What do you get when you combine two award winners in a fight? Magic. Especially when one of those men is Pavel Datsyuk.

Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks is a tough player in his own right, and a good one at that. He won both the Hart and Richard trophies in 2011.

Pavel Datsyuk is another issue all together. He was the Lady Byng winner for four consecutive seasons from 2006-2009. In case you’ve forgotten, that trophy goes to the league’s least penalized or “gentlemanly” player. Definitely known more for his sick hands than dropping the gloves.

That is until the Detroit Red Wings hosted the Ducks on October 8th 2010.

Apparently the reason Datsyuk never fights is that no one can contain him.

"Wait, what?" (credit:bridgetds, flickr.com)

Like the moon follows the sun and the summer follows the spring, once again the whispers (well, at least the twhispers of TSN’s Bob McKenzie ) are hinting that Anaheim Ducks forward Bobby Ryan has made it back to the trade block.  It’s not entirely surprising seeing that Ryan spent of most of this past season in then-coach Randy Carlyle’s doghouse, taking in the view from the third line.  When Carlyle left, Ryan found the pep in his step and GM Bob Murray decided to keep him.

But things have changed–namely the Rick Nash Sweepstakes. As mentioned by Sean Gentille of The Sporting News, Murray realized that the demands Nash is making on his suitors are ridiculous and shrewdly decided to offer up the versatile young American.  Ryan is younger than Nash, had better puck possession skills last season and most importantly sports a cap hit of $5.1 million until 2015 to Nash’s $7.8 million until 2018.  Seeing as the Ducks failed to make the postseason this year and how desperately other teams around the league are salivating for what Ryan can offer, Murray obviously knows now is the time to act.

The question remains: what will be better for Bobby Ryan? A new adventure? Or the devil you know?

I'm not even ashamed of how much I want to pinch his cheeks. (photo: screenshot/TSN.ca)

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was the one who opened the scoring early in the game, setting the tone for the rest of the game – one that ended up being 7-2 in favour of Canada. » Continue reading “Beating the French… And the Finnish?”