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Carolina
The Carolina Hurricanes made a deal that had been rumoured for over a month now as the hometown squad dealt disgruntled defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky to Vancouver in exchange for Swedish defenseman Mattias Ohlund.
Ohlund, 29, had been somewhat of a disappointment in Vancouver as the Canucks power play was in the bottom 10 of the league. Ohlund had been looked to to quarterback the unit, but had not been successful. The same was said of Tverdovsky, who after a great initial season in Carolina, failed to fulfill the promise that he would be the guy.
In fact, Tverdovsky's production had slipped so badly as of late, that head coach Joel Quenneville had threatened to pull the plug entirely on the project citing "Oleg does not belong here."
"He is a flashy defenseman and he has incredible speed," said Quenneville, "but he does not listen to me or his team mates. I think he does what he wants and in my system, that does not cut it. I hold the guys accountable for their actions and he seems to think there is not downside to playing dumb hockey. Well, we shall see how that works in Vancouver because here, I will not tolerate it."
It should be noted that Carolina was also one of the league's worst power plays, despite having a couple offensive leaders in the league.
"In this case, I cannot say that Oleg is the sole reason our power play is poor," said captain Shane Doan. "We are a bunch of guys who play every night. I will admit that something is not right with Oleg though. Maybe the change will do him good. He was a good friend here and a great player. I hope he regains that."
Ohlund will not be in town in time to play the Jackets but will debut the following game, as will Matt Bradley.
The Carolina Hurricanes made a deal that had been rumoured for over a month now as the hometown squad dealt disgruntled defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky to Vancouver in exchange for Swedish defenseman Mattias Ohlund.
Ohlund, 29, had been somewhat of a disappointment in Vancouver as the Canucks power play was in the bottom 10 of the league. Ohlund had been looked to to quarterback the unit, but had not been successful. The same was said of Tverdovsky, who after a great initial season in Carolina, failed to fulfill the promise that he would be the guy. In fact, Tverdovsky's production had slipped so badly as of late, that head coach Joel Quenneville had threatened to pull the plug entirely on the project citing "Oleg does not belong here."
"He is a flashy defenseman and he has incredible speed," said Quenneville, "but he does not listen to me or his team mates. I think he does what he wants and in my system, that does not cut it. I hold the guys accountable for their actions and he seems to think there is not downside to playing dumb hockey. Well, we shall see how that works in Vancouver because here, I will not tolerate it."
It should be noted that Carolina was also one of the league's worst power plays, despite having a couple offensive leaders in the league.
"In this case, I cannot say that Oleg is the sole reason our power play is poor," said captain Shane Doan. "We are a bunch of guys who play every night. I will admit that something is not right with Oleg though. Maybe the change will do him good. He was a good friend here and a great player. I hope he regains that."
Ohlund will not be in town in time to play the Jackets but will debut the following game, as will Matt Bradley.
posted by Lohaus at 11:33 PM
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