GMs I love, and GMs I don't

First off, a big shoutout goes to my boy J. (Wild View from Section 216) and his wife. Congrats on the baby girl, I hope everyone is happy and healthy!

Kevin Lowe is awesome. He totally told Brian Burke to shove it, and he flaunted his six Stanley Cup rings in Brian Burke's face. By my Minnesota math, Klowe has six times as many Stanley Cup rings at Burke does. I'd shut my mouth if I were Burke, but being Burke, I'm sure he won't. I'd also like to hit Bettman with something. Brian Burke has been shooting his mouth off forever and a day because he lost Penner because he was tied up with indecisive veterans, but Bettman didn't say a thing. Kevin Lowe finally gets sick of Burke's crap, and bam, all of a sudden Bettman gives a crap about a petty, hilarious GM fight. What gives? Jerkwad.

Doug Risebrough is also on my list of GMs I'm mad at. He's always talking about how he made all of these offers to players, but only rarely do said players show up in Minnesota. No Hossa, no Naslund, no Jokinen, no Rolston (which I blame on his dickhead agent), and I'm concerned about Pierre Marc Bouchard and Marian Gaborik as well. I may not like Gaborik, but he's occasionally useful to have around. What's with signing all of these random people? The fans will keep buying tickets, but unless something miraculously awesome happens, the grumbling will start to get louder. Pat Burns once said "You can't keep replacing the foot soldiers, sometime the general has got to go". DR should watch that this does not happen. Mr. Burns was referring to the coach, but the GM could also go if butts are not in the seats. Also, please bring back the green sweaters!

Elise of 18,568 Reasons Why agrees with me on all of this, and Roy over at Wild Puck Banter has a rant about the sweaters. You should go and check both out.

Wild Need to Work On Beating Division Rivals.

Photo courtesy of the Facebook group "Calgary Flames SUCK"

We beat Phoenix on Sunday night to make it seven straight. I was mildly worried about the game since they were on a mild tear, but my worries were unfounded.

So last night we played the Flames, and that didn't go so well. Stupid Jarome Iginla, AKA Sakic's heir, got the Shootout winner. It was a night for the defencemen as Foster and Burns had the goals for the Wild. This is an important goal for Foster, since he still needs to prove that he can contribute so that Lemaire will put him in the lineup more frequently. I didn't actually watch the game, but TSN thoughtfully provided me with game highlights and a less than clever title. My boy Parrish was out with sore back apparently last night, and was therefore not getting any goals for me to gloat about. :(

Sherry, over at Scarlett Ice, has been nominated for this year's Canadian Blog Awards. You should go to her site and check it out, and then she has a link up so that you can vote for her. There are many quality entries this year, so I recommend voting for Sherry and then going and checking out all the other blogs.

Next up: The Ducks. Hopefully Mark Parrish will be back so he can break FCP again. That would definitely make my life if that were to occur twice. Now that S. Niedermayer is back, unfortunately they have gotten better. Earl Sleek, who writes for both Battle of California and AOL Fanhouse, will probably have some kind of detailed stats up about the matchup, because he is far better at that sort of thing than I am. Finny, of Girl With a Puck, will probably post something about the game if she is back from her vacation.

Teebz, the brilliance behind Hockey Blog in Canada, is having an essay contest with some fantastic prizes to celebrate the one year anniversary of having his blog. The questions haven't been posted yet, but you should check in often to see what they are. Or don't. That way my brilliant entry will have less competition. Congrats to you, Teebz, and good luck to all who take him up on his challenge.

**Edit** According to the man himself, the Hockey Blog in Canada essay questions will be up on Monday.