Monthly Archives: March 2009

Why Won’t Bettman Just Face the Facts in Phoenix?

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Not long ago, we asked if NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was delusional.

In fact, at the time, Bettman told Fox Sports Arizona that the Phoenix Coyotes financial problems will be resolved and — get this — new investors will be coming on board.

 

It was exactly the same line he had handed to a group of Canadian business leaders earlier that week. of course, as we found out this week, Bettman’s position on the Coyotes borders on the insane.

 

Maybe, he just has to keep trying to tell everyone that all is well in Phoenix because he was the guy who convinced businessmen Dr. Richard Burke and Steven Gluckstern to buy the Winnipeg Jets and move them to Phoenix back in 1995 (Burke and Gluckstern sold the team years ago after Gluckstern lost almost half his personal wealth on that dog). Maybe Bettman just has to continue trying to fool folks who know better.

 

This week, the Arizona Republic reported something I’ve been reporting for years. Since 2001, the Coyotes have lost $200 million. Since the Coyotes moved to the desert, the franchise has lost more than $300 million. The current owner, Jerry Moyes, is in huge trouble. His old partner, Steve Ellman, is now almost irrelevant. 

 

Moyes is losing his shirt. Maybe $40 million this year. Still, Bettman is telling anyone who will listen that all will be well and the Coyotes aren’t going anywhere.

 

That’s crazy. Since last year, Moyes has been trying to find a partner or new ownership altogether and while Bettman claims an investor is out there, one finds that really, really, really hard to believe.

 

My friends, Sam Katz, Bryon Hamilton and Jason McCrae-King were just at a game in Phoenix is which, maybe, 8,000 people attended. I’ll ask this question again: How are the Coyotes EVER going to be successful?

 

Gary Bettman must live in some weird alternative universe where everyone is rich and there is no recession. He does not inhabit the same time-space continuum as the rest of us.

 

Bring the Coyotes back to Winnipeg. Now. They might still lose money, but at least someone will care.  

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Thinkin’ baseball… Koskie calls it quits. World Baseball Classic still great to watch. Can the Blue Jays lose 120 games? Who is Stephen Strasburg?

Posted on March 22, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 2 Comments

ORLANDO — Four more things rattling around in my cranium…

1) My friend Corey Koskie officially hung ‘em up on Saturday. No wonder.

 

After spending last Sunday in hospital getting treatment for his 6-year-old son Joshua, who had hit his head and suffered a concussion, Koskie was reminded of his own 2 1/2 years in a fog.

 

So on Saturday, three days after he pulled himself from a game complaining of lightheadedness, Koskie decided to call it quits.

 

“The risks just outweigh the rewards,” Koskie told me, not long after he ended his comeback attempt with the Chicago Cubs. “The way I felt on Wednesday, well, it just wasn’t worth it.”

Koskie, 35, dove for for a ground ball in a spring training game in Arizona on Wednesday and said “I felt really weird.” He knew, at that moment, that he couldn’t play big league baseball again.

“I kind of decided, do I really want to be looking over my shoulder and asking, ‘How do I feel? Is it OK?’ after every single play,” Koskie said. “After everything I’ve gone through over the past 2 1/2 years, I know I don’t want to go back into the fog again.”

Koskie finished his career as Manitoba’s greatest baseball player (no, Russell Ford was not really a Manitoban, but a Minnesotan), a .275 lifetime hitter with 124 home runs. His best year came with the Minnesota Twins in 2001 when he hit 26 homers, stole 27 bases and drove in 103 runs and became the first third baseman in baseball history to hit at least 25 homers, steal 25 bases and drive in 100 runs in one season. 

Officially, the record will say, his career ended as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers on July 5, 2006, when he fell backward and suffered a concussion while trying to catch a pop fly off the bat of Felipe Lopez.

2) I’ve watched every World Baseball Classic game that I can watch and I’ve loved every minute of it. This is a great event and should be played every two years, not every four as planned.

As a Canadian, nothing beats international sport, and this event has been so much fun to watch. It’s simply great to be watching baseball in March and have it mean something.

For me, spring training has lost its edge. To pay up to $40 to watch a Grapefruit League game in which the best players play no more than three innings is simply a rip-off. If you’re a fan of one particular team and you want to watch Single A players who could not make the Goldeyes but might make your favourite team someday, then spring training is for you. But frankly, I’ll take the World Baseball Classic every time.

