latest Eklund stuff

[jkr]

he mentions today that the Habs have an interest in Stoll & Horcoff.

What he fails to mention is that Horcoff is having shoulder surgery & is done for the season. Do a little more homework please.

[HFTO]

The only reason they trade for Stoll is if Chipchura is moved in another deal otherwise that makes little sense unless they believe he could also be a winger.As you mentioned Horcoff is mute point until the offseason and then that is only if Koivu is moved.
HFTO

[Marvin]

He's now mentioning that a Higgins + ? for Hossa trade could be announced as early as tomorrow. : (

[jkr]

marvin said:

He's now mentioning that a Higgins + ? for Hossa trade could be announced as early as tomorrow. : (

He pulls this crap all the time. Acouple of days ago he was talking about Brian Campbell being signed.

When it doesn't happen he just says - well, I'm just reporting what I hear. Huge cop out.

[HFTO]

Eklund in many ways is a genius he developed a site where there was a huge need and b.s. or not every hockey fan admittedly or not checks in for the latest gossip.
Why because were passionate and the talk gives us all hope.
His site is as advertised hockey buzz and he's created it rightly or wrongly.
For the die hards it'd be nice if anything was accurate or for that matter original but it does have us talking and that's always best when your team has a chance for a change.
Now if somebody would come up with a believable trade for Hossa that excluded Higgins I think we'd all be alot happier but the reality is that may never happen and for that matter the trade.
Go Habs
HFTO

[Doc Holliday]

...The main thing that would bug me about trading Higgins is the effect on Komisarek (who's a UFA after next year).

Higgins is not a playmaker and he needs a guy to find him and feed him the puck. He's in a funk right now but playing with a desinterested Koivu doesn't help him all (just like Pleks was struggling playing with a desinterested Samsonov last year) and since there are no other offensive center on the team or in the farm, Higgins is kinda screwed...

Hossa would help any team immensly but IMO we need a center more than a winger and trying to find a guy that would get Higgins going again could prove to be much wiser than trying, yet again, to find a guy for Koivu, which after 12 years is looking like the Holly Graal quest ...

[HFTO]

You might find that happening next year Doc.
I really don't think Higgins is going to moved,he is part of the new guard and Saku unfortunately is part of the old.
His body language begets one of frustration because things aren't going well,like Kovalev it maybe all together different next year as this group matures.
If Saku truly has had enough he and Bob will do the move in the summer and that's when a deal for a new centre will come about.I think Bob would get a big fish if he only has to deal prospects otherwise a small tweak here and there is what will happen and he'll test this group going into the playoffs should they get there.Bob's been way to patient to this point to disrupt the new core if they are contenders next year then with another load of prospects in the fold the Habs will really be ready to load up.
HFTO

[jkr]

hfto said:

Eklund in many ways is a genius he developed a site where there was a huge need and b.s. or not every hockey fan admittedly or not checks in for the latest gossip.
Why because were passionate and the talk gives us all hope.
His site is as advertised hockey buzz and he's created it rightly or wrongly.
For the die hards it'd be nice if anything was accurate or for that matter original but it does have us talking and that's always best when your team has a chance for a change.
Now if somebody would come up with a believable trade for Hossa that excluded Higgins I think we'd all be alot happier but the reality is that may never happen and for that matter the trade.
Go Habs
HFTO

But he bugs the crap out of me. This morning he is reporting Hossa to Montreal as an e4 - on his scale that's pretty much a done deal. Now this afternoon he quotes another source as saying Montreal & Atlanta have had zero discussions.

How does it go from almost happening to we never even discussed it. This guy didn't have much credibility before but he's quickly losing it in my eyes. And his commentary is off the mark too. He says Ken Holland wouldn't trade the type of young players & prospects it would take to get Sundin. In fact, if you look at Holland's history, he will trade picks & prospects to get immediate help. The Chelios & Bertuzzi deals quickly come to mind.

He tries to pass himself off as a journalist but he hasn't predicted anything yet & his hockey knowledge seems suspect.

[jkr]

docholliday said:

...The main thing that would bug me about trading Higgins is the effect on Komisarek (who's a UFA after next year).

Higgins is not a playmaker and he needs a guy to find him and feed him the puck. He's in a funk right now but playing with a desinterested Koivu doesn't help him all (just like Pleks was struggling playing with a desinterested Samsonov last year) and since there are no other offensive center on the team or in the farm, Higgins is kinda screwed...

