Vrbata signing official

The Lightning signed the left wing, formally of the Coyotes, to a three-year, $9-million deal.

Here is part of the official announcement:

“In Radim, we are thrilled to add another quality person to our roster, helping us raise our scoring capabilities,” said owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie in a joint statement. “He is a high-end talent and a quality person who will play amongst our core group of forwards and make the Lightning a harder team to defend against night in and night out.”

Vrbata, 27, enjoyed a breakthrough season in Phoenix in 2007-08, setting career highs and finishing as the Coyotes’ second-leading scorer with 27 goals and 56 points in 76 games. He also led the Coyotes in shorthanded goals (3) and ranked tied for third in power-play goals (7). Following the season he enjoyed a strong tournament at the 2008 World Championships, tying for second on the Czech Republic with five goals in seven games.

Vrbata was drafted in the 7th round, 212th overall, by the Colorado Avalanche in 1999. A 6-foot-1, 190-pound native of Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, Vrbata made a strong NHL debut with Colorado in 2001-02, tallying 18 goals and 30 points in 50 games as a 20-year-old. He played one more season in Colorado before a trade to Carolina, where he appeared in 106 games during parts of three seasons. He joined Chicago during the 2005-06 season and was traded to Phoenix prior to last season.

Vrbata played three seasons (1998-99 through 2000-01) with Hull and Shawinigan in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League before turning pro, tallying 107 goals and 254 points in 167 games.

Comments

[Max Hunter]

Wow! I think this is going to be a VERY good thing. Now if we can only get Tucker or Sudin...hmmm...

[Badbud]

WHY??? Tucker is done, we have seen his crap before.

Vrbata,good pick up

[TJ]

Tucker signed with the Avalanche. Haven't heard whether Mats has made up his mind yet...

[Hawkeye]

Dang, is Gretzky and Orr available too? This is nuts, especially with the old owners saying they were losing money at $44 Mil.

Not looking forward to season ticket prices next year. :doh:

[TJ]

Or maybe Espo would like to come out of the broadcast booth and get a piece of this action? I would love to live close enough to even give a thought to buying season tickets. Or single game tickets for that matter.... oh well...

[steve]

perhaps we should of hired Rolston's brother as a ticket taker.. then maybe he would of come here :(

[boltcc]

Sportsnet.ca is now saying the Lightning are shopping Mike Smith.

[TJ]

That rumor has been floating around most of the afternoon. I don't see it happening. The Lightning are planning to extend his contract by another 2 years, why the heck would we trade for him then turn around and trade him? I don't think so.

[bob]

Rolston gone to nj and i though we were offering to much 5mil we should try Fedorov

evidently we also signed Brad Richards....http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=Aj6y6PfSSBzo2cQQFCQNJ5ImvLYF?slug=ap-lightning-moves&prov=ap&type=lgns

[MarkH]

"formally with the Coyotes"

Is that sorta like FORMERLY with the Coyotes ?

:)

[bob]

damn Stillman is better than rolston and the Panthers got him for 3.9 over 3

[TJ]

LOL...looks like they messed up. I think they meant to say Gary Roberts. But how they got Richards from Roberts, I'll never figure.

[LightningRod]

The poor us "we are losing money" deal with Davidson's group was always "a little red lie". The guy was a billionaire, who owns numerous money making companies. The Lightning's money losses to him were great tax right-offs. It's the same for the OK hockey guys. They will benefit from any paper losses, against their other income, which they have in spades. The real difference, between Davidson and OK, is the 2 top OK guys played and love hockey; and they want a CUP. What I have been told, by people that know them, is that they will spend what it takes to make their fantasy/dream come true.

I am so glad Davidson sold the team. Can you imagine what would have happened today, with them still in charge. I shudder to thing of the things Feaster would be saying, about the great pick-ups he made today. Silk purses and cow's ears come to mind. However, I will never forget that without that group, it's 99.9% sure thing that the Lightning would never have won the CUP, when they did. All of the owners, prior to them, never had the money to spend to make it happen. I have to give them the credit and respect they deserve for that.

