Marty Turco answers the tough questions, Bruins raising some eyebrows, and THE hockey hotbed (7/26/09)

Don’t you just love it when it hits that point in the off-season where team websites have absolutely nothing to talk about? Apparently the Dallas Stars website has hit that point. The interview they did with Marty Turco was one of the most stupid things I think I have ever seen on a team website. Worse yet NHL.com found it “important” enough to go on their own front page.

Link:

Some of the tough questions they asked Marty were as follows;

Have you seen any good movies this summer?
What are your thoughts on Michael Jacksons and Farah Facetts deaths a couple of weeks ago? (Cause were all dying to know… thank god Marty Turco finally chimed in on this…)
What are you doing to keep cool in the hot summer?
Are you planning to use different equipment this off-season?

The only serious questions were about the Stars draft picks and his training for next season… but believe me when I tell you there wasn’t much there.

I would have had some different questions for Marty…

How does it feel to have had your GAA inflate every season for the last three years?
Why has your SV% dropped the last three seasons?
Tell us why you think the Stars are going to turn it around next season after a brutal 2008-2009…

Moving on…

I also wanted to talk a little bit about the Bruins. They have been making some really questionable moves lately. It starts with dealing Aaron Ward back to the Hurricanes for absolutely nothing. The Canes sent Patrick Eaves the other way but Boston immediately bought him out.

When I saw this I could only reason it one way — they are trying to dump some salary so they could fit Kessel under the cap. That makes sense…

Then the Bruins turned around though and signed Derek Morris to a 1 year, $3.3 million contract. When I saw this my head spun. I had so much respect for the Bruins, they were my pick for the cup last season. This was a stupid move though. Any chance they had at keeping Kessel may be gone now. This is also a massive overpayment for Derek Morris… just ask Andrew Brunette.

What has Derek Morris ever done over the course of his career to earn that kind of cash? Michal Roszival and Wade Redden couldn’t believe this contract got done.

Before I leave I have one more final thought.

Being a self proclaimed hockey genius I get asked a lot from friends and family. I couldn’t tell you how many drunk texts I get from friends of mine in which I have to settle some drunk bar argument about who scored how many goals when or who was that douche between the pipes for whoever in the early 70’s…

There is one question that I would finally like to put to rest however. That is…. where is the greatest hockey hotbed in the United States?

The answer my friends… is Phoenix. Yes, Phoenix is the hockey hotbed in the United States. Never have I seen such rabid, puck hungry fans in my life. The city of cactus, the hometown of Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner. Flying next to vultures on the plane… seeing the infamous Jobing.com Arena off in the distance. The fans clamoring outside while the place rocks on the inside. Talk about atmosphere…. some players just can’t handle it.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that owner Jerry Moyes recently had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that the Globe and Mail recently reported that the Coyotes lost more than $60 million last season.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that less than 500 people showed up to a rally to save the franchise.

And lastly… don’t be fooled by Jim Balsillie and the MakeItSeven.ca campaign. They are trying to trick people into thinking this franchise would actually be more profitable in Canada. Pfffft. I may not be the smartest guy on the net but I know one thing… there is no place in Canada that loves hockey more than the fans in the Phoenix/Glendale area. Plus, look at their current roster, this Coyotes team has nowhere to go but up — both in standings and in pesos.

Russo #18

Marian Hossa’s new deal, Gabby in the Apple, and other NHL notes (7/22/09)

Since there is so much to catch up from when I last posted I decided to just skip all of it. It’s all boring nonsense anyway… Pens win the Cup behind the play of Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and Marc Andre Fleury… Tim Thomas gets the Vezina for best goaltender in the NHL, OV-1 got the Maurice Richard Trophy, ‘Geno’ Malkin got the Art Ross, and JR mouthed off at the NHL award ceremony… BIG DEAL! Get over it.

Seriously though before I get started let me say congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins on their run to the Stanley Cup Championship. Since I’m an honest guy I’ll tell all of you my picks for the Stanley Cup before the playoffs were the Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins, boy was I wrong.

The Penguins played filthy though — absolutely crushing the ‘cardiac’ Canes on there way to what I think was a stunning game 7 upset in Detroit. Way to go guys. And don’t tell me that any of you even thought Maxime Talbot would be the hero… I’m not even that good.

