Marc-Andre Bergeron made his premiere for the Montreal Canadiens last night; it didn’t go perfectly. He took a hooking penalty in his first shift, and then in the second period he gets absolutely CRUSHED into the boards on a massive hit from the Atlanta Thrashers’ Colby Armstrong. Bergeron’s teammates immediately come to his defense swinging, but Bergeron just stands, very unsteadily, nearby watching the scrum trying to clear his head.

After suffering a likely concussion on a devastating check from Colby Armstrong of the Atlanta Thrashers, Montreal defensemen Marc-Andre Bergeron was questionably allowed to return to the ice in Tuesday night’s game between the Thrashers and Canadiens. Minutes after the blow that left Bergeron in a semi-conscious state, the blue-liner identified 81 year old hockey legend Gordie Howe as the culprit. “Man, I didn’t even see Gordie coming. The old man’s still got it,” proclaimed Bergeron as team doctors checked his status. “The last thing I remember is going back to get the puck behind our net and then out of the corner of my eye I see big old #9 with those famous elbows of his coming at me, and boom everything went black.” Even though Howe played his last NHL game in 1971 and is now a longtime grandfather, Montreal doctors cleared Bergeron to play and told him he looked “good to go.”

Almost two weeks into the free agency madness and the Sens have only done three things. Signed Neil, traded Auld for a SIXTH ROUND draft pick, and blew 10 million dollars on an inconsistent forward named Alex Kovalev.

Brian Murray, you’re fired.

And meanwhile, Colby still hasn’t come home and Heatley’s still a douche.

On the Islanders Beat

The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed former NY Ranger tough guy Colton Orr to a 4 year, $4 million dollar contract. The cap hit will be $1 million dollars a season, and they immediately become “tougher” up front. …

The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed former NY Ranger tough guy Colton Orr to a 4 year, $4 million dollar contract. The cap hit will be $1 million dollars a season, and they immediately become “tougher” up front. …

So much for the theories of Colton Orr wanting to stay in the New York area. He&s off the board to Toronto as GM Brian Burke begins building Anaheim East. He&ll have four shots a season to run John Tavares. …

So much for the theories of Colton Orr wanting to stay in the New York area. He&s off the board to Toronto as GM Brian Burke begins building Anaheim East. He&ll have four shots a season to run John Tavares. …

Colton Orr Signed By Leafs. The New York Rangers today let the best young enforcer in the league walk for nothing! Posted by Puck Central at 1:18 PM. Labels: Bobby Orr, Leafs, Rangers …

I don’t think there’s a person in this world who wanted the Stanley Cup more than Sidney Crosby. Say whatever you want about him. Yes, he whines. But he has the biggest work ethic in the NHL. He, along with Geno and Ovie, have really brought more interest to the League. He has dreamed of this moment since the day he was born. He has worked for this since the moment he was born. Even with all the shit that he’s been through in the past couple of years with the media, he has proven to have matured and handled it very well for a kid that’s only 21. Sidney Crosby deserved this Cup. I don’t think you all remember where the Penguins were before he came. It just proves how much a couple of good draft picks can make a difference in your organization. In a matter of 6 years, this team has gone from last place nobody’s to Stanley Cup champions. Take it all in, Crosby, you’ve worked your whole life for this.

Oh, and, 50 bucks says either Max or Colby took this picture. I mean, who else?

I apologize for the lack of major updates in the last few weeks, but this has been mostly because I’ve been too busy freaking out about the Pens winning the Cup  studying for final exams. Many people wonder what happens to a hockey blog during the off-season where there’s no hockey. Well, hockey extends further than 82 games and playoffs. During the post-season, some crazy shit can happen. Like, for example, still not knowing who’s going #1 overall in the draft next week. This is the first time this has happened in 6 years. The last time people were this uncertain about the draft was in 2003 when the Pens opted for Marc-Andre Fleury instead of Eric Staal. Personally, I think the Islanders will go for Tavares. Either that or make a trade *coughcough* Brian Burke *coughcough* Don’t get me wrong, I think any of the top-5 guys this year can make a drastic difference in that hockey club, I just think that with all the media/record breaking talent that Tavares has he’ll be the obvious choice. Another think that happens in the post season is the free-agency madness. And I mean MADNESS. On the Pens lineup, a couple of interesting names might not resign, such as Petr Sykora and the American Hero Rob Scuderi. If Shero doesn’t resign those two, he will MOST definitely become number one on my hitlist. First, you trade Colby, then you don’t sign Scuds and Syki? Okay, dude. Redeem yourself. Colby Freaking Armstrong is also a RFA at the end of the year. Do it, Shero, do it. He’s more popular than Santa Clause in Pittsburgh. You’ll be doing your fans a favor. I (with the help of Erika and Roxanne) wrote a letter to Ray Shero, we’ll scan it and post it up soon. It’s really quite epical. So, all summer, you can count on me to fully recap Lord Stanley’s summer. I’ll make sure to be the first to post the pictures of Max Talbot pissing into it, Sidney Crosby proposing to it, and Geno and the Malkin’s eating Borsht out of it. Unfortunately, I missed the NHL awards the other night. I did hear that O-V won the Hart. Psht. Whatever, he can have that trophy, Geno and I are plenty happy with our trophy. Damn straight, Alex, we went there. And anyone else hear the digs Boudreau made at the Pens? Uhm, douche alert! Just when you think you love that guy, he has to go and say something like THAT. Ugh. I thought it was REALLY classy that Max went to Vegas with Geno, even though he wasn’t, and probably never will be, nominated for an award. Whatever, he’s still MVP in my eyes.

