Super Let Down

It seems fitting that I should at least post something about Super Bowl XLII. I should explain that I am a Patriots fan. No, not a bandwagon fan. I grew up in New England, enough said.

There's not much to say about the game other than that the Patriots did not play their best game and as a result lost. The Giants defensive line was incredible with how much pressure they were able to get on Tom Brady. To me it seemed that some of those wide open receivers that Brady missed during the game were due to "happy feet." You know he had to be thinking he was going to get drilled again if he didn't get the ball out quick. The Giants knocked the Pats out of rhythm and that was why they won.

Just going to throw this out there too. Eli Manning's pass to David Tyree to set up the game winning touchdown was incredible. What's more amazing is that the Giants have been notorious for missed tackles leading to big plays and yet at least four Pats couldn't bring the little weasel down.

A sack there makes it fourth and a mile and all but locks up a perfect season. Just writing that last part pains me. We were 35 seconds from perfection....35! Argh! Suddenly, horrible suppressed memories of past sports moments that ripped my heart out came flashing back. Here's the quick top 3.

#3 - Bill Buckner - Granted I was about two-years-old at best, but even then I know something bad happened. They say you're too young to remember things from that age, I disagree. My little self wasn't prepared for the anointment of being a New England sports fan and thus, blocked it out entirely.

#2 - Pens Lose In 5OTs - I can still hear Steve Levy's call. "Primeau in over the line, pulls up, shoots...AND THERE IT IS! IN THE 5TH OVERTIME!!" Local time was about 2:30am and it was a school night. I would have been just fine had the Pens won that game to take a 3-0 lead in the series on home ice no less. Instead they go on to lose the series.

#1 - Aaron "Bleeping" Boone - Game 7 2003 ALCS. Seven of us are gathered in Bricks room. I called my grandfather in the sixth inning and the excited conversation was something I'll never forget because it ended with me saying "I'll call you after the game."

Then Grady Little leaves dead arm Pedro in, who naturally blows it. We go to extras and Tim Wakefield gives up the bomb to Boone prompting me to walk back to my room, take my keys out of my pocket, throw them against the wall, grab a wiffle ball bat and proceed to unleash hilarious hell on various pillows. The holes in the wall from the keys were still there on graduation day. Talk about leaving a legacy.

In time I'll get over this loss and accept the fact that it was a great game. The Pats just didn't play their best game and paid for it as a result. I guess we'll just have to wait another year for them to pull off perfection.

Best/Worst Commercials While Watching Hockey

I've been meaning to do something like this for a long time now and since I've got the time, I'm doing it. With the Super Bowl coming up on Sunday, commercials are starting to be on everyone's mind.

With that said, I felt compelled to talk a little about some of the best and worst commercials on television before the big game. I must credit Gopher for this idea which stemmed from a recent conversation where a vein in my forehead nearly exploded while watching the number one hated commercial below.

Let's take a look at the worst ones to begin with. Note the spiffy links to the actual commercials. I care that much about you all to force the good and the bad on you, enjoy.

Worst 5

#5 - Head On - There's not much to say about the commercials for Head On. Here's a quick synopsis.



Head On Apply Directly To The Forehead, Head On Apply Directly To The Forehead, Head On Apply Directly To The Forehead, Head On Apply Directly To The Forehead,Head On Apply Directly To The Forehead, Head On Apply Directly To The Forehead, Head On Apply Directly To The Forehead, Head On Apply Directly To The Forehead, Head On Apply Directly To The Forehead, Head On Apply Directly To The Forehead, Head On Apply Directly To The Forehead.

If that doesn't explain why these ads are terrible, I don't know what does.

#4 - ASPCA - I might be on thin ice for even saying this is a bad commercial, but the ASPCA ad featuring Sarah McLaughlin needs to go off the air A.S.A.P.



Don't get me wrong, I like cats and dogs and think anyone who abuses them (Michael Vick) deserve everything that's coming to them, (Don't drop the soap Mike). Anyway, this ad had no chance with me from the opening frame. I'm not a big fan of pop music at all and have seen better try-outs gone wrong on American Idol than her. If you like her music, good for you. I don't and it's my blog and there's a comments section for a reason.

