Looking at his penalty minutes more closely for last year, he had 26 minor penalties. To put that into perspective, Bouillon had 25, Suter and Erat with 24, and Hamhuis with 22. Granted, SOB only played 65 games, but his penalty production is a bit overstated.
Still not a fan of this move. I've never been a fan of his. Like SK, I just worry about SOB being a headcase. Strange how Poile is taking on players with bad attitude histories. Poile seems to be becoming more of a risk taker lately.
However, despite Parent having a good camp, I was never excited to see him back.
i'm sorry to see Obie leave. he is solid as 5th d and filled in quite nicely as top 4 for quite a stretch when injuries decimated the nucks d. unfortunately he and the coaching staff did not get along. go back thru the GDTs and u will see many times he was rated our best d on the night. his cap fit was the problem. neither alberts nor rome are better than O'Brien, but his salary is more or less what alberts and rome combined get and the nucks are battling the cap. most canucks fans rate him higher than bieksa. Gillis gave him a new contact during the off season, so ....
his penalties in his first year in vancouver made him a whipping boy for the irrational fans who blamed every loss on him if he took a penalty. i wish him and the preds luck. nashville just became my 2nd favortite team in the west.
Says the the trade was very last minute. One of the fastest trades he's ever done. Poile had expressed interest in Shane a little while ago but said he would only trade equal salary. Gillis said no. But after Shane cleared waivers, Gillis calls up Poile and said he'd be willing to listen to an equal salary trade.
Sounded like Poile felt a little bad for Parent, and said he did have a good camp, but thinks SOB is more skilled and comes with a better resume. Likes his size. He didn't mention anything about Andersson.
Acknowledged SOB had issues in the past, but thinks they are a bit overstated due to the media and being in a bigger hockey city. He hopes Shane can put that behind him and move on not only for our sake, but also for SOB's career. Said a lot of the time, getting a bad media rep can kill a player's confidence. Hopes he and SK can sort of use Nashville to "rehabilitate" their confidence.
Said he expects SOB to be paired with Franson.
Expecting better special teams this year.
Claims Ward played hurt last year and should be better.
Lindback is our backup. He is in love with having "13 feet worth of goaltender." Biggest tandem in the league. He knows its risky, but it doesn't bother him. Goaltenders can always be acquired.
Really likes the average age of our team. Most players still in their 20s.
Called Detroit old. I LOLed. But still thinks they are the team to beat next year.
Chicago is still good even after losing players this offseason.
St. Louis will surprise people. Thinks they are the most improved team this year.
Columbus... he was just being nice but said they will be tough to beat. Desperate for playoffs.
Last edited by Paranoid Android: 10-05-2010 at 06:16 PM.
Thanks for the report. Was sitting by the radio and forgot to put it on the right station. O'Brien sounds like a big risk. Hope it pays off.
Welcome to Nashville O'Brien. Please learn the system in a hurry. You have three days...
That wasn't his exact words, and it was kind of made in jest, but he just referenced that time we got Leighton off of waivers the same day Vokoun went down with injury. Obviously, getting a goalie will be easier now than a month from now, but he feels confident in Lindback.
Whoever was asking the questions kind of set him up with an awkward question. Saying what we do if Rinne goes down with injury isn't exactly something you want to think about. It's a bridge we cross when we get to it.
Sometimes we forget GM's are poker players. When Poile signed Andersson and made a fuss about him, maybe it was to attract other GM's into thinking he was a better player than he was so he could get a better return on him at a later time.
We have all wanted a big nasty guy on the blue line for some time. We have him now. Is he the best guy out there, no, is he the worst, no. We just need him to be solid and productive. We can let Suter and Weber be the main guns back there.
Also, how are guys like SOB and SK going to come in to the locker room and question Weber? The guy is an all-star and works his tail off. They'll either fall in line or they'll be gone and we have guys to replace them both in the system.
I also think this deal solidifies O'Reilly making the team out of camp. We still have depth at forward in Milwaukee and it's quality depth.
And for all the barking we do about having smurfs on the blue line, we'll have three guys above 6'3" and two of them are 230 lbs and above. I think we're losing the little guy mantra from many years earlier.
And for all the barking we do about having smurfs on the blue line, we'll have three guys above 6'3" and two of them are 230 lbs and above. I think we're losing the little guy mantra from many years earlier.
No one is complaining about his size. We know how big he is. Most people question his attitude and work ethic. Poile addressed these issues over the radio and thinks he can turn it around, but there is still an element of risk involved.
A positive though, SOB is in a contract year. Poile doesn't think he'll screw around knowing this.
Browsing the Vancouver thread about the trade, I sure didn't see anyone complaining that O'Brien was gone. Several noted they were glad O'Brien wouldn't be around to influence young prospects in the wrong ways.
I like the poster who noted that since we traded Hamhuis' rights for Parent, and then Parent for O'Brien, that means all O'Brien is worth was the right to chat with Hamhuis for a couple days before he went free agent.
I don't remember Witt doing much. It seems he took a couple dumb cross-check penalties at bad times, and got beat a bit too often as well.
