Pardon My Bias

So now the NBA trade deadline is over and all I have to say is WOW! There have been many moves, some pretty obvious and expected and some that not even the NBA insiders could have predicted.

First we will start with the biggest trade and the one that took months to finalize…Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks. This was a trade that was expected but it just took way too long to get it done. The Nuggets finally ended up shipping Carmelo, Chauncey Billips and three other pieces to the Knicks for Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and a few other players along with some picks. Although it seems as if the Knicks gave up a lot to get Carmelo, I think this was actually a win-win for both teams. Knicks got the player that they wanted, the perennial All-Star, first tier player in Carmelo Anthony. They now have Carmelo and Amar’e Stoudemire paired up with a veteran point guard in Billups. The Nuggets on the other hand got some very young talent that they can try and build around. Although they no longer have a #1 player, they have a very deep team that could still make an impact in the playoffs. The Knicks now do become a huge threat in the Eastern Division although I am not sure if they can do anything too big this year, especially with no real defensive players.

Carmelo Anthony is Home. Photo courtesy of www.everyjoe.com.

The next piece to fall was pretty shocking. The Utah Jazz sent Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets for Devin Harris, Derrick Favors and some draft picks. This trade does not make too much sense to me. Yes, the Nets finally got an All-Star player and this whole off-season/trade deadline situation has not been a total failure but they only really have Williams and Brook Lopez and have given up so much talent and picks. Now Williams has also announced that he has not thought about signing an extension with the Nets and if he ends up not signing, this could be a huge bust for New Jersey. The Jazz, on the other hand, gave up their best player just a few weeks after losing their Hall of Fame coach. This does not make much sense for a team who are fighting for a playoff position and one that already has a young power forward in Al Jefferson. I wonder if Jerry Sloan will now try and make a return to Utah?

Another big trade that took place was the Portland Trail Blazers getting Gerald Wallace. Portland is currently the 7th seed in the West and with the unpredictable health issues of Brandon Roy, this is a huge pick up. Wallace is a talent player that can help this team in the playoffs and take off some of the load from LaMarcus Aldridge, who is playing some beastly basketball as of late. There were many other smaller trades that happened right before the deadline but there was one that totally shocked everyone in the basketball world.

The Boston Celtics sent Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. The best team in the Eastern Conference traded their starting center, a player who’s absence they believe cost them game 7 in the NBA finals. This trade still has many saying “whaaaat?” and I honestly do not see the reasoning behind it. The Celtics do get a young, talented player in Green but will now have to rely on the health of Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal. The only reason that makes sense is that the Celtics believe they can get past the Eastern teams without a big man and that they do not believe that the Lakers and their height will make the NBA Finals. We will just have to wait and see if this will come back to haunt the Celtics.

For the Thunder, this trade is remarkable. I have always felt that they were a legit center away from being a true contender and now they have one of the best defensive big men in the league. Although they have lost the young Green, this move also allows Serge Ibaka to move to the starting power forward position, giving them a front court that can match up height wise with the Los Angeles Lakers. With this move, the Thunder now have two good, young big men, a great defender in Thabo Sefolosha and two big time All-Stars in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Along with this scary starting lineup, the Thunder will have James Harden and Nate Robinson to come off the bench and provide some big time scoring. To me, this is a very scary team now and the Lakers, Mavericks and even the Spurs need to be truly worried.

This year’s trade deadline was very active and it will be interesting to see how many of these expected and totally shocking moves make an impact as the season goes along. All I know is that all teams should now fear the Thunder.

