The Sunday Rounds, Volume 142
I’ve discovered the joys of the massive bags of whole bean, organic coffee at Costco. And I swear to you... I’m never going back to pre-ground. The fact that the grinder going off each morning scares the ever loving shit out of one of the cats is just a bonus.
On to The Rounds...
”Give Me Some Truth”
This past week’s flap-up over former President Bill Clinton’s pardon on the way out the door is another reminder of the challenges would-be nominee Hillary Clinton will face as this (oh-my-God) way-too-long presidential race carries on.
I don’t want to even get into the details about how the massive differences between Clinton’s more controversial pardons and this week’s commutation of Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence by President Bush. As I wrote earlier this week, it is not the commutation as an isolated incident that demonstrates how little regard this administration has for process, the Constitution, or the rule of law. This is just the latest glowing example. And there have been others.
The immediate defense by the right when something goes bad for the President and/or the GOP is to immediately blame Bill Clinton. It is, in fact, only a mild exaggeration to suggest that if, for example, another of President Bush’s pets buys the farm that somehow, some way you’ll see an article at a right-wing blog that blames Bill Clinton and/or liberalism for the animal’s demise.
Granted, in the controversy over the commutation it was probably unwise of either Clinton, let alone both of them, to willingly swim into the pools of Pardons and Obstruction of Justice. But, then again, those subjects were bound to come up with or without President Bush’s quid pro quo with Libby (and don’t kid yourself by thinking there wasn’t one) so perhaps they felt now was the best time - so far removed from election day - to take their hits on the subject and move on.
When I look at the polling - even though it is pretty meaningless this far out - I come away believing that our country is, in fact, ready to elect a woman as President. And the reason for that thinking is that if Hillary Clinton is ahead in a national poll - thus showing that, in theory, 50 percent of the nation is willing to elect her -- then, yes, we’ve crossed the threshold. A different female candidate without the political baggage that Senator Clinton will bring to a national race (some of it fair, some of it completely unfair) would probably fare even better and, indeed, poll even better.
There, are quite sadly, other hurdles we’re not ready leap over and they’re a sad commentary on where we are:
- No matter what a poll says, I don’t see 50 percent-plus of our nation electing an African-American as President. I desperately want to be wrong or say, “We won’t elected and African-American with as little experience as Barack Obama” but the truth is that despite what a poll might tell you, there is a significant portion of this country that isn’t there, even if they tell a pollster they are. Seriously, if a phone pollster asks anyone, “Could you vote for an African-American to be President?” is that person really going to be honest?
- I had a conversation this week with some fans of Rep. Dennis Kucinich. And I use the term “fans” because “supporters” would mean they actually sent him some money. And, as the fundraising reports indicate, he doesn’t have any. When you point this cold hard fact out to a Kucinich fan they generally go on to rail against the system of campaign financing and corporations and blah, blah, blah instead of accepting the fast, hard truth: Aside from a majority not sharing his views (and that is the key factor) the country is not going to elect a short, kind of nerdy looking guy who has creation of a “Department of Peace” as part of his platform. When I point this out I am often countered with, “What would be wrong with a Department of Peace?” The response to this is two-fold. One, I don’t like the idea of the federal government creating another Department of Anything and, two, while I am all for peace, if I am the opposition of a candidate running on creating such a department it will take me all of 10 minutes to design an ad campaign that paints The Department of Peace as a Government Tent for Ex-Hippies to Smoke Dope and Listen to Old Grateful Dead Record In. As political ideas go, it is about as ripe for ridicule and caricature as they come.
- I don’t vote in the primaries because in my state, as a registered Independent, I have to formally request a primary ballot from whichever party’s primary I want to vote in. And I refuse to do that. If I wanted to be in their party I’d join their party and then I could vote in their pageant. That said, if I could vote in the primary or if I gave political contributions I would put my weight behind Governor Bill Richardson. Former congressman, former ambassador, former cabinet member... a wealth of foreign policy experience, domestic policy experience, and executive experience. Yes, it is always the highly qualified candidates we find a way to ignore. And Richardson doesn’t stand a chance and it has little to do with his political views. He is a centrist (which these days translates to “sensible, actually willing to compromise, and get something done instead of bitching about how nothing gets done”) and, in my view, could win on the issues in a national race. But, again, we get back to some of the underlying problems we have in this country. On his positions I think the majority of Americans would get on board. But in the areas that shouldn’t matter but somehow do... our country is not ready to elect and overweight Latino to the office of the Presidency. It is sad for sure but all you have to do is look at the underlying racism that is the too-often-unspoken part of the immigration reform debate in this country to recognize it as true.