Hossa would help any team immensly but IMO we need a center more than a winger and trying to find a guy that would get Higgins going again could prove to be much wiser than trying, yet again, to find a guy for Koivu, which after 12 years is looking like the Holly Graal quest ...

I agree with the need for a centre completely. It's clear the team needs a succession plan at centre because as you said, Koivu looks unmotivated.

I have no idea who's available that would really fit the bill - Jokinen, Richards?. Would love to see one of those two but I get the feeling that BG is just going to ride it out with Koivu & hope he turns it around.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

jkr said:

hfto said:

Eklund in many ways is a genius he developed a site where there was a huge need and b.s. or not every hockey fan admittedly or not checks in for the latest gossip.
Why because were passionate and the talk gives us all hope.
His site is as advertised hockey buzz and he's created it rightly or wrongly.
For the die hards it'd be nice if anything was accurate or for that matter original but it does have us talking and that's always best when your team has a chance for a change.
Now if somebody would come up with a believable trade for Hossa that excluded Higgins I think we'd all be alot happier but the reality is that may never happen and for that matter the trade.
Go Habs
HFTO

But he bugs the crap out of me. This morning he is reporting Hossa to Montreal as an e4 - on his scale that's pretty much a done deal. Now this afternoon he quotes another source as saying Montreal & Atlanta have had zero discussions.

How does it go from almost happening to we never even discussed it. This guy didn't have much credibility before but he's quickly losing it in my eyes. And his commentary is off the mark too. He says Ken Holland wouldn't trade the type of young players & prospects it would take to get Sundin. In fact, if you look at Holland's history, he will trade picks & prospects to get immediate help. The Chelios & Bertuzzi deals quickly come to mind.

He tries to pass himself off as a journalist but he hasn't predicted anything yet & his hockey knowledge seems suspect.

12:20 pst Eklund reports that Osama Bin Laden will be found today before 8pp.
12:21 pst Eklund reports that there has been no news in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.
12:22 pst Eklund laughs all the way to the bank.

[jkr]

habsfaninla said:

jkr said:

But he bugs the crap out of me. This morning he is reporting Hossa to Montreal as an e4 - on his scale that's pretty much a done deal. Now this afternoon he quotes another source as saying Montreal & Atlanta have had zero discussions.

How does it go from almost happening to we never even discussed it. This guy didn't have much credibility before but he's quickly losing it in my eyes. And his commentary is off the mark too. He says Ken Holland wouldn't trade the type of young players & prospects it would take to get Sundin. In fact, if you look at Holland's history, he will trade picks & prospects to get immediate help. The Chelios & Bertuzzi deals quickly come to mind.

He tries to pass himself off as a journalist but he hasn't predicted anything yet & his hockey knowledge seems suspect.

12:22 pst Eklund laughs all the way to the bank.

Exactly.

He posts stuff that will get fans of the Habs, Leafs & Flyers talking.

Anything about about Forsberg, for instance, is guaranteed for a couple of hunderd replies.

[CrocRob]

I personally think it's his lack of identity that ruins any credibility. I mean, he posts rumours, and I accept that for what they are, but he's got nothing to lose by being wrong because his real identity doesn't suffer for it.

If there was a name attached, I might actually read his website because I could say "Ross was dead wrong on this one." If his credibility as this Eklund character ever suffered enough he could plausibly create another Internet persona, and begin using that one.

That, and he has no editor to report to, so his screening process is fatally flawed. With no one to look over his shoulder and make sure his sources are legitimate, he ends up posting stuff he shouldn't. There was an interesting thread on HFBoards about Eklund, in which he replied answering some of the criticism. His post is here.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

redscull said:

I personally think it's his lack of identity that ruins any credibility. I mean, he posts rumours, and I accept that for what they are, but he's got nothing to lose by being wrong because his real identity doesn't suffer for it.

If there was a name attached, I might actually read his website because I could say "Ross was dead wrong on this one." If his credibility as this Eklund character ever suffered enough he could plausibly create another Internet persona, and begin using that one.