Just some notes I have about the season, and the Stanley Cup Finals:

1. I know this blog has taken a bit of heat for being anti-Detroit Red Wing. Please note that while some of us are anti-red wing here, I am not. In fact, Detroit is my most beloved of teams, so much that I cannot express it in words. I love the city, the team, the history, the lore. That said, since the lockout I have followed the Pittsburgh Penguins and they are a team I really like. I wanted them to win a cup. Detroit won last year, and I needed for Sidney to have a championship.
2. Sidney Crosby wins a championship before Lebron James. Eat it, other sport equivalent heralded phenom.
3. Lidstrom’s chance in the dying seconds of the game reminded me of a chance he did score on against Anaheim in the conference semi-finals:Compare that to the end of Game 7 against the Penguins: (at about the 9 minute mark)C’mon, I know you want to:
   
4. Marian Hossa, Mayor of Pittsburgh:
   
5. What’s not to love about Maxime Talbot? Actually this series reminds me a lot of the Calgary-Tampa Bay series the year before the lockout. Tampa was down 3 games to 2 in the series, and a depth guy scored two goals in game seven to win the game in Ruslan Fedotenko (who now is on the Pens, and who we on DKM refer to as Aslan). My only regret: I wish Colby Armstrong was on the Pens for this win. I loved that guy. It just burns me up that he was part of the Hossa deal. The Pens traded all these assets for Hossa and he just jumps ship? Well, at least he won a Stanley Cup…
6. Like I was saying, Max Talbot, Superstar!
   
7. I wonder how injured Sidney Crosby’s knee is? Not so injured he could not lift hte Cup. Eh? Eh?
8. Thanks for the great season:
   

The debut for the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Maxime Talbot aka “Supastar”. The commercial is huge in the city of Pittsburgh as it includes speechless Evgeni Malkin,one-liner Sergei Gonchar and ex-Penguin Colby Armstrong.

This is the end of my Trade Deadline ‘09 blog. Thanks for joining me. This has been the busiest day of 50MC blog. I hope everyone can join me for the rest of the year as I plan to update this blog daily.

3:05 pm – Cory Woron from TSN: Gerber is expected to play for the Leafs tomorrow. Burke tried to deal him, but nothing ame of it.

3:02 pm – thanks for joining me today. The 25.5 O/U was way under. According to TSN, Dominic Moore has been traded. Details unknown. Updated: Dominic Moore traded to Buffalo for 2nd round pick. Leafs get great value for Moore here.

3:00 pm – Derek Morris to the NY Rangers for Peter Prucha, Nigel Dawes and Dmitri Kalinin. Rangers gave up a ton, but they needed some defensive help. Phoenix looks like they picked up a lot of really good younf talent today: Lombardi, Dawes, Upshall. Deadline is over, but there is a good chance that some deals can happen a little bit after 3:00pm. What a slow day. 11 trades today. Weak.

2:58 pm – 2 minutes to go and Pierre McGuire has just exclaimed that Jay Bouwmeester is not going anywhere.

2:55 pm – Sportsnet is reporting that Chris Neil will pass through the deadline and remain with the Ottawa Senators for the rest of the season… Also, Alexei Ponikarovski is reportedly going to Nashville for 2 draft picks. This would be a good move for the Leafs.

2:49 pm – Confirmed: Antropov to the NY Rangers for a 2nd round pick, thanks to TSN. Kypper looked a little embarrassed… Burke could not get that sought after 1st round pick, and nobody has to get fired, right Pierre?… 10 minutes to go.

2:47 pm – TSN is reporting that the New York Rangers have actually traded for Nik Antropov. This would make more sense that Nashville. If this is true, Sportsnet may have lost the lead to TSN.