Granted, it’s an event the mainstream media hates because the mainstream media hates being in Florida on the company’s ticket watching Single A players at spring training who won’t make the big team for five more years. And the mainstream media members who aren’t in Florida just like to follow the mob and rip things they know nothing about. It’s a bad habit, but like Barry Bonds, the hypocritical steroid issue and the Duke Lacrosse case, it’s something we’ve learned to live with.

Frankly, nothing beats a great international tournament at a time when baseball is charging $25-$40 a ticket to watch freakin’ practice.

Long live the WBC.

3) Here in sunny Florida, the outlook for the Toronto Blue Jays is not so sunny.

Insiders say that after Roy Halladay, the Jays have marginal pitching, at best, and the team’s hitting simply won’t be good enough to score the seven or eight runs a game they’ll need to win more often than they lose.

In fact, one highly respected seamhead down here in Florida has suggested that the Jays could lose 120 games this season.

Do you think that will get J.P. Ricciardi fired?

4) Remember the name Stephen Strasburg. Most major league scouts believe Strasburg will be, and I’m quoting here, “The greatest pitcher in baseball history.”

There are even seamheads here in Florida this spring who are drafting Strasburg in Fantasy Keeper Pools because they believe he is going to be great for a long, long time.

Strasburg is a junior at San Diego State who is 6-foot-4, 220-pounds and is the No. 1-ranked player in the upcoming Major League draft. He played on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team and is already called “flawless.” He has a 102-mile-per-hour fastball and an almost unhittable 80-mile-per-hour 12-6 hammer curveball  that he often throws after setting up a hitter with two straight unhittable fastballs. 

This season he is 10-0 at SDSU with 75 strikeouts in 34.1 innings, He has an 8-1 strikeout-walk ratio.

The last-place (2008) Washington Nationals have won the Strasburg Sweepstakes. If the kid stays healthy, he will be the next great big league ace.   

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More Reasons for the Death of the Mainstream Newspaper: No news. No commitment to reading what used to be news.

Posted on March 21, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

TAMPA — So here we are in Tampa’s St. Pete Times Forum watching Alexander Ovechkin score his 50th goal of the season when all of a sudden he’s warming his hands over his red-hot stick.

Almost immediately, as one looked around the press box, you could assume someone was going to be pissed right off. Ovechkin’s little post-goal, Tony Award-winning celebration combined with the look on the face of Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Rick Tocchet clearly suggested that there would be words in the post-game scrum.

 

No one was disappointed.

 

“It’s hard for me to accept, just to see that happen in our building,” Tocchet said. “I grew up as a player in the days of the old Spectrum in Philly and if that happened in the first period at the Spectrum, it would have been a three-hour period.” 

 

Great, so why didn’t it happen at the Forum in downtown Tampa? Well, for one thing, the Lightning are done and most of them don’t care and for another, you can’t hurt Ovechkin.

 

And that’s what has made all this fuss about Don Cherry’s remarks on CBC a month ago, and I’m paraphrasing, that “Somebody is going to get Ovechkin.” It’s a complete crock.

 

That’s because Cherry, and all the knobs in the print media, forgot that Ovechkin has already been got.

 

Hey boys, ever wonder why Alex doesn’t have any teeth when he does post-game interviews? That’s because, on Dec. 30, 2006, Colton Orr of the New York Rangers cross-checked Ovechkin in the mouth and took out his front teeth. For his oh, so violent act, Orr was suspended five games. 

 

So why did Orr do it? Ironically, not because of anything Ovechkin did. He did it because he told the Caps Donald Brashear that if he goes after Brendan Shanahan again, “I’m going after Ovechkin.”

 

Well, sure enough, Brashear punched Shanahan after a whistle. So on Orr’s next shift, he jumped over the bench, cross-checked Ovechkin and rattled his chiclets. 

 

Ovechkin was stunned, but got up and continued playing. Orr was handed a minor penalty and two days later, the suspension. But everyone marveled at Ovechkin’s toughness.

 

The guy is not afraid and you can’t hurt him.

 

But still, the old guy who wears clown suits on TV, gets ripped by the national print media for suggesting someone’s going to go after Ovechkin. Sadly, no one in the print media remembered (or bothered to look up) the Orr incident. 

 

So not only was Cherry wrong, but the entire mainstream media was wrong for simply assuming ol’ Don knew what he was talking about. And, hey, we even helped ‘em get it right by talking about Colton Orr’s cross-check on radio stations in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg. Sadly, the mainstream newspaper industry is hopeless.

 

In the old days, someone in the print media would have looked up “any incidents involving Alexander Ovechkin” before going off half-cocked. Now, the people who rip bloggers for having no editors, don’t even bother doing what they were taught in J-school.

 

The mainstream media is dying not just because newsprint prices are rising or labour costs are increasing, but because the content is weak.

