| Subject: Playoffs in Yellowknife? |
Author:
Lien Seyah
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Date Posted: 01:03:03 01/30/04 Fri
After two straight seasons of playing golf come playoff time, the Blades find themselves in a battle for the playoffs, something that GM Hayes is not going to gamble with. Over the past 2 days, the defense of the team has been upgraded immensely in order to hopefully make the playoffs and perhaps surprise some teams.
The first trade saw the Blades trade WIN 1st in this draft and Ryan Miller for defensive stalwart Kenny Jonsson.
"Giving up two great assets is a high price, but a player of Jonsson's magnitude is very rare and will be invaluable to this team in its quest for the playoffs and beyond" stated GM Hayes.
Next came one of the biggest deals in Blades history. While this trade has been criticized by many Blades fans for its high backfire potential, noone can argue that it makes the team much better now. Gone are Glen Murray, Andrei Markov and Rostislav Klesla. In are Scott Stevens, Scott Hartnell, Scott Walker, and a 2nd round pick in this draft.
"Giving up on Klesla was especially difficult for me. He is going to be a fine defenseman in this league for a long time. When push came to shove however, I felt this team had a good young nucleus of blueliners, and moving Klesla, while painful, means some other good players can be given chances to succeed in the future, and the new guys will really help us down the stretch" commented Hayes.
Still not satisfied, Hayes went out to improve his goaltending, which has been a major problem every year for the Blades, who usually finish dead last in team save % every year. Gone are Osgood and Rathje and in is Thibault and a 2nd rounder next year.
"Osgood has been horrific all season for us. I have given him chance after chance, and time after time, Jeff Hackett proved he was our starter, despite Osgood's skill set. Acquiring a younger goalie who makes considerable les amount of money was important to this team. It should improve our goaltending and give us a little breathing room salary cap wise as we saved about 3 million on this deal.
Defense and goaltending has long been a problem in Yellowknife, despite what appeared to be a solid defensive team on paper. Luckily for Blades fans, this team can score and has survived on its scoring. With the addition of 2 defensive stalwarts, a new goalie, and a couple of great checking forwards, Yellowknife could start to make some teams very nervous down the stretch.
Lien Seyah, Yellowknife
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