More Ohlund photographs

Here are a couple of recent Mattias Ohlund photographs I've found.

Here's a link to audio of Brian Lawton on Mattias Ohlund.

Brian Lawton on Mattias Ohlund:

"The one thing that I heard from one player which really stuck with me was that this is a guy who goes about his business everyday in such an efficient manner that his previous team probably isn't going to know what they lost until he's not there everyday."

Sigh. Brian, I fear you are completely correct. :,(

Ohlund press conference

Here's the press conference of the Lightning for Mattias Ohlund and Matt Walker. Ohlund talks briefly and puts on his new team's jersey.

Some Lightning news! Bettman asks Barrie to fork up 10mill

Looks like I have to stay in touch with Lightning news now..

Well, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has ordered Len Barrie, co-owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning, to cough up 10 million in cash or irrevocable letter of credit to prove that he can keep up the funding of the team.

Apparently Len has an investment property in Victoria - Bear Mountain Golf Resort and Spa, which, last week, received an investment committment of $350 million dollars from Siraj Capital of Dubai, UAE.

Hurry up and release the 09-10 NHL schedule already!

Trying to plan vacation is useless unless I have the schedule. HELL-OOOO??

And where are the photos from yesterday's Mattias Ohlund authograph signing in Tampa Bay? Anyway, here's a photo of Mattias from a Feb NSD article.

Aside: I know I don't do a lot of personal blogging but I have to say that I was highly disappointed in the level of hotness of people encountered in europe. Out of the 7? countries I went to, people were only hot in.. Belgium. Very disappointing. tsk tsk. Belgians. Their country slogan should be: Hot people... and we make good chocolate too.

Dedicated Fan of Mattias Ohlund WANTED!

Hmm.. How am I going to continue blogging about Mattias Ohlund if I can't watch any of his games? I guess I haven't really thought of the future of the blog (and website) all that much. Maybe it's time to put a call out for a Tampa Bay resident Ohlund fan to help out with the reins of blogging and website management. =( I can only do web research from here.. not actually give opinion on how he's playing/his effect on the team, etc..

Dedicated Fan of Mattias Ohlund WANTED!
MUST BE: 1. A fan of Mattias Ohlund
2. Someone who CAN and WILL watch Tampa Bay games
3. A hockey knowledgable fan
4. A website and blog saavy person.
5. Willing to take on the responsibility of helping to maintain both a fan blog and website (including but not limited to web research, doing weekly posts) for years to come.. (until he comes back to Vancouver!)

MUST NOT BE: 1. A fly by night / hobby fan!

Tampa Bay is so faarr awayyy..

The nice thing about going to non-hockey markets is that the players are more anonymous so can have more interaction with the public. The bad thing is that hockey doesn't get airtime.

New Canucks signed

Goaltender: Andrew Raycroft
Right wing: Mikael Samuelsson

Not new but signed: Shane O'Brien

Gone: Jason Labarbara

I'm quite disappointed in the state of the Canucks right now. I don't really care anymore though.

I think the 2005/06 season was the lowest point. Having Trevor Linden hang up his skates was down there too. I really sympathized with Markus Naslund too. But with Mattias, I'm happy for him. Sure, I'm resentful that management didn't fight for him and I'm sad that he's no longer a Canuck, but I fully support the decision he made an applaud the deal JP made for him.

I miss Ohlund already

So Ohlund is supposed to be taking part in Tampa Bay's prospect camp autograph signing July 11, 2009. Wow. That was fast. Goodbye mountains, rain, snow, hounding press attention. Hello... sun, beach, hurricanes? Hmm, what's Tampa Bay known for?

TAMPA - Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, the No. 2 overall pick in last week's NHL Draft, headlines the additions to an updated list of players who will attend a prospect camp in Tampa next week.

Hedman, 18, will take the ice for the first time in a Lightning jersey during the week-long event, which begins on July 9.

The team is designing a special Hedman T-shirt for the occasion, to be given away free to the first 200 people who attend an intrasquad scrimmage on July 11. Voting for one of three potential designs is being conducted on the team's Twitter page at www.twitter.com/TBLightning.

The camp, which is open to the public, will run from July 9-15 at the St. Pete Times Forum. The scrimmage/skills competition will be from 7-9 p.m. on July 11, with newly signed free agents Mattias Ohlund and Matt Walker expected to join the prospects to sign autographs before and after the scrimmage session.