There is not much to be said of rumors. As a friend of mine once put it, rumors are like “a bunch of farts. They may make some noise and get people to notice, but there really isn’t any substance behind them and after a while they drift off”. While maybe not the most elegant way to put it, there is some truth to it definitely. So while rumors may circulate that the Leafs will trade Phil Kessel or that the Sharks are shopping Joe Thornton the thing to remember is that most of these rumblings (aka 99% of them) don’t ever happen. Instead you may get a shocker out of nowhere like with Colorado and St. Louis’s early morning swap. But still, everyone chases down these rumors, from ESPN to TSN to the ever reliable (sarcasm laden here, just to be safe) HockeyBuzz.com. And while I have zero sources, these are some moves I think teams should make.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers may be just about done when it comes to adding some talent for another run at the Cup, but that depends on how much they are willing to ride on Blair Betts, Andreas Nodl, or Darroll Powe as their third line center for John Van Riemsdyke and Kris Versteeg. Considering also how much time they are actually going to give Dan Carcillo and Jody Shelly come playoff time, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Flyers took on a low cost center set to walk next season. They could also of course bury some salary with Nik Zherdev who is total bust. New Jersey, while still on a hot streak, may need to make a decision about Jason Arnott, who could fit the bill. But then the question is will the Devils and Flyers trade within their own division.

Ales Hemsky is top commodity but the Oilers may be wanting to much in return for anyteam. Photo courtesy of oilonwhyte.com

Pittsburgh Penguins

After completing robbing the Dallas Stars blind with dealing Alex Goligoski for James Neal and Matt Niskanen, the Pens are likely feeling pretty good about themselves but of course could use some more wingers when Crosby finally gets back. Neal should flourish in the role of net crasher with Sid, but having another shooter could help. The rumors that make the most sense have involved Ales Hemsky and Alex Kovalev. Kovalev is the far cheaper player in terms of asking price, and is a UFA after the season so he could very well make his return to Pittsburgh. Frankly though, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Penguins got both of them. If they do, the east’s top three beasts got even beastlier.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning have as good a top six as anyone in the league, and their third line has been surprisingly sharp. The issues seem to have been addressed regarding the back end with Dwayne Roloson in net, and Eric Brewer and Marc-Andre Bergeron providing defense and puck moving ability respectively so anything the Lightning do now are likely to be small adjustments. Rounding out the bottom six seems to make the most sense, and stealing Chris Neil from Ottawa could fit the bill as he has playoff experience and is a real scrapper, something Tampa lacks. He also holds enough skill to not be benched every game during the post season.

Boston Bruins

No team in my mind has upgraded as strongly as the Bruins have so far. They are set from the goal out. The addition of Tomas Kaberle gives the blueline the offense it needed while not sacrificing too much defense, and the offense is loaded top to bottom with a solid two-way game. The Bruins have a great blend of youth and veterans as well and at this point I think their trading is put to a close.

The asking price may be incredibly high for Grabovski (look at what Toronto got for Versteeg), but he could fix Washington's woes up the middle. Photo courtesy of mapleleafshotstove.com

Washington Capitals

It is the same story for the Capitals this year as it has been in years prior. They need a center, or two for that matter. I really thought they would have been hard after Chris Kelly and Mike Fisher of Ottawa so now at this point they are kind of in a bind. They have been linked to St. Louis’s Andy MacDonald, which would be a huge addition for the Caps, but with a cap hit of around 4.5 million for the next three seasons Washington would be wise to think things over, especially with Karl Alzner and Semyon Varlamov set to be restricted free agents and Brooks Laich in his last year. Along with the asking price the Blues may want the Capitals may need to look elsewhere. Mikhail Grabovski may be a huge asking price out of Toronto, but it could solve Washington’s gaping hole at center for years to come.

The track record seems to be outweighing his stat line currently for AK-27. Photo courtesy of zimbio.com

Montreal Canadians

Much like last season, the Habs find themselves in the same situation as last year where they desperately would like another top six forward. And once again Alex Kovalev’s name pops up. Funny how his old teams would like to regain his services despite the not so stellar season he has been having. The Canadians’ defense has also been something like the Canucks lately, you know, all on injured reserve, but slowly they are getting players coming back. So that leaves the hole up front. Montreal doesn’t have a ton of wiggle room with the cap, but maybe sneaking a player in just for a season would be ideal seeing how nearly the rest of the team is set for new contracts when the season wraps up. In my personal opinion I think taking a run at Milan Hejduk could be the best move.

