Trade winds blowing

In my first e-mail from someone who isn’t a family member, my friend, Shawn, writes: Great stuff about Clarke and the Williams trade. I was shouted down in my peer group for questioning the Mighty Clarke, but I think that giving up on Williams was a mistake. He could have swiped Markov for a song, despite what he tells you. It's just another link in a very long train (Williams, Oullett, Brendl, Hlavac, Niinimaa, and, if you believe the rumor mill, Gagne). Of course, some of these guys HAVE turned out to be stiffs (Niinimaa comes to mind), but he never gave them a chance. Well, I appreciate the compliment, Shawn, and also you agreeing with me. We both know that doesn’t happen very often. In another e-mail, my friend, Andy, writes: I saw that Amonte went down indefinitely and Hackett suffers from "positional vertigo". Does that mean the Flyers trade Simon Gagne and Kim Johnsson for Tommy Salo and Joe Juneau? Hmmm...what silly wabbit will Clarkie pull out of his bag of tricks now?! I have to say, I couldn’t agree more. Chuck Gormley, Flyers beat writer for the Courier-Post, writes on NHL.com today that the Flyers might be looking at picking up Capitals’ goaltender Olaf Kolzig. Depending upon whom they would have to give up in the deal -- and with Clarke making the deal, don’t count on it being an even trade -- I would love to see the Flyers get Kolzig. He has been to the Finals once already, and has been mired on an underachieving Caps team ever since. One has to figure that he would be hungry to return -- though considering he would be playing for the Flyers, I won’t hold my breath. P.S. Thanks for the e-mails, guys. Please -- keep on reading and writing.