HaaaaaaPPEEEEEEEE....

[eregyrn]

... Happy birthday, _minxy_!!! Hope it was filled with wonderful things!

and

... Happy birthday to CANADA!


...Which I now appreciate ever so much more after (this week) finishing my TOME OF CANADIAN HISTORY, so that now I know stuff like what Confederation actually *is* and when it actually *happened* and all. Also? I can now name about 3 times as many prime ministers of Canada as I could before. Although now that I think about it... before, I could have named Trudeau, Chretien, and Harper (but I think Harper probably doesn't count, in the sense that he's such recent news that if I couldn't remember him I'd need to have my head examined), and I'm afraid that I don't think I could name 9 now. Hmm.... While I had heard of Lester Pearson, I was not actually aware that he had been PM, per se. And I started watching "due South" only *after* starting the TOME, so no, I wasn't precisely aware that Diefenbaker had been PM, before, either. So!

I personally celebrated by hitting REFRESH eight skillion times on the Canucks board I'm on, while watching the first day of free agency in the NHL 'splode all over the place. (Summary: Jovo signed with the COYOTES? WTF? and Yay! Mitchell!)

To top it off, I think I shall watch some "due South". Yes, that will do nicely.

Comments

[eregyrn.livejournal.com]

You got my earlier comment-reply, right? You know that Bert's gone to Florida (along with Auld and Allen) in exchange for Roberto Luongo? Who less than a week later, the Canucks got to sign a long-term (4-year) contract? Eeee!

I mean, I will miss Bert. But apparently he requested the trade, though reluctantly. The general consensus seems to be that if you put him in a southern American city where they care about hockey so much less than they do in the hotbed of Canada, and on a team that isn't under the microscope of expectations that it will be a Cup contender, that he will have a chance to relax a little and maybe get his mojo back. I think that this seems fairly likely. While Vancouver was certainly very supportive of him, it was still a huge pressure-cooker. In Florida (... whatever the hell city the Panthers are in... Miami?), he and his family will at least have the chance to go out shopping or for dinner and not being in a huge spotlight, because that's really just the way it works in Florida vis-a-vis hockey.

Also, you can't underestimate the fact that the GM for the Panthers is... Mike Keenan, the guy who originally obtained Bert for the Canucks. Clearly *he* believes in the idea that if you offer Bert a fresh start in a fresh venue, he'll get his magic back. (And looking at other big underperforming stars who have been traded certainly bears that gamble out -- just look at Joe Thornton in SJ.)

So all the comments I have heard from Canucks fans have been "good luck, Bert, hope you get your game back, and boy are we glad you aren't in our conference while you'll be doing it". Losing Bert has been enormously mitigated by getting LUONGO in return.

But let's face it -- Luongo was expensive. He didn't sign for cap maximum, but he's still getting $6.75 million per year. Consensus is that he's worth that, so, fine. But still, it's a cap world, and Nazzy is making $6 mil. himself.

Also, RIGHT before free agency, Nonis got the twins signed to long-term contracts, making everyone breathe a sigh of relief on that front. (There was worry that might go to arbitration.) I think they are both at $3.5 mil. per year for 3 years?

Thus... *everyone* pretty much expected that Jovo would be gone. Not because people wanted him to, but because the perception is that the Canucks can't afford him. As it is, he signed for $6.5 mil. per year -- and yeah, no *way* the Canucks would have paid that. In the "new" cap-driven NHL, the common wisdom seems to be that each team can afford to pay for 2 "franchise" players at $5+ mil. The Canucks *might* have decided that would be Nazzy and Jovo. But instead, they've decided it will be Luongo and Nazzy. Arguably, a very good choice, but, bye-bye Jovo.

The shocker is that Jovo didn't go to the Panthers as well. There was a lot of talk running up to yesterday suggesting that was possible -- comments from him about talking to Bert, the fact that Jovo came from the Panthers and his wife is from that area, Keenan always liking him too, etc. And then? Within 3 hours of free agency, he signs with the COYOTES???? Thus all the "WTF?"s ringing out all over the place. The only thing that makes sense with Phoenix is that we already knew that Gretz likes Jovo (e.g. naming Jovo to the Olympic squad this past year).

Nonis has said that he's got one more "big" trade in the works. Everybody is trying to figure out what the hell that might be. Now that Luongo is signed long-term, expectation is that Cloutier will be traded, if someone will have him (always dicey when a player is coming off an injury year), to clear his salary's cap-space. There is much speculation that Morrison will be shifted -- he's also coming off a lackluster year due to injury, which I think is a shame because I like him a great deal and don't want to see him go; but many people perceive his current contract as too expensive. *shrug*