I Apologize to you Doug Wilson

I owe you an apology Doug Wilson. We traded a #1 pick and Bernier for "the missing piece". Brian Campbell became the best D-man we ever had. He was going to lead us to the promised land. Then the playoffs began, I defended Campbell thinking he was injured when he just sucked and could not stand up to the rough play of the Calgary Flames. You wanted to go back to the East to be closer to your family when in reality you took the highest offer and took your spin-o-rama to Chicago. Can't blame you for taking that contract but F-you anyway. I am thinking what do we do now. We sign an "over the hill" Rob Blake..ok fine. Then 2 days later we trade Matt Carle, Ty Wishart, a #1 pick and a #4 pick for Dan Boyle. Are you out of your mind?

5 months later the Boyle trade looks like a steal. Boyle is a better D-man than Campbell at 500k cheaper. Boyle is the "point guard" for the Sharks, always knowing where everyone else is and controlling the PP. Thank you Campbell for being greedy and leaving and thanks CHI for offering such a ridiculous contract.

Measuring Stick #2: Detroit

The big story today seems to be the whole Todd McLellan vs. Mike Babcock sub-plot (I was going to do an Obi-Wan/Darth Vader Photoshop of the two with the "When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master," line but I ran out of time) but that whole thing doesn't really mean that much to me. I mean, these guys are professionals and they knew that some day this was probably going to happen.

My bigger focus is on seeing how the Sharks compare as a whole to the Wings. Like it or not, the god damn Red Wings have been the measuring stick for the league since the mid-90s (give or take a few seasons), and the emphasis is even higher now that they're defending champs. Holding Sidney Crosby and company to just a handful of shots showed that the Sharks were ready to put forth a strong defensive effort against an elite opponent, but I got the sense that the Penguins were off their game on Tuesday. I doubt I'm the only one who thought that the whole game was pretty darn boring.

So, what to expect tonight? The Sharks certainly are playing their own version of the Wings attack style, but I see San Jose as more based on speed and the Wings based more on passing/possession. The idea isn't to necessarily outshine Detroit at their own game; instead, it's all about bringing the necessary effort to make the Sharks' own system the superior one.

A few more random notes:

-Joe Thornton's groin injury seems more obvious with each game. He simply doesn't use his legs or lower body to protect the puck the way that he normally does, and assuming he didn't just revert into a craptacular player over the off-season, I'm assuming this is the lingering effects of his injury. Since I'm not a doctor (and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night), I don't know if this is one of those injuries where you can't rest it, you just have to work through it. I'm doubting that, though, since it seems like any sort of leg/abdomen injury would heal better with resting rather than playing at elite-level competition. Plus the team is scoring by committee right now, and I'd rather have 100% Thornton later than 75% Thornton for the bulk of the season (since these things linger forever).

-For all you King fans...um...well, I see what you were complaining about with Rob Blake. Those first two games kinda seem like an abberation now, don't they?

-The Sharks power play started using a slightly different look with one guy in the crease and another guy in the high slot. The strategy here seems to have the low guy providing a screen while the high player looks to deflect a shot in. Jonathan Cheechoo had a few dandy deflections against the Penguins and it's nice to get some refreshing special teams strategy after the Ron Wilson days.

Good Start...So Far So Good

Opening night is always a fun time. It was a little subdued, no laser light show or other pre-game theatrics. Can anyone tell me where the Sharks head was? The players skating out without it was kinda weird. It was nice to see an unveiling of another division banner but that is not the banner that we want.

The "new" style of play was pretty evident. Centers were driving toward the net and players seemed to be moving all the time. Somebody must of put a picture of Ron Wilson's face outside the crease as Patrick Marleau was actually seen in front of the net screening Giguere. The power play was generating scoring chance after scoring chance. Noticably absent from the half wall, Joe Thornton played more like a power forward. Last year it seems the power play was "let's get Joe the puck and let him create." Sure it is only one game but there was a decided effort to get the puck to the point and let Rob Blake fire away. Opposing defenses will have to start respecting our point men, which they never had to before. Even if Blake's shots were off target, just the threat of him back there seemed to give the forwards extra space. Dan Boyle seemed to never leave the ice and looked like the puck mover we have always needed. Good riddance Brian Campbell.

On a lighter note and Rudy should love this one. This guy behind me was explaining to his girlfriend about all the different players. When he got to Rudy's favorite Corey Perry here is his description: "That guy is a really good player, 50 goal potential, one of the best players in the league (all which is debatable)........but he is a real PRICK. That got me laughing. This weekend is a home/home with the Kings. Rob Blake's homecoming on Sunday night. It will be interesting to see the reaction he gets.

Not-So-Bold Sharks Predictions

Opening night is just around the corner and I find myself much more cautiously optimistic this season than last. Perhaps it's the coaching change or perhaps it's because last season felt like a genuine "lesson learned" type of thing that you have to fight through in order to achieve greatness (at least to me); whatever it is, my gut tells me that the inconsistencies and brain-fart moments won't be as commonplace for the Sharks this year.

That being said, here's my collection of random not-so-bold predictions about certain players. I like to think they're educated guesses, and if you're cautiously optimistic like me, you're probably predicting similar things.

Joe Thornton will break the 30-goal barrier. Hell, his coach already called him out on driving the net more and we've seen that he can score goals when Joe puts his mind to it. Also, he'll eclipse 90 assists again simply because he'll get more offensive help from the blueline on the power play. Joe's final point total: 32 goals, 94 assists.