[nhlman]

With Prospal and Vrbata, I think we'll be the home team in Prague!

[TJ]

Well, I have to say I am certainly impressed with OK Hockey so far. Yes, it's early, but they have followed through on the promise to be "shockingly aggressive" in the FA market...boy howdy...

(and just as an aside, LightningRod, it's "sows ears" not cows...lol)

[matt]

"damn Stillman is better than rolston and the Panthers got him for 3.9 over 3"

That's funny.... What does Stillman do in the playoffs?

"Rolston gone to nj and i though we were offering to much 5mil we should try Fedorov"

Man I'm glad you are not in charge....

[bob]

He helped get the lightning and carolina get then in their cup years does rolston have a cup

[bob]

But neither is a lightning now so i guess it doesnt matter

[bob]

hey matt are you really feaster

[David]

If the old group were still in charge, Damian's job would be a lot easier. No needed to update stories and blogs every 5 minutes for days on end.

[Don in St. Pete]

Stillman can score but is a defensive liability. We got much more in Vrbata, a guy with breakaway speed, tremendous open ice and one on one skills and is responsible defensively. I'll be back in a few with my version of our new lineup.

[tom]

david koci just signed to tampa according to tsn.com

[bob]

new signing who is Koci anyone know

[Geografer]

Okay so now we have signed David Koci - another left wing. Are we planning on playing all forwards??? At least his is two way so he can at least be sent to Norfolk with no problems. $550K NHL, $100K AHL.

[tom]

a tough guy for sure

[tom]

6'6 235 who beat the poop outta parros like twice

[TJ]

Rangers signed Wade Redden, 6 yr deal. Haven't heard the terms yet.

[tom]

reddens a good sign by anyone..too bad its the rangers though..hahaha

[TJ]

Anybody heard anything about where Hossa or Sundin might land? I guess they are 2 of the bigger fish left in the pond now.

[Don in St. Pete]

WOW! You guys don't miss anything! They have a croud pleaser for the folks in Norfolk! I didn't expect the Hall signing and while I think it's a good thing, it makes it harder to sort all of this out. Here is my take on how we sit now, with acknoledgement that additional moves are likely.

Forward lines

1) V20, V4 and NSL
2) Malone. SS and Vrbata
3) Darche, Roberts/Halpern and Ouellet
4) Artyuhkin, Gratton, Hall

Defensive pairings

Pickard and Smaby
Panger and Kuba
O'brien and Boyle

Depth or trade bait
Jokinen, Craig, Ward, Tarnasky, Luckowich

[TJ]

With the signing of Hall, do you think they will still bring back Grats? I personally hope so, but it's getting a little bit crowded up front. I think there may be a trade or two to thin the herd a bit, but the way things have been going for the last 72 hours, who the heck knows? I love it!

[Steve]

Tucker was signed by Colorado for 2 yrs. 4.5 mill. They have been talking about trading Boyle; any new updates?

[TJ]

I don't think Boyle is going anywhere. Besides the fact that OK wants him here since they had to sign off on the extension he signed last year, Boyle has a no trade clause I doubt he will want to waive; he just got married and got a baby on the way in November. I think he's here for a while, at least the way I see it.

[PD]

Two good O lines '
The rest is hurtin bad
Lots more to do

[léo]

Re. Boyle,
It makes NO sense to trade away not only your best defenseman (a definite top10 in my book) but your ONLY defenseman. (not to take away anything from the rest of your D-core but let's be real...)
So WHERE do all these rumblings come from? How can something so crazy keep turning and turning in the rumor-mills if there wasn't some semblance of truth to it?
I don't want to sound heretical (considering I'm an outsider) but given the situation (that is, excess forwards; limited D) and accepting the POSSIBILTY that you may not see this alleged "mega-trade that will BRING you D", moving Boyle would be counter-productive, no?
My point?
I'd move St-Louis before Boyle.
Tons of value, guys to take his spot...
You could EASILY snare a num1 D.
Yo.

