Hockey Info

Nachdem mit Ryan Smyth wohl einer der besten Free Agents zu Colorado Avalanche wechselte könnte nun auch ein alter Bekannter dort anheuern. Es handelt sich um die schwedische Eishockey-Legende Peter Forsberg.

Forsberg wurde 1994 von den Quebec Nordiques (Vorgänger der Colorado Avalanche) gedrafdet und gleich Rookie des Jahres. Im Jahr danach führte er zusammen mit Joe Sakic die Avalanche wie auch 2001 zum Stanley Cup Sieg. 2003 wurde er Topscorer der NHL.
Bis zum Lockout spielte er in Denver. Nach einem Jahr bei MoDo HL (sein Stammklub in Schweden) wechselte Forsberg wegen des Salary Caps nach Philadelphia. In den letzten Monaten spielte er für die Nashville Predators. Derzeit ist “Foppa” (so sein Spitzname) unrestricted Free Agent.

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It’s been a while since I’ve written an entry on this blog. Due to the lack of internet and the long hours of a summer job, I rarely found time to serenade my readers with my sport opinions. Right…

Since my last entry, many things have changed in the hockey world. Anaheim Ducks are the new Stanley Cup champions, well-deserved too in my opinion. The NHL entry draft took place with Patrick Kane taken first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks, where he’ll join last season’s prospect Jonathan Toews. That’s going to be a dominate one-two punch. Not too much action took place in the trading market during the draft however, as mostly draft picks were swapped.

The really big changes came on July 1.

Probably one of the biggest days of the NHL offseason. Free agent frenzy begins.

By now you’ve probably heard about all the crazy, ridiculous, high-priced contract signings around the league so there is no use in me ranting on each and everyone although, it is very tempting. I really hope those players can live up to their price/expectations and not choke, but I would be pretty entertained in watching them falter.

The truly interesting fact about this salary cap is that teams can transform their performance in a very short time. What do I mean by that?

Take the Los Angeles Kings, for example. They finished fourth in their division, 14th in their conference, and well out of the playoffs in 2006-2007. Now with the cap raised to $50 million, the Kings took full advantage of this oppurtunity. They went out and strengthened their blueline tremendously. Here’s what they did:

Signings:
Tom Preissing, 4-years for $11 million
Brad Stuart, 1-year for $3.5 million
Jaroslav Modry, 1-year for $1.2 million (re-signing)
Lubomir Vishnovsky, 5-year for $28.25 million (re-signing)

Oh, don’t forget to throw in Rob Blake.
Not only did they add some power to their defense, they also made a few acquistions up front to gain more offense. With the signings of Michael Handzus, Ladislav Nagy and Kyle Calder, GM Dean Lombardi is trying to find players to complement existing forwards, such as Anze Kopitar and Alexander Frolov. Now if only they can acquire a good goaltender, the Kings would make for some tough competition in the Western Conference.

Now lets look at the other end of the spectrum and see how a team can falter under this cap system in just one year.

I think we all have the same team in mind, the Buffalo Sabres.
They were first in the entire NHL last season and reached the Conference finals in the playoffs, but once the offseason hit, they were unable to keep their two big unrestricted free agents:

Daniel Briere, who signed a 8-year, $52 million contract with Philadelphia and Chris Drury, who signed a 5-year, $32.25 million contract with the Rangers

They also lost forward Danius Zubrus to New Jersey, while the only notable signing the Sabres could muster was goaltender Jocelyn Thibault. Now, the loss of Briere and Drury was not the only abuse Buffalo recieved from this salary cap system, because the Edmonton Oilers placed an offer sheet to one of their young forwards Thomas Vanek. The Sabres matched the offer, but the ridiculous 7-year, $50 million signing prevent them from pursuing more replacements for their losses up front.

I’m not saying that Buffalo will become a bottom feeder, I’m merely pointing out an example on how a team can lose a major asset, or two, in just a few days. The Sabres can still put out a competitive team, but a repeat of last season is highly improbable.

These are just two examples on how quickly a team can turn around, either positively or negatively. Maybe that’s why I love the offseason so much.

I can’t wait for the 07-08 season to begin and hopefully I can be more consistent with my blog entries now. Enjoy the rest of your summer, the NHL way.