Problem number 2? If you watch closely, the same two ASPCA members are in every shot of an animal being rescued. This got me thinking and here's what I came up with. There is no way they could put a disclaimer up of "No animals were hurt while filming this." The whole thing was staged and they planted the cute kitties and puppies in those "squalid" conditions to make you and I feel bad and then open our wallets.

This isn't meant as a knock on the ASPCA, I think they are a wonderful organization and do great things for animals. I just don't like the commercial.

#3 - New York Instant Lottery - This ad for the new scratch ticket game called Bada Bling



At first I was OK with the rapping and such, but come on. The stereotypical Italian mob men singing "Bada Bling" like your best buddy who stutters when he talks to women? Brutal. The first time I saw this, I just looked on in awe of how pathetic this was and then had trouble sleeping because I couldn't get that jingle out of my head.

#2 - Jeep Liberty - I've got a great idea on how to make this commercial for the Jeep Liberty epic.



You mean to tell me that the coyote that magically ends up in the backseat and has that bird in its mouth, wouldn't eat the bird? Please, it's a friggen coyote. I'm sure it could use a small snack before the main course. What's on the menu for the main course you ask? The driver who started singing "Rock Me Gently" to begin with.

Just picture it, coyote blasts through the back window, glass flies everywhere. He swallows the bird whole, lets out a bellowing howl, then peaks his head around the seat and gives a menacing smile to the annoying driver. Driver freaks out and tries to stop the car to get out and run as the coyote jumps in his lap and tears him to pieces. Sounds pretty graphic right? I'd watch it 100 times in a row just to erase this garbage from my mind.

#1 - IO Digital Cable - There are very few things in this world that have annoyed me as much as this commercial for the IO Digital Cable Triple Play



Where do I even begin with this one? I'll admit it, at first I thought this was a catchy even borderline cool commercial until every channel around here decided it would be a grand idea to play it at every commercial break 24 hours a day. If you think I'm kidding and you live or are planning on visiting the N.Y. area, watch CBS, NBC, ABC, or Fox for 2 hours. You will see this as at least 5 times and you won't think it's wonderful anymore.

It's gotten to the point where I start tapping and humming this around the house. My darling girlfriend has even picked up the phone a couple of times to call the men in white coats to take me away. Even she is at her wits end with this. If you work for this company or know someone who does, PLEASE TAKE THIS OFF THE AIR FOR GOOD. Put a commercial of a penguin quacking on a phone next to a computer for all I care. Anything is better than this.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, let's get on with the good commercials.

Best 5

#5 - Budweiser - Going a little retro with this pick, but it's a timeless classic remake of the WAZZUP! ads by changing to What are you doing?



The commercial is funny from beginning to end and I'm especially a fan of the two guys from the original ads sitting on the couch at the end. My college suite-mate for three years, Bricks, could have been one of the "What are you doing?" guys hands down. Boy did we have fun with him in those three years, but I digress maybe in another post.

#4 - Geico - I'm not currently insured by Geico, but there have been very few of these commercials I haven't laughed at.



I will admit the cavemen ads from the link got a bit old, especially "Tina's here. We're getting back together." With that said, here's why it makes the list. I cannot remember any ad campaign that spawned a television show as awful as "Cavemen." If you know of any, please let me know, but the fact that these commercials became a television show deserves some credit. Congrats Geico.

#3 - Umbro - Breaking the rules a little with this one, but Umbro knocks this one out of the park.



Wait for it...

Now that you've seen the ad, you can appreciate the "out of the park" line. This would be a guy our friends at the ASPCA would go after had this been a real event, but I still think they should have put the "No animals were harmed.." disclaimer on it just to be safe.

Just had this conversation with Gopher:

Me: Umbro ad is number three on the list.

Gopher: The Umbro ad is my favorite ever, especially because I threaten to drop kick small dogs like that. Plus, the fact that he put it into the upper right corner of the bus station making the old lady poop herself just scratches me right where I itch.

#2 - Stanley Steemer - If any of you have a dog, this ad for Stanley Steemer will make you laugh.



