Hockey

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(Man, the Calgary Flames are cleaning house right now!)

Here is another trade the Calgary Flames were involved with. They made a trade with the New York Rangers on Tuesday Feb 2nd.

Going to Calgary: Chris Higgins(I wonder what Thomas Magnum would say?) and Ales Kotalik.

Going to New York: Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust.

Not as big of a blockbuster as the trade with Toronto, but it could potentially be a noteworthy one down the road.

Here is the article from tsn.ca.

FLAMES SEND JOKINEN, PRUST TO RANGERS FOR HIGGINS, KOTALIK

While it took some time, in the end the Calgary Flames finally got their men as the 'on again, off again' trade between the Flames and New York Rangers is official after a trade call was made following Calgary's loss to the Flyers on Monday.

The deal, which sees Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust heading to Manhattan in exchange for Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik, was reportedly held up because the Flames wanted Jokinen in the lineup for Monday night's game against Philadelphia. Jokinen played just over 15 minutes, took three shots on net and finished at a minus-one. Prust skated just over seven minutes.

With rumours of the trade circulating for more than 24 hours, the team on the ice appeared lethargic as they were soundly beaten by the Flyers on Monday. Jokinen said that he did not want to use the speculation as an excuse.

"You've got to play hard every time you go on the ice no matter what kind of distractions that you have going on," said Jokinen. "You play for that sweater, that logo. Until they tell you you're not part of the team, and I just got the news that II'm not part of the team so I've got to turn the page."

Jokinen realized his high salary mixed with low production was likely a big factor in his exit from Calgary.

"It comes with the salary, you make $5 million, 11 goals isnot going to cut it," said a visibly shaken Jokinen. "It's definitely a slap in the face to get traded."

Jokinen did see an upside in heading back to the Eastern Conference.

"I get a chance to play with one of the better players in the league in (Marian) Gaborik."

Although he was aware that a deal was likely, Prust also found it difficult to prepare for.

"You're waiting to hear confirmation, pacing around for hours," Prust admitted. "I definitely didn't sleep too well"

Both Jokinen and Prust will join the Rangers in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning while Higgins is currently in Los Angeles. Kotalik remains in New York after being sent home by the Rangers on Sunday after being told by the team that he would be traded. The Flames pushed back their practice on Tuesday in hopes that both players will be able to skate with their new teammates.

There had also been several reports that Kotalik was not prepared to waive his no-trade clause to go to Calgary; however earlier in the day he reportedly changed his stance to accept the move.

Both Jokinen and Higgins are set to become unrestricted free agent at season's end, while Prust will become a restricted free agent. Kotalik has two-years and $6 million remaining on a three-year deal he signed prior to the season with New York.

Jokinen was originally acquired by Calgary from the Phoenix Coyotes at last year's trade deadline. The 31-year old veteran has 11 goals and 24 assists in 56 games with the Flames this season. Jokinen is set to represent Finland at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. It will be his third Olympic appearance. He helped lead Finland to the silver medal at the 2006 games in Torino. The Kuopio, Finland native was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Kings with the third overall pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.

The 25-year old Prust was drafted by the Flames in the third round of the 2004 draft, and was traded to Phoenix at last year's trade deadline in the deal that brought Jokinen to Calgary. Prust was then traded back to the Flames last summer for Jim Vandermeer. The native of London, Ontario has one goal and four assists in 43 games this season in Calgary. He ranks second in the NHL in fighting majors with 18.

"I'm looking forward to going to the big city and playing in Madison Square Garden so I'm looking forward to it, but I'm sad to leave again," said Prust.

Kotalik, 31, has been made a healthy scratch by head coach John Tortorella in eight of the club's last nine games. In 45 games, Kotalik has eight goals and 14 assists, with a plus/minus of -18. His best offensive season was with the Buffalo Sabres in 2005-06, when he scored 25 goals and added 37 assists.

Higgins, 26, is in his first season with the Rangers after he signed with New York last summer. Originally, the Montreal Canadiens had traded his rights to the Rangers prior to the July 1 free agent signing period.

Starting in 2005-06, Higgins had three straight seasons in which he scored 20 or more goals with Montreal, but his production dropped to 12 last year in an injured-shortened season. This season he has six goals and eight assists in 54 games.

This is the second major deal that the Flames have pulled off in as many days after shipping Dion Phaneuf, Fredrik Sjostrom and prospect Keith Aulie to the Maple Leafs on Sunday in exchange for Matt Stajan, Ian White, Niklas Hagman and Jamal Mayers.

The two trades leave the Flames with a surplus of wing players, 13 in all, possibly setting up additional deals prior to the NHL's trade deadline on March 3rd.

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Here are the scores from Jan 31st's games:

1. Pittsburgh beat Detroit 2-1 in the shootout. Crosby had a goal in regulation and scored the winner in the shootout. He is potting a lot more goals than he was last year, and has a chance to beat Ovechkin in that department.

2. Washington beat Tampa Bay 3-2. Speaking of Ovechkin, he had a goal and an assist in this game. He is making a run for the complete points lead this season, not content with just trying to win the scoring race.

