Lost B: Vladimir Sobotka skates away

I spent most of the day Saturday watching the second round of the draft and stressing over the Marc Savard trade rumors. Then I received this Tweet from the Bruins:

GM Peter Chiarelli just announced that the Bruins have acquired unsigned draft choice David Warsofsky in exchange for Vladimir Sobotka.

And I cried.

I cried over the Bruins losing Vladimir Sobotka, a little guy with a huge heart, a guy who hits like like a freight train.

The big man in a little man’s body. Or, as he has been dubbed on the Web, the SOB. The Little Ball of Hate. A pest, but not a punk, who plays the game the right way. I always thought of him as a minature bull, charging around, hitting anything bigger than him. Which was pretty much everything.

Used sparingly, moved from role to role (set-up center; checking center; wing), never logging enough ice time, up and down from Providence to Boston, he hung in there and finally got a chance to shine in the first round of the playoffs this year, driving the Sabres mad. Unfortunately, he aggravated a shoulder injury late in the series and was consequently robbed of his effectiveness against Philadelphia, one of myriad (but unreported) Bruins injuries. Sobotka’s ineffectiveness against Philly was ignored in the rush to scream about the Bruins’ collapse, but it was a factor.

And now he’s gone. And the worst part of it, beyond losing a player who was born to wear the Spoked B, is that next to nobody cares. “Garbage in, garbage out,” one message board poster wrote.

How sad. How wrong. How cavalier, not only to disparage a player who laid it on the line every time he stepped on the ice, but to dismiss the feelings of those of us who love him.

Take good care of him, St. Louis. Appreciate him, because he’ll give you everything he’s got. He can’t play any other way.

Photo: Courtesy of swerve/bestlaidplans.org.

Jaroslav Halak will don the blue note this season.

It’s not even July 1 yet the frenzy has already started.  June 15 marked the first day teams could begin to buyout contracts, and indeed no time was wasted with Montreal buying out Georges Laraque.  And that’s not the only frenzy.  Teams are either signing or releasing prospects left and right, trying to make some financial decisions before free agency begins.

One thing none of the goddesses banked on was the potential for some big trades prior to free agency.  Yet that’s exactly what has happened.  I mean, who would have thought Jaroslav Halak of all players would be traded?  Being a restricted free agent, Halak was going to get a raise and playing in the salary cap era I guess Montreal figured he wasn’t worth it with Carey Price waiting in the wings.  In their defense, they got a highly touted Swedish prospect in Lars Eller, so perhaps it will prove to be a shrewd move.

As usual, the Avalanche have continued to offer one-year deals to no-names and mediocre prospects, so I’ll have to continue to live vicariously through other teams that are making real moves.  I can still pretend they’re going to go after Ilya Kovalchuk on July 1.

Speaking of Russians, there has been little news on other UFAs such as Slava Kozlov and Maxim Afinogenov.  Kozlov is rumored to have a KHL deal in the works, while Afinogenov has been mysteriously quiet, apparently refusing the one-year deal the Atlanta Thrashers offered him.  Of course, we have to remember they’re all still under contract and won’t be available until free agency officially starts.

And let’s not forget the NHL draft is now just a week away.  Not only are we looking forward to our teams drafting some hot prospects, but many a big trade has been made on draft day and we are hopeful that there will be some additional excitement.

So maybe it’s not July 1, but we goddesses are enjoying the little bit of foreplay before the main event.

Photo: Jaroslav Halak by Goddess Kaatiya. Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserverd.

Peter Mueller poses for a picture at the NHL YoungStars Game in 2008.

As Goddess Sasha mentioned yesterday, our good pal Peter Mueller was traded from the Phoenix Coyotes to the Colorado Avalanche with some other guy for Wotek Wol… Wole… Something Polish. As a long time fan of #88, I was a bit shocked that Don Maloney would ship him out; but to be honest, I think it is a very good thing for him and his development.

