in EDM & 1 in NYR, rode on Gretz’ & Mess’s back for years…

Should Calgary trade Iginla?

One word if you do: Ballsy. Iggy is a stud: comes out for Team Canada when he can, is always good for 30 goals & 75pts, hes a leader, he drops the gloves and doesn’t break his hand (Souray) and he’s a good guy. This seems more like an emergency button the Sutter’s would push when their backs are up against a wall and there is nothing else they can do, so they push the Iginla button and blow up the whole thing. The rumor going around was: Iginla to LA for Braydon Schenn & a high pick. Trading him within the West means, you have to play him 4 times a year, ballsy. It’s an interesting debate as to whether you trade him or not. He’s your franchise guy and seeing what trading your franchise guy can do to a team, look no further then the Oil. Smyth (face of the franchise) & Pronger (the actual franchise player) were essentially traded for: Nielson (playing in the KHL), O’Marra (played 3 NHL games), Lupul (who turned into O’Sullivan, who signed in Carolina), Smid, Plante (4 NHL games), Nash (0 NHL games) & Eberle (4^th in rookie scoring, but 5^th last with a -6). It’s took early to tell with Eberle, but we basically got a bunch of AHL players & a 5^th Dman.

So, what did we learn? Make sure you’re getting fair value for Iggy. As for my own opinion, I don’t think you can trade Iginla. If the Sutter’s do trade him, it’s only to save their jobs, and I’m sure the media and fans would have their heads served up on a silver platter.

More trivia: only two former Hartford Whalers for currently still playing in the NHL. I didn’t know either of them played for Hartford. Answer at the bottom.

All Star voting is in full swing, and it got me thinking… Who is Edmonton’s all star? I guess its Ryan Whitney by default… It’s like picking, the best of the worst. At least the Isles have Tavares, sheesh.

And you know what? All this talk about rebuilding… Detroit doesn’t rebuild, they reload. Blam. No veteran goaltending? No problem! Meet Jimmy Howard, he has them 1^st in the West. NIk Lidstrom is 40? No worries, they have Jon Ericsson & Nik Kronwall, not to mention their top 2 prospects are also Dmen.

Trivia Answer #1 – Mike Santorelli, FLA (3 for 3) & Logan Couture SJS (2 for 2)

Trivia Answer #2 – Chris Pronger & Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Cheers.
-Smith