Ville Leino Traded to the Flyers

He’ll score 30+ goals now. Jerk.

has the better name by far.

He didn’t pout constantly and loudly about being in the AHL all year last year, but stuck it out and didn’t run back to Finland. I think he did the best he could, but the moves that he has used all during his career no longer worked, he was frustrated, and wasn’t able to quickly figure out how to be effective in the NHL.

I hope he does figure out what happened to his talent and is successful in the Eastern conference – or, if he chooses, returns to Finland and resumes playing well in his home country. Some players, European and North American alike, just are more effective and successful in the European leagues than in the NHL, and have good solid careers across the pond. Ville Leino might be one of those players.

At least he won’t spend the rest of his hockey career second-guessing himself and wondering if he could have been successful in the NHL if he got a chance, which he would have been if he gave North American hockey a token couple weeks of play and then bolted back to Finland. There is nothing wrong about a chance not working out, and I hope he does well until he retires from hockey altogether.

If he goes to the Flyers and does well, I’m not going to begrudge him his success. It might not be a case where the Wings gave up on him too early, it might be one where Babcock’s style of play didn’t fit his skill set.

I liked the kid, even if he didn’t produce at the highest level, so I hope he does well.

I’m supposed to get my work done so I can watch the LA game and then the Camp Randall Classic. But now that Leino is traded I might end up surfing the web reading other people’s information and take on this. Bleh.

Isn’t Tollefsen the only Norwegian playing in the NHL right now? The Red Wings own Scandinavia. Oh yes they do.

Leino impressed me so much last year. It’s so unfortunate he just bombed when we know he’s got a lot of talent. I was rooting for him all season long, but it’s time for him to go. It’s just not working for him in Detroit and we desperately need people who are going to make it work.

Get rid of some cap space…

I don’t think Leino is going to succeed much in the NHL, plus we get a 5th round pick out of it too.

but whats the word on kronwall tonight

Leino was a bust this year and couldn’t finish…please don’t turn out to be good now lol

This could end up being a huge win for us. Afterall, Leino SUCKED!

No, I’m kidding. In all seriousness, I was so high on Leino after last season that I drafted him in the 5th round of my fantasy draft this year. And he was a major bust. But you can’t fault the guy, he tried to play his style of game on a team that played hard both ways, and that just wasn’t something he was willing to do. Unlike Yzerman, Fedorov, now Hank and Pavel, he wasn’t willing to play defense to generate offense, and that just isn’t the Red Wings way, now, or previously.

I honestly wish him all the luck in the world in Philadelphia, and if he becomes a great point producer/powerplay specialist/offensive dynamo, well, that’s great for him. It just wasn’t going to happen for him here. Perhaps in a wide-open Eastern Conference where goals aren’t that hard to come by, he’ll have no problem scoring in bunches, but both in the Red Wings system, and in the tight-checking, almost suffocating Western Conference, it just wasn’t in the cards.

All the luck Ville Leino. You weren’t the Calder candidate we all envisioned at the start of the season, but you never spoke up about how disappointed you were, you never chewed out the team, and you waited patiently in the wings, waiting for your shot. Now, here it is. It’s just too bad it couldn’t have happened in Detroit.