Cloutier on waivers, followed by many more...

Los Angeles Kings goaltender and former Vancouver Canuck, Dan Cloutier has been placed on waivers as the team has been unhappy with the veteran goalie ever since they acquired him 2 years ago from the Canucks.

Originally sought for the number one job in LA, the Kings swung a deal and sent a second rounder up north with hopes that the Quebecois native would solve their goaltendings woes that included losing Felix Potvin to the Boston Bruins, their "franchise goalie" Jamie Storr's career, the unorthodox Roman Cechmanek to Europe and even Cristobal Huet...whom they traded in order to acquire Mathieu Garon in 2004.

The Kings goaltending future might have gotten a little brighter with the cutting of Cloutier.

Jason LaBarbera is looking like gold and youngster Jonathan Bernier is being hailed as the second coming of Jamie Storr.

LaBarbera, a former prospect for the New York Rangers, spent the entire 2006-2007 season with the Manchester Monarchs in the American Hockey League and posted elite numbers with an impressive total of 39 wins, a very good 2.20 GAA and an excellent .933 save percentage.

The Kings had been hesitant to recall LaBarbera last season, despite injuries to both Dan Cloutier and Mathieu Garon due to the fact he'd have to clear waivers to be called up or sent down.

So instead the club went down to the ECHL and brought up the short-lived Japanese "named" sensation, Yutaka Fukufuji, minor-league scrub Barry Brust and even went as far as giving 41-year old Sean Burke a crack at stopping a puck again.

But now, with Garon signing with the Edmonton Oilers via free-agency and the cutting loose of the horrendous Dan Cloutier...what? have you forgotten his 2006-2007 line?

Hehe, a W-L record of 6-14-2, a goals against average a tick under 4.00 and a save percentage that makes me cringe at .860%.

Ok, where was I?

Ah, ok, so no more Garon, Cloutier has just been cut loose...that leaves us with two phenomenal youngsters: Jason LaBarbera and, we shouldn't forget Jonathan Bernier, who shone for Team Canada at the Summit Series recently.

So it's now expected that Jason LaBarbera will get the majority of the cookie with Jonathan Bernier popping in for a more than occasional start in the crease as well.

I can already tell that Kings fans are celebrating, there's no doubt that Cloutier definietly lost that spunk he portrayed with the Vancouver Canucks in the pre-lockout era.

Here's the official reason from Kings' GM Dean Lombardi:

The reality is, he hasn’t played for three years.

The only way to really get his rhythm back and to get him where he needs to be is to get him to play.
You see this in baseball all the time, where established pitchers have to do a form of rehab assignments if they lose their fastballs and the only way to get it back – to get totally confident – is to go back to the minors and do it.

Obviously, we gave this a lot of thought. The bottom line is, we thought this was the only way we could get him back to where he was comfortable. Physically, he’s totally healthy. But as we all know with goaltending, a lot of it has to do with his confidence and his state of mind. The only way he was going to get it all together was to play and to play a lot and not have to do it at this level.

So he says *rolls eyes*.

As for the rest, here's an inside look from our buddy Eklund of who's been placed on waivers (NEVER forget the source of this, but then again, why would he lie for something not so important and jeopardize his spectacularly marvelous career as the anonymous hockey blogger?)

Penguins
Deryk Engelland

Hurricanes
Wade Brookbank
Tim Conboy
David Gove
Brandon Nolan

Blue Jackets
Dan Smith
Andrew Murray

Thrashers
Kevin Doell
Jesse Schultz

Capitals
Jason Morgan

Islanders
Steve Regier
Tim Jackman
Kip Brennan
Matthew Spiller
Drew Fata
Joey MacDonald

Ducks
Joe Callahan
Mike Hoffman
Matt Keith
Dan Lacouture

Kings
Brendan Buckley
Petr Kanko
Oleg Tverdovsky
Cloutier, Dan

Stars
Trevor Byrne
Marius Holtet
Toby Petersen

See anyone that would interest your team?

-BBeR

Mega Post: It all comes down to the masked men...but who's better?

It's so tough to decide who's been the better goalie in this 88th version of the Stanley Cup Final, featuring the Ducks' Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Ottawa's "Sugar" Ray Emery.

How about we let the photos decide who's been the better goalie and who will win the series?!

Just for fun though...

