Let me immediately state that this is not a trade rumour. Nobody has suggested that the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames are talking trade or that Mike Gillis is shopping Mason Raymond, Keith Ballard or Cory Schneider. Even new Flames general manager Jay Feaster has said that he is not interested in trading the face of the franchise, Jarome Iginla. While we can choose to believe or not believe Jay Feaster, it’s still unlikely that he would trade Iginla to Vancouver given that they are a division rival.

The point of asking this question centres around a bigger question. When (if ever) is the time to load up, trade for a player to put your team over the hump, while sacrificing some of your future? I think this year might be the year and a Raymond/Ballard/Schneider for Iginla type deal is at least worth a thought.

Random thoughts:

-The salaries of the three Canucks in the deal would come close to Iginla’s $7 million salary, so it shouldn’t be a problem cap-wise.

-The deal would help kick start a much needed Calgary rebuild, getting a goalie of the future as well as some help on defense and youthful scoring up front. Mason Raymond is also from nearby Cochrane, Alberta.

-The deal would hurt Vancouver long-term, but could pay huge dividends in the short term. Iginla is clearly an upgrade on Mason Raymond up front and Cory Schneider isn’t likely to see playing time in the playoffs anyway. The loss of Keith Ballard would be minimized by the return of Sami Salo.

-The deal would also give the Canucks probably the best second line in the league with Kesler and Iginla playing together. The Flames captain is good for at least 35 goals at the moment, imagine what he could do with a decent centre while playing against teams’ second defense pairs.

-Iginla is a proven big game player with loads of skill, playoff grit and leadership.

-The Canucks seem to be doing fine right now without Mason Raymond, especially with the emergence of Jeff Tambellini. Keith Ballard is also only playing a minor role for the team, so perhaps he is expendable? Cory Schneider will likely be on the bench come April.

So am I crazy? Possibly! I’m not entirely sure I would make this deal, but it’s certainly something to ponder. Perhaps it’s a little too much of the future to give up, as well as the present. Perhaps Jarome Iginla’s $7 million contract is too much to swallow. Here’s how some other Canucks fans reacted to this trade proposal on Twitter earlier today:

@Chris_Withers: no, no and fucking hell no! 3 players of that quality for one 33 year old fading superstar? I’d quit on the team.

@PatrickTussie: it’s an interesting discussion. the #canucks could use a tier 1 forward to play with Kesler.

@a_frilles: those are young players. They have room to improve. Iginla is old. lol

@PabloPenguin74 It’s an interesting idea! Where would Iginla slot in? what do we do with Hansen, Torres or Samuelson?

@Rissyluvsnucks Iginla is too slow for 2nd line. Salo isnt ready and rome is scary. No way! Too much for Iginla

Maybe this isn’t the right deal for Mike Gillis, but I think there is a deal like this to be made this year. The team currently stands 2nd overall in winning percentage and would be well advised to look for a piece to put them over the hump. Is that player Jarome Iginla? If not, then who? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

David Pratt and Don Taylor are off the air! Well, for one day at least. The co-hosts of the popular radio show on the TEAM 1040 got into an argument on Monday that lead to David Pratt throwing down his microphone which was followed by 12 minutes of commercials and then a previously taped interview. Afterwards, Pratt returned, without Taylor. On Tuesday, both were given the day off in order to “cool off”. Both, apparently, are to return to the air today at 3:00pm. If you ask me, both are acting a bit like radio divas, as the argument was centred around the comparison of Tom Watson’s accomplishments at the British Open, to 75 year old poker champion Doyle Brunson. My two cents: interesting comparison, poker requires mental strength, golf requires mental AND physical strength.

***UPDATE*** Pratt and Taylor went to air on Wednesday and all appeared to be forgiven. They did not make mention of the pissing contest that happened on Monday until a caller made mention of it. They downplayed the incident and the show went on as normal.