I have personally never owned a dog, but many friends and other family members have. Seeing the dog drag his butt on the carpet makes me laugh every time. Combine that with the stepford wife mother screaming at the dog and it's instant gold.

I'm pretty sure if my cat Max every tried doing this same thing, I'd be hosing him down while laughing hysterically. How could you not?

#1 - Amp Energy Drink - If you were waiting for the NHL reference in this blog, here it is with the new Amp Energy Drink commercial.



The first time I saw this ad I nearly fell out of my chair when Ryan Miller went foreign on J.S. Aubin. This brought back many memories of the school yard growing up and watching Aubin when he was with the Penguins. I'm not going to clutter this blog with my personal feelings about which team I follow, but I will say as a Pens fan I was happy when Aubin left the 'Burgh. I'd seen that red light come on behind him far too many times and this commercial became that much funnier as a result.

This is a genius commercial if for no other reason than people love goalie fights. Who doesn't remember where they were when Dan Cloutier went nuts on Tommy Salo and then offered to take on the entire Islander bench? I was in my living room screaming for my father to come witness one of the greatest goalie fights ever.



Looking back on this endeavor, I had a lot of fun putting this together. If you have any suggestions of your own let me know and I'll throw something else together. Maybe a fan's top 10? Let me know and thanks for reading.

Fantasy Team In Shambles

The title on this should be self explanatory, but let me explain.

This isn't my first go around in fantasy sports or even in this competitive league with friends. This is the third season of our league on Yahoo because we're too cheap to pay for a keeper league.

(Note: I took a poll of the 10 owners before the season about changing sites and getting a keeper league going. Three decided it was a great idea and me being the commissioner stupidly decided to go with the majority vote and stay on Yahoo rather than build a fantasy dynasty and squash the hopes and dreams of the other 9 owners for years to come.)

Draft day approached and I sat in front of my computer talking smack and going over my 35 pages of info from the sites listed on the right of this blog. Yes, 35. I had more information in front of me than I knew what to do with.

As usual I landed, what is in my humble opinion, what I affectionately refer to as the Black Hole pick at No. 6 overall. Before the draft, I was hoping for a 1-3 pick or an 8-10 pick so I could utilize the wrap-around effect of the draft.

For the last three seasons I've been in the Black Hole of picks from 4-7 and at least twice in every draft have let someone slip one round too far only to see them comeback and bite me in the rear at some point during the season.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing about this is because I took a look at the list of people I drafted and who is currently on my team right now and wondered if any of you experienced such a dramatic change of personnel by the mid-point of any given season.

2007/2008 Draft Class For Runner Up Superstar

Quick explanation of team name. Year 1 of league I head into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed and lost in the finals to Greg who was the No. 2 seed. Wasn't even close. My team went into a state of funk unseen since the 70's.

Last season I head into the playoffs as the 4-seed and pull off a miracle comeback on Sunday in the semi-finals with a game winning goal by Milan Hejduk in overtime to break the tie in my match up with J.O.

Things seemed great going into the final day of the championship round against Gopher. At the conclusion of the final game of the NHL regular season I had earned a tie with Gopher and what would have been a win due to my superior numbers on offense. We even exchanged good ol’ fashioned scathing remarks back and forth online for a good 30 minutes, only to see a scoring change in the Avalanche's final game that saw a critical assist be taken off the board from Hejduk and handed to John-Michael Liles, who Gopher just happened to have on his team. It was the unheard of two-assist fantasy championship deciding swing that nearly left me in need of a new computer.

So to do the math, two years with these guys and two second place finishes. Hence, Runner Up Superstar. Now onto the opening day roster.

1. Jaromir Jagr RW
2. Marc-Andre Fleury G
3. Pavel Datsyuk C
4. Ray Emery G
5. Ryan Smyth LW
6. Michel Ouellet RW - Had him as a sleeper pick and somehow hit the wrong button taking him obviously way too early.
7. Henrik Sedin C
8. Brendan Shanahan LW
9. Brian Rolston LW,RW
10. Ryan Getzlaf C
11. Vesa Toskala G
12. John-Michael Liles D
13. Roman Hamrlik D
14. Marc-Andre Bergeron D
15. Ladislav Nagy LW
16. Patrik Elias C,LW

Now let's take a look at the roster at the All-Star Break.

