Feb 28 2007
Oilers Trade Ryan Smyth To Islanders!!
20 minutes before the trade deadline ended, the Edmonton Oilers & the New York Islander agreed on a trade that shocked the entire NHL & it’s fans. In exchange for two young prospective players, Kent Nilsson & Ryan O’Marra, and a first round pick in the 2007 draft, the Islanders got Ryan Smyth! Ryan Smyth, the guy who all of Edmonton and their fans thought was irreplaceable and who gave it all for his favourite team while growing up in nearby Banff.
While the Islanders’ management are boasting about acquiring ‘Captain Canada’ as Smyth is known, the Oiler’s website is trying to cover what is now the third big player move away from Edmonton. In less than a year, Chris Pronger, Mike Peca and Ryan Smyth have left the team, although both Pronger & Peca wanted to leave and Peca was at the end of a one year contract. It seems that the Oilers & Smyth could not come to an agreement on his contract which ends in July and so the trade was made. The Islanders have till July to get Ryan to sign on or he could still come back to Edmonton. Whatever happens Edmonton is in shock and even honouring Mark Messier on his jersey retirement night cannot bring the city out of the gloom.
Read more about it from MasterMaq’s Blog, here & here. Other people who have commented on it – here & here

Song for the day – “Complicated” – CAROLYN DAWN JOHNSON





















Saskatoon native Brent Sopel returns back to the Vancouver Canucks as the Canucks try to stick to their top three placing heading into the playoffs. Finishing as the best team in their division & thus one of the top seeds ensures them with home ice advantage, which any NHL team will appreciate. For getting the defenceman, Vancouver traded rights to a second & fourth round draft pick to the Los Angeles Kings in the upcoming draft pick. The Canucks also traded a draft pick for Bryan Smolinksi, a center from the Chicago Blackhawks. Sopel, who had missed 14 games in December due to injury, had previously played for the Canucks from 1998 till 2004 when he was traded to the New York Islanders. The following year he was headed for Los Angeles. The puck moving defenceman has 4 goals & 14 assists in 44 games this season.



After the previous shootout loss to the same team, which also saw a lot of fisticuffs, Ottawa dished out a similarly tight 6-5 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Thursday night saw the divisional rivals go at each other in a shoot-out win in Buffalo. This time, in the Canadian capital, the Sens came out winners when Jason Spezza scored his second goal of the night on a power play with 4:07 remaining in the third period. The match also saw Dany Heatley score his team leading 36th goal and goals by Christoph Schubert, Chris Kelly & Daniel Alfredsson. The Sens’ Mike Comrie had a shoving fight with Sabre’s forward Derek Roy (who ironically is a native of Ottawa), while Chris Neil duked it out with Adam Mair. Ray Emery came out the winner against the tandem goalkeeping of Buffalo’s Martin Biron & Ryan Miller, who came on in the 9th minute of the second Period. The standings in the East after the match were Buffalo 1st with 87 points and Ottawa 4th on 76 points.



The Ottawa Senators prevailed over the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in a shootout victory that also marks the 600th NHL win for Ottawa coach Bryan Murray. Dany Heatley started off the scoring with the lone goal in the first period. The second followed in the same vein with Mike Fisher knocking in a wrist shot, assisted by Daniel Alfredsson & Chris Phillips. The Oilers came back strongly in the third period and scored three goals – two by Petr Sykora and one by Tom Gilbert. Oiler Ales Hemsky had two assists. Captain Alfredsson also scored and the game was headed for over time. No one could break the tie in OT so on to the shootout. Former Oilers Dean McAmmond & Mike Comrie scored in the SO to give the victory to the Sens. Murray reached his personal milestone in 1,199 games. He earned his first win on Nov. 18, 1981, with Washington and holds the distinction of being the longest-serving coach without a Stanley Cup.
The round of 16 in the Champions League started last nite with a loss for my team. Arsenal lost away at Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven 1-0 on an Edison Mendez goal. They face a nervous return leg in a fortnight but are also being optimistic since it is a very slender margin. However their domestic rivals, Manchester United, won 1-0 away to Lille, in a match that saw Sir Alex Ferguson vent out his ire at the Lille players. Ryan Giggs scored from a free kick, which was taken before the Lille goalie could arrange his wall. The players reacted against the controversial goal and almost walked off. Fergie says that he has never seen such a display in all his career. Real Madrid made life somewhat easier for their under-pressure manager Fabio Capello, by seeing off Bayern Munich 3-2. Raul scored two and Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored the other. Lucio had earlier scored for Bayern and in the final two minutes before time, Van Bommel also scored to lower the scoreline for Munich. The slender lead that Madrid will take with them to Germany in two weeks will be boosted by the form of David Beckham, who was included in the lineup for the first time in a month. In other games, Gordon Strachan’s Celtic drew 0-0 at home with Italian side AC Milan. This leaves the Milan club with all the odds in their favour.








Paid Blogging Services:
* General posts
* Product reviews
* Music & Movie reviews
* and much more...


Recent Comments