just killin' time

today's the day the boys land in cowtown....

there's no posted schedule, at this point on the flames' site, but my knowledge from previous development camps tell me that the next day and a half are fitness testing, and a bunch of briefings on such off-ice subjects as media and finance. the monday is usually goalie practices with a couple of select skaters taking shots (and noodles taking shots in the verbal sense). the rest of the week is group A & B practices and skating drills where we'll get our first look at tim erixon, and a chance to see the progress made by such guys as backlund, negrin, aulie, and nemisz. kris chucko, now into his second pro contract, will not be attending (and thus exempt from the running for the fourth annual dreamcrusher award, that will be selected by me and announced right here sometime next week).

i plan to be in attendance on wednesday if anyone wants to come with/meet up.

check out this super rad pic i got this morning, from my buddy sjc, of the current state of the sutterdome ice:

2009 flames development (aka: prospect) camp

well, the stars have aligned and this year's 2009 prospect camp happens to fall in the week i'm NOT out of town, so that's an enormously strange turn of events.... ;)

apparently, according to the lady answering the phone over chez les flambés (the non-bitchy "i'm stuck in this office during stampede while everyone else is partying" one), the boys arrive on saturday july 18th and begin on-ice on july 20th.

see you'z there on the 21st or the 22nd.
i'll be the one with the most enormous mug of tea you've ever laid eyes on.
:)

good luck, boys !!!

i thought i'd share the little gift that my good pal and frequent commenter, mike h, got me on his recent trip to vegas.

20-1 odds to win the 09/10 stanley cup.

good thing he bought it about three days before we signed jaybouw.... i bet the odds decreased on july 1....

ps: don't try to cash it in, i've changed some stuff (and not very well, either)....

pps: you bought it 9 mins late, mike.

:)

välkommen åter till calgary, freddie sjöström !!!!

to any long time reader of hitthepost, it will come as no surprise to hear that i'm a big fan of the swedes. my alltime favorite nhler is håkan loob, and i went through a decade-long era where i fawned something fierce over peter forsberg (note: this period is not quiiite over yet). with the latest nordic addition to my favorite team, i decided that i'd do an information and pictoral overview of a kid i've been following for the better part of his pro career. ;)

it's entirely because of this propensity towards scandinavian forwards that fredrik ("freddie") sjöström caught my eye while playing for the calgary hitmen between 2001 & 2003. in his sophomore year with the local major junior club, he produced 34 goals and 43 assists in 63 games and looked like a budding star... he remains the only vyable nhler to be drafted by the coyotes between 1998 (ossi väänänen) and 2004 (enver lisin), and was taken 11th overall in 2001.... like a lot of the late first round selections in his year (r.j. umberger, marcel goc, colby armstrong), sjöström became a decent utility guy, but never quite met the top-six potential he was thought to achieve with his promising whl numbers.

(so CUTE !!!! and so TINY !!!!)

after a few years in the ahl, sjöström was promoted to the bigs in the 03/04 season, where he spent some 4th line minutes on a basement team (which ended up with all of 22 wins). he spent the lockout in the ahl as a 21-year old, before returning to the coyotes for the next two and a half seasons. in 2008 he was traded to the new york rangers, where he continued to play low-end minutes (averaging about 12), got a few shots on goal/night, and ended up squarely in the minus column.

(still with the whl-era hair but putting on some bulk; yr 1 with the 'yotes, i think: 03/04)


(if i'm not mistaken, this would be 07/08; the year he got traded to NYR)

i think, at this point, that sjöström can be considered a poor man's jordan staal; he plays a physical, grinding game, has decent speed, and is useful on the pk. while i don't think he'll ever again be a top-six forward, he'll be a useful young (and cheap) veteran for consistant fourth-line duties. he notches the odd shorthanded goal, and takes far less penalties than most players near the bottom of the roster.... he's a good sutter-type guy who will take a hit to make a play, and ain't afraid to sacrifice the body.

