Sunday, March 2nd

1 - I need to get something off my chest now, just so I can say 'I told you so' in a couple of months. This trade is horrible, absolutely horrible. How so? Well, let us count the ways. First, Hossa is not exactly known for his play-off prowness. I won't hold his play-off performance from last season against him, because the entire Thrasher team forgot to show up, but his record in Ottawa wasn't exactly astounding either. Second, Colby Armstrong and Erik Christianson are fast, scrappy, and not easily intimidated, which is exactly what you need for a long grinding play-off run. They can also burry the puck if you give them a half-decent scoring chance, which is something Hossa fails to do regularily in the play-offs. And then the Penguins picked up Hal Gill? Why God, why? Anyone who thinks these deals makes the Penguins legitimate Stanley Cup contenders is dreaming, but I'd love to be wrong.

2 - You know it's a slow business day in the world of journalism when papers start printing garbage like this (and I do mean garbage). I wonder if the writer intended for this piece to be taken seiously? At this point, I think he did:

All right, what's with that cow kick?

The shootout in the New NHL is fabulously compelling, but those players
who produce that little heel-of-the-skate-boot-to-the-buttocks filip in the
game-deciding breakaway contests are starting to grate, aren't they?

What IS that?

Sweet-mother-of-mercy, man. It works doesn't it? For some reason the cow kick seems to get the goalie everytime, and it shouldn't surprise anyone that this is only used in the shoot-out, when you're not in danger of being caught from behind by a back-checker. I can't for the life of me figure out why this move would grate anyone so much. This really came out of the blue.

Some of these other moves -- and Marek Malik's now-legendary
stick-between-the-legs goal is the ultimate -- are entertaining, sure. But let's
not overindulge on such icebound cotton candy.
I mean, go ahead, try to
picture in your mind's eye, say, The Rocket at full tilt, his famous piercing
eyes aflame, collecting the puck at centre and steaming in on some terrified
goalie in a shootout. And then executing that cow kick thingy? I don't think
so.

S'il vous plait. (Puh-leeeze!)

It's enough already with that cow kick.

Here's another thing I can't see the Rocket doing: steaming in on some terrified goalie while wearing a visor. Puh-leeeze. Enough with the visors already. In honor of this column I propose that the next CBA agreement include a clause that penalizes players finacially for scoring shoot-out goals in ways that would never work in a real game. Oh, the goal is also disallowed.

3 - An interesting article (click) for all of you in Rider land who are concerned about the Riders off-season transactions.

4 - Nice, the two top guys the Leafs want for their vacant GM post are currently employed as GM's by other NHL teams, one by the Montreal Canadiens. I have to admit, trying to skimp off other teams like this isn't exactly making me feel sorry for t he Leafs. Two questions: (1) Why would Burke want to leave his sweet heart set-up in Anaheim to join the Leafs? (2) Does anyone actually believe Bob Gainey would make it out of Montreal alive if he left the team for Toronto?

5 - This would be a lot funnier if it didn't hit so close to home.

M.O.F.