McCabe's name was floated as a likely player to be traded before the season even started. Yet he is still in Florida. Photo courtesy of generalborschevsky.blogspot.com

New York Rangers

All of sudden the Rangers find themselves teetering ever closer to the playoff bubble this season. Plus the move to trade some underperforming defenseman that they had excess of more offense seems to be biting them in the ass. With Michael Rozsival gone New York now needs a big minutes defenseman. Go figure. It seems pretty obvious they are after Bryan McCabe, Chris Phillips (even though he seems pretty admit he would rather not move), and possibly even Tom Gilbert to fill that void but with no move still as of yet the Rangers may not like the asking prices, which begs the question “Glen Sather is actually restraining himself?”

Carolina Hurricanes

I don’t really feel the Hurricanes actually think of themselves as buyers at this point really, even sitting in the eighth seed. Not that they are dealing players left and right, but by all rights the Canes probably didn’t even count on making it to the post season. Of course this is entirely reasonable seeing how they have a losing record. I’m sure the Seattle Seahawks have to appreciate that.

Atlanta Thrashers

After what appeared to be a special season for the Thrashers of making the post-season without Ilya Kovalchuk, possibly drawing a decent crowd finally, and saving themselves from financial disaster the Thrashers look to be accomplishing none of that. It doesn’t appear they seem set on doing anything about it either. They remain the league’s salary dump team receiving Mark Stuart and Blake Wheeler on the cheap, but the Thrashers still just aren’t a talented enough team to make it. Which really says something seeing how a sub .500 team is going to make the playoffs out of the east likely. Atlanta can’t seem to decide if they are rebuilding currently or not, and at this point probably don’t have the financial means to take on a player anyways. Sorry Thrash, your season’s toast.

Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres have done one hell of a job storming back into contention. Their new owner shows up also and is ready to pay as well so all of a sudden Buffalo is back in the playoff picture. That being said, Buffalo in my opinion still isn’t likely to make the post-season. They need a big time shut down defenseman but to get that, Buffalo would likely need to give up one of their offensive guns. Seeing how this season it has been hard to come by, Buffalo is in a conundrum where if they fill a hole, they open another. I think it is much more likely they try and ride Ryan Miller to the playoffs while holding onto what they have.

Overall, I would say that this weekend was a huge success! Seems like more people tuned in this year to watch the All-Star events and even in the rain, Los Angeles created a huge buzz for this event. Every event from the celebrity game to the actually All-Star match were thoroughly entertaining and I feel as if this year’s All-Star weekend has brought back some glamor to the event.

The celebrity game was exciting to watch with all the celebs, ex-NBA stars and all the trash talking amongst them. It was jaw dropping to see how dead on Scottie Pippen was. He was obviously prepared for this game and wanted to show the world that he still had a little bit left in him, and although it was just the celebrity game, he definitely proved that his shot was still there. Justin Bieber, the Celebrity Game MVP winner, also did show some impressive skills and played a pretty good overall game. Although I am somewhat of a Justin Bieber fan, I strongly believe that Pippen deserved the MVP award. Bieber was on the losing team and had nowhere near the game that Pippen did, but it was a audience voted award so the verdict does make perfect sense…crazy Beliebers!

The Rookie-Sophomore game was fun to watch but with all offense and barely any defense, who could really complain. Many of the rookies stood out and there were so many exciting and jaw dropping plays and dunks. With John Wall dropping 22 assists and DeMarcus Cousins scoring 33 points and 14 rebounds, the ex-Kentucky Wildcats demonstrated why they were drafted so high. Personally, the best play of the night was Wall’s bounce pass alley-opp to Blake Griffin…that was NUTS!

The Dunk Contest Is Back! Photo courtesy of blogs.orlandosentinel.com.

