“The 700 Club and the Money Pit”


Brett Hull reached a milestone last night when he netted his 700th career goal. Such an exclusive club in the hockey world it only has five other members. Wayne Gretzky ( 894), Gordie Howe (801), Marcel Dionne (731), Phil Esposito (717) and Mike Gartner (most recently with 708).

Hull had gone 7 games between 699 and 700. Brett won a cup with the Stars and last year with the Redwings. Best known for running his mouth, and his ego, which resulted him in butting heads with various coaches including current Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock.

Meanwhile a big trade was pulled off between the New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins that have more hockey fans shaking their heads than debating on who got the better end of the deal. Since the Penguins are in a total void of cash they had to unload their star player Alexi Kovalev ( 4th in the NHL in scoring) simply cause they could not afford him. This comes with two years of losing super start Jarmior Jagr and defensemen Bob Boughner due to lack of funds. Not only that they sent a capable d-man in Janne Laukkanen and Mike Wilson to the big apple in this uneven trade. The Penguins pretty much got a band of losers in return. The pack was lead by Mikael Samuelson, who is a good third line player. The rest of the bunch are mostly no-names or fringe AHL players. D-man Joel Boucherd, Richard Lintner and forward Rico Fata (who?) and what they needed the most 4 Million bucks.

Its sad to see such big team like the Penguins have to pretty much write off all their assets. The Penguins could go the way of the Buffalo Sabres, and Ottawa Senators who can’t afford to pay their players. Although Buffalo was somewhat a result of corporate corruption, many other small market teams are on the verge of disaster, including Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Carolina.

The trade bulks up the horrible New York Ranger’s payroll even more. But look at the standings the Rangers aren’t going anywhere. Vancouver has almost 20 more points than them, kind of makes you wonder if all those players are even worth it.