Trade Outcome

Well, we now know that Portland acquired 20 year old Eric Doyle and a 4th round pick for Kurtis Mucha and Travis Bobbee. With out clearing up an opening for an overage, the Hawks could not have picked up Doyle. The questions will continue to float around about the durability of Ian Curtis and his ability to be the number 1. Ian is going to make the outstanding play, and at the same time maybe not make the average play. Maybe time in the pipes is all he really needs to become more consistent...

As for Doyle, he has been pretty good in his two games for Portland. Doyle has a wicked slap shot from the point, seems to have pretty good feet and is partnered with Brett Ponich for now. At 6'3" he is the short one of that pairing... Speaking of size, his there a bigger line up then Curtis in net, Ponich and Doyle in back and Boychuck, Jordan and Schneider up front? Talk about size, wow. So in the end we will have to see how this set of trades work out for Portland. Mucha was the face off the team, and now he is with Kamloops... the Blazers are currently in 4th in the BC Division and will fight for a playoff spot all year. Doyle comes to an up and coming team in Portland and should provide some stability in the back as Portland continues to grow as a team and fight night in and night out.

As for Bobbee and Reddin going to the East, best of luck to both of you in with your new teams. I am a bit surprised that Portland made their moves so early, but with the team struggling a bit, I guess Johnston and company felt is was needed. With Reddin and Bobbee out, that leaves Portland with just 4 19s left on the roster... but we have a ton of Hockey left this season so no need to talk about next year yet...

One last comment as Portland does get 4 points this weekend... 16k bears last night was good, but come on folks... 9k plus in the building and only 16k bears? That is not even 2 per person, and I know of many folks who had 4, 5 or even 10 bears with them... So, while it is all for a good cause, we can do better... good crowd, needed to have move bears for the toss.

Next week Portland has two big games at the Garden. Come on out and see games with Everett and Spokane... Two teams that will battle Portland for a playoff spot all season.