Episode 81 – USA! USA!
January 6th, 2010, 8:16 am
In a stunning reversal, the United States wins the World Junior Hockey Championship, beating Canada. In other news, the Sharks went on an eight-game winning streak, which then came to a screeching halt against the Kings. The Dudes break it all down, talk about the yo-yo action of Jason Demers to the minors, and wrap up the show giving three predictions for the second half of the season.
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USA!!
We’re totally going to do the same thing in the Olympics… and then Oliver Stone will release a movie in 2011 titled Miracle II. Jeremy Roenick will star as himself.
USAwesome!!!!!
While I’m not nominating him for the Canadian national team, I think it’s a little early and harsh to bemoan the efforts of Brad Staubitz. The early part of the season wasn’t everyone calliing for Clowe’s head? Given a little time to snap out of it Clowe now is a very respectable 10-19-29. Staubitz isn’t going to put up nice offensive numbers but he’s still wearing a shield and getting back into the physical element of his game. Give DW credit for not hitting the panic button too quickly on Clowe and expect the same with Staubitz.
In that same vein, if someone is expendable isn’t it Shelley? As we approached the 09-10 season, especially during pre-season, the talk on this blog was all about if both Shelley and Staubitz were both needed. Shelley filled the role of the heavy-weight which Staubitz wasn’t big enough to do, but in all other ways Staubitz was considered a more effective player. Then when Frazer McLaren showed up it was proposed if McLaren could replace Shelley, once again being considered superior in every way except fighting. Shelley still has the edge on reputation, but I’m not sure he’s actually appreciably better at the fighting. When you throw salary cap into the picture (Shelley-$750k, McLaren-$543K, Staubitz-$500k) it really seems to me like Shelley would be the odd man out in all of this. Thoughts?
Regarding this week’s poll… I would not trade Vlassic and Pavs for Phaneuf… I haven’t listened to the Pcast yet so maybe im hitting covered territory…
I would not trade Pavs becuase that would pretty much assure that Marleau would have to center the 2nd line. With Seto struggling right now, and im getting a little concerned about that, it leaves the top six a little thin… I would not want Phaneuf for that… For Shea Webber yes, even though we all know that isn’t happening.
How about Clowe and Vlassic for Dennis Wideman? or Clowe, Vlassic, and Greiss for Wideman and Tukka Rask??? Doubtful Boston would part with Rask but i’d do it in a flash! Rask is the solid furture in Boston.
Cap-wise, I don’t see the benefit of trading Vlasic. Any improvement would be both a huge increase in cap hit and would likely require another offensive player to pull off the trade. Sad to say, but I think Rob Blake is the issue on that d-pairing, but with him being named captain there is no way he is traded.
In that vein, why not switch the pairings and have Vlasic-Demers and Blake-Huskins? Remove the pressure of being a puck-mover from Vlasic, which is where most of his mistakes come from (IMO he has been particularly solid in his own zone). Keep Blake and Huskins lined up against 3rd/4th liners where their lack of speed is not as exposed. And apparently Vlasic is a master at defending 2-1s, which is a perfect skillset to compliment Demers.