 

Alexander Ovechkin is one of the greatest players in all of hockey. When he’s done, he’ll be remembered as one of the greatest of all time. But he shouldn’t have been showboating in Tampa. Like Teemu Selanne’s penchant for shooting down his glove with his stick after a big goal at Winnipeg Arena, Ovechkin’s little performance was a home town dance, not a road taunt. 

 

If Colton Orr was playing for the Lightning in Tampa — in last place or not — he’d have made Rick Tocchet happy.

 

Meanwhile, it seems that every time I read a newspaper, I just feel dumber for the effort.  

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Real Leafs Fans Have to Go on The Road. And They Make Plenty of Noise.

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

TAMPA — Tuesday night in Tampa, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in a shootout at the St. Pete Times Forum, in what was — in a small way — Air Canada Centre South.

Although the players didn’t agree.

 

“The fans here were much louder, cheering for us, than they are at home,” said Leafs defenceman Ian White. “This was one of the best crowds I ever played in front of.”

 

Leafs head coach Ron Wilson said pretty much the same thing.

 

“That was a great crowd,” Wilson said. “A lot louder than we have back in Toronto.”

 

There were almost 19,000 people inside the St. Pete Times Forum (the deal on Tuesday was four beers or sodas, four hot dogs and four tickets for $54), and well over half of them were cheering very, very loudly for the Leafs.

 

In fact, the crowd in Tampa was so pro-Leafs, they even cheered O Canada. Loudly. This was Leaf Nation on the road and it was an impressive sight.

 

The Lightning had a complete sellout for a game between two teams that were already out of the playoffs. Obviously, the Lightning – a team that has struggled to sell tickets this season – would absolutely love it if Ontario had spring break from October until April and their only opponent was the Leafs.

 

Of course, it also demonstrated that real Leafs fans can’t buy affordable tickets in Toronto, but they can get cheap seats on the road. The Toronto fans in Tampa on Tuesday were young, loud and proud and they were treated to a great hockey game (who would have believed that?). The Leafs bounced back from a 3-0 deficit to win. Jason Blake was terrific, Curtis Joseph was a hero in the shootout and John Mitchell scored the winner.

 

One can’t begin to imagine how great the crowds in Toronto would be if the real fans could afford platinum season tickets.

 

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NHL GMs Spend Hours Talking About Fighting in the NHL. Newspapers dying faster than we thought.

Posted on March 15, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

TAMPA — I love all the angst over the National Hockey League’s fighting issue for a number of reasons. 

 

Those reasons include, but aren’t limited to, the old mainstream media’s attempt to deal with the issue on a “Letters to the Editor” basis. You know what that looks like: “Our readers have had it with fighting,” the headlines blare. 

 

Yeah, sure they have. The people who write letters to the editor are generally the people who haven’t paid for a hockey ticket in more than a decade. These are the people who haven’t watched a game and haven’t even looked at the standings since the Jets left Winnipeg. Of course they have an opinion on fighting.

 

It’s like that donkey host of The Reporters on ESPN (his name escapes me). He hasn’t paid any attention to hockey since the day Versus got the U.S. rights to live telecasts, but he sure had an opinion about fighting in the NHL on Sunday. He couldn’t tell the difference between a hockey puck and a curling stone but that didn’t deter him from telling the rest of us what’s best for the NHL. He’s a typical New York TV commentator and he’s the biggest problem the NHL has. That’s because he’s the guy the New York-based NHL is trying to tailor its game toward: A guy who has never been to an NHL game and will never go.

 

Fact: No hockey fan has ever left an arena when the fight started. 

 

Sure, it’s possible to find a way to get fighting out of the game, but why in heaven’s name would we want to do that?

 

One simply has to look at the numbers, to see why the general managers spent so much time discussing fighting at their winter meetings in Naples, Fla., last week. Coming out of the lockout, in 2005-06, there were fewer fights in the NHL than at any time in the previous 30 years. Then a year later, the Anaheim Ducks took part in the highest number of fights in the game and they won the Cup. Now, fights are growing at a pace not seen since the late 1980s when teams (in 1987-88) averaged 2.1 fights per game. 

 

Obviously, if games are called tightly and the officials stop allowing the weasels (not the goons, the weasels) to skate around elbowing people in the head (Todd Fedoruk, Darcy Tucker, Steve Ott, the old Sean Avery), then fights won’t be as necessary as they are today.

 

But because the media (and a few fans) whined about all the power-plays during that “New NHL” season (the one after the lockout), the league obviously told the officials to stop calling it so closely. With that, the weasels took over the game and the only way to stop the weasels is to send the goons out after ‘em.