Patrick Marleau will have a good year. I've said it several times here at BoC but I truly believe that Marleau turned a corner back in February. For those of you that missed the oft-repeated story, in a listless defeat against New Jersey, Marleau stood up in the locker room and told his teammates that he simply had to be better and that he should be held accountable. To me, that's the mark of a mature player and a leader and give Marleau credit for living up to it by playing with more consistent grit and fire than we'd ever seen. Patty's final point total: 35 goals, 50 assists.

Jonathan Cheechoo will rebound...somewhat. Coach Todd McLellan stated that the Cheechoo/Joe Pavelski/Milan Michalek line was his best during the preseason. Well, it's not because of Cheechoo and his whopping two assists in five games -- pretty bad for a noted goal scorer. Still, Cheech has shown before that he could score 25+ goals with a grinder like Mike Ricci as his center, and he's also been extremely streaky. With McLellan's emphasis on shooting and driving the net, I think Cheech will find his groove again and perform to the level that we saw late last year when he was finally healthy. Cheech's final point total: 40 goals, 23 assists.

Dan Boyle will be awesome...eventually. As much as I love Dan Boyle (I'm a super-fan from his Tampa Bay days), I'm guessing we won't see his true capabilities until about 10-15 games into the season when he gets really comfortable with his new teammates. He won't provide those crazy Brian Campbell spin-o-ramas but he'll still be the best defenseman the Sharks ever had. Boyle's final point total: 16 goals, 42 assists.

(Short aside: Want to know how to irritate Dan Boyle? Find a bunch of his old superhero-themed bobbleheads from Tampa Bay and send them to him. At the Teal & White game, I brought my bobblehead for him to sign, thinking I'd be the only fan with a cool rare piece of memorabilia. When I handed it to him, he grimaced and said, "Oh god. Those things were awful. I hated them." Whoops.)

Ryane Clowe will be ok but not great. There's a lot of media hype about Clowe since he had a relatively strong playoff and his numbers were decent in the games that he actually played. Still, we've never seen a full season from Clowe and I haven't seen anything to make me think he'll be the second coming of John Leclair. Instead, I see Clowe as more a poor man's Ryan Malone: a gritty, in-your-face winger who can score during critical times. Clowe's final point total: 17 goals, 24 assists.

Rob Blake will be good for his age. I don't think anyone's expecting 1998 Rob Blake to be showing up here. If he's reasonable defensively, provides some physical player and locker room leadership, and helps out on the power play, that's all we can ask of the guy. He's overpaid but it's a one-year deal, so there aren't any real long-term consequences. Blake's a Stanley Cup mercenary and that's fine by me. Blake's final point total: 12 goals, 30 assists.

Christian Ehrhoff will finally get it. Ehrhoff's got all the components to be a great two-way defenseman -- fast skater, big shot, improving defensive sensibilities. He's just never put it together consistently. Last year, assistant coach Rob Zettler told Ehrhoff to focus on the defensive side of his game and it worked; as the season went on, Ehrhoff became increasingly reliable in all situations. His monster shot, however, remained wildly inaccurate and if he could have just gotten some more of those on net, the power play might have been different. This season, my gut tells me that both Blake and Boyle will help Ehrhoff fine-tune his game so that he can be a complete player. Ehrhoff's final point total: 14 goals, 28 assists.

As for how the team will do in the end, I'm not going to make any prognostications because so many things rely on unpredictable factors such as injuries and breakout rookies. I will say this, though: I get the feeling that unlike last season, I won't be embarrassed by the team's wildly inconsistent and head-scratching play. I know, that's not exactly the most telling of statements but if you've been through the ups and downs of the last two Ron Wilson seasons, you'll recognize that that's a significant step forward.

Why not "Let's Make a Deal"?

Mark down Nov 5th Kings fans, as your beloved will be on an episode of "The Price is Right." Luc Robitaille, Derek Armstrong, Denis Gauthier, Kyle Calder, Dustin Brown and their mascot Bailey will make an appearance with host Drew Carey. (Boy I miss Bob Barker and his pencil thin, long microphone, not to mention all the sex stories about him and Barker's Beauties...but I digress). It will be funny to see Calder playing Plinko or Brown guessing how much a blender costs. They need to have the Sharks, Ducks and Kings on an episode of Family Feud to settle the BOC for real.

For those keeping score, Rob Blake is wearing #5 for the Sharks. That is until Kyle McLaren gets shipped out and Blake can have his number back. I am sure several season ticket holders were surprised to see a guy with McLaren on the back skating around the practice on Tuesday. Don't be alarmed, it was only Frazar McLaren, a rookie goon trying to make the team.

Random Pacific Questions: Who's the Sharks' Best Defenseman?

A vicious slapfight occurred right after this picture was taken.

The Sharks were the 3rd best defensive team in the NHL last season, allowing only 187 goals. A big part of this was their underrated defensive core that limited opposing offenses to about 24 shots on goal a game. The Sharks didn't get a whole lot of offensive output from their defense, however, so they brought in two veterans to help with that side of the puck. Dan Boyle and Rob Blake both have a rich pedigree in the NHL and will undoubtedly help the Sharks put the puck in the net, but will they deserve top minutes for the Sharks? Who is the Sharks' best defenseman?

My personal opinion is that it's Marc-Edouard Vlasic (he of the newly minted 4 year, $12.4 million dollar deal). He's only 21 but he was named the most valuable defensive defenseman by Alan Ryder after finishing 3rd the year before.* Sure, he doesn't score very often, but he literally suffocates opposing offenses. It'll be interesting to see how new coach Todd McClellan integrates new additions Dan Boyle (who missed half the season last year) and Rob Blake (who is probably best served playing mostly special teams at this point in his career). Will they play the most minutes because they're highly paid and "have been there before," or will he (rightfully, in my opinion) stick with Vlasic and fellow youngster Christian Ehrhoff in crucial situations?

