Wednesday, July 02, 2008

missed targets

I know I'm not sports/beat writer, but I find it creatively stimulating to imitate one. Like a "Crock on the Ice" segment on Channel 11 news wouldn't be the bee's knees...

Let's review my predictions:

Brian Rolston (Devils)
Sean Avery (Stars)
Dmitri Kalinin
Ladislav Nagy
Jason Williams

Two top-six forwards and an average defender. Still, getting two of those three wouldn't be at all bad. Though, I fail to see how signing Nagy or Williams will differ from the Ziggy Palffy signing a few years back.

Hossa signed with Detroit around lunchtime. (Completely ruined my lunch, btw.) Not that I thought he'd be back anyway... Hoped, not thought...

That leaves us with almost everyone from my "No!" list ("Fluke" Vrbata cashed in already. Guess where?). Strangely enough, an unconfirmed source reported earlier that the Pens had shown interest in the oft-injured Pavol Demitra. As talented as he may be, Ray Shero has to be aware of Demitra's inability to put together a meaningful season. Then comes the homebodies - Naslund and Jagr. Jagr wasn't even on my initial "No!" list because of how he acted on his way out of Pittsburgh. I can't imagine him wanting to come back, but then again maybe people deserve a second chance. Which is exactly what Naslund is looking for, from either Vancouver or Pitt. I'd be more inclined to take on Naslund's demeanor than Jagr's disasterpiece. I wonder what RS is thinking...

2 comments:

Rollo said...

it's hard not to view the Hossa signing as a slap to the face....and again, it was similar money to what we were offering...I just don't get it.

I wonder where the communication broke down...if it was a shorter deal Hossa wanted why didn't we jump on that? We all knew this would be a tough offseason, so this is not a total shock.

Crock said...

Detroit was heavily favored to win the cup even before last season started.

The Pens were definitely "in it" but weren't heavy favorites like Detroit.

Combine that with the how Detroit was able to keep damn near EVERYBODY from their cup run, and you have a great scenario.

Just look at us. We're not anywhere close to the same team that went to the finals. My strong bet is that we're going to be a much better team when the regular season rolls around, but Hossa has cups in his eyes.