AHL- Apolyton Hockey League 07/08: VI They brought their ****in' toys with 'em!

[Asher]

All but confirmed: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3196152

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Sparrowhawk

Nabakov beating Luongo may have a big effect on my week as that game alone put you up in save percentage and tied us in wins. If Luongo had won with a better save percentage it would be 5-3 for me still with a lead of 2 wins. But what if's don't win hockey pools, a good night for you, not so good for me.

That night was the key (hardly surprising since it was a head to head between our best goalies). I was just happy to do ok in a week where I didn't look at a thing after THursday night really. With two Ottawa goalies that play I really need to pay attention and revisit my rosters unless I want the wrong guy playing.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher
Fan590 is reporting that Curtis Joseph has signed with the Flames...

NO big shock-- ITs been a hole in the team for a while-- I never like to have a team where you don't have any real confidence that your backup will at least be ok. With Joseph you at least have an experienced guy and you hope that his play will be as good as he was in that Spengler Cup thingy ( B level pros but he still looked pretty good)

They were reporting this rumour back on Friday with general "sounds like a good idea" comments-- Word on Friday was that Joseph was hoping to land with a playoff team in a backup spot and was willing to take an NHL minimum type salary.

I fully expect the Flames to make a couple of deadline deals this year-- They might even be looking at Sundin (if the asking price moderates from what I saw in this thread--he's a rental for criipes sake). Sutter also likes depth on d so I would NOT be shocked if he picks up another medium quality d-man. The more interesting thing will be what he might give up. I don't like the deal he did last year to give up Kobasew and Ference although at the time I had high hopes for what Stuart and Primeau might bring. But Stuart flew the cooop and Primeau is a 4th-liner

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher
From what I hear, Kipper is the only reason the score wasn't any worse. I don't understand how such a veteran team can be so streaky.

From the highlights/commentary I saw, they got outplayed for two periods and then finally showed up better in the 3rd. I am never surprised by the result of a single hockey game (season's far too long) and the Oil have been playing well lately with some real solid wins.

AS for the Flames being streaky ? Their results can be that way sometimes. But this 3 game losing streak is three one goal losses-- disheartening in a way but ultimately they are "in" the hockey games-- Bottom line is that Iggy cooled off and the secondary scoring is still pretty sporadic-- They probably ised up all the teams "good bounces to get that 6-4 asgainst the KIngs in a game where the Flames essentially fell apart.


Still a team with flaws-- To me a team that still has Craig Conroy and Owen Nolan often playing on its top two lines is still lacking a certain punch. To me Conroy just doesn't look effective-- he seems old and tired while Nolan looks better but seems to "just miss" far too often . I only wish that some of the others could elevate their game-- The Flames have a lot of guys where you can say " he digs hard and gets good chances" but they never seem to put them in. Just looking at this cast, I could see a real use for an impact player to create a second line with real scoring

[Asher]

Cujo's salary is $1.5M, pro-rated, so he's got $650,000 for the rest of the year.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher
Cujo's salary is $1.5M, pro-rated, so he's got $650,000 for the rest of the year.

more than I thought-- I guess the reports that he would accept a minimum salarywere just crap--

or maybe Sutter figured that it was better to pay the guy a bit more and make him feel wanted

[notyoueither]

No way would he have signed and risked injury for league minimum for less than half a season. That would have worked out to ~$200K for his efforts.

I'm surprised he signed for less than 1MM net to him for time on the roster.

He could have waited til the summer when more bidders would have been knocking on his door and not risked an injury or disgrace. But who knows, maybe he comes in and puts up .920+ in 5 games as a backup and adds 500K to his salary next year. You have to know totally disfunctional clubs like Toronto would be interested.

[notyoueither]

Incidently, if anyone has a touch of schadenfreude in thier soul and has time during the day, I highly recommend tuning into the Fan 590 in Toronto during the day. I thought Edmonton and Calgary were tough markets. We got nothin' on the pain since '67 and the gong show of MLSE and the Leafs.

Put it this way, Richard Peddie, OTPF, and the rest of the clowns who are on the board are making Ballard look like Illich. Steinbrenner looks like a benevolent, hands off owner compared to the situation in TO. It makes for some damn fine radio.

They stream their broadcasts.

http://www.fan590.com/

Just a taste.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/01/14/lebrun_leafs_career_suicide/

Pierre LeBrun says the Leafs will have a hard time luring a reputable hockey exec under the current management setup.

I feel bad for John Ferguson.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending some of his personnel moves that have obviously backfired. But to see the Toronto Maple Leafs GM twist in the wind like he is right now just isn't right.

"I think it's just so brutal what they're doing with him," a former NHL GM told Sportsnet.ca on Monday. "To let him sit like this ... Not only does it emasculate him as a manager but as a person it must be so difficult to live through this."

And we all saw this coming last summer when his employers, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, couldn't make one of two obvious choices. As a GM entering the 2007-08 season with one year left on his contract, MLSE needed to either replace him last summer or give him a contract extension.

Instead, MLSE did neither.

A lame-duck GM on any team is bad news, but in Canada's largest media market it's begging for controversy. And there's been plenty of it.

If I were in charge at MLSE right now, I would extend Ferguson's by one year and announce that he's at the helm at the very least for the rest of the season. Even if you know there's no way you're bringing him back for next year, the one-year extension is a small price to pay for an empire with deep pockets like MLSE and it's a way to tell Ferguson you're sorry for how badly you've handled this.

In the meantime, I would aggressively seek out all the top names in the game over the next few months. The top candidates aren't available until after the season anyway.