In the end we’ll get another math-up between Democrats picking the “safe” candidate and the Republicans picking another white guy who talks tough but, when translated, just means they’re willing to send your kids off to do what they wouldn’t do (McCain being the exception). And until we, the people, are willing to overcome the petty stuff like race, gender, and the power of a good ad campaign we’ll keep getting what we deserve.
”Have You Done This Before or Something?”
I watched two movies yesterday. One in theaters and the other late last night at home with my wife.
It is rare that I get to go to the movies alone but yesterday presented me with that opportunity. My wife and the kids were helping my mother-in-law with her yard sale and since I feel like I filled my “time with in-laws” quota for the week on the 4th of July holiday it gave me a valid excuse to skip it. At the theater I narrowed my choices down to The Transformers or Live Free or Die Hard. Michael Moore’s latest, Sicko got some early consideration and while I generally enjoy Moore’s work I didn’t feel like emerging from a matinee on a sunny afternoon feeling even more depressed about our health care system. Call me crazy but I had a sneaking suspicion that in both The Transformers and the latest Die Hard that the good guys would win in the end. I picked the latter and I’m not spoiling anything for anyone by revealing that John McClain once again saves the day and a lot of bad guys die in the process.
Live Free or Die Hard is, as action movies go, a lot of fun. Completely implausible, of course, and requiring one to suspend their disbelief but, from a purely entertainment point of view, it goes down like lemonade. Bruce Willis knows this character so well by now that he could sleepwalk through a 4th installment but, to his credit, he doesn’t. In fact, he actually gives some new angles on McClain, showing him as a hard-as-nails cop who knows he is (as they say in the movie) “analog in a digital age.” It doesn’t hurt that the chemistry between Willis and co-start Justin Long, as computer hacker trying to help prevent a nation-wide case of cyber-terrorism (let’s remember that suspend your disbelief thing, ok?), is spot on and giving the character of McClain a young-old buddy pairing work. In fact, there is even a sort of mentoring, “what good people do when the chips are down” thing going on between our two heroes and it was well done. There is also some great, snappy dialog. Long, in particular, who has done so well in support roles in Dodgeball and TV’s Ed, and in his under-seen starring role in Accepted, seems on the verge of stardom. We actually see his character evolve and change within the 2 hours and 10 minutes... a rarity in the action genre. Die Hard has been a successful franchise because, in the end, we’re with McClain even if we don’t believe he can once again be the “wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time”. The truth is, if these silly premises of any of the four films came about, we’d hope a guy like McClain would be there because we know he’s the right guy to save the day.
I watched Match Point on DVD. Very cool and if I had not read the Netlix description on the paper wrap thing I would never have guessed that Woody Allen directed it. It has a slow burn to it and takes some good twists. Well worth renting!
”Shopping From A to Z”
It has been one week since the NHL free agency season began and most of the top level talent either re-signed with their current team or, as we saw this week, jumped ship for a new uniform and some very big bucks.
I’ll spare the details of the cap going up, how GM’s of various teams can’t control themselves, and so forth and just focus on the bigger picture: Winners and Losers.
Winner: New York Rangers
When you come away from Day #1 of free agency with not one, but two, of the biggest names on the free agent market you know you’ve had a good day. They could have gotten just Scott Gomez and come away winners. The fact that they also inked Chris Drury was a move of the jaw-dropping variety. This doesn’t seal a Cup for the blue shirts because their defense is still suspect, but there is no doubt this team will score a lot of goals and be a joy to watch.
Loser: Buffalo Sabres
It pains me to say it because 1) I like this team and 2) I have a very awesome, adorable, amazingly loyal Sabres fan on my friends list. But the Sabres failed to do what they most needed to do. Losing Daniel Brier to the Flyers was one thing... akin to a punch on the left side... losing Drury to the Rangers was the uppercut to the jaw... then came the kick in the balls, as the Edmonton Oilers put in an offer sheet for young stud Thomas Vanek to the tune of 7 years and 50 million dollars. All Buffalo could do to retain Vanek and stop their fan base from rioting was to match the offer. So they still have Vanek... only now he’s overpaid! Sadly, there is going to be a drop-off in Buffalo and the team that made the playoffs by a mile last season year will struggle to make it in this year.
