Happy Canada Day!

by Lisa Ovens

Happy Canada Day, everybody! Now...do you know where your favorite players are? Today is NHL free agency day, too, and it's always a day of mixed emotions. A day a fan can officially say good- bye to a player, or say cautious hellos as General Managers do their off season roster tinkering.


The first thing I did today was wake up to the Team 1040 Sports Talk radio. It was about 45 minutes before free agency opened. Within minutes I heard the big Canuck news....

The Vancouver Canucks re-signed the Sedin twins - woohooo!!! Wonder Twin powers re-activated in Vancouver: five years at $6.1 million a year. Who wouldn't want to keep these guys around. Point per game players, between the two of them only missed one game in the last four years, good family boys well liked in the room. Plus they danced like hot "Swedish Twins" in an NHL TV commerical.

I celebrated Daniel and Henrik Sedin with the hotcake Happy Meal (Sid from Ice Age was the toy.)

This is my attempt at live blogging....

Uh oh...Ohlund... former Canuck, Mattias Ohlund signs a seven year deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning worth 24.5 million. He was the Canucks highest scoring defenseman with 93 goals and 232 assists (352 points). After 12 years in Vancouver, (his entire NHL career) I sadly say good bye to Ohlund. You and your fabulous shoulders now belong to the guy who brought us the Saw movie franchise. Enjoy Florida, Ohlie....my friend, Lana lives there and after 16 years, she still likes it.

Daniel Sedin is on the radio right now. He mentioned how much Mattias Ohlund has done for them over the years, as they developed as NHL players in Canada. I hope Lightning fans are happy with their new blueliner.

oooh...I just heard Marion Hossa is heading to Chicago. Does that automatically mean the Blackhawks won't win the Stanley Cup??