Monday links: Hoping to start the week off right edition

by averagejoe on Jul 12, 2010 5:00 AM CDT Comment 32 comments

I'm doing the links while watching Short Circuit 2. Johnny 5 is one bad ass robot.

Blues news

From drfrankentweed: Montreal still can't quit Jaroslav Halak. [Montreal Gazette]
The Blues/Rivermen have signed Brennan Evans and Nathan Oystrick. Both are expected to be in the AHL. [PJ Star]

Hockey news

Jewels from the Crown wants to help Kovie plan for his trip to Hollywood. [Jewels From The Crown]
Mark Stuart, a useful d-man, is re-upping with Boston. He'll be making about $1 million more than Brad Winchester and he can actually play. [ESPN]
Guess what: Ilya Kovalchuk is meeting with the Kings. Since he has pretty much one option, I think this time may be the one. Or not. [ESPN]
Jonathan Toews taunts Winnipeg by showing them a trophy they will never get to win. [TSN]
Puck Daddy looks at ESPN and hockey. [Puck Daddy]

Other links

Thanks to Paul the Octopus, Spain won the World Cup. I approve of its new flag. [Dirty Tackle]
In school, graphs were never fun. The internet has changed that. [Buzzfeed]
A true Simpson fan wouldn't need this, but in case you were wondering who voices what character here's a handy chart. Side note: How could they forget Lyle Lanley under Phil Hartman? MONORAIL! [Buzzfeed]

Video

Remember the super high double rainbow guy? Someone made his video into a song. (Thanks to RealBadRobot)

gametimelinks(at)gmail.com

Have a good one, everyone.

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Comments

Damn shame we couldn't go after Kovy.

Oh well. The Kings get to have him, unless something incredibly stupid happens.

St. Louis Game Time . . . I need another beer.
And I can also write things in 140 characters or fewer.
Visit my friends at The Bluenote Zone.

by Donut King on Jul 12, 2010 8:03 AM CDT reply actions

Is it terrible that I've played that Double Rainbow Song nearly a dozen times?

I swear I’m doing other things too – I’m not just sitting at my computer singing along or anything…

I know it's time for hockey because I've started singing "Don't Stop Believing" with the words "...born and raised in FUCK DETRIOT!!!"

by J-Mill on Jul 12, 2010 10:40 AM CDT reply actions

There's these toads down along the Colorado River in AZ

that if you lick their backside you’ll see all the rainbows you want. You gotta stroke the toad under its chin first to make him secrete the magic liquid.

Just a chew toy for the hockey gods

by spectr17 on Jul 12, 2010 2:44 PM CDT up reply actions

That is just

wrong on so many levels
True yet just sooooo….

Hockey players wear numbers because you can't always identify the body with dental records.

It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. Laura Ingalls Wilder

by luvhockey on Jul 12, 2010 8:38 PM CDT up reply actions

… Pierre McGuire meticulously and lovingly fellating Sidney Crosby on air every time they’re in the same arena; or Pierre McGuire raging like a four-year-old with a broken Tonka truck that his 20/20 hindsight proves he’s got more hockey smarts than Actual NHL General Managers.

by BleedBlue42 on Jul 12, 2010 11:19 AM CDT reply actions

You can't blame Pierre...

everyone has that moment when they find Sidney Crosby to be man-pretty in a Twilight kind of way.

…or have I shared far too much here?

by Paperwork Ninja on Jul 12, 2010 3:06 PM CDT up reply actions

ummm

Just a chew toy for the hockey gods

by spectr17 on Jul 12, 2010 3:42 PM CDT up reply actions

Oh come on...

you know he sparkles. He’s Sidney Crosby.

by Paperwork Ninja on Jul 12, 2010 4:19 PM CDT up reply actions

seriously

i hate eklund. all i hear about from my friends are the bogus fucking rumors that they read on hockeybuzz. for instance: The Sabres have interest in David Perron, RFA from Blues…Not an offer sheet, but via trade…The Blues like a prospect I was told, and also have interest in Paul Gaustad. Gaustad is integral to that room in Buffalo and I would be shocked to see him moved.

hmm.. E4?

Did I ever tell you about the time Brasky was in a production of The King and I? Well anyway, before the show, Brasky chloroforms the entire cast, and slowly eats them in front of the audience for two hours. The production got pretty good reviews.

by ilikeboyes on Jul 12, 2010 11:28 AM CDT reply actions

Heeeeey, Oystrick!

He was up with the Thrashers year before last and played almost the whole season.