Winner: Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers made virtually no bad moves. In fact, their off-season got under way before the end of last season. Getting Martin Biron via trade in March and then re-signing him secured their goaltending. Before free agency even started they dealt a surplus first round pick to Nashville in exchange for the rights to Kimo Timonen and Scott Hartnell and signed both before they could even hit the free agent market. On July 1 they picked up Daniel Briere (though they signed him to an insanely long 8 year deal) and then swung a pretty good trade to add Jason Smith to their blue line and forward Joffrey Lupul to their top two scoring lines. The rebuild in Philly took about 3 months. Nice work!
Loser: Edmonton Oilers
It turns out you can’t pay anyone to play in Edmonton. Seriously. First they lost out on the bidding for any of the big names. Then they thought they had a strong second tier guy in Michael Nylander but before he made it official his wife balked at living in Edmonton and he took less money to sign with Washington. They did get a strong, young defenseman in Joni Pitkanen in a trade with Philly but it came at a cost: Captain Jason Smith and the key piece of last summer’s Pronger trade with Anaheim, Joffrey Lupul. Then came the massive offer sheet to Vanek in Buffalo... a rarely used move in the NHL that, ironically, only served to drive up the market for players. Edmonton has added little and lost a lot: Grit, leadership, talent... it is going to be a long year for the Oil.
Winner: Colorado Avalanche
There are a lot of hockey writers that are not as big of homers as I am who will tell you that perhaps no team better addressed their specific needs than the Colorado Avalanche did in signing defenseman Scott Hannan and forward Ryan Smyth. The knock on Colorado last season was lack of toughness on their blue line and a lack of grit up front. They filled both needs on Day One of free agency, beating out several teams for both players. Smyth was the bigger grab, and apparently it came down to Colorado, Montreal, and Toronto. The rumored difference? Privacy. Smyth knows all too well from his years in Edmonton that the Canadian fan base and the hockey media there can be brutal. In Colorado, the Avalanche could literally go 82-0 while the Broncos go 0-16 and they’ll still be second banana. With 6.5 million a year for the next 5 years, including a 2.5 million signing bonus to go buy a place in a gated community with, I don’t think Smyth will mind being on the bottom half of the sports page behind a QB.
Loser: New York Islanders
Not since Escape From New York has there been a madder desire to get the hell out of dodge. The Islanders gave up a ton to get Ryan Smyth at last season’s trade deadline, only to watch him catch the first plane to Colorado... and for less money. Tom Poti left for Washington. Kozlov left. Jason Blake left. By the end of the week all they could do was overpay an aging Bill Guerin to come aboard and take a chance on the inconsistent Mike Comrie. They apparently tried to swing a trade with Phoenix for top tier defender Ed Jovanovski... except JovoCop wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause. Ouch!
Winners: Pittsburgh Penguins and L.A. Kings
These two teams made some quiet but very solid moves. The Pens didn’t need to add any top level forwards because, hi, they’re stacked with some of the best young talent on the planet and something tells me that Crosby kid is going to do all right in this league. So they shored up their defense with some veteran presence in Daryl Sydor and added winger Petr Sykora. Both will pay dividends. Re-signing Gary Roberts was also a smart move.
For the Kings, they win an award for having a good Plan B. They tried to land Drury and Briere and/or Gomez but it didn’t happen. So they took the massive sums they were prepared to throw at one or two of the above and divided it up among several. By week’s end they had added solid two-way center Michael Handzus, a solid winger in Kyle Calder, the talented Ladislav Nagy, and shored up their defense with Brad Stuart and Tom Preissing. If they ever get their goaltending sorted out, the Kings could have a good season.
Losers: Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks
When the teams in your division make moves to get better and all you do is stand still you’ve got a problem.
The Canadiens overpaid for the services of Roman Hamerlik and that was just to offset the likely departure of Sheldon Souray. They did manage to trade off some dead weight in Sergei Samsanov but they didn’t use that money to add any significant pieces. For a team that missed the post-season this was not the route to take.
Vancouver did make the playoffs and, to be fair, they were the biggest winners of last summer’s off-season, landing their stud goalie Roberto Luongo. And even with an anemic offense they rode Luongo to a division crown and the second round of the playoffs. But now they’re going to have a problem: Calgary stayed neutral or, to a degree, improved... Minnesota will still be tough to play against... and Colorado took a huge leap forward. The NW was already a tough division and it is only going to get harder. The Canucks, at present, have too many dollars wrapped up in too many big names and only one of them comes up big night in and night out (Luongo). That is a problem.
