AHL- Apolyton Hockey League III-- Olympic edition

[Ben Kenobi]

What do you think asher, should Kipper ask for a trade to a contender so he can make a run at a cup?

[notyoueither]

Has anyone mentioned Anson Carter yet?

[Ben Kenobi]

You'd better not let Asher overhear you comparing Iggy to Anson Carter. He'll throw a fit and call you names.

[notyoueither]

I don't think Iginla was out of the league a year after being fed 33 goals playing with the twins.

[Ben Kenobi]

True. The lesson of Anson Carter is that 30 goal scorers aren't worth 7 million a year, unless you want to work for Glen Sather.

[Asher]

Has anyone mentioned Anson Carter yet?

I'd forgotten all about him, which I suppose says everything.

[Sparrowhawk]

Anyone else remember Gretzky and Kurri's linemate in 84-85? Check out his stats that year, or more importantly, check out his stats every other year (that he didn't play regularly on a line with Gretzky/Kurri).

http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8448566

[action=Sparrowhawk][/action]

[Asher]

Great article on Iginla: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle1528037/

More on Iginla
Eric Duhatschek

It sounds as if the fallout from the Calgary Flames’ 2009-10 swan dive is going to take some time for everyone to digest. Here are two thoughts about what people are discussing now: What to do with Jarome Iginla and who to trade if the decision is made to honour the team captain's wishes and keep him around.

The other day, an NHL coach that I know and greatly respect made a casual point about Iginla and the Flames that probably doesn’t get discussed enough. He said that whenever they play Calgary, the game plan always revolves around stopping Iginla. They essentially dare Calgary to beat them other ways, by cheating defensively against Iginla. As everybody knows, in a game where there are 10 position players on the ice in a comparatively narrow 200-by-85 foot arena, if the goal is to minimize the effectiveness of just one of them, it can be easily done. Just make sure to take away his time and space by closing in on him whenever he has the puck, essentially smothering him with a full-court defensive press. This strategy naturally leaves a team vulnerable elsewhere because it opens up the ice for other players and other options, if you happen to be skilled enough to take advantage. But if you’re not, then the result is a whole bunch of 2-1 losses, in which a former 50-goal scorer just cannot find any open ice to perform his magic.

Iginla didn’t have a great goal-scoring year last year either - he was down to 35 from 50. However, he did earn 54 assists and a lot of them came because he was playing on a line with Michael Cammalleri. As teams crowded Iginla last season, that cross-ice pass across the seam opened up frequently. Cammalleri thankfully was skilled enough to take advantage. Eventually, teams found they couldn’t cheat quite as much against Iginla because Cammalleri, who ended up with 39 goals, found a way to get open and made them pay. Not fully understanding what they had or even what was working for them, the Flames made a trade with Phoenix to acquire Olli Jokinen in the spring of ’09; and pretty much separated Iginla from Cammalleri the rest of the way last season. Cammalleri’s offence dried up - he needed someone to play with as well - and eventually, he left as a free agent, Calgary determining to spend the dollars they would need to pay him on Jokinen and free-agent defenceman Jay Bouwmeester.

If the decision is made to keep Iginla, then the Flames need to find someone like Cammalleri, or even like Alex Tanguay, for Iginla to play with. Tanguay, unlike Cammalleri, was more of a playmaker than a scorer (and not a centre either, which would be ideal), but he was someone who could find Iginla in the shooting areas on the ice, with those nice soft seeing-eye passes of his. Sure, Tanguay was soft and quiet and not exactly a player in the Mike Keenan/Darryl Sutter mould. But he also set up 99 goals in his two years with the Flames. For a Calgary team that scored only 200 in its first 80 games this year, that sort of production might have made the difference between making and missing the playoffs this year.

Assuming then that the primary off-season goal iin Calgary is to find a complementary player for Iginla - centre or left winger - the most logical candidate to trade is defenceman Robyn Regehr. Even after dumping Dion Phaneuf, Calgary is still relatively deep on the blue line, with Bouwmeester, Ian White, Mark Giordano, Cory Sarich and Steve Staois. It no longer conjures up imagines of Montreal’s big three, but it is a serviceable group that could survive the loss of Regehr, its most physical presence. Trading Regehr (and his comparatively modest $4-million annual salary) for a forward of comparable skill and earnings might just be the short-term way to tweak the team, if the decision is made not to go scorched-earth right away. Something to think about anyway.

[Ben Kenobi]

Awesome. Calgary paying 7 million for a 30 goal scorer

That's exactly how they are going to fix their team.

[Asher]

Why do you even talk in this thread? Seriously?

Not a single person here listens to anything you say. It's consistently utter stupidity.

[-Jrabbit]

I gotta say, I'm really rooting for Vancouver tonight...

[Ben Kenobi]

Why do you even talk in this thread? Seriously?

Because I'm right. You can make excuses and whine about teams keying on Iginla, or you can accept that if he wasn't being paid 7 million that Calgary could afford more productive players.

Regardless of the excuses, Iggy did not earn his salary. That makes him part of the problem in Calgary, not part of the solution.

Calgary should ship him off while he still has some value.

[Asher]

There are arguments to be made about shipping Iginla out now, but all such arguments are way out of your league as resident Canuck fanboy who thinks Linden and Burrows are better players than Iginla.

You are perhaps the dumbest hockey fan on the face of this planet.

When Flubber gets back, I'd be interested in having some real discussions on what to do with Iginla (I'm not against trading him). But you are not worthy of conversation.

[Ben Kenobi]

You are perhaps the dumbest hockey fan on the face of this planet.

So dumb that I correctly predicted Calgary's elimination months ago. So dumb that I'm making the same arguments that other Flames fans are making about Iginla. I hope you can apologise to the other Flames fans that you just insulted.

[Asher]

So dumb that I correctly predicted Calgary's elimination months ago.

Yeah, it was a huge stretch to do so after a 9 game losing streak and scoring drying up. Everyone knew it was a very real possibility, you ********.

So dumb that I'm making the same arguments that other Flames fans are making about Iginla. I hope you can apologise to the other Flames fans that you just insulted.

By calling you dumb I'm not saying everyone who reaches the same conclusions as you must also be dumb. You are dumb because you are one dumb ****. Seriously, criminally dumb. Immeasurably retarded. Incomprehensibly stupid. Completely inept. Hopelessly incompetent.

There's a lot of people chanting to trade Iginla, and a lot of people saying don't trade Iginla. The fact that you have an opinion one way or the other doesn't make you smart.

The fact that you think Burrows and Linden are better players makes you stupid. 99% of Canucks fans wouldn't even agree with you, and they're the dumbest fans in all of pro sports.