further musings following 3 no-shows

after three terrible outings leading to three terrible losses, i finally have some stuff to say about the flames. i guess my head ain't totally into the blogging arts, currently, cause i'm feeling like doing another point form entry, here.

sorry.

1. first and foremost, something has GOT to be done about dion phaneuf. kent pointed out that pardy was getting targeted by the opposition, and dion was in no position to help out (that the duo needed to be re-paired ---haha). well, apparently someone reads his stuff, or someone is on the same wavelength (i presume the former) and dion started the night with gio, while pardy was paired with sarich. obviously, this didn't stick. phaneuf still ended the night with a mind-blowing 26 minutes (HOW DOES HE GET 26 MINUTES OF ICE WHEN HE'S STINKIN' UP THE JOINT ??!?!) while his rotating door of partners all ended with less than twenty minutes apiece (gio: 15, sarich: 18, pardy: 14). obviously aucoin and regehr picked up most of the slack.

the solution ?

well, kick me if i'm wrong but i think it's tomas kaberle. i'm not sure what the flames can safely give up to bring the guy in but i'd effin LOVE to see it if the outgoing damage was minimal. as a defensively sound player with amazing puck distributing skills, pairing kaberle with dion would both steady the youngster and revitalize his pointshot. also, with the pending (presumeable) departure of aucoin next year, it maintains a veteran blueliner at similar cost. i realize he's not cheap and i'm aware that he's got one of those pesky no-traders, but who the heck wants to stay in toronto ?!?!?
kaberle does ? hmph...


2. is it really just damn good luck, or should rich hesketh be credited for the (touch wood) lack of injuries to the flames players ? i've been pondering this for quite some time, now, and with each passing day i have to think it's the trainer. i use both owen nolan and todd bertuzzi as examples, and when comparing games lost due to injury, there is a stark difference between flames seasons and non-flames seasons (both before, and with nolan, after). also, if you look at the past few years of flames' injuries, most --if not all-- are in-game afflictions (broken bones) or residual, lingering injuries (warrener's age-old bad shoulder). most notably, to me, are the lack of pulled muscles, strains, groin injuries...

so, like getting "GIO" on the back of my jersey all-but guarantees he'll get traded, the previous paragraph all-but insures a debilitating muscular injury to one of our top players (you know who i mean but i can't bring myself to write his name here).

3. the OSS line sure has been quiet, hunh ?

that's pretty much all i've got.