Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Sammy and Stanley, and other links

Some lazy Friday links for you:

First off, today is one of the days I've been looking forward to all summer: Sleek's favorite Sammy Pahlsson's day with the Stanley Cup (courtesy of the HHOF). Pictured to the right is Sammy at his summer home in Sweden, in front of a sign that commemorates his career achievements:

  • Swedish League Gold (2005)


  • World Championships Gold (2006)


  • Olympic Gold (2006)


  • Stanley Cup (2007)
Watch out, Scott Niedermayer. Sammy's also building up quite the resumé about winning championships at every level.
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While I'm lazy-linking, I also have been procrastinating on blog promotion a bit: there's another new Ducks blog to highlight: The Flying V. New blogger Citizen Saint is the third new addition this summer (along with Varius and David) and may need a little constructive criticism—like a little spell checking on his "Player of ther Week"—but even so, he's got some unique content to check out, and is on the lookout for another contributor. Check it out, and as always, welcome aboard the ever-expanding Duck-blogosphere!
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Lastly, this may have gone under the summer-doldrums radar, but superblogger Jes Gölbez put together the first of what may be a summerlong series: a blogger opinion poll that includes such BoC heavyweights as PJ Swenson, Mike Chen, and myself. Check out poll question #1: What was the worst free agent signing of the NHL off-season?

From the looks of things, the popular answer was Philadelphia's monster-contract for Daniel Briere (including Chen and Sleek's votes), but PJ instead had some gloom-and-doom predictions for the Ducks' signing of a washed-up Todd Bertuzzi. Normally, I'd just shrug that off as petty cup envy, but then again, PJ did make a strong prediction last summer that has already come true:
"I believe I can accurately sum up the crux of this Hockey News issue and this blog post as a firm challenge directed by California at the province of Alberta. We Californians may not know what a province is, we may not paint ourselves blue and red and hang from streetlights in Mexican wrestling masks after a single playoff win, but we can guarantee that the Stanley Cup will be visiting here before stepping foot on Albertan soil again."
Glad the Ducks could help you make that threat a reality, PJ.

10 comments:

RudyKelly said...

Yeah, a lot of people defended the Penner deal by arguing that the Ducks were paying Bertuzzi that much; what they didn't understand was that the Bertuzzi deal was also horrible. Seriously, I'm beginning to think that Burke was behind the Steve Moore attack and now he's taking care of his boys.

Bryan said...

Bertuzzi actually played well against the Ducks in the playoffs, but I still think Bertuzzi is a horrible signing along with Hamrlik and Penner. Just from a marketing point of view, how do you sign Bertuzzi. How can any fan actually cheer for the guy? I still really can't believe I'm going to be seeing him in a Ducks jersey in a few months.

Earl Sleek said...

I forgot to mention that even before the departure of Penner, my baby brother told me that he had decided that Todd Bertuzzi would be his favorite Duck next year.

"Really? Why?"

"Because I can't think of one good reason to root for the guy."

Yeah, my kid bro's a strange nut, but I kind of admire his wayward streak.

PJ Swenson said...

If I here one more person quote a comparison about a 3 year average of even strength points I am going to vomit. There was a lot Penner did for the Ducks last season that did not show up on the score sheet.

And the 3 Ducks vs Sharks games I was on the glass for in San Jose, Penner was hammering people left, right and sideways in the offensive zone. The Sharks weakness was on the blueline, and the physical play by that line gave them the edge in the series in my opinion. Can't really remember too much from the game in Anaheim with Sleek except for Selanne in the box and taunting the crowd after the win.

I think the price paid for him was too high, but with the lack of people lining up to play in Edmonton Lowe needed to get something done. And it is also a step towards establishing more of a physical team identity. Much needed because Raffi Torres has not tried to clothesline anyone in awhile.

Nice pull on the Shark Week quote, but no self respecting Northern California will find anything positive to say about Anaheim winning the Cup, even if it did keep it out of Alberta for another year.

PJ Swenson said...

Make that hear.

Miss. Scarlett said...

Oh good, that's the part of Canada I'm not in.

Itlan said...

Earl, you're falling behind on breaking news. DiPenta signed (almost) a 1-year contract on Friday. My question is, are skating lessons included in the deal?

Doogie2K said...

Hey, I got no complaints about the player. Even if he never scores 29 again, I think he'll be useful to the Oilers one way or another. I just don't think he's earned a $4.25M contract at this stage of his career. One good year does not a mid-range salary player make.

Anonymous said...

That's the part of Canada that almost noone's in. I think they got Calgary and most of Saskatchewan, but who cares about Saskatchewan anyways?

Loxy said...

It's questionable as to if they even got Edmonton.. may have left some of the suburbs.

But you got the jets!