the refs don’t get any respect.

Looks like we can forget about Hamhuis.

The Flyers dealt defenseman Ryan Parent to the Predators on Saturday in exchange for defenseman Dan Hamhuis and a conditional draft pick in the 2011 draft.

Hamhuis, 27, had five goals and 19 assists for Nashville last season. He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. A first-round pick of the Predators in 2001, Hamhuis has recorded 32 goals and 129 assists in 483 career games.

“Dan Hamhuis is a good all-around defenseman,” Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said in a statement. “He has been in Nashville since his draft year. He’s a guy who can play lots of minutes and he can play in a lot of different situations, from power play to killing penalties. He is another athlete we’d like to add to our team to continue to improve our defense.”

Among players drafted in 2001, only Ilya Kovalchuk (621) has played in more career games than Hamhuis. He has only missed nine games since debuting during the 2003-04 season.

“Obviously it is sad to leave the Predators. I spent some great years with them and it is great organization to be a part of,” Hamhuis said. “I’ve heard nothing but great things about the city of Philadelphia and the Flyers. I think Philly has an unbelievable defensive core. To join a core like that makes the Flyers one of the tougher ones in the league. To play against the teams from the East, the conference has a lot of great forwards, and watching the playoffs, having a great defense will get you a long way.”

RYAN PARENT
courtesy of my.hockeybuzz.com

Parent, originally acquired from the Predators in the Peter Forsberg trade, managed only one goal and six assists in 102 games for the Flyers over parts of the last four seasons.

“I think Ryan is a good kid,” said Holmgren. “He is an extremely hard worker. We certainly thank him for his services and his time here. He has a lot of upside.”

Am I the only one here who is watching this Province put doubt in one of the best players this franchise has had the pleasure of following?

Yes Luongo has not been himself since the Olympic break, looking less like an Olympic gold medalist and more like John Garrett between the pipes but he is still Roberto Luongo. I am sick of reading posts in forums and articles written about how Raycroft is putting up better numbers and should be starting.

Raycroft faces far less pressure than Luongo. Yes he is the best back up we’ve had in the Lu era but he isn’t Roberto. Look back to Lu’s first three seasons here, if he wasn’t the best player on the ice the chances of the Canucks coming out with the W were slim to none. With the emergence of the Sedins, Kesler, Burr, Samuelsson (the list goes on) this team can win when Luongo is just ok. Maybe he has got a little too comfortable being ok.

Is that a problem? I don’t have the answer to that.

I do know however that Roberto is one of the most passionate and emotional players in the league.

Aside from game 6 in the playoffs last year he has been outstanding to date in all playoff competition. I have no reason to believe that Lu will not be ready to lead this team in the playoffs.

This team will go as far as Luongo can carry them. As soon as he picks up his first win in the 2010 playoffs everyone will forget a couple weak goals against the spOilers.

Yesterday I had my first chance to take in one of the games. It was USA against Switzerland in preliminary men’s ice hockey and I was not disappointed.

ZAK PARISE

It was a different feeling than a typical NHL game.

You could sense the bulk of the crowd were not knowledgeable hockey fans, the jumbotron even explained the rules before puck drop. What you could tell however, was the passion that each and every fan in Canada Hockey Place brought to the table. Frequently throughout the game USA chants would begin, the crowd would chant GO SWISS. The two chants would trade off whenever a team would put on pressure and had Canada been involved it would have kicked the experience to a whole new level.

The passion of the game made it feel like the playoffs.

And to the game,

Everyone and their dog was aware that the Americans were the stronger team in this affair, it would have been a disappointment had they lost and it showed in the 3-1 victory. Some people really impressed me in the game though. It was my first opportunity to see Zach Parise live and I thought he looked great, this kid has loads of talent. I thought Ryan Suter and Erik Johnson looked alive on the back end and Ryan Miller was well Ryan Miller.

