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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

We? No, we are not French. We are American, because you're in America, okay? Greatest country on the planet.

Happy July 4th to all.

On to business.

It's a sad day in the P. As the Penguins have lost Michel Therrien's whipping boy Chris Minard. Three minute Minard as we liked to call him around here, sat on the bench with the best of them. The man played two shifts a game better than anyone I've ever seen. He's pictured here in his favorite spot during the 2007-08 season.

I tried to find a picture of him on the ice in a Pittsburgh Penguins uniform, but they don't make camaras with fast enough shutter speeds. The Springfield Falcons just got a whole lot better.

In similar news Jeff Taffe signed with the Florida Panthers. Turns out Jeff Taffe has scored 20 goals in his NHL career, who knew?


Penguins sign Chris Conner, Nate Guenin and...

Ruslan Fedotenko

pictured here dropping a deuce

I questioned Ray Shero once. I thought his contract offer to Hossa last year was a mistake, given the peripheral effects it would have had on our team. I thought he got distracted by the shiny new toy in his office. However, as I pointed out with some other moves he made this off-season Shero is always learning. And no where is it more obvious than Feds re-signing. This is exactly what I wanted, and I could probably write a treatise as to why, but I'll break down the main points.

1 year, $1.8 million.

Feds was coming off a dynamite postseason where he proved for a second time how clutch of a performer he was. I imagine he was looking for a multi-year deal. I was just hoping to get him under the $2.25 mil he played for last year and I was thinking it might take a 2-year deal just to do that, I never pictured him coming in under $2 mil.

I think big props need to be given to Adams, Guerin and Feds. I realize the economy is in the tank, and demand for these guys services might not have been high, but all three signed for less money, and short deals to stick around. We're looking good for next year folks we're looking real good.

And best of all next off-season when the cap is expected to drop between $3-5 million we have Guerin $2 mil, Feds $1.8 mil, Cooke $1.2 mil, and Eaton $2 mil all coming off the books. Not getting stuck in a multi-year deal for our top six forward is a big deal with Letang needing a raise.


On to the final story of the day...

Mr Smith Goes to Hollywood

Is it me or does he look a bit like a cartoon in this picture?

Anyway, Ryan Smith is traded from the Colorado Avalanche to the LA Kings for D-men Kyle Quincey, Tom Preissing and a fifth-round pick in 2010. I think this is a great trade for LA, good trade for Colorado. First, the Avs.

It's a bit confounding as they already have 5 defenseman on their roster making over $3 million. But 4 are over thirty years old and 3 of them will be UFA's next year. So perhaps they're going to be shopping their services to other teams. Preissing is 30, a little cheaper than the guys I mentioned and has two years left on his contract. Quincey is a nice young guy to get in the deal, but I don't think LA gave up much in the deal, especially considering their depth at the position.

Which is why this is a great deal for the Kings. Smith is better than anyone currently on the market. He was much easier to get than Heatley, not to mention a bit better of a locker room presence. And given his cost, might have been a better option than Gaborik, and certainly a better option than tying yourself to Hossa for 12 years. People are always looking for the best player, which is not a bad strategy, but sometimes it's more about the best fit. And I can't think of a better fit for the Young LA Kings than Ryan Smith. I said in my review of the Scuderi signing that this would be a team to be reckoned with in 2-3 years. Look for them to make a Chicago type leap this season, and if they continue with the right moves to be a presence in 2.


Tomorrow we'll review what's left out on the market, mainly for the purpose of who the Penguins might sign on defense. Hopefully they don't snap up Jay Mckee by then or I'm going to have to think of something else. Don't forget about The Legend and The Law LIVE Monday night 6-9pm. www.wdsr.org. Have a safe and happy holiday.

Keep the Faith

-the legend.

They're like 4-foot whirling dervishes.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have suddenly become enamored with size. Here's a look at the height and weight of the Pens draft class this year.

Simon Despres 6'3" 205lbs
Philip Samuelsson 6'2" 198lbs
Ben Hanowski 6'1" 198lbs
Nick Peterson 6'2" 186lbs
Alex Velischek 6'0" 200lbs
Andy Bathgate 6'0" 164lbs
Viktor Ekbom 6'2" 194lbs

and their only free agent signing to date.

Mike Rupp 6'5" 230lbs

Those guys probably carry some big sticks.

I'm guessing Shero looked at his organization and realized that not only is 13 feet of defensive awesomeness probably leaving this offesason, but our core of defenders include 5'11" Alex Goligoski, 5'11" Kris Letang, and 6'2" Brooks Orpik. Plus, outside of Malkin and Stall, all our probable long term offensive players are 6 feet or shorter (Crosby, Kunitz, Talbot, Kennedy and even Cooke if you keep him around.)

