5+Game with Danny Boome 08/09/09
5+ Game with Danny Boome is the new Article and Blog for Powerplay magazine. The article will cover the 5 main events of the week – games, trades, players, coaches – and anything else that affects the NHL community.
To join 5+Game’s online community, go to 5+Game on Facebook or follow 5+GAME on twitter. Your views are welcome! The 5+Game Blog will also have daily updates and film clips of the NHL week as it unravels.
Extensions and new signings, veterans trying to stay in the game and prospects trying to show their worth, all while the players union is scratching their heads and the possibility of a huge trade is looming. This is your 5+Game!
Don’t miss this week’s 5+Game Video Blog – Q & A with Chris Pronger and Tim Thomas and Alex Ovechkin driving a Zambonie up 6th Avenue! Also check out the interview with Sean Avery on living in New York, the 09-10 team previews and your guide to Fantasy Hockey this season
Signings: Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien recently agreed to a multi-year contract extension. Julien led the Bruins to the playoffs in his first two seasons, including last year’s conference-best 116 points.
The Columbus Blue Jackets signed center Derick Brassard to a four-year contract extension through 2013-14. ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun reported the deal, which takes effect in the 2010-11 season and is worth $12.8 million. It will pay Brassard $2.8 million in 2010-11, $3 million in 2011-12, $3.3 million in 2012-13 and $3.7 million in 2013-14.
The 22-year-old Brassard had 10 goals and 15 assists in 31 games in 2008-09 before a dislocated shoulder ended his season in December.
The Anaheim Ducks signed defenseman Steve Eminger to a two-year contract. Eminger played for Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Florida last season, compiling a career-high 26 points. The Ducks also acquired left wing Shawn Weller from Ottawa on Friday in a trade for right wing Jason Bailey.
Veterans trying out: The Detroit Red Wings reportedly invited goaltender Dan Cloutier to training camp on a tryout basis. Michigan-based web site Mlive.com stated that the 33-year old Cloutier contacted the club to inquire about a tryout. He has not appeared in the NHL since playing games with the LA Kings in the 2007-08 season
Multiple sources are reporting the St. Louis Blues invited veteran defenseman Darryl Sydor to training camp on a tryout basis. Sydor, 37, is a two-time Stanley Cup winner who began last season with Pittsburgh before being dealt to Dallas in November for fellow blueliner Philippe Boucher. Released by Dallas this summer, Sydor isn’t ready to hang up the skates just yet. “I’m cap friendly,” he told The Daily News. “I’ll go in there and be a leader. It’s a good young team. I’ll go in there and do anything they want.”
Something Big is about to Happen: As the tea leafs in my cup are swirling left and my right big toe continues to throb, I’m predicting that in the next few weeks two big trades could happen before training camp starts. Last week’s trade between San Jose and Vancouver got me thinking that a swap like that only gave one team an advantage – and it’s not on the ice. The trade helped San Jose create some much needed wiggle room in their wage cap, presumably for an upcoming trade. For the Sharks to top last season’s performance, they’ll need fire power and as I mentioned two weeks ago, Dany Heatly would be a great line mate for Joe Thornton. The Sharks also have a good player to trade, Center Patrick Marleau, who seems to have fallen out of favor with Head Coach Todd McLellan.
Enter Brian Burke and the Toronto Maple Leafs and there seems to bit of a trade triangle developing. This week, Burke flipped a deal that he had made earlier in the year with the Chicago Blackhawks. The reacquisition of their own 2010 second-round pick from the Blackhawks for two other picks now gives Toronto their own first, second and third-round picks in the next NHL entry draft. This is the prerequisite for any team that wants to submit an offer sheet on a top restricted free agent player this summer – and since an attempt to trade for the rights to Phil Kessel of the Boston Bruins fell through, the restricted free agent on the cap-crunched team immediately came to many minds. The Leafs would fill the gap left by the trade of Nik Antropov to New York with Kessel, a top six forward who could be counted on to produce they goals they need. He will, however, be out of action until December and will not have a playmaking presence like Marc Savard (notes) at centre ice.
But the Leafs aren’t the only one with their eyes on Kessel – if the Sharks can’t swing Heatley, they will be too. Intriguing!
Monster Start: This weekend saw the NHL’s top prospects compete in the Traverse City Prospects tournament, an event that has become the preeminent view of the future of the NHL. And there were some fine displays from the core group of draft picks and developing talent. Toronto definitely has some things to look forward to with Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson. In his first game of rookie camp, he stopped 35 shots, sending a strong message to Vesa Toskala going into camp. Leafs prospect Richard Greennop sent his own message, being the first to drop his gloves at the Prospect Tournament by knocking the snot out of Pittsburgh’s Ryan Schnell. If Burke wants tough, Greennop brought it.
NHLPA Rift: Paul Kelly, fired early Monday as executive director of the National Hockey League Players’ Association, said his goal as the union’s head was always to “protect the players.” Interviewed on Leafs Lunch on AM 640 in Toronto, Kelly said he hoped “the NHLPA is in a better place today than when I came aboard 21 months ago. I have enormous respect and admiration for the players and for the staff at the NHLPA – they are a bright, energetic fabulous group of people. My primary goal was to protect the players’ interests. I wanted to make sure the players got their fair share, that they weren’t being deceived or manipulated or having their rights violated.”
Kelly declined to discuss the events that led to his firing, including the meeting in Chicago that resulted in his termination and the rumors that a divide within the union led to his ouster. “I’m not going to talk about internal union matters,” he told hosts Darren Dreger and Bill Watters. “I subscribe to the theory that what happens in locker room stays in the locker room. I’m motivated by what’s best for the players – what protects the players and protects their interests.”
That’s not to say he wasn’t affected by it. When asked how he felt about being fired, he said, “Walking out (of the meeting): shock, extreme sadness, disappointment – the range of human emotions that any person would feel. When you lose a role you love, it hurts. It’s something I will come to grips with. I hope I left the game in a better place and brought a level of credibility back to the NHLPA.”
Game:
Game On! Chris Pronger & Tim Thomas Q& A at the NHL store on Tuesday, Alex Ovechkin driving a Zambonie up 6th Avenue on Wednesday and 5+Game will be there! Check it out online at dannyboome.tv (5+Game Blog) or on Facebook (5+Game Group)
Check out what happened the last time OV got behind the wheel!
Whose Got Game? Rookie Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson. 36 shots in a 3-1 winning game. Now that’s bringing your game.
Who’s not got Game? Canada’s six NHL teams are scrambling to find alternative travel arrangements south of the border after the U.S. Department of Transportation banned Air Canada’s charter fleet from flying between U.S. cities.
What Game are you playing at?? The Phoenix saga continues. The NHL placed a relocation fee of $101-190 mil if Jim Balsillie decides to move them to Southern Ontario. NHLPA members are left bemused and concerned about the NHLPA board decision to sack Paul Kelly.
The information statistics and subject matter of articles is sourced from the official NHL web site NHL.com and it’s archives. The Hockey News.com, Yahoo Sports.com and ESPN.com. Research and quotations can at times come from other independent associated press.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