 

The NHL could stop fighting with the same rule change instituted by college hockey: Fight and you’re suspended. But why take fighting out of the game when the fighters do more to maintain control than the officials? 

 

And also, despite all the stupid polls, dimwitted New York TV commentators and letter-writing campaigns, fighting sells tickets.

 

* * *

 

THE SLOW DEATH OF AN ICON 

 

ORLANDO — Along with the news that FP Newspapers Limited Partnership (publishers of the Winnipeg Free Press, the Brandon Sun and the Canstar papers) lost $500,000 in the fourth quarter of 2008 after making $4.6 million in 2007, comes word that more and more American newspapers are going under.

 

The San Francisco Chronicle and Seattle Post-Intelligencer could go  down any day. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune and Chicago Tribune are in bankruptcy protection. The Rocky Mountain News has ceased to publish.

 

The death of printed newspapers will be a slow death, but it will still be a death. Sadly, the people who ran the business in the 90s and early 2000s didn’t see it coming. They were either dishonest (that would cover the ones I worked for), ignorant or just plain unaware. Newspapers have been treading water for years and now they’re about to sink. It’s sad, but inevitable. When the vast majority of your readers are over 60, death is as certain as taxes.

 

On Saturday in Lakeland, as the Detroit Tigers played host to the Toronto Blue Jays at Joker Marchant Stadium, the press box was about half full. There was a time when you couldn’t get a seat in the press box at Joker Marchant, especially if the Blue Jays were in town, but fewer and fewer sports journalists are traveling to spring training these days — mainly because there are fewer and fewer sports journalists around — so if you have a spring training media pass this year, you can sit anywhere you want. 

 

After Saturday’s game (a game that was pretty dull considering that the Blue Jays didn’t bring any big names to Lakeland while the five best Tigers are playing in the World Baseball Classic), we got back to the hotel in Orlando and as I stopped to get a coffee at the Starbucks in the lobby, I noticed that the old Orlando Sentinel racks were filled with scarves, on display with a hand-written note on top,  telling prospective buyers that the scarves were 30 per cent off. 

 

Like so many papers, the Sentinel no longer fills the hotel racks outside downtown Orlando. Way out here in Lake Buena Vista, the hotel gives away internet access, as well as about five different ESPNs, and as a result the newspaper has become obsolete.

 

There is simply no need to read the sports page anymore. Almost all the news in it has already been telecast on ESPN (TSN in Canada) — more than 12 hours earlier — and anything else a reader would need, is on the internet, often days in advance.

 

Daily newspapers got old, tired, dull and pretentious. News was replaced with inanity. A newspaper mob formed and that led to horrible journalistic decisions such as the U.S. rush to war in Iraq, the Duke lacrosse case and the Barry Bonds witch hunt. Most of the people who wrote about these issues had no first hand knowledge of any of it, but they kept plugging away at it anyway. 

 

Small, local magazines and weekly or bi-weekly niche newspapers will survive and prosper. Big dailies with huge buildings, hundreds of employees, fleets of cars and trucks and overpaid editors are just about toast.

 

It’s sad, but in recent years, all newspapers have been able to do well is hurt people. That’s another reason why there won’t be that many people missing newspaper when they go.  

 

In the meantime, someone still has to figure out a way to turn a profit off an internet information site. If that ever happens, the recession will be over.

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Canada goes down in Flames. Whitt and Hamilton should go, too.

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It was one of the saddest performances ever staged by a Canadian baseball team — at least, in the past decade.

 

Italy 6, Canada 2. Canada is eliminated in two games from the World baseball Classic.

 

Come on. How does that happen? Italy? That team would struggle against a decent Double A club. 

 

Worse yet, how does Canada lose a game with that much importance attached to it at home? Somebody explain that.

 

Obviously, it happens because alleged “big time” players, who seem to be the favoured belled cows of Baseball Canada’s expert hired staff, laid an egg right when they needed to play like champions. As they often do.

 

Let’s take a look at these stats:

 

Shortstop Chris Barnwell, 0-for-4 against the U.S., 0-for-3 against Italy

Third baseman Mark Teahen, 1-for-4 against the U.S., 0-for-2 against Italy

Leftfielder Nick Weglarz, 0-for-2 against the U.S., 0-for-3 against Italy (he hit two balls in fair territory in two games)

Second baseman Peter Orr, 0-for-4 against the U.S., 0-for-3 against Italy (plus two strikeouts and a horrible play at second base).