Evgeni Malkin C,LW
Ryan Getzlaf C
Brian Rolston LW,RW
Brendan Shanahan LW
Jaromir Jagr RW
Daniel Alfredsson RW
Tobias Enstrom D
Mike Green D
Marek Zidlicky D
Dan Boyle D
Pavel Datsyuk C
Henrik Sedin C
Mike Knuble RW
Jean-Sebastien Giguere G
Ty Conklin G
Ray Emery G
Marc-Andre Fleury G (Currently on the IR with an expected return sometime around half-past never.)

With that roster someone please explain to me how as of this second I'm unofficially in 5th place? I trail first-place Gopher of all people by 50 points! I don't get it. I've made trades and stud waiver moves like Enstrom and Conklin and nothing is helping me get out of a dogfight with 5 other teams for a playoff spot.

Our league only allows 6 teams into the quest for glory and right now 8 teams are alive and kicking while the other two have been dead since before the draft even started. You know who these guys are, every league has at least 1 guy who says he's wicked excited to be in the league and may even talk some trash, but really you just allow him to participate because if gives the rest of the league a bye week every time they play him. Of course this sets everyone up for the ugly law of averages' face to show up and lay an embarrassing defeat on some poor soul. Fun for everyone else and yes I'm the guy who goes into every week thinking "Can I possibly avoid contact with everyone in the league for a month if I lose to this guy?"

In theory I should be able to gain some ground in the first couple of weeks after the break as I'm playing one of the aforementioned owners this week. If you don't hear from me until June, you'll know why.

NHL Predictions Gone Awry

Well, it's officially All-Star weekend and the playoff picture is still as blurry and murky as it was before the season started. As you'll recall, before the season I made team by team predictions and looking back on them, it seems I'm around the .500 mark.

As a side note, these predictions played more of a role in my competitive fantasy hockey league. As a result, I took Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan thinking to myself "With the new scoring talent on that team, these two stand to benefit."

I don't care that Jagr has turned it on a little bit as of late, 46 points for my 1st round pick is unacceptable. That sort of mediocrity should be illegal, though I suppose being mediocre gets some people elected as president of the United States but that sort of talk doesn't belong in this blog.

Oh and Shanahan, awful. I've been trying to pawn him off on any of the 9 other owners since Dec. 1. I had an offer on the table from my friend Gopher for the once struggling Alex Tanguay, but he got greedy and tried to use Tanguay as leverage to land Sergei Zubov and Henrik Lundqvist from another owner. No, I'm not bitter just pointing out the obvious. I won't even go into detail about who else he was offering, but let's just say 4 attempts got vetoed down faster than the dorkiest kid you knew in school asking out the head cheerleader. (Not speaking from personal experience, just simply stating a fact and if you try to bring up that whole "Beauty and the Geek" show, you don't deserve to watch hockey anymore.)

Anyway, let's just take a quick peek at the predictions from before the season for the East. (Actual place in standings in parentheses)

#15 - New York Islanders (8)
#14 - Washington Capitals (10)
#13 - Boston Bruins (7)
#12 - Atlanta Thrashers (11)
#11 - Florida Panthers (12)
#10 - New Jersey Devils (5)
#9 - Montreal Canadiens (4)
#8 - Tampa Bay Lightning (15)
#7 - Philadelphia Flyers (2)
#6 - Buffalo Sabres (13)
#5 - Toronto Maple Leafs (14)
#4 - Pittsburgh Penguins (6)
#3 - Carolina Hurricanes (3)
#2 - Ottawa Senators (1)
#1 - New York Rangers (9)

First thing that jumps into my head is how pathetic the Rangers have been for all but 5 games this season. About a week ago it dawned on me that I was an absolute idiot for buying into this team. Didn't management do this same thing in the late 90's starting when the brought Wayne Gretzky in and failed to make the playoffs? Seems to me this happened for a few years in a row and yet here it was happening again and I was like an alzheimer's patient doing something they always hated, but never remember they hated it until they were doing it once again. For that prediction I am ashamed. They could still turn it around, but it's going to have to happen fast.