For those of you who care about heart-warming stuff, there was a good article last year in the AJC about how he finally got a chance to meet his birth mom – it’s kind of surreal. http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-thrashers/gift-of-adoption-comes-153628.html

He’s a good kid – he can step in when needed, and frankly he wasn’t half bad as an emergency call-up. For 53 games.

Thrashing the Blues
SB Nation Atlanta - home of the Fairest and Weatheriest fans on the net.

Reporter: There`s a "stamp out the Beatles movement" underway in Detroit. What are you going to do about it?

Paul McCartney: We`re going to start a campaign to stamp out Detroit.

by hildymac on Jul 12, 2010 12:10 PM CDT reply actions

I still think

that palushaj trade was a down payment to get first crack at one of the montreal goalies. Everyone is talking about “why didn’t they wait till the draft” and I think that’s the reason. Add to that they didn’t even negotiate with halak and there were no rumors.

by dicktrickle on Jul 12, 2010 1:39 PM CDT reply actions

Agreed

Blues did some house-cleaning for the Habs with the Palushaj-D’Agostini trade, and when the Montreal Goalie Showdown ended the Blues had first dibs on whichever goalie was getting scrapped. The article mentions that some teams were absolutely shocked that they didn’t receive a call about Halak getting shopped around, so it seems like all signs point to this. It’s just an assumption, but it looks like a pretty damn good one right now.. all I know is that the Blues have some pretty shrewd businessmen.

by russkidan on Jul 12, 2010 2:13 PM CDT up reply actions

Shadows from the Professor!
I miss you buddy!

by stlhockey on Jul 12, 2010 10:35 PM CDT up reply actions

Blackhawks match Hjalmarsson offer

Hawks are currently wedged up against the salary cap with $113,410 left in space and 5 players away from a legal roster — not counting the wrath of the bonus penalty. This means that not only will the Hawks need to dump Huet in the minors or Europe just to get below the cap, but they’ll also need to drop another player to free up cap room. Can’t see anyone wanting Campbell’s contract, so it looks like they’ll be needing to move one of their closer-to-core players..

Is it a good time to be a Blues fan or what?

by russkidan on Jul 12, 2010 3:17 PM CDT reply actions

The Blues still have plenty of cap space, don't they?

Would they be willing to take anyone off of the Blackhawks’ hands?

by Paperwork Ninja on Jul 12, 2010 3:36 PM CDT up reply actions

Sharp

He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
Just because Jay McClement is the best defensive forward in the NHL doesn't mean he should win the Selke.

by Icion on Jul 12, 2010 3:55 PM CDT up reply actions

I would love this.

St. Louis Game Time . . . I need another beer.
And I can also write things in 140 characters or fewer.
Visit my friends at The Bluenote Zone.

by Donut King on Jul 12, 2010 11:34 PM CDT up reply actions

Not likely

The Blackhawks have so far been dumping their players into low-ranking Eastern Conference teams to make sure they don’t come back to bite them in the ass. The Blues, or any other team in the Central Division, would be the last place for the Hawks to move one of their guys.

We won’t benefit from it directly, but it weakens their team even more. Add the Hawks’ financial troubles to the Predators budget scrapping and Wings’ veteran-romance, and the Blues start to look a whole lot more stronger in the Central Division. This year might not be “the one”, but once we add in Tarasenko, the blue-line prospects, and a scoring forward in next offseason’s free agency, the Blues are working with a strong team — and probably one that’s still $10M under budget.

Building from within: it’s cooler than you think.

by russkidan on Jul 12, 2010 3:58 PM CDT up reply actions

every speculation....

seems to be leaning towards Sharp though…..

Youre likely to get the most value for him…..And with Bowman running things you know thats the route theyre gonna take……

Cap space for Value…..

I still maintain Vladimir Konstantinov got what he deserved...If you can't handle that then kiss my ass......

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

by dablues7 on Jul 12, 2010 4:55 PM CDT up reply actions

Hawks

The untouchable players.
Keith
Kane
Toews
Hossa

The players making roughly a million or less.(I rounded kopecks 1.2 down).
Kopecky
Reasoner
Brouwer
Stalberg
Scott

The remaining roster players.
Bolland 3.4
Sharp 3.9
Seabrook 3.5
Hjal 3.5
Campbell 7.1
Huet 5.6

Sharp is a good player and I dont see the hawks wanting to trade him.
If they were willing to take sign hjal I dont see them moving Seabrook either. They can still trade either of these players though.
The only people left for the hawks to move are Campbell, Huet, and Bolland.
Are the hawks at the cap roof before or after the Bonus penalty?

