Flyers acquire Modry

The Philadelphia Flyers made a light splash today, acquiring veteran defenseman Jaroslav Modry from the Los Angeles Kings, in exchange for a 3rd round draft pick in this year’s draft.

The soon-to-be 37 year-old (Birthday on Feb. 27th) had 6 points (1+5) in 61 games, to go along with a +2 plus-minus and 42 minutes served in the penalty box.

Modry’s current salary is $1.2 M. He is set to become an unrestricted free-agent on July 1st.

This move comes as no surprise as the Flyers have been severely bitten by the “injury bug”, having lost defencemen Rory Fitzpatrick, Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje, as well as forwards Simon Gagné, Steve Downie, Joffrey Lupul and Denis Tolpeko to injury.

Modry adds experience, depth and size to an already quite good team in the Flyers.

Trade Deadline Day Live Blogging

Dear Readers,

I am proud to announce that I will be live-blogging next Tuesday's Trade Deadline Day, from 8:00~9:00 AM to 4:oo~5:00 PM.

Thank you for your time,

HABla Hockey

Bob Gainey Tribute

Saturday, February 23rd 2008 will be a very special day for Bob Gainey. On that day, the Peterborough, Ont. native will have his number 23 raised to the rafters by the Montreal Canadiens.

Let’s have a quick look at Mr. Gainey’s 16-year NHL career:

In 1973, he was selected in both the NHL and WHA amateur drafts, 8th overall by the Montreal Canadiens and 7th overall by the Minnesota Fighting Saints. Gainey ultimately chose to play for the Canadiens, with whom he became one of the best defensive specialists of all-time, winning four consecutive Fran J. Selke trophies (awarded to the league’s best defensive player) from 1977-78 to 1980-1981.

He also won, with the ”Bleu, Blanc et Rouge”, 5 stanley cups (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1986).
He was also the Canadiens’ captain from 1981, until his retirement in 1989.

In total, he appeared in 1160 regular season games, scored 239 goals and registered 263 assists.

In 1992, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. According to Viktor Tikhonov, a legendary Soviet national team coach, he was the world’s best all-around player and, therefore, for the majority of his career, he was regarded by many in the Soviet Union hockey system as the greatest hockey player ever.
In 1998, he was ranked 86th in The Hockey News’ list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
From 1992 to 2002, he was GM of the Dallas Stars, with whom he won the Stanley Cup for a 6th time in 1999.

A year and a half after having stepped down as GM of the Stars, he was named GM of the Montreal Canadiens, with whom he has been ever since.

Marian Hossa: Pros and Cons

Ah! Against the Leafs! Marvelous!

As we all know, Trade Deadline Day is approaching. One week from today, we will only be 2 days away from one of the most exciting days on the NHL Calendar. That day will also be a gut-wrenching one for us Montreal Canadiens fans, as we await to see who Big Bob will be targeting and trying to acquire: Marian Hossa or Olli Jokinen?

In this article, I will document the pros and cons of acquiring Marian Hossa.

Here we go:

Marian Hossa, a 29-year old czech right winger, is especially renown for his offensive abilities.
His combination of great hands and his ability to keep the puck make him an offensive threat at any moment, and so does his explosive shot. Eventhough he isn't much of a physical presence, the offense he generates makes up for it. Over his past 3 seasons (not including 07-08) he has scored 36 goals or more and has had 82 points (1 PPG) or more.

His position also makes him quite intriguing, because he is a right winger, and could therefore fill the void left by Michael Ryder' downfall, as our 1st line RWer. He would also add some size (6'1'') .

Two cons against Hossa are his status after July 1st, the date after which he will become an unrestricted free-agent and the salary he might command on the open market.

Like we saw last season with Daniel Briere and Chris Drury, Marian Hossa could easily be offered a 4-5 year contract worth US$8-9 M annually.

One big question is: Do the Canadiens have the will and the ability to dish out all this money to a guy like Hossa, especially with the RFA status' of Andrei Kostitsyn and of, in a few years ,Tomas Plekanec, Sergei Kostitsyn and Chris Higgins and with Mike Komisarek's UFA status after the 08-09 season ?