*Page 24, if you're interested.

Sharks Sign Kinch and Westgarth

Who are they guys? It sounds like a comedy show on VH1. Sounds like more depth for the Worcester Sharks.

The schedule was announced today. Highlights:

-Eastern teams coming to SJ include: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, Toronto, NY Rangers, Tampa Bay. Greg Jamison must be doing cartwheels in the front office. He could not ask for a better group of eastern teams to visit.

-The longest road trip is only 5 games? We are so used to seeing 8, 9, or even a 10 game trip each year during February.

-Opening night versus the Ducks. I don't remember the last time we have ever opened versus a division opponent.

Rob Blake has finally made his way on to the roster on the Sharks website. The big question is what number he will be wearing. If we cannot get rid of the human pylon Kyle Mclaren, Blake will be forced to choose a new number. #44? Sorry, Vlasic has that one.

Is anyone else concerned about the lack of a Ryane Clowe contract? A few weeks ago both sides said they had a handshake agreement and the only thing left was Clowe to decide how many years he wanted. This better get done before Kevin Lowe comes in and offers him and 8 year deal for $80 million.

Went to Tahoe for the celebrity golf tourny last weekend and got some good pictures w/ Roenick (playing golf w/ a stogie in one hand and a Bloody Mary in the other..nice), Sakic, Lemieux. Big disappointment to not see Gretzky on the day I was there. Will post some pictures once they are uploaded.

Summer Battle of Northern California reading

Sharks coverage on BOC has dropped off a little since the end of the season, and the fact that Northern California has essentially been on fire for 3 straight weeks does not appear to be a major factor. Drawing on a flaming Wild Wing and a thick low lying layer of smoke for inspiration, here is a short recap from Sharkspage of what has gone down in the land of cheap software and expensive offensive defenseman:

• Max Giese of Sharkspage posted a very thorough 2008 Sharks Entry Draft (ptII) review article, with contributions from several NHL scouts and a few comments by other draft related sources. The first part of the Sharks 2008 Draft Review written by yours truely is available here. Included in that post is a video clip of Darren Pang expressing shock that Phoenix Coyotes first round selection Viktor Tikonov spoke English. Yes, San Jose residents can occasionally be accused of speaking English.


• Free agent defenseman Brian Campbell signs 8-year, $56.8 million contract with Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers sign Patrick Rissmiller. Judas, thy name is Brian Campbell. One problem many fans in San Jose have with what went down is the fact that his departure was a foregone conclusion. Instead of feigning that taking $7+ million with Chicago, Atlanta or Ottawa was a difficult decision, acknowledge the fact beforehand and fans have more respect for you. Campbell is tremendously gifted with speed and skating ability matched by few defenseman in the NHL. He also basically evaporated against Calgary and Dallas in the playoffs. If you are brought in to spark the Sharks transition and move the puck on ice, and you consistently hesitate and take it back behind your own net, there are going to be questions. Major questions for Chicago next season: how effectively will he be on defense, will he transform the Blackhawks power play, and how well will a young team respond to Campbell in a leadership role.


• San Jose Sharks sign defenseman Rob Blake to 1-year deal adding a power-play quarterback, report Sharks are pursuing Tampa Bay's Dan Boyle. A number of Kings fans are noting Rob Blake's declining production over the last season. In San Jose he will play a much different role, as the Sharks will have three solid defensive pairings they can use in any situation. Blake will be counted on more to bomb shots on net from the power play than to provide a #1 defensive role. I have a feeling with Marleau, Thornton, Pavelski, Clowe, Cheechoo and Michalek fighting for rebounds, Blake's numbers are not going to look too bad after 2008-09.


• Veteran defenseman Craig Rivet traded to Buffalo for 2009, 2010 2nd rounders. This is a trade that had to be made for salary cap considerations, but one that nobody likes north of the grapevine.


• Dan Boyle, Brad Lukowich, and Sharks general manager Doug Wilson discussed the recent trades on a conference call with local media.


• Sharks Trade Analysis: Blake, Boyle and Lukowich add missing pieces of the puzzle for Sharks power play and playoff problems. A lot of words essentially boil down to the fact that Boyle could have a bigger impact in San Jose than the brief Campbell experiment, and Rob Blake is the type of proven veteran who has been there and done beat up a lot of Anaheim Ducks.


• Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff signs 3 year, $9.3 million contract. This shores up a large chunk of the Sharks blueline for the foreseeable future, but salary cap issues could force a trade for Kyle McLaren. The future beyond Rob Blake is also a little less clear with Matt Carle, Ty Wishart and a 1st round draft selection headed to Tampa. AHL rookie Derek Joslin should be next in line, and will take more of a leadership role in Worcester this season. Hard hitting Boston College fresheman defenseman Nick Petrecki, who won a National Championship this season, remains as the Sharks top overall defensive prospect. The Sharks may need him to regulate at HP Pavilion before the end of his four year run in college.


• Sharks hire Stanley Cup winning Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Todd McLellan to be the 7th head coach in San Jose franchise history. Some fans were a little irrated at the lack of questions asked by the media at the press conference, there is a hand held 6 minute video of McLellan answering questions from the AP's Greg Beacham, a local television reporter, and from Tony Khing of the Sharks included in that post. One rumor has Trent Yawney as a possible assistant coach.

That is all I have for now. War Sandis Ozolinsh for President.

