MacK_Attack

According to his agent, Jay Grossman. No details available yet. Edit: http://twitter.com/Jay_Grossman

Two years, $6.8 million

Babcock's going with Bobby Lou for tomorrow's game against Germany.

I don't buy that for a second. There's a huge number of captains on this team. Leadership isn't a problem. I think it might be a case of too many leaders and not enough followers.

They have Germany tomorrow and the winner faces Russia on Wednesday.

Maltby didn't play for Canada until the 2004 World Cup. It was Draper & Peca, mostly.

Pronger and Niedermayer have been awful defensively. Turnover machines.

Jay Bouwmeester would've been ice. But I echo the sentiments that there's not enough role players. Doan, Smyth, Lucic, even a Jordan Staal. You need guys to do the dirty things. Not enough guys wearing red and white are willing to do those things.

I don't think Babcock is to blame here, but Yzerman did make some poor choices. I understand the need for veteran leadership and all that jazz, but Scott Niedermayer's play all season hasn't warranted being on this team and he looks completely out of place on the ice. Pronger has been better in the NHL this year, but he's way too slow for the speed of the calibre of players in this tournament. They need to ride Weber, Keith, Seabrook & Doughty the rest of the way, spotting in Boyle. Pronger & Niedermayer need to stay on the bench. More muckers, more grinders are needed up front. There's exactly three guys willing to go in the corners: Nash, Richards & Morrow. So what happens is the puck goes in the corner and if one of those three guys isn't on the ice, the opposing 'D' simply goes back, gets the puck and brings it back out untouched. That San Jose line is absolutely atrocious. Heatley is playing decently, but Thornton & Marleau are M.I.A., as is their reputation. Heatley looked a lot better in the brief moments that he was separated from those two. A Shane Doan or Ryan Smyth or even a Milan Lucic would've been a huge step in the right direction in terms of adding a little heart 'n soul to this team. What it is right now is a team of stars standing around waiting for the puck to come to them. Until some guys swallow their pride and start playing in the corners and mucking it up a bit, Canada will get destroyed by Russia. Hell, they probably won't have an easy time of it with Germany.

He's been completely invisible since he arrived in Vancouver. He didn't deserve to be on the ice. Marleau's been just as useless and Heatley's been passable. But there they were on the ice in the final minute. I would've called a timeout and stalled as long as I could to get Crosby & Nash back on the ice.

Putting Joe Thornton on the ice in the final minute?

They're throwing lots of pucks at the net, but there's a lack of quality shots. They're way too predictable. They get a 2-on-1 or a 3-on-2 or something and the puck carrier peels off and looks to dump the puck to the middle every.single.freakin'.time. There's no drive to the net, there's nobody driving to the net. They want to score fancy goals on tic-tac-toe plays. Of course, having Pronger and Niedermayer on the back end to turn the puck over endlessly doesn't help. There's no speed through the neutral zone, there's not a lot of battles won along the boards. The defencemen aren't making solid first passes (ice is bad, clearly...but they have more than enough talent to cope). It's just fundamental stuff that they can't or won't execute. They were average against Norway, terrible against the Swiss and even worse tonight, save for the last few minutes of the 3rd when they finally played like they could. They should beat Germany, but the battle against Russia won't be pretty. Unless they magically find some heart.

Yeah, but two guys out of 13 aren't going to make a huge difference. There's 6 or 7 guys along for the ride right now that are doing squat. Getzlaf is clearly hurt and shouldn't be playing. I'm fine with Carter in for him. I'd have Doan or Smyth playing instead of Marleau. I would've had a hard time leaving Thornton off the team, but he's certainly lived up to his reputation as a guy who gets worse as the games get bigger. Maybe a guy like Smyth wouldn't play much, but he'd do the ugly things that few else on that team are willing to do. Pronger and Niedermayer are clearly past the point of being useful internationally. I guess Phaneuf & Bouwmeester would be more ideal, but I like the way that Keith, Seabrook etc. are playing. Just hope Babcock staples Pronger to the bench. Maybe a Milan Lucic there as a 13th forward just to go out and throw some hits once or twice a period? I don't know. I just know that guys standing there watching the play isn't working.

Yzerman needed to put a little more heart 'n soul on that team. Too many guys that don't want to mess up their pretty faces. Joe Thornton is the anti-clutch. Good game by the USA team, they earned that one.

Looks like Chicago is after a Minnesota defenceman. Hnidy? Zidlicky? Johnsson?

I wouldn't be shocked if Cheechoo hit re-entry waivers on March 1st or 2nd.

Jamie Lundmark also on waivers

For the second time in a calendar year, somebody has been suckered in to the Dominic Moore illusion. That's a lot to give up for a 3rd liner. Makes me hopeful for what the Leafs might get for Ponikarovsky. I was hoping for just a 2nd, but maybe they can get a 2nd and a prospect or late pick.

As a short term rental, why not? He'd provide insurance in net and Dallas probably isn't asking a whole lot for him.

He'll clear. His day has come and gone.

Ryan Getzlaf suffered an ankle injury in last night's game against Los Angeles. X-Rays were negative, but he'll have an MRI today. He left the Honda Center on crutches with his foot in a protective boot. Sounds like a high ankle sprain. Seen Stamkos?

Waivers still exist after the trade deadline, but if a player gets claimed on waivers after March 3rd, he's ineligible to play for that team for the remainder of the season, so a team has to really want the player to make a claim. So basically, you can put players on waivers after March 3rd with little worry about a player being claimed.

Montreal Canadiens have called a 4pm news conference, at which time Bob Gainey is expected to announce his resignation as Habs GM. Source: Bob McKenzie

Pierre Gauthier is the new GM of the Montreal Canadiens.

How's his broken French?