Hosea C

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The NHL offseason is certainly a season to follow in Detroit. Though the recent addition of an NHL salary cap prevents the Red Wings from simply out-spending their opponents, they are a prestigious organization that always shops around to improve, adding veterans and foreign players into the mix. There are already several areas of the team where change has been afoot. Watch for things to start heating up in the fall when the NHL season begins. The Red Wings’ preseason kicks off on September 18 in Minnesota, and the regular season schedule has also been announced. The games that count begin at home against the Stanley Cup Champions, the Anaheim Ducks, on October 3 at 7:00pm. Things should be heated with Schneider and Bertuzzi jumping ships. For the rest of the schedule, visit NHL.com. Read more »

Apparently, all these rumors about Harry Potter dying - or at least some of his posse having to walk into the light - in the final novel of the series being released this weekend has psychologist-types advising parents to take the opportunity to discuss death openly with their Potter-obsessed children.  They feel talking about death can be a good thing for the kiddies to get up to speed on.

I would suggest with what is going on in sports these days, it would be safer and less unsettling for parents and their children alike to go ahead and openly discuss the Grim Reaper together than to enter a discussion about sports.

Baseball - Barry Bonds is about to break one of the hardest records to achieve in ALL of sports…and the Commissioner of Baseball isn’t sure he wants to see it in person…and…ummmm…Barry plays Baseball.  A lot of fans think he’s attained the record by cheating with steroids and don’t want his accomplishment to stand.

Football - The entire country appears to be talking about and debating Michael Vick.  Unfortunately, they are talking about Vick’s ability to scramble away from federal prosecutors charging him with dog fighting rather than his escapability on the gridiron.   Sponsors are bailing, protestors are organizing and it’s all anyone is talking about when it comes to the NFL. 

Basketball - A former NBA referee has been accused of betting on games he was participating in.  The depth of his involvement and subsequent actions are open to interpretation.  Fixing games might be the final nail in the sporting public’s interest in the NBA, coming off a playoff season that was poorly played and scarcely viewed.

Hockey - Well…go ahead and talk to your kids about Hockey since it really wouldn’t scare them…they likely haven’t seen it since it went to Versus.

NASCAR - Everyone in this sport cheats…and somehow, the drivers are allowed to show up week after week even when their crew is caught.  One driver said earlier in the year he thought NASCAR officials created artificial cautions to manipulate races and manufacture exciting finishes.

Golf - New accusations the improvement in equipment is not the only reason balls are flying farther than ever.  Steroids in golf of all things…so much for the “gentleman’s game.”  Dare we think Golf’s shining superstar, Tiger Woods, got his rock-hard appearance any other way than hard work in the gym?

Yes, parents - it is scary contemplating having a talk with the young ones about sports in this day and age.   Stick with Harry Potter.  His world is closer to reality.

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ESPN - Frei: Have we seen this Hollywood story before? - NHL

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Jim Balsillie and his lawyer are accusing Gary Bettman now of meddling in the BlackBerry CEO’s efforts to buy the Nashville Predators and, one would assume, move them to the Southern Ontario market (Hamilton), saying that Bettman would prefer that Preds owner Craig Leipold sell to the ownership group that wants the Preds in Kansas City or to a local group in Nashville, neither of which will put up close to the $238 million that Balsillie is offering. Bettman is on record saying that Nashville will not lose its team. Now, he may be going out of his way to ensure it.

His office is denying all of this, of course, but the piece cuts to the heart of the matter — the movement of the Nashville Predators across the 49th parallel would be seen as a failure of Bettman’s Southern Strategy, to field hockey teams spread across all of the U.S. Outside of the Dallas Stars, that movement has been a failure. Carolina and Tampa Bay have won Stanley Cups, but the infrastructure for local support, outside of the few die-hards, has not been there for the newer teams. The rationale for the lockout (evening the playing field for smaller teams) has been revealed as complete bullshit after the money the Rangers, Flyers, and Avs threw at free agents while the Sabres and Islanders were gutted.

Thus, Bettman cannot afford to look worse than he already does, and is accused of trying to salvage some form of legacy despite the best interests of the game. Having Balsillie move a team back to Canada would be the cherry on top of his crap stewardship of the NHL. Now, the accusations will head to the league’s board of governors, and while the odds say that this leak will probably doom Balsillie’s chances of being an owner, is there a possibility that the board will issue a bit of a rebuke to Bettman?