Next on the blown picks list, the lowly Leafs. I've tried to look at this and find out the main reason for why they've been terrible all season long and all I can come up with is that Paul Maurice has lost the team. From watching their games when they've actually had a lead going into the third period, it's hard not to notice the lack of effort in the final stanza. The team comes out afraid to play and looks to just sit on a lead for 20 minutes. If anyone one the Leafs somehow comes upon this post, take note: YOU'RE NOT THE DEVILS! CONTINUE TO DO WHAT GOT YOU THE LEAD IN THE FIRST PLACE!!

Sorry for all the caps there, but it needs to stand out. Would this train of thought work out well in any other aspect of life? I don't think so. This is how fights between friends over the hot girl at the bar happen. If you wouldn't do it in the bar, don't do it on the ice. I'm considering alerting the authorities about my buddy Greg who should be on suicide watch after for being a fan of this team.

For pleasant surprises let's look at the Islanders, Bruins and Canadians. With the amount of big names that left the Island last season, who would've thought that they would pull together and be right in the thick of the Atlantic Division race?

As for the Bruins, the emergency signing of goaltender Alex Auld may have saved their season to this point. With Manny Fernandez on the shelf for the rest of the season and with Tim Thomas missing time, Auld stepped in and did a commendable job. We also got a couple chances to see young Tuukka Rask who came to Boston from Toronto in a deal for Andrew Raycroft. Did anyone see the 30 save stonewalling he put on the Leafs in his first game? Recently fired Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr. must have been kicking himself hard for letting that kid get away.

The Canadians have been solid for most of the first half. Alexei Kovalev just keeps plugging along and sniping corners with that patented wrist shot off the rush. Due to his strong play (21G, 23A) the Habs are sitting with 60 points and are starting to reel in the struggling Senators who jumped out to a huge lead in the conference.

As for the West, my picks were slightly better. Let's recap.

#15 - Phoenix Coyotes (11)
#14 - Edmonton Oilers (13)
#13 - Columbus Blue Jackets (9)
#12 - Chicago Blackhawks (14)
#11 - Nashville Predators (10)
#10 - Los Angeles Kings (15)
#9 - Minnesota Wild (3)
#8 - St. Louis Blues (12)
#7 - Dallas Stars (2)
#6 - Calgary Flames (6)
#5 - Colorado Avalanche (8)
#4 - Anaheim Ducks (4)- I got one right!
#3 - Vancouver Canucks (7)
#2 - Detroit Red Wings (1)
#1 - San Jose Sharks (5)

If you'll recall I said I was going out on a limb with the Blues and I'm sticking by it. There's still plenty of time for them to get right back in this thing.

One thing I didn't plan on was the Red Wings being as dominant as they are. Henrik Zetterberg (28G, 33A) was on a tear and helping my fantasy stud Pavel Datsyuk (17G, 41A) become the great player we knew he could be. I wouldn't quite call this a miracle like the one Joe Thornton performed with Jonathan Cheechoo two years ago, since Datsyuk has been a consistent scorer for the last three years.

(Side note: If you have Cheechoo on your fantasy team, I don't know what's preventing you from dumping him. He's not going to be a consistent 40 goal scorer, let alone hit the 50 goal mark again. If he ever evolved into a consistent 30 goal scorer I'd be shocked.)

The Wild have had me impressed for the last month or so. I didn't think they would have the success they are having right now, but they are quickly looking like a force no one would want to see in the playoffs.

(Another side note, for some reason I cannot bear to part with Brian Rolston and while talking to Gopher a few days ago, I vehemently stated that I was done with him. I even went as far to be one click from having a replacement off the free agent list and convinced myself to let him have one more week. In that week, he's played three games and has three goals. Who says players don't pay attention to their fantasy value? Certainly not I. Keep it up Rolston or you're gone. Yes, I'm hoping it has the same effect again.)