Witt was at the end of his uselfulness stage of his career when he came to us.
As far as the deal goes I'll just say Poile is the GM and I'm some random fan. I still don't know about the trade but I'm willing to give SOB a chance. If he can give 15 solid minutes a game I'll be happy. Let's see what happens.
And for all the barking we do about having smurfs on the blue line, we'll have three guys above 6'3" and two of them are 230 lbs and above. I think we're losing the little guy mantra from many years earlier.
This is why I'm not TOO upset about this move, though like most I am still a bit unsure. More size with a dash of nastiness on the blue line can't hurt. I'm excited to see what will happen in the regular season. Only a few more days!
SOB adds nastiness and grit to our blue line, something that was sorely lacking. In fact, the one major positive here is that it should take a lot of responsibility off Weber for sticking up for his teammates...
The less Weber has to drop the gloves the better I like Shane O'Brien...
That is what i like to hear!!
Now guys, I know that you are always givin me a hard time, but come on!! That was pretty damn good that I called us getting Shane O'Brien! I brought up the whole idea and really liked it, but everyone said O'Brien was not even worthy of our top 6!
I am soo stocked about this! Plus I know Shane O'Brien and hopefully will get to meet some Predators now!!
In fairness, you didn't call it. You said we should get him off of waivers.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's one of those trades that will only prove to be good or bad after several close games. If he can keep out of the box at inopportune times and actually listens to the coaching staff I think we got a fair deal.
imo this is SOBs main issue, and I dont think it will be overcome by anything except adding some age and wisdom.
He loves to party, he is hot-headed and will yell at coaches during playoff games, he takes stupid penalties, gets fat in the off-season, and runs his mouth to the media.
I liked him for a while, but as time went on I liked him less and less. He pretty much single-handedly lost the canucks one of our playoff games against the blackhawks last season when he cross-checked byfuglien 3 times. Later he said 'i had to show them we won't let them push us around' stopped us from getting any offensive momentum that game. I guess that was when I really started to dislike him. I'm glad he is gone.
Having talked all that trash, I will still admit he can be good when he is disciplined... but he is too selfish and immature to be disciplined right now. Maybe 5 years from now...
In fairness, you didn't call it. You said we should get him off of waivers.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's one of those trades that will only prove to be good or bad after several close games. If he can keep out of the box at inopportune times and actually listens to the coaching staff I think we got a fair deal.
Dude, come on. He called it. We may not agree with LL most of the time, but give credit where it's due. He has the right to gloat about this.
In fairness, you didn't call it. You said we should get him off of waivers.
So just because we swap salaries instead of a waiver pickup it's much different? Give the man his due. He said O'Brien would be very worthwhile as a player for the Preds, and now Poile has said the same thing by taking such a big chance.
LightningLeg, to be really right though, you have to hope we cut Klein. Nice call though!
In fairness, you didn't call it. You said we should get him off of waivers.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's one of those trades that will only prove to be good or bad after several close games. If he can keep out of the box at inopportune times and actually listens to the coaching staff I think we got a fair deal.
I stll called that we should get him on our team! and we did! Just a different way.
Everyone was bashing the idea of having O'Brien on our team! Everyone!
I am very happy to have him, he is a cool guy and will get along with the team for sure, plus he plays a mean game, he will be great in the playoffs!!
[QUOTE=OpenWheel;28124829]He was a lot closer than anyone else... Give the man his due. He said O'Brien would be very worthwhile as a player, and now Poile has said the same thing by taking such a big chance.
LightningLeg, to be really right though, you have to hope we cut Klein. [/QUOTE]
Haha!! That is true!
I guess it was Parent who got the boot, Kevin can stay... for now! lol Thanks!
This coming from the hockey powerhouse nation of denmark. maybe he is our Holger Danske..sleeping for years and now he awakes to deliver us to the promised land
To be fair, as I said before, he brings something to the team and he definitely has the tools, he's just got the wrong attitude. With the right coaching and a change of scenery, this may turn out well and I hope it does.
That said, there is an element of risk to this deal that cannot be ignored, 29 teams passed on him on waivers and part of the reasoning for this deal wasn't that the Preds really went after him, but the Canucks called the Preds and offered you guys a chance to spend $1.6 million on a roster player rather than in the minors, so that should put things in perspective.
While it was pointed out that his penalty-minutes weren't that much higher than other defensemen, the context matters. His penalties are often the useless, undisciplined types, not the "might have saved the goal" or "sent the opponents a message". He's big, but doesn't really hit, he doesn't fight all that much and when he does, he often loses (unless he's picking on a smaller player like Simmons in LA and acting like he cleaned up), he just shouts a lot, sometimes at his own coach, and gives lots of face-washes.
But he's a decent skater, can be defensively responsible and has a hard shot. Is loved by his teammates, and is an economic stimulus program for your night-life.
Just don't give him time off during Olympic breaks, or else he comes back 17 pounds heavier...and it's not muscle.
maybe he is our Holger Danske..sleeping for years and now he awakes to deliver us to the promised land
