Best of the Nation – 1.27.13

The first week of the NHL season is now behind us; the Best of the Nation this week includes more Luongo trade talk, Nail Yakupov’s goal celebration, actual trades, and much more.

Canucks GM Mike Gillis, on trading Roberto Luongo: “We have a potential deal in place with one team.” [Canucks Army/Leafs Nation]

Nail Yakupov’s goal celebration – over the line, or just plain awesome? [Oilers Nation/Oilers Nation]

Five more years! Five more years! Toronto re-signs Joffrey Lupul. [NHL Numbers]

The Calgary Flames ship goaltender Henrik Karlsson to Chicago. [Flames Nation]

Breaking down all the minor moves in both conferences. [NHL Numbers/NHL Numbers]

What will the Canucks do with Keith Ballard? From the article: “A team looking for a second pairing left side defenseman may have some interest in Ballard and it wouldn’t take a ton to acquire him.” The second part of this sentence is extremely true, while the first part had me wondering if Mike Milbury had been hired on to run another NHL team. [Canucks Army]

Sven Baertschi is the most exciting young player in Calgary’s system, so it’s no surprise that Flames Nation generated more than 100 comments on a piece explaining why he’s probably bound for the minor leagues. [Flames Nation]

Jake Gardiner gets demoted to the Marlies to recover from his concussion. [Leafs Nation]

A guide to Olli Jokinen for Jets fans. [Jets Nation]

The sixth part of Rex Libris’ epic series on rebuilding the Calgary Flames (with links to the first five pieces, just in case there’s anyone out there interested in reading a novel). [Flames Nation]

The top seven Canucks goal celebrations of all time. [Canucks Army]

And we finish with this week’s Graphic Comments:

Check out the full post at Canucks Army.