I’m somewhat ambivalent on Bob McKenzie. He’s clearly got good sources but I always wonder the extent to which his information is filtered or presented in such a way as to stroke those sources. Case in point - his reporting of the Vinny Lecavalier story. This is, as far as I can tell, a Bob McKenzie TM production - nobody else seems to have any information about it. While the rest of the hockey media are waiting for a puff of white smoke from the St. Pete Times Forum, Bob’s got Cardinal Ratzinger’s agent on the phone, telling him how the voting’s been going. Maybe what works on TV just doesn’t work on the printed (web)page, but this, in a story dealing with Lecavalier’s involvement in his potential trade struck me as particularly bizarre:
Because players with the stature of Lecavalier, and the type of presence he has in the Tampa marketplace, don’t get moved without being part of the process. So when all is said and done, the direction this story goes hinges heavily on what Lecavalier wants to do.
Really? Players like Lecavalier don’t get traded without being part of the process? Tell it to Joe Thornton:
Thornton was stunned when general manager Mike O’Connell called his cell phone after Thornton had just finished dining with his parents in Boston. The 26-year-old signed a three-year, $20 million contract in August with Boston, where he was the club’s captain for the last three seasons.
Thornton was less than complimentary of O’Connell and coach Mike Sullivan, whose jobs are both rumored to be in jeopardy.
“I was blindsided,” Thornton said in a conference call. “On the one hand it’s disappointing, and on the other it’s good to start over again. When you don’t win, there’s going to be changes.
“Obviously [the Bruins] believe in their coach and their general manager, and I’m next in line, so I’ve got to move on. … I came back here to win, and we haven’t been winning. Whose fault is that? I’m not sure, but I’m out of here, so it must be mine.”
I don’t know that Lecavalier is in Thornton’s class to be honest, but I’ve got no idea what McKenzie was driving at there. I’ve got doubts that Vinny Lecavalier is as well known in Tampa as a guy like Ryan Smyth was in Edmonton and Smyth got thrown over the side of the ship without being consulted about the move. I’m not saying that it’s not within the rights of the team, only that McKenzie’s angle on the whole thing is so completely disconnected from reality that it’s hard to know what to make of it. It’s rare that I read something and think to myself “The only plausible understanding of this is demonstrably false”, but McKenzie has found a way to do it. Amazing.
As for the trade itself (McKenzie says that the return “…does NOT include defenceman Mike Komisarek, nor is it likely to, but would see Tomas Plekanec, Chris Higgins, prospect P.K. Subban, Josh Gorges and a package of draft picks including more than one first-round pick”), I’m having a hard time understanding how this is even coming up now. Six months ago, they sign him for eleven years. Now they want to move him. It’s the seeming lack of any plan that I’d find terrifying if I was a Lightning fan.
It’s almost enough to make a guy happy that the Oilers are manned by the steady hand of Cap’n Vish Throttler. At least there’s some follow through on the panicky decision making and a guy can try to delude himself into thinking that there’s some grand plan that he just doesn’t appreciate yet. I don’t know what you tell yourself if you’re a Tampa fan. “Maybe the global financial meltdown will force Len Barrie to sell the team to someone with a less scattered approach”? That’s an even more slender hook to hang your hopes on than “Dustin Penner will turn into an elite first line forward.”
Of course, both make more sense than “…players with the stature of Lecavalier, and the type of presence he has in the Tampa marketplace, don’t get moved without being part of the process.” So that’s something. At least Bob McKenzie isn’t running the Lightning.
The habs are chugging along without Koivou-Tanguay-Higgins, their only weakness being the third pairing D (namely: Brisebois). That’s it.
I can see Pleks and Higgins go. I can see a couple of prospects and draft picks, why not.
But Georges? Dude is 24, is top on the team with +/-, does the PK, now does the PP too, is paid 1.1mil this year and the next two years. Desjardins has him at 0.05 qualcomp and he is on the second pairing with Hamrlik.
Did I mention he filled adequately on the first pairing when Komisaurus went down?
That whole story reeks of those Ryder for Tanguay idiocies of a year ago.
Six months ago, they sign him for eleven years. Now they want to move him. It’s the seeming lack of any plan that I’d find terrifying if I was a Lightning fan.