Rightfielder Matt Stairs, 0-for-3 against the U.S., 0-for-3 against Italy

 

Weglarz, only 21 and a lifetime .270 hitter at the Single A level, was completely overmatched. Stairs looked done. Orr was just downright horrible in every possibly way.

 

How do those guys play while a nine-year major league veteran like Corey Koskie sits on the bench?

 

Koskie was the best hitter on the team leaving Dunedin. In two games, he went five-for-six with a walk and was hit. He scored four runs and drove in two. Everything he hit, he hit right on the nose.

 

And he didn’t even get to pinch hit in the WBC. That’s ridiculous.

 

Ernie Whitt promised Koskie “You’ll be the first bat off the bench,” and so he chose Team Canada ahead of the Chicago Cubs. Obviously a bad decision.

 

In fairness, it’s unlikely Whitt lied. It’s likely that when Koskie got to Toronto, Greg Hamilton took over. For years, Max Poulin has claimed that Hamilton only plays his buddies. I always questioned that, but now I’ve seen it for myself. Hamilton’s pal Stubby Clapp, who hasn’t done anything at the plate in three years, got to pinch hit while the best hitter in Dunedin didn’t get a sniff.

 

Nick Weglarz? Peter Orr? Matt Stairs? All of them awful.

 

In fact, this is how badly handled this team was managed: The Kansas City Royals wanted Mark Teahen to play second base. Whitt put Teahen at third and Orr at second. Why? How about Koskie at third and Teahen at second? Peter Orr — and Weglarz and Stairs — were nothing more than automatic outs. And defensive liabilities.

 

At lot of people wanted to blame Whitt’s Northern League pitching staff, but the fact remains, if you can’t score seven runs against a semi-pro staff like Italy’s, you should PLAY in the Northern League. It’s interesting that, historically, Hamilton has put down the Northern League. If it wasn’t for the N.L., he would not have had a pitching staff (Mike Johnson, Vince Perkins, Scott Richmond and Chris Begg are all Northern Leaguers or ex-Northern Leaguers). That’s because far too many big leaguers won’t play for Canada.

 

People in this country are saying that this team put the nation’s baseball program back 10 years. I believe it put the program back three decades. 

 

And the only way to fix it is to fire Greg Hamilton right now.

 

And let Ernie Whitt carry the boxes on moving day.

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World Baseball Classic tremendous. Then there are the TV announcers.

Posted on March 8, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I’ll admit it, I’m a fan. I watched 12 hours of the World Baseball Classic on Saturday and another 11 hours yesterday (in between the Rangers-Bruins game, the UNC-Duke basketball game and the final 22 laps of the NASCAR race).

 

The baseball is remarkable. Even the blowouts. When you watch baseball based on 162 game schedules every year, you know you’ll get a handful of dogs in August and injuries or fatigue (or boredom) will keep the best players out of the lineup 20-30 times a year — where have you gone Cal Ripken Jr.? Even teams getting killed like Panama and South Africa were interesting to watch. It was emotional and different.

 

In fact, the Canada-USA game on Saturday might have been one of the greatest games ever played. When Canada gave itself a chance to come back from a 6-4 deficit in the ninth, it was as riveting as any sport can get.

 

It’s just too bad that the play-by-play announcers and colour commentators have absolutely no idea what they’ve been watching.

 

It’s bad enough that not one of them has done any homework at all on any of the more obscure players involved (although Sam Cosentino’s old story about Ryan Braun being a “Milwaukee” Brewer and his mother, an Anheuser-Busch employee in Southern California, being a REAL brewer, never gets tired), in the tournament, but it’s downright sad listening to these high-paid donkeys spend three hours talking about nothing other than the American big leaguers.

 

In fact, last night, the inanity reached an all-time low. The two clowns calling last night’s U.S.-Venezuela game went on and on during the pre-game chatfest talking about the U.S. “power display” against Canada in Game 1. They justified their fawning jingoism by creating a deep discussion about how pitchers are usually ahead of hitters at this time of year.

 

Not surprisingly, there wasn’t one mention of homers by Canadians Joey Votto or Russell Martin (both doubled, as well), but that’s the clear, undeniable proof that those two guys on Sunday night were unadulterated morons. 

 

Martin (off Scot Shields) and Votto (off Jake Peavy) homered off major league pitchers. The Americans??? Kevin Youkilis and Brian McCann homered off Northern League castoff Mike Johnson while Adam Dunn hit an oppo off former Northern League — now unemployed — righthander Chris Begg. 