What a Difference a Few Days Make

Only a few days ago Sharks fans were wondering what Doug Wilson was doing (or not doing) as every team in the league seemed to be doing something in Free Agency. I mentioned here how I was glad Wilson was being fiscally responsible as other GM's were throwing money around. Well, in the last 24 hours the Sharks have 3 new D-men and (if I am doing my math correctly) 4 Stanley Cup rings. To summarize:

-Sign Rob Blake (1 yr/5mill): overpaid for an aging D-man but it will be nice to have a D-man who will shoot from the point. (I can picture Kings fans now "but who knows where the shot is going?")

-Trade Matt Carle, Ty Wishart and picks for Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich: At first I was happy about this trade, but including Wishart is a hefty price. I was thinking Wishart was one of the closest we had to being brought up and given a chance. Wilson must have a lot of faith in youngsters Petrecki, Joslin and others. For the 2nd year in a row, Mike has gotten one of his favorite players on to the Sharks (JR, now Boyle). NO! we better not be getting Forsberg next. The random Dan Boyle superhero action figure he bought on eBay a few years ago needs to be brought out.

-Trade Craig Rivet for two 2nd rounders: I figure this is a salary dump. Lukowich bascially fills the role of Rivet at 1/2 the price. Rivet makes 3.5 per while Lukowich makes 1.65 then 1.8.

All of this movement and I don't think Wilson is done. If the rumored signing of Bret Hedican is true, that would give us 8 D-men. Here are the proposed lines as I see them.

Thornton-Cheechoo-Michalek
Pavelski-Marleau-Setoguchi
Mitchell-Grier-Clowe
Roenick-Goc-Shelley

Blake-Vlasic
Boyle-Lukowich
Ehrhoff-Murray

Hedican?-McLaren

Nabby-Boucher

Not a bad lineup. Kudos to Doug Wilson. It is up to you boys!!!!

Blake the Snake

Well, I hastily made a graphic for Rob Blake's northbound signing, though there's certainly better posts below. This image isn't well-made, nor that funny, but damn it's timely:

#4 is Up For Grabs

So Rob Blake has signed a 1-year deal with the San Jose Sharks. If you've read here for a while (all 5 of you), you'll know I've defended him many times here on this site. If you don't want to read past blog posts (and God knows I wouldn't), the basic gist was this: Blake showed loyalty to his teammates, not his team, and he shouldn't be vilified for taking care of his family. Still, this is incredibly, amazingly fucked up. Blake was given a 2-year deal worth $12 million dollars with the expectation that he would lead the team and help the young guys grow. The Kings then put up with his poor play for most of the duration, kowtowing to him at every turn and giving him top minutes in every aspect of the game despite him not deserving it. Then, last season, there was the rumored trade of Blake for Nabokov, straight up, that Blake refused. Then, this trade deadline, the Kings were given the opportunity to trade Blake to either San Jose or Colorado, then only Colorado, then nobody because Blake didn't want to leave LA.

Then, this, off-season, he signs with San Jose.

I'm not going to go into the whole "He betrayed us" thing because it's stupid and pointless and egotistical (although seriously, we could have traded him to San Jose so many times), so I'll leave it at this: Rob Blake will never, ever get his jersey number retired in Los Angeles. He'll get booed every time he enters Staples Center and the Kings won't give him any front office position once he retires. It's obvious Blake doesn't care about this and all he wants is money. He'll retire happily in a few years and spend the rest of his days on the Manhattan Beach surf. That's completely his right. And it's my right to say:


Fuck you, Rob Blake. You're a piece of shit and I'll never forgive you for making me defend you all these years. I always thought you were a good guy that had been dicked over by the front office, but I obviously was wrong. My poor brother has worn your number since the day he could lace a pair of skates and now he's crushed. Enjoy your pieces of silver, you backstabbing son of a bitch. You're the worst person that ever lived.

And get a nose job, you look ridiculous.

Rob Blake stays in the BoC

Well, I have no idea how this affects the Dan Boyle fiasco, but apparently the Sharks have signed Rob Blake to 1 year, $5 million deal.

1 year doesn't mean getting Boyle is out of the question, as Boyle has a long long long deal. We'll see.

Update 3:17 PM: How am I supposed to write boring articles about closet door installation and freight payment systems when all this craziness is going on? The San Jose Mercury News' Dave Pollack confirms that the Sharks are still in the Boyle hunt despite the cap hit from Blake. How many Kings fans will drive up Highway 5 just to boo Blake at the Shark Tank?

Season Review: Rob Blake

71 GP, 9 G, 22 A, 98 PIM, -19, 144 SOG (I'm assuming 3,204 shots missed)

Grade: C

Possible Nicknames: Laurel, Kardashian

*Note: you're never going to get a reasoned opinion on Rob Blake, but I'm going to give it my best shot. This will be purely about his ability on the ice, not his character. And I'm not even going to delve into the whole trade deadline thing because it's been done. Let's try to keep it civil.

Rob Blake can still be a productive defensive player in the National Hockey League. I think his problem is that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what he can and can't do. Blake is an odd character because he can't really be a great player 5-on-5, but he can still be an elite defenseman on special teams if he is used correctly.


5-on-5:

Rob Blake's season can best be split into 3 stages:

-October-December (where he only had 6 assists in 22 games and eventually had to be paired with Jack Johnson so Jack could cover for him)

-December-January (where he played much better and tallied 19 points in 29 game while showing that snarl that used to make him so great)

-March-April (where he played ho-hum after coming back from an ankle injury)

It's tough to gauge Blake's worth over a full season, since each stage is so distinct. He was worthless those first 2 months and unappealing during the last 2, but there was that time in between where he was the best player on the ice for either team. Was he just lucky or is there still a little Norris that can be squeezed out of him? I'd be willing to spend $2-3 million to find out.