2:42 pm – Breaking News from Sportsnet: Nik Antropov has been trade to Nashville probably for a 2nd rounder. I guess Nashville wants to make a run at the playoffs. I don’t like it for the Preds. Also, Daniel Carcillo to Phoenix to Philly for Scottie Upshall and a 2nd rounder. Wow. Looks like Philly is freeing up room for someone, probably Morris. On Carcillo, man, talk about Broadstreet Bully. This is a perfect fit for Philly. He is going to being so much energy to the team. They gave up a promising scoring forward and a draft pick but if they pick up a defenseman, they will make some noise in the playoffs. I like the move for both teams.

2:37 pm – Rumor Mill says “Vancouver and Florida close to Bouwmeester deal”. Apparently for Mason Raymond and a 1st rounder and possibly Kevin Bieksa. Calgary has forced Vancouver’s hand… 20 minutes to go… according to TSN Burke has been offered 2nd round picks each for Antropov and Moore. Burky is going to wait until the deadline to see if he can get more.

2:30 pm – half an hour to go. 8 trades today. We’ll say 11-13 trades in total this deadline season. Taking the under on 25.5 trades is looking good… REPORT: Sportsnet is reporting that the Leafs have told Martin Gerber to stay put for a little bit because he could be part of a bigger deal. Where could he go? Who would want him? He stinks.

2:24 pm – more on Chris Neil. Sportsnet’s Rumor Mill says that the Panthers are interested… One name that has absolutely not come up today is Tomas Kaberle. Looks like Brian Burke was true to his word in saying that he will keep Kaberle. Tommy can look forward to the same kind of trade attention during next year’s deadline… As for Kubina, he can look forward to it during this year’s draft, when his NTC is invalid.

2:18 pm – BIG name on the block: Michael Russo from Minnesota Star-Tribune is reporting that Marian Gaborik is indeed in play. This is huge. Minny needs to make this trade, as I pointed out in part 6 of Deadline Trades I Would Like to See. This could be one of those deals that just beats the clock, similar to the Marian Hossa trade to Pittsburgh last year. Weird that Hossa and Gaborik are close friends. They even go to bar-mitzvah’s together… Another Czech and close friend of both Hossa and Gabby, Martin Havlat is on the verge of signing an extension with the Hawks.

2:15 pm – 45 minutes left until the deadline… ESPN is reporting that Manny Ramirez has finally signed with the Dodgers. hahahah. Take that Scott Boras, you asshole. I don’t care if you get 15% of that, you wanted $5 million more and the Dodgers took that deal off the table, and you folded. You suck, Boras… Philly Flyers are very interested in Derek Morris.

2:06 pm – Sportsnet’s Rumor Mill is reporting that Samuel Pahlsson is heading to the Blackhawks. Apparently Brian Burke is asking too much for Dominic Moore, so Pahlsson is the backup plan… should I pick up Guerin in my fantasy pool?

1:57 pm – Darren Dreger is reporting that Bill Guerin is going to the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is confirmed. Finally… they are also reporting that the report below about Peter Forsberg has not been confirmed and actually is erroneous.

1:51 pm – Adrian Dater from the Denver Post is reporting that Peter Forsberg is in Colorado and will indeed suit up tomorrow night vs the Detroit Red Wings.. to announce his retirement from the NHL. Forsberg is one of the best players in this era, but with all his injuries, will he be immortalized in the Hall of Fame?

1:47 pm – Jay Onrait’s blog need to be page one material on tsn.ca. Go to Onrait’s all day long blog on the deadline for a good laugh… Sportsnet’s Rumor Mill reads: “Pittsburgh interested in Jarrko Ruutu and Bill Guerin”

1:40 pm – Sportsnet is reporting Dominic Moore to the Blackhawks. Not official yet… Sportsnet has had a live shot on the Maple Leafs’ war room and I have yet to see Brian Burke in there… where is his twitter update to see what he is up to.

1:37 pm – Louis Jean from Sportsnet is saying that Bob Gainey’s phone is not ringing and he feels that his team is good enough to make a run in the playoffs. They have Alex Tanguay coming back, which will be a good addition… On the other hand, Eklund is saying the Habs will make a “big splash”… I’ll go with Louis on this one.

1:30 pm – Recchi on the phone with TSN. James Duthie tries to get him to admit that he found out he was traded while watching TSN, but Rex doesn’t give in. Hahah take that TSN. Atta boy Rex.

1:24 pm – TSN’s Darren Dreger has just reported that Mark Recchi has been traded to the Boston Bruins. Nice. How many time will Rex get traded at the deadline… Neil and the Sens’ talks have broken. He will be traded… switched to Sportsnet. They have Oilers practice on and Shawn Horcoff isn’t on the ice. I wouldn’t read aything into it.