(i'm quite certain this is last year: 08/09 in rangers' blue)

(taking some abuse to help his team to a 6-1 throttling of colorado in feb)

i'm not gonna pretend that i think sjöström's return to the dome will magically revert him into the player he was when he last donned the hometeam's jersey.... i WILL hope, however, that he can help the 09/10 flames by eating some 4th line minutes, contributing to special teams, and (with any luck) improving his career +/- statistics..... and if not ? hey, well at least darryl sutter's addressed the loss of matt lombardi and has finally provided the ladies with someone to look at....

;)

olympic team invitations announced

while it was surely a painstaking task for steve yzerman and his cronies to choose the top 5 canadian goaltenders, top 16 canadian defensemen, & top 25 canadian fowards, i certainly do not envy him the task of whittling that roster down to 3, 7, and 13 (give or take).

Martin Brodeur, New Jersey

Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh

Roberto Luongo, Vancouver

Steve Mason, Columbus

Cam Ward, Carolina

i think these are all good choices, and well-deserved. the absence of marty turco demonstrates that the powers-that-be all think his terrible 08/09 season was a career downturn and not sean avery-related. i can tell you this, though: i know i'd be pretty effin' pissed off today if i was chris osgood.... here i think brodeur will make the cut, luongo should (by all accounts) be the starter and i'll put my bucks on cam ward as the third.

Francois Beauchemin, UFA

Jay Bouwmeester, Calgary

Dan Boyle, San Jose

Brent Burns, Minnesota

Drew Doughty, Los Angeles

Mike Green, Washington

Dan Hamhuis, Nashville

Duncan Keith, Chicago

Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim

Dion Phaneuf, Calgary

Chris Pronger, Philadelphia

Robyn Regehr, Calgary

Stephane Robidas, Dallas

Brent Seabrook, Chicago

Marc Staal, New York Rangers

Shea Weber, Nashville

uh, whoah. a lot of serious talent on this list, and i really don't know how you eliminate 50% of these guys. i think it will be important to identify "types" of defensemen (offensive/stay-at-home/good two-way guys) and fill those roles for a major international competition like the olympics. i also think it will be important to identify who is hot and who is not, come xmastime.... i've also been a longtime proponent of the "keep lines together" theory, which means that, by quickly eyeballing the list above keith & seabrook, hamhuis & weber and any two of bouwmeester/regehr/phaneuf (most likely the former two) should make the final roster. after that, i suppose i'd like to see dan boyle or brent burns round out the lot, but i'm sure niedermayer and pronger will make the cut... le boo on elbows.

Jeff Carter, Philadelphia

Dan Cleary, Detroit

Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh

Shane Doan, Phoenix

Simon Gagne, Philadelphia

Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim

Dany Heatley, Ottawa

Jarome Iginla, Calgary

Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay

Milan Lucic, Boston

Patrick Marleau, San Jose

Andy McDonald, St. Louis

Brenden Morrow, Dallas

Rick Nash, Columbus

Corey Perry, Anaheim

Mike Richards, Philadelphia

Derek Roy, Buffalo

Joe Sakic, Colorado

Patrick Sharp, Chicago

Ryan Smyth, Colorado

Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay

Eric Staal, Carolina

Jordan Staal, Pittsburgh

Joe Thornton, San Jose

Jonathan Toews, Chicago

this, my friends, is a fairly interesting cast of characters... it proves that yzerman is juuust about ready to take the team into the future, but that he's still got a lot of respect for the past. the inclusion of joe sakic really stands out to me because, even though there are already a hell of a lot of team captains and "good leaders," one of canada's former greats has not formerly retired and deserves acknowledgement.... will burnaby joe acutally make the squad ? i'd call that a longshot at best. at least, i hope he doesn't take a spot away from a player who's actually currently relevant.... (sorry, joe).

the other interesting thing i see here is naming milan lucic over his boston teammate marc savard. again, i think yzerman is identifying roles and role players, and it makes me a little excited for february's tournament.... the guys i think will make the cut without a doubt are: crosby, doan, heatley, iggy, nash, roy, st.louis, eric staal, toews. that's 9 of 13 right there. add to that a couple of successful role players in jordan staal and danny cleary and you're really only left with room to round out your left v. right wingers....

will it be a good team ? most definitely.

will it be good enough to beat the russians ? it'll be a hell of a good game....

