Press Conference from Hartford

(Hartford,CT) The New England Sharks today traded Goaltender Dominik Hasek and its 1st pick in 2009 to the Edmonton Lumberjacks in exchange for Todd Bertuzzi.

Rumours have been flying around the league that Lumberjacks GM Gord Smythe is helping the Sharks win the cup with its latest Souray for Schultz trade. Sharks GM called a press conference this morning;

“We made 2 trades with Edmonton this season, one where we gave $2.2 Million for Fedotenko and one where we sent Souray for Schultz. We also gave Jaroslav Spacek to the Lumberjacks to add on to a trade from last year which many felt was lopsided in our favor so as a show of good faith, we added on to it. And now we trade Sheldon Souray for Nick Schultz, a trade that for sure puts the final nail in the coffin of the Lumberjacks franchise? A franchise who was helped by US to obtain a 1st rounder and Jokinen from Toronto for Mikael Samuelsson. Yes, we helped Edmonton get that. A franchise which has ALL of its draft picks for next year, including a 1st rounder which they haven’t had since they signed Jarome Iginla to that RFA deal way back when and gave up seven 1st rounders to Suffolk. A franchise which also has 4 extra draft picks for next year on top of their own. Sometimes in life, you have people who are extremely jealous of how you obtain things and when these people are unhappy in their lives, they become jealous and they make themselves feel better by trying to make others feel bad. This is why they cry foul to the higher ups. This is why we made this gesture today. Not only does it prove we are not in cahoots but it shows that Edmonton will be a much improved team. It’s unfortunate that jealousy exists and that people don’t leave people live their lives and Manage their own affairs the way they want… especially when we’re talking about a hobby. If we win the cup this year, we will invite every jealous person to have a sip from it. I just wish for once those people would have the balls to say what’s on their minds to my face… but then again, mice are pretty small”.

With a disgusted look on his face, Dumont left the podium and headed towards his office in the Hartford Civic Center.

Last year, Kariya and Demitra came from Edmonton to New England in a deal that was to lower payroll for Edmonton.

Unfortunatelty for Dumont, no complaints were ever made about the Spezza trade between the Sharks and Wolfpack. New England gave up Spezza, Clark and Backman while getting Gonchar, Boyes and a 1st rounder in return. That 1st rounder was later traded to Vancouver for Jason Pominville. So, that’s Spezza, Clark, Backman for Gonchar, Boyes and Pominville. Spezza is an underachiever and oft injured while Clark is gone as a UFA and Backman is also an oft injured underachiever. We don’t need to tell you what Gonchar, Boyes and Pominville can and will do.

And what about a deal made last year between the Sharks and Portland? Portland gave up their 1st round pick for Willie Mitchell. With that pick this year, the Sharks drafted Goalie Niklas Backstrom. But, no complaints from anyone.

Back in 2000, when Dumont was GM of the Jackals, he acquired Jere Lehtinen from Edmonton, in exchange for Jan Bulis and Pavel Kubina. At the time, Lehtinen was stellar and Bulis and Kubina were unproven. But again, no complaints.

This reporter wonders why this would be happening, especially since Dumont was named Executive of the year just 4 months ago.

-Netcam Neely