Late Tuesday update
Posted on November 25th, 2008 – 6:17 PMBy Brian Stensaas
Apologies for getting this up just now. I was stuck at the X all afternoon, and where I had set up shop I had a very weak wireless signal. I couldn’t even get internet pages to load, let alone have anything cycle properly. All of a sudden I had a ton of work pile up and, well, here I am. I should have just gone right up to the pressbox. But I was afraid I would miss something downstairs.
However - as sports-types like to say: No excuses.
Anyway, the Wild today didn’t have too taxing of a practice. Mikko Koivu and Stephane Veilleux did not even take the ice, and another handful were only out there for 20 minutes or so.
A TV crew showed up and had a bunch of questions for Clutterbuck following last night’s two-goal effort. He was getting some gentle ribbing from teammates about all the attention. By the way, if you ever see Erik Reitz out and about, ask him to do his sportscaster impression. It’s quite good.
Speaking of Clutterbuck, he and I now have two things in common: I, too, have two career goals. Of course, mine came at the Bantam level 
I stuck around at the X all day because I was waiting to talk with Stars’ personnel about Mark Parrish after their practice - which was late. By all accounts, the Bloomington native is fitting in nicely. He’s been playing on a line with Mike Modano, who had some kind words.
Also, I found out that Parrish and fellow Stars forward Toby Petersen go way back. Like, to squirt-level hockey. They also both played at Bloomington Jefferson. The Stars/Wild connections seem to never end.
Again - sorry this is so late. Stars and Wild tomorrow night at the X. Russo’s back on beginning with tomorrow’s morning skates.
85 Responses to "Late Tuesday update"
we have to shut down parrish, show no mercy!
[…] Russo’s Rants – […]
Sorry: this is from the last thread…but I think it is important…
toivo: We know what’s a bit off…
Is it:
A player who refuses to go get treatment for his ‘condition’ from the same specialists who returned him from the same condition - TWICE? And who is getting paid $7.5M this season to basically sit on his heine, while his team struggles thru what is the easiest part of their season’s schedule?
Or,
A management whose blatant stubborness borders on the absurd, whose sole goal is to become more secret than the former Soviet KGB when it comes to their players? Who thinks that the public (and the media, especially those media assigned to follow the team) should be a group of trained ’sheeple’ who should just accept what they say as almighty gospel, without a single shred of evidence to back up what they say?
Or,
Is it an ownership whose obsession with the almighty dollar is so strong, as to not do anything — AT ALL — to upset the apple cart when it comes to this team’s premier player? Including (but not limited to) negotiating by not talking to him? Or his agent? At all?
And then, the team accuses the media of stirrping the pot, as it were, by asking questions about that player’s availability.
Yeah, we can see what’s a bit off, toivo…
Ok Wild a struggling team is coming in to our barn, lets stomp these guys.
SotB,
He doesn’t have to be able to predict the future, but he should be able to read the signs that are there. This isn’t hindsight, either. Russo certainly picked up on the vibe that Gaborik wanted out back at the All Star break, and many many people here have long been saying all summer that he wasn’t going to re-sign. I don’t think Risebrough even considered trading Gaborik on draft day, which would have been the obvious time to move him in the off-season. As a GM, he needs to get in front of these things.
One goal better than me, Stencils.
I feel bad for Clusterf**k. He had four of his best friends in town for a week. They caught the first two games of this home series but had to fly back and just missed Monday nights two goal performance.
toivo:
If you read Russo’s article, you get that sense. However, if you read Shipley’s article, you don’t get that sense at all.
Its how writers slant the story.
However, in the fall of 2006 after Gaborik signed his contract, Gaborik admitted that he seriously thought about taking a one-year deal and leaving the Wild because the Wild was not willing to spend money to bring in quality players.