Now onto some more recent topics…

Let me start with Marian Hossa who has become a whipping boy for hockey fans everywhere. He ended the year before last playing for the Penguins in the Stanley Cup final and losing a heartbreaking game 6. Instead of coming back to the Pens this past season (after being offered a big contract by them as well) he went and made an ass out of himself. He said that ‘winning’ was most important to him and jumped ship to the Red Wings. Oh my goodness, the Red Wings then went on to lose the Stanely Cup to…. the Pittsburgh Penguins. I would never take Marian Hossa to the tracks because he really doesn’t know how to pick a winner. Janet Gretzky made wiser bets…

Things get worse though for Marian as now he has been the subject of countless topics for another reason this off-season. Hossa signed a lucrative 12 year, $62.8 million deal with the Hawks. While the actual cap number seems reasonable, $5.23 million, it is tough to imagine Hossa still being as valuable to the Hawks when hes 37 or 38… the contract will last until hes 42 by  the way. This also completely handcuffs the Hawks for the future with players like Dave Bolland, Dustin Buflyguien, Pat Kane, Jonathen Toews, Brent Seabrook, Kris Versteeg, Patrick Sharp, Cam Barker, and Duncan Keith all looking to cash in themselves within the next year or two.

Hossa’s deal also helped lead to the firing of GM Dale Tallon… although Tallon’s little ‘woopsie’ handling the RFA deals didn’t exactly help his case.

Being a Minnesota ‘Mild’ fan (HAHAHA… isn’t that hilarious? SHUTUP) I also had to touch on the whole Marian Gaborik saga that finally came to an end this off season. New Wild GM Chuck Fletcher was unable to trade his rights away at the draft table and unable to  negotiate a new deal with the slovakian superstar. From what has been released, Fletcher didn’t even offer him a deal.

Is it upsetting though? Not really, and heres why…

Gaborik made up his mind when he turned down Risers contract offer that was rumoured to be around $8 million a year. It wasn’t a money thing, it was a ‘I don’t want to play here thing.’ And for those who thought a new coach and new general manager would help the situation were fooling themselves. If Gaborik didn’t want to be a part of the conservative environment Riser and Lemaire created why would he want to stick around for the rebuilding and remolding that Fletcher and Richards would inevitably have to do.

Not to mention the Wild were able to replace him with someone equally as injured… Martin Havlat. The key to the Havlat deal is the price tag though. Havlat played nearly his first full season last year without injury and at $5 million a year you couldn’t ask for a better price. Havlat is no Gaborik but he is an exciting player all the same.

Some other things around the league I wanted to talk about….

I know I have a past of critisizing the Islanders a bit much and maybe I do lay it on too thick. But when I turned my head a minute ago and saw that they signed Martin Biron to a one-year deal I had to open my big mouth. Why would the Islanders do this? Ricky ‘Dynamite’ is signed to a ninety-year deal and they just picked up Dwayne ‘I ain’t no stinkin backup’ Roloson earlier in free agency. While I have always been a big Marty fan this doesn’t make sense for either party. Two backups? Roli or Marty in the minors? That isn’t happening. Man alive the Islanders are confusing. At least they didn’t sign a sumo wrestler to be their third goalie…. this time.

Finally I want to wrap up with a little Habs talk…

Now don’t get upset but are the Canadians from Montreal or Smurf Village?

I thought their primary color was red not blue?

Will they be replacing their helmets with spiffy white caps?

I don’t know what’s softer — the Habs or Charmin extra soft toilet paper? Heck I don’t even know which one I would rather poo on…

Nothing? Okay… I can talk serious for a minute.

I personally think the Habs have made some pretty lousy moves this off-season. They got rid of beloved captain Saku Koivu who is not only one of my favorite players but the heart and soul of that organization. They then traded for the worst contract in hockey — that of a Mr. Scott Gomez. Afterwords they decided they were going to sign Brian Gionta. Gionta is not only getting old but his numbers are dropping quicker than Theo Fleury after happy hour. Mike Camalleri seems like a apparition to me as well. The guy put up huge numbers last year playing with Iginla and I would expect his numbers to drop in Montreal.

That’s it for now folks…. you’ll hear from me again soon.

Russo #18

I’m back… (7/22/09)

Hello everybody!

For those who started to read my blog, or who glanced at it once or twice, I feel really badly. When I first started this up my intention was to deliver hockey  news on a consistent basis. Seeing as how my last post touches on Marian Gaborik trade speculation I would say I’ve fallen off the charts here.

But I’m back, and I’ve brought my passion for writing back with me.

Before I post up my newest views on what’s happening around the NHL though I would like to give everybody a little background on myself…

My name is Nicholas Russo and I’m from Western New York. I’ve played hockey since I was 5 years old (22 now). I’ve played a lot of different levels — house, travel, high school, and the club level in college (also tried out twice for a division III team… but was cut). I’ve loved the game of hockey my whole life. My father pushed me towards being a North Stars fan as a young kid, can’t really tell you why… that was just his team I guess. When the North Stars left I followed the NHL as closely as ever but never really picked a team.

That was until 2000, when the NHL brought back a Minnesota franchise — the Wild.

I fell in love right off the bat, despite their ‘boring’ style of play… god I get sick of hearing about that.

Anyway, I just thought it would be cool for those of you out there actuallly reading my crap to know a thing or two about me.

You can all expect my first real post back later tonight or sometime tomorrow. All of my posts will be dated from now on as well.

Thanks…

Russo #18