September 11, 2007

What's that saying about three strikes?

Ways to stay on my good side:
Shower me with money and/or diamonds.
Let me sleep in.
Tolerate my insane addiction to trashy tv/movies.
Self-fulfilling tank of gas. (self-explanatory)
Understand my need to browse clearance racks.

Ways to stay on my bad side:
Cut me off in traffic.
Park in a fire lane.
Remain ignorant on the finer uses of an apostrophe.
Remain staunch in your belief that I am wrong and you are right- the sky IS green.
Be Peter Chiarelli.

We've been apart for awhile, internets. In that time we've spent apart, I've traveled and seen things, I've learned how to lay a floor, and I've found the release of the training camp schedule to be so anticlimactic that I'm planning some trips during the preseason, effectively ignoring the hockey. What's happened to me? I am hoping that this is the end-of-the-offseason ennui I tend to suffer every fall, and nothing more serious, because this is SVO's fifth season of operation. I decided that means that this season has to be FANTASTIC. Ennui does not = FANTASTIC.

James was in town last week, and over some nachos, we discussed - rather, he flat-out stated and I flat-out argued the point with him - that SVO isn't really a Bruins site any more, inasmuch as it's a Providence Bruins site. He was quick to add that this was "ok," and that therefore there was "nothing wrong with [it]." And this is what I think, but the tequila wouldn't let me say effectively: the future of any organization is important, and because I find Providence hockey to be more exciting, this gives me a nice perspective on where the Bruins are heading. Part of my fascination with Providence could be because it's in my backyard, but geography has nothing to do with this, because even when it was two-plus hours away from me, I still found a reason to take the "scenic" route home from work every Friday. But keeping such heavy tabs on Providence gives me a an eye into what WILL be Boston (well, in theory) in a few years.

Unfortunately for me, Chiarelli doesn't think that I should be afforded such insights into the future, because he keeps trading off all our damn prospects. Today, he traded Ben Walter. Today, I made a THIRD, separate entry for him on my Shit List, citing his newest wrongdoings. He holds the only distinction of having three separate entries on this list. Three! That's insanity.

I am the first person to admit that I reached my mathematical peak in 10th grade geometry, because it was the last math that made any kind of sense to me. In college, calculus was a struggle, and that I passed statistics is an unheralded miracle to this day, but when I look at the numbers, I am pretty sure that the Islanders made out on this deal:

BEN WALTER
2005-2006- 6 games in Boston. 0 goals, 0 assists.
62 games with Providence. 16 goals, 24 assists.

2006-2007- 4 games in Boston. 0 goals, 0 assists.
73 games with Providence. 24 goals, 43 assists.
Additional 16 total post-season games with Providence. 6 goals, 4 assists.

PETTERI NOKELAINEN
2002-2005- 94 total games with SaiPa Lappeenranta. 20 goals.
2005-2006- 15 games with the Islanders. 1 goal, 1 assist.
2006-2007- 60 games with Bridgeport. 6 goals, 10 assists.

To me, this trade doesn't make sense. We gave up Ben AND a draft pick (conditional on how many NHL games Petteri plays), for what? A forward with knee problems at 21? See, this is where Chiarelli should have called me for some input, because mine would have been a very big, very emphatic NO. And it's not just because I hate the fact that another one of Providence's reliable scorers has gone elsewhere to blossom in another uniform (you'd better step it up this year, Nateful. 8 goals all season won't be acceptable, and there's only so much TJ and Pascal can do on their own. Jonathan Sigalet - whose primary on-ice job is to help prevent goals, not score them- scored more goals than you did, and he played 17 fewer regular-season games than you did. That's food for thought for you. I vote that you score at least a career-high nine goals this season. You double that if you take your time to aim on your breakaways.), it's because we seem to be liquidating prospects at an alarming (to me) rate. I call shenanigans on this trade, Peter. May you accidentally sit on a cactus in short-order. Maybe it'll jumpstart your blood and get it flowing to your brain, because this past summer was filled with questionable trades. Any good will you built up with me over the move for Peter Schaefer (who will be wearing number 72 with Boston) has been completely and utterly demolished by the moves involving Kalus, Toivonen, and now Walter. You are now working against a deficit. You might want to start rectifying that, with a quickness that has never before been seen.

In OTHER NEWS, because I am so disgusted with this trade I no longer wish to pick it apart, the training camp schedule has been posted. All sessions are free and open to the public. It's very rare that you get to see any kind of free hockey of the Bruins variety, so scurry to camp as often as you can. Not sure if there's going to be anyone there that twinkles your toes? Check out the full camp roster here.

They've announced the rookie game - Sept 16th against the NJ Devils rookies, in Shelton, CT. This would be about a five-hour round-trip for me, so I do not foresee myself going. This makes me sad, because there is nothing I love more than a sheet of ice full of rookies. However, this season I have to put myself on a hockey budget because I have two huge trips planned for the next calendar year, and while I love hockey more than maybe some members of my family, my desire to fulfill some dreams is far greater than my love of the game. Plus, Providence's away games aren't very conducive to me going on as many roadtrips as in the past. What gives, AHL? Don't hate!

by Heather | 9:07 PM | 3
filed under: offseason notes || transactions