Stoned: You’re wrong on this about Gaby and Ballgame. All summer long Ballgame stated publicly a conclusion would be reached before the start of the season so it wouldn’t drag into the season and become a problem. Once the offer was made to Salcer (late Aug, early Sept), it would have been clear to Ballgame that Salcer/Gaby wanted more years, more money or simply didn’t want to be here. That was when the shopping around should have started. Instead, we were fed a steady diet of “We’re not talking to other teams. Our main focus is to sign Marion to an extension.” We heard that all the way up to the week of the season opener. This is and was atrocious planning on Ballgame’s part. He knew of Gaby’s comments of playing elsewhere; he knew of Gaby’s history of coming up lame in seasons past and he knew of the rejection of the offer that was made and what the demands of Salcer/Gaby were/are. Even if he would have taken “less” at the time, Ballgame needed to make a deal in September, then come out and state: “For the betterment of the franchise (Wild, not Koivu), we needed to deal Marion now rather than later. It became clear during our negotiations that Marion was looking for more than we were prepared to offered. Given that situation, in addition to the fact that Marion has battled injuries in the past, we felt it was best to make a deal now, prior to the start of the season, so we can move forward as an organization.”
None of this is hindsight and none of it is revisionist history because it was debated and stated on this Blog at nauseum going back to the middle of August.
The best Ballgame, and the franchise, can hope for now, is that Gaby can come back sometime quickly after the first of the year, put a couple of decent months together which would allow Ballgame to get something in return. Otherwise, you better be prepared to watch yet another offensive asset walk out the door without anything coming back in return, ala Huggy, Demo and Parrish.
You also mention the extra money the team will have come next summer in cap space when Gaby is gone, but don’t hold your breath that Ballgame is going to be able to entice anything more than 2nd tier level UFAs at best to come here, following in the mold of Nolan, Bruno and Mittens.
I’m not here to knock Shipley, or inflate Mike’s head, but there is no comparison between these two scribes. I have been around hockey the better part of my life, and have read many of hockey writer in that time. Russo is one of the top five hockey writers in North America. That’s not even up for debate. I, on the other hand, can barely form a complete paragraph. But I get to have more fun than Mike, being his Evil Twin and all.
Is anyone going to be surprised if Parrish knocks in a couple of goals, one on the powerplay, tomorrow night?
RET: the Don is by far an accomplished hockey scribe, but it is unfair to compare him to Shipley or any of other hacks that scribble across the river. You shouldn’t compare apples to moldy tangerines. The PP is a mess and with any luck, Walters, Shipley and Powers will take the unpaid leave of absense that the paper is offering.
Deep Breath. I agree with you entirely. Ballgame is leaving JL short, hoping he can salvage some wins. He did the same last season when we needed a center.
Deep:
Actually, Powers and Shipley are not as bad as you make them out to be. Powers as a columnist is much better than Souhan and Reusse.
Russo is the more knowledgeable since he has covered hockey for a longer time but that doesn’t mean that you can dismiss their articles.
One more thing about Ballgame and his relationship with JL. Prior to the start of next summer’s UFA signing period, I would hope the two get together JL gives input as to the type of player he wants up front. Wild spent the dollars, draft pick and prospect to get Demo and Parrish in here. Parrish was seemingly in the dog house from day 6 and JL moving Demo to center was an exercise in futility and clearly didn’t take full advantage of Demo’s ability. Would like to see a little more “harmony” between the players that Ballgame brings in, at least the forwards, and whom JL would like to see in IRR.
sunshine: I appreciate your defending the rag across the river, but I have tried to read those guys and it just doesn’t work. As far as columnists go, you can throw all of them, Sid, Buffet Table (reusse) and Milk Toast (souhan) and send them to Denver because they are all horrible.
DR/Lynn has had long discussions with Salcer. Lynn went to LA to see Salcer. Then during training camp, Salcer came and spoke to Lynn. By the end of these meetings, DR should have gotten a better sense if Gaborik was committed to staying or if he wanted more money then the team can afford.
DR didn’t start looking at trade offers until late into preseason or the start of the season.
DR knows what he can and cannot give Gaborik. If Gaborik wanted an average of $8.7-9 million a year for X amount of years and he knows he doesn’t have the budget to do it, then he should have traded Gaborik.