Winners: Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Washington Capitols
None of these teams added huge names but they did quietly assemble some important pieces, especially Florida via the Vokoun trade. I don’t see any of them making the post-season but they’ll get closer.
Losers: Nashville Predators, Phoenix Coyotes, New Jersey Devils
The good players are exiting and they’re being replaced by B-level parts. This is never a good thing. Never.
That’s all I’ve got. I’m out like players counting the days to get out of their Islanders uniform.
J
**********************
The Weekly Survey
1. Do you buy candy, popcorn, and drinks at the movies or do you smuggle stuff in? What is your view on this practice from an ethical point of view, given that movie theaters make the bulk of their revenue off of concessions? What great lengths, if any, have you gone to to sneak stuff in? Have you ever been caught?
2. Is the U.S. ready to elect a female President? An African-American? A Latino? (If it will help in your [brutal] honesty, you can always leave a comment anonymously.)
3. Who got the best bang for their buck on the NHL free agency market?
4. Let’s say you’re a pro athlete. You’re considered “elite” but you’ve never won a championship at the pro level. You've become a free agent and can pick from just about any team competing for your services. Which option would you choose and why?
A) A basement team that offers you insane money -- 25 percent more than any other bidder - but will likely not compete for a title before your playing days are up?
B) A very competitive team that has won several titles in the past, offers good (but not great) money, but is located in a city that your spouse says he/she does not want to live in... but will go along with because he/she knows how much a title would mean to you?
C) A promising team that might have an outside shot at the brass ring that offers better than average money but is, wouldn’t you know, located in the general area of the city where you grew up and always loved?
D. A mid-level offer on the table but coming from a team that has won 3 championships in the last 5 years, who experts pick to win again in the upcoming season, but whose team captain laid a cheap shot on you two seasons ago, causing you to miss the second half of that season and have an operation that doctors told you is probably going to cut your overall career short by 1 to 2 years. Said captain of said team has never apoligizes for acknowledged that it was a cheap shot.
I hope some people will have fun with the last question!
Thanks for stopping by. Have a good week.
On to The Rounds...
”Give Me Some Truth”
This past week’s flap-up over former President Bill Clinton’s pardon on the way out the door is another reminder of the challenges would-be nominee Hillary Clinton will face as this (oh-my-God) way-too-long presidential race carries on.
I don’t want to even get into the details about how the massive differences between Clinton’s more controversial pardons and this week’s commutation of Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence by President Bush. As I wrote earlier this week, it is not the commutation as an isolated incident that demonstrates how little regard this administration has for process, the Constitution, or the rule of law. This is just the latest glowing example. And there have been others.
The immediate defense by the right when something goes bad for the President and/or the GOP is to immediately blame Bill Clinton. It is, in fact, only a mild exaggeration to suggest that if, for example, another of President Bush’s pets buys the farm that somehow, some way you’ll see an article at a right-wing blog that blames Bill Clinton and/or liberalism for the animal’s demise.
Granted, in the controversy over the commutation it was probably unwise of either Clinton, let alone both of them, to willingly swim into the pools of Pardons and Obstruction of Justice. But, then again, those subjects were bound to come up with or without President Bush’s quid pro quo with Libby (and don’t kid yourself by thinking there wasn’t one) so perhaps they felt now was the best time - so far removed from election day - to take their hits on the subject and move on.
When I look at the polling - even though it is pretty meaningless this far out - I come away believing that our country is, in fact, ready to elect a woman as President. And the reason for that thinking is that if Hillary Clinton is ahead in a national poll - thus showing that, in theory, 50 percent of the nation is willing to elect her -- then, yes, we’ve crossed the threshold. A different female candidate without the political baggage that Senator Clinton will bring to a national race (some of it fair, some of it completely unfair) would probably fare even better and, indeed, poll even better.
There, are quite sadly, other hurdles we’re not ready leap over and they’re a sad commentary on where we are:
- No matter what a poll says, I don’t see 50 percent-plus of our nation electing an African-American as President. I desperately want to be wrong or say, “We won’t elected and African-American with as little experience as Barack Obama” but the truth is that despite what a poll might tell you, there is a significant portion of this country that isn’t there, even if they tell a pollster they are. Seriously, if a phone pollster asks anyone, “Could you vote for an African-American to be President?” is that person really going to be honest?