Being a Canucks fan at heart I found myself watching a lot of Kesler, he looked a little nervous and a little less like he knew where to be but I think he will find his niche and have a strong tournament. The thing about team USA is they have a team built unlike any other in the tournament. They have an NHL style team with every role filled. It is something we haven’t seen in this tournament and I think they could surprise a few people.

I was most impressed in the game by Mark Streit and Jonas Hiller. Streit was such a calming presence over the entire team, he kept his team in check and man is this guy smart with the puck on the point. He has a quick accurate shot and reminds me of a young Mathieau Schneider. Jonas Hiller is going to be up against it in this tournament but he looked great in this game, but that will make about as much difference as Mark Messier made to the Canucks playoff aspirations.

All in all it was exactly what I expected the Americans getting used to one another and the Swiss hanging in on and playing their hearts out.

Like I said team USA is built for the NHL so they won’t blow anyone out, but I love them in a close game.

I hope our boys come to play on Sunday.

*****

photo courtesy of cdn.nhl.com

One Sutter designed the building, bought the wire, conduit, etc. Another Sutter tried to connect up the right wires with the right wires.

And, what do you have? A giant cluster f..k.

The answer?

Don’t blame the tools and materials.

Get rid of the designer and the head electrician.

Those Sutters just can’t seem to turn on the lights….

The nucks youngsters learned a lot from Mathieu Schneider.

Keep your mouth shut, work hard, and your time will come.

Schneider did none of the above and after 17 games – 2 goals, 3 assists, and 12 penalty minutes – was sent to the peg.

And that was just before half the Vancouver D were injured, and Vancouver had to bring up players from the Moose and Stars.

In the American League Schneider did somewhat better, scoring three goals – on the power play – in 8 games and had 2 assists and was a -5.

Now, he’s injured and recently flew to Vancouver to get a second opinion on the knee injury.

It’s possible Schneider might need surgery to repair meniscus damage and could be out for 4-to-6 weeks.

*****

photo courtesy of rangerstribune.com

and stopped on a channel featuring a lusty couple in a dirty movie.

“I  don’t know whether to watch them or the game,” he said to  his wife.

“For heaven’s sake, watch them,” his  wife  said.

“You already know how to play  Hockey!”

The problem?

Why, simply its; do we need a third line centre upgrade?

Many fans have given up on Kyle Wellwood. He’s not producing the offence and he isn’t playing on the PK so what good is he? The number one favourite replacement seems to be Matt Cullen out of Carolina. And who do we offer up for this? Well the debate rages around Michael Grabner or maybe even Kevin Bieksa.

MATT CULLEN

I wrote a few months back that we needed a third line centre and a stud D-man. I speculated about Scott Neidermayer and whether Anaheim would move him…and what would we offer up?

And therein lies the luxury for Canuck fans.

Calgary is wondering whether they will make the playoffs…or whether they will ever score again (answers: in doubt; and, yes). Edmonton fans are rallying around the “Fall for Hall” which allows some small measure of comfort after each excruciating loss.

As bad as it is in Alberta, it’s worse in Toronto where Brian Burke’s shenanigans have resulted in Leaf fans facing the possibility that the pick traded for Phil Kessel could be a lottery pick. And Burke can rationalize all he wants, Phil Kessel arrived at the center of the universe with considerable baggage. Sure, he may be a great kid, but he’s more like Camalleri than he is like a Stamkos. Some little guys with speed are franchise players. Some are just streaky scorers. Phil is just a streaky scorer. If the pick Boston gets turns out to be a franchise player, it just adds more woe to this once storied team.

And again, therein lies our luxury. While other Canadian teams are worried about making the playoffs or which lottery pick they might get (or lose) we are debating an upgrade on our third line and maybe acquiring some more blue line depth.

Nice.

But rub those eyes Canuck fans because after the St. Lou game, it’s about to get real.

Very real.

Sure we have a bit of swagger and we have owned the east this year. But there is danger ahead…with a capital D.
I love the Luko story and Bomber has been a steady fill in as well. But if we want to stay in the race for the division lead, we’ll need a better than .500 showing on the monster road trip if we want to stay within shouting distance of Colorado.