[matt]

"He helped get the lightning and carolina get then in their cup years does rolston have a cup"

Bob,
Stillman's 7 points in 21 games the year the Bolts won the Cup didn't "help" them win the Cup. Hence the reason they didn't keep him, IMO. That was on a line with Vinny and sometime with Richards. It's not like he was playing with scrubs...

He did play very well for Carolina in their Cup run but he definitely doesn't have a good post season track record (except for that year).

[Don in St. Pete]

Boyle loves the spotlight though so if a deal could be worked out with the Rangers, Maple leafs or Canadiens he would probably consider dropping the NTC. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately proven puck moving d'men and normal defensive stalwarts are bringing serious money. Leo can you believe 6 @ $6.4 for Redden, or $4.6 for Streit? I thought we overpaid but we did well to start wheeling and dealing early. While I like Mats and know that there are a couple teams that if they signed him could immediate;y become the cup favorites. Isn't a 7 year deal with a guy who's average around 20 goals at $4.5 mil worth a lot more than a superstar who thought about retiring this year and may only play another year or two at $10 mil per. I guess if you sign him and you win the cup all bets are off. I luck where our club is now, knowing conditionally that we have around 5 assets to deal for defensive help.

[john]

WAIT!! Hold the phone.... Dan Boyle plays defense? I thought that thing he did was try to mimic Marty St. Louis... He plays defense about as good as the Bolts forwards did last season.

But I would have to (cough, cough) agree with Leo's logic. Trading a d-man would definitely be counter productive. Unfortunately so would trading Marty St. Louis.

[Bolflasher]

Wow, what a difference 24 hours can make. Have you guys kept up with what the Caps have done? In the space of about 24 hours the Lightning have become one of the favorites in the SE division now due to the respective moves by each team. Washington took a major step backwards by not resigning Huet and instead taking a questionable Jose Theodur while the Bolts added Kolzig along with reuniting the MVP line, and bringing in a whole #2 line of Malone, Stamkos, and Vrbata. The 2 teams are about equivalent now with the Canes, Thrashers and stinkin Panthers in no particular order behind these two....

[Don in St. Pete]

Leo, Good point on the last post. While Martin has been productive in the past he seemed to slip last year while supposedly showing up for camp in the best shape of his life. Part of his slippage may have been the reluctance to play D by V4 and V20 which kept Marty back in the zone more than normal, but he would be much easier to deal than Vinny or Brad because of their dealings with charitible orgs. Dealing St. louis makes sense at this stage of our development as it's obvious the owners don't just want to make the playoffs but field a cup caliber team. We would have to get a Lidstrom type player back in return though and I'm not sure the Canadiens or anyone else would be willing to do that.

[Fredinator]

Matt, I think that you need to remember that Stillman played most of the Cup year playoffs with a bum knee. Stiller wasn't the hardest hitter in the world but he had the heart to play hurt. His 80 points and +18 during the season were certainly a reason that the Bolts made it to the playoffs that year. When he was healthy during Carolina's cup run he had 26 points.

[john]

Don,

You don't think Torts flipping him between Vinny and Brad's line pretty much the whole first half had anything to do in the dip in production. Or maybe playing 24 minutes a night against the opposing teams top defensive pairings. I'm just asking not arguing....

[bingo]

Please Please Please stop the Stillman thing.... Here is how it went down. We had the strike year he went to arbitration and received a 3.5 million award. The Bolts choice was to sign him for 3.5 million. They wanted him but could not sign him by NHL rules. (they were screwed) He went begging to Carolina for 1.2 million but the bolts were not allowed to match. They could ONLY re-sign him for the 3.5 million award. Enough already.....

This is a whole new organization. palace Sports is gone it is now Lightning Enterprises.

Go Bolts

[matt]

Fredinator,

I do remember the points he put up during the year.(On Vinnys line) And I did say in my post that he had a great Cup run with Carolina. But the knock on him before Tampa was he didn't show up in the playoffs. (57 games/ 25 points) Which was the entire point of my comment to the other guy, Bob....

[WIZ]

And the big GOON they signed to a 2 way contract Dave Koci is this giant who can't skate and really cannot win fights but he throws and bleeds a lot.