It's true that Caputi, Tangradi, and Dustin Jeffrey are all 6'3", but you never know who's going to pan out and who isn't. And power forwards are an elusive bunch. The Penguins learned this season what happens when you sacrifice size and grit, you become a much easier team to play against. And they learned how much those attributes can benefit a team in a 7 game series.

Shero has watched how teams have become successful in the salary cap era, and now that he's won the cup his sole goal is to keep the Penguins near the top of the league. He had a plan going into the draft and it was based on what he witnessed play out this season. I'll tell you one thing about Ray Shero the man learns fast. Crosby and Malkin aren't the only Penguins getting better every season.

On to the Pens free agency review so far.


Penguins sign Forward Mike Rupp to a 2-year $1.65 million contract.




This was a head scratcher. At first he appears to be a more talented Eric Godard, who we signed because he was a more talented and cheaper George Laraque. However, it seems that Godard, and perhaps Dupuis are on the trading block in an effort to cut salary. If this is the case it starts to look like a great move as Rupp can take faceoffs, always good to have an extra guy for that, kills penalties, which is Dupuis biggest strength on the team, and can be used as an enforcer as well. Calculated risk by Shero that he can move Dupuis/Godard and flip that into keeping Scuds or Feds. And I'm always cool with taking a guy willing to kick a Bruin in the head.
Grade: B, pending outcome of further moves.

Los Angeles Kings Sign Defenseman Rob Scuderi to 4 years 13.5 million

You win the Stanley Cup, all of a sudden everyone wants a Piece. Now the Kings have one. You know it's really a shame. I wrote earlier about how during the preseason I thought we could have kept him for somewhere in the range of 4 years, $7.5 million. God wouldn't that look like a fantastic deal now. The really shameful thing is that I have heard nothing but good things about this guy. I'm glad he's going to LA and not anywhere else floating around the rumor mill. LA is a very good young team and in 2-3 years with the right moves they will be on top of the West. Hopefully Scuds is a part of that. Even though they overpaid for him a but it shouldn't hurt them. The fact that he has already seen the learning curve that team is going to go through should be worth the extra cash. Good luck sir.
Grade: B+, The Piece A+.


-the legend

Mind-bottling. You know, when things are so crazy it gets your thoughts all trapped, like in a bottle?

The first 24 hours of Free Agency have officially passed, and some of the moves can only be described as mind-bottling. We'll look at the Top 5 moves. Later today we'll have our thoughts on the Pens.

Hossa signs 12 year, $62.5 million contract with Blackhawks

So many things to talk about here, but I'll stick to the most pressing. I think it's a good move for both sides, but Chicago's books are going to look worse than California's in a couple of years. The NHL is moving closer to the NBA in that contracts are going to be worth as much as players, and that makes me sad. I'd trade Campbell for anything, just to get his salary of the books. Also, I feel like these contracts are going to need to be addressed by the NHL because we're not far away from someone actually siging a 20+ year contract just to keep the cap hit down. The contract averages more than $5 million a year, but he only makes $3.5 million TOTAL over the last four years.
Grade: B+, good effort but at what expense?

Montreal signs Mike Cammallieri, Brian Gionta, Jaroslav Spacek, and Hal Gill.

Wow. And I was on record for liking the Gomez deal. I think they overpaid Gionta, Cammallieri and Spacek, but I could see it working out. Spacek's signing looks a lot better if they can find a sucker to take Hamrlik. I like bringing Gionta and Gomez back together, and it could pay off huge divdends for them. But I don't think Cammallieri is the right fit for them, and for $6 million a year they can't make a mistake with him. People are crying about Gill's price but he adds size, and he's worth $2 million a year for two years, so $2.25 million ain't much of a reach. The truth is no one know how this will play out. They got tougher up front, and I think they targeted players specifically for their system, not just names.
Grades: Cammallieri C+, too expensive. Gionta B+, especially if he can return to form with Gomez. Spacek B-, getting up there in years too. Gill B, rarely hurts to add size to your line-up.
Overall Grade: B, was going to be a B-, but I'm including Gomez in this, and despite his salary I think he's going to look good in a Canadiens jersey.

New York Rangers Sign Marian Gaborik to 5-years $37.5 million

I don't get it. The Rangers are being trashed by fans and bloggers for this signing. You're telling me you wouldn't trade Scott Gomez for Marian Gaborik, straight up? Well the Rangers also got Christopher Higgens in the deal, a guy who averages more than 20 goals a season. That's more than Gomez had this year. Martin Havlat signed for 6 years $30 million. He's just as frail as Gabo, but you never hear about it because HE'S NOT AS GOOD AS GABORIK IS. Obviously everyone's biggest fear is that Gaborik is just going to fall apart, and I'm hesitant to love this deal because Glen Sather signed the check, but selfishly I get to watch Gaborik eight times this year. Ok four times assuming he plays half his teams games.
Grade: A-, as an individual signing it's kind of crazy, but I think this and the Gomez move makes them better.