On Special Teams:

Penalty Kill: Blake is a fantastic defenseman on the penalty kill. He is great at clearing the front of the net. In fact, he's probably too great at that; Marc Crawford does not allow Blake to move from the front and expects the other defenseman to run around from corner to corner behind the net. This usually results in a tired defenseman and a scoring chance for one of the corner guys. If the Kings allowed Blake to leave the front of the net, I think their penalty kill would benefit from it.

Power Play: This is more of a stylistic thing, but I don't really like the Visnovsky-Blake pairing on the power play. Once again, the Kings have Rob Blake in a rigid role where he is the shooter and that's it. Visnovsky will occasionally shoot (and score), but he mostly serves as a set-up man for Blake's booming but inaccurate shot. Teams that scout the Kings know that they're trying to set up a shot for Blake and can easily gameplan against it. Visnovsky is at his best when he can move and make the defense guess, and he needs a partner like Joe Corvo to do that. I'd much rather see Blake with Tom Preissing next year and let Lubo do his own thing with someone who will react to him.

Next Year:

Blake's value is on special teams. He's probably a little to slow at this point to be a valuable 5-on-5 player (Johnson, Visnovsky and Kopitar all averaged more Even Strength TOI last season), but I think Blake can thrive in a role similar to Brad Stuart's. Let Blake get around 13-14 minutes at even-strength and then let him take heavy minutes both on the penalty kill and the power play.

If the Kings could sign Blake to a 1-year deal for around $2.5 million, I would be stoked. I imagine the Kings are going to see a lot more young defensemen on the team for at least a cup of Snapple next season, and Blake is a great locker room presence simply because he's Rob Blake.* Blake does not have to be (and really can't be) the Kings' best defenseman anymore; hopefully, everyone realizes that.

*I mean because he's one of the best defensemen of the turn of the century, not because he has mystical pedagogical techniques. If David Fincher gives you advice on making a movie, it's going to carry more weight than if it came from Uwe Boll.#

#Brian Willsie would be Uwe Boll in this situation.

The Fatuous Four

The Kings Madness competition is now down to its final four. There have been upsets, buzzer beaters and heartbreak so far, but now it's serious, folks. Here are my original predictions and here are the final match-ups:

Wayne Gretzky

vs.

Luc Robitaille

Holy shit. This is basically the Western Conference Finals, because whoever wins is pretty much guaranteed to win the whole thing. I mean, you have the world's greatest hockey player versus "Lucky" Luc Robitaille. Here's the way I see it:


Wayne Gretzky is The Great One. He's so far above Luc Robitaille in terms of hockey ability it's ridiculous. But, he doesn't belong to the Kings. He doesn't belong to the Oilers.* He belongs to hockey fans everywhere. Gretzky gave us 8 great years, but that wasn't unique to us; he gave that to fans of hockey everywhere. I mean, last year Columbus fans gave Gretzky a standing ovation at the NHL draft. It's ridiculous and foolhardy for Kings' fans to try and claim him for themselves.


Luc Robitaille, on the other hand, is a great player who completely belongs to the Kings. He was drafted, groomed, and celebrated by Los Angeles. He owns the Kings all-time scoring record is staying with the team after his playing career ended. More importantly (at least to me), he was never really the same when he was with another team. He gets traded to Pittsburgh and then New York and puts up a high of 69 points in 3 seasons; then he comes back to LA and puts up 74, 74, and 88 point seasons in consecutive years. He goes to Detroit and wins a Cup, but then he comes back to LA and has a renaissance. Plus, Luc has a way better personality and is far more fun than Gretzky. You wouldn't vote for Luke Skywalker over Han Solo, would you? Wayne Gretzky is hockey, but Luc Robitaille is the Los Angeles Kings.

*Gretzky's Hall of Fame display has his Edmonton and Team Canada jerseys hung up, proudly displayed. His Kings jersey? On the ground, wrapped up so you only see his name on the jersey and not the Kings crest. Oh, Canada.

Rob Blake

vs.

Anze Kopitar

What the hell? This is like if George Mason and Davidson both made it to the Final Four. Hold on, I need to talk to Kings fans. If you're not one, skip this.

C'mon guys, the Kings have 41 years of history and you vote for the guy who has been on the team for 2 years? That's stupid. Blake is acceptable, since he's the only King to win a Norris Trophy, but Kopitar? Maybe one day, but it's retarded for him to get this far. He was in the same division as Marcel Dionne, for God's sakes! Who did he lose to anyway... Marty McSorley? And in the Elite Eight you voted for Dustin Brown over Rogie Vachon??? And you voted for Kopitar over Kelly Hrudey????????????? God you guys are idiots. How are we supposed to brag about how we are an actual team to Anaheim and San Jose if you guys are going to only pick players that have been around for the past 15 years? At least fake like you care about the past. You're embarrassing me.


So, in conclusion, I think it should go like this: Robitaille wins over Gretzky (with all due respect), Bowlby beats Kopitar, Luc wins the whole thing. Afterwards, the Kings start showing mandatory history films before games.


Edit: Fuck, Ovechkin tied Robitaille's record last night. Well, now you better vote for him just to make him feel better.

Kings Trade Deadline Recap

Holy shit are Kings fans a bunch of whimpering pussies. Seriously, go check Letsgokings.com to see some hardcore, grade-A whining. Rob Blake is taking the brunt of the abuse, but Dean Lombardi is getting his fair share of licks as well. I honestly don't understand what people are so upset about. Nobody wants the shitty players on a last-place team and the the guys that might have been traded were, for the most part, injured. Here's a look at the trade bait:

Ladislav Nagy- He's apparently wearing a neck brace when he drives because of his mysterious neck injury. I mean...