Looking ahead it would appear that the pre-season picks may still have a chance at panning out better than they are at the halfway point. Unlike some analysts who actually get paid to do this (hopefully me someday), I'm going to stick by every pick
from above except for the Leafs and Bolts.

The team that will be best served by this All-Star break is the Penguins. Granted they will not be getting Sidney Crosby, Gary Roberts, Marc-Andre Fleury, etc. back after the break, it will give the younger guys who have been called up from Wilkes-Barre a little more time to get used to playing at the NHL level. This is a team that if they can remain in the hunt until they get healthy, that no one will want to face come playoff time. As for Ty Conklin's resurgence, I've watched him play since his college days at UNH and I've never seen him play as well as he is right now. He is the biggest reason for the Pens turn-around and being one point out of first in the division. Bravo TC!

I know the Rangers won't get back to lead the East, but when the season is over we can all look back on this and laugh.

Keep checking back as I now will have some more time to update this more frequently. I am planning on getting a new post up at least once a week.

2007/2008 NHL Predictions

Now that the season is upon us, it’s time to give my predictions for how the east and west will turn out, so that in April we can all look back on this and either marvel, or consider me legally insane.

Eastern Conference

#15 New York Islanders – Mostly every good player from last year is gone. Bring some sunscreen Ricky, you’re gonna need it.

#14 Washington Capitals – Still too young and not deep enough. While they are getting better playoffs are too lofty a goal this year.

#13 Boston Bruins – Is this team trying to kill it’s fan base? Manny Fernandez is a solid goalie, but there is still no defense to speak of in front of him.

#12 Atlanta Thrashers – Kari Lehtonen is injured meaning Johan “Moose” Hedberg will have to become the goalie he was back in Pittsburgh or this team is going nowhere quick. Outside of their top line, this is a very weak team, but the beauty of a new season is that everyone is tied for first.

#11 Florida Panthers – New goalie Tomas Vokoun will provide solid goaltending and a mentor for young Alex Auld. I still don’t see this team making a big splash this season, but if they get some decent scorers next summer, we could see them contend for the division in 08/09.

#10 New Jersey Devils – Langenbrunner (out), Rafalski (gone), Gomez (gone). Those three players have been staples of the Devils’ success in recent years with Marty Brodeur in net. This team loves to play a defensive style, but with a depleted defensive core this team could be playing from behind a lot…which it does not like to do.

#9 Montreal Canadiens – Roman Hamrlik steps in to replace Sheldon Souray and those are some mighty big shoes to fill. The Habs will be in contention, but will come up short once again.

#8 Tampa Bay Lightning – How can you not put this team in the playoffs solely based on the weak division they play in? Plus with Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis, Brad Richards etc. there’s enough firepower to get them a spot.

#7 Philadelphia Flyers – The once lowly Flyers added some big names to fill some big holes. Marty Biron came over at the deadline, Kimmo Timmonen came over as a UFA, and most notably Daniel Briere came to town just hours after the free agent market opened. They still lack a little on defense, but this is my surprise pick of the year.

#6 Buffalo Sabres – Hard to replace Chris Drury and Briere, but this is a very deep team. Tim Connoly and Derek Roy will have to step up their games if the Sabres want to make another long run at the Cup.

#5 Toronto Maple Leafs – This is a team that should have made the playoffs last season and only missed out by 1 point. A couple of key losses down the stretch, specifically to the Islanders (who went on to win the 8th seed) cost them dearly. If they can avoid the injury bug that always seems to find it’s way north, they could be a team to be reckoned with.

#4 Pittsburgh Penguins – The Penguins surprised many people last year by jumping from 29th in the league to finishing 5th in the conference with 105 points. What hurt in the playoffs was lack of experience and new additions Darryl Sydor and Petr Sykora will guide the young Pens in their quest to bring the Cup back to Pittsburgh.

#3 Carolina Hurricanes – In what remains one of the weakest division in hockey, this pick is a total whim. Carolina, Tampa, or even Atlanta (if a lot of things go right) could be in the prime spot to get knocked out in the first round.

#2 Ottawa Senators – After making it to the Stanley Cup Finals last season before being swatted away like a bug, the Sens are back with the trio of Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson. This could be the last time we see this trio together with contracts expiring at the end of the season and you know they want another shot at glory.