1:19 pm – Chicago is looking for a center. Steve Reinprecht is an option. So is Jeff Halpern and Dominic Moore. Lame.

1:07 pm - Bobby Mac is reporting that if the Panthers decide on trading J-Bo it will be closer to the deadline and it will be to Philly or Vancouver… He is also reporting that the Thrashers’ phone lines are burning up for Colby Armstrong.

1:00 pm – 2 hours left. Only 6 trades to speak of today, with only 1 big one. But it was huge. My under 25.5 trades is looking pretty good… HockeyBuzz seems to be down. They haven’t updated anything for a while… looking at IslandersPointBlank for an Guerin update, but nothing to be found… looking into a Chris Neil update.

12:54 pm - Vesa Toskala is done for the season. TSN is confirming what Sportsnet speculated an hour ago. He is having hip surgery and groin surgery. He will go on the IR immediately. This explains the Gerber pick up. Weird because Vesa has been playing so well of late. Let’s make some moves Leafs, season is over.

12:50 pm – Report: Olli Jokinen will wear #21. Apparently Iginla wanted Jokinen to shave his moustache for #12, but Jokinen said “no way, Jose” (while pronouncing a hard J).

12:35 pm – TSN is reporting 2 trades: Petteri Nokelainen to Anaheim from Boston for Steve Montador and the BIG ONE: Lombardi, Brandon Prust and a 1st rounder for Olli Jokinen. Good trade for Calgary. With Leopold and Jokinen added today they have just hit a home run. They are now among the elite in the West. It is still unknown if Jokinen will switch his number from 12, the number that Jarome Iginla currently wears… 6 trades today so far, but this is the first big one.

12:28 pm – LeBrun, still on Sportsnet, is reporting that the Habs were talking to the Coyotes about Jokinen, but pulled out… the original Bill Guerin deal has also been pulled back and GM Garth Snow is working on “Plan B”. One this for sure is that Guerin cannot possibly return to the Island after being treated like shit for the past few days… LeBrun reports that Washington was the team that Guerin was supposed to go to, but they could not free up Michael Nylander’s contract.

12:18 pm – Pierre LeBrun is now on Sportsnet and he is talking about Jokinen to Calgary. He does confirm that the deal on the table is Jokinen for Lombardi and a 1st round pick… Laviolette is looking more comfortable. Atta boy Petey.

12:14 pm – the Ottawa Senators have a deal in place for Chris Neil; however, the two sides will discuss an extension for the next 45 minutes. If they cannot hammer out a new contract by 1pm, Neil is traded. This according to Mark Christopher at HockeyBuzz.

12:11 pm – Sportsnet may have stolen Jokinen to Calgary from TSN as Kypper is reporting Matthew Lombardi and a 1st rounder to Phoenx for Jokinen.

12:05 pm – Breaking News from Kypreos and Garrioch from Sportsnet: Martin Gerber has been claimed by the Leafs (Why??), Brendan Morrison has been picked up by Dallas. TRADE: Mikael Tellqvist has been traded from Phoenix to Buffalo for a 4th rounder.

NOON - this is what you call a lull. TSN is on The Reporters again, so 30 minute time out for them. John Garrett at Sportsnet has just made a reference to Missy Elliot. I should give them a point just for that. It’s noon here in the East, 9am in the West and I just finished my chicken fingers. Any type of trade would be more action than we have seen so far.

11.52 am – Breaking News: Alexander Ovechkin has injured his foot in practice today. He had to be helped off the ice. Updated: more information from Tariq El-Bashir. Apparently it was slapper off the boot.

11:48 am – trying to find the new Molson Canadian commercial. The sippy cup is a great invention, especially at sporting evens. Nothing is lost when your elbow is grazed and at $10 per beer, it gets you drunk faster. Don’t believe me? Trying having a few beers drinking a straw… I’m done with looking at ESPN for updates. They are too slow, even with Pierre LeBrun on their team.. I’m also done with TheFourthPeriod. Their site is loading way too slow today and most of their links do not work with Firefox.

11:43 am – looking around. Take it for what it is, but Eklund is reporting a bunch of rumblings, including Erik Cole to Boston (MC2), Panthers are looking at Antropov (MC -3) and the Habs have made a call about Hejduk (MC2).

11:40 am – Sportsnet’s Rumor Mill has Pittsburgh interested in Adam Hall and Nik Antropov.

11:38 am – Breaking from TSN: Colorado trade Jordan Leopold to Calgary Flames to Laurence Nycholat, a prospect and a 2nd rounder (MC3)… Nice boxers, Onrait. 3-1 Sportsnet.. Sportsnet probably had this deal first, but I missed it. We’ll put TSN on the board.

