No Trade Clauses - Don't give em out

Sundin screwed the Leafs. Plain and simple.

He made that fancy speech about not waiving his no trade clause because he didn't believe in being a rental player. Then why the dilly-dallying about where he wanted to sign and not keeping his off-season deadlines?

Sure it's hard to come to an important decision sometimes - but really Mats, Vancouver? It was obvious you weren't going to sign somewhere that was a contender otherwise you would've been in New York, San Jose, Detroit, Boston, or Montreal.

Best fit my left ass cheek.

If he really was serious about contending he wouldn't have had to consider all those offers for so long. It was convenient for him to make his decision after the meeting with Burke in Anaheim, and after Burke took the job in Toronto and made it clear in his "Sundin is not in our plans" speech.

What a load of concocted bull.

Burke obviously cleared the way for Sundin to accept the fat contract in Vancouver that has been causing him to flip flop all summer and for the balance of the season so far.

If he was serious about joining a contender, he would've followed in the footsteps of a Marian Hossa, Markus Naslund, or Brooks Orpik - signing for less to play with the team you believe in.

Mats Sundin stopped believing in the Leafs a long time ago and whether or not Vancouver makes the playoffs, one thing is clear: his career is not going to last much longer and this is his last gasp for air - his last chance to reel in some mega cash. So cut the B.S. and say you signed for the money already.

Even the Globe and Mail agrees with this assessment.

Oilers / Canucks Pt. III

Roloson starts in goal.

Strudwick in for Reddox.

Will the Oilers rebound?

Will the Canucks rebound?

Will the game be exciting - or more peewee hockey?

We'll have to wait and see.

Game Preview: Oilers @ Canucks & Palin bad omens + carpet on ice = bad idea

What is that? A fishing hook? A hockey stick? The head of a smiling sperm whale? Proof of Global Warming? No, silly. That's the Vancouver Canucks' excuse for a hockey team logo. Now feel free to point and laugh.

Prediction: I made predictions for both teams yesterday but now I'm gonna commit to the Oilers for a comeback win.

4-2 Oilers

The key for the Oilers: playing a solid, simple game where they grind it out for the full 60 minutes; finding chemistry early and sticking with the formula; surviving the 1st period assault from the Canucks; be as solid on the PK as on the PP (we have 10+ million commited to special teams specialists); best players must be best players: expect Garon to play as he always does against the Canucks

The key for the Canucks: with weird things happening all week and coming off a unsuccessful 6 game road trip, they need to come out hard early and set the tone; roll 4 lines; timely saves from Luongo; secondary scoring from Wellwood (repeat performance)

The Oilers have looked as dreadful as the Canucks lately, but the Oilers are playing the 3rd game in 4 nights unless something as weird as Todd Marchant's goal happens tomorrow, expect the Canucks to have the early jump (very similar to the Calgary @ Edmonton last weekend)

Oilers player picks: Pisani, Hemsky, Cole update: I forgot that Pisani will be sitting this one out with an injury. Looks like I'm going to have to pick Penner and Moreau instead of Pisani and Cole
Cancucks player picks: Bernier, Wellwood, Raymond (always seems to perform well against us)

GOILERS!

Palin is a bad omen not just for the USA, but for the game of hockey

Manny Legace on his minor hip injury:

"She's been pretty good for our game," Legace said. "I'm starting to like her more and more. No grudge."

- Manny Legace on Palin carpet mishap

Yeah right Manny, you're not allowed to complain about how she almost broke your hip so you came up with this safe answer for the media. Legace would leave the game in the 1st and the Blues would go on to lose 4-0 in the game.

Here's an idea... hockey ceremonies should lay out skate friendly red mats instead of the red carpet. Screw the celebs, the Blues have a season to salvage. The Blues don't want to end up like the Flyers, losing their first 6 games after another Palin-related event in which she dropped the puck at their season opener.

Why did the Flyers win tonight? Simple. The curse passed on to the St. Louis Blues. Mike Richards and co. breathed a collective sigh of relief tonight.

If you want to do the Blues a favour, invite Palin to come drop the puck for your team. It will be dandy.

Oilers drop pre-season tilt to Canucks by score of 4-3 (SO)

This is Cory Schneider.

He played tonight, and with the exception of looking confused after a few Sheldon Souray point shots, or out to lunch on Sam Gagner's moves on the breakway/shootout, was very calm and composed, and played his angles very well.

On some occasions, he was the only thing going for the Canucks. He probably is the best reason why the Canucks stuck around 'til OT where they won it in the shootout.

One day (if he isn't traded before then), he could be the reason the Canucks can afford to trade Bobby Lu the Saviour.

Quote me on this.

Post-game thoughts:

It looks as if the Oilers won't be relying as much on the shootout this year for wins. It could be that Garon was just warming up after a long summer... or it's an indication that the Oilers have moved beyond reliance on the shootout as a means to win games.

The powerplay looked deadly tonight even though they scored only one goal. The penalty kill also looked deadly - in the sense that it had trouble keeping the Canucks from driving the net. For the first time this training camp, Peckham looked a step behind, perhaps the sign that he is still a bit away from being ready for the NHL. Chorney, however, looked very smart, despite the questionable call at the end of overtime.

It always seems to me that Visnovsky is in the right place at the right time to one-time the puck. When the season rolls around I will be expecting to see all kinds of goals resulting from his shot or a rebound resulting from his wicked shot.

Last but not least, who is Dan Gendur and why is he scoring goals on us? We need to put the Hans Benson radar on this guy. Seek and destroy.

A few points I would like to make:

(1) Shooting tendencies: Since the shootout was instated, it always seems that Hemsky often shoots over the net wide on the right side.
(2) The wizard without a wand: Robbie Schremp looked very nervous on the shootout. If he gets another chance before (a) getting assigned to Springfield, (b) getting traded, or (c) making the team, look for him to be more controlled in what many rightfully attribute to be Robbie's domain.
(3) Comfortability in the lineup: Gagner looks even better than he did last year at the end of the season. Whether it is making Cory Schneider look foolish or little dangle plays that prevent plays from going offside, Gagner has shown that he can play on any of the top 3 lines with any combination of forwards and feel comfortable. Cole, on the other hand, has looked good but not in any way in-sync with the other Oilers forwards. Hopefully, that happens sooner than later.
(4) Watch out for that tree!: Is it just me, or did the Canucks get a lot bigger over the off season? We're gonna have to dress guys like Strudwick in those games.
(5) Like winning the lottery: The Canucks gambled on a castaway and signed a guy with major AHL success in Wellwood and Krog respectively, and it looks good now. Whether it translates to regular season success is yet to be seen.
(6) Heat seaking missiles: At least that's what the point shots on the Oilers PP looked and sounded like - things going really fast and exploding off of stuff. Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad. Thank you Russell Peters and Kevin Lowe.

New Oilers' nicknames:

Jason Strudwick - STUDwick
Rob Schremp - Lowetide calls him Sugartits, I think Wizard or Bubba Gump would be more befitting
Marc-Antoine Pouliot - Friendly Fire (he needs to stop running into his own team mates)
Lubomir Visnovsky - Mr. Lube