Gleason to Vancouver (for Olympics), Wallin to San Jose (for good-maybe)

In the department of congratulatory gushing, The Hurricane Siren would like to officially congratulate Tim Gleason for being named to the USA Olympic squad to replace the injured Mike Komisarek. Rock on Timmy, go to Vancouver and kick some butt (especially if it's Russian and toothless). We are beyond proud of you.

Some random quotes from the day that I thought were just perfect:

"He's a different player in terms of his psychological makeup -- he's more of a guy who speaks with his actions. He’s not chatty," said Burke, who worked with Gleason while GM of last summer’s American entry at the IIHF World Championship. "Your worst nightmare might be to get stuck in a fishing boat with Tim Gleason for an afternoon."

Jeez Burke, even when you're right you're wrong. I, for one, would LOVE to be stuck on a boat with Timmy. Although I do suppose I should semi-apologize for the "self-portrait" of you from New Year's Day. So maybe we'll call this one even.

”He’s a guy that will go to war for us, and that’s exactly what this team needs,” added Poile.

Oy. You should have asked Hurricanes' fans a month ago and we would have saved the Olympic Committee this whole big headache.

Clearly, JR is cool with the decision. And by "cool" I clearly mean "in the midst of a little man crush on the Timster".

"If Eric Staal wasn't the new captain of the Hurricanes, Tim Gleason would be," Rutherford told NHL.com.

And finally a word from the Emperor himself:

"It's an awesome thing. It's something to play for I guess, other than the Stanley Cup. And it's always been a goal of mine; a dream of mine and it's finally come true. It's a great opportunity for myself."

In the department of massive depression and the horror that is being a seller at the trade deadline, the rumor has been floating around all day today that Niclas Wallin has waived his NTC to go to San Jose. John Forslund is reporting that he waived his NTC in an effort to remain in the NHL next season; a contract extension is supposedly part of the deal. JR has confirmed that a deal is in the works, but declined to say where the Big Swede would be headed.

To further add to the rumor mill, Jiri "Nakey Boy" Tlusty was reassigned to Albany where he can terrorize another fan base with his...errr...ummm...passion for photography. Either a forward is coming off the injured list although tweets suggest it won't be in time for tomorrow night or a trade is in the works and Nakey Boy's spot was needed. UPDATE: JR has attributed Tlusty's return to Albany as a development move saying that they want him to play all the way through the Olympic break. Still no word on who will take his spot against Buffalo tomorrow night.

This is just a sign of things to come for Hurricanes’ fans. The next few weeks will be beyond tough for the diehards as many players are expected to leave North Carolina for greener, and likely colder, pastures. This is the tough side of hockey, the business side that leaves a sour taste in all fans’ mouths and unfortunately it is where this season has taken us.

The Wizard Wins It

It's official people-everyone loves Raymond! Everyone's favorite mighty mite (or munchkin) notched two goals and that was all the Canes would need to hold on for a 2-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche. By the way, this puts the Canes at over .500 in 2010! Whoop whoop!

Tonight was a fairly decent game for the entire team once they stopped the endless procession to the penalty box. 9 first period penalties including 2 fighting majors (TKO who is still "0 for" in his career and Ruutu) isn't going to get you a win very often. Overall discipline needs to be better no matter what the other team is trying to pull because at some point the opponent is going to capitalize on those freebie chances.

The Six Pack of Rats played with passion and heart which is all you can really ask for at this point in the season. Rod had an assist on the first Whitney goal and A.Ward had one on the second so that's a step in the right direction.

Major props goes to our Campion Wardolie for stopping 29 out of 30 shots while his team managed to only get 20 on Peter Budaj. That's another thing that needs to get fixed and quickly. In the past 4 games, they've only averaged around 23 SOG and have gotten out shot in every single one. That's asking for too much from your defense and goalie. Please guys, shoot the puck. Just do it.

Insane props goes to the Wizard for scoring quite possibly the most beautiful goal of the season:

Holy crap Ray. I didn't even know you still had moves like that (and apparently neither did Colorado)! Keep it up little man.