;)

SJÖSTROM a FLAME !!!

okay so he's not that good, and i have no idea how much he costs, and we don't really need a grinding PK/4th line guy if we've got the likes of nystrom & dvdg (!!!), but the former calgary hitman/new york ranger is one of my favorite swedes in the league.

i'm on my way to the stamps game but i'll try to write more later.

:)

wi

best D in the league, bar none

as of this very moment, it would be nearly impossible for anyone to explain to me how the current flames' defensive corps is second to any other team in the league.... it'll be interesting to see the pairings but it looks like sarich is the only guy who shoots right....

will he be paired with regehr to form the ultimate nhl tunnel of doom ?
will he be paired with dion to remind the kid how to man the blueline ?

what an embarassment of riches.

in other news, i guess we now know why sutter turfed vandy in the past few days: so jaybouw could take his rightful jersey #4.

also, i'm feeling rather confident that gio's high value, low cost contract (cap hit of $892K) is a keeper, which obviously makes me a pretty happy little lady this afternoon.
:)

now. who's gonna be the odd man out ?
lookin' a little thin up front, methinks.

june 30th discomfort

i'm not a happy kid today, but i will tell you this:

if we don't manage to sign EITHER of pardy or jaybouw, my gio jersey is lookin' miiighty good for this season.... ;)

i'm actually getting a little nervous; not about bouwmeester (who i think will test the free agent market but may still end up signing with the flames), but about adam pardy who will probably go to the richest suitor. i'm starting to think that, less than 24 hours away from being an unrestricted player, pardy would be stupid to sign for the pennies/term that darryl is most certainly offering at this point.

here's to hoping i'm entirely wrong....

the other interesting rumour is phaneuf-for-heatley, currently circulating around sports networks, blogs, and watercoolers alike. i'm not sure that daz has given up on his prize thoroughbred, but it wouldn't entirely shock me, either. i'm certain that coming to terms with bouwmeester would precede the departure of our #3, but i wouldn't necessarily dub it impossible.... heatley would sure look good in a flames jersey, but there would most definitely have to be a big contract moved to make way, with dion being a potential candidate. let's just say that right at this very moment, i'd be most surprised to see regehr moved, out of anybody in a flaming C.

in other news, i decided yesterday that signing gionta would be awesome, for one simple reason:

two gios are better than one.

:)

abbotsford heat logo unveiled

the abbotsford heat logo is finally revealed and it's... well.... it's better than the quad city flames' logo, that's for sure.

it doesn't scream "heat" to me, but i think that's probably what the vancouverites were hoping for, to distance the team from the nhl arch-nemesis flames...

anyhow. i've screengrabbed it here for your viewing ease:


or you can go to the heat's website to learn a bit more about the new design... it sure doesn't talk about the insignia that failed a few weeks ago for looking a little too much like a current sports logo.... and it certainly doesn't explain why the "original pencil sketch" is so much better than the final product....

anyhow. onwards and upwards, abbotsford heat !!!!

in case you don't read the comments....

some witty reparté between myself and my westcoast canucks-lovin' pal, goad, that's been going on the past few days....

GOAD in italics
walkinvisible (aka: me) in bold

*******************


"....Well done Sutter. You have stirred interest in Flames fans for a few days and allowed them to dream of their full team + JBo.
Dream on."

"'well done sutter' is now considered an incomplete sentence. you must specify which of the five flames' sutters (darryl, brent, duane, ron, brett) you're referring to... infact, the last name "sutter" is redundant in these parts.... 'well done darryl' is preferrable in and around the pengrowth sutterdome."

"On the contrary.

The Flames have made references exceedingly simple with their one-name-fits-all solution. "Sutter can't run a power play" "Sutter will never figure the cap out" or the classic "what the hell does Sutter even do?". It takes all guesswork out of a late night rant.

Thanks nepotism."

**********************
seriously ?
....awesome.
:)