Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Interweb Briefing

- As Big Shooter reported earlier, the Thrashers have signed Evander Kane, which makes all kinds of sense, because we drafted him, to our team.

- The Falconer unleashes his statistics hounds and confirms what your Chronicle staff has known all along: if you don't believe in Ron Hainsey, you don't have a soul, and if you did it would burn in hell for eternity. The problem with Hainsey last year was not Hainsey. After all, he's a fine top-4 defenseman, good in his own end and adept at that carrying-the-puck-and-shooting business. And such a handsome feller too, I feel I can admit. LADIES, am I right? Ladies? La--

The problem with Hainsey was his partners, especially Garnet Exelby, who was, let's be real, awful in just about every way. And now we've exchanged him for Pavel Kubina, a legitimate top-4 defenseman. This is a good thing. As the Falconer says:

Ron Hainsey demonstrated that he could be a positive defenseman last year when paired with some stronger defenseman. Pavel Kubina has been a top four guy for several years. Hainsey strength as a defender is his mobility and passing skills. Kubina is not the most mobile but uses his size effectively and he passes well. If Hainsey and Kubina can learn to complement each other the Thrashers could really benefit from having a top 4 pairing that can put up a positive goal differential.

A good thing.

- I'm not sure what to believe about all this Manny Malhotra talk. If the rumors can be believed, we've offered him a 4 year, $8 million contract. Reports say he's thinking about it, but he doesn't want to sign with the Thrashers, because they're-the-Thrashers-that's-why. But then there's the money...to be honest, I'm not sure I want him if he has to think this long and hard about signing with us. But then again, he's a great defensive forward who could really, REALLY help our weak penalty kill. Versatile, too; he can score when he needs to. What to do?

- Are there things in the world besides hockey? Why yes there are. Pictures of English ultra-rose Anna Friel, the ghost of 60's London come back to sexily haunt us all, for instance.

- Oh yeah, ha ha, this is HILARIOUS. Who are these Rage Monkeys? They don't seem to be prioritizing very well.

1 comment:

Razor Catch Prey said...

Good to see Kane signed, though we shouldn't jump to the conclusion that this means he'll be going pro this season. Unlike NCAA players, junior hockey players can sign with an NHL team and then return to their junior team for further seasoning. NCAA players may be drafted, but cannot sign a contract until the end of their time playing college hockey.

Another interesting twist with junior players is that they can play a few games at the beginning of the year before being sent back to juniors without penalty. So we can let Kane get a taste of NHL life, try him out on the big club, then still send him back to the Giants if we decide that's what would be best for his development.