I first got to know Peter as a rookie in the WHL as a member of my hometown Everett Silvertips.  The fact that he came to play here in Hooterville was a bit of  a shock to most folks who follow junior hockey; and it was a really big shock to the folks at the University of Minnesota as he had already committed to play there and had a scholarship. However, once he got a little older, he changed his mind and felt that major junior would be a better road to The Show than college.

So, he came to town and proceeded to not only have a great rookie year with 58 points in 52 games, but he went home to Bloomington with the WHL Rookie of the Year award and WHL Top Draft Prospect award as well as several other team awards during the season.  For an encore, he scored 78 points in 51 games during the 2006-2007 season and helped Team USA’s U-20 squad to a bronze medal at the World Juniors after being selected 8th in the 2006 draft.  It helped that he was alongside Zach Hamill, who now is Boston Bruins property; and that the Tips had a phenomenal season on the way to winning the WHL version of the President’s Trophy. Unfortunately the playoffs weren’t as good as they could have been thanks to one Mr. Devin Setoguchi and the Prince George Cougars, but I digress.

There was a lot of talk in the late summer of 2007 about whether Peter would make the Coyotes squad or would he come back to the Tips for another season, as he had two more years of eligibility. I would have liked for him to come back, partly because he’s a good kid and would have helped the team out tremendously; but you could see at the end of the season that the WHL pond was getting to be a bit too small for our boy from the land of 10,000 lakes.

However, I don’t know if dear Pete really realized just what being a full time NHL player would be like. Yes, he had youth and a whole bundle of talent; but without a taskmaster coach like Kevin Constantine, I can see how hard it might have been to stay the course with all the goodies an NHL contract brings with it.  Yes, he had a very good rookie season and was even voted for a few times for the Calder; but a rookie season does not a career make, nor does it guarantee even a good second season and #88 in your program was proof of this. True he had some issues with injuries; but I think if he had been with a different team with a different coach and more stability, things might have been a little better.

However I try to be optimistic and I really think if last night’s game against the Anaheim Ducks is any indication, things are looking up for our good pal Pete. He scored a goal, tripped a Duck and generally looked happy, which makes my little black heart happy too.

Photo: NHL

Peter Mueller warms up in one of his last games as a Coyote.

Well, I can’t say I’m surprised, or saddened to see Wojtek Wolski go. I know many Avalanche fans were hoping for Ruslan Salei or John-Michael Liles to be traded, and if Wolski had to go, they wanted a veteran in return.

I, for one, am happy to see the less-than-physical player leave our ranks. Rumors were that Wolski didn’t see eye-to-eye with the Avs management, and that he was on his way out. I take that to mean, they asked him to put his big body in front of the net and he didn’t want to take the beating.

Most Avs fans don’t watch a whole lot of other hockey, except what’s force-fed to them on the networks. That means, they don’t know a whole lot about the Phoenix Coyotes and Peter Mueller. I’m sure Goddess Amy will weigh in on this, since she saw him during his Junior days in Everett when he played for the Silvertips, but I really think this guy is going to be great. The Avs needed another center, and why not grab a young guy with tons of talent, a good work ethic and is easy on the eyes? ;-)

Getting rid of Liles would have been ideal. However, no one was going to pick up his inflated salary. The general public may not have been watching him the past couple of years, but the scouts were and he just doesn’t fit into too many team’s plans. After all, you can only have so many Mike Greens in the league.

Salei? Yeah, he’s carrying a bit of a salary, but for those people who never watched more than a couple of Ducks or Panthers games, they don’t understand what a talented, smart and crushing player he can be.  In his first game back this season, he threw some punishing hits and got an assist, looking as if he hadn’t missed a beat, and ended up +2 in a 3-2 loss. He is most physical defenseman next to Adam Foote, and he’s a smart player and great skater to boot. Why anyone would want to deal him is beyond me. I’d get rid of Brett Clark and even my lovely Scott Hannan before I’d ditch Salei.

Teasers:  I’ve promised KHL reporting and I will deliver soon.  Also, look for more rants on what else? Colorado Avalanche fan experiences.  Suffice it to say, we will not be renewing our season tickets next year.

Photo: Peter Mueller by Goddess Sasha. Copyright 2009-2010. All Rights Reserved.