 

Oh yeah, it was an awesome display of power. Good gawd! The Goldeyes used to pound the crap out of Mike Johnson, before the Edmonton Cracker-cats released him. And yes, that’s the Northern League Winnipeg Goldeyes, not the National League Philadelphia Phillies. 

 

Do just a little homework. Please. And by the way, what the hell is “pitchability?”

 

That’s why I watch most sporting events with the mute button on.

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Calgary and Phoenix, among a group of big winners (depending on your point of view) on Deadline Day

Posted on March 5, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Wednesday was trade deadline day in the NHL…Here are the highlights…

The first deal: The Ottawa Senators made the first deal of the day, trading winger Antoine Vermette to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for goaltender Pascal Leclaire.

 

The Calgary Flames did very well. First they welcomed back defenceman Jordan Leopold, re-acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for defenceman Lawrence Nycholat, defenceman Ryan Wilson and a second-round pick. Then they acquired veteran forward Olli Jokinen from Phoenix in exchange for stone-handed Matthew Lombardi, young forward Brandon Prust and a first-round draft pick. 

 

The New York Rangers got better. GM Glen Sather acquired veteran defenceman Derek Morris from Phoenix in exchange for defenceman Dmitri Kalinen, Winnipeg’s own Nigel Dawes (the only Winnipegger involved in the deadline dealing) and underachieving forward Petr Prucha. Then, the Rangers grabbed forward Nik Antropov from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a second round pick and a conditional pick. 

The Edmonton Oilers got better, as well, as they have acquired forward Patrick O’Sullivan in a pair of deals involving four teams. The 24-year old O’Sullivan was originally shipped along with a second round draft pick from the Los Angeles Kings to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forward Justin Williams. The ‘Canes then turned around and dealt O’Sullivan and the draft pick they received from the Kings to the Oilers. The Oilers were not done there as they sent a second round draft pick to the Buffalo Sabres for forward Ales Kotalik.

The Boston Bruins acquired veteran forward Mark Recchi and a second-round pick in 2010 from tampa in exchange for two prospects and then Boston picked up veteran defenceman Steve Montador from Anaheim for forward Petteri Nokelainen.

 

The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired defenceman Andy Wozniewski from St. Louis in exchange for blueliner Danny Richmond. Later Pittsburgh got veteran forward Bill Guerin from the Islanders and gave up a conditional draft pick. 

The Senators agreed to a three-year contract worth $3.7 million a season with defenceman Filip Kuba taking him off the market.

Philadelphia acquired defenceman Kyle McLaren from San Jose in exchange for a sixth-round pick and then dealt veteran forward Scottie Upshall to Phoenix in exchange for young forward Daniel Carcillo.

The Buffalo Sabres acquired goaltender Mikael Tellqvist from Phoenix for a fourth round pick and then got Dominic Moore from Toronto in exchange for a second round pick. 

 

The Toronto Maple Leafs claimed goaltender Martin Gerber off waivers from the Ottawa Senators, and made a deal with tampa in which they acquired goalie Olaf Kolzig and defencemen Jamie Heward and Andy Rogers.

The Dallas Stars claimed centre Brendan Morrison off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks.

 

Last year, there were 25 deals on deadline day, involving 45 players. This year, just 22 deals involving a record 47 players. 

 

So who were the big winners?

 

Edmonton did well, getting Kotalik, young O’Sullivan and a draft pick for, essentially, Erik Cole. Antoine Vermette should help Columbus make the playoffs for the first time ever and the Rangers did extremely well, getting Morris and Antropov for Prucha, Kalinin and Dawes. Toronto did alright because it added draft picks (However, by the time those draft picks turn into actual players, we’ll be celebrating the 50th anniversary of “No Cup in T.O.” Good thing the Hockey Hall of Fame is in Toronto, or the actual existence of the Stanley Cup might just be a rumour to those people.)

 

Meanwhile, nobody did better than Calgary or Phoenix.

 

The Flames were big winners because they added Leopold and Jokinen — two solid hockey players — and made themselves much better right now. They’ll be a force in the playoffs.

 

The Coyotes won because they dumped their second highest paid player, Jokinen at $5.25 million, and their fifth highest paid player, Derek Morris at $3.95 million. They also dumped another $1.8 million in contracts for a total of $10.8 million. In exchange, they added five veteran players who will cost only $6.8 million next season along with three draft picks. Financially, it was a great day for a financially struggling franchise.

 

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Here’s the NHL Trade Deadline Skinny

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

The NHL trade deadline is Wednesday, so let’s take a look at the big day on a team-by-team basis. 

Oh yeah, and please remember, our theory on trade deadline day – for the past two decades – has always been the same: Believe whatever rumour you want to believe.