11:32 am – Huge trade from Sportsnet: Andy Wozniewski is traded to Pittsburgh for some dude (MC3)… Apparently the AHL deadline is today as well… Sportsnet is also now speculating the Jokinen to Flames trade. If this happens, give the first point to TSN.

11:26 am – Bob Mackenzie from TSN is reporting that Olli Jokinen to the Calgary Flames is really close. Not official yet, but inevitable. Strong MC2 here. Jokinen is a good fit. He has a good history with Mike Keenan. This would put Calgary to a borderline elite team in the league, but is still yet to be seen if Jokinen can play in the playoffs.

11:22 am – nothing going on. Just looking around on other WordPress Deadline blogs. Haven’t really found any interesting ones. One that I am following is Starscene’s All Day Deadline Extravaganza. It’s pretty funny, up-to-date, what more do you want… Sportsnet has Vermette over the phone. Big surprise: he says he found out he got traded while the boys were watching Sportsnet in the locker room.

11:12 am – just looking around NHL rumor sites. ESPN’s Scott Burnside is reporting that the Philadelphia Flyers are in on Jay Bouwmeester, if not then Derek Morris. Problem is that the Flyers “have about $5 worth of cap space” according to James Duthie.

11:09 am – looks like Doug Wilson has just finished his Apple Cinnamon Cheerios and has announced that Jon Cheechoo will not be traded. This, according to David Pollack at the San Jose Mercury News.

10:53 am - Sportsnet Rumor Mill says Steve Reinprecht is going to the Blackhawks. Decent move. Hawks need a depth center. Personally, I think Dominic Moore may be a better fit in Chicago as a depth center… at TSN, apparently Jon Liu is in Philadelphia talking about options for New Jersey. booooooring.

10:50 am – love to Sportsnet. Like TSN, Sportsnet is now televising how last year’s traded players got traded. Most of them are saying they were watching Sportsnet… TSN is finally reporting Tim Connolly signing… blackberrys are going off at Sportsnet… it is almost 11am Western GM’s are having their morning orange juice. Let’s get it going.

10:46 am – Mark Spector from Sportsnet reports that Edmonton wants to make moves. They are interested in Atlanta Thrasher Slava Kozlov. Not a bad idea. He is a left winger who may fit in with Hemmer. Colby Armstrong also draws interest. They are unwilling to give up top young prospects Andrew Cogliano, Sam Gagner.

10:43 am – Nick Kypreos from Sportsnet is reporting that Tim Connolly has re-signed with the Buffalo Sabres. 2 years at $4.5 million per year. Sportsnet reports it faster than TSN again. TSN is at the round table with Laviolette, Jay Feaster, and Duthie… step your game up TSN. 3-0.

10:34 am – Andy Strickland over at HockeyBuzz is saying San Jose is interested in Chris Neil. I really like Strickland, he seems to know a lot, more than Eklund at least. This deal would make sense. Apparently San Jose got physically dominated by the Dallas Stars, plus Grier and Roenick have recently been injured. I’ll give this a strong MC2.

10:28 am – love to TSN. How much does TSN love it when players say that they were watching Tradecenter when they found out they got traded. Pascal Leclaire just mentioned he was watching on the internet when he found out. Five bucks says that TSN replays that quote tonight on Sportscenter.

10:17 am – Eklund at HockeyBuzz is speculating that the Sharks are interested in Ryan Smyth and Milan Hejduk. Old News. I read this a few days ago. I will try and find the original blog post from the Denver Post (found it! by Adrian Dater). San Jose had a few scouts at the Avs game the other day. Jon Cheechoo is on the table. (MC2)… I just realized there have been more than 3 trades before deadline day. I am still saying under 25.5 trades.

10:08 am – from TSN’s Corey Woron: the contract extension talks between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Dominic Moore are done. He will be traded today. (MC infinity) Not a big surprise here. Moore is not a 1st or 2nd line center as he and his agent believe. If the Leafs can get a decent draft pick (2nd-4th), Brian Burke is having cake.

10:06 am – why did Sportsnet bring in Bruce Garrioch in? He is such an asshole. He thinks he has the inside scoop on everything (Malkin to the Kings.. what a joke). He is also Mr. Know-it-all for the Sens. Who cares. The Sens suck. He just interupted Kypreos and Kypper didn’t look too happy. Let Kypper talk. This is his show… still waiting for Laviolette’s second crack at live TV.

9:55 am – Breaking News from TSN (Bob Mackenzie) THE FIRST TRADE OF THE DAY!! Ottawa sends Antoine Vermette to Columbus for Pascal Leclaire and a 2nd rounder. (MC6). MC is so high because Bobby Mac is the man. Good move for both teams. Sens desperate for a goalie, Clumbus adds some scoring. However, the Jackets still needs to make another move because they need to make the playoffs… Again, a note that Sportsnet mentioned a few minutes ago… 2-0 for Sportsnet.