Ok so as is the case with just about anything, and especially the Canes this season, every yin has a yang. Tonight's yang? Tuomo Ruutu. After sticking up for himself against Darcy Tucker early in the first period, the fabulous Finn left the game with an upper body injury. From the sound of things he'll be out a while. I hope he's back sooner rather than later because we are running out of Rats up there in Albany. Jeff Daniels must just cringe everytime the phone rings.

Ok one last thing before we call it a night. The Emperor got into a fight tonight (yeah I know-NOT THE FACE) and things didn't really...well they didn't go as well as he had probably hoped:
Oh Timmy, maybe next time you could just pull your arms in and slip out of your jersey? You're a tough man no doubt about it, but it's hard to take you seriously when your look is less snarl and more...
Thanks to Jenniwa30 for pointing out the likeness.

The Canes have one day to enjoy their win and heal any minor bumps and bruises before Ottawa and the newly engaged Mike Fisher come to town. Let's make it 3 wins in four games eh?

Burke Blows It-Gleason to stay stateside

Ah...Fenway Park at roughly 4:20. The Bruins had just won the 3rd annual Winter Classic and it was now time to announce the mens' hockey roster for Team USA (aka the team hoping to hold off the rest of the world for fourth behind Canada, Russia and Sweden). This announcement wasn't as hyped up as the Canadian roster announcement (in fact the US accomplished in about 5 minutes what it took Canada 30 minutes and two channels to do), but it had importance for those of us born in the US of A. They trotted out the little mighty mites wearing replica jerseys with player names on the back and everyone not already freezing to death held their breath.

They started with the forwards and there wasn't really much surprise as the talent pool wasn't exactly Mariana Trench deep (yeah that's your nerdy joke of the day). Then they got to the defensemen and my blood pressure shot through the roof. Each name they announced was more puzzling than the last. But what was more shocking was the name they left off. That's right folks, our very own Timmo Gleasonen was passed over for the likes of Paul Martin, Mike Komisarek and Jack Flippin' Johnson.

Let's do a little comparison shall we?

First off Tim Gleason's stats:
Not great, but not bad either. For him this is a career year despite playing for the worst team in hockey. Plus you can't discount the leadership and heart he brings.

How about that Paul Martin eh? He's really tearing it up. Oh wait...
Stats don't really tell the whole picture here because Martin has been injured for almost the entire season. In fact, as of December 23, he was listed as being out for four more weeks due to complications from a broken arm. That gives him what? Two weeks of games before he's thrown into Olympic play? Oh yeah that should work out well. He may not make it back at all, in which case he'd have to be replaced, something Burke is already acknowledging. Good choice. :rolls eyes:

Then you have Mike Komisarek:
His stats are worse than Gleason's while playing for a team that is also statistically a better team than Carolina (but who isn't these days?). It should be noted that he plays for Brian Burke's Toronto Maple Leafs. Yes that's right I am facilitating conspiracy theories. Plus when you have quotes like this it's hard not to:

Burke is president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and one of the defenseman on Team USA is the Leafs' Mike Komisarek. "He's my kind of guy," Burke said.

Finally we have Mr. Jack Johnson who is a -53 for his career and has not fared much better this season:
Keep in mind that LA is one of the better teams in the league as they sit at 13th league wide and 8th in the West. While he's put up more points than Tim has (16 to 12), he's shaky at best in his own end. Hopefully he brings that high quality defense with him to Vancouver.

Perhaps Brian Burke was too busy trying to figure out the definition of truculence (which by the way could be used to describe Gleason's game) to actually watch any of Gleason's games this season. Perhaps he missed where Tim Gleason neutralized the world's best players both in the regular season and the playoffs. Maybe he slept through Tim's sisu filled games against Washington. Or maybe Burke already knew who he wanted prior to the season starting; actual play be darned.

Whatever the reason, whatever the rationale, Brian Burke made a mistake when he chose to leave Tim Gleason off the roster. He wants a hard working, gritty team who'll play their butts off? Well guess what, "B": the guy that embodies those qualities is still sitting in Raleigh and his name is Tim Gleason. Best of luck in Vancouver.

Ed. note-thanks to Jenniwa30 for Burke's self-portrait.