Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Foligno, Yzerman, and Bell

First and foremost, my sincerest condolences to Nick Foligno and his entire family after the passing of his mother, Janis (link). The link allows you to leave a message on the Sudbury Wolves page, the organization where Mike is coach and GM. Awful news for the entire hockey family and Nick will no doubt be playing with a heavy heart. It reminds all of us during a wild summer of Heatley talk that there is so much more to life than hockey. Our thoughts are with you, Nick and family!

On the business side of things, Off the Posts is noting that Director of Hockey Operations, Brent Flahr is on his way to Minnesota to join the Wild as Assistant GM. Let the rumours begin - does this open the door for Steve Yzerman to come to Ottawa? He's sitting in Detroit as Vice President of Hockey Operations and knows that Kenny Holland isn't going anywhere. Compare that to Ottawa where Bryan Murray is on the last year of his contract and it is widely speculated that he MUST make the playoffs this year. He and his nephew Timmy have their work cut out for them and perhaps Stevie Y recognizes this as his fast-track to a GM job. I'm officially starting the Yzerman to Ottawa as Director of Hockey Ops. It would at least cheer up the whole city, wouldn't it?

And finally, in news that I don't care much about, Brendan Bell is getting antsy in his pantsy. Look, reviews were mixed on his value to the team last year, but one thing is for certain - he's a 6th-7th defenceman at best and if he took a 2-way contract, I'd be happy to have him back. Otherwise, we're just too stacked with mediocre defencemen. I don't like Picard much, but he totally negates the need for Bell. At least now we're all coming to terms with this.

Thoughts on Yzerman?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't forget Melnyk promoted Murray to VP as well as GM. So, maybe the GM job will open up, and Murray will just sit back as SVP Hockey Ops while Yzerman slides into his first GM role.

That would be something for the city of Ottawa wouldn't it.

But, who knows ...

Just bored in the summer here.

-KJ

Canucnik said...

We like the "old" guys who have made their mistakes and learned from them...let the Hall of Fame rookies make their own mistakes with the struggling Southern Francises.

Ya put all those "new" (lessor experienced) guys together...Murray the "Younger" is the smartest guy in the room.

Canucnik said...

And another "thing"... Stevie Y and his advisers chose "Craig Button" probably one of the two stupidest men in hockey...did poorly when he had a real job...says no long shots will make the team read Spezza...says Heater might change out of his scoring and power play role to do something else...how brain dead is this man...to me, he's your old boy's club "group thinker" possibly the dumbest group in hockey today. Stevie Y, I don't know about you...

It's OK, Team Canada will prosper in spite of this guy!

Condolences to Nick...a son and his mom...it's tough!

Anonymous said...

as long as we don't lose Tim Murray .. He seems a real scouting talent ..

Geoff said...

Hey Nik,

I like the old school guys, as well, but there's no question that Yzerman is going to get a shot somewhere and soon. Heck, even Scotty Bowman knew he had to leave Detroit to get the position he wanted of emporer.

Canucnuik said...

Duff:

Guys that could really do it...play offence then switch and become the best all around in mid career make the worst coaches and thus are channeled into "Managing Generally". They get to GM too early and often... out smart them selves...it's the wilderness for Stevie Y until he shows me the "Way"...I'm from Missouri on all the "Stars" too easy IMO.

PS: Bryan is going to pull this thing out of the fire...our advice, CC and the kids on DEFENCE are going to save him.