Game I. Hmmmm, the weird position battle

Jean-Sebas Giguere, in full gear, chats with Martin Gerber who's in his street clothes on the bench during practice in Anaheim.

Man, Gerber musta said something funny to make Giguere laugh like that:

"What does stopping a puck feel like again? It's been so long since I've done that, I don't even know why I bother growing this beard?!!"

Giguere probably said: "Grow some hair on your head before letting your beard get long, and then I'll show you the basics."

"Oh wait, is Ray calling me?"

"I think I'm growing some hemorroids, it would help if my teammates didn't completely let me down in games so I wouldn't have to flop around everywhere to make a damn save, you Marty, quick laughing with the enemy and get me some cream."

Haha, both look funny but Giggy wins this one, just because he's talking to Gerber who's in street clothes, come to think of it, Gerber does look kinda bemused right there.

1-0 J.S. Giguere

Game II. The Battle of the Masks

Now, who has the nicer mask?
I wonder if Emery can match his excellent taste in clothes (we'll get to that later) with his goalie mask.

Tough one.

Giguere has the "Pond" nicely made on the lower part of his mask, right under the cage, with a half-robot/half duck emblazoned on his head with an overlaying Ducks webbed logo spitting out lightning.

That's will be tough to beat Ray.

Then again, that "Mike Tyson" type boxer that caused SOOO MANY problems with the Sens' staff earlier last season is really just unforgetable, but is the SENATORS streak across his left cheek and the Trojan Senators Logo on the chin enough to beat Giguere?

Nope, sorry Ray, your mask lacks a little bit of zip, J.S beats you here again.

2-0 J.S. Giguere leads series

Game III. The Person on the Outside

This really should be no contest, but nevertheless, it's part of this little featurette, so, let's get to it!

Here's Ray Emery's closet featured on TSN with the always funny James Duthie.

And let's take a look at the great JS, whose 2-0 lead in the series may be in jeopardy.

No tie, conservative and typical black and white with no spice or zest whatsoever, sorry Gigg, there's no doubt who takes it here, too much damn black!

2-1 J.S. Giguere leads series

Game IV. The Goalie Pads/Equipement

Back in the old days, goalies would just slap on bare-leathered pads with strings flinging out from every corner, today, equipement manufacturing gurus are set with an annual task of bringing out a new style, a new pad design while maintaining the piece's "revolutionnary" aspect.

Behold, the 2007 version of the pro NHL Reebok pad, nicely rounded and very very cleanly formed.

Giguere is one of many goalies to wear this type of RBK pad this season, others include Cristobal Huet, Marc-Andre Fleury, Mathieu Garon, Marty Turco, Wade Dubielewicz, David Aebischer and Roberto Luongo.

I am a goalie as well and I have RBK pads, and I can tell you, they are probably the best ones out there, they're nearly flawless and as far as I can tell, the most durable I have ever had.

Ray Emery has nearly the same pads he wore with the Senators since his debut a few seasons ago, Brians has fallen off the chart in the goalie pad industry but they still remain a solid but pricey option, Emery's Ottawa emblazoned star-like colours are intriguing, but Giguere's modern-looking RBK pads take the cake.

3-1 J.S. Giguere leads series

Game V. The Spectacular Save

You know, this is probably one of the most ignored facts by today's hockey fans, most SPECTACULY WOOOWWWWW WHAT A SAVE OOHHHH!!!!!!! saves of today's NHL are basically a result of a goaltender being out of position and being force back into his crease in an uncanny but OOHHH!!!! WHAT WAS THAT!!! manner.

Behold Ottawa's Ray Emery, who's on the verge of losing the Cup, down 3 games to 1.

A typical flip-flop save by Sugar Ray, man I remember thinking to myself:
"Emery has done all but stand on his head"
Diving stops by Emery are becoming a trademark in the Rayman's portofolio.
A terrific stop nonetheless, Emery has just challenged his counterpart JS Giguere, let's see what the Quebecois 'tender will present us with:

Man, the Sens really got stoned on that 5-on-3 PP in the first period against the Ducks, and here's one of Giguere's calm but explosive saves.
Here he, in direct fashion, stones Jason Spezza in the slot, extending his pad to deny the Senators of potentially scoring their first goal of the game, well, turns out Giggy shut them out.