The Saturday festivities kept the excitement going with the Shooting Stars and Skills Challenge really setting up the 3-Point Shootout and Dunk Contest very well. The 3-Point Contest came down to an Eastern rivalry with two Boston Celtics and a Miami Heat fighting for the title in the finals. Paul Pierce, the defending champ, started off the final round with a spectacular outing that was later passed my Miami’s James Jones. The Celtics had one last chance with Ray Allen going last, but his final round took a little dip and he was unable to surpass Jones. James Jones was able to hold off the Celtic duo and win his first Foot Locker 3-Point Contest.

Then came the Dunk Contest. It has been no secret that this historic event has been tailing off in recent years but this year’s contest brought this event back into the spotlight. Each contestant brought some amazing dunks to the table with a few that truly stood out. My two favorite dunks were the JaVale McGee two-hoop, two-ball dunk and the Serge Ibaka dunk from the free throw line. In my opinion those were the best dunks of the night, but the DeMar DeRozan one handed dunk was also spectacular and if Blake Griffin had finished his 360 dunk off of the back board, that would of also ranked very high. I definitely thought that Ibaka deserve to make the finals and should of received a way higher score for his free throw line dunk but it was hard to complain against the home town hero and the crazy dunks by McGee. Although it was pretty obvious that Griffin would win this contest, I think it is a shame that McGee and Ibaka did not receive as much hype. Overall, I think they both had better dunks than Griffin but Blake definitely had more power to his dunks. His final dunk over the car was a little overrated but still was great performance wise. These four guys definitely helped bring back some recognition to the NBA Dunk Contest and should be saluted for that.

The All-Star game itself was better than expected. The West took a nice lead in the first half with Kobe Bryant being on fire and the East team giving away many turnovers. I personally enjoyed when Doc Rivers decided to bring in his four Celtic all-stars knowing that the LA crowd would start their booing. The second half is where the game truly interesting. LeBron James began hyping up his team and starting taking it to the hole. He helped the East rally back but unfortunately they were unable to get the win. Kobe Bryant ended up winning the All-Star MVP, which was a given seeing that he dropped 37 points and was on the winning team, but LeBron put up a huge fight with his triple-double.

Overall, the All-Star game lived up to the hype and the whole weekend was successful. This year’s All-Star weekend helped bring back some glory to the event and I am now actually excited for next year. The Dunk Contest finally made a comeback and even through the rain, Los Angeles brought the heat.

This weekend proved to be a surprising time around the NHL. Boston finally pried Tomas Kaberle away from Toronto, but the real blockbuster trade came in the early morning hours that followed. Apparently the GMs of the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche are night owls, or this was just one long conversation. In any case the trade they manufactured was a shocker, dealing up and coming power forward Chris Stuart and rookie defensive stud Kevin Shattenkirk from the Avs in exchange for a young Olympian in Eric Johnson and defensive forward Jay McClement. The hockey world was pretty surprised.

It is interesting that they should be, seeing how the trade was almost a throwback maneuver, trading talent for talent, something not typically seen in days where it’s usually proven commodities for picks or prospects and team trying to clear up salary space. Really the Kaberle deals and the early morning moves stand in very stark contrast to each other in that sense. The Bruins shipped out two young players for two guys with low cap hits only so that they could take on Kaberle in exchange for their top prospect and a first round pick.

Out of the blue and white and into yellow and black for Kaberle as he heads stateside. Photo courtesy of kansas.com

So the Maple Leafs finally decided to deal Kaberle, and it wasn’t a bad haul for the guy either. Toronto got at least one draft pick, that being a first rounder (albeit a low one at that), and a top end prospect which may finally signal that GM Brian Burke is going fully into rebuild mode. Boston on the other hand finally addressed their biggest need: That of a puck moving defenseman. Boston has a great shutdown corps of blueliners but Kaberle gives them the element of actually being able to put together some offense on the back end, which is something they only got when Zdeno Chara fired a shot.