 

ANAHEIM DUCKS: It would appear the Ducks are ready to move veterans Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Brendan Morrison and Todd Marchant. Don’t be surprised if the Canadiens sniff around at Pronger and Niedermayer.

 

ATLANTA THRASHERS: It’s next year time for the Thrashers. They’re 17 points out of the playoff hunt. And will deal anybody in a uniform for draft picks or young players who will contribute next year. Evidently, Hockey Night in Canada claimed the Flyers have some interest in Kari Lehtonen and we’re told the Thrashers are prepared to give up top prospect James van Riemsdyk. If that’s true (although I’m not sure it is), I’m surprised GM Don Waddell hasn’t already made the deal.

 

BOSTON BRUINS: If the Boston Bruins go after a rental player for the stretch run, don’t be surprised if that rental player is former Winnipeg Jets captain Keith Tkachuk, a native Bostonian now living and playing in St. Louis. The Bruins also have some interest in Chris Pronger, but probably not enough cap room.

 

BUFFALO SABRES: The Sabres are in the hunt for that final playoff spot in the East and they have a player to trade. If they could get a roll of tape for Maxim Afinogenov, they’d move him yesterday. 

 

CALGARY FLAMES: After losing 8-6 to Tampa on Sunday you can bet Mike Keenan is looking for a little inexpensive veteran help — and there is a lot out there. Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi or Jeff Halpern could wind up in Calgary without a lot going the other way.  

 

CAROLINA HURRICANES: Tied with Buffalo for the final playoff spot in the East, the Hurricanes need more scoring. The power-play is weak and the team has only 169 goals on the season, second lowest of all playoff teams. Paul Maurice has this team back in the race, but if they want to take the next step, they need to get younger, better, quicker.

 

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: This is a great young team and GM Dale Tallon has no desire to move anybody. Some say Tallon is looking for a veteran centre, but isn’t everyone?

 

COLORADO AVALANCHE: The Colorado Avalanche will make some moves in an effort to get rid of a collection of veterans who just aren’t worth the aggravation anymore. Jordan Leopold and Ian Laperriere both become free agents on July 1, so they’re on the block. So too are veterans Ryan Smyth, Milan Hejduk, Marek Svatos, Brett Clark, Ruslan Salei and John-Michael Liles. Of course, Smyth (the Habs are interested), Hejduk and Liles all have no-trade clauses so they aren’t likely going anywhere.

 

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: Jackets GM Scott Howson would like to do something but Howson believes his goaltending can carry the team to a playoff berth and he won’t do anything drastic. 

 

DALLAS STARS: With Brad Richards injured, it’s likely the Stars will go looking for a Top 6 forward. However, Stars co-GM Les Jackson told the Dallas Morning News the team has a tight internal payroll budget and will only make a move if it helps the team right now.

 

DETROIT RED WINGS: GM Kenny Holland has been known to make big moves at the deadline and if something special comes up, he’ll jump at the chance to cut a deal. But he’s not actively trying to do anything significant.  

 

EDMONTON OILERS: The Oil want a Top 6 forward and were seriously involved in the Chris Kunitz talks with Anaheim, but wouldn’t part with defenceman Tom Gilbert. Robert Nilsson and Dustin Penner are said to be available, but if the Oilers don’t get something special in return, GM Kevin Lowe will likely stand pat.

 

FLORIDA PANTHERS: The one guy who looks like the top rental player this spring is Panthers defenceman Jay Bouwmeester. Now, Bouwmeester is only 25, but he becomes a free-agent on July 1 and while Florida GM Jacques Martin says he’s prepared to trade his young defensive star, Martin wants a number of players in a package who will help get him into the playoffs right now.

 

LOS ANGELES KINGS: Although they’re 13th in the West, the young Kings are only six points out of the final playoff spot. L.A. would deal a veteran or two, but don’t expect much to happen here. 

 

MINNESOTA WILD: Rumours, rumours, rumours. Marian Gaborik, Stephen Veilleux, Owen Nolan, Marek Zidlicky… yeah, whatever. The 30-26-5 Wild will do something if it helps the team make a playoff run  right now.

 

MONTREAL CANADIENS: Montreal is still looking around for a Top 4 defenceman so here was the first rumour this year that actually sounded legit: “The Canadiens and the slumping Phoenix Coyotes are talking about a deal that would send 30-year-old defenceman Derek Morris from Phoenix to Montreal in exchange for a couple of young forwards.”

 

NASHVILLE PREDATORS: The Predators are just one point out of the final playoff spot in the West so don’t expect David Poile to do anything significant. 