9:48 am – Breaking News from Sportsnet (Bruce Garrioch): Filip Kuba signs extension with the Ottawa Senators for $3.7 million for 3 years (MC3). Makes sense. If I was a GM, I wouldn’t want Kuba either… Also, if I was Bryan Murray, I would have traded him a long time ago when he was actually producing… they are also reporting that Antoine Vermette is rumored to the Columbus Blue Jackets (MC2)… Good job Sportsnet. TSN still has not reported a Kuba extension, nor Pierre LeBrun at ESPN.

9:38 am – since I am not watching TSN for now, Sportsnet is reporting that Vancouver is in on the Jay Bouwmeester talks. I give this an MC1. I know the Canucks do not want to give up their top tier talent, so what can they give to get J-Bo? They are saying Mattias Ohlund or Kevin Bieksa. Are you kidding me? Now that Pronger is off limits, J-Bo is the best defenseman out there. Jacques Martin is not going to give him up for a pending UFA and a guy who is 1/4 of the player J-Bo is.

9:28 am – REPORT (MC3): did Jason Spezza actually fight Dion Phaneuf last night?WTF!?… Phaneuf levels Heatley.

9:26 am – I still have not seen Bob Mackenzie’s or Nick Kypreos’ face… F’n Reporters are on again. Everytime the Reporters comes on, TSN will lose 30 consecutive minutes of my viewership… Pierre was going crazy again: “the GM that gives a 1st round pick for Antropov should be fired.. INSTANTANEOUSLY!”

9:08 am – boooooooooooooooooooooooring. Nothing happening yet. It is 6am on the west coast. Are they even awake yet? I wouldn’t expect a trade until 11am, when all the western GM’s have had their frosted flakes… Pierre McGuire is getting mad again. This time at the Canadiens. Apparently he wants them to trade for Olli Jokinen, who has ZERO games of playoff experience… I never noticed how big Pierre is. His head is so small and his body is big. Just a wierd body… This video is actually exactly how close Pierre was standing to Dutch. He’s about 1.5 times bigger today:

8:53 am – watching TSN now. Does Peter Laviolette have nothing else to do than to be on TSN’s Tradecenter? He looks a little lost, but as the day progresses, I expect him to look more confident. (MC2)

8:50 am – Just for reference: MC1 = a ridiculous rumor that totally doesn’t make sense. MC2 = rumor that is likely going to go through and makes sense. MC3 = you can put it on the board…. yes!

8:45 am – Nothing happening. I am going with UNDER on the 25.5 over/under for deals. There have already been 3 trades before today that I am willing to count. This could be the most boring day ever now that Pronger is off the market. So far the most interesting part of today is Pierre McGuire yelling at everyone.

8:30 am – Alright. Welcome to 50MC’s coverage of the 2009 NHL Trade Deadline day. Here is what I woke up to: Chris Pronger is off the market. No surprise, to me anyway… Dominic Moore is going to be traded. According to Sportsnet, 6 teams are interested, including San Jose… Right now, TSN is losing my viewership because the have The f’n Reporters talking about stuff. I really do not like The Reporters, especially that guy with the glasses who always sits in the middle. I respect Dave Hodge, but that’s it.

“I don’t think anyone in here is happy with what happened,” said Armstrong. “It’s something as a group that we have to be accountable to ourselves for in the way we show up and prepare. It’s something we have to take upon ourselves. This is a big road trip for us and we have to come together and play as a team. There’s a lot of games left and we have to rebound. We have to come together and play harder. That’s the only way we’re going to solve this.”

7:30 vs. Pens

2008 finish: 34-40-8, 76 pts.  4th Southeastern Division, 14th Eastern Conference.

The Atlanta Thrashers, much like the previously discussed Tampa Bay Lightning, suddenly are linked to the Penguins, after years of mostly merely co-existing.  With that fateful deadline deal of Army, Crusher, Espo (he deserves a played out nickname, too!) and a first round pick in exchange for Marian Hossa and Pascal You-Me-and-Dupuis (sorry — I let my Chris Berman get out, it can be difficult to put him away); the Pens instantly became a lot more — and a lot less — interesting.