That, and he has no editor to report to, so his screening process is fatally flawed. With no one to look over his shoulder and make sure his sources are legitimate, he ends up posting stuff he shouldn't. There was an interesting thread on HFBoards about Eklund, in which he replied answering some of the criticism. His post is here.

Well said, Red. I'll hand it to him, he's one of those self-made guys who started from nothing, established a board that is probably frequented by many and now has a few journalists jumping on his success.

The fact is they do so because Eklund is on the radar, which in turn, increases the range of their radar as well.

I find the Internet allows people to be someone else than they really are. It gives people a chance to develop a character that can either be a reflection of themselves, or someone they'd really like to be.

However, I still don't buy into his general mussings. I have two sources I hear from regularly. But I've been reluctant in publicly posting anything I hear from them because, while there are often a few irons in the fire, very rarely do they ever get pulled out.

As for Eklund, well, he seems to always have an iron or two in the fire. But, his service has now turned into a "National Enquirer" kind of act and this is where he loses me.

Cheers.

[jkr]

don't think Eklund saw this one coming. I don't remember seeing those names pop up on his website.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

jkr said:

don't think Eklund saw this one coming. I don't remember seeing those names pop up on his website.

Maybe his vision is only 1:20 but his hindsight is 20:20.

(1:20) might be generous)

[Marvin]

Eklund's latest barb is that a 'big deal' involving Montreal is likely to take place tonight.

[CrocRob]

marvin said:

Eklund's latest barb is that a 'big deal' involving Montreal is likely to take place tonight.

I am perched on the edge of my seat in anticipation.

Okay. That's long enough. I'm going out.

[PTH]

marvin said:

Eklund's latest barb is that a 'big deal' involving Montreal is likely to take place tonight.

The night before 2 games in a row ? Sounds unlikely to me.

[jkr]

redscull said:

marvin said:

Eklund's latest barb is that a 'big deal' involving Montreal is likely to take place tonight.

I am perched on the edge of my seat in anticipation.

Okay. That's long enough. I'm going out.

I waited all night for it & it never happened. That's 8 hours of my life that I won't get back.

[jkr]

Today he is saying the Habs have a big deal going but that it is dependent upon the their trading partner making a deal with Toronto for a Leaf that has a NTC.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

According to Eklund the Hab's will either trade one or more of:

22 Begin, Steve LW 6-0 193 6/14/78 Trois-Rivieres, PQ
51 Bouillon, Francis D 5-8 201 10/17/75 New York, NY
71 Brisebois, Patrice D 6-2 203 1/27/71 Montreal, PQ
25 Dandenault, Mathieu RW 6-0 215 2/3/76 Sherbrooke, PQ
26 Gorges, Josh D 6-1 195 8/14/84 Kelowna, BC
44 Hamrlik, Roman D 6-2 208 4/12/74 Zlin, Czechoslovakia
21 Higgins, Christopher LW 6-0 202 6/2/83 Smithtown, NY
39 Huet, Cristobal G 6-0 204 9/3/75 St. Martin D'Heres, France
11 Koivu, Saku C 5-10 187 11/23/74 Turku, Finland
8 Komisarek, Mike D 6-4 242 1/19/82 West Islip, NY
46 Kostitsyn, Andrei LW 6-0 200 2/3/85 Novopolotsk, USSR
74 Kostitsyn, Sergei LW 5-11 196 3/20/87 Novopolotsk, USSR
6 Kostopoulos, Tom RW 6-0 205 1/24/79 Mississauga, ON
27 Kovalev, Alexei RW 6-2 222 2/24/73 Togliatti, USSR
40 Lapierre, Maxim C 6-2 196 3/29/85 Saint Leonard, PQ
84 Latendresse, Guillaume RW 6-2 229 5/24/87 Ste. Catherine, PQ
79 Markov, Andrei D 6-0 203 12/20/78 Voskresensk, USSR
3 O'Byrne, Ryan D 6-5 228 7/19/84 Victoria, BC
14 Plekanec, Tomas C 5-10 196 10/31/82 Kladno, Czechoslovakia
31 Price, Carey G 6-3 226 8/16/87 Vancouver, BC
73 Ryder, Michael RW 6-0 192 3/31/80 Bonavista, NF
20 Smolinski, Bryan C 6-2 215 12/27/71 Toledo, OH
32 Streit, Mark D 6-0 196 12/11/77 Englisberg, Switzerland


or not?

