As the trade-deadline fretting lurches toward its conclusion, one player who has some recent perspective on it is Alexei Ponikarovsky, who joined the Kings as a free agent last summer but who was part of a deadline deal last season, when he moved from Toronto to Pittsburgh. In the weeks prior to the deadline, the Maple Leafs had made little secret of their desire to move Ponikarovsky, but it can still be a dramatic event for players. After practice today, I asked Ponikarovsky for his thoughts on how difficult a trade can be on a player…
PONIKAROVSKY: “I wouldn’t call it dramatic. It’s a part of the job. You just have to accept it. It’s not something you can control. It’s not up to you what will happen. What you can control is how you play and what you bring to the table for the team to win. That’s all you can do, and the rest of it is up to the management. Yeah, I went through it last year. I would describe it as an experience. When you get traded for the first time, you go through some emotional stuff and you have to change some things and you go away from the family. But I think you just learn from that, and you accept it as part of your job and just go with it and go to the other team. Life goes on. You play with a different group of guys and, for sure, it’s a little bit different.”
I thought Poni had a great game last night. Hopefully he picks up from last night and brings some positive touch to the table. His answer is very straight forward and professional.
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iansez Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
@Harry, agreed on both counts! Now if he could just find the nyet!
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great job poni!! love the look the 4th line, and love watching poni muscle his way from the right side to cut in straight to the goalie
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I’d be willing to relocate for the money they’re getting.
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More good news: Phoenix is taking a 5-2 whippin’ from Columbus right now (15 minutes left in the third), and San Jose has their hands full (just started a game against calgary). If things shake out well tonight and tomorrow, kings could be looking at a 2 point, 3 way race for the pacific division. wow.
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Bill M. Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 6:18 pm
@Bill M., Follow up. The Guppies just scored. 1-0 Sharks.
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Wahooo .. that is a key game for us I think. Of the three key games tonight I targeted this one, as the one that would help us the most ( want Columbus to beat Phoenix)
I want at least 4th in the standings and ideally third.( Being realistic here and I dont really want Vanc or Detroit in the first round) I want home ice advantage as much as we can get for the playoffs.
Im getting ahead of myself and assuming we make a descent trade –pickup this weekend….
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ATTN RICH Hammond
Rich can you check with tech support to see if you can insert a speel (intentional)check corrector edit button after we post.
When im typing on my screen it is so small and when I go back and read what I wrote and see spelling errors it is too late to fix.
I speel great I just type like sh****** two lil ole index fingers peeking away haha
I ask this because it is possible . Im on an investment board online and that function was added there.
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wavesinair Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
@Hip-Check, firefox browser checks spelling as you type, so does my iphone. it’s not the site, it’s your device and/or browser.
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Hip-Check Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
@wavesinair, Thanks and yes I usually use internet browser.. Ill try firefox….
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wavesinair Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
@Hip-Check,
it looks like ispell is a free extension for internet explorer if you want to go that way…you can install it and it should do the same thing. http://www.iespell.com/
also, in your ie browser, increase the the zoom to 125% in the lower right corner so to increase the overall text size…
Hip-Check Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 7:13 pm
@wavesinair, Thanks … both useful suggestions…
much appreciated….
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39scars Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
@wavesinair, what is the iPhone app called
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So, on the previous topic, I did a little reading on waiver rules. Most of it is standard stuff, just talking about contracts, games played, salary levels, etc that would waiver-exempt a player. However, the interesting part is this:
“If a player clears waivers, the team has the right to send the waived player to a minor league affiliate within 30 days (generally its AHL affiliate)”
So for those who aren’t up on the legal maneuverings of the the NHL, this might clarify things. The player doesn’t automatically go anywhere because you put him on waivers, it simply means that once waivers are cleared, we can move him around for 30 days without re-exposing him. That means that if DL does pull a deal, he can send Sturm to the AHL to clear Roster space, and assuming that the new player still allows the kings to clear cap, DL can pull him back monday night when the deadline passes, without any further risk.
If Sturm is ours in the morning, he’s ours until tee time. But at the same time, putting him on waivers today does mean that DL can conveniently move him out of the way just for a couple days, if it becomes necessary to do that for a trade.
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wavesinair Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 6:46 pm
@Bill M., it would only be necessary for for cap space, not roster space considering his salary. if it was only roster space, then martinez could go down without having to clear anything but the tsa screening. so if a deal does go down, it’s likely that sturm is hasta la vista baby. or else we’d be over the cap.
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Bill M. Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 6:57 pm
@wavesinair, That depends on how many players we bring in and what their cap hit is (admittedly, our situation suggests that we would take one player and that a player meeting the criteria would have a problematic cap hit).
My point was simply to highlight for those not well versed in waiver transactions that this move doesn’t mean a deal is imminent. People seemed to think that DL had to make a move right away after this in order to safely send sturm down, etc. and were confused that he might still be able to play tomorrow.
So I was explaining that all this means is that DL now has the ability to move Sturm out of the way should DL swing a deal. He doesn’t have to have a deal done. He can sign the deal 5 seconds before the deadline, and if the deal means Sturm needs to move, DL can now move him at the same exact time he signs the deal.
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wavesinair Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
@Bill M., yep. it also means that dl is looking to make a deal, which i think a lot of us were wondering about. he’s clearly looking for something more than a modin.
Smiles….here
Phoenix just lost and Calgary has tied it up vs the Sharks.
So far so good.
Yes every game now is important.
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Sharks v. Flames on live 1-1 in the 2nd….
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oops! live here… http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/hockeynight/2011022503
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Poni strikes me as a real class act
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Hip-Check Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 7:15 pm
@Quattro, I agree and Id like him back next year. I think he can be a lot better. I like his size and play usually.
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CB14 Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 8:51 pm
@Hip-Check, I think it comes down to bringing back either Poni or Sturm for that third slash fourth line LW. Smyth and Clifford will be 2 LW’s, and I think DL will acquire a top 6 LW at the deadline or in the offseason. I think you offer them both a 1 year 2 million dollar deal and the first to sign gets it. JMO
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neil Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 7:17 pm
@Quattro, real nice guy when I met him…also dont forget …he is a 20 goal scorer in the past…
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Poni is good.. If he plays with the right guys and not on the 4th line he will put points up.. If i were him i would hate murray and want to be traded… If he goes toronto or many other places he will be a 1 or 2 liner
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