Ben Eager on Bieksa, "he's a phony"

While it's no mystery that San Jose Sharks forward Ben Eager is a bit of a meat head and had a very rough game last night and he could be looking at a suspension from the NHL after he smoked Daniel Sedin from behind with an unneeded vicious boarding penalty. Eager looked like he was going to come unhinged on the San Jose Sharks players bench last night following the Kevin Bieksa and Patrick Marleau fight, all things considered Eager does have a valid point; Kevin Bieksa does like to go after the opposition's talented guys that don't fight and shies away from fighting the heavy weights and though guys that are known for racking up fighting majors and penalty minutes in the NHL. In case anyone forgot, Kevin Bieksa went after a non fighter in Chicago Blackhawks forward Viktor Stalberg during the first round of the NHL playoffs.

"We've seen that before with Kevin," said Ben Eager. "It's sad that someone's gonna sign him for big money when he's a phony. He goes after our top players. He's been asked many times, by lots of players throughout the League (to fight), and he's declined."

So it would appear that the Vancouver sports writers might have short memories when it comes to their beloved player hack Kevin Bieksa. While Eager might like the moral high ground in this situation and is a documented meat head, a bit of a loose cannon and acted like an unhinged psychopath that cost his team a power play goal, by taking an unneeded penalty and frankly should be watching game three from the press box. Seriously, you can’t really take him to task for speaking the truth, can you? Even if the Vancouver Media and fans have a short memory, it's a proven fact that Kevin Bieksa does pick his spots when it comes to fighting, so the Vancouver Canucks beat writers and fans might want to take their blue, green, silver, white goggles off when looking at this situation.

Eager, of course, couldn’t leave it at that, and after taking 20 minutes in penalties and damaging his team’s chances to win, he called Bieksa a phony in the post-game locker room, accusing him of picking his spots and not fighting the real tough guys.

“I’m not going to say too much about that,” said Bieksa. “Right now, my focus is on winning the series, and if they want to worry about that kind of stuff, that’s to our advantage. Our power play did a great job tonight of making them pay for some of their penalties.”

 I think it's safe to say that this series is going to get more exciting going into games three and four in San Jose. It will also be interesting to see if the Sharks can at least put up a fight and contest this series and not just let the Canucks take them to the woodshed. 

Kevin Bieksa vs Patrick Marleau

If I was the head coach of the San Jose Sharks, I am not so sure that I would encourage one of my top offensive players; that being Patrick Marleau to fight a tough hack guy like Kevin Bieksa, who has already fought three times during this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs.

I don't know, you would think that the Sharks wouldn't want to risk Patrick Marleau getting hurt by breaking a hand smashing Bieksa in the face. I understand that Marleau is trying to rally his team but there are others on the Sharks team that could have fought. Ben Eager would have been a better candidate based on the fact that his stupidity cost the Sharks a power play goal.

Incidentally, since Jeremy Roenick Called Patrick Marleau gutless on national television Marleau has picked up his game scoring three points in his last three games (3g-0a-3pts). So you do have to give Marleau credit for stepping up and challenging a player like Bieksa.

 

Big Buff to the Thrashers

I guess I can cross Dustin Byfuglien off my list players I would like to see the Minnesota Wild sign in the offseason. Personally, I think the Thrashers got the better end of this deal. They get a mountain of a power forward in Dustin Byfuglien a serviceable tough guy in Ben Eager and a decent defenseman in Brent Sopel. The extra throw in player is Akim Aliu was the player that got into a major incident with Lightning Hack Steve Donnie over a hazing incident in juniors that lead to a fight in practice. The Chicago Blackhawks get the 24th, 54th picks over all as well as Marty Reasoner and Jeremy Morin.

TSN - Dustin Byfuglien, one of the breakout players for the Stanley Cup-winning Blackhawks last season, is in the process of being traded to the Thrashers, pending league approval.

Byfuglien, along with Brent Sopel, Ben Eager and Akim Aliu, will be headed to Atlanta in exchange for the 24th overall pick at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, the 54th pick, Marty Reasoner and Jeremy Morin.

The picks that Chicago get in the deal were acquired by Atlanta in the trade that sent Ilya Kovalchuk to New Jersey last February.

The 25-year-old forward had 17 goals and 17 assists in 82 games with the Hawks last season.

At 6'4, 257 pounds, the Minnesota native will bring his thunderous size and strength to the struggling Thrashers franchise.

Byfuglien was originally selected 245th overall by the Blackhawks in the eighth round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.