[Skilly]

Last night on TSN Dave Nonis said that the canucks didnt have the financial capability or depth to make a big name trade ... they are looking for lower line help.

Today Eklund says ... next big move coming out of Vancouver.

[Marvin]

He's got Brian Campbell to Mtl as an (E4).

[jkr]

skilly said:

Last night on TSN Dave Nonis said that the canucks didnt have the financial capability or depth to make a big name trade ... they are looking for lower line help.

Today Eklund says ... next big move coming out of Vancouver.

I find he just doesn't do his homework. His analysis his just way off the mark. he actually said today that Sundin said no to the Leafs because the deals for him were no good.

It couldn't be because Sundin really wanted to stay in Toronto.

[jkr]

marvin said:

He's got Brian Campbell to Mtl as an (E4).

Dreger said that Campbell was taking the warmup tonight. If he was on the verge of being traded he likely would not be in the lineup.

EDIT: according to NHL.com, Campbell is playing tonight.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

Eklund was correct a couple of times, and wrong thousands, as usual.
Credit where credit is due.

[blny]

habsfaninla said:

Eklund was correct a couple of times, and wrong thousands, as usual.
Credit where credit is due.

Throw enough $hit and some of it is bound to stick.

[Skilly]

The latest (e5):

Next year, someone will be traded somewhere, for someone else.

Bank on it baby!!!!

[CrocRob]

Not exactly Eklund, but he's Eklund sponsored.

An exerpt from BD Gallof's blog, an Islanders blogger: www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=13720

From the Belly of the Beast

What is most interesting is the trade that did not happen. My strong belief and info is that it was Montreal. Once out of the Hossa sweeps, which cost the Penguins dearly, I might add, I think Gainey and Garth had something strong in the works that involved more than just their short term contracts. I think it involved one of their Long Island dmen.

What you did not see on Isles TV is that we had our own session with Garth Snow. Dee Karl, our lone female blogger of the famed 7thwoman.bravejournal.com, was here with us at this point. And in that interview, Garth dodged going on the record of who that trade was with or who it included. Mike Michael Schuerlein was doing his best to crack that egg. "Were you interested in any other defensemen?" Mike sets Garth up so gently, like a serve in the Tennis game in Wii Sports . . .

Then I slyly added to the question "Maybe a Long Island one?"

Garth laughs, turns red, and says:

"Lets get back to Bridgeport and Tambellini".

Booya!

Bloggers 1, Garth 0.

This falls right into the talk of when Garth said he was not willing to give up on prospects like Tambs, Comeau, and certainly not Okposo. Nor was he going to give up the 1st round pick in a deep draft. In my mind, I feel strongly they were speaking of Komisarek. And that would have been very costly.

But, like I've always said, I'm not a rumor guy. But in being there and chasing it down, correct or not, it told me I'm in the right place and where I should be. The feeling of capturing a tendril of what MIGHT have happened was electric. And I look not at Garth's words, but in his demeanor, body language and blinking. The Simon talk seemed more company lines. My gut is Wang brought down the hammer and dictated the move. And, Garth really didn't want to give up whatever the heavy cost that whoever that player was. And maybe I'm completely wrong, and it was Toronto and McCabe. Could be. But my gut tells me far different. Right now, my gut is telling me it's time for dinner. So lets wrap this all up.


So, there is my experience. I left before the game so I could write out my blog properly. I hope you enjoyed my little tale about what is another leap for bloggers. Our involvement in the trade deadline. My Montreal info was pretty solid. But as to Garth's talk of if that was the deal in place and whom? Well, I'll leave it to your own interpretation or opinion. Mine is that at least one of Montreal's LI defensemen were involved. You all might think differently.

BUT, I'm the guy with the blog

Til the next one . . .


- BD[/i]


I mean, he's a stupid blogger, so what the hell does he know? But the notion of Komisarek being traded to the Island (for what?!) is laughable. My bet -- if this is even slightly accurate, since it all seems to be suggestion and misguided inference -- is that it was Bouillon.

[Skilly]

Bob would never trade Komi ... what he conveniently leaves out, is who Montreal wanted in return. He listed a bunch of prospects, but no one Montreal would have even considered giving up Komi for.

My gut, if this is all true, is that it was McCabe ... and the Leafs wanted a first round pick or a good prospect.