Draft smaft!

It is 3 days since the draft and I am still rotted at the Canadian media.  I was so excited on Friday.  If you believed what the press was pumping out, and I certainly did, then you would have thought that the NHL was about to become the Ringling Brothers Circus, an Iron Maiden concert, and the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange all rolled into one.   Untold craziness was about to explode with a multitude of scenarios on the edge of unfolding.  Tomas Kaberle was about to be traded for Phil Kessel, Lecavalier was on his way to Montreal, Dany Heatley was going to any number of places and the Islanders were going to take Victor Hedman or Matt Duchene with the number one pick setting off a domino effect of teams scrambling to trade up and get Tavares.  Major kaka was about to hit the proverbial fan.

I rushed out of work, stopped at the beer store along the way to stock up on some tasty beverages, and boogied home to meet up with Troost.  When the draft started we were as giddy as 2 soccer moms at an Oprah Winfrey autograph session.  Then something went horribly wrong.  The Islanders took Tavares with the first overall pick and none of the blockbuster trades occurred.  Teams stepped up to the podium and made their selection and we were treated to shots of the lucky draftees thanking their agents, parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, friends and the guy in the aisle selling popcorn.  During the 3 minutes it would take the draftees to hug and kiss their way to the stage, the talking heads would be proclaiming how it was a great pick, the kid was a great player and the hockey world was full of lollipops and puppy dog kisses.

I was dumbfounded.  Where were the big trades?  Where where the G.M.’s making a big splash?  I think I sat with a beer in my hand, staring at the TV, praying to the hockey gods for some kind of action.  Then Bettman stepped up and announced that the Flyers had the sold the farm to Anaheim for Chris Pronger.  This breaking news only fueled my ire even more.  The only real trade of the day was not even broken by the media.  They were too busy working themselves and the hockey public into a frenzy with made up stories that they did not even scoop the ONE true trade of the day.  I can’t even remember if I watched the last few picks as I was too incensed at the lack of activity, the failure of the Canadian sports media and the down right boredom of the event itself.  It was a made for TV broadcast better suited to be aired on the radio.

Now it is less than 48 hours to Free Agent day.  TSN will be starting their broadcast at 12 p.m eastern on Wednesday to break all the news.  Well, I am one hockey fan that will not be sitting around on Canada Day for TSN to tell me that Nashville offered the Sedin twins a contract and were told to take a hike.  I think I will wait to read about it the next day.  Fool me once….

The Greener \m/