5+Game with Danny Boome 21 /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.
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5+Game 5th Edition
Danny Boome 21/09/09
A comeback for two veterans, the Great One gambles with his fate and the Rangers Dubinsky folds to save his, King Crosby (he doesn’t go by “The Kid” anymore since he won the cup) steps up to ask questions on the future of the NHLPA, the Air Canada air farce is over and for the second week in a row, yours truly correctly predicts another block buster trade. It’s got to be this week’s 5+Game!!
1.Blockbuster Trade No2 (Kessel) Another week, another 5+ Game prediction comes true. Within a week of predicting Dany Heatley would be traded to San Jose, Friday finally saw the move of Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs from Boston. The 21-year-old center will receive a 5-year contract worth a reported $28 million and the Leafs will give up first and second round picks in the 2010 Entry Draft and another first round pick the following year.
“We picked seventh this year. We don’t intend to pick that high again,” Brian Burke said in addressing the picks he gave up. “Obviously when you trade a first-round pick, let alone two, there’s risk. I mean, this whole job is a high-wire act without a net. Every deal we make, we’re betting on a human being. We’re betting on Phil. Taking a chance, that’s how it works. I don’t think we’re taking much of a chance. To answer your question, does it push us closer to our goal of making the playoffs? Absolutely. We haven’t given anything out of our lineup and we’ve added a guy who scored 36 goals last year and I think is on the way up, not down.” Kessel has registered 66 goals and 126 points in 222 regular-season games, adding nine goals and 15 points in 15 playoff games. Sidelined until at least November following rotator cuff surgery, Kessel is eager to get healthy and start contributing.
2.Veteran Comebacks: Theoren Fleury’s shootout winner electrified Flames fans as Calgary downed the New York Islanders 5-4 on Thursday. In a fitting finish to Fleury’s first NHL game in six years, the 41-year-old scored the only goal of the shootout on a deke to his forehand, tucking the puck behind Islanders rookie goaltender Kevin Poulin. Meanwhile on the east coast, another comeback kid stepped up to the demands of his try-out team. Former point a game player Jason Allison is back with the Leafs after injuries and personal troubles forced him into semi-retirement. He left his horse ranch in northern Toronto on Friday night to play his first professional game in 3 years; though a touch rusty he got an assist and had a very impressive fight.
3. The Hold Outs: Phoenix Coyotes Head Coach Wayne Gretzky, whose $8.5 million contract for 2009-10 is part of a bankruptcy dispute being adjudicated in a Phoenix court, missed his fourth straight game since pre-season camp started. Some have criticized Gretzky for abandoning his responsibilities and his players, yet Gretzky remains silent.
New York Rangers centre Brandon Dubinsky folded his hand in his hold out from camp. The restricted free agent tried to renegotiate a non-negotiable contract – not a smart move for the 3rd year pro. He finally saw the light stating “I just kind of said it was something I wanted to get done, I was tired of waiting, I didn’t want to push this thing further,” Dubinsky said. “I didn’t want the team to be at their wit’s end and I didn’t want to be at wit’s end myself.”
4. Air Farce: U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a court filing that the U.S. and Canada have reached an agreement over the bitter charter flight dispute that could have caused major headaches for NHL teams this season. Air Canada agreed to an “unprecedented level of monitoring and enforcement” on charter flights for sports teams traveling in the U.S. to ensure compliance with U.S. law, the U.S. Department of Transportation said in a statement.
5. Things not to do on a job interview: New York Islanders forward Pascal Morency has been suspended indefinitely after leaving the bench to start a fight with Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Morency jumped off the bench and charged Phaneuf, after Phaneuf’s hit knocked out Islanders forward Kyle Okposo in the second period of the Flames’ 5-4-shootout victory Thursday night in an exhibition game. After being with the Islanders organization for two years this was Morency’s first time icing for the big club – and he hadn’t even had a shift!
Game
Game On: You have to love the new look Toronto Maple Leafs. 9 games in 12 days and 72 fights, earning them the pre-season nickname of the “Bay Street Bullies.” But it’s not all fights – they’ve played some very sexy hockey along the way as well.
Whose Got Game: Brian Burke does it again! I have a serious man crush on this Wizard of the trade market. Also NYR’s Rookie Artem Anisimov is going to turn heads. Nikolai Zherdev who?!
Who’s not got Game? Nikolai “Am I a Ranger or Am I a Thrasher” Zherdev. With enough talent but not enough brains to develop it, Zherdev is taking his uncoachable self to the KHL.
What Game are you playing at? Very interesting move by Sidney Crosby, addressing the NHLPA’s firing of Paul Kelly and demanding answers. On one hand, it appears he’s just giving the demands of his agents an endorsement and a very wide audience. On the other, is this the first step in the Pittsburgh Penguins captain taking a more active role in the PA?
Check out this weeks Video Clips and News in the 5+Game Blog on www.dannyboome.tv and the 5+Game Face Book Group.
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.
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