- I had a conversation this week with some fans of Rep. Dennis Kucinich. And I use the term “fans” because “supporters” would mean they actually sent him some money. And, as the fundraising reports indicate, he doesn’t have any. When you point this cold hard fact out to a Kucinich fan they generally go on to rail against the system of campaign financing and corporations and blah, blah, blah instead of accepting the fast, hard truth: Aside from a majority not sharing his views (and that is the key factor) the country is not going to elect a short, kind of nerdy looking guy who has creation of a “Department of Peace” as part of his platform. When I point this out I am often countered with, “What would be wrong with a Department of Peace?” The response to this is two-fold. One, I don’t like the idea of the federal government creating another Department of Anything and, two, while I am all for peace, if I am the opposition of a candidate running on creating such a department it will take me all of 10 minutes to design an ad campaign that paints The Department of Peace as a Government Tent for Ex-Hippies to Smoke Dope and Listen to Old Grateful Dead Record In. As political ideas go, it is about as ripe for ridicule and caricature as they come.
- I don’t vote in the primaries because in my state, as a registered Independent, I have to formally request a primary ballot from whichever party’s primary I want to vote in. And I refuse to do that. If I wanted to be in their party I’d join their party and then I could vote in their pageant. That said, if I could vote in the primary or if I gave political contributions I would put my weight behind Governor Bill Richardson. Former congressman, former ambassador, former cabinet member... a wealth of foreign policy experience, domestic policy experience, and executive experience. Yes, it is always the highly qualified candidates we find a way to ignore. And Richardson doesn’t stand a chance and it has little to do with his political views. He is a centrist (which these days translates to “sensible, actually willing to compromise, and get something done instead of bitching about how nothing gets done”) and, in my view, could win on the issues in a national race. But, again, we get back to some of the underlying problems we have in this country. On his positions I think the majority of Americans would get on board. But in the areas that shouldn’t matter but somehow do... our country is not ready to elect and overweight Latino to the office of the Presidency. It is sad for sure but all you have to do is look at the underlying racism that is the too-often-unspoken part of the immigration reform debate in this country to recognize it as true.
In the end we’ll get another math-up between Democrats picking the “safe” candidate and the Republicans picking another white guy who talks tough but, when translated, just means they’re willing to send your kids off to do what they wouldn’t do (McCain being the exception). And until we, the people, are willing to overcome the petty stuff like race, gender, and the power of a good ad campaign we’ll keep getting what we deserve.
”Have You Done This Before or Something?”
I watched two movies yesterday. One in theaters and the other late last night at home with my wife.
It is rare that I get to go to the movies alone but yesterday presented me with that opportunity. My wife and the kids were helping my mother-in-law with her yard sale and since I feel like I filled my “time with in-laws” quota for the week on the 4th of July holiday it gave me a valid excuse to skip it. At the theater I narrowed my choices down to The Transformers or Live Free or Die Hard. Michael Moore’s latest, Sicko got some early consideration and while I generally enjoy Moore’s work I didn’t feel like emerging from a matinee on a sunny afternoon feeling even more depressed about our health care system. Call me crazy but I had a sneaking suspicion that in both The Transformers and the latest Die Hard that the good guys would win in the end. I picked the latter and I’m not spoiling anything for anyone by revealing that John McClain once again saves the day and a lot of bad guys die in the process.
Live Free or Die Hard is, as action movies go, a lot of fun. Completely implausible, of course, and requiring one to suspend their disbelief but, from a purely entertainment point of view, it goes down like lemonade. Bruce Willis knows this character so well by now that he could sleepwalk through a 4th installment but, to his credit, he doesn’t. In fact, he actually gives some new angles on McClain, showing him as a hard-as-nails cop who knows he is (as they say in the movie) “analog in a digital age.” It doesn’t hurt that the chemistry between Willis and co-start Justin Long, as computer hacker trying to help prevent a nation-wide case of cyber-terrorism (let’s remember that suspend your disbelief thing, ok?), is spot on and giving the character of McClain a young-old buddy pairing work. In fact, there is even a sort of mentoring, “what good people do when the chips are down” thing going on between our two heroes and it was well done. There is also some great, snappy dialog. Long, in particular, who has done so well in support roles in Dodgeball and TV’s Ed, and in his under-seen starring role in Accepted, seems on the verge of stardom. We actually see his character evolve and change within the 2 hours and 10 minutes... a rarity in the action genre. Die Hard has been a successful franchise because, in the end, we’re with McClain even if we don’t believe he can once again be the “wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time”. The truth is, if these silly premises of any of the four films came about, we’d hope a guy like McClain would be there because we know he’s the right guy to save the day.