I woulda picked Giguere, but Game V is all about the most spectacular stop, and Emery definitely wins this one with this quick sprawling painting, yow, imagine the adrenaline running through his body right there at that exact second.

3-2 J.S. Giguere leads series

Game VI. The Numbers...do they really tell it all?

Now, there's a saying that common hockey fans refer to as "The Numbers Tell it All"

Not in this case.

Here is Exhibit A, the game log of Jean-Sebastien Giguere through 2 Stanley Cup Final Games.

ANA-Giguere
Game 1: 18/20 saves 2 GA, .900 SPCT, 2.00 GAA, 0 SHO W 3-2
Game 2: 16/16 saves, 0 GA, 1.000 SPCT, 0.00 GAA, 1 SHO W 1-0

He looked shaky early on in Game 1, but rebounded and made many key saves to lead his team to a 3-2 victory, not his best performance though.

Game 2 was a different story, although he only made 16 saves in a 1-0 shutout win over the Slumpin Sens, Giguere was simply fantastic in every aspect of his game, he played at the peak of his capability and the Sens might've won had it not been for Giguere's infallible play, his most notable stops came on that famous 5-on-3 Sens powerplay in the first, as he stoned Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Wade Redden, Mike Comrie and Dany Heatley in less than 2 minutes.

Those are some pretty big names, but will Giguere's lack of business come back to haunt him, and allow Emery to send this one to a Game 7?

Presenting Exhibit B: Ray Emery in numbers.

OTT-Emery
Game 1: 29/32 saves, 3 GA, .906 SPCT, 3.06 GAA, 0 SHO, L 2-3
Game 2: 30/31 saves, 1 GA, .968 SPCT, 1.01 GAA, 0 SHO, L 0-1

Heading into his first ever Stanley Cup appearance along with nearly everyone else on this year's Senators team besides Oleg Saprykin and Martin Gerber (haha), Emery was under hot pressure by the media and fans alike to produce, and to play well, to excel.
Emery answered in a remarkable way, he has played extremely well for Ottawa and got better as the game went on, he faced 30 more shots than his opponent JS Giguere, and has many many more spectacular saves, he's the reason Ottawa lost 1-0 and not 9-0, he's giving his team a chance to win night-in and night-out, it's now time for his teammates to WAKE UP and repay him the favour, to support him, otherwise, they're just plainly and without using any fancy adjectives: LETTING HIM DOWN.

Emery has just carried the Senators into Game 7, and a chance to win hockey's revered trophy, and to disprove to Don Cherry's proud fact that "No European captain has ever won the Stanley Cup."

3-3 Emery and Giguere tied

Game VII. The Words...wow, what words...

And here we are ladies and gents, Game 7 we will play once more, your Ottawa Senators facing your Anaheim Ducks, winner take all, loser goes home crying.

Passions and emotions run high during playoffs, many unforgettable words have been spoken, and some pretty damn good ones have beeen spoken about this year as well.

We start with Jean-Sebastien Giguere:

Obviously, everybody takes pride in being good at home, and they're going to do that. They worked too hard all year, I'm sure, to just let it go. So we're going to have to match their intensity and their desperation to have a chance.

Ooooh, that really was good, their "desperation" part was really wicked.
Giguere is one of the few left who really expresses what he feels, unlike the others who repeat the same stupid phrases EVERY SINGLE GAME!

Giguere says the Sens work too hard, and frankly, that is very classy of him, acknowledging that the Senators are a good team, and that he doesn't put them down by using big words that on the outside are compliments, but on the inside are just insults galore.

Now, the moment you've waited for by reading this long and tiring post of mine:

What's Ray Emery's comeback to that?

I think we're comfortable playing in this rink [Scotia Bank Place]You take your nap in your own bed. You're just comfortable. There's that, and just the emotion of the fans. Home-ice advantage is what it is.

"Take a nape in your own bed"

Ladies in gentlemen, I think we have a winner and a worthy loser, the 2007 Stanley Cup Champions...OTTAWA SENATORS, led by goaltender Ray Emery and his fantastic performance in a stunning comeback.

Give credit to Giguere though for his outstanding show as well, but, when all's said and done, Don Cherry: hahahaahaaa!!

Daniel Alfredsson: First ever *Don, stop crying* European captain to win the Stanley Cup!

I had fun, I hope you did reading this too.

--BBR