Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Pens at it again! Land Thibault after losing out on Burke.

Spurned by Sean Burke on Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins responded by acquiring goaltender Jocelyn Thibault from the Chicago Blackhawks Wednesday in exchange for a fourth round pick in the 2006 Entry Draft.
Burke was considering an offer from the Penguins, but signed instead with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Thibault, 30, is a restricted free agent.
He is also a veteran of 536 NHL games with a record of 227-217-68. He is coming off hip surgery that was to fix a problem that cost him 60 games in the 2003-2004 season.
The trade is the third for Thibault. He was part of the package that the Montreal Canadiens received in the Patrick Roy deal in 1995. In 1999, he was traded to Chicago in a deal that brought Jeff Hackett, Eric Weinrich and Alain Nasreddine to Montreal.

So where does that leave Cujo? I would think Vancouver, Colorado, Phoenix, LA Kings, St Louis have to be serious candidates to land the number one netminder. Also, Boston, Anaheim, Edmonton and Philly have to at least consider him, despite their strong young goalies. Vancouver and Colorado have to be front runners since they are very close to the cup, while Phoenix could use him to help bolster their lineup and their playoff chances. Not to mention improving Gretzky's chances of being succcessful this season.

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