We hope you'll smile again in the ATL, Slava.

Wow.

I never imagined the Atlanta Thrashers wouldn’t be able to offload Slava Kozlov. I am amazed to be sitting here writing that he’s still a Thrasher after all that. Will he play? Will he be waived? That’s what I imagine is going to happen: It’s waiver watch from now on. They can still waive after the deadline, no? (Apologies, I am no expert in this area.)

I am hopeful, ever so hopeful that Slava can get back in the good graces of John Anderson (loathsome man!) and be back on the ice playing like we know he can. I’d hate to see him buried in the AHL.

And could they lose him on re-entry after the trade deadline?  (Or in essence — in a roundabout way — grant his request out of Atlanta by waiving him and, if nobody claims him, subject him to re-entry waivers and pay half the freight of his salary.)   I don’t know the rules on this, unfortunately.  Feel free to comment and set me straight.

The unselfish part of me is sad for Kozlov. I know he wanted out and hoped to be traded.  And a teeny-tiny part of me wishes he’d gotten his wish.

The selfish part of me really wants him to get that one chance and totally play himself back onto the team and prove J.A. wrong because you know what?  J.A. is wrong unless Slava has suddenly become a head case or belligerent. (Maybe he has? Kozlov’s Fall Out With the Thrash. In which case, maybe they are both wrong?)

Nevertheless…

Anything to do with Kozlov is written from my heart, not my head. I love him as a player.  I’ve loved him since NHL hockey appeared on my radar screen back when he was first starting out with the Red Wings;  and I will love him no matter where he goes. Maybe it’s a Goddess kind of thing to say, but I just want this particular person to be happy. I think he’s, as the colloquial saying goes, “good people.”  But you know, I know a man who once told me he cried his eyes out when Wendel Clark was traded from the Maple Leafs, so it’s a God AND Goddess way to feel.  That is, everyone — man, woman or child — has one or two special players that they live and die with.  Slava is mine.

¡Bienvenidos (otra vez)! del Thrashers, Slava? ¡Te amo, mi amor (del hockey)!

Photo: Vyacheslav Kozlov by Goddess Kaat. Copyright 2009-2010. All Rights Reserved.

Kozlov chats with our very own Goddess Sasha.

The hockey world doesn’t anxiously await his fate.  Probably about  21 other people are as desperate to know where he’ll land.  But my favorite player, one Slava Kozlov, is on the block (by his own request).  I am sad he’s going, but D-Wad actually acknowledged yesterday in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was trying his best to honor his request to be traded to a contender out of respect for what Kozlov has done for the franchise.  

“The asset value back is minimal vs. how much he’s done for this franchise. If I can find him a home, I’m happy to do it.”

– Don Waddell, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 03/01/2010

Slava:  I loved you before you joined the Thrashers and, as REO Speedwagon well put it in the 1980s, “I’m gonna keep on lovin’ you.”  

Bonne chance mon amour (d’hockey)!

Photo: Vyacheslav Kozlov by Goddess Kaat. Copyright 2009-2010. All Rights Reserved.

Well no, Shawn. Not all hockey fans love trade deadline day. There are actually a significant number of us who feel the same way you do. That the Santa of “Hockey Christmas” is actually the Grinch, sneaking down our chimneys and stealing our beloved toys right out from under the tree.

Yes, yes, we know that all trades are made for the benefit of the team, whether it be for the long term or the short run. We also know that surgery is something done for the good of the patient, but that doesn’t mean we enjoy it.

Being a fan is an emotional investment. With many of these players, we see them get drafted, come up through the system, watch them grow as players and as people. We root them on in the bigs, celebrate their landmark accomplishments, buy their jerseys, catch their eyes from behind the glass and share a smile. We can’t — well, I can’t — look at them as “chips,” and eagerly anticipate losing them. They wear the spoked-B (or the Indian head, or the winged wheel); they are OUR GUYS.

And though their departure may make our team better, we can’t anticipate it with cheerful giddiness. We can only watch somberly, stomach churning, as the clock ticks down. We can’t wait until it’s over.