As for the Avs and Blues…Both teams are falling away from playoff contention so this move is kind of a head scratcher even further in that regard. The Blues essentially are reconstructing their top pairing as Johnson and Brewer both got traded and now the team relies on the young talent of Alex Pietrangelo and Shattenkirk. Both are solid offensive weapons but it is safe to say they both need some polish as well. The Blues also gave up some depth with Jay McClement, especially on the penalty kill, but the addition of Stuart along with David Backes gives the Blues two dangerous power forwards.

Johnson goes to Colorado with hopefully no more golf cart accidents in his future. Photo courtesy of sportsillustrated.cnn.com

The Avs on the other hand gave up a young defenseman for a less young but more proven commodity in Johnson. Johnson does have a very high ceiling, but for Stuart and Shattenkirk? I don’t know if Johnson was worth that much. McClement does help Colorado defensively as well, and the Avalanche do have some solid depth up front with Paul Stastny, Matt Duchene, T.J. Galiardi, Peter Mueller, David Jones, and Tomas Fleischman. I still believe they overpaid though with Shattenkirk. Still, it was an interesting swap for the two teams, but in the long run I think the Blues relatively fleeced Colorado, but their defense in the long run has taken a pretty substantial hit by basically being a five man unit with little experience.

So the NBA has reached its “halfway” point or more correctly, it has reached the All-Star break. The Boston Celtics are playing as well as ever while the Miami Heat are somewhat living up to expectations. There have also been many surprises this season, with the San Antonio Spurs having the best record in the NBA, the Chicago Bulls following close behind the Celtics and Heat, Jerry Sloan retiring mid-season and the Los Angeles Lakers struggling (including the embarrassing loss today to the Cleveland Cavaliers). With all that in mind, who is my MVP so far?

1) Derrick Rose, PG, Chicago Bulls. The Bulls are 37-16 even with injury issues to Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah. This has a lot to do with Rose and his high level of play this season. He is averaging 24.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game and it is obvious that he has lifted his game to a whole new level. With Noah coming back sometime after the All-Star break, this is going to be a scary team. Just image what this team would of been like of LeBron had chosen to take his talents to Chicago…yikes!

Rose Has Lifted His Game. Photo courtesy of www.ballornuthin.com.

2) LeBron James, SF, Miami Heat. LeBron is averaging 26.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game. Many believed that LeBron would get nowhere close to his old numbers now that he is teamed up with Dwayne Wade but he is proving his critics wrong. The Heat have the 3rd best record in the NBA and is a team still working on cohesiveness and blending. This team can only get better from here.

3) Dirk Nowitzki, PF, Dallas Mavericks. Dirk’s numbers are not all that impressive with him averaging 22.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, but his team is sitting with a record of 39-16 and in the 2nd spot in the Western Conference. My reason for putting him third in the MVP race has a lot to do with when he was out and not playing with the Mavericks. This team succeeds through Dirk Nowitzki.

I could list out a few more but this is where the order gets a little messy. There are the obvious other contenders such as Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Dwayne Wade but there are a few who do not have as impressive numbers, are overshadowed or play for less glamorous teams. For example Russell Westbrook is averaging 22.2 points, 5 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game, and is playing at a whole new level, but tends to be overlooked because of Durant. Chris Paul has his New Orleans Saints competing in the West even with a pretty lackluster roster. I did have Amar’e Stoudemire high up until the New York Knicks sank back down to averageness. One person to definitely look at is LaMarcus Aldridge. He has been a beast as of late and is keeping the Portland Trailblazers afloat while Brandon Roy deals with his traumatic knee issues. Depending on how the Blazers continue to play, I may have to start giving him more thought and moving him up.

The biggest issue I have with all of my MVP race picks is that there are no representatives from the two best teams in the league. It is hard to pick a player from either the Spurs or the Celtics to place in this race but this speaks volumes about their teams. Each squad is built on great teamwork and there is a sense of comfortability between the players. This has a lot to do with the fact that they both sit on top of their respective conferences.