Tampa Bay signs Mattias Ohlund to a 7-year $25.5 million contract

The first FA off the board. Tampa Bay found an UFA that has never played for Pittsburgh. Shock City. I'll admit my first instincts were to laugh at the $25 million. But upon further investigation I'm starting to like the deal. Tampa Bay struggled with defense last year, heck they struggled with everything last year. But with Ohlund, 2nd overall pick Victor Hedman, and the re-signing of RFA Lukas Krajicek, their defense will be much improved this year. Do you know how many players they paid last year? 50, and 19 of them were defensmen. There moves this offseason, including signing UFA Matt Walker, should go a long way towards stablizing one of their biggest weaknesses.

Washington Capitals sign Mike Knuble to 2-year $5.6 million deal

Damn. Damn. Double Dog Damn. It's not so much that I thought the Pens would sign him, or even should, though I'll admit if we could have gotten him for less than $2.5 mil/year I'd of taken him. It's that it's such a damn good move for Washington. He adds grit to a team that didn't have much. He brings 25 goals a year to a team that needed another scorer when Semin and Green disappeared. He's a veteran going to a team that lost Federov this off-season to Europe. Damn. Damn. Damn is he going to fit in well there. He's going to score 30 goals this year. If the Caps can get a solid defensive d-man there's going to be hell to pay in the playoffs next year.
Grade: A, Damn.

Oh wait, that's right...Pens are still the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

Keep the faith.


-the legend

I can give you half

So 12pm hits. Ruslan Fedotenko and Rob Scuderi sign with Tampa Bay. Where do the Penguins turn?

The first name on everyone's list appears to be Mike Knuble. The vet made 2.8 million last year while putting up 27 goals and 47 points. I wouldn't mind signing him but I think younger cheaper options can be found. I'd rather not have two of our top wingers be 38 years old.

The first name on my list is Jason Williams from the Columbus Blue Jackets. He's 28 years old, made 2.2 million last year and has averaged .6 ppg over the last four years, which roughly translates to about 20G and 30A over a full season. Put him on Malkin's wing and he's going to be 25 and 40. He doesn't have the grit Fedotenko has but he'd be a good replacement.

Ales Kotalik has slightly better numbers than Williams, and he's 6'2", but I also expect him to command a higher salary. He's more of a high profile free agent than Williams, and I don't see much of a chance we sign him, although it would be a solid pick-up

This is about the point where you start reaching for UFA's. I like Taylor Pyatt from the Canucks, he's 27, 6'4", has put up some decent numbers in the past including a 20 goal season, and he's from Thunder Bay, Ontario might he look good on the wing of another 6'4" Thunder Bay born guy? He just might.

Kyle Calder, put up good numbers 3 or 4 years ago, but he's smaller and more recently he seems to be a perennial minus. That not be much of an issue if he played with Malkin, but I'm not sure if his play has dropped off.


and the defensemen. One of the important things for me when I searched for potential replacements for Scuderi.

Francois Beauchemin, is on more than just the Pens wish list. I doubt he signs here, but man he'd look good as a replacement for Scuds.

Dimitri Kalinin is second on my list. He's 6'3" and 28 years old and just might be out of our price range. However, he's got the best puck skills of the D on my radar and would fit in best with the Penguins style of play.

Marek Malik is this high on my list because he's 6'6", and the Pens aren't just losing Rob Scuderi but 6'7" Hal Gill as well. Plus he could probably be signed for less than 2 million and short term. He might not be the best player available, but he might end up being the best fit.

Paul Mara: I don't think he's the right fit, I think he has major problems defensively, but he's 6'4" he made 2 million last year, he's only 29, he can move the puck relatively well. I think worse moves can be made and for the right price he would add some good size to the back end.

Dennis Seidenberg is an intriguing FA. He's the youngest of the bunch at 27 and made only 1.2 million last year, so he's probably looking for a raise. But he put up some good numbers for Carolina last year. At 6' he doesn't have the size I was hoping for and he doesn't have a great plus/minus, but if there's not a lot of interest in him he might be a good middle of the road signing.

and finally Christian Backman. I saved him for last because at 3.4 million, his salary was the highest of anyone I thought we might go after. Everything else about him is great though. He's a solid defensive defenseman. He's only 29 years old, he's got the size at 6'3", unfortunately I just don't see him taking a pay cut to join our team.


Well those are my thoughts. Over the next couple of days we'll see whether they prove true, or whether I end up looking like an idiot. Either way I'm chalking it up as a win because we still hold the Cup.

-the legend