flames v. rangers postgame: phaneuf or huselius ???

it's like this.

i've been doing a lot of thinking lately (what with no job and all) and it's becoming clear that phaneuf, not tanguay, is our most tradeable asset. maybe we should let someone else deal with trying to sign him july 1, or the fallout of his expected stack of offer sheets. we really, truly, and honestly need to get huselius signed. this is now my official stance on the subject, after a lackluster performance from pretty much everyone in red tonight, aside from the guy wearing #20.

let's face it, guys like juice and dion don't come around very often, but since it's becoming clear that phaneuf doesn't play well with others, will never be a poster boy, and probably thinks he's too big for cowtown, i say let's deal him. not now, of course (we still need SOMEONE to make those crushing open-ice hits !!!). i'm talkin' about sometime after the silverware is handed out and before july1. if we can get a couple of halfway decent players, well.... we've got negrin a year or two from now, and aucoin is definitely picking up some of the offensive slack. huselius, on the other hand, is looking more and more like forsberg (on the ice, not in the eyes) with each passing game, and he's still got a half dozen career years left in'im...

tonight's game was a bit of a surprise, as neither team looked in any way exceptional. my boy lundqvist struggled throughout and jagr notched two points invisibly (his best play was a neat pokecheck off of a streaking lombardi, to which i said to my amigos, "you're not gonna get past jagr with those moves.... those are jagr's moves"). avery took a couple of really exciting dives and was readily booed for them. he did manage to get to kipper, though, and i'm not sure i've ever seen kippy engage like that with an opposing player (oh, how i'd love to know what was said).... dubinsky had a goal and another couple of good opportunities, and mark staal laid out a couple of nice hits...

for the flames, iggs looked solid as always. nystrom was again exceptional, especially on the forecheck, and drew a penalty on a play with some good old fashioned hockey sense and a lot of heart and hustle. lombardi and boyd appear to be 'getting' each other. eriksson pinched on a couple of two-on-ones; both times notably after exiting the penalty box and joining the rush. even the fourth line spent a couple of good shifts in the offensive zone, much to the dismay (i'm sure) of nilson and primeau, who were once again scratched healthily.

huselius was everywhere tonight, and i'm certainly not referring only to the two highlight reel goals he was around for. on iggy's second goal, juice absolutely undressed gomez and marc staal, before dodging michael rozsival's last-ditch stickless facedown snowangel bomb. passing off the puck to the igster after that seemed the easy bit, and our captain (standing unchecked on lundqvist's doorstep) just tapped it over the line. for his own goal, huselius chased down a deep dump-in and, seeing lundqvist move inches off the post (in case of a cross-ice pass to conroy who was coming in hot), scored on an unbelieveably bad angle. "juice" nothin'. we should be calling this guy "merlin."

i think about all the time and money this team has put towards finding somebody to make iggy play to his potential. well, we've found him. how can we not sign him ?!?!?!?


*****UPDATE: after watching further highlights, avery didn't get under kipper as much as kipper looked to be trashtalking avery. so... uh... what i said still stands --- i would LOVE to know what was said.... :)