After all these negotiations and both sides are entrenched, DR had the power to end it with a trade.
Deep,
I wouldn’t be shocked if Jacques called it a career after this season. Just the feeling I get.
I like to get different views on a situation so I read everything. Don’t like to get my news from only one source even if it is a good source.
Lucky. I think you are right. JL has to be getting sick of Ballgame futility. It would surprise me if he comes back.
Lucky:
I agree. I would not be surprised if Lemaire hangs it up.
DR wants JL to perform miracles all the time. It must be a little tiring.
Deep Breath: Good argument, great points behind it. One of my questions is did Gaby give Riser some indication that he would be interested in staying, and is that why Doug and Tom travelled to Trencin in late August/early September to visit with Gaby/Salcer. Or did Riser simply misread the entire situation? Either way, once we reached that time period (mid Sept.) most teams had filled their rosters and didn’t have the cap flexibilty that they had July 1. Then the question becomes what were the Wild offered for Gaby? We just don’t know. We do know Riser only had half a dozen teams he could deal with. Maybe one of them offered something decent, and we blew it. Or maybe Doug didn’t get anything close to an acceptable offer, and decide to bite the bullet and deal with all the problems a situation like this brings in the hopes of the longer this goes, the more teams will be able to afford him. But then again, THAT brings up a whole new set of problems. What if the Wild are a solid playoff team. Can you trade a player who is racking up points (assuming he’s playing) shortly before the seasons over? What does that tell your fans? Riser may have blown it, or he may be in a very difficult situation, where his options were few to bad, and hopefully he gets something good out of it in the end. We just don’t know at this point. We may never know the details. Let me finish with this; Dougs not a stupid guy. He and his staff know way more about hockey than any of us. That doesn’t mean they can’t screw up, but I’m holding out hope that they still have a plan.
Mister Know it all feels no Love on the Russo-nation He is pondering switching blogs to maybe Shipleys. I am still thinking about it. I want sunshine apologize to Mister Know it all, and maybe Lucky could say he is sorry for calling me a troll ?
JL nearly left after last season. It’s 50/50 whether he will be back next year.
I have not been able to keep up with my hockey reading the last week, so I apologize in advance if the following is now common knowledge; I heard that Bettman stated the cap might go down by as much as 8-10 million next year. Anyone else hear this? I know attendance isn’t THAT bad and that’s where the NHL draws the biggest percentage of it’s revenue.
RET,
Exactly! He almost bowed out last season after the playoffs and Risebrough had to fly down to Florida and convince him to come back. Like an abusive boyfriend promising things would change…
I can’t speak for Deep but I would not be surprised if he misread the situation. He believed Rolston’s claims of wanting to stay with the Wild meant he would want to take a huge discount.
DR decided that while on a scouting trip to the Czech Republic, he would visit with Gaborik and try to woo him. Slovakia is next door. Salcer was not present. That meeting would have indicated that he was unsure of Gaborik’s position and wanted to cement it in favor of the Wild. Instead of waiting three weeks after that meeting to make an offer, they should have made one right away.
This is my problem with DR. Its not like he didn’t know that Gaby’s contract was up. He had a year to work out contract offers depending on how much the cap would be and how much he was likely to spend in FA and re-signing RFAs. He told Gaborik right after the FA period to expect a contract offer. No contract offer for almost 6 weeks after saying that.
The Wild hired Snow to do this and look at other teams’ cap and contract situations. In the end, they were caught flat footed. No Plan B or C at all.
IMO, there was a small window of opportunity that Gaborik would have signed with the Wild. I would not put it pass DR to low-ball him as he did to Rolston while he was a month away from free agency.
There are just some things that are about timing. DR recently has been on the wrong end of it.
Well, you do realize that DR was in Florida with the Wild for their annual strategic meeting and it was there that he spoke to JL.