Considering the recent history of Dan Boyle and Barry Melrose with long-term contracts in Tampa, I’m guessing Vinnie should start packing his bags.
I don’t know that Lecavalier is in Thornton’s class to be honest,…
I realize you’re probably measuring your words there, but I’m pretty sure that he isn’t. The object of this game is to outscore the other guys, after all.
With that contract, if I was an NHL GM, I wouldn’t trade anything (of value) for him. Of course I said the same thing about Brad Richards, and apparently there was a bidding war for him.
Thank god Dallas “won”. A nice boost for us Pacific strugglers.
And on McKenzie: everyone talks out of their rear once in a while. I’ll give him an annual pass, the dude has to fill an awful lot of minutes on the tee-vee, and he’s almost always the smartest and most sensible-sounding guy on there.
I still swear that Dreger was hired by TSN for the primary purpose of making McKenzie’s wisdom and reputability look yet even better by comparison.
Matt - you’re right, I was measuring my words. I didn’t want to make that the issue.
As far as McKenzie goes, I don’t really follow the NFL but I read Peter King. I don’t know why I do this because what I hate about Peter King is that he’s like corporate America in human form. For whatever reason, Bob McKenzie strikes me as being exactly the same.
But Bob McKenzie knows things. Is there a better connected journalist watching the NHL?
Maybe it’s just me, but THN took a big slide after he left. Mike Brophy isn’t even in the same category as Bob McKenzie.
That said, sure he says silly things from time to time.
So.. I’m not insane to say I’d want no part of Vinny, right? Like… none, what-so-ever?
On the other hand, it could be that Bob McKenzie was repeating what he was told by Brian Lawton:
“I can tell you if a player of that stature were ever going to be traded, I would go meet with him, face to face, and discuss the situation,” Lawton added. “That has never happened.”
That quote was in the St. Pete Times this morning. Personally, the similarity of the wording lends credence to McKenzie’s comments, IMO.
Whichever team bites on Lecavalier will be buying high. He hasn’t been the benefactor of a save percentage this flattering since Khabby ‘04.
I wasn’t calling McKenzie a liar Jonathan, only saying that it seems like an odd thing to say. You’re right about the quote being similar - one wonders if Lawton was talking to McKenzie and that’s where Bob got the idea.
Or maybe Lawton read the story himself before he talked to the St. Pete Times, and that’s where he got the language. Either way, you’re right, eerily similar.
“I can tell you if a player of that stature were ever going to be traded, I would go meet with him, face to face, and discuss the situation,” Lawton added. “That has never happened.”
kind of along the same lines as “Dan Boyle is not going anywhere” and “Barry Melrose’s job is safe”. Honestly, the whole thing about involving Vinny in the process is a little disingenuous. They are using the loophole to avoid the no trade clause. Involved or not, I assume he would go to the highest bidder with no ability to block the trade.
I don’t really follow the NFL but I read Peter King.
You masochist, you.
Tampa is next in line after Phoenix, I think, in terms of being in trouble. These guys are leveraged to the hilt and having lived in Clearwater let me just tell you that the number of fans there is quite small.
Moving Vinny is just an attempt to save money. I’d be surprised if they brought that much back - I’m thinking prospects and picks.
They’re broke.
I was just sitting here looking at all the teams with financial difficulties, and thinking - jeeze, its a good thing we’re in oil country and can sell our black gold for buckets of money, or else we might be in the same boat as the rest of them.
So what happens here in 20 years when we don’t have any more black gold?
I’m having a hard time understanding how this is even coming up now. Six months ago, they sign him for eleven years. Now they want to move him. It’s the seeming lack of any plan that I’d find terrifying if I was a Lightning fan.
Are you kidding me MC? You’re a bright dude, have you been paying attention to the Lightning at all since the new ownership took over? The Ringling Bros. can’t compete with that circus…
Unleaded, those buckets of money are only $35/bbl right now. Thimbles, perhaps. We in oil country are merely at the tail end of the whip. Do not fret, our own Wile E. Coyote moment is coming. Acme led us off the cliff, too.
Unleaded: What happens is that we spend whatever is left of the Heritage Fund trying to clean up the toxic mess of the Oilsands…this of course is after Big Oil has cashed in and left Dodge.