Ohlund with reporters

This is a blog posting from a reporter following the Lightning Bolts at Mattias Ohlund: "My best years are in front of me"

Here is some of Mattias Ohlund's conference call with reporters:

Opening statement: I think it’s a great opportunity for me. I was ecstatic when they called and I felt from the beginning this is the place I wanted to be. It felt right and felt like something I wanted to be part of. Having said that I’m also grateful for the 11 years I played with Vancouver. It’s a great place to play. It’s a great organization. I made a lot of friends there, friends for life. But having said that I felt it was time for me to move on and I’m excited about the future.

On mentoring draft choice Victor Hedman: I’m real excited about joining him. I never met victor to be honest but I heard so many good things about him. I was sitting tonight with Daniel and Henrik Sedin and they’re from the same hometown and know him quite well. They had nothing but good things to say about him as a person and a hockey player.

On Hedman’s reputation in Sweden: Victor has a great reputation. He’s from the same town as a lot of NHL hockey players. The Sedins (Daniel and Henrik) and Markus Naslund are three of them. I spoke to the three of them about him and hear only good things about him. I’ve barely seen him play. I saw the world junior championships a few games they played and noticed he was an extremely skilled player. I heard only good things about him as a person and I’m looking forward spending the next few years with him.

On creating a relationship with Hedman: You make a phone call. I’m sure I’m going to be calling him and talking to him the next few days after things settle down. You share your experiences you had when you were younger. I made mistakes when I was young and hopefully I learned from them and I can prevent him from making th same ones. It’s a tough league to play in he’s got a lot to learn. I’m excited to be a small part of getting him started here.

Advice he would give Hedman: First of all realize how lucky we all are to be in this league. It’s a great league to be part of. Come in with a smile on his face regardless of whether he had a tough day the night before. You got to realize your extremely lucky to be part of this league.

Is he a good fit for Tampa?: Tampa has a very talented hockey team. They have a talented group of guys. I do think I can help out with a lot of experience and be a big part of helping their D corps. I feel like I have my best years ahead of me and I’m extremely excited about my next little while here.

Is there a mental adjustment going to a bad team?: This team won a Stanley Cup not too far away and they have some guys who were part of that team. Last year they didn’t have a great year. Obviously, I’d like to be part of turning things around here, and I do feel like I bring a lot to the hockey club. But in fairness, we only played them once last year and I haven’t seen them play over the years tons. I do feel like I can be part of hopefully bringing this team on the right track again.

When did he realize he needed to leave the Canucks?: I felt maybe last year that, in this business when you have a year left or just over a year left, you realize you might be heading in this direction to unrestricted free agency and we had some discussions but in all honesty I never really felt a big interest from their side. I might be wrong. I think it was mutual. I felt I needed a change. I had a great 11 years I have no hard feelings. But I just felt I needed a change. I’m not sure exactly when that happened but it was a while back.

It’s going to be a big change but I’m excited about it. I’m curious how it’s going to be. I haven’t spent a lot of time down there and I know it’s going to be different. Positive thoughts and I’m looking forward to it.

What will he miss about Vancouver?: It’s a fantastic place to live. We raised two wonderful kids in Vancouver and they have a lot of friends and we have a lot of friends we met through our kids’ schools and stuff, and we’re going to miss that. But that’s part of life. Just because you move to a different city, you won’t keep your friends. I met a lot of people in Vancouver I know I’m going to be in contact with the rest of our lives.

How did GM Brian Lawton sell you on Tampa?: Brian spoke about there team and the city of Tampa and it’s a very talented hockey club, and I do feel like I can bring a lot to this hockey team with my experience. I’m 32 years old I feel like I have my best years ahead of me and to be able to help Victor Hedman out is an important part of my job. So there’s a lot of stuff I’m excited about.

Is Tampa Bay's ownership situation troublesome?:: No, I spoke to Brian and I felt like this was a good situation for me. I felt this was the team that wanted me and wanted me to be a big part of the organization and that’s all I needed to hear.

I do feel like I have my best years ahead of me and I’m going to push to get better and better every year. If I can help some young guys out with my experience, that’s great.

Ohlund signs with Lightning for 7 years

SNIFF!!!

Well, it looks like Tampa Bay lucked out by signing Mattias Ohlund. Sigh. Bye Ohlie! Good luck in Tampa Bay! We love you!

Ohlund signed for a 7 year contract for 3.75 million (cap hit) and joins ex-Canuck, Lukas Krajicek, on the blue line. He's expected to mentor TB's draft pick, Victor Hedman. He's good at that. ;-P

I wonder if there's a NTC there?

Sedins stay Canucks!

Well, looks like that Gillis flight to Sweden managed to secure Hank and Daniel Sedin. Each got five year deals worth 30.6 million. I wonder if there's a NTC in there too..

CBC article.