Wednesday, July 8, 2009

No, your name is Liar, 'cause you tell lies.

I know I'm sorry. Somebody passed out on their couch last night.

Let it be said that I had every intention of giving you guys a double blog tonight, however I really want to nail the FA defensemen thing, so I need some more time to do some research. What you're going to get tonight is my reaction to all the recent news, and tomorrow will be FA eharmony style.

It's really not my fault because the fact is the GM's were sluggish in responding to my questionairre, which has forced me to make up all these reasons why I haven't done the posting.

Also, I'm going to pass on Joe Sakic stuff until he officially announces his retirement. The man is 8th all time in points, I think he deserves his own post. So here we go...


Saku Koivu signs 1-year deal for to play for the Anaheim Ducks

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Sign me up as someone who thinks the Ducks got better this offseason. Granted it's a stretch considering they aren't going to be able to suit up Niedermeyer AND Pronger for 30 mins a game against opponents, but the scoring depth they added may make up for that.

I think the loss of Beauchemin hurts the most right now, and they still need to replace him through FA (a point I will get to later), but with Whitney playing for them the a whole season, plus Koivu on their second line, and Lupul adding to their depth at forward, they now have threats they didn't have last year.

I'm sold on Jonas Hiller so I think they could still make a move with Giguere and really catapult themselves to the upper echelon of the Western Conference.


Gustavsson signs with Toronto Maple Leafs for 1-year $810,000

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I now grade Burke's offseason as an A-. He might not make the playoffs this year, but he's certainly leaving his fingerprints, or should I say fistprints, all over the Maple Leafs. He traded Kubina and signed Komisarek to get tougher on defence. Signed Beauchemin, someone he was familiar with at Anaheim, to add some skill to the core. And he won the Gustavsson sweepstakes.

All he has to do now is trade Kaberle, hopefully for a decent forward, or at least two good prospects, and he's set. And don't give me shit for the picture because it was either that picture or this one

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and since I'm pretty sure that's a pro beach hockey goalie, I figured the shirtless guy was more likely to be Jonas.


Chris Pronger signs 7-year $35 million extension

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I think this signing is crazy because it locks Pronger up through the age of 42 at a cap hit of $5 mil a year and for a guy that size, that plays as tough as he does, I wouldn't want anything to do with him after 40. But then again what do you expect from a team that signs Danny Briere to 8 years $52 million. I'm guessing the extra years were to take the yearly cap number down, which was neccessary given all the Flyers bad contracts over the years.

Shit, who am I kidding at the end of the day how do I say anything about this other than it's bad for the Penguins because Pronger is going to be doing exactly what he is pictured here doing to Sid and Geno 8 times a season. Kudos Philadelphia, every time I think you guys couldn't possibly get meaner or dirtier, Bobby Clarke steps his game up another notch.

Which reminds me I need to clear the air a bit. The the pensblog guys are rarely wrong with their assessments, and if anything I give them a lot of credit for the intelligence behind their opinions, however since they are kind of the bar at which I measure entertaining sports blogging against I feel the need to disagree with a couple of things in a recent post about the Flyers.

First, they say Philadelphia "put a name between the pipes". If they meant this literally then yes the Flyers did, however my interpretation of the comment, given it was mixed with other claims of how the Flyers improved themselves this offseason, was that Ray Emery is an improvement over Marty Biron. At best, Emery is a slightly better goalie, but getting his best is the biggest challenge with him. Biron was a solid, stable, goaltender, and Emery has been called a lot of things in his career, but solid and stable he is not. I personally think their goaltending this year is a mess.

Second, they claim that Briare will eventually "justify his contract". Read this slowly.

Not.

Gonna.

Happen.

Briere, at the very top of his game is a Sedin twin. And that's not taking into account the age and size difference, his penchant for injuries, or his woeful plus/minus i.e. defense. Don't get me wrong, I love Briere. I loved him in Phoenix when he was an unknown, who buried 30 goals a year. And I loved him when he got paid, because he got a $50 million contract and he's smaller, and tamer, than your average house cat. But the guy looks like he'd fit in better as a member of The Monkees, or as seen here the early Beatles, than an NHL team.

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and that's just not good enough for $6.5 mil a year. Which is the last reason I love him. Because every year he is on the Flyers roster he makes them worse with his albatross of a contract. I claimed earlier this year that in the salary cap era Jordan Staal was a luxury third line center at $4 mil a year, what does that make Briere?