Upon seeing that Hossa really was genuine about his desire to play for a contender, it looks to be a very shrewd trade on Atlanta’s part.  Clearly, if he rejected $2.4 Billion to play for Edmonton — a team with at least annual hopes of making the playoffs – he wasn’t going to be resigning with an Atlanta team with one playoff appearance in its history.  Sure they didn’t get back any bonafide stars, but how much can you really expect for a rental player with a history of playoff failure?  Colby Armstrong is great in the locker room, and seems to resish his role as a jack-of-all-trades pest.  It’s not entirely a coincidence that the Penguins began to win midway through Sid’s rookie year once Colby was called up.  Winning teams are dotted with Colby Armstrongs; it just so happened that the Penguins already had Max Talbot and Gary Roberts.  We all know what Erik Christiansen brings to the table, a nearly automatic shootout touch that is among the very best in the league.  The jury is out on Angelo Esposito, but he has the world of “upside.”  Lastly, the used that first round pick to pick up another young center.  Following in the trend being set by Detroit and Pittsburgh of needing to be strong down the middle to be able to win.

The Good: Going forward, they still have the second best pure goal scorer in the NHL, in Ilya Kovalchuk.  His skill alone will win Atlanta a handful of games this season.  At the ever important goaltender position, Kari Lehtonen has no doubt shown flashes of excellence, and even posted some pretty impressive numbers last year, considering how poorly the team did.  They kept their young core of players in tact, and would be hard-pressed to regress.

The Bad: See: the Good.   Keeping the young core of players together is great when the young core is Sid, Geno, Staal, Fleury, etc.  It’s another thing when it’s Ilya Kovalchuk and others.  It’s a gamble; no different than what Tampa Bay did.  It’s merely philosophical differences.  Atlanta chose to bank on its young nucleus improving — Tampa seems to have wagered that they wouldn’t.  The really ugly thing about Atlanta (no jokes, please) is that they finished so poorly.  Having winners, like Army, is great; but no amount of character can make a team win if there just isn’t talent.

Bottom Line: Look for this team to mirror what some of the mid-2000s Penguins teams did.  Start out terribly — that’s an understatement — but finish with a moderate flurry to climb themselves out of the basement.

Predicted finish in 2008-2009 finish: 4th Southeastern Division, 14th Eastern Conference.

In the wake of the terrible day with Luc Bourdon passing away I thought I’d post something a little more up-beat. Here is the video which is gaining a lot of interest online a few of the Pittsburgh Penguins did for BMW, very funny!

It’s 2:20 pm Pacific time and the boys are in Buffalo sharpening their skates, blow-torching sticks and drinking umpteen cups of coffee and a Red Bull or two, while ticket takers and ushers and hot dog vendors slowly drift in to ready themselves for when the Habs trounce the Sabres.        

                                            (Here’s a couple of pictures of some of the nicer parts of Buffalo.)

I’ve got my pre-game ritual in motion too. Head over to TC’s pub for some drafts, eat lasagna for energy, and today, as an extra little ritual, laugh my head off because rental Marian Hossa got injured in his first game with the Penguins and will be out a week or longer!

Pittsburgh gave up some crazy talent (Christensen, Armstrong, and Angelo Esposito, AND A FIRST-ROUND DRAFT PICK!) for Hossa, who may be gone again in a couple of months because unlike Toe Blake and the boys, it’s all about money. This deal might come back and bite Pittsburgh in the ass.

4:30 Pacific time  – Game time. If all reports are correct, not one Montreal player got mugged on his way to the Buffalo rink.

5:00 Pacific time – Montreal jumps out to 2-0 on goals by Pekanec and Streit. Not sure if Montreal fans who made the trek to Buffalo have started to sing the ‘olay’ song just yet. Many though, are having a riot and drinking lots of beer. 

5:07 Pacific time – Just thinking that Buffalo used to have some good teams in the days of the French Connection line with Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin, and Rene Robert. You know, it’s sad that Perreault didn’t play for the Habs. With him and Lafleur together, it would have been historic. People would still be talking about them. It could have been Morenz, Richard, Beliveau, Harvey, Lafleur, and Perreault.

6:08 Pacific time – Tomas Plekanac just scored for the third time tonight as the good guys are beating the bad guys 4-1. The ‘experts’ say there’s too many small guys on Montreal for them to be dangerous. But Plekanek, who’s only 5′10, one of those small guys, looks pretty dangerous to me.

Do you know that TSN guy Pierre McGuire picked the Rangers and Minnesota as two of the five teams he thinks will win the Cup. Montreal didn’t even get a sneeze. But McGuire and his fellow ‘experts’ like Bob McKenzie and Dave Hodge all picked Montreal to finish 14th and so far out of the playoffs you’d need a telescope to see them.

7:01 Pacific time – Holy smokes. 6-2 Montreal over Buffalo. What a big win. It was 5-1 over Atlanta, and now 6-2 in Buffalo since the Habs made Carey Price their number one goalie. And this win catapults them over Ottawa for top spot in the north-east!