DR had a small window to have Gaby seen as the bad guy in Minnesota - and it has passed. If he would have pulled off a trade about a month ago, there is no doubt the next time Gaby came to Minny he would have been Boo’ed on the same level as Ohlund or Bertuzzi.
Every day that passes from this point forward, DR becomes the bad guy more and more. Now, on top of NOT acheiving his OWN deadline of resolving the issue before the beginning of the season, Gaby is taking up space, not to mention all the millions he is making for not playing. DR is now trying to play Texas Hold ‘Em with the fans in terms of Lord Groindemort’s contract status and injury.
He seems more and more incompetent as time passes. If he cannot recieve some kind of valued package for #10, or if Gaborik is allowed to walk into FA without any return, I can see the new owner possibly stepping in and making a management change.
I am already assuming JL is done after this year - which is too bad. I wish I could have seen what JL could do with a GM that will listen to his needs in terms of types of players he needs to be successful - instead he gets a guy who trades for Chris Simon as a “rental”. Marian Hossa is a rental, and at least then, the Penguins made an offer to keep him. We trade for Simon, and have no intentions on retaining his services - how can we not question a GMs trades, when he doesn’t even intend on trying to keep a guy he traded for at the deadline.
… ok… I think I am better. Sorry for that
Its the same thing with Backstrom. If he times an offer too late, Backstrom might just say, “Well, I like it here but I would rather test free agency and be with a team that wants me. Give me an offer on July 1st.”
I expect Parrish to have fire in his belly to score as many goals against the Wild as possible. I am sure it was humiliating to be bought out and to have it happen in your hometown.
Nooooo! If JL leaves, I’m blaming Gaborik!
I must have confused myself then. Was it Walz Summer of 2007 where he flew to his house to convince him to return?
Does anyone know why all French Canadians flock to Florida in the off-season? Sure it’s nice but why the FLA?
Yeah, it was Walz. Though, DR did fly to Florida to convince Lemaire to accept the job of being the Wild’s first coach.
Why do Minnesotans have winter homes in FL? Warm weather all year round, the beaches,relatively cheap housing, and no state income tax are probably some of the reasons why people make their home in FL when they retire.
Lastly, good deals on flights normally.
Sorry: this is from the last thread, but this is still important, JMO…
toivo: We know what’s a bit off…
Is it:
A player who refuses to go get treatment for his ‘undisclosed condition’ from the same specialists who returned him from the same condition - TWICE? And who is getting paid $7.5M this season to basically sit on his heine, while his team struggles thru what is the easiest part of their season’s schedule?
Or,
A management whose blatant stubborness borders on the absurd, whose sole goal is to become more secret than the former Soviet KGB when it comes to their players? Who thinks that the public (and the media, especially those media assigned to follow the team) should be a group of trained ’sheeple’ who should just accept what they say as almighty gospel, without a single shred of evidence to back up what they say?
Or,
Is it an ownership whose obsession with the almighty dollar is so strong, as to not do anything — AT ALL — to upset the apple cart when it comes to this team’s premier player? Including (but not limited to) negotiating by not talking to him? Or his agent? At all?
And then, the team accuses the media of stirring the pot, as it were, by asking questions about that player’s availability.
We can see what’s a bit off, toivo…
Still Lemaire had to think it over before coming back this season and Risebrough and to convince him to return. Even if Doug was in town.
I hear Barry Melrose is available
Tounge in cheek for those who don’t know I am joking
Dan says:
November 25th, 2008 at 7:15 am
http://atdhe.net/ is better then hockeywebcasts
You are correct sir. Very cool. It has better picture when picture is maximized.
I am sure he did have to think about returning. Last year was a difficult year with too many guys playing for their next contracts and not as a team. This year, the team is listening to him but there is a different type of frustration.
He might not want to deal with all these frustrations.
JL will be back. He had frustration at some of the “veteran players” a year ago, i.e. questioning his practice schedules, where to play on the ice, etc. This year, if you listen to him in pressers or after games, he seems to think that the batch of “kids” that he has on the roster is more receptive to what he has to say. If this roster remains intact for the most part next September, I would fully expect JL to be back, provided his health is where it needs to be.
