Today St. John Barbarians GM John Kenny called a press conference to announce the signing of Fan Fav Andrew Cassels.  Kenny went on to say " We are pleased to lock Andrew up in a deal that will bring him towards the end of his career with us in St. John.  We gave him a well deserved 3 million dollar pay raise and once again insisted on a no-trade clause.  As I have told many GMs before, Andrew is a Barbarian for life."

      On a less positive note, the team is getting frustrated while working with a few of their free agents.  Kenny spoke out "just because a couple of GMs decided to let their starting goalies get away with murder last year in contract negotiations, this year we all have to pay!" he continued to say " We love having Joseph here in St. John, but unless he gets it in his mind that we refuse to pay 6,000,000 to our starter, with the talent we have to back him up, then he will be testing the market!"  These statements Kenny has directed seemed to be putting "Cujo" in the same doghouse that Glen Murray and Victor Kozlov have found themselves in over disputes with Kenny.

      After the prepared statements, Kenny faced questions regarding recent deals with the Bathurst Titan and The Hitmen or Harcourt.  Kenny commented " The Harcourt deal was a big sacrifice to give 2 1st rounders in 10 for their pick this season, however it may be a lottery pick and we have our eye on a couple of players in this draft, as for Harvey for Grosek in the deal, both teams just felt a change of scenery would give each of these players a chance to grow." Kenny continued "As for the deal with the Titans, we will miss Sheldon Souray very much in the organization, but we felt that Daniel Briere needed a change, as he was not living up to what we know he can do, and for some unknown reason the 2 players seemed determined not to be split up.  We also felt that Kubina and Chad Kilder will have very positive and prominent futures in the St. John organization" 

     So after a busy week in the office, but not so great week on the ice, this is whats happening in St. John

--Jim McKenzie