Super-duper long post

Where to start…? It’s been so long and I have so much to say!

First, apparently there is no tv contract in place for next season, which is the real reason Pang has left the Coyotes. Let’s start with the no contract part. That sucks. There are many people out there that love hockey but because of the economy just can’t afford tickets to every game. I would guess that many can’t afford Center Ice either. As much as I would love to have Center Ice and season tickets, neither are in the cards for me this year. I was looking forward to watching many games on tv but now that may not be an option.

Which brings us to being Panger-less. The lil guy has a tremendous love for the Coyotes and took pride in his work. He made watching the away games fun. He was always energetic on tv and at events. He will be missed by the Coyotes fans. He was one of the best assets this team had. I wish him luck in his future endeavors and am sad to see him go.

Some have suggested Tyson Nash take his place. I hope that doesn’t happen. I couldn’t listen to the radio broadcasts because Tyson was so bad. Maybe he would translate better on tv, but I doubt it. I miss Louie Debrusk on the radio and I don’t think Tyson could fill Pang’s shoes on tv.
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Couple of quick hits….
-Doan was invited to the Olympic camp. I just have to say, the Olympics would be lucky to have Doan.
-The Edmonton Oilers organization was on my blog. I just found that interesting.
-The 2009-2010 (oh gawd… 2010 just seems wrong!) NHL schedule came out this week. The Flyers will be here in November. The Coyotes will be in DC (and of course I won’t be traveling out there this season, why couldn’t they have been there the last 2 seasons?).
-Oh and Calgary scares the shit out of me with everyone that they have signed. OMG. It’s gonna be a blood bath.
-Oh and I am still upset about the Pronger trade but I think the Flyers are going back in time and I might be ok with that.
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Some Quick Updates on Transactions:
-Yandle has signed a 2 year contract (yay? Jury is still out on this one for me).
-Dawes and Winnik have taken the team to arbitration (neither of which I think were good candidates to do that…)
-Enver Lisin was traded (apparently he told Maloney if he didn’t get what he wanted he’d go to Russia.. Bye-bye Enver – don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya!).
-Is Dmo still up for grabs? Anyone? I don’t remember seeing anything on him signing with anyone.
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Free Agent Signings:

We got LaBarbera. Uhhhh, what?? Why? GMDM have you lost your mind? His thoughts on it were that him and Bryz need someone to push them and therefore they can push each other. Ok…what happens when they both implode and suck for a long time at the same time? I have a feeling this is going to happen. OMG, we so need a better goalie. There were so many available and we got LaBarbera. Great. The season just keeps getting dimmer, pretty soon the lights will be off.

Vernon Fidler, a center from Nashville. Overall, not a bad signing. He does face-offs well, which we need since trading away Rhino. He wasn’t bad in Nashville. He wasn’t one of the best either. He was not the big splash forward I was hoping we would sign but he will be ok.

We also signed Adrian Aucoin, formerly of the Calgary Flames blueline. This is not a bad signing at all. It reinforces our blue line and gives us a little more veteran leadership at that position. We lost Dmo (as far as I know he has not resigned anywhere yet – so maybe he’s coming back but that is yet to be seen) and we have not resigned Klee. That pretty much left Jovo. Overall, not a bad signing.

Speaking of Jovo, the rumors have been flying about him being traded. With his current contract, he has to ok any of the trades and I don’t see him agreeing to any of the places he was rumored to be going. The most prominent one was New Jersey. Does NJ even have a team left after all their players signed elsewhere on July 1st? What would we get in return for Jovo from NJ? Some used pucks and orange Gatorade?
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And last but not least, rookie camp and open house.

It was a lot of fun to go to the ice rink on a Saturday when it was 100 degrees outside and watch the Pups. I watched the goalies quite a bit. Darling is just so amusing to watch since he is so tall. We were joking that Marty St. Louis could skate through his 5 hole.
Mike Lee has a little bit of a mean streak to him. I liked that. He has some potential. Ekman-Larsson is going to be great. Wow, that was so long ago. I can’t remember much.

The signing was fun of course. All the guys were in good spirits. Ekman-Larsson seemed so excited and like he wanted to talk to everyone but didn’t know what to say. They were all so sweet and it’s fun to see them joke with each other.
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And that’s it for now. It’s such a long entry!!!