Welcome home, Boyer

Last season Boyer was one of the players i hoped Lorne would get at the trade deadline. He didnt, but he got him now. Boyer is coming to Saskatoon in exchange for a 3rd round pick, and Stefan Burzan(2009 bantam draft) Burzan was excellent in the Blades camp and i had him picked to make the team as a 16 yr old next season.

(image from saskatoonblades.com)

Jeremy Boyer will bring some speed, leadership, experience, and scoring touch, to a club that will improve from his services. Boyer is from Saskatoon and a former Blazer.

Lets take a look at the trades this season.

-Ryan Funk to Vancouver for a 4th

-Chris Langkow to Everett for a 6th and a 3rd

-Tyler Kiziuk from Prince George for a 6th

-Jeremy Boyer from Seattle for Burzan and a 3rd.

What the Blades lost - Langkow, Funk, and Burzan

What the Blades recieved - Kiziuk, Boyer, and a 4th.

(The 3rds and 6ths cancel out)

Lorne, IMO has done an excellent job trading. And there are definately more to come. Lorne has to get rid of at least 1 20yr old and 1 euro(or Kytnar who is a 20yr old euro)

Blades very mediocre start

1-1-0-1 is about as mediocre as you can get. Not good considering those 3 games were against teams they should be beating. There are a few problems with the start of the season(some out of Lorne's control)

1 - Getting a good start - The Blades have yet to score in the 1st period. The Blades have played good in the 2nd half of all their games but cannot get a good start going. They need to be fast right from the opening faceoff to the end of the game if they want any success.

2 - Work on the PP - The Blades IMO have the best slap shot and best wrist shot from the point. Elliott with the wrister and obviously Niemi with the slapper. Ive seen Niemi take 3 slap shots at home, hes had the chance for about 10. He's got a 100+ mph shot, he needs to use it. To give you an idea on how hard that is, the hardest shot in the NHL is Zdeno Chara at 105.6, an NHL record.

3 - Shoot the puck - The Nicholls Patterson play was nice, but those do not work very often. Despite returning a good part of the team, the Blades still need to keep it "Simple and Hard" Their team logo.

4 - Finalize the lines(out of Lornes controll) With the suprise returns of Kytnar and Klassen, Lorne im sure has been on the phone trying to figure out what to do with his 4 overagers and 3 euros. Part of the reason the Blades looked slow is because they have no chemestry. Once they get a final roster to play the season, you can expect to see the old Blades team you were hoping for. Unfortunately they have not figured out the euro and overage situation yet, so things will be rough till Lorne makes the trades he needs to.

The WHL is back(new fight rules, new jerseys)

Well we are in for another exciting WHL season! There is alot going on this season, first the new fight rule. Players will not be able to take off their helmets before fighting. If their helmets come off during the fight that's fine, but no more dumping the lids before squaring off. It sucks but apparently the league had to do it in order to have insurance for the players. On a somewhat positive note, players will likely just unstrap their helmets after dropping the mitts that way they'll come off rather easily once they engage. Especially the tough guys or more frequent fighters. From what I understand, unstrapping helmets before fighting won't be against the rules. -from HordiBrusk29 at hockeyfights.com

However i think the players sent a message to the WHL saying that this rule aint gonna stop them from fighting. There were multiple line brawls. Something like 25 fights on opening night which is unheard of unless you watched during the 80's. The Blades/Pats had a bit of a brawl that saw 4 fights and Zahn fighting twice. From what has transpired, it looks like fighting aint out of the game just yet.

Fans get to see all new RBK jerseys for EVERY CHL team. I have checked all of them out and my favorites in order are.
1 - Rouyn Noranda Huskies
2 - Saskatoon Blades
3 - Kamloops Blazers
4 - London Knights
5 - Regina Pats