#1 New York Rangers – look at that offense! The only question that remains is how will the defense hold up? Rookie Mark Staal should provide some stay at home help and with King Henrik between the pipes they could come away with the President’s Trophy.

Western Conference

#15 Phoenix Coyotes – Do I really even need to explain this?

#14 Edmonton Oilers – GM Kevin Lowe broke the bank for Dustin Penner and unloaded any chance of landing a decent draft pick any time soon. You do the math.

#13 – Columbus Blue Jackets – Despite the bad press and constant ragging on this team, there is some talent in Frederik Modin, Rick Nash (though injury prone), and David Vyborny. The addition of Michael Peca will help, but it’s not going to be enough.

#12 – Chicago Blackhawks – Will the death of team president William Wirtz be the spark this team needs to return to form? My guess is no and there’s still plenty of work to be done.

#11 – Nashville Predators – with the mass exodus of talent they had last season and with Chris Mason being the No. 1 goalie in town, I feel that this team which contended for the division title last season, will take a big hit Until the ownership situation is fixed it will be a sad time in Graceland.

#10 – Los Angeles Kings – Significant improvements were brought in with the likes of Ladislav Nagy. Should he remain healthy and with the maturation of Anze Kopitar and Alexander Frolov, the Kings could turn some heads, but they are still a year or two away from the playoffs.

#9 – Minnesota Wild – With the big question on everyone’s mind being will Nicklas Backstrom be able to backstop (2 minutes for being corny) the Wild to the playoffs? Another question I raise is will Marian Gaborik stay healthy. If both these get positive answers, the Wild could backdoor their way into the playoffs (5 minute major for corny.)

#8 – St. Louis Blues – Yes, I know their recent history would suggest I need to be put in a mental ward, but they added some key players this off-season and with John Davidson now in control they could make a return to the playoffs.

#7 – Dallas Stars – This team is always sniffing around the playoffs, but the Turco curse continued again last season in what was arguably the best series of the playoffs against Vancouver. They’ll be back again and watch for backup goalie Mike Smith to get some more ice time this season.

#6 – Calgary Flames – After just squeaking into the playoffs last season and Alex Tanguay having a full season under his belt with new linemates Jarome Iginla and Daymond Langkow, they should be in position to move up the standings. If Kipper goes down for any reason, this team will be hurting with unproven backup Curtis McElhinney.

#5 – Colorado Avalanche – The addition of Ryan Smyth and another year of experience for Peter Budaj will get the Avs back in contention after being the hottest team down the stretch last season and just narrowly missing the playoffs.

#4 – Anaheim Ducks – defending Stanley Cup champs will get a boost from the likes of Rya getzlaf and Corey Perry, but the loss of Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer will be a big blow. They proved last season they had the depth to be a good team which is why they’ll compete for the division title again and will be dangerous in the playoffs.

#3 – Vancouver Canucks – Roberto Luongo proved once again that he is one of the elite goalies in the league. Whether he faces 40 shots a night or 15, the guys is a wall. Look for Markus Naslund to wake up from whatever funk he’s been in over the last couple years and have a good season.

#2 Detroit Red Wings – with a cupcake division that got even softer this off-season, if the Wings don’t win the division the hockey gods will have turned their back on us all.

#1 San Jose Sharks – Can the pair of Jonathan Cheechoo and Joe Thornton be stopped? The answer is no, or at least has been no since Big Joe came to town. With no goaltending controversy to worry about and their young defensive core with another year of experience, this will be an explosive and fun team to watch.

Here's to another great season and what a season it should be!

NHL Free Agency Breakdown- Eastern Conference

Upstart writer breaks down the winners and losers of the first couple days of free agency. Check him out!

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Free Agency - Eastern Conference

What a ride!

In just two days we've seen contenders become pretenders and vice verse. All I can say is that I'm sure glad I'm not an Islanders, Devils, or Sabres fan. Here's my list of winners and losers from the first couple days.