I watched Match Point on DVD. Very cool and if I had not read the Netlix description on the paper wrap thing I would never have guessed that Woody Allen directed it. It has a slow burn to it and takes some good twists. Well worth renting!
”Shopping From A to Z”
It has been one week since the NHL free agency season began and most of the top level talent either re-signed with their current team or, as we saw this week, jumped ship for a new uniform and some very big bucks.
I’ll spare the details of the cap going up, how GM’s of various teams can’t control themselves, and so forth and just focus on the bigger picture: Winners and Losers.
Winner: New York Rangers
When you come away from Day #1 of free agency with not one, but two, of the biggest names on the free agent market you know you’ve had a good day. They could have gotten just Scott Gomez and come away winners. The fact that they also inked Chris Drury was a move of the jaw-dropping variety. This doesn’t seal a Cup for the blue shirts because their defense is still suspect, but there is no doubt this team will score a lot of goals and be a joy to watch.
Loser: Buffalo Sabres
It pains me to say it because 1) I like this team and 2) I have a very awesome, adorable, amazingly loyal Sabres fan on my friends list. But the Sabres failed to do what they most needed to do. Losing Daniel Brier to the Flyers was one thing... akin to a punch on the left side... losing Drury to the Rangers was the uppercut to the jaw... then came the kick in the balls, as the Edmonton Oilers put in an offer sheet for young stud Thomas Vanek to the tune of 7 years and 50 million dollars. All Buffalo could do to retain Vanek and stop their fan base from rioting was to match the offer. So they still have Vanek... only now he’s overpaid! Sadly, there is going to be a drop-off in Buffalo and the team that made the playoffs by a mile last season year will struggle to make it in this year.
Winner: Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers made virtually no bad moves. In fact, their off-season got under way before the end of last season. Getting Martin Biron via trade in March and then re-signing him secured their goaltending. Before free agency even started they dealt a surplus first round pick to Nashville in exchange for the rights to Kimo Timonen and Scott Hartnell and signed both before they could even hit the free agent market. On July 1 they picked up Daniel Briere (though they signed him to an insanely long 8 year deal) and then swung a pretty good trade to add Jason Smith to their blue line and forward Joffrey Lupul to their top two scoring lines. The rebuild in Philly took about 3 months. Nice work!
Loser: Edmonton Oilers
It turns out you can’t pay anyone to play in Edmonton. Seriously. First they lost out on the bidding for any of the big names. Then they thought they had a strong second tier guy in Michael Nylander but before he made it official his wife balked at living in Edmonton and he took less money to sign with Washington. They did get a strong, young defenseman in Joni Pitkanen in a trade with Philly but it came at a cost: Captain Jason Smith and the key piece of last summer’s Pronger trade with Anaheim, Joffrey Lupul. Then came the massive offer sheet to Vanek in Buffalo... a rarely used move in the NHL that, ironically, only served to drive up the market for players. Edmonton has added little and lost a lot: Grit, leadership, talent... it is going to be a long year for the Oil.
Winner: Colorado Avalanche
There are a lot of hockey writers that are not as big of homers as I am who will tell you that perhaps no team better addressed their specific needs than the Colorado Avalanche did in signing defenseman Scott Hannan and forward Ryan Smyth. The knock on Colorado last season was lack of toughness on their blue line and a lack of grit up front. They filled both needs on Day One of free agency, beating out several teams for both players. Smyth was the bigger grab, and apparently it came down to Colorado, Montreal, and Toronto. The rumored difference? Privacy. Smyth knows all too well from his years in Edmonton that the Canadian fan base and the hockey media there can be brutal. In Colorado, the Avalanche could literally go 82-0 while the Broncos go 0-16 and they’ll still be second banana. With 6.5 million a year for the next 5 years, including a 2.5 million signing bonus to go buy a place in a gated community with, I don’t think Smyth will mind being on the bottom half of the sports page behind a QB.