Kyle Wellwood’s arbitration case is around the corner and I believe there is a high chance that the Canucks will walk away from the deal if he is awarded too much. The Canucks will probably walk away from anything nearing $2 million but if I had to guess, I think he’ll get in the neighbourhood of $1.5 million.

That’s right! It’s time for another Canuckz.com TWITTER TRACKER! Today’s edition looks at the best tweets from the FAKE Twitter account of Kyle Wellwood:

• Eagles + Moosehead = good off season. true story.
• It took me 14 tries to type proportional on T9 in that last update.
• The size of your stick is not proportional to anything else. althoug maybe inversely to how awesome i am.
• salary arbitration fun fact number one: I deserve more money. true story.
• god damn the canucks sure Love us ex leafs players, ugh. i mean, hey Raycroft My old fwend!
• I think Don Cherry has a crush on me.
• Does anyone know the special Seasoning for KFC chicken? Paying 200$ for it.

Just a few thoughts about some of the rumours we’ve heard in the last few days about free agency. With rumour blogs such as Eklund / countless twitter accounts, Canuckz.com asks: what stories have they really broken? Here’s a few snippets of rumours from Eklund on the day before free agency began:

• Ohlund to LA, NJ, or Anaheim (or maybe a real surprise)

• Knuble will re-sign with Philly

• Hossa will be a domino after Heatley decides if he wants to go to Edmonton or NY

• Cammalleri will sign with Buffalo, Nashville or Toronto

• The Sedins will sign in Montreal

• Komisarek will sign in NJ or the New York Islanders, but don’t rule out a return to the Habs

• The Hawks will attempt to move Huet and bring back Bulin

• Havlat will not be signed today, but will likely end up back in Chicago

• The Wild will get in on Hossa and make another play for Heatley (and possibly Vinny)

• The Islanders will make a play for a major player as well. if not Komisarek, maybe Ohlund

• Kaberle to Boston for Kessel will be revisited

So yeah, not right on a SINGLE rumour! The only things he kind of predicted correctly were vaguely predicting that the Rangers would spend their money (duh!), and that the Thrashers would sign some players unexpectedly (what exactly does that mean?). You’d think if he was just making up stuff that he’d be able to guess better than that!

And what about the Twitter accounts? Darren Dreger’s Twitter has been popular, but is he telling us anything that TSN.ca isn’t already? Same goes with Daren Millard’s “tweeting” from Sportsnet. Even Eklund is on Twitter (apparently Kaberle is on his way to Vancouver, but don’t hold your breath). Jason Botchford’s tweets told us about Gaborik buying a home in West Vancouver, who knows how true that is now that he will be living in New York. But my favourite “tweets” are the fake accounts such as Tony Gallagher and Bob McKenzie. Here are the best of the fake tweets:

Fake Tony Gallagher

• Deal is definetly done; Will be on the Province website within the hour

• Going on the TEAM to announce the deal

and then after Tony Gallagher went on the TEAM to say that he’s not on Twitter even though someone has an account pretending to be him…

• A Tony Gallagher impersonator has been on the Team claiming that this is not my account. As a newspaper man I would never fall for such lies

“Newspaper man”?! That’s classic!

Fake Bob McKenzie

• Come tmrw, expect Komisarek to go to the Capitals, Koivu to join Selanne in Anaheim and Dave Hodge to come to work drunk. Ha, I kid

• While I love Babcock, I’m worried that he’ll forget how to coach a CDN player after being in Detroit so long. Ha.

• The Williams sisters advance to the Wimbledon final again!!! Am I the only one who finds Serena irresistibly sexy?

• Has anyone tried Taco Bell’s new Volcano Taco? I had 3 or 4 for lunch. They’re delicious, but the TSN bathroom resembles Pompei, Italy now

I love the way fake Bob McKenzie laughs.. Ha! Now, if that didn’t satisfy your daily Twitter fix, check this out (it’s one sweet tweet):