O-NO, the refresher course

darryl sutter has been a busy bee these last couple weeks. signs keenan, trades for/signs aucoin, signs sarich, tentatively signs both iggy and reggie. and how he's signed owen nolan ?????

when the leafs traded a young alyn mccauley (and a first rounder: the last of the bad pat quinn "fuck the future" trades) for the aging forward, just before the trade deadline in 2003, everyone around me in toronto was excited. i thought giving up on mccauley was a mistake (though it may not have been, as he's sortof dropped off the face of the map mogilny-styles), but nolan proved to be fairly valuable that first season at almost a point-per-game to finish off the year.

the following season, nolan put up average-to-good numbers before going out with a knee injury which was aggravated, he says, due to mis-diagnosis by the leafs med staff, which led to a premature return to the ice. the lockout year and the season that followed (04-06) were spent healing: multiple surgeries and constant rehabbing. last year he returned to the ice and quietly played 76 games under the radar with the coyotes.

i'll be honest. i didn't even know he suited up.

his numbers demonstrate that he returned to late-career form last year; other than a couple of exceptional seasons with the sharks, he's pretty consistantly averaged in the 50 point range with an even +/-. i presume he'll get amonte-like minutes (which means he'll be on the ice for the end of every game), but will hopefully perform better. the jury's still out.

duncan surmised the 07/08 flames lineup in per-shift form, and here's my take:

tanguay-lombardi-iginla
huselius-langkow-nolan
moss-conroy-taratukhin/boyd/prust/vandergulik
nilson-yelle-primeau

phaneuf-aucoin
regehr-sarich
giordano-warrener

kiprusoff
mcelhinney


i have to admit, though, that i would really like to see a moss/lombardi/boyd line (MLB line ???) akin to the ducks PPG line.

dave is predicting a trade based on the wealth of riches at the centre position, and i tend to agree. i think the most likely roster player is conroy, and/or one of our quad city pals (taratukhin, boyd, dan ryder, brett sutter, hugo carpentier, carsyn germyn and aki seitsonen are all listed as centres). we also have a lot of depth in goal, if you consider mcelhinney as imminent, and keetley and irving poised for an NHL gig in the not-too-distant future. ie: keetley's tradebait.

in other news, it looks like regehr's five-year deal (and i would imagine iggy's as well) includes a no-movment clause. i would like to call this the "ference rule." ference signed a 3 year deal at less than market value due to "hometown discount." well, his pals all know he got fucked over in this one, so i would image both reggie and iggy will only take a paycut if they know they're in charge. sutter has historically balked at such clauses, but i'm sure he knows it's the only way to go.

okay, i should get going on my day.
:)