Free Agency Day | Aftermath Update | July 5th, 2011

 Just a quick update, because I am so happy ...

♦ Yeah, finally Leafs news, and good news too! Clark MacArthur signed for two years at $ 6.5m ... awesome news. Thank you Burke! Would be weird to see Kuli and Grabo without their bud right?
♦ And Bozie got resigned too! Yeah! A two-year deal at $ 1.95m ... bit of a steal maybe, but the guy does still have to prove his worth. Not quite ready for first-lining and all, but so much potential and with a bit of the pressure off, perhaps he can start developing his skills and prove he can be eventually. Also, a great fit with the team! Next signing ... Schenner?
♦ Not really Leafs news anymore, but hell, still love the man: Kabby has been signed by the Canes and I think this is a great deal for him; three years at $ 12.75m - and he gets to play with Brent

Brent was definitely happy:

Tim Brent

WOW! just found out i'll be playing with my boy Thomas Kaberle 'kaba' for the next 2 years! #beauty #hellofaplayer #loveit

Tim Brent

Tomas not "Thomas" typoe- MY BAD!

Tim Brent

Okay even I know its funny when you make a typo writing "typoe" haha 2 excited about Kaba I guess!

Man, already missing Brent. Guess I will be keeping a close eye on the Canes as well this year.

And Bozie, as always, tweeted a bit as well:

Tyler Bozak

Thanks for the congrats everyone! Glad to be back with the leafs to play in front of the best fans in the world!

OK, if you are interested in my first post about Free Agency Day ... CLICK RIGHT HERE :)

Free Agency Day !!!! | July 1st, 2011

FREE AGENCY DAY!

wh00000000000000000000000

arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

See that? It is exciting and excruciating at the same time.

By the way, apologies if I lured you here and made you think you would read some amazing insights. Because you are not going to. But if you arrived here for that purpose, let me forward you to these places, it is where I go to check up on stuff:

http://www.thefourthperiod.com/freeagents/top30.html
http://www.mynhltraderumors.com/2010/06/01/2011-unrestricted-nhl-free-agents/
http://www.capgeek.com/free_agents.php

There, what I want is to just vent. Here my few wishes, based entirely on emotional motives:
- Leino *must* be resigned by the Flyers
- Meszaros too, what the hell. Last night I came across a rumour that he is on the move. I honest to god hope that is a joke. We need our Mesz at the Flyers!
- Tim Brent, went UFA, come on Brian Burke, you have to keep this guy at the Leafs
- Max Talbot, up until now my somewhat sleazy - and mostly secret - hockey crush, might possibly move to the Leafs, which would finally enable me to cheer for him legitimately lol

Oh, and one thing I do not want to see happen: Stamkos to Flyers. Up until the last few days I appreciated Stamkos for his talent, but that is it. Not a fan. Nor a hater. Then the rumours of a possible trade started and I developed a very irrational hate for the poor guy. I am sorry, I just cannot picture him in Orange & Black. The idea makes me positively hateful. Now Holmgren yesterday confirmed that they would not be putting in a offer for him, and I want to believe it so badly. But they have been lying to us a lot this year, so who knows what Holmgren has up his sleeve. I know I will feel better and go to a normal state of mind about Stamkos once the trade is definitely definitely definitely out of the picture.

So, what do you want to see happen? And no, not in answer to my own little wish list, am interested in what other folks are hoping for regardless of team and/or player preferences! I will even allow comments about the Habs, because it is also Canada Day - Happy Canada Day all you Canadian hockey fans!

Anyways, share your wishlist in the comments (you probably will not) or join me on Twitter ... @violet_nl ... I will be lurking in there all day long, waiting for stuff to happen. Sorry boss! ;)

Flyers Flying Around | Trading Craziness | June 23rd, 2011

After a busy time writing articles during the Playoffs I thought I would give myself a bit of time off and write a new post or two next week. Was still considering the topics. Basically the idea was to have a quiet hockey week. Then I logged on to Twitter an hour or two ago and got engulfed in a maelstrom of Flyers trading tweets! A bit like an 'all hell broke loose' Twitter evening.


First point of discussion: Carter. He got traded to Columbus. Now some of you may know one of my faves is ♥ Rick Nash ♥ ... but I always envisioned him coming to the Flyers ;) ... I definitely did not think any of our guys would be traded to his team. I am fine with the trade. Never was a fan of Carts and just did not get him at all. Sure, there are the points, but something about his on ice and off ice persona did not sit well with me. Here the official Flyers tweet confirming the deal:

NHLFlyers Philadelphia Flyers
#Flyers acquire from CBJ Jakub Voracek, a 2011 1st Round pick (8th overall) & 2011 3rd Round pick (68th overall) in exchange for Jeff Carter

Second point of discussion: Richards. A few minutes after the Carter rumours, folks in the know started tweeting about a possible trade involving Richie. Now I was mad at him at times, but I never lost faith in him as our Captain. Just wanted him involved just a bit more, but when all was said and done I always saw him as a great Flyer. And now he is headed for L.A.? I am not liking this at all. In fact I feel a bit sick about the whole trade. But apparently Richie is happy. Here the official Flyers tweet:

@NHLFlyers Philadelphia Flyers

#Flyers have acquired from LA C Brayden Schenn, RW Wayne Simmonds and the Kings 2012 2nd Round Draft choice in exchange for Mike Richards.

I was hoping the locker room issues folks discussed were in fact not true. But that something was not quite the same shortly after the ASG was quite clear. I was forever coming up with reasons to explain the slow but sure disintegration of our great team, but sometimes things just cannot be salvaged. Carts & Richie moved out shortly one after another? There has got to be more to that than making cap room for ...........

Third point of discussion: Bryzgalov. Signed for a nine-year deal worth $51m. Good goalie obviously, with sometimes debatable work ethic. Let me use a cliché: Time Will Tell. After the other two trades, this one was confirmed as well by the Flyers organisation:  

NHLFlyers Philadelphia Flyers
#Flyers have agreed to terms with goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov on a multi-year contract.

If we do not get a few experienced players back, we might as well start considering our team as one that is in build-up phase. In which case I wonder why we need Bryzgy at all. Might as well keep going with Sergei, right? I hope Holmgren has something up his sleeve. Well, something that does not include giving up our other prized possessions. And now I am going to cry over the sudden disappearance of our Captain. Really? L.A.? *sighs*

And just as I am about to post this article, this pops up on Twitter:

Pat Gallen
A source close to @973ESPN saying Flyers discussing a deal for Lightning star Steven Stamkos. Hockey world could explode.

That one I am going to chalk down to idiocy, but shit, after a night like this, I am sort of not going to be surprised by anything lol. What I need is a good night's sleep and perhaps I will see things differently tomorrow. Perhaps I will be less shocked and I might see possibilities the new additions bring us ... *ponders*

PS Who is next? Versteeg? I hope so.