February 27, 2008
It's Got to be the Morning After
Warriors 105 Sonics 99- Yeah, the Warriors beat a team they should beat but the best news to hit the Warriors today was Yao Ming's season ending injury. The Ws had been involved in a nine team pileup in the Western Division and had scratched and clawed their way to the eighth and final spot thanks to the largess of the Nuggets, now currently starring in a three-game losing streak. But with Yao down, a team that had won twelve straight now looks pretty doomed. The Warriors should solidify their playoff spot just as soon as the Rockets start losing, something for which they should start doing any minute now. Any minute now.....
-The Sharks picked up defensemen Brian Campbell for right wing Steve Bernier and a first round draft pick. No, we're not sure what this all means either. Apparently, the Sharks thought Bernier would help the offense as he's got good stats and was considered some pretty good trade bait. They also sent Rob Davison to the Islanders for a seventh-round pick and signed free agent goalie Brian Boucher. Shark fans, however, aren't quite happy as apparently, nobody is happy with Patrick Marleau.
-Omar Vizquel will be out for the rest of the preseason as he's going to have knee surgery, thus proving this was a bad week for people named Omar (sniff). This means Ray Durham will play 2nd base, Kevin Fransden will play short, and the third baseman will be whomever on the bench draws the short straw.
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Brian Campbell is the puck-moving defenseman that the Sharks have been missing since Gary Suter retired (as in, it's been a good part of a decade). He's got a great breakout pass, will quarterback from the point on the power-play, has a bit of nastiness in his play. The thought of Campbell and Joe Thornton threading passes through the offensive zone should make any Sharks fan salivate, especially now that Chechoo is healthy and scoring again.
Bernier was a disappointment this year, and has been wildly inconsistent during his young career. Sometimes he looked like Cam Neely, sometimes he looked like Nancy Kerrigan. He's a big guy, and has a great shot, but so far has not shown the kind of attitude to put all his formidable tools together.
The Davison move was minor, and was mostly to give him a chance to play regularly with another team, as he's been a good soldier for the Sharks. Boucher is a veteran backup that's going to give Greiss playing time down in the minors, as Nabokov will play the lion's share of games, especially down the stretch.
What ievans said. The Sharks did fine on trade day and I look forward to seeing Campbell at the Tank on Monday against <<Les Habs>>.
Not sure what the deal is with Marleau this season. He's certainly been disappointing. Still, I would have hated to see him dumped off for the proverbial bag of pucks.