Cox and his Crystal Ball

Apparently Toronto Star columnist Damien Cox is running for the presidency of the local clairvoyant society, because in one of his recent columns, he's predicted what Canada's men's hockey team in 2010 will look like. Follow the link to see the complete list, which contains a couple of eyebrow-raisers, but the one that jumped out most at me was Maple Leaf prospect Justin Pogge's inclusion.

"Eh?" says I.

I'm not saying it couldn't happen*, but how does one make this prediction, exactly? The kid's 19 years old right now, and the tournament isn't for another four years; to expect that in that time he'll grow into one of the top three Canadian goalies in the game seems like a bit of a stretch. Granted, youth will be served, but there are other young keepers with a better chance of making it. Marc-Andre Fleury, for example, if he lives up to his potential. José Theodore and Andrew Raycroft could always find their forms again. And what about Cam Ward, the 22-year-old kid (well, 4 years old, according to the calendar - damn those February 29th birthdays) sharing duties with Martin Gerber in Carolina? And if the team doesn't mind getting a little older, Marty Turco and Marty Biron will be 34 and 32 years old, respectively, in 2010.

Sure, predicting that Pogge will be the cream of the crop doesn't hurt newspaper sales, since he's writing in a Toronto paper, but come on, Damien. Don't be silly.


Meanwhile, on the trade front...

The first deal of March went down between the Thrashers and the Ducks today...are you ready?

Anaheim acquired G Jani Hurme, while Atlanta got forward Joel Stepp, and immediately sent him to their ECHL affiliate.

Not exactly a blockbuster, but there's 8 days till the deadline, don't forget. This move was just a salary dump, make no mistake; Hurme pulls in nearly a million bucks per season, and was just an expensive spare part in Atlanta, with Mike Dunham and Kari Lehtonen in the fold. Stepp, on the other hand, is likely to spend the bulk of his career in the minors, as he has already. This won't greatly improve either team; they're just taking care of business.




*See that? I didn't say it couldn't happen. So now if Pogge makes the team, I was "skeptical," not "wrong." That's how they teach things at my clairvoyant society meetings.