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FOX Sports on MSN - NHL - Players are junior ‘partners’ in NHL

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Philadelphia is the city that birthed a nation, but unfortunately has a history of losing from there on out. At the dawn of America, the city of brotherly love was the largest and most prosperous city in the country. Then little by little that status was taken away. New York took the capital in 1789 creating decades of resentment. Even until 1832 Philadelphia was the financial center of the new nation. However, when Andy Jackson vetoed the charter of the Bank of the United States, stationed in Philadelphia, the financial power followed to New York and Wall Street. So, by Jackson railing against the “rich Philadelphia bankers,” he initially cemented the loserdom of the home to the liberty bell.

On July 15th, 2007, once again another imprint in the image of losing was cast. The Philadelphia Phillies became the first team in the history of sports to lose 10,000 games. What better way for it to happen, than in the form of a blowout. Phillies starter, Adam Eaton managed to allow six runs in only four plus innings. The final score of 10-2 tells the tale for the sports futility of the town, one loss to magnify all the others.

The city has not seen a championship in any of the major sports since 1983 when the fo, fo, fo sixers won the title. That team was the best ever in the history of the NBA if you ask me, but I digress. Since that point Philadelphia Basketball made it to the finals once, getting their clock cleaned by the Lakers in 2001.

The same could be said about Hockey. Since their back to back cups in 1974-75, the Flyers have made five appearances in the finals, only to fall short everytime. Now the franchise is held down by team General  Manger and President Bobby Clarke still thinks the Broad Street Bullies would work in today’s game. Now due to rule changes and skill improvement, it is a scoring game, uncompatible to the style Clarke won those two cups with as a hard nosed player.

The Eagles, despite having a sweet theme song, have not won a championship since 1960. They beat the one of the best teams all time, the Chicago Cardinals, who did not alow a score all year. Oklahoma standout Tommy McDonald led the Eagles to victory 7-0, the only touchdown given up by that defense. Since then the Eagles made two Super Bowls and lost both. In 1981, the Eagles lost by the most points of any team in a Super Bowl to that point. Then after looking as if the Eagles had the momentum in 2004 versus the Patriots, in the first half. McNabb got sick and the Eagles choked. Prior to that, I should mention also that the birds made it to three consecutive conference championships, losing in all three.

Finally, the team that made history a few days ago. The Phillies came into the league as the Quakers in 1883 with a loss to the Reds. The tradition continued almost non-stop until the late 70’s when some talent came their way to go along with stud lefty Steve Carlton and the nastiest slider in Baseball history. In 1980, the Phils won the whole thing on the back of solid pitching by Carlton, and especially youngster Bob Walk. Pete Rose coming in 1979 seemed to be the final ingredient to the mix. Since 1980, the Phillies made two World Series and guess what, they lost. One of which, one the greatest moments in history of baseball, Joe Carter’s home run, occured. Notice that it is a game they are famous for losing.

Of all sports figures, real and imagined, Rocky Balboa symbolizes Philadelphia Sports. As in the first movie, the one that won an Oscar, the Italian Stalion was able to get close , going the distance with the champ, but falling short. the Chicago Cubs are often called the loveable losers, so I guess that makes Philadelphia the city of Loathable Losers, a reputation Philly fans are proud of.

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John Ferguson Sr. passed away this past Saturday (July 14,2007). He was first diagnosed with Cancer in September 2005. It was thought that he had beaten the disease but he apparently didn’t. John Ferguson was born in Vancouver , British Columbia on September 5, 1938. He won Stanley Cup in 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, and 1971, all with the Montreal Canadiens. In 1972 he was assistant coach for Team Canada who ended up beating the Soviet Union in the ‘72 Summit. He was general manager for Winnipeg Jets. Ferguson was survived by his wife Joan and children John, Catherine, Chris and Joanne. John(Jr.) is the General Manger for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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Alright, so this is a day old but it bears repeating: WTF were you thinking Tuesday night LaRussa? You’ve got the best hitter in baseball twiddling his thumbs on the bench and you don’t put him in? You save him for extra innings? Well, you know what? You don’t get to GO to extra innings if you don’t tie it up in the 9th! And who agrees with me: Cardinals Hottie Albert Pujols. He was more than a little annoyed at not getting put in the game and you know: seriously. Why haul your cookies all the way to the Bay to ride the pine? I’m sorry, Albert. Take heart: Tony is not a hottie and you are. MOUAH! [Warlock Benches Prince Albert. Booooooo.]

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