Look the Flyers will be good next year, and they may beat the Pens in the playoffs at some point. Howver the problem with Philly is this: over the next four years they are paying Danny Briere, Mike Richards, Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen about $24 million a season. Over the same time frame the Pens will be paying Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Brooks Orpik almost the same amount. Name one GM other than Clarke or Brian Burke that would take the Flyers core over the Pens. Exactly. Factor in the fact that Philadelphia also has Hartnell signed for $4.2 mil a year while the Penguins are getting Marc-Andre Fleury for $5 mil and you see how much better off the Penguins are moving forward than the Flyers.

Philadelphia was able to improve themselves this offseason, but they're still behind Boston and Washington as the biggest threats to the Pens in the Eastern Conference.


Tomorrow's post will be epic I promise. Of course, my word isn't exactly worth much at this point. I promise anyone that takes the time to email me and complain (thelegendandthelaw@gmail.com) will get a free "The Legend and The Law" t-shirt as well as a free college special from Milano's. For those of you that listen to the radio show, you know these gifts are typically reserved for promotions and prize packages, so it's your lucky day.

Keep the Faith.

-the legend

Monday, July 6, 2009

Where art thou dog? Thy canine lover? Where is thy hot breath on the nape of my neck? We shall form a bond. You will lick my face and I your snout

Pens or big NHL news, Pens or big NHL news. Eh, we'll start with the NHL


Alexei Kovalev signs 2-year, $10 million deal with the Ottawa Senators

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I love the logic of the NHL. Our team has been handcuffed by a selfish player, who played well below his ability this season, but has the ability to put the puck in the net as well as anyone. So we're going to sign an often enigmatic player, who played well below his ability this season and who was sent home for two weeks in the middle of a playoff race, to "get his head straight", to replace him. Excellent. Honestly, if they get a decent trade, like Penner and Cogliano, with the addition of Kovalev they might not miss Heatley so much. Again, this is another signing that only turns out well if other moves are made, and if everything works out perfectly.
Grade: I'll give it a B once Heatley is traded. Now C+ at best.


Toronto Maple Leafs sign FA defenseman Francois Beauchemin

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Now that looks like a Brian Burke player (Beauchemin is the one who still has a head, btw). I don't think Toronto is going to get where it wants to be immediately. What I fear is that by the time their primo talent develops their roster is going to be loaded with lesser talent eating up a good chunk of cap space. This was the formula Burke used in Anaheim, and it just might work here, but it still hinges on a lot, including trading Kaberle. I'm just saying if I was starting a team I would not choose Mike Komisarek $4.5 mil, Thomas Kaberle $4.25 mil, Francois Beauchemin $3.8 mil, Jeff Finger $3.5 mil, and Mike Van Ryn $2.9 mil as my five defensemen.
Grade: A-, a little expensive, but he's not overpriced and it makes them better



Penguins sign F Chris Conner and D Chris Lee

Ray Shero has officially shown his first sign of panic, as upon Chris Minard's departure to Edmonton he clearly felt the Penguins were underrepresented by people named Chris and he snapped up the first two he found. Conner seems like a good replacement for Taffe, similar stats and history, Lee is another depth signing as the Pens recognize that Gogo and Lovejoy may not play with the Baby Pens this season. More good deals from The Boss, we're just waiting on that 6th Defenseman.

Speaking of which...

I finally figured out what I'm going to do for you guys, since I've put this off for two days due to my schedule, tomorrow night I'm going to bring you Pens FA, the eharmony version. We'll match up the remaining D on the market with the Penguins organization based on an in depth online questionnaire and a complicated algorithm that I spent years developing under the tutelage of eharmony found Neil Clark Warren and mathematician John Nash. This thing has a 100% guarantee (with a margin of error of +/- 50%), so make sure you come back for that.


Much love guys.

-the legend

Sunday, July 5, 2009

I see Blue, He look's glorious.

I was planning on putting out the update on the FA situation, but when I got off of work last night I saw this.

Tragedy takes no holidays: McNair shot dead in Nashville



I've been reading up a lot on McNair today, and in death people often get glorified. However, more than any athlete's death I remember in the recent past, he is being remembered first and foremost for what a good person he was. As details have been leaking out, it sounds more and more like this is one of those unfortunate and unnecessary tragidies that could have been easily avoided.

McNair is probably best remembered for this drive that came up just a yard short in Super Bowl XXXIV.



It's unfortunate that he is so often remembered for this losing effort. His friends, teammates, and fellow NFL players all will remember him for his toughness on the field as well as the kind of man he was off of it.

But perhaps, sadly, it's fitting that for a man who left us too soon, the signature moment of his career is one where he came up short.


Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend. We'll return tomorrow with our NHL update. Don't forget to tune into the show Monday night 6-9pm, www.wdsr.org.

-the legend