Speech Balloon of the Week - June.23.07

Anyone else miss the speech balloons on comics these days? I know I do. They make comics fun.

As a continuing public service, the Blah-g introduces the Speech Balloon of the Week for June 23, 2007.

Iron Man gets lit up by the Hulk. You know he had it coming.

Wrong Goalie, SJ

*sigh*

The San Jose Sharks pulled the trigger on a deal today that sent goaltender Vesa Toskala and left wing Mark Bell to the Toronto Make Beliefs, er… Maple Leafs for a first and second round draft pick in the 2007 draft and a and a 4th rounder in 2009. That doesn’t seem like that great of a return for a goalie that many project to be a “future Miika Kiprusoff” (remember him?) and… well, Mark Bell.

Worse yet, it means we get to spend another year watching some truly horrific goaltending, courtesy of incumbent number one netminder, Evgeni Nabokov. Yay.

This move and the rumored inclusion of the color orange into the Sharks color scheme and logo redesign really have me bothered about the upcoming season. Orange? Really?

Getting back to hockey: dropping problem child Bell’s salary from the payroll was nice. Getting a first rounder in this draft was nice. Losing Tosk was not. He’s more than capable of being a starting goaltender for the Leafs and should get every chance to do so, even though he’s in for some very long nights behind a very porous blue line (Bryan McCabe non-withstanding). Toskala had all but won the Sharks starting job last season but got injured, which re-opened the door for Nabokov.

The good news is the Sharks might be able to pick up, say… Chris Drury, now that they have more cap space.

Yes, that’s a hint, GM Doug. I am full of The Ideas.

You’ll be missed, Vesa. I’m sure we’ll all regret the move soon enough.

The move paves the way for Devin Setoguchi to maybe earn a spot in camp and for Dmitri Patzold to move into the backup role and, if we’re lucky, challenge Nabokov for the starting position. OK, I know the last bit is wishful thinking on my part, but one can always hope. I am full of The Ideas.

The Sharks did trade the Toronto pick to move up in the order and take Logan Couture with the 9th overall pick. Many smart hockey people, like Brian Kilrea, seem to like this guy so that’s a good thing. The Sharks also traded up and took defenseman Nick Petrecki near the end of the second. Petrecki is a bit of a bruiser on the blueline, which will be nice. His last name is so close to mine and his playstyle is so similar, we may be related. Only I was never that good.

Draft Day around the NHL is always interesting because of all the trades and craziness that typically goes down. Some observations from today’s activities:

• Team Jack Martin pulled a shocker of a deal today and acquired goaltender Tomas Vokoun from the Nashville Predators. Totally didn’t even see that one coming, even with all the salary dumping speculation in Opryland.
• TSN inteviwed Nashville GM David Poile after their first round selection and basically said they didn’t want to talk about his choice, but rather the sale/move of the team and the fire sale. I felt really bad for GM Poile. He’s done a great job building that team into a contender and now is forced to dismantle it. And instead of being able to talk about his pick, which is supposed to be a short, positive moment in a long string of hard times, he gets roped into talking about the bad stuff. He handled the inteview well, but you couldn’t help feel bad for the guy.
• Kyle Turris seems like a great kid and Wayne Gretzky seems thrilled that he got to draft him. I’m hoping things turn around for the Coyotes soon. But not too much… they share a division with the Sharks.
• TSN’s Bob McKenzie is addicted to his Crackberry. Every time he was on camera, he couldn’t resist sneaking a peek at it.
• Speaking of Crackberry, Craig Leipold, the owner of the Nashville Predators, wrote a letter to the NHL today basically asking them to stop considering Jim Balsillie a potential ownership candidate until both sides can agree to a final sale agreement. Someone should tell Aaron that his boss sounds a little flaky.
• Dean Lombardi is still a crazy man. Thank god he’s running the Kings now. I still remember the all-Finnish player draft.
• Pierre Maguire is super annoying. Even for a guy named Pierre.
• The USA is the new defenseman factory, just as Finland is the goalie factory.
• The Sharks did a lot of wheeling and dealing. The more I think about it, the more I like their picks.
• Even if they traded the wrong goalie.
• The cheesy new Washington Capitals logo looks a lot like the cheesy old Washington Capitals logo. Hey Caps: Pontiac called and wants their Firebird back. I do like the red, white and blue though. As in the colors.
• I cannot spell “Capitals” properly each time I type it, much like when I try to type “dog.”
• The Bruins let Cam Neely step up to the podium and make the first selection. Good on you, Bruins. Cam Neely is the best hockey player ever.
• Ever.
• OK, that Gretzky guy and some dude named Howe were pretty good too. To quote Ali G: “Respect.”
• The new Bruins jerseys and logos are really, really, really kick ass. I was a bit worried about some of the new jersey styles I’ve been hearing about and am glad to see that Boston went the tasteful route and payed homage to their storied history.
• The Bruins selected Everett Silvertip Zach Hammill in the first round. Totally kick ass. Local kid does good. And he got to meet Cam Neely. Color me jealous.
• Brian Burke intentionally passes on Russian born players. He kind of said so without saying so, after the crappy TSN interviewer goaded him into a bad position. “No comment,” sayeth Burke. Meanwhile, he builds kick ass teams. You do the math.
• Oh, and I liked his tie. He had the best tie of all the GMs today.
• The Rangers love Russian players. You do the math.
• Alexei Cherepanov’s interpreter seemed really shifty and creepy. He gave a five word answer after Alexei answered an interviewer’s questions. My guess: KGB.
• I felt bad for Angelo Esposito. The guy’s stock dropped considerably over the course of a year and then plummeted in the draft. He held it together very, very well. I bet being drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins is tasting like sweet, sweet revenge right now.
• Speaking of the Pens, they re-signed Gary Roberts and Mark Recchi today. Early prediction: they will go far in the playoffs.
• Being drafted by the Red Wings must be intimidating, especially when Steve Yzerman, Scotty Bowman, Jim Nill and Mike Babcock are there to greet you onstage. I think my head would explode to face so much hockey awesomeness.

Rounds 2 - 7 conclude tomorrow. There’s still hope that the Sharks will trade Nabokov. But then there’s always hope.

Chris Drury anyone? GM Wilson? Are you reading?