3. Florida beat the Islanders 2-0. The Islanders are having a hard time scoring right now.

4. LA beat New Jersey 3-2. The Devils, as they have done so many times in recent games, blew the lead. They had a 2-0 lead in this one and coughed it up in the last two minutes of the game(it actually reminded me of the playoff game last season against Carolina that eliminated the Devils). LA tied it up at 18:14 of the third and won it at 19:32 of the third(on a Power Play, no less!). Andy Greene is the one wearing goat-horns for this loss.

5. Phoenix beat Dallas 4-2. Phoenix is starting to play good hockey again and this is without one of their leading scorers in Scottie Upshall. This is their 4th win in a row.

6. The Rangers beat Colorado 3-1. Gaborik got all three goals for the Rangers. I wonder how many times they would have gotten shutout this season were it not for him? Their offense is putrid for the most part, and that will be the main reason they either fail to make it to the playoffs or they get eliminated early.

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Here are the scores from Feb 1st's games:

1. Pittsburgh beat Buffalo 5-4. Sidney Crosby got a hat-trick in this one. Pittsburgh came back from down 3-1 and scored 4 unanswered goals. Crosby had the game-winner for the second straight game(that includes the shootout winner).

2. Anaheim beat Florida 3-0. What a way for Hiller to show Anaheim that he was worth the new contract that he just signed(which was the reason Giguere was available to trade).

3. Philadelphia beat Calgary 3-0. Not such a good debut for the new Flames. The Flames had a grand total of 18 shots for the entire game. You are not going to win very many games with that low of a shot total. I think the way Sutter has them play(a defensive-minded style) is one of the main reasons they stink so horribly with regards to their offense. Jennifer does the happy dance!

4. Edmonton beat Carolina 4-2. IT IS OVER!!!! Edmonton finally won a game. I will bet there were some happy guys in that locker room! About time, I say. It was looking pretty sad as the losing streak went on and on.

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Here are the scores from Feb 2nd's games:

1. Washington beat Boston 4-1. Despite outshooting Washington 42-26, the Bruins took the loss. Thomas only gave up 3 goals, as the fourth goal was an empty netter(no surprise, but Ovechkin seems to like getting the empty netter to pad his stats). Things are looking quite grim in Bean Town.

2. Toronto beat New Jersey 3-0. A pretty good debut for Giguere, especially since the Devils are a very good team(recent struggles notwithstanding)! He made 30 saves for the shutout, and Phaneuf was +1 for the night, with a fight against Colin White to add to his total. While dauls is no doubt rightfully pissed off that his team lost, I am glad that Toronto played so well. They have had so many crap moments the past couple of weeks that I was getting sick and tired of it all. I am glad they made me happy again! Happy dance for ME!

3. Tampa Bay beat Atlanta 2-1. This game was so boring, Ilya Kovalchuk broke his stick in boredom at the end of the game(well, it was actually frustration, the boredom was mine)!

4. Montreal beat Vancouver 3-2. This was the first game for Montreal without Mike Cammalleri(who is gone for 6 weeks. I will post an article about it after this report), and they did not buckle under the pressure. Halak was the main reason Montreal won this game as he ended up making 45 saves for the victory. Perhaps this will be the start of a winning streak for the Habs? Happy dance for Ila!

5. Phoenix beat Nashville 1-0 in the shootout. What a bore-fest! Snore! Yawn! Bleh! To top it all off the shootout went TEN rounds. Yikes! At least I got 7 points for my pool due to Bryzgalov getting the shutout and win.

6. Dallas beat Minnesota 4-2. Despite being outshot 42-18 the Stars got the victory. Forget what I said earlier about not being able to win when you only get 18 shots on net, as I was just proven wrong. What I should have said was that you shouldn't win with just 18 shots on net.

7. Colorado beat Columbus 5-1. Well, this was a close game....at least it was until Columbus gave up two(count 'em , TWO!) short-handed goals in a row. That has GOT to hurt!

8. LA beat the Rangers 2-1. Remember what I said about Gaborik being the Ranger's only source of goals? Well guess who had New York's only goal tonight? Yep. Gaborik. Big surprise, eh?

9. Detroit beat San Jose 4-2. This was a bit of a surprise to be honest. San Jose had a 2-0 lead and blew it. Joe Thornton had both goals for San Jose. The shot total was 37-34 for Detroit.

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(from tsn.ca)

HABS' CAMMALLERI WON'T NEED SURGERY, BUT OUT SIX WEEKS

MONTREAL - Michael Cammalleri will be out for about six weeks with a knee injury but the good news is the Montreal Canadiens' goal-scoring leader won't require surgery.

Cammalleri suffered the injury during a 3-2 overtime loss Saturday in Ottawa when he fell awkwardly into the boards after being hit by Anton Volchenkov.

"I've always had respect for him (Volchenkov) - he's a real honest player," Cammalleri said Tuesday. "He's a real honest player, the kind who wouldn't hit you from behind or elbowing you or anything like that. But I kinda let my guard down and never touched the puck. "

The 27-year-old is one of Montreal's top offensive guns with a team-leading 26 goals and 48 points in 56 games.

The Canadiens were to play without him for the first time this season Tuesday night against the visiting Vancouver Canucks.