Catching Up!

It has been a rough past month for me and writing on this blog but I am looking to get back on track. With semester ending, diplomas coming up, Christmas, hockey and the computer being broken for a short period of time I haven't written on here for almost a month now. Oh well what can yea do, I will have to redeem myself for the rest of the year.

Well the most recent news coming out of Flames camp was the signing of Curtis Joseph to a pro-rated 1 year contract worth 1.5 million dollars which comes out to about 650k for the rest of the year. Cujo will be looked upon to give some much needed rest for Kipper during the stretch run towards the playoffs. I dont mind the signing since the money isn't that much and I do think it is a much improvement over McElhinney, even though he was never given a chance but what can yea do, I have seen him play before and he didn't impress me at all. I dont think you can consider Cujo's play in the recent Spengler Cup cause that tournament is really full of washed up NHLers so the completion will be alot stiffer.

Other wise, excluding the Flames recent 3 game losing streak, they have been playing alot better hockey. I watched a ton of the games while they were on the big winning streak but haven't watch much recently so I dont know what has happened and why they have even gone on this losing streak. The best news out of all of this is that they are in the division and playoff hunt, big time and have really improved since the end of November. I still think they could use another top 6 winger and a puck moving defensemen and with the Cujo signing yesterday, I think Sutter is just getting started.

An interesting note today is that defensemen Brian Campbell has cut off contract talks with the Sabres till the end of the year. The Sabres aren't out of the playoff hunt yet but definitely aren't helping themselves with their poor play lately. Now this brings up the question, if the Sabres continue to slip, do they move Campbell at the deadline? This will be an interesting thing to watch if the Sabres do continue to slip since we all know what happened last year when they waited to sign some very important UFA's. I think the Sabres fans are all hearing the whispers of the names Drury and Briere after the news today. Now, do the Flames have enough to acquire a guy like Campbell who would fit in perfectly on the Flames blue-line. A prospect, draft pick and roster player and I think a deal could be swung, but who could those players be? A prospect could be someone like a Boyd or a Moss, a 1st round draft pick would definitely have to go and a roster player could be anyone from Nilson to a Primeau. I think this is worth it especially if you are able to sign Campbell before he becomes a UFA, highly unlikely but you never know.

Tonight the Flames are in Nashville and with their recent success on the road and against the Preds, it looks good for the Flames if they come out firing on all cylinders.

Finally I would like to congratulate Dion Phaneuf and Jarome Iginla on being named to the Western Conference roster for the All-Star game in Atlanta.