Thursday, August 28, 2008

You Know It's August When...

Check out the lengthy feature on a 27-year-old who has played three NHL games and is going to try to make the Ducks roster this fall (coincidentally leaving an organization just before Jaromir Jagr joins it for the second time in his career).

It's actually a relatively interesting piece (emphasis on relatively), but it boggles the mind that Kris Beech is probably only the third (or fourth?) crappiest player involved in that Jagr trade.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know Jagr stunk out the joint here, but when you compare what the Caps got in the deal to what the Penguins got in the deal, I still think the Caps came out way ahead. I mean, it was essentially getting (arguably) the best player in the league for a career minor leaguer and a bag of pucks.

Can you imagine if, at the time, we had found out that the Caps could have made such a deal and didn't pull the trigger? I can only imagine the negative reaction by Caps fans.

JP said...

Yeah, the trade was a no-brainer. The contract extension... now that's wherein things went to hell in a handbasket.

Hooks Orpik said...

Lupaschuk had something tragic happen in his personal life a couple years back, his brother was murdered and I've heard that was a leading factor in deciding to play overseas.

It's a total shame because Lupaschuk was in the Penguins system as far as the lockout year and had a pretty fair chance of making the NHL on their not strong 2005-06 team.

JP said...

@ Hooks: How dare you bring up such real life tragedy when I'm being snarky about a guy?!

What's next - Fleischmann watched his cat get runover by a bus full of kids as it swerved to unsuccessfully avoid hitting his grandmother before spontaneously bursting into flames last October and that's why he had a bad season?

All kidding aside, Lupaschuk comes across as a good guy in the article and I find myself genuinely rooting for him. Go, Ross, Go!

Anonymous said...

Fleischmann = another guy who has only played 3 NHL games.
:p

Anonymous said...

Didn't know about Lupaschuk's family tragedy, which explains why he suddenly disappeared out of the Pens system. The year before he left, he seemed to have an excellent season in the AHL and appeared to be on a good developmental track.

Of the three prospects in the Jagr deal, Lupa seemed to have the best future. Sivek was an out-and-out bust, while Beech was the textbook example of ruining a player by rushing him.