Another con against Hossa is his trade value. As one of my colleagues pointed out, if Peter Forsberg can get you Scottie Upshall, Ryan Parent and two high picks (1st and 3rd rounds), what can Marian Hossa get you?

An approximation would be Chris Higgins, Ryan O'Byrne , one of Kyle Chipchura, Corey Locke or Mikhail Grabovsky and a first rounder. A condition to such a trade would probably be a negotating period with Hossa and his agent on an extension.

All this is a short resume of what is going on inside the Canadiens' Front Office's heads. Hopefully, they won't explode!

Keep faith fellow Habs fans!

What the sellers have to offer

With a big number of teams, currently, out of the Playoff Picture, a slew of players could be available by the Trade Deadline.

Amongst these teams are the Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders and Chicago Blackhawks.

All these teams have interesting unrestricted free-agents come July 1st, except the Edmonton Oilers, but do not rule them out as sellers, as they have an important number of young defencemen and forwards that could be on the way out (except Gagner, Cogliano, Pitkanen...).

The teams with the most valuable assets to ship off is the Tampa Bay Lightning. Their UFAs include Dan Boyle, Vaclav Prospal and Chris Gratton. Boyle and Prospal would be welcome on any team, as for Gratton, his 55% faceoff success rate makes him somewhat of an intriguing option as a 3rd line center.

The Blackhawks along with the Oilers are the out-of-the-race teams that have the least to offer.
The Blackhawks seem to be willing to keep their young core of players together, and therefore only have UFAs Martin Lapointe and Andrei Zyuzin. Edmonton is in the same situation and their only ''notable'' UFA is Geoff Sanderson.

The Maple Leafs and Kings, respectively 29th and 30th in league standings, have some valuable UFAs to offer. Mats Sundin is most notably the top UFA forward in the market this year as the Trade Deadline approaches, and Toronto's only asset, if they decide to not trade Tomas Kaberle.
The Kings' notable UFAs include Rob Blake and Ladislav Nagy.

Finally, the Blues and Islanders also have some valuable assets to offer. St. Louis, unable to re-sign Barret Jackman up until this point in time, might be forced to trade him, and the Islanders surely want to get something in return for UFAs Miroslav Satan, Trent Hunter and Bryan Berard.

The Market this year seems quite bleek from a 100% sellers point of view, but wait until Trade Deadline day to see where Atlanta (UFAs: F Marian Hossa, F Bobby Holik, F Mark Recchi, D Steve McCarthy, G Johan Hedberg), Columbus (UFAs: F David Vyborny, F Sergei Fedorov, F Mike Peca, D Adam Foote) and Vancouver (UFAs: F Markus Naslund, F Brendan Morrison) stand, as their position could force them to add some valuable assets to the Trade Pool.

Central Division Trade Profiles, Candidates

Central Division: Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Nashville, St. Louis

The central division is divided in two clans: the playoff teams (Detroit, Nashville) and the non-playoff teams (Chicago, Columbus, St. Louis).

The Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets and St. Louis Blues are, all at this moment, out of the playoff picture. To add to that, all of them seem to not be ready to contend, and therefore aren't necessarily considered as buyers at this point in time. They also do not seem to be sellers, but they could become some soon.

Amongst the players these 3 teams could part with are forwards David Vyborny, Michael Peca, Sergei Fedorov and defensemen Adam Foote, Barret Jackman and Bryce Salvador.

Eventhough their current status, the Blackhawks have also been linked to Swedish center Peter Forsberg.

As for Nashville and Detroit, both are likely to be buyers.

Detroit, eventhough being ranked 1st in the league in points, feels they need to add a Top 6 forward. Mats Sundin is the most likely to fit the bill.

On Nashville's part, their goalie situation is a concern, due to Chris Mason's inconsistency and Dan Ellis' lack of experience, and, with no reliable goalies on the market, will have to do with what they've got.

This Western Conference division is filled with teams' which status' could vary as the Trade Deadline approaches. Wait right down to the wire, as these teams, except Detroit, could be in and out of the Playoff Picture in no time.

WWIB is back!

After a long Hiatus, We Want it Bad! is back.
Leading up to next-next Tuesday's Trade Deadline, I will post numerous entries on possible deals.
I also extend to you readers my deepest apologies for this Hiatus and I hope you will read this blog's content over the next few weeks.

Thank You