I’m sure the team flies back tonight, so guys, get home, have a midnight sandwich, relax, and get ready for another big game Saturday night against the Devils. But leave your wives alone. Eddie Shore, Victor Tikhonov, Punch Imlach and Toe Blake all believed there should be no sex the night before the game. So it’s good enough for them, it should be good enough for you.

Penguins Notebook: Saying goodbye is ‘weird thing,’ says Armstrong

Originally Aired: February 26th 2008 at 8:00p.m.

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Topics Discussed:

- Memphis Tigers loss to the Tennessee Volunteers (NCAA MBB)

- Fantasy Baseball Preview

- Ben Wallace and Wally Szczerbiak traded to the Cavaliers

- Yao Ming season ending injury

- Obligatory Mothta’ F#$%n Segment

- NFL Franchise Tags / Cuts

- ‘Graveyard’

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Fun Facts:

• Debut of engineers Max Lieb and Harrison Gluck
• The website Jordan mentions about Larry Hughes is actually http://heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com/

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Weekly Credits Clip:

The death of Soulja Boy at a Milwaukee Bucks game (Starts at -00:51 mark).

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Back to Season Two

 Marian Hossa Takes the Pittsburgh Penguins from very good to hands-down favorite in the NHL’s Eastern Conference

Evidently Penguins GM Ray Shero thinks the Pens are ready to make a run for the Stanley Cup, trading away crowd favorites Colby Armstrong and Erik Christiansen, along side super prospect Angelo Esposito and a first round pick to the Trashers for offensive threat Marian Hossa and right winger Pascal Dupuis, according to the Post-Gazette. The Pens had already addressed their defensive needs by acquiring Hal Gill from Toronto.

There are definitely long term ramifications to the deal, which I will get to shortly, but first I’d like to congratulate my fellow Yinzers on officially boasting the best paper team in hockey. It’s a good feeling to be a favorite to win the cup.

Not that the Pens offense had been sputtering by any means, but the addition of Hossa, who’s vision and abilities will be welcome along side either Sid the Kid or Evgeni Malkin, officially make the Pens the most explosive team in the NHL, if not one of the most explosive ever.Think about it: Crosby, Malkin, Hossa, Sergei Gonchar and Petr Sykora on the same power play unit?!?! That’s three 100 point scorers, the league’s leading power play assist man, and a guy who’s tied for 8th in the NHL in power play goals. That’ll even have Martin Brodeur shaking in his pads.

From what I gather, Dupuis should be capable of filling into Colby Armstrong’s role as far as talent goes, though he’s a bit weaker offensively and doesn’t have the upside or Armstrong — Dupuis will turn 30 near season’s end. The significant downgrade here is in the oft-discussed chemistry department. Armstrong and Crosby were best friends on and off the ice, and though I doubt it will really be that big of a deal, chemistry can be a very big deal in hockey.

As unbelievable as the Hossa deal is, the acquisition of Gill from Toronto is possibly equally as important. The Pens glaring weakness all year besides some inconsistency early on from the offense and goaltending has been the failure of the defensemen to really impact the game. Gill is a shut-down defender, and plays as physical as any defensemen in the NHL. He comes with a reputation of being able to stifle any team’s premiere scorer, and offers the Pens another physical presence in their own zone beyond Brooks Orpik.

The Pens are a much better team right now because of this deal, but two glaring questions have to be answered: Does this deal make the Pens better 3 years from now? And was it worth it to send away 3 quality players, plus 3 draft picks to get back what we did?

The answer to the first question really depends on what the Pens intend to do with Hossa. The 29 year-old winger is in the last year of his contract, and will be an unrestricted free-agent at season’s end. I highly doubt that the Pens will be able to keep Crosby, Malkin, Hossa, and Marc-Andre Fluery all under the cap long-term.

Crosby’s making $8.7 million a year until 2013, and Malkin will be due for a raise into the $7-9 million range sometime between this summer and next. Fluery is making $1.6 million right now, and will get a new deal after this off-season, probably in the $3-4 million range. Either way, when the Pens decide that Marc-Andre is or isn’t the future of the franchise, they will need to dish out $5-7M at least on a solid goal-tender to be competitive long-term.

My guess is Hossa would be due somewhere between $6-7M per year to sign long-term, which I think would be affordable, though I really don’t know enough about the NHL salary system to say for sure that the Pens could make that work.

If the Pens make a good run at the Cup this year, as they should with this squad, and they can resign Hossa long-term, which is a solid maybe, then this deal could go down as a genius move by Shero. I was a huge Erik Christiansen fan, and the fact that Sid and Colby were best buds on and off the ice definitely counts for something. But in the more I look at it, and the more encouraged I feel that the Pens could resign Hossa — as false as the encouragement may be — I really, really like this deal.

If nothing else, it means Lord Stanley could be returning to the ‘Burgh, where it rightfully belongs.