Mario is not happy. Rightfully so after his Pittsburgh team first of all got demolished by the lowly New York Islanders on the scoreboard, but then of course with the play reminiscent of Slap Shot that ensued later in the game after the Islanders had taken a commanding lead. Trevor Gillies, Matt Martin, and Michael Haley may just be the second coming of the Hanson brothers. Give those boys some foil. The play of these three certainly reflected the play not seen since the great days of Aamir Dhalla, Pesh Madhav, and Billy Van Dorn which I experienced during my high school years.

Trevor Gillies is not nice, nor nice looking, but he will throw elbows your way even if you don't ask. Photo courtesy of zimbio.com

In all seriousness however the game between the Islanders and Penguins was, all in all, not good for hockey. It was the sort of business that gets hockey noticed for all the wrong reasons akin to the Marty McSorely incident, the Chris Simon swing to the face, and essentially everything Sean Avery ever says. Media outlets were having a field day with the NHL all of a sudden. It was by far the most attention ESPN gave it this year. And in this case you couldn’t blame them. Gillies basically leapt up with his elbow, driving it into the face of Pittsburgh’s Eric Tangradi. It was a pretty blatant attempt to injure. However things got worse when Gillies was tossed from the game, only to be standing just off the rink, then mocking Tangradi who was still down. The hit was going to get a suspension, but mocking an injured opponent after you just tried to decapitate the guy should have brought more. I was actually thinking 15 games would have been more appropriate instead of the nine Gillies actually received for his suspension.

Meanwhile, Michael Haley was showing why he got called up to play for this one game. He beat Max Talbot pretty soundly in a fight, and then went after the Pittsburgh netminder, Brent Johnson, who in the game prior knocked the Islanders’ goaltender, Rick DiPietro, out onto the injured list with a one punch shot. DiPietro should have tried to avoid that seeing how a slight breeze can result in him being sidelined with a broken foot. In any case, Haley and Johnson were just about to get into it, until Eric Godard jumped off the bench to break things up. Haley got the gate, and frankly I thought not suspending him was the right call seeing as he only fought, and he instigated things. Not suspension worthy. Godard getting ten games for joining the fray was basically enforcement of the rule that already exists and the inflexibility of it. I approve of this, even if only because he broke up a potentially good fight between Johnson and Haley.

Lastly there was Matt Martin. Taking a page out of Matt Cooke’s playbook, Martin sucker punched Talbot then proceeded to punch him while he was down. If you have seen Talbot fight before, i.e. his Sean Avery “pawing” defense, it was pretty one sided. Martin got four games for the punch, the same as Cooke. By most standards this is the right call.

However, the NHL has been trying to clean up the players policing themselves on the ice throughout the season but instead of sending the message that this wasn’t acceptable, they hit Martin with the same sort of punishment that is textbook. Martin was planning this though. Talbot was a marked man from the get go after he injured the Islanders’ Blake Comeau in the contest prior between the two squads. Not that Talbot should have been surprised he was going to be getting run at every opportunity, but if the league wanted to knock this behavior off Martin would have gotten eight games.

Mario Lemieux lost a lot of respect with his whining. Better call the waaaahmbulance. Photo courtesy of post-gazette.com

I’m all in favor of a little bit of justice being divvied out by the players themselves. Smack Talbot around, try to fight him. Swat at Johnson a bit more. You don’t go out trying to injure the entire team you are playing and fighting everyone you possibly can. The Islanders certainly deserved the hundred thousand dollar fine the received. Then Mario Lemieux, the Penguins owner, opened his trap, making the problem even worse and drawn out. Lemieux is highly respected by just about everyone in the hockey community but he didn’t do himself any favors calling out that the Islanders needed more punishment and those actions taken had no place in the league. In a certain regard he is correct. Those actions shouldn’t be in the league and a few of the Islanders’ players could have been handed stiffer penalties but the last bit was what did Mario in, where he threatened to remove himself from the league.

