Hockey Trade Rumors

IT’s almost June. The sun is shining, the year is half gone and the Stanley Cup Play-offs are winding down. I’ve also decided, with the year half gone, to compose a list of my picks for the ten best and worst movers and shakers in the hockey world, listed in no particular order. The list is divided in two groups: the “Best”, those hockey figures who have distinguished themselves as elite individuals, while the “Worst” are, predictably, those figures who need to give their heads a shake. For a list of the movers and shakers on a world scale, visit my Web Site at www.theranter.4dw.com or click on the link at the end of the article.

Without further adieu, here’s the list:

The Philadelphia Flyers were one of the most talented teams (on paper) in the league. They were the natural favorites to win the eastern conference, and with good reason. They signed Jeremy Roenick (1,000 point scorer), John LeClair (50 goal scorer thrice), Simon Gagne (superb young talent, whose scoring numbers have improved each year), Roman Cechmanek (Vezina runner-up the year before), and after the deadline, they picked up Adam Oates, the best playmaer in the league. Now, the Flyers will be looking to add MORE talent, and I’ll look a the pros and cons of some of the rumored moves.

ACCORDING to Toronto Star and The Hockey News writer Ken Campbell, the Toronto Maple Leafs have re-invented themselves more times than Madonna. In the transitions, Campbell argues, the Leafs have gone from sluggish (1998), to skilled and soft (1999-2000), to slow and plodding (2001) to this year’s mishmash, which Campbell declines to describe. That is, until now, where his report on the Leafs’ constant yapping yielded the headline “the Lippy Leafs”.

This week:

Lumme on shelf

Anti-Clarke Site up

Canucks win “Spirit of Vancouver” Award

(Sources: TSN.ca, www.clarkemustgo.com, Canucks.com)

(World Issues Page Announcement Inside)

(NOTE: This is NOT an anti-fighting rant. I want this to be an open argument)

WITH these play-offs some of the most violent on record, sportswriters and fans on both sides of the border are beginning to wonder where fighting stands as a part of the game of hockey. For some, fighting is as integral to the game as assists and hip checks are, while others see fighting as a disgraceful act that mars what should be a beautiful game. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of fighting, but, even so, I’m starting to have doubts that fighting should be taken away, as some writers suggest, as a “presentable” image of the “coolest game on Earth”.