Quick Hits: Havlat, Grease, Khudobin & Aeros Goaltending

Dude. I gotta fucking learn to poke check. That's all I'm saying about drop-in tonight.

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Still amused at the reaction to my last post. Apparently you're a bad person if you call out laziness in a player on the team you support. But a surprising number of people have agreed with me. It's just that the ones who didn't agree took it pretty personally.

If I had $1 for every time I saw negative stuff about MY favorite players... man. But usually what hurts the most is that you know deep down there's some truth there, but it's hard to accept in a player you adore.

Anybody who watches Havlat play for the Wild and can tell me honestly that they think he's working hard all shift, every shift... well.... I can tell you, you're watching through extremely rosy glasses.

He's a very good cherry picker. And I don't care what numbers you put up, I find it an extremely aggravating way to play hockey. At least he stays healthy, I guess. :\

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Was talking to my pal @AWoodMacDonald up in Alberta on Twitter tonight about Darcy Kuemper, who is at the forefront of my mind after the Khudobin trade today pretty much assures that it will be Kuemps and Hackett in net for Houston next season.

It's barely March and I'm already giddy with anticipation about having him in Houston. I asked him what it is about the kid that makes him so good and he said it's "grease."

"He battles. He made a lot of greasy stops, that's what a lot of decent goalies don't do well. Technically sound they are above par, but don't have grease. TT has it, Roy had it, Hasek Had it, Price found it, Brust has it"

I love that word for the "it" that draws me to a goalie. It's some combo of confidence, calm, crazy, ballsy, smart, focused, relaxed... I dunno what all.

But I know this:

Grease is the word.



Now if I could just figure out how to get some of my own (see: Sentence #1 of this post).

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And one last bit on the Khudobin trade, which made for such a busy afternoon/evening, I almost forgot to go to my game tonight.

I was surprised it happened, but only because I predicted it and my predictions never come true:

Of all the positions I could see the Wild trading, it's in goal because of having Endras available next year.

That's what I tweeted this morning. But of course, I long ago said that neither the Wild nor Anton were happily wed anymore and it was time for a divorce. For the Wild, it showed in the Endras signing. For Anton, it showed on the ice.

And I like the Bruins organization an awful lot. I think it's funny that I actually ended up at a game in Providence where he'll be playing. And I think he'll like it there. It's a nice barn that gets loud and can fill up since it's smaller. It's a fantastic change of scenery for him and I hope it re-lights his fire now that he's having to play "hungry" again and impress a whole new crowd of people.

I'm also excited to have Tordjman back. Love him or hate him, he's a string bean of excitement. San Antonio fans warn me that the thrill-a-minute style he has comes back to bite him enough that eventually I'll grow to dislike him. I'm hoping our time together is short and successful enough that this doesn't happen.

I'm interested to see how Hackett responds. Tordjman is the veteran but I'd love to see Hackett take ownership, fly without a net (so to speak), and mature into a pro even more now that Khudobin is gone. It's a tall order and if he doesn't succeed, it's okay. He's a young pup still.