Tag Archives: Brian Burke

Calgary Flames

Jay Feaster out… Joe Nieuwendyk in?

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This is nothing more than a speculative editorial on what’s happening, and possibly happening, in Calgary… Alberta, Canada. Let’s be serious for a minute and briefly take a look at Nieuwendyk’s tenure as the GM of the Dallas Stars.

I realize ThatDamnDoubleC is a Dallas fan, and his his biases against Joe joining the Flames (if such is the case). And some of those extend to his history as a player, which is notwithstanding, nor a knock at my Stars’ fan pal. Oh, don’t forget he helped The Stars win their only Stanley Cup in franchise history, so he has that going for him as well. He also helped The Flames win THEIR only cup in franchise history, but I digress. But this isn’t a diatribe about his playing days, nor should he be judged as a potential GM for the Calgary Flames based on these facts as well.

So with today’s announcement by bed-head Brian Burke of the firing of Jay Feaster as the GM of The Calgary Flames, rumors are running wild (dude, brother, dude) that Joe is on his way back to Cowtown…

However, Nieuwendyk might have gotten some poor returns on Morrow, Modano and Roy, realistically the first two of those were well on their way out… and Roy, who knows what happened to that guy. It’s probably for the best they got rid of him.

Stop thinking about Jagr. I suspect he’ll be on a different team every season until he retires. I secretly think he is trying to collect as many jerseys as he can while getting paid to do so.

Losing James Neal was a tough pill to swallow. Dirty player or not. Of course playing with the Pens does pad one’s stats just a wee bit. Alex Goligoski has done a fairly decent job as a puck-moving defenceman, and quite frankly, that’s something every single team in the NHL is always looking for.

I’m sure a Dallas fan does not lament the acquisitions of Kari Lehtonen, Cody Eakin and Brenden Dillon.

And one must consider he inherited a team that had pretty much nothing in developmental outside of Jamie Benn, Richard Bachman and Philip Larsen, and then had his budget dramatically slashed by ownership. And currently, under Joe’s guidance,

So if Mr. Nieuwendyk does become Brian Burke’s new whipping boy, I don’t think his situation will be too terrible. The Flames have some potential in goalie development. They have a few assets they can still move. They also have some rookies in the cupboard. While it will be a semi-similar situation to what he inherited in Dallas, he will have one very important thing available to him he did not have in Texas. Money to spend.

I mean, seriously. Dallas is no traditional hockey market. Hell, even so-called “traditional” hockey markets in Canada are having budget issues too (I’m looking at you Ottawa). GO COWBOYS!… err… STARS!

PUCK YOU!

PUCK YOU!: The Self Imposed NHLPA deadline comes, and goes.

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The NHL self-imposed “disclaimer of interest” deadline at 12 AM EST has come and passed us by. Meanwhile the former Baseball Union guy Donald Fehr and the Gary “raisin balls” Bettman continued to play Halo 4 trying to remember they were supposed to do something. “HEAD SHOT BITCH!” and “YOU FUCKING HAXOR!!” were heard through the walls from rabid Canadian “journalists” enslaved to stand in the cold streets of New York awaiting some kind of closure. But that is not what they received.


Sleep tight!

Damn right, sleep tight little skater (or goalie, I suppose). Your NHL is not dead in the water. In fact, the nonchalent press conference that finally did follow shortly after 1 AM EST was a sign of good things to come. I promise you nothing. I am a fan, not a fucking “insider.”

Here’s my break down as I watched the press conference go down tonight.

Just prior the press conference as the deadline passed: “The fuck? It’s probably good nothing has been leaked yet, and no announcements made. The self-imposed deadline doesn’t mean they still can’t file. The NHLPA deadline is like a Brian Burke deadline. I might just end up staying up and watching Canada play the US live after all…”

Shortly thereafter, I posted my live reactions to the press conference as lazy bastards, ThatDamnDoubleC and ThinkSoJoE smart-ass-phoned it in:

GoftheInternet: “And… they have decided to reconvene tomorrow. Nothing about the disclaimer in Fehr’s comments, so that’s a pretty positive sign at this moment…”

ThatDamnDoubleC: “We need some kind of hockey news update on the website. Kinda like when Kurt Loder did MTV news..”

GoftheInternet: “Feel free. The Bettman has yet to talk yet. Oh, there’s the troll right now… Basic statement from both: “I’m tired. We made progress, we can’t get into the details and we are meeting again tomorrow.” Bettman elaborates, there was no disclaimer issued or reference of it happening. It was a co-joint request not to file, he believes. Bettman doesn’t want to get into specifics. Total bullet dodging.”

ThatDamnDoubleC: “In other words.. We got nothing?”

GoftheInternet: “Pension plans… Bettman is vague, but doesn’t sound too angry. He’s a neutral colour like grey. Still good.”

ThinkSoJoE: “In other words, we get to sit around all day again tomorrow and hope they make some progress.”

GoftheInternet: “Yes. Nothing to make anything worse. This is actually good. I just watched the entire press conference for both guys. They are clearly keeping quiet for a good reason. Everything else that is reported on sports dirt sheets/media will be completely speculation and filling time slots until normal programming resumes. Survivor Naut G, signing off.”

Then I went on twitter @Goftheinternet and twatted: “The NHL/NHLPA have paused and will continue from their save point tomorrow. Nothing more needs to be said, so shut the fuck up #NHLlockout”

So what does this all mean? Nothing, actually. Well not officially. But it does mean the old angry men are tired, but think they are making progress. And the threat of blowing up the NHLPA is currently on hold. Can the NHLPA still blow up the union, real good? Fuck, yes they can. We’re not out of the woods yet, so Ilya Bryzgalov needs to remain horrible frightened by the angry bears that lurk in that forest. Or maybe getting bought out by the Flyers. But the latter means shit until this gets resolved. What we do know is that things could be much worse, and there truly is still a possibility of an NHL season at this time. Later.