Scott Thornton- According to Dean Lombardi, Thornton had a no-trade clause. (Ed. note: what the fuck?) He waived it for 4 teams and almost got sent to one of them, but they apparently made a big trade that turned them off Scott. Are they talking about the Sharks?

Brad Stuart- Traded to Detroit for a 2nd in '08 and a 4th in '09. Not bad for the 4th best defenseman on the worst defensive team in the league. Brad Stuart will always be overrated by some because he hits big occasionally and has some size, but I think he only improved halfway through the season because Jack Johnson took some of his even-strength minutes. Hopefully the Wings will pair him with Rafalski and allow him to concentrate on hurting opposing forwards. He'll probably help their 2nd line power play, although I guess they don't really have a 2nd unit because their 1st unit always scores.

Brian Willsie- I doubt anyone called about him.

Derek Armstrong- I'm convinced Armstrong would have been traded if he hadn't gotten hurt on the 21st.

Tom Preissing- He hasn't played great this season but he's 1 year into a 4-year deal; I don't think it would have sent a good message to the rest of the league if they traded a free agent this early.

J.S. Aubin- Traded to the Ducks for a 7th rounder. I have no idea why, unless Burke is trying to trick people into thinking the Ducks have foreigners on their team.

Mike Cammalleri- He wasn't going to get traded at the deadline. If he does get traded, it'll probably be at the draft.

Rob Blake- Reportedly, Blake said the Kings could trade him to Colorado if they could get a good deal. I honestly don't get this whole "Fuck Rob Blake" thing. This is what Matt Kredell said at Inside the Kings:

[Blake] said he would accept a trade to Colorado if they could get a good return since he had played there before and liked it there, but that he would prefer to remain a King.

Maybe I'm crazy, but that seems perfectly reasonable. He told them that he'd like to stay and help the team but he'd understand if they got an offer they couldn't refuse. The Avalanche chose to trade for Adam Foote instead for 3 reasons:

1) He's a defensive defenseman

2) He is healthy

3) He might re-sign in the off-season

That makes sense to me. I'd have traded for Foote instead too.

This is going to sound crazy (especially coming from me), but aren't people taking this whole hockey thing a little too seriously? What's the point of watching a sport if you're going to get this fucking worked up about it? I mean, Kings fans are mad at Rob Blake because another team chose not to trade for him. Has it really come to this? What was Lombardi supposed to do, offer Blake for a 3rd rounder? That'll set a nice example for free agents. Put yourself in Blake's shoes for a second; would you accept leaving your wife and kids for 3 months just to help some hockey team possibly win some trophy? If someone told me the Kings would win the Stanley Cup but I would have to move to Denver and cheer for the Avalanche... well, I'd tell you what I'd say, but there isn't a font size large enough to properly express how loudly I'd tell that guy to fuck off.

Look, Rob Blake was kind of a dick in 2001. Since he's come back, though, he hasn't said or done one thing that would imply that he didn't care about the future of this team. He's the greatest defenseman in LA Kings history and now he'll retire as a King. That seems right to me.

***

With the trade of Brad Stuart, the Kings’ 2008 draft picks are as follows*:

2 1^st round picks- Dallas (Norstrom)

3 2^nd round picks- Calgary (Conroy), Detroit (Stuart)

3 3^rd round picks- Conditional (from Avery deal), Philadelphia (Modry)

3 4^th round picks- Tampa Bay (Munce), Vancouver (Sopel), Kings and Caps switch picks in ’08 (weird trade, I don’t know)

1 5^th round pick

1 6^th round pick

2 7^th round picks- Anaheim (Aubin)

Holy hell. The Kings probably can’t use all those draft picks (contract limits), so they’ll package some together to trade up or trade back to 2009. Dean Lombardi’s new scout team should have a lot of fun on draft day.

*I probably messed up at least once.

Kings Gameday: Is This Irony?

LA Kings (*flush) vs. Phoenix Coyotes (30-25-4, 10th in West)


7:30 PST, FSN West


Irony is a difficult thing to diagnose. I can never tell if it really is irony or if it's just coincidence. So, you'll have to tell me:

Rob Blake demands a trade at the trade deadline in 2001 and the fans hate him for it because they want him to stay.

Rob Blake wants to stay in LA instead of being traded at the trade deadline in 2008 and the fans hate him for it because they want him to leave.


Is this irony, or just kind of funny? I like to think that it was Bowlby that wanted to leave and Rob Blake who wants to stay.


***

If Blake is being honest (and I'm sure he does want to finish his career in LA), then our potential trade deadline haul just got a little less impressive. On the plus side, this could make Brad Stuart more desirable and I think fans of other teams will inevitably talk themselves into Stuart because he has the body of a prototypical defenseman. That'll last until the first time he passes the puck directly to the other team, and then they'll hate him. He's really the only piece we have left, besides maybe Derek Armstrong. I think there's a market out there for Armstrong, if a team wants a solid 4th line center who is a good locker room guy. I don't know, we have 12 days before everything shakes out, but I think Kings fans may have aimed a little too high and will inevitably be disappointed.

Goal by Mueller, assists by Doan and Stuart

And you know, I didn't hate Ladislav Nagy when he was signed to a one year, $3.75 million dollar contract; I didn't hate him when he failed to really win a spot on the line with Frolov; I didn't even hate him when he failed to outplay Jeff Giuliano and got himself benched. But now that he has some mysterious neck injury that will prevent the Kings from trading him at the deadline? I hate him.