 

NEW JERSEY DEVILS: Marty Brodeur is back so all is well in Newark. Although the Devils are 41-19-3, Lou Lamoriello could always fire a coach just for fun, but it’s unlikely he’ll make a significant trade – unless, of course, something unexpected and downright miraculous pops up.

 

NEW YORK ISLANDERS: These guys are sellers and it looks like veteran forward Bill Guerin will be the first to go. Clearly, after Guerin sat out Saturday night’s game with Buffalo, it would appear the Islanders have a deal in place to send Guerin to a playoff contender.

 

NEW YORK RANGERS: The Rangers have about a million dollars in cap space available so they’ll be looking to upgrade. Coyotes 30-year-old defenceman Derek Morris is of some interest to Glen Sather and John Tortorella. Although with only 159 goals scored (the lowest among playoff teams in the East), this is a team that desperately needs a sniper or two.

 

OTTAWA SENATORS: After firing Craig Hartsburg and then making the deal for Mike Comrie and Chris Campoli, Senators GM Bryan Murray has made a commitment to getting his team into the playoffs – next year. No player on this team – not even Heatley or Spezza – are untouchable.

 

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS: Philly would like to add a big defenceman at the deadline and they have their sights on Jay Bouwmeester. Atlanta goalie Kari Lehtonen is also, apparently, on Philly’s radar.

 

PHOENIX COYOTES: These guys will be sellers. Hell, if anyone offers, Jerry Moyes will sell the entire franchise. Hell, if a team made an offer for the Zamboni driver, the Coyotes would deal. 

 

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS: The Penguins are in the playoff hunt, just one point out of eighth in the East. They dealt Ryan Whitney to Anaheim for Chris Kunitz last week and they’ll no doubt make more moves this week.

 

SAN JOSE SHARKS: The Sharks are 42-10-9, first in the West and three points ahead of defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit with two games in hand. They have the best team in the NHL. GM Doug Wilson won’t do anything that might mess with his team’s chemistry. 

 

ST. LOUIS BLUES: The Blues now have a legitimate shot at a playoff berth and one senses head coach Andy Murray and big boss John Davidson don’t want to do anything that might disturb a team that is now only three points out of eighth place in the West. Pundits say Keith Tkachuk and Jay McKee are on the block, but they’ll only go if Davidson thinks he’s making this year’s team better.

 

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: Vinny Lecavalier is going nowhere but GM Brian Lawton would love to move some veterans. If your name is Recchi, Roberts, Malik, Halpern, Prospal and Krajicek, you’re on the block.

 

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Seems everyone around the NHL believes the Toronto Maple Leafs will be sellers. In fact, insiders say every player on the team with the exception of young defenceman Luke Schenn is on the block. But has anyone noticed that the Leafs have won four straight games and are now only seven points out of the final playoff spot in the East?

 

VANCOUVER CANUCKS: GM Mike Gillis is always ready to wheel and deal but right now, he’s more concerned about getting the twins, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, under contract long term than he is in pulling off a blockbuster trade. 

 

WASHINGTON CAPITALS: The Caps want a veteran defenceman. Doesn’t everyone? However, unlike a lot of other teams, the Caps have plenty of cap room and have expressed interest in Phoenix’s Derek Morris, Anaheim’s Chris Pronger and Colorado’s Jordan Leopold.

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Koskie signs with the Chicago Cubs

Posted on March 1, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Anola, Manitoba’s Corey Koskie is a member of the Chicago Cubs.  This weekend, the latest member of Canada’s national baseball team in the World Baseball Classic, signed a minor league deal with the Cubs. He’ll join the Cubs at spring training in Arizona after the World Baseball Classic. If he doesn’t make the Cubs opening day roster, he has agreed to go to Triple A Iowa.  

This is a story that gets better all the time. Koskie, 35, who suffered post-concussion syndrome in 2006 and hasn’t played a game of baseball in 2 1/2 years, wasn’t even on Team Canada’s provisional roster in January. Although he’d been working out at the Minnesota Twins spring training complex in Fort Myers, Fla., he didn’t face live pitching until last week.

 

Now, he’s in Dunedin, Fla., playing with Team Canada and when the tournament is over, he has a contract with the Cubs.

 

“As you know, back in early January, I wanted to play with Team Canada and then finish my career,” said, who played nine years in the majors with Minnesota, Toronto and Milwaukee. “My wife and I thought it would be a great way to finish up.

 

“Now I have a chance to play again. I even had a choice of teams to sign with. I’m excited about this.”

 

He has every right to be excited. If he just makes the Cubs, he’s comeback player of the year. 

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