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As some of you have likely heard, Calgary is dealing with an unreal amount of flooding today.

The downtown core is closed as well as a lot of roads. To sum it up, Calgary is pretty much a watery ghost town this morning.

I’ve lived her for a little over eight years and I’ve never seen anything like this before. My family and I are doing fine as we live far enough from the rivers (for now).

If you’d like to donate to the Alberta floods relief efforts, you can do so by contacting the Red Cross at: [email protected] or 1-800-418-1111


Blog up later today…


Check out my story on 2013 Draft prospect Hunter Shinkaruk of the Medicine Hat Tigers, ranked 6th by NHL Central Scouting. Feedback is always welcome, so let me know what you think.


All this talk of goalies being on the move has sent fans into a frantic panic over whether or not Gilly will be able to move the big fella.

"Oh my God, an unproven No. 1 is on the market at a ridicules price. Quick, we have to move Lu now."

"Crap now the Sabres want to move their over-priced netminder, who's never done anything and is appending UFA after next year. We've got to move now. GO, GO, GO!"

Relax people. Gillis is going to deal a goalie sometime in the next month. If you believe Darren "I get all my info straight from Nonis's mouth" Dreger, the market is pretty low on Louie and he can be had for a couple of seconds if you want him.

Two seconds for Luongo is in my opinion a much better price than the rumours out there of what the Kings and Sabres are asking for Bernier or Miller. I also believe that Luongo is a much better, more accomplish netminder than both of those players combined.

So it is a total head scratcher to me as to why you would want to deal for any goalie other than Luongo as long as the price is still around where it was rumoured to be.

Bernier- Flat out, Bernier is not going to lead your team anywhere. Bernier is six-feet tall at best (and that is on a couple of phone books). Statistics show that if you're looking for a guy who can play 60 games, you better be looking for a guy that has some alright size and can handle the NHL grind. If you want to give up a first-round pick and a blue chip guy for a small goalie, who played in one of the top four defensive systems in the NHL; have fun with that one.

Miller- He may on the other hand get you to the playoffs, but what are you going to do next year if he walks? Any team that deals for him is likely going to give up a fair bit. And if you give up a fair bit to get him he'll kind of have you bent over the barrel when it comes time to sign him? Would you really what to explain to fans that you moved a first round pick for one season with a second tier goalie? I know I wouldn't.

Smith- Well he is likely staying put, but at the end of the day he is a product of the system. Ask Ilya Bryzgalov how good Dave Tippett can make you look.

Backstrom- Well he's pretty average goalie in the first place and if you look at how the wild fell like a stone the last six-weeks of the year it's pretty obvious he's kind of a 1A type of guy now.

Fleury- I highly doubt he goes anywhere. At 37 and with his injury history Vokoun isn't going to carry the load. This team has bigger issues than who they have in goal.

Halak/Elliot- Maybe they deal one, but if you're looking for a reason to not put your faith in a goalie under six-feet, look no further than Halak.

So as you can see, as long as the price on Luongo stays reasonable, why would you want any of these guy in your net? He's looking to come at a cheaper price and he's a better goalie.

In my opinion, only an idiot would want to saddle their hopes to any of these guys.
UPDATE- Bernier to Toronto for two firsts and a second!


Draft Stuff

I recently did some work around the NHL draft for the Calgary Journal. Check out my story on 2013 Draft prospect Jamal Watson of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, ranked 137th by NHL Central Scouting. Feedback is always welcome, so let me know what you think.

I have another two others:
- One on Hunter Shinkaruk .

- A Q&A with the Flames Tod Button (coming soon)


Well that's a wrap.

Ian


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