***

Lauri Tukonen was called up at the expense of Brian Boyle yesterday. (What, Boyle only had 4 goals in 8 games? Send him down!) I imagine they're just giving Tukonen a shot at the show to see if he has a chance to win a job on our third or fourth line in the future. (They could be planning on trading him as well.) Boyle had been playing wing (not his natural position) with Frolov and Armstrong the last two games anyway so I imagine they'll just move Purcell up to his spot and let Tukonen play with Calder and Handzus. And still, Brian Willsie continues to wear an NHL uniform...


Prediction: Kings lose, 4-3. They'll be foiled once again by the dastardly Radim Vrbata. VRBATA!!!!!!! Anyway, goals by Frolov, Giuliano, and Preissing.

Kings Gameday: They're Dropping Like Fries!

LA Kings (durr) @ New York Rangers (27-22-6, 7th in East)

4:00 PST, FSN West

(Wait, what? "Flies?" That doesn’t make any sense.)

Happy Election Day! I hope all of you go out and participate in the democratic process. I voted for Lubo because of his "Pro-Cookie" policy. Despite it being one of my favorite days, I'm still a little bummed because the Kings dicked me over. The problem with the current newspaper situation in Los Angeles is that no beat reporter travels with the team, so when something happens we don’t find out about it until right before the game. Hence, the gameday post I wrote for the game against New Jersey was outdated before the puck was dropped. (Now I know how newspaper reporters feel.) What I missed:

Do you need a healthy ankle to shoot 10 feet wide?

Rob Blake is out for two weeks with a broken ankle. I’m not really quite sure what to think of this. Is he sitting out so he’s rested when he gets traded to a contending team, or is he sitting because he's not going to be traded and they want him rested when they trade everyone else? The mind reels, my friends. (Also, how does Blake miss 2 weeks with a broken ankle, yet Sidney Crosby is out 6 with an ankle sprain? This once again proves my theory: Sidney Crosby is a pussy.)

Scott Thornton is out with a mysterious "sore neck." I think Todd Bertuzzi has struck again!

I'never thought I'd see those 3 celebrating a goal.

Brian Boyle and Peter Harrold were both called up. Boyle played well, tallying a goal and an assist. Man, is he a big mother fucker. I’ve always heard that he skates like shit, but I didn’t really think so. He has a long stride, but that doesn’t mean he’s slow. I’m pretty sure his playing means that Hugh Jessiman is the only 1st rounder from the 2003 NHL Draft that has not played in the NHL. Way to go, jackass. Harrold was okay; he played the fewest minutes of any Kings defenseman. I think they were just trying to get his feet wet, so hopefully now they’ll give him a shot on the power play.

So yeah, I don’t know what’s going on. This is a crazy team. (Also, they still haven’t called up Purcell to take Willsie’s spot. You have 3 days, Mr. Lombardi.) The Rangers have been playing well lately, winning 6 of their last 10 games. The New York media is attributing this recent success to the return of Sean Avery. Sigh… let me tell you how this is going to go. You’ll think he’s a little bit of a spark plug and sign him to a reasonable longer-term deal in the off-season. Then he’ll start doing stupid shit and maybe get into a fight with Marek Malik or call Georges Laraque a monkey again. You’ll start losing a little and then suddenly he won’t be that fun anymore. Eventually you’ll get tired of him and ship him off to some other team, where the cycle will repeat again. Good luck with that.


Prediction: I desperately want Dustin Brown to paste Sean Avery. That’s not really a prediction, I guess so here’s one: I will be very happy if Dustin Brown pastes Sean Avery.

Edit: Son of a bitch, I wrote this entire thing and then saw on Inside the Kings that Brown is taking a leave to be with his pregnant wife. Lord knows why he'd want to be there, it's disgusting. Has he seen Children of Men? Anyway, they'll probably call up Purcell now. Hopefully. For the love of God.

Edit #2: You have got to be kidding me. Cammy is coming back. Good lord am I bad at this.

Three lightly researched nuggets

Here are some somewhat random NHL and BoC thoughts of varying quality:

• The Kings have been on the brain ever since I foolishly compared the Marc Crawford – Patrick Roy Avalanche to the early 90s Cowboys. After some (reckless) thought, I think the Kings need to try to engineer their own version of the Herschel Walker for a bunch of draft picks that stocked the Cowboys dynasty trade.

OK, enough with that analogy: the Kings need to take a page from John Davidson’s playbook and make a trade deadline feast out of their short term players. The Kings indeed should follow the Blues' lead by giving up their dead weight for quality draft picks (just look, the Blues even like their former coaches!)

Rudy did a fantastic job detailing a player who is there biggest bargaining chip, Rob Blake. When you consider the rarity of a tough, skilled veteran D-man compared to the loafing mediocrity of a Bill Guerin or Keith Tkachuk, the Kings theoretically could get a helluva package.

Smaller names include Ladislav Nagy (what the hell happened to him?) and Brad Stuart. You know, more or less every recent FA signing.

• There is talk out there about a possible Jaromir Jagr trade. Now, I don't know how feasibly the polarizing Czech superstar could fit into the Sharks payroll (am I guessing wrong that they'd have to finally legitimize the Patrick Marleau trade rumors by moving him for the formerly mulleted wonder?), but that still gets the old imagination tingling.
  

Again, I'm too lazy to get into the nuts and bolts of the salary cap in this deal. But could your feeble minds conjure a more terrifying line combination than Joe Thornton + Jaromir Jagr + fire hydrant?