Did DR have to convince him to return? From what sources? IMO, JL was leaning towards returning but before doing so, he needed some things from DR. He was giving himself some leverage.
From all accounts no one in the Wild thought for more than a minute that Lemaire wasn’t going to return - from CL to DR. They were pretty confident he was going to be behind the bench this season. We could say it was a false confidence to reassure the fans, but I think they knew with more than 90% assurances that he was returning.
These accounts were CL, JL, and DR interviews. Of course, they all could be lying.
Deep,
The purpose of DR stating he wanted to get it wrapped up before the season started was to set a timeline. Step 1 in Negotiating 101. Timelines are rarely etched in stone. Why is that so hard for you to comprehend. These guys were still talking in Tampa on the first road trip and they would still be negotiating if Gaby wasn’t hurt if DR felt there was still hope. Although, he would also be keeping his options open by entertaining trade discussions which he has been doing all along no matter what you think or what he says publically.
My point is that if Gaby had stayed healthy and was putting up decent numbers, the Wild stood to receive more in trade for him later this season or at the trade deadline than what was on the table in September. Smug publically stated that they were focused on signing Gaby and they weren’t exploring trade options. Do you believe that? I don’t. Smug and his minions have been going over the scenarios, strategies and planning on the Gaby event probably going back to a year after they signed him to the last extension. The Wild is a business that has long range, 5 year, intermediate, 1 year, quarterly and monthly strategies and plans. If you think this just somehow snuck up on them, you’re misguided. Each day it is a measurement of probabilities. In September, the probabilities based on what was on the table for trades favored keeping Gaby. He got injured and everything goes on hold. That doesn’t mean earlier decisions were wrong and it doesn’t mean that whatever deal does get worked out will be worse than what was on the table in September. In fact, you will never know, because Smug isn’t going to tell you or Don Russo for that matter what the options were.
If there was anything in your posts that suggested you had some depth of understanding on negotiating and particularly negotiation in the public eye, we could continue this debate. In the absence of that, please feel free to rip Smug all you want.
Stoned:
That’s my beef with DR. If they have been working on this for more than a year with different salary caps, budgets, scenarios, etc, why did they wait so long after meeting with Gaborik in Slovakia to give him a contract. They were working on something for a year but they weren’t working on a contract for Gaborik.
They know exactly the range of what they can give Gaborik. If it was clear that Gaborik’s amount was outside that range, then DR could have pulled the trigger trade. No one seriously believed that DR wasn’t looking at trade options during their negotiation period. He might not be personally talking to GM about trades but he had someone looking at the offers.
DR and Salcer stopped talking to each other around the start of the season maybe even a couple of weeks earlier.
Well you’ll forgive me if I don’t buy everything DR says.
Well… I don’t buy everything I read either.
Wow, they ran Ersberg in Calgary.
Fair enough.
Anyone watching the Flames pasting of the Kings? The Saddledome haunts my dreams 
LOL “Erik Ersberg looks like he’s about 12.”
Salcer was in Tampa during that early season road trip where I would bet there was still things going on between the parties. He got injured after the second game. I agree they know their range, but it takes a bit of back and forth before you really figure out the positions. If it was so clear they were too far apart from the git go, Salcer wouldn’t have hung around Grand Forks, taken Lynn’s visit to LA or even showed up in Tampa.
>>No one seriously believed that DR wasn’t looking at trade options during their negotiation period.<<
Deep Breath did cuz he read it in the paper.
I can’t see where offering Gaby a contract sooner after Slovakia would have made any difference. I just don’t think there were a lot of GM’s willing to trade much in Sept for a player they can’t sign long term.
Stoned:
That is true about Tampa. I forgot that he was down there. Though, I don’t know if Salcer and Lynn talked.
You might say I am thinking like a girl here but once you butter someone up, you go in for the closer. Even Gaby’s agent was impressed by the effort made by DR. I just think they waited a little too long to go for the closer.
