Confessions from the Killer Mime Cult

I have to start with hockey this week, because it has been a very interesting week. First of all, the trade deadline came and went, with the biggest trade being Marion Hossa to Pittsburg. Forsberg has returned to the NHL, but with the Colorado Avalanche. Pittsburg was the most active, acquiring Hossa, Dupuis, and Gil. It's obvious that they are going to try and take a run this season for the stanley cup. With Hossa they would have had the most potent offense in the league, when Crosby returned from an injury. But alas, it was not to be as Hossa was injured in his first game as a Penguin. The other big story was the attempt by Toronto management to dump players. None wanted to be dumped, and as the former management lacked the hindsight and gave most of them no-trade clauses, they couldn't be dumped. Montreal did something strange and traded away a respectable goalie, Huet, to washington, for very little in return. Ottawa could have used him, but it was no go. The biggest story I think was not the trade deadline, but what happened after it. Ottawa fired their head coach, John Paddock and he was replaced with Brian Murray, the current GM and the former coach. I was a bit shocked-Ottawa has been playing horribly, and this is probably the most inconsistent season in the history of the sport, but I thought this change would happen after the playoffs. Murray seems to think that Paddock was too much of a nice guy to motivate his players. That's probably true, but the change didn't immediately have much affect. They lost to Philadephia, like they lost to Boston, Toronto, and other teams. If Murray manages to turn it around, they may have a chance in the playoffs. If not, I predict a major shake up in Ottawa at the end of the season, with stars leaving and being forced to leave.

Labels: Hockey Update