Draft Bloggin: Spicy Food Meets Kent

Well, after being a bit of a dunce and booking a really late flight on Thursday knowing full well we had a radio show that night, Kent Wilson got his skinny ass to Minnesota on time for the first ever edition of FlamesNation Radio.  It was a much, much, much busier day in Minnesota, as we bring you a little of what happened.  By the way, the picture above is what we like to call the Steinberg Super Sex Suite: Part 2.  Including two beds…double the magic.

Things started off with a skills clinic waaaaaaay out of town, with top prospects like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Gabriel Landeskog, Adam Larsson and more working with youngsters in the Minnesota hockey program, along with Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke and Wild players Brad Staubitz and Cal Clutterbuck.  It was pretty cool and it meant we got a chance to talk to a number of the guys after it was all said and done, as you see below.

Then it was off to the prospects lunch, where even more guys got together and chatted with hoardes and hoardes of media.  Most of them were mainstream media asking real questions, and there were some rather odd questions coming as well on Thursday afternoon; I usually find it entertaining.  We got a few more interviews and rolled out; it was also about the same time the news of the  Flyers crazy afternoon started filtering in.  I can tell you: being around a ton of NHL media, the entire place was buzzing about what Paul Holmgren pulled off with the Blue Jackets and Kings.

It kind of overshadowed what the Flames were doing, with the news coming before that the team had asked Robyn Regehr to waive his no trade clause and accept a move to Buffalo.  I worked the angle for quite a while, and found out what I needed from a great source: the whole thing caught Regehr WAY off guard and so he was really taking his time to figure out if he wanted to waive his NMC or not.  Either way, I don’t think we can really begrudge him…he has the clause, and he has roots in the city.  Don’t think it’s fair to criticize one way or another here, as this is really out of his control.  From all my dealings with Robyn, I feel fairly confident he very much wanted to be part of the solution with the Flames.

Kent and I did FlamesNation Radio, where we sat in a hotel room in close quarters for three consecutive hours.  It got very uncomfortable.  What was even more unsettling was Kent taking me to a dimly lit, romantic, boutique restaurant after the show, as we both hadn’t eaten all day.  But the creeper made up for it when we ordered some gourmet wings with what they call "Smoke Bomb" sauce.  The pretty waitress said they were mildly hot with a nice chipotle smoke; and I totally agreed.  Mildly hot.  Kent did not agree, as the tears in his eyes and profusely sweating face would attest.  It was mildly amusing.

Friday is the first round and we’re going to get plenty from the Calgary Flames, so keep it locked on the site!