Though, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference since the positions didn’t really harden until the start of the season. It was just a lost opportunity.
And I agree with you on the GM front. Most of the teams are set and very few teams have NHL cap space or their internal cap space to fit $6.33 million. We saw it first hand with Parrish who didn’t get a deal until this month.
Perhaps I missed a posting on this earlier:
Adam Foote injured after getting drilled into the end boards on a shot that Lappy called cheap. LA’s Weiler gets 3 game suspension.
Darcy Tucker on 30 day IR for knee injury.
Irony rules the day.
>>>You might say I am thinking like a girl here but once you butter someone up, you go in for the closer.<<<
I like your thinking, but when there are millions of dollars at stake with a hard nosed agent like Salcer, there isn’t enough butter in Wisconsin to grease the skids on a deal not in their favor. Not to say that history isn’t replete with stories of foolish men who fell prey to buttery females.
MF… someone in Calgary said shutout.
What feminine wiles don’t work on contract talks?
LOL!
Kipper is really doing a good job for you, ms. c.
It makes no business sense that the cap would go down 8 to 10 million dollars. It wont happen !
Woo, Iginla gwg!
I was witness to Toby P and Mark P preparing for the NHL season in an Elite Shinny League in Minnetonka over the summer. Word is that Gabby may be talking to the league about working out prior to his return to the NHL. I will keep you abreast of the situation.
What? Working out as in working out in the gym? Working out as in practicing with the team? Working out a contract? Working out a deal with another team? What does “working out prior to his return to the NHL” mean?
I don’t get it.
just saw this:
Russo is one of the top five hockey writers in North America.
Writers, or columnists? I’d rather see the Don as a full-time hockey columnist. Most papers in hockey hotbeds have them. Look at Toronto. They’ve got Koshan, Zeis, Longley, and Simmons who write regularly on the sport - and NOT just about Toronto.
The “State of Hockey” has a grand total of ZERO hockey columnists. Go figure.
Butter doesn’t work in multi-million dollar contract deals… Male or Female…
MN has horrible columnists period. Any sport.
I’m not sure how setting the cap goes. But the thing probably isn’t going up if I’m in the ballpark on how it’s set. Based on economy? Can’t imagine NHL revs are going up.
Unless somebody was there for any talks between DR and anybody, I can’t read much in to them. My thoughts are that Gabby wants to see what the market is. He might want to stay here he might not, it’s never really been in DRs court. Even Don Vito got a deal when he made offers others couldn’t refuse.
Nice having the next 5 days off work! Crap, how am I going to go back…
My Godfather message meant, DR can’t send in Luca Brasi. He is a major player in any deal. He is no bandleader.
There is nothing i hate more in the world than Sean Avery.
Did i ever tell you guys the story of Sean Avery saying f*** you to me?
true story. I live near San Jose so I attend a sharks game every once in awhile besides going to all the wild games there.
Anyways, I went to the last sharks/stars game and my brother who is a big stars fan took me to their end to watch them warm up. So im sitting there at the blueline on the glass and you know all the stars players dancing around and what not and Avery skates by slowly and looking at me the whole time. I am not in an hockey attire whatsoever or provoke him in any way. And he mouths f*** you to me. And then he kept going and never looked at me again.
What a joke.
Then the stars lost.
hahahahaha
All hail Brendan Morrison! He who knocked Mr. Darcy Tucker out for the next month with a sprained knee should receive accolades from everyone throughout the league for it.
Chris, you sure that wasn’t a proposition?
Talk above about JL being back next year. I say ‘no doubt about it’. Provided the team keeps buying into his system.
When does DR’s contract expire? I think he’s done a pretty good job of getting cheap guys which allow the team to be mid to high-mid finishers (great for a new team), but I really don’t think he has what is needed to put together a Cup winning team. With DR at the helm, right now I don’t see us getting much better.
