Archive for January, 2008

Ovechkin to the Preds

January 22nd, 2008 by Hog | No Comments | Filed in Eklunds Wall of Shame, Incorrect Rumors

Just got inundated with this one…

Nashville would send 2 #1’s, Dumont, Zidlicky and Suter (possibly Weber depending on who you talk to ) to Washington for Ovechkin and Kolzig?

I can tell you this much. There are some legs to this rumour. It could turn out to be enormous. The players vary depending on the source, but the bottom line is Ovechkin and Kolzig to the Preds…

I am working feverishly to get somewhere with this…It could be nothing, but people involved with both teams are telling me that they are hearing it.

I will also tell you that the Preds with huge amounts of cap space and looking to do something major with the new ownership are definitely trying to get these kinds of deals done.

stay tuned.

6:13:

A Nashville station has gone on record as saying they received confirmation from a source within the Preds organization that there have been talks with Washington regarding Ovechkin.

Ted Leonsis, whom I have a great deal of respect for, has come out with this statement on his blog on the Caps website: “No mention of our team can pass, it seems, without noting Alex Ovechkin’s contract status, and I can tell from postings in the blogosphere and message boards that this has a lot of fans worried. I respect Alex and George McPhee’s commitment to keep the negotiations out of the media and frankly have wondered who is making up some of the things I have read. As I have stated on numerous occasions, we couldn’t be more impressed with Alex as a player and a person and we expect him to be in D.C. for a long, long time. ”

Another source has told me that he believes a contract with AO may indeed be close and has said that he was told the Preds weren’t moving for him.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=12395

Eklund on Sportsnet’s “Deadline Bash”

January 1st, 2008 by HBH | 2 Comments | Filed in Eklunds Wall of Shame

Taken from 

The most entertaining part of Sportsnet’s “deadline bash” wasn’t the balloons, the Hansons or the table hockey games.  It was Eklund, who fell just short of naming every NHL player in trade rumours.

Highlights of a combined 22 hours of coverage.

11:12 a.m. In one of his many “alerts,” Eklund reports that Craig Conklin has been traded to Buffalo. He quickly amends that to Ty Conklin.

11:34 a.m. Eklund reports that Jamal Mayers is on his way to Toronto. He isn’t.

12:08 p.m. Eklund reports that St. Louis’ Bill Guerin is part of a three-way trade. TSN reports, correctly, that it’s a two-team deal.

1:04 p.m. Eklund reports more rumours, this time citing “really, really good sources.”

2:08 p.m. Eklund reports that Edmonton has signed Ryan Smyth to a long-term deal.

2:35 p.m. Eklund says Dainius Zubrus has been traded to Buffalo, which amazingly turns out to be true.

3 p.m. Eklund reports that L.A. has dealt Mattias Norstrom to Anaheim, “but I may be wrong on that.” He was.

3:15 p.m. Eklund says rumour has Leafs trading Matt Stajan. They don’t.

3:29 p.m. Eklund’s moment of glory comes as he reports that Ryan Smyth hasn’t been signed after all but has been dealt to the Islanders. Unfortunately, he misidentifies him as the Edmonton captain. To his credit, he identifies his source: a New York blogger.

4:09 p.m. Score panel gets the first interview with Smyth’s agent, who describes how contract talks broke down.

4:50 p.m. More food is delivered to the Sportsnet set. It isn’t clear whether Eklund had predicted the arrival of more pizza.