Come on everyone use your noodles!

Vrbata played for three teams in three years and albeit scored a career high in goals is not a three zone player who won't reach that total again without being the burden he is defensively by not ever playing in the other two zones.

If was he would have stuck with one of them or at least Phoenix were he set the career mark...

[léo]

I know what I said: that Redden could be signed for 3mil. So even Leo's "wisdom" has to be taken with a grain'a'salt.
Hopefully Redden can rediscover his passion in the Big Apple cuz they don't take nonchalance from players quite that nicely, especially for the amount of dough they gave him. (which is cray-ay-zee)
Ottawa knocked him for being allergic to the spotlight. Hope NY knew this when they signed him. Too much for Redden, imo. We'll see.
Not surprised for Streit at all. Alot of analysts had'im ahead of Campbell. They're right in that Campbell and Streit are the SAME D-man, with Campbell favored in the experience department. But Streit can play FORWARD not only as well as he does defense but BETTER.
Bottom line, in Leo's judgement: Streit is better than Campbell. (he's a National team captain, don't forget)
4.1mil/yr for 4yrs is an excellent price for Streit. In Mtl, We knew that's what he'd get and that's why We didn't re-sign him. We've got the D. We wanted him as a 3rd liner, where he DOMINATES.
And of course, you can't pay a 3rd liner 4.1mil.
Don,
As for Mats or Malone, it depends what you have, what you can do and what your year-end objective is.
Le Club de Hockey Canadien finished 1st last year. We have the SAME team this year. Replace Ryder with Tanguay and technically, We are a smidgeon BETTER than last year, no?
We believe that a super-charged 1st-line Center can get Us the Cup! at the end of the year, Don, not a young 50pt-getter. Say what you will, but RIGHT NOW, age-included? Malone ain't in the same LEAGUE as Sundin.
So the question becomes,
Will you pay 10mil for the Cup?
On Our 100th anniversary, Our plan must come to fruition, Mr Gainey knows this.
I would pay it, even if I don't believe that Vancouver can snare him. I said MONTHS ago that I would pay Sundin 10mil.
The time is now, far as We're concerned. We want "the impact player" that can "break a game" at will, like Sundin can do. His presence, his stature, his size, his experience,his leadership, his ruggedness, his endurance, his beautiful stride and his fiercesome shot are EVERYTHING and the ONLY thing We're missing.
Yo.

[Tommy Toughnuts]

10 Million for Sundin???????? 10 Million for Mats Sundin??????? Just under 18% of the TEAM cap on not even the 3rd best player on that roster (even if he were to sign). leo, go home. Even 10 million canadian is a joke.

[Not the Marlboro Man]

Go right ahead and pay that $10 mil and it still won't buy you a cup. Sundin is impressive but he's no savior to any franchise...if he was, Toronto would have won a Cup by now. With all of the Talent that has been squanderd between Toronto and Montreal its a wonder that either Franchise could even afford an order of McDonald's fries with gravy. Looks to me like all of the Canadien teams are floundering in free agency with the exception of Edmonton. I don't think any of the Canadien teams will be as competetive as they were for the last two yseasons, especially Ottawa and Vancouver.

Montreal sputtered today as well. They must think they still have an inside track to Marian Hosehead. What do you think the are gonna pay him if Sundin is commanding $10 mil. My guess is that Hose Monster will ask for $12 mil, and I hope Montreal pays pays him. Seems like allot for a forward that has the propensity for choking and coming up short in big games.

[Don in St. Pete]

Tommy, you are dead wrong. As Leo states it's a community wide belief that at 100 years the cup should be theirs, and I don't blame them a single bit. If I had their lineup, especaially their D where they can let one of their PP qb's walk, I would say you have to go for it now and you do. You have to understand that in Montreal hockey, especially tLes Canadiens is not a spectator sport or a community event as much as it is a way of life. I know for many years I was a Bruins fgan who watched my team methodically eliminated year after year.

