HHOF snubs Burns, Oates; Horton wants to get physical

Big news yesterday was the Horton/Campbell for Wideman/15th/3rd round ’11 deal and a bag of used practice pucks. At first we were a bit pissed off. That’s just our natural inclination anytime Chiarelli makes a move. Maybe it’s not fair to PC, but we’re Bruins fans and we’ve been trained that every roster move management makes sucks. At least he’s coming through on his promise. After giving it some further thought, we don’t hate the move. Horton is a big guy (6’2″, 229lbs). He can score more than 30 goals a season and with someone like Savard around him, maybe in the mid-to-high 30s if the team is lucky. People have dismissed him because of work ethic and laziness. Hell, we’d probably be the same way if we played in Florida. The people at those games are just looking for a way to cool off. And with the right coaching  (Julien), veteran leadership (Rex, if they re-sign him) and some brass mentorship (Neely), maybe Horton will do alright in Boston. Of course, people are already giving the kid high expectations. He’s not going to score 70 goals. But that’s alright, because the Bs will get Hall Seguin. More after the jump. Quick side note: Horton is represented by Bobby Orr’s company and a lot of people are saying Neely’s fingerprints are all over this deal. We’re liking the idea of building a team around players Neely and Orr approve of. You could do a lot worse. And Horton is stoked to leave Florida for a real hockey town. He’s already buttering up the fans and media by saying he wants to be more physical.

“I want to be more physical and just all around be a better player. I think I have more to give. I’ll be working pretty hard this summer. I want to come in the best shape. I think I’m just excited for a change. It’s going to be great. I think it’s going to work out good.” –Nathan Horton, phone conference.

He’s starting by releasing a musical workout video.

The big part about the deal we don’t like is giving up the #15 pick, especially when all we’ve been hearing is how much Chiarelli really wants another puck-moving defensemen. Many say Wideman is a puck-moving defenseman… only he moves the puck in the wrong direction. We’re hoping this means room to re-sign Boychuk and Stuart. Let’s get the deal done, PC. Being shadowed by the acquisition of Horton is Gregory Campbell, the son of Boston favorite Colin Campbell.

Different websites have Campbell listed in different positions. Some say wing; some say center. Some say he’ll take Begin’s place; others, Paille. We’re just glad Colin won’t be able to fuck the Bs over with his horrible Wheel of Justice anymore.

Actually. Let’s be honest. That’s the real reason for this deal.

Didn’t take long before the Gallery Gods got a hold of Greg Campbell’s Wikipedia page….

…to bad they don’t know how to spell, capitalize or use punctuation. Sure, we’re no Spelling Bee Champ, but we know that dad has no “e” in it and know that the “b” in Bruins should be capitalize. Also, we use apostrophes and commas. We’ll let you play editor in your head with this one.

Also being overshadowed by the trade were the Hockey Hall of Fame snubs.

We’re not going to say much about the subject since we could do an entire post ranting. But no Adam Oates this year. Snubbed. Even more disgusting is the snubbing of former Bruins coach Pat Burns. Guy has a Stanley Cup, three Jack Adams awards and has kicked the ass of cancer twice. Now he’s in his third battle with cancer and it’s looking bleak. Tolls must be super high to get in the Hall.

And, as Matt Kalman pointed out, we’ll probably never know why Burns (and other snubs) were left out of the Great Hall in Toronto.

“The Hockey Hall of Fame is some sort of real-life version of “Fight Club” that more often than not leaves people in the sport and outside of the meeting room scratching their heads.” –Matt Kalman, theBruinsBlog.net

Bill Torrey, a committee member, chastised fans and the media for saying they weren’t thinking of Burns during the selection process. Sure you were, Billy Boy. Sure you were.

There were even more stupid floating about yesterday. Apparently the Bruins are shopping Savard hard. This makes no sense to us since he has  NTC and signed a friendly deal to stay in Boston for basically the rest of his career. If this rumor is true, either the Bruins duped him into the deal (which is unlikely) or he burned some bridges with the organization. He did, after all, refused to take accountability for the too-many-men penalty and Neely wants players who’ll take responsibility for their actions. Also, trading a 90 point scorer doesn’t seem like the right move for a team on the verge of making it to the Cup Finals. Bruins are also shopping Thomas big time. Of course, he also has a no movement clause. Gotta love when rumors surround two guys who can refuse to go anywhere all with a big grin on their face. If Thomas wants to be 1a again, it’ll have to be elsewhere. We hear San Jose has great weather year-round. The rights to Boychuk. Seems silly. Kid is still young and was an absolute beast in the playoffs. Also, his rep says things are moving forward in contract talks with Boston. Anything with Johnny B would be a complete right turn from everything else being said. Kaberle. Really? We’re still talking about this clown? We know PC wants a puck-moving d-man but why go outside of the organization when you have Boychuk and Stuart to sign? They’re perfectly capable of doing the job. Some are saying PC has a hard on for Kaberle but we’re thinking it’s just the rumor mill not knowing when to stop.  Helping the Leafs after they’ve helped us so much recently might be heartwarming, but a bad business (and hockey) move.

The day is young. We’ll see what PC, Neely & Co. have up their sleeves today.