Because if it all goes south, we’ll be debating more than a third line centre upgrade at the March trading deadline.

“It’s inconceivable for an official to tell a player he’d get him back,” Ron MacLean said. “It’s not inconceivable that he would do it.”

It was inconceivable to the Hockey Night in Canada commentator – and former coach – that a ref would hold malice.

Well, it’s inconceivable to me – as a former coach and teacher – that Graham James would have sex with one of his players.

And, it’s inconceivable to me – as the former president of a number of organization – that Bill Clinton “had sex with that woman.”

None of it is conceivable when you have your head up your ass….

*****

courtesy of temple3.files.wordpress.com

Mattias Ohlund: The defenseman, with zero goals and 10 assists, is the first to say he needs to contribute more offensively. But Ohlund is a calming influence on the blue line, and he was an early season anchor and mentor for rookie Victor Hedman. Ohlund is minus-3, but his team-high 23:57 of average ice time was almost all against opponents’ top players.

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His Olympic gold medal is tucked away somewhere in his father’s home.

There’s no grandiose display, not even a trophy case to celebrate any of the hockey achievements of Mattias Ohlund.

The Lightning’s rugged defense-man says he pulls the medal out sometimes but admits he’s not too sentimental when it comes to hockey games, even Sweden’s 3-2 victory against archrival Finland in the 2006 Olympics gold-medal game in Turin, Italy.

“I’m happy I was part of that tournament, and I’m happy we won,” Ohlund said. “You move on and look forward to the next day.”

Ohlund, 33, is surely feeling something after being selected Sunday to play for Sweden in his fourth Olympics, in February at Vancouver.

Rookie defenseman Victor Hedman was not selected but hopes to be picked as a replacement in case of injuries before the 23-player rosters are locked in Feb. 15.

For Ohlund, this Olympics will be a homecoming of sorts. He spent 12 seasons playing for the Canucks. Ohlund signed a seven-year free-agent contract last summer with the Lightning worth $25.25 million.

“Regardless of where the Olympics is, it’s going to be a fantastic experience, even more so when it’s in Vancouver, where I have so many friends,” he said.

Ohlund’s Olympic experiences have been interesting. He missed the final two games in ‘06 with rib and shoulder injuries after he crashed into the boards with Switzerland’s Patric Della Rossa. He left before the gold-medal game and was later awarded his medal.

In Salt Lake in 2002, he was on the Swedish team that was upset by Belarus in the quarterfinals, still considered one of the biggest Olympic upsets.

Ohlund has played in 14 games in the Olympics, collecting five points, all assists.

“I enjoy all of them,” Ohlund said. “(Belarus) was a big upset. You’re upset at the time, but then you look back and enjoy just the whole experience.”

Ohlund said he enjoys the camaraderie that comes with wearing the yellow and blue track suits many of Sweden’s athletes wear at the Games. He also enjoys spending time with all athletes, not just hockey players.

“It’s so much different than what we’re used to,” Ohlund said. “You’re eating, not at the fancy restaurants you’re used to and the fancy hotel rooms. It’s very different, and it’s very grounding in a way. It’s awesome to be a part of it.”

Hedman, 19, looked at his computer early Sunday morning to learn he did not make the team. He did not speak with anyone from Sweden before heading to the St. Pete Times Forum for practice, arriving by 9:15 a.m.

“Of course you’re a little disappointed, but on the other hand, (Sweden coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson) knows what he’s doing,” Hedman said. “He picked the team that won the last (Olympics). I can’t blame him. Of course, I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

Hedman is averaging 22:16 of ice time, second to Ohlund’s 23:56. Hedman has three goals and eight assists and is second among the Lightning defensemen with 11 points. Ohlund has eight assists.

Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said Sweden’s coach had tough roster decisions to make.

“How young do you go? Experience vs. inexperience,” he said. “(Hedman is) the type of guy, I guarantee you, if the NHL (participates in) another Olympics … he will definitely be on the roster.”

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