Loser: New York Islanders
Not since Escape From New York has there been a madder desire to get the hell out of dodge. The Islanders gave up a ton to get Ryan Smyth at last season’s trade deadline, only to watch him catch the first plane to Colorado... and for less money. Tom Poti left for Washington. Kozlov left. Jason Blake left. By the end of the week all they could do was overpay an aging Bill Guerin to come aboard and take a chance on the inconsistent Mike Comrie. They apparently tried to swing a trade with Phoenix for top tier defender Ed Jovanovski... except JovoCop wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause. Ouch!
Winners: Pittsburgh Penguins and L.A. Kings
These two teams made some quiet but very solid moves. The Pens didn’t need to add any top level forwards because, hi, they’re stacked with some of the best young talent on the planet and something tells me that Crosby kid is going to do all right in this league. So they shored up their defense with some veteran presence in Daryl Sydor and added winger Petr Sykora. Both will pay dividends. Re-signing Gary Roberts was also a smart move.
For the Kings, they win an award for having a good Plan B. They tried to land Drury and Briere and/or Gomez but it didn’t happen. So they took the massive sums they were prepared to throw at one or two of the above and divided it up among several. By week’s end they had added solid two-way center Michael Handzus, a solid winger in Kyle Calder, the talented Ladislav Nagy, and shored up their defense with Brad Stuart and Tom Preissing. If they ever get their goaltending sorted out, the Kings could have a good season.
Losers: Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks
When the teams in your division make moves to get better and all you do is stand still you’ve got a problem.
The Canadiens overpaid for the services of Roman Hamerlik and that was just to offset the likely departure of Sheldon Souray. They did manage to trade off some dead weight in Sergei Samsanov but they didn’t use that money to add any significant pieces. For a team that missed the post-season this was not the route to take.
Vancouver did make the playoffs and, to be fair, they were the biggest winners of last summer’s off-season, landing their stud goalie Roberto Luongo. And even with an anemic offense they rode Luongo to a division crown and the second round of the playoffs. But now they’re going to have a problem: Calgary stayed neutral or, to a degree, improved... Minnesota will still be tough to play against... and Colorado took a huge leap forward. The NW was already a tough division and it is only going to get harder. The Canucks, at present, have too many dollars wrapped up in too many big names and only one of them comes up big night in and night out (Luongo). That is a problem.
Winners: Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Washington Capitols
None of these teams added huge names but they did quietly assemble some important pieces, especially Florida via the Vokoun trade. I don’t see any of them making the post-season but they’ll get closer.
Losers: Nashville Predators, Phoenix Coyotes, New Jersey Devils
The good players are exiting and they’re being replaced by B-level parts. This is never a good thing. Never.
That’s all I’ve got. I’m out like players counting the days to get out of their Islanders uniform.
J
**********************
The Weekly Survey
1. Do you buy candy, popcorn, and drinks at the movies or do you smuggle stuff in? What is your view on this practice from an ethical point of view, given that movie theaters make the bulk of their revenue off of concessions? What great lengths, if any, have you gone to to sneak stuff in? Have you ever been caught?
2. Is the U.S. ready to elect a female President? An African-American? A Latino? (If it will help in your [brutal] honesty, you can always leave a comment anonymously.)
3. Who got the best bang for their buck on the NHL free agency market?
4. Let’s say you’re a pro athlete. You’re considered “elite” but you’ve never won a championship at the pro level. You've become a free agent and can pick from just about any team competing for your services. Which option would you choose and why?
A) A basement team that offers you insane money -- 25 percent more than any other bidder - but will likely not compete for a title before your playing days are up?
B) A very competitive team that has won several titles in the past, offers good (but not great) money, but is located in a city that your spouse says he/she does not want to live in... but will go along with because he/she knows how much a title would mean to you?
C) A promising team that might have an outside shot at the brass ring that offers better than average money but is, wouldn’t you know, located in the general area of the city where you grew up and always loved?
D. A mid-level offer on the table but coming from a team that has won 3 championships in the last 5 years, who experts pick to win again in the upcoming season, but whose team captain laid a cheap shot on you two seasons ago, causing you to miss the second half of that season and have an operation that doctors told you is probably going to cut your overall career short by 1 to 2 years. Said captain of said team has never apoligizes for acknowledged that it was a cheap shot.
I hope some people will have fun with the last question!
Thanks for stopping by. Have a good week.