No trade clauses get waived a lot. If a player isn’t wanted he’ll often agree to leave.
I’m going to go out on a limb here though and make a different prediction; they trade Schneider. Although Schneider is obviously a better goalie, consider:
I think Luongo is untradeable. I’ve got nothing against Roberto, but I’ll be honest; if I was an NHL GM I wouldn’t give you anything for him, not even a bag of pucks. I wouldn’t take him for free. He’s way on the wrong side of 30, he’s declining, and he’s freaking expensive.
Conversely, Schneider would bring considerable value. A lot of teams will give Vancouver a king’s ransom for him.
Schneider will be gone soon as a free agent if you don’t trade him, but Roberto is forever.
You are undoubtedly right about trade value. I guess it all depends on what is offered for Schneider. If a team like Philly that needs a goalie offer them a kings ransom and Vancouver honestly believes that with the returning pieces they can get it done with Lou then you have to pull the trigger.
Plus, the no trade clause leaves after six years (so that would be four further seasons if I’m correct) then you can dump him anywhere.
That said, I still think they will at least attempt to dump Lou on some stupid GM. Who’s the Calgary GM who traded Gilmour for Leeman? Maybe he’s still working…
Luongo is going back to Florida…more likely Tampa Bay this time. Just a guess. Schneider has won the right to be #1, IMHO. But Quick was by far the best goalie of the series…great goaltending will cool down any “powerful team” as well as marginal or weak teams.
Except for that whole “have won a Stanley Cup” thing.
Sorry…it’s the only thing I can hang my hat on now. Seriously bummed about the Pens early ousting, though I knew before the series started that the Flyers were our worst matchup this year. It was absolutely rotten luck to draw them in the first round, when frankly I think they’re the two best teams in the East this year, regardless of record.
Hard fought series, and the Flyers deserved the win, but man was it frustrating. Really thought this was another cup year, especially after that huge winning streak near the end.
Except we had a fantastic season, and the Caps – well, you guys weren’t playing up to your potential. Ovie sure as hell wasn’t. He completely slacked off.
Malkin’s got the Art Ross, and he’s a sure contender for the Hart.
Dunno - Kesler is still more awesome…when silent…and naked…
There is nothing wrong with still celebrating past Stanley Cups. Which is why I’d like to remind everyone that the Habs have 24. Ha ha sucks to be you!
What a strange was to end a hockey game; “We’re losing by a goal, there’s nine seconds left, I have the puck and a shot… I think I’ll just kind of poke it in the general direction of the net.” Bizarre decision.
I have no idea how that last goal stood. CBC showed at least two angles that conclusively showed the blade of Neil’s skate directing into the net.
Ottawa lost their composure after the 5-on-3 goal and that cost them the game. Yeah, it was a ridiculous pair of calls, but standing around thinking about how mad you are about it doesn’t help you go anywhere. CBC showed Alfredsson slamming things left and right on the bench. You can’t have your captain doing that; it’s just a distraction for the team. Look at where Pittsburgh ended up when Crosby started with his antics instead of playing hockey.
In fairness, Ottawa was playing a terrible period BEFORE the 5-on-3. It was the worst twenty minutes of hockey they’ve played all series.
As to the goal, you’re right. Neil’s skate was moving towards the net and the puck went off it. I’ll be damned if I can understand the “distinct kicking motion” rule, how it’s applied, or for that matter why the rule is even written the way it is. The way I see it the rule needs to be simplified, and go either way:
Forget the “distinct kicking motion” and state that any goal off an offensive player’s skate if there is any forward motion at all is no goal, or
The only thing that I can figure is that they said it wasn’t conclusive that Neil’s skate actually contacted the puck. Hell, when I saw the first replay from behind the net I immediately said that it was impossible that Neil kicked it in, because the puck came from behind his foot. But CBC showed some side angles that seemed to show that the top of the puck got caught by the edge of Neil’s blade, and that’s what propelled it into the net.
I guess you could argue that no angle actually showed Neil’s blade in contact with the puck, so it wasn’t conclusive, but that’s splitting an awful fine hair.
The puck very clearly speeds up. It’s going slowly, there’s the stick/skate contacts and then it goes faster. The goalie stick is going the other way - it cannot cause the puck to accelerate into the net. The skate is going towards the net…the same direction as the acceleration.
Only the skate could have caused the change in acceleration of the puck. There is no other conclusion. Neil kicked it in by putting his skate blade on top of the puck and kicking (rather than behind it).
But math and physics aren’t the NHL’s strong suit.
Also, while I’m not heartless enough to have actually wanted him injured, I love how Neil’s concussion from that nasty, nasty hit (do any angles actually show contact to the head? The one I saw was ambiguous at best) lasted until just the next puck drop. Amazing healing powers, there.
Thjis is why I’m inclined to simply allow players to kick it into the net. It eliminates the entire ambiguity of the call and, let’s be honest, who cares? Kicked goals are rare, would stay rare, and if a guy can kick it in more power to him; the issue would never come up.
I’d be willing to say the issue would have to be reopened if you had a plague of kicking around the goalie that put the goalie at risk, but that problem would be swiftly solved with some penalties.
I mean, I’ve read his wikipedia page, but are we sure he’s human? I mean… “Mike Smith”… such a generic name… could be a government robot; it would explain a lot. Absolute beast.
Didn’t the Habs win a lot of those when they had first choice of local/regional players? That actually is worth bragging about - seriously. At least it makes sense as a city. Much better than the guys we paid to move here played better than the guys you paid to move there.
I’ll be hoping for a Caps victory on Wednesday but Thursday my life will be the same either way. I think the rebounds Holtby gives up are going to come back to bite him soon.
