Well this will be my first time ever blogging so feel privileged to be reading it lol, just kidding. Today has been a long day for me. I've been trying to get some of my homework done all evening. The problem that I have been running into is that Yola.com has been having some trouble loading today so it has been a long and strenuous evening with lots of frustration.

Something new in the world of hockey was yesterday’s trades for the Toronto Maple Leafs. I am a diehard Leafs fan. If you read my blogs you will find this out very quickly. And yesterday Brian Burke the general manager of the Leafs made a huge splash in the NHL by acquiring blue liner Dion Pheneuf and net minder J.S. Guigerre. When I examine this trade and try to determine whether as a Leafs fan I feel like a winner or loser I look at three areas that may have been over looked as a part time hockey fan.

First off we will start with who we lost. Too the Calgary Flames we gave up blue liner Ian White our most consistent defence man this year, right winger Nichols Hagman our top goal scorer, Matt Stajan our top center man, and Jamal Meyers a rugged center man that played forth line. Now some might think that giving these players away is lunacy but one thing to keep in mind is that out of all four of them only one was signed beyond this season and the likelihood of Burke signing the other three to another contract was very unlikely. Another thing to be aware of is that out of all four of these players which have many years experience in the NHL only one of them (Matty Stajan) has any playoff experience, which was his first year in the NHL, that’s it just his first year only. So most of these players on any other team would probably not crack there top two lines, let alone get you to the playoffs.

Now the second thing I think we should look at is who we received in return for our buffet of blue and whites. Well we receive three players coming back the biggest name being defenseman Dion Pheneuf. Pheneuf is a 24 year old rock your socks power house on the point. He brings size, grit and power play ability to Toronto and for the last two previous years has made the All Star Team. Dion’s slap shot was clocked to be one of the hardest shots in the league and he is only 24 meaning that he has probably not reached his full potential yet. Some might say "but the power play is not why the Leafs are losing so badly this year it’s their penalty kill". Well to help out with that Toronto acquired penalty kill specialist Fredrik Sjostrom from Calgary to help them in that aspect. One person that I am most curious about is the prospect that came over in this deal, Keith Aulie. Standing at 6 foot 6 and weighing in at 224 lbs. this Canadian born player is only 20 years old and has just won a gold medal in the World Junior Championship last season. He is not predicted to make the team this year but I will be keeping my eye out for him in seasons to come.

And now the third and final aspect of our acquisitions that is probably the trade that made the most sense for Toronto is the deal they made with the Anaheim Ducks. They traded right wing speedster Jason Blake and defeated net minder Vessa Toskala for a proven goalie in J.S. Guigerre (Jiggy). In the past ten years Jiggy has been to the Stanley cup twice and won it once, he is only thirty-two years old and has been cast aside by the Ducks for younger talent in Jonas Hiller. It is true that Jiggy is having an off season but if he plays to even half of his ability he is still a number one goalie on any team in the NHL, if he plays like his old self he’s one of the most elite goalies that has ever touched the ice. On top of that Toronto freed up 2 million dollars cap space for the rest of the season and dumped two players that never made their mark in Toronto.

So in turn I claim the Leafs winners.

Today in class we had our broadcast teacher Tim Geoble teach us a little bit about blogging. We also looked over some other radio stations sites to find out what works and doesn’t work when blogging.... To be honest while reading some of the blogs today I found that people go about it in many different ways. Some people talk mostly about their lives and others about daily news. But one thing that I did notice and am going to try to avoid was that many of the bloggers would make promises to keep up to date on their blogging when in fact there blogs were very few and far between. As a radio broadcaster I believe that it is very important to have a relationship with the listener and to build a trust. So that being said I will make an effort to keep a weekly blog and not stray away from this promise.
So that’s my first blog, my thoughts and opinion. If you have made it this far I applaud you, next week’s blog will probably not be as long but I figured if the Leafs made a splash then so would I with my first time blog.

I’m Johnny Soule tapping into the soul of the listener.

 

Cheers