Toughnuts,
Your post PROVES without a shadow of a doubt that you have NO IDEA who Mats Sundin is. (Another National team captain...of Team Sweden! Yeah, that's right, ALL those guys in Detroit, the ones who won the Cup few weeks back? Mats is their CAPTAIN.)
Marlboro,
We don't need a saviour; We need a 1st line center. We get that; We get the Cup, regardless of what you think. So let's agree to disagree.
We "sputtered" in the sense that We haven't landed Sundin or Hossa or anyone else on Jul 1st.
So no change on the roster. Before anyone tries to deplore Our loss of Streit, save your breath. Trust me, We love'im, but We don't need him. At all. PP specialist, yes. We got others. Great 3rd-liner, yes. We got others. Truth is, he can't crack the top6 starting D on Our team and that's a fact We've come to terms with so you may as well.
But We replaced Ryder with Tanguay. Which makes Us just a weeeeee bit better. Not Hugely better; just a wee bit better.
We finished 1st last year.
Which makes analysing the faults in Our team easier because there are fewer than average. There is ONE thing missing, same as the last 3yrs; it's not HARD to figure out.
A 1st-line Power Center.
And that's it.
We'll take care of the rest.
Yo.

[bob]

And my only point is that Stillman is worth more than rolston and that the money is flowing way to high for some of these players

[bob]

Glad we didnt get rolston for 5 per

[ajax]

Sir Don and Leo the Maestro, tell me I didn't read from you two respected hockey sources, even a hint of trading Mr. Marty St. Louis. Please, please retract before the masses descend down upon you in Biblical proportions. Is the world ending?? Marty is the consumate professional. I believe with all my heart and soul that he is the reason for the brief success Mr. Brad had and a big, no huge reason for the success of VL4. Great passer, great finisher, great forechecker, great penalty killer, great skater, tireless worker. Go to Webster's and look up hockey player and you will see a picture of Marty St. Louis next to it. With all the drinking and celebrating the past few days, could it be that you had a bit too much of the bubbly?? Marty St. Louis would be the finest addition any other club could get.
68 g 117 a 185 points last two years, and intangibles that could fill the blog. He finished tied for 12th in the NHL in scoring this year. I hope he slows down to that pace again this year, Gladly, thank-you. I forgive you for even throwing it out there and still love you both.

[bob]

i also like kolzig but ty conklin at 750,000 is a better deal the redwings are not dumb and we have been raiding pittsburg

[Don in St. Pete]

Leo, You know I love you man, even though I hate the habs. In your estimation who gained the most in the past 48 hours? The Lightning, the Blackhawks or the Coyotes, or somebody else?

[Patrick]

Ajax,

I agree with you... talk of trading Marty is absolute blasphemy... or worse. His contract isn't really a problem either. He needs to retire as a bolt, but not any time soon.

[geo]

wonder what vinny p would have got

[olin storahund]

Don in SP... you got your man in vrbata, Now I'd still need a Swede...HUSSE, please OK.

[Tommy Toughnuts]

What have all those Sweeds in Detroit done that their fearless captain couldn't. Win one in North America. Plus, do the Habs even have 10 million to spare? I'm all for "going" for it, but that's like saying if we really needed Rolston, we should offer him 7.5-8 mil a year. What a joke.

[Tommy Toughnuts]

And I understand a community going for it because of the community itself. I am a former NY baseball fan. Never works out like that when you overpay.

Ah, Tommy!
I see you have already accepted the logic of Paying when Paying is the right thing to do. So that's One.
You're absoulutely right when you use the Rolston for 7mil example. THAT would be stupid, I agree.
Same way I say that Vancouver offering 10mil is stupid. It won't bring them the Cup because they've got other holes to fix as well.
For Us, a Power Center is ALL WE LACK. Once We get that, there's NOTHING else to fix, you understand? I'd pay the 10mil.
Do We have it? Good question. Think We got 11 or 12 left in the bank, but We have some kids to re-sign with that as well. (Halak, Gorges, O'Byrne...)
I don't think We NEED to pay 10mil; Sundin WON'T go to Van. (less chance of a Cup, western travel...)
Two,
I hope you're not comparing the Red Wing team and the Leaf team over the last 15yrs, Tommy. Right? I know you're not doing that.
Switch Lidstrom and Sundin and NOT ONLY does Toranna NOT get a Cup, but Detroit gets MORE.
Same for Franzen, same for Zetterberg, same for Kronwall, etc, etc. Sundin is The Man. Even Forsberg will tell you this.
With that crappy-butt team, Gretzky himself could not have won a Cup there over the last 15yrs!
C'mon, Tommy.
...Sundin "couldn't" win a Cup in Toranna...
Ridiculous.
Don,
Minny and Edmonton.
Yo.

