Tuesday Mornings Musings: What was JFJ thinking?

After the latest news about Mark Bell being suspended by the NHL for substance abuse, Leafs’ fans have to be wondering what on earth John Ferguson Jr. was doing when he acquired the winger from the San Jose Sharks. Bell has had several brushes with the law throughout his junior and professional career and now he has been sentenced to jail time and been suspended by the league. Nevermind the fact that Bell just has not been that good on the ice the past few years. He was brought into San Jose to score goals and was given the opportunity to play with arguably the league’s best set-up man in Joe Thornton. Nonetheless, he posted embarassingly low totals playing on all four of the Sharks’ lines and was quickly dealt off. Maybe Ferguson Jr. should have wondered why Bell was available as merely a toss-in, in the Vesa Toskala trade.

Making news this morning:

• A big name signing in the summer of 2006, Jay McKee suffered through an injury riddled first season in St. Louis, but is back and hoping to prove he is worth the 4 year, $16 million deal the Blues gave him.
• The Canadiens unveiled their new jersey’s today and they are almost identical to their old ones. Nice to see the team is maintaining the traditional look that few NHL teams still have.
• The Sharks have suprised most of the hockey world by signing veteran Jeremy Roenick to a one-year deal worth $500,000. And just when I was loving every move Doug Wilson had made up to this point, he had to go and do this.