That would be one of the most talented and often mocked super-lines in recent NHL history.

• This isn't really BoC specific, but after watching the Winter Classic game and learning that the Buffalo Sabres' merchandise outsells that of the Buffalo Bills, can't we all agree that a good Sabres team is good for the NHL?

It's really depressing to watch such a high flying, good-for-the-game group unravel like this. Even though it probably falls at the feet of Sabres management, let's just blame it on that stupid Buffaslug logo.

Let's Make a Deal

Dear Detroit and Ottawa:

Hey Detroit, what’s up? Ottawa, how’s it hanging? Heatley’s arm, I mean. I’ve been thinking a lot about this upcoming post-season (Yeah, yeah, why would a Kings’ fan worry about the post-season?) and I think you guys could use a little help. I know what you’re thinking, why would the two top teams in the league need help? Well, you see, there’s this team called Anaheim. You remember them, from last year? Well, I guess Holmstrom doesn’t, but the rest of you probably do. Well, Anaheim’s back. They don’t have Selanne (yet), but I’m not sure they even need him. Really, it’s kind of horrifying to watch them; it’s like watching The Bucket List.

Don’t worry, though; we’re here to help. You see, we Kings’ fans can’t deal with another Anaheim championship. We want to see someone else win so badly that we’re willing to make one of you guys better. You see, we have this guy. His name is Rob Blake. He’s good. I know Kings’ fans rag on him all the time, but between you and me, most Kings’ fans are idiots. Blake had hip surgery in the off-season and admittedly played like shit the first half of the year, but he’s been playing excellent lately. We all know how important special teams play is in the playoffs, and Blake is one of the best combinations of both power play skill and penalty kill expertise in the league. He would undoubtedly aid you in your quest to not get spanked by Anaheim again. All it will cost you is this: a first-round draft pick. That’s it. One first-round pick for a combination of meanness and leadership that you won’t find anywhere else. I think we could get more for him, but since he’s just a rental and we’re looking to help, we’ll settle. We could probably trade him to the Rangers or the Penguins and get a better return, but I think you two have the best chance of beating Anaheim. (Well, San Jose too, but I’ll be fucked if the Kings are the last team in California to win a Stanley Cup.) We take a lesser return, you beat Anaheim. Deal?

[Note: I could see the Kings trading Blake to San Jose (it makes too much sense), but I doubt we’d do it for just a first-round pick. Maybe for Greiss...]

That Ref's a Jackass

For all the complaints that we’ve heard about the Kings not having any fire, Rob Blake sure isn’t getting any credit for letting his inner Bowlby come out. This didn’t bother me at first, but the more I think about that Phoenix game and Blake's ejection the more pissed I get. Personally, I think the ref is completely, totally, 100% at fault. In a game like hockey, you absolutely not kick a guy out of a game for something he said. Ever. This is hockey. I don’t know what Blake said, but I guarantee you the ref heard worse on his way out for the warm-up skate. I don’t care if Blake said that the ref was being paid by the Coyotes; I don’t care if Blake told him to go fuck himself; I don’t even care if Blake said, “I'm going to take your wife and...[Ed. Note: This is being censored because it’s gross. Seriously, he goes off for like 2 pages. I almost vomited. Wait, I think he's done] ... including the horse!” Guys don’t get kicked out of games in hockey when they fight, but Blake gets the boot because this ref’s delicate sensibilities were hurt by words? Give me a break.

I also think Blake should get a little credit for being the captain of the Kings. If it had been someone like Jack Johnson or Ivanans, I could at least kind of understand because they’re not really allowed to talk to the officials. Blake is, because he’s the captain of the team. Also, and this may not be fair, but I have to believe that Blake deserves a little more credit because he’s a future hall-of-famer with a record for being a pretty decent dude. If Rob Blake tells you you’re fucking up at your job, then you probably are.

This brings me to a larger topic: what the hell is up with refs these days? In just this calendar year, we’ve had a basketball referee challenge a multiple-MVP winner to a fight, a baseball umpire call a player a “piece of shit,” a football umpire call a black player “boy,” and now this. I think the problem is that around the time athletes started getting endorsement deals and whatnot, they started taking liberties with the officials. The major leagues saw this and tried to curb this behavior. Problem is, now the pendulum is swinging the other way. Instead of asshole athletes taking advantage of their power over refs, now asshole referees are taking advantage of athletes. It is worse when a ref does it, though, because their job is to be impartial. Losing Rob Blake because of some dickhead ref didn’t cost us the game against the Coyotes, but it sure as fuck didn’t help.

(This was written before Blake went all crazy on Matt Cooke, to which I say: Bowlby.)

***

My brother pointed out this quote by Crawford after the Phoenix game, included in the TSN account:

“We knew we would have to dig down and play the other five defencemen [Ed. Note: Stupid Canadians, learn how to spell!] as much as we had to, and it should have served to fire up our group,” Crawford said. “In the end, we just didn’t have good enough players.”

My brother replied with this:

"There is a reason Jimmy kept talking about how Phoenix was using a 5 man unit to skate the puck up, and that’s because we don't do it. We have too much separation between the forwards and defensemen, and that’s why we get so many odd man attacks against us when our breakout passes get stolen. The defensemen also aren't involved enough coming through the neutral zone or activating in the high slot. When was the last time you saw Lubo rip one in the high slot? All you see is Brad Stuart and Blake shooting from the blue line. And if we don't have "good enough players" to beat Phoenix, then how do we beat San Jose and Buffalo?"

Since he wrote this Lubo got moved back to the right side and responded with his best game of the season against Vancouver. Anyway, I thought this was interesting enough to throw out there.