*-> As I know many of you are avid Ottawa Senator supports and Jason Spezza loyalists this might be of interest to you. A group of Spezza fans have planned a "Don't Trade Jason Spezza" petition and rally today on parliament hill. Roughly under 100 fans are planning to attend and those who wish to show their support for Spezza may want to attend at 2pm. So far the rally has only gained minor attention from the media but the Ottawa Citizen has been following it closely. I'm not too sure how much organizations care about these rallies since the Kovalev rally in Montreal last summer was in the hundreds and didn't at all influence management.
*-> The Toronto Maple Leafs have lots of interest in Chicago center Patrick Sharp as he looks to be on the chopping block as the Hawks look to dump cap for next season. Brian Burke is looking for a center to play with Phil Kessel. Several other teams have interest in Sharp but are waiting to see how the Patrick Marleau, Tomas Plekanec situations play out. It rumored the Leafs are looking to land that center they covet by trade ala Tomas Kaberle but the Hawks have no interest in taking on another defenseman or cap. Not too sure what the Leafs would have to offer the Blackhawks in return especially since they need as many of their prospects they can keep. Brian Burke also told the media he would not at all be in the running for Ilya Kovalchuk.
3 comments:
Scoopz,
The situation with the 'Hawks is a good topic of conversation.
They won the 'Cup, so the team and front office deserve a ton of credit. However, they'll hardly go down as a great team in my book and I take offense to all of the accolades being showered on Dale Tallon.
He deserves credit for getting their drafts right, though more so in my opinion for the selections of Keith and Seabrook than Toews and Kane.
However, he has saddled that team with ridiculous contracts that I believe will see Chicago follow a post-Cup winning path like that of TBay.
Starting with Khabibulin and continuing with Huet, Campbell, Boland, and Hossa, not to mention the contractual mess of Barker and Versteeg, Tallon is responsible for some of the dumbest contracts awarded in the post-lockout free agency period.
As for Sharp, he's an excellent player that's not only developed his offensive game, but can actually play in all situations. I don't blame Burke for wanting him, I think he'd be an excellent compliment to Kessel.
Sharp still has two years left on his deal at $3.9M/yr so I don't think Burke will need to trade much for him. The 'Hawks may be forced to waive him and the 'Leafs would almost certainly get him with their second overall claim. I suspect Burke might be able to swing a deal to get him for a late pick and middling prospect just to above another offensive needy team with cap room from scooping him (Minny?).
Were I Burke, I'd also be taking a good look at Patrick O'Sullivan if/when the 'Oil buy him out as has been reported. I think the money and term he could be signed for would be very reasonable and he's still a young player with a lot of potential.
The keep Spezza rally is unnecessary and actually worries me - lots of Spezza fans have better things to do than go down to the 'Hill. What if only a handful of people show up? You can be certain the media will spin that to mean there's no-love for Spezz in the fan base.
- Jalen
Sharp for a 4th, I predict....I also Predict...Kaberle to FLA for Horton....
Game on the Blue and White are looking good...
Finger will be barried in the A to make room....
DWYZ
I agree with you Jalen on the topic of the Hawks. Dale Tallon did mess up the team quite a bit and has kept the question marks in net going even til this day.
The Tampa Bay situation is very simliar and I can see it happening easily to Chicago.
I can see the Toronto rumors being very true. I've already heard that Columbus is pushing hard for Sharp as well as a possible centerman for Rick Nash. Minnesota would be a great place for him to land and finally give Mikko Koivu some support behind him.
On the Spezza rally, I heard there wasn't much of a turnout. I cant see why people would protest this as it's out of their hands. Even if they had a 1000 people there, Bryan Murray isn't going to be like well I guess I have to keep him although it doesn't make sense to keep him (I'm not implying they get rid of Spezza at all BTW just similiar situations that you could throw in any players name). As you also said how many true fans have time on a weekday afternoon to protest?
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