New York Islanders
What were they thinking putting Garth Snow in charge? Any doubts that this was a bad move were horribly shattered in the last couple weeks. Someone needs to buy him a copy of "How to be a GM in the NHL" and fast.

First, they buy out Yashin in a move that appeared to free up the money necessary to re-sign Jason Blake and last minute addition at the trade deadline, Ryan Smyth. How wrong they were. Blake headed north to Toronto to join Vesa Toskala and after a fierce bidding war, Smyth went to the Avs. Just to add insult to injury, Tom Poti left for the Caps.

Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres meanwhile stood back and watched their two co-captains from last season bolt within hours. Daniel Briere became the latest addition in the Flyers' hopes of a return to glory after being the worst team in the league in 06/07. Kimmo Timmonen and Jason Smith should help as well.

New York Rangers
The Rangers stunned most of the hockey world by signing both Chris Drury and Scott Gomez for over $7 million each. I'll admit, I laughed at the Gomez deal. Yes he's a good player, but 13 goals last season for a guy who has cracked the 20 goal mark only once in his career? That should be illegal.

These signings now put a potential squeeze on the budget with still having to sign Prucha, Lundqvist, Avery and veteran Brendan Shanahan.

What remains to be seen with the Blueshirts is how their defense will be. There's no doubt that they just fully upgraded their offense, but history has proven that defense wins championships. With guys like Marek Malik and Fedor Tyutin, fans still hold their breath. Now if the Rangers could play the whole game on the powerplay, I'll retract the previous statement.

New Jersey Devils
The Devils were big losers as well. I'll try to leave out the fact that I loathe their unbearably boring playing style and how Marty Brodeur gets way too much hype. Again, yes he's a good player but you could put a pylon in net and it'd win a majority of the games the Devils do.

Anyway, losing Brian Rafalski to the Red Wings and the aforementioned Gomez to the division rival Rangers has got to hurt. Rafalski was a rock on defense even after having an off year last season. The did however bring in replacements in Danius Zubrus (4G 4A in 19 games with Buffalo in 06/07) and Karel Rachunek. Zubrus could turn out to be a solid player, but the Devils will struggle to fill the void Rafalski.

Boston Bruins
Boston still will have issues next season as the still lack a core on defense. Chara is fine and dandy, but he seems to be wanting to put up Bob Probert penalty minutes. He got beaten badly all the time last season, but if he stays out of the box and the Bruins are on the powerplay all the time he can unload the heavy slapper.

One question they seemed to answer is in net. Getting Manny Fernandez from Minnesota is a vast upgrade over Tim Thomas. I'm going to apply the Patrick Roy rule here. Roy was arguably the best goalie of all time, but in his final days in Montreal where he had zero defense to speak of, he was garbage. A goalie truly is only as good as his defense, so I'm going to call this move a push until they get someone who can help out on D.

Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pens meanwhile lost out on two guys, but quickly signed two others. Reports said that GM Ray Shero was going hard after Scott Hannan and Paul Kariya. To make up for it the Pens signed hard-nosed defenseman Daryl Sydor and sniper Petr Sykora. Both of these moves should help out drastically. The Pens lacked another top 4 d-man last season and it showed in the playoffs along with the lack of experience. Sydor and shot-block artist Mark Eaton will compliment each other nicely.

The Sykora signing brings a different aspect to the Pens. Sykora has shown that he can score goals in bunches. Twice in his career he's lit the lamp over 30 times, but while his production trailed off over the last couple years he has championship experience to bring to the kids. Also and most importantly, this move will allow for Rookie of the Year Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal to return to their natural center positions.

Montreal Canadiens

Two words: Roman Hamrlik. This move prety much assures me that fantasy hockey stud Sheldon Souray won't be back, but Hamrlik is a decent replacement. Also the addition of veteran forward Brian Smolinski should add some depth up front. One fact still remains, the Canadiens do not want to have a meltdown like last season where they watch the playoffs from home. With what has happened in the division already, they may have just pushed themselves into the playoff picture.

Once things calm down and the season draws near, I'll take a look at each division and give predictions for standings and playoffs. Stay tuned, up next free agency in the Western Conference. Look out Nashville, I'm coming for you.