To get better we either need to suck for a year and ‘win’ a #1 draft pick (which would hopefully turn out as well as AO), or we need to sign some very good FA’s. Either way, I doubt DR’s going to be the man to make us better. If we end up sucking for a year I’d guess he’ll get fired. DR has not been able to sign high end FA’s so that route is out (<— unfortunate rhyme) too. Nope, in my opinion, we need a new GM. Again, not necessarily because he’s done a bad job of getting a new franchise started out strong, he just isn’t up to the task of putting together a cup winner.
Is it strange that I post several comments in a row? And long ones at that? I’m not coming off as ‘one of those posters’ am I?
Gaborik - not much has been mentioned about his surgery last spring for the ‘pinch’. In years past, he’s had the groin thing, come back, sometimes it flared again…. Last year he was mostly injury free. Then, last spring he gets the ‘pinch’ fixed, and this fall the first injury is a doozy which has kept him out quite some time.
Did the surgery actually make things worse? Is the current injury a result of the surgery and there now being different ‘geometry’ down there? A change that maybe neccesitated a change in Gaborik’s skating mechanics which has led to him injuring another part of the system? Maybe he needs to change his skating mechanics but hasn’t and as such the ‘injury’ is being aggravated?
Just wondering what role fixing the ‘pinch’ may be playing.
Is this the game?
Is this the game that the Wild finally prevents Matt Niskanen from scoring on them?
Is this the game PMB finally breaks through?
Is this the game the Wild puts aside all the excuses and delivers a 60-minute effort (on part with the Coyotes game a while ago)?
Is this the game the Wild finally gives Backstrom a break?
Is this the game?
DR took some time to talk to NHL.com:
Lucky says:
Anyone watching the Flames pasting of the Kings?
I watched a good part of that game and I have to say the Flames are a fun team to watch. Equal parts grit and skill. It’s going to be another race to the finish line with Vancouver and Calgary this year.
Huh. I was the goalie on a super mite team (kids from Mound and Orono) with Toby Petersen. We played in a Bloomington Jefferson tournament. Our first game was against Parrish’s mite team. We lost 2 - 1. They went on to win the tournament, and we won the consolation bracket. Parrish had the winner bounce in off him, if I remember correctly.
Good times.
Stoned: Ballgame gave the “deadline” so as not to bring this into the regular season so it wouldn’t “be a Hossa Situation”. That’s what he said. You can bet your sweet Bertuzzi that if Gaby were healthy and playing, the daily questions would have grown on the team and coaches by now, assuming that he hadn’t been moved yet. That is what happened in Atlanta. The best thing about Gaby being hurt is that it hasn’t become a distrcation for the club because of the “out of sight, out of mind” philosophy. And in terms of probablities, if Ballgame wanted to take the chance October 1, which he did, not to trade Gaborik and risk the current situation, he is not fit to be a GM. He knew of Gaby’s intentions; he knew of the injury history and he knew of his own inability to do anything at the deadline in past years. This is not like we’re rewriting history. This exactly scenario was played out on this Blog in august and spetember. What I’m saying is that if middle-aged minions can figure it out on this Blog, why csn’t the GM of the team?
From Nick’s link:
To have a winning tradition, you have to have a lot of winning.
Uh… thank you Mr. Obvious!
Parrish:
Players always play harder against former teammates. I’d not be suprised to see Parrish work his butt off. I’d also not be suprised to see Shultz, Johnsson and Burns (if he’s on D) work their butts off trying to keep Parrish off the scoresheet.
If Parrish scores, any combination of the following are going to be the D on the ice: Skoula, MAB, Reitz, Zidlicky
Stensaas, if you still really think the Wild are a “trapping team”, (IE: your story on Parrish) you have already lost me as a reader. You must have more accurate stuff to contribute than that.
Breakfast!
Being a Homer, I have to say “Parrish who?”
If any of the dallas players score, Shepp will be out there…hes a team leading minus 7.
If the wild score, Benny will be out there…hes a team leading plus 6.
If all the lines contributed we would be unstoppable, not this first line dominates, gets cold as ice, whole team cold as ice, 4th line dominating now, rest of team sucks.
