Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Waterjug Chatter

I bumped into a former (fairly) high profile NHL GM going for coffee this morning. I have seen him hit up my Starfucks every morning at 10:00am, but today I decided to talk to him, so I asked (out of nowhere) “what do the Sens need to get this thing turned around?”. He was sort of taken aback, since I’m guessing he thought his NHL logo ball cap was keeping him anonymous (and I didn’t bother to introduce myself, or ask his approval for the question). To no one’s surprise I’m sure, he said “a puck mover”. I figured he answered me, so I might as well press my luck. “Are there any $2 mil or less guys to be had? Who’d you get?” It seemed like a water jug talk with that creepy secretive guy from the 5th floor, but whatever. Here’s what he said. “Outside of Doughty, any of the Kings young guys can be had for the right return, and it’s nowhere as high as you’d think.”

Now I am not trying to be Eklund or any of those twits, I’m just stating what was said to me by a guy who says these things on TV a lot. I’d love to pluck one of those young guys out of LA, that would be super, and if it costs me an Ilya Zubov or a Peter Regin and pick, then so be it.

Any requests for questions should I meet up with him tomorrow?

~G

3 comments:

  1. 1) Are you going to call the police if I keep stalking you?

    2) What do you think a possible return would be for Filip Kuba?

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  2. No questions per se, but 'young' sounds nice.

    I listened to Lombardi's interview on HC @ noon a few weeks back, and, unfortunately, the guy really knows what he is doing (read: building through draft and not making moves just to make moves).

    As to above comment, I would love to see Kuba gone for whatever we can get.

    Haven't we all heard 'puck mover' so much as to be sick of it right now? I mean, yeah, it's a hole, but everyone-and-their-mother thinks this one thing will solve all problems, but consider this:

    when the SENS were on that horrible road trip, and even before, a Redden-eque first-passer/PPQB was clearly missing. BUT.

    Given that you see the troubles (exiting def zone/entering off)over and over again, shouldn't some of the onus fall on the staff (coaching or players) to understand the GD basic concept of puck support?

    Suicide and low success pass attempt were all too frequent early in the season. When Spezz (or any forward) just takes off toward the OF blue line, or (Heat) won't get away from coverage to receive a pass - it makes a guy trying to play that role that much harder.

    Like I said, we do need one, but it's not a complete solution - as it seems some basics need to be re-covered.

    Not sure about bringing one in either - as Karlsson, though tiny, impressed everyone at WJC.

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  3. The possible return for Filip Kuba would be negligable, as everyone knows he's not coming back, and has played himself into a $3-$4M/yr deal to close out his average career. I say we end up with a scrub or two, and a 3rd/4th rounder at best.

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