[léo]

Hossa in Detroit!
1 year. 7.4mil???
P.

[léo]

Ajax,
I agree with you about St-Louis.
What I was saying was that, given the situation, or forced to trade,
I would trade St-Louis BEFORE Boyle (which is the name that keeps popping up) because you could recover from St-Louis' loss better than losing your Prime defenseman.
Of course, DON'T trade St-Louis.
But BY GOD, you MUSN'T trade Boyle!
Not now, in any case.
Maybe later.
When you get some RELIABLE D-men other than just Boyle.
Yo.

[bear]

Well Leo for a guy who was slagging Sundin pretty good last year..quitter, Nordiques etc...you have changed tunes.

Bolts have a long way to come back..Malone is a good pick up but VRbata???

Mike Smith how little we knewthee with thy 3-10 record.

Viva espana

[léo]

OMG, Bear!
I did say that! omg...
(what was the context, though?)
I believe it was during trade-deadline time, and We were just cruisin'. The big name was Hossa and We were num1 front-runners until Pitt came out've the blue and upped Our ante. (which they will rue, mwa-ha-ha)
Kovy had TAKEN OVER. The whole room, the fans AND the media knew it. There were NO centers available at that time, EXCEPT Sundin that Toranna was trying to unload. We knew he'd exercise his no-movement clause (just like We knew V4 would never Join). So there was not even any TALK of Sundin at that...
No wait! We were talkin' euros! And how you don't trust the euros! And how the euros can't win nothin'!
Yeah, yeah, and I was talkin' Koivu! And how you COULDN'T call Koivu gritless. Yeah, yeah...and then I mentioned Sundin who choked right before Our eyes in 93, and got SCREAMED AT by Pagé for 5 minutes straight on national TV. That was glorious.
But you know what? Now that I've put the shoe on the other foot?
He was 20.
And Pagé got fired for that. Never got a job again.
Toranna gave away their captain Wendell Clarke and someone else (I forget) for Sundin who became their new captain at 22yrs old.
And has ruled with an iron-fist with NO ONE to doubt his power and his grit ever since.
I did say those things, Bear. Cuz I was comparing him to Koivu. Compared to Koivu, leadership-wise, ok.
But We don't need Sundin's leadership.
We need his Power.
Para recuperar nuestra gloria de dias pasadas.
Viva!
...
And NOW I hear that Sundin is gonna stay home for bit and pull a Selanne.
Great.

[léo]

So uh...
Switch that, Don,
Detroit came out the biggest winner.
Again.
What? Did somebody say, Repeat?
Yo.

[Don in St. Pete]

Leo, I'm sure there's a lot of ulcers developing in montreal right now, though none will admit it. Detroit with Hossa, that is downright ugly, but I'n not sure he's their type of player, we'll see if it's a jump up for them. It would be a huge risk to trade Boyle and unlikely given his NMC. I'm sure OK and Len are still wheeling to get a little more help on D. It will be interesting to see who's in play. You guys ready to try Huselius yet or still waiting on Mats?