"Your list of candidates in June is way better than the list during the season," said one NHL executive. "They should say right now, John Ferguson is the general manager for the rest of the year. And then we'll assess it.'"

The question is, who would want the GM job right now? I can't tell you how many people around the league I've spoken to over the last seven to 10 days that say they wouldn't touch the job unless they were guaranteed way more power than Ferguson currently has.

In other words, MLSE president and CEO Richard Peddie would have to be pushed aside from the hockey operation side for many of the big names to be interested. I'm not suggesting Peddie should be fired. On the business side of the empire he's made them lots of money. But perhaps he can be persuaded to hand over the hockey presidency to the next GM.

"I don't see how anybody could take the job right now," said another former GM. "You can't go in there under the circumstances they have it now. If you go in just in the exact same job that John's got right now, forget it, you're just ruining your career. You have no power ...

"They would have to have a totally different set-up. A seasoned guy would never take the job that the way it is now. You can't, it would be suicide."

I credit Ferguson through all this. He's working his butt off trying to make a trade, keeping his head high through the unbelievable speculation that he's working on borrowed time.

"I do not concern myself with any media-related rumours or distractions," Ferguson told me Monday. "It has never affected my decision-making and nor will it."

Former Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher can relate. He went through this before being ultimately fired in 1997.

"I just feel badly for the manager and the coach, having experienced it, it's tough, it's really tough," Fletcher said from Scottsdale, Ariz., on Monday. "But the one thing about Toronto, there's nothing that three consecutive wins wouldn't cure."

Former Leafs head coach and GM Pat Quinn also knows what it's like.

"From the perspective of being in the management side when it's not going good, you try to centre your focus on the players, the team, the basics and get right back to that," Quinn said from Vancouver. "Because it's performance at the end of the day that counts. ...

"We know that in every business, you have those ups and downs, and you get tested by the downs," added Quinn, whose Leafs made the playoffs six of his seven seasons at the helm. "But you can't get distracted by them, nor by criticism -- fairly or unfairly -- that take you away from where you need to go to get things back on the upswing again. That's just because the Leafs are so important in Toronto that there are a lot of distractions.

"When you get long-term damage, usually it's because you start watching the distractions rather than what you need to do to have your organization run well."

Never a dull day in Leaf Land.


Sportsnet hockey analyst Pierre LeBrun is a hockey writer for The Canadian Press national news agency in Toronto. He writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for Sportsnet.ca.

[Asher]

The Damien Cox columns are great. When the Leafs win, they're going to be fine. When they lose, KILL EVERYONE INVOLVED.

[notyoueither]

Sounds familiar.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by notyoueither
No way would he have signed and risked injury for league minimum for less than half a season. That would have worked out to ~$200K for his efforts.

Given what he has made in the past, you are right that 200K might not be enough to entice him BUT I think he just wanted to play SOMEWHERE. Heck he went to the Spengler for I assume next to nothing with all the same injury risks-- Now maybe that was because he wanted to "win for Canada" but I also think he wanted a showcase where he could get noticed. Since no one apparently came knocking earlier this season its not like he could be sure a bunch would come knocking next season--

Originally posted by notyoueither


I'm surprised he signed for less than 1MM net to him for time on the roster.

He could have waited til the summer when more bidders would have been knocking on his door and not risked an injury or disgrace.

Why would these bidders show up when he is a year older and with perhaps a full year out of the game? His last two years in Phoenix were ok but not outstanding . A save percentage of .902 two years ago is better than some current starters but last year his .893 is on the low end-- heck its worse than a LOT of backups out there (with a lot of those backups being young with a lot of upside for the future)

I really think his chance of being fairly forgotten if he doesn't play this season is bigger than his chance for an injury that would prevent him playing next year.

Originally posted by notyoueither
But who knows, maybe he comes in and puts up .920+ in 5 games as a backup and adds 500K to his salary next year. You have to know totally disfunctional clubs like Toronto would be interested.

IF he starts putting up .920ish numbers he could start playing more than expected-- Kipper after all is still at a decidely mediocre/bad .896.( but his play seems to be improving) I think Calgary will try their utmost to get Kipper going and give him every opportunity --- BUT if Cujo has a stellar start following one where Kipper struggled, I would not be shocked to see Iron MIke play him again. The Flames are not that secure in a playoff spot that they can afford to wait indefinitely for Kipper to get back to his form of prior years. One never knows what can happen-- look at Pittsburgh-- do you really think Fleury gets the number one job back this year if Conklin continues that level of play

Back to Cujo-- .920 numbers would have a line of teams interested but to be realistic he has NEVER attained a regular season .920 but did exceed it in 5 of 13 playoff runs.

Bottom line is whatever his motivation, I am glad to see him-- I don't know if he goes to OMaha now for a quick conditioning stint or what happens but overall I am happier with the Flames goaltending with Cujo in the mix. He may bomb but at a cost of only 600K I think its worth a try-- your worst case is that you go back to the kids-- If Kipper goes down to injury or even if Cujo just excells in his few starts-- Sutter could look brilliant

[Flubber]

wow-- The Flames truly sucked tonight -- 3-0 loss to Nashville-- ugly effort

[snoopy369]

Dan Ellis

Too bad he wasn't in goal

[Flubber]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Dan Ellis

Too bad he wasn't in goal

Yup it was Mason-- He was obviously good although the Flames did not exactly give him that big a test

[Flubber]

Flames win-- a much better effort

I still hate shootouts determining stuff though