He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
Just because Jay McClement is the best defensive forward in the NHL doesn't mean he should win the Selke.

by Icion on Jul 12, 2010 4:13 PM CDT up reply actions

Whoops.

The bonus penalty as already added in to the salary, my mistake.They’re about $100K away from the cap.

They need to sign 5 players right now to have a legal roster. Huet will probably be either moved to the minors or loaned to a European team to remove his contract from the salary cap count, so that gives the Hawks around 5 million dollars to sign 6 players — three forwards, one defender, and two goaltenders for around $830K each, which just seems unlikely.
I don’t think anyone is going to take Campbell’s 6-year $7M AAV, and it would be a bad move on the Hawks’ part to bury him in the minors like Huet. This leaves Bolland. Once he is moved, the Hawks will have around $8M to sign 7 players, which is doable, but since a good portion of it will be spent on signing goalies the Hawks’ Bottom 6 won’t be looking all that great.

Sketchy math aside, the Hawks aren’t looking too good for next season. If the Blues rebound from last season’s scoring-hell, I really think the Blues can make a run for Division Champion. Slow and steady wins the race, eh?

(No time for proofreading so correct me if I’m wrong anywhere)

by russkidan on Jul 12, 2010 4:42 PM CDT up reply actions

So if I'm reading this right, Niemi is as good as gone too right unless they do something like move Bolland and Sharp?

Not afraid to nitpick

by joker24 on Jul 12, 2010 9:25 PM CDT up reply actions

Almost certainly, yes.

If Niemi is awarded the same money that Halak gets in his first two years (2 years, $6.25M total), the Hawks will have no choice but to bury Huet — and they’ll still only have about $2.5M to sign 5-8 players. (and by “5-8”, I mean 5, since the league minimum is $500K.)

They may only have to move one more player in order to free up enough cash to load up the rest of their roster with entry-level players and Chelioses; but if they keep Niemi, somebody else is gonna get the ax.

It should be interesting to see what the arbitrator rules. There were a lot of free-agent goalies with more experience than Niemi who signed for less than $2M – but none of them have their names engraved on the Cup.

by BleedBlue42 on Jul 13, 2010 12:05 AM CDT up reply actions

And by my eyeballs, that roster is not much different...

…from the Lightning of a few years ago. Assuming they have to move just one of Bolland/Sharp tell me this doesn’t sound familiar: LaCavalier (Toews) Martin St. Louiiie (Kane) Richards (Hossa) Prospal (Bolland/Sharp) Boyle (Keith) and a pu pu platter of suck. Now, Campbell and Seabrook are probably better than Ranger/Kuba, Niemi is certainly better than the carousel of swiss cheese Tampa threw out there and the team is overall younger, but that’s still not a dissimilar team no?

Not afraid to nitpick

by joker24 on Jul 13, 2010 2:19 AM CDT up reply actions

The "$113K remaining" figure includes the bonus penalty.

Capgeek linky

So IF the Hawks bury Huet, they’ll have $5.7 million to sign 6-9 players, two of whom must be goaltenders. Marginally doable, if they stock up on scrubs and 4th-string netminders. But if they want to see the playoffs again, they’ll have to trade another contract.

Once you stop laughing at the 2010 cap crunch, check out the column showing 2011’s projected roster and cap space. This joke is going to be just as entertaining next summer.

by BleedBlue42 on Jul 12, 2010 5:02 PM CDT up reply actions

You know what?

I read that puck daddy article and im pissed. im tired of hockey and its fans being treated like dirt by everyone. the NHL is the one league that isnt a shadow of what it was. the NBA is barely basketball anymore and a player gets arrested every other week. the NFL there are only about 6 teams with a legit chance of winning the super bowl and a player gets nailed for drugs or some other crime all the time. the MLB hasnt fallen to far but drugs and grossly over paid players puts it on the edge. the NHL doesnt have to do with half these problems. how often do you here about a player getting caught with drugs or getting arrested. hockey is a better sport and no one else sees it.

Straight from the crazy unfiltered mind of a fifteen year-old Blues fan.

by BulldogOshie on Jul 12, 2010 4:59 PM CDT reply actions

thats been my complaint...

for years…..but it always falls on deaf ears…..

Its just like ESPN……try renaming it NBASPN or NFLSPN……cause even if theres an amazing game its always buried behind 45-50 of useless highlights of crap they call sports

I still maintain Vladimir Konstantinov got what he deserved...If you can't handle that then kiss my ass......

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

by dablues7 on Jul 12, 2010 5:18 PM CDT up reply actions