[léo]

Name Jagr was brought up, Don.
Before anyone starts laughing at how stupid We are, you have to look at it the way We see it.
We wouldn't mind Huselius of course, but We know the truth. Huselius is a follower, not a leader. He would Wilt and Fold in Hockey City; while Jagr would not.
Little story,
Jagr is the one who told Us how to Motivate the Artiste, last year. "Love him. If he feels Loved; he'll tear the league apart; he's a very emotional guy. Make him feel wanted." So that's what We did, invited him to be spokesman for this that and the other thing, have events in his name, We give him MONSTER ovations every time his named is boomed, We parade teary-eyed, awe-inspired 8yr old girls to get his autograph, We chant his name for two thirds of the game, write songs for him, banners in the street, etc, etc. Pow! Zoom! 82pts, all of them in the highlight-reels.
Jagr has Presence. He has authority. He inspires Fear and Respect, despite his age. He might be old, rusted; heck, he might even be broken, but he'll NEVER fold. (Another! National team captain, hey, I'm on a roll.)
Last year, Jagr wasn't HALF the player he used to be. Granted. But in the playoffs? C'mon. Who was The Man in NY? Yammy Yaeger, that's who.
Now,
How much? Cuz he can go to Omsk, remember, for like 30mil.
5mil for Jagr?
Sure. Now will he take it? Cuz anything more would indeed be foolish.
Yo.

[Don in St. Pete]

WOW! Leo, I love that move and in many ways it makes even more sense than Mats. What a way for Jagr to go out, on the biggest, brightest stage of them all. I think he'd come. I can't wish you luck because he would make you tougher to play against and we're going to need 4 wins against you guys next year.

[léo]

Like your enthusiasm in Our regard, Don, but We have no illusions.
Jagr wanted 13 or 14mil for 2yrs from NYR. They balked.
Can't see him wanting less in Mtl when others don't wanna Join for MORE. (looks like We offered 8.5 to Sundin AND Hossa)
What is it?
Is it Our sales-pitch? Bad breath? Is it the snow? Our "canadianicity"? Our "frenchinicity"? Our maybe too-rabid "hockeynicity"?
Are We ugly, stupid or crazy?
What's so wrong about Us?
Since I'm so heavily biased, it's not surprising that I can't understand it.
Can anyone else LOGICALLY explain this to me without succumbing to the (albeit irresistable) temptation to make fun of Us?
(sigh...snif...sob)
No one wants to play in Hockey City!
(bawl)

[Leo]

Ok Bros for Pierre Page and for turning the page.

Still looking for my Euro 2008 Espana prize..another team you accused of bad bad things.

Sundin will drive you crazy..better get to plan C or the anniversary will be a little flat.

[léo]

Hey, Leo. (Bear?)
First off, half my family's in Spain. I LOVE team Spain. 2nd after team France, of course.
But, imagine rooting for the Ottawa Senators and seeing them repeatedly crash and burn when they should be thrashing the opposition.
Team Spain have been the Ottawa Senators of international soccer for 44yrs!!!
Don't tell me, Leo (Bear?); I'll tell you. Super-strong team, the BEST on paper, but in crunch-time? Plunk-Flush-Zero.
When they beat Italy in the first game of the second round this year, it had been the farthest they'd ever gone in 24yrs!!! They lost to France in the Final of Euro84. (snicker)
I only said what was the truth. If you know soccer, than you know it's all about the Feel of the game. We use abstracts to describe gameplay. "..tentative strike..", "probing relay", "hopeful ball", etc, etc. You FELT Spain not having enough "moral fiber" to step up in crunch time. They lost all energy. "Unimaginative", "Uninspired", "lost", "dreaming", and the worst, "content". Saw it with MY OWN EYES for the last 8yrs; don't tell me; I'll tell you.
It was GREAT for them to lose that handle.
Like it would be great if the Sens lost theirs.
Besides, I'm not a lone voice in the dark, here; the whole WORLD knows this; I didn't BASH anyone; I WANTED them to win. (once France was out, of course)
Anyone but Italy, really; the Philadelphia Flyers of international soccer.
Viva!

[Don in St. Pete]

Leo, So is it Mats back to Toronto then? I have no idea why nobody is taking your offers. Hossa could have been huge there. It's baffling. Maybe we'll find out eventually. I'm guessing a Canadian would have jumped at the opportunity. Maybe too many cups and too many ghosts? You're guess is better than mine. C'est la vie.