Cooke is a scumbag player. That's not opinion, that is a fact, and Lemieux has to know that. Photo courtesy of blueandoutsider.blogspot

Beyond the polarizing comments, Mario got down right immature. Saying you don’t like the system which hasn’t had a game like this in a long while, and where the number has been greatly cut down over the years is childish. Any other team and Lemieux wouldn’t have spoken up. Instead people are pegging him as a hypocrite since he employs the deplorable and detested Matt Cooke who is known for being a dirty player. The comments also only brought extra focus to the incident. At the end of the season where the league could discuss the incident is one thing, but keeping something that negatively portrays the NHL in the spotlight longer was not smart. The NHL looks bad, and Lemieux doesn’t look great either. The argument, justified or not, should have been put on hold, and the threat shouldn’t have ever been made publicly.

It was an ugly incident made uglier where Lemieux couldn’t control his emotions or his mouth. The NHL didn’t do the greatest job in sending a message about that sort of play, but the league doesn’t have this run rampant. Mario essentially whining and “taking his puck and going home” only exacerbated things further and the league can’t do damage control with that. The punishments may not have been perfect but they closed out the incident, which is the way things should have remained for the rest of the season where Lemieux could have then voiced his opinions privately with the league. You know, the way things should have been done.

Two things that the Chris Kelly trade from Ottawa to Boston proves: 1) that the Bruins do not feel comfortable handing Tyler Seguin a big position at center for the playoffs, and 2) that Philadelphia completely overpaid for Kris Versteeg.

Boston fills the hole at center and beefs up their two-way game along with it with the pickup of Kelly. Photo courtesy of zimbio.com

I already had mentioned that I felt that the Maple Leafs’ Brian Burke got a relative steal, sneaking a first and third round draft pick for a third line winger, one who the Flyers may likely be using in a higher position in the future possibly and that their first round draft pick was closer to a second, but still. The Bruins’ second rounder they gave up for Kelly is likely to be closer to a third and of course they have two first round picks, including the relatively high Toronto pick they still have from the Kessel deal so for them it was a worthwhile hit. Either this indicates that Burke really had a bidding war for Versteeg or simply that Ottawa is more receptive to unloading players for picks and of course shedding salary.

Chris Kelly provides a very solid two-way game, though with more emphasis on the defensive end rather than offense, but he can still chip in pretty well, and with a better third line in Boston than he had really at any point in Ottawa Kelly could see a fair sized boost to his numbers potentially. He has a relatively low, and very reasonable cap hit of 2.125 million for this season and next, and as Boston is already close to the cap, any other moves are going to likely result in something very minor or in salary being traded away also. The only downside potentially for Boston in terms of payroll could be looking ahead with their restricted free agents this coming off-season. Blake Wheeler and Brad Marchand are both going to be asking for raises, though Wheeler doesn’t exactly need one. Even if the team doesn’t sign Michael Ryder and/or Mark Stuart or Mark Recchi the Bruins may need to choose who goes and who stays so that they have the resources come next off-season where they have to deal with Adam McQuaid and David Krejci being RFAs.

In the short term however cap issues aren’t the biggest concern for Boston. They addressed the hole they were having up the middle with Marc Savard being shut down for the season and they helped their defense at the same time. Kelly can handle decent sized minutes, and has the ability to be a very solid faceoff man, though that can be inconsistent at times. I was a pretty big fan of both Fisher and Kelly’s ability as Ottawa’s two and three guys in the middle and Boston really was smart with getting the more economical one to help them down the stretch. Along with his playoff experience, Kelly is an ideal third line center for anyone down the stretch and Boston I feel really lucked out.

On the other end of the deal, Ottawa picks up a second round pick and that is it. After the Mike Fisher deal, it looks like the Sens are fully in it when they said they wanted to be the biggest players at this year’s entry draft. With an additional first and second rounder already they look like they will be. I still firmly believe also that Chris Phillips and Alex Kovalev are likely to be dealt too, where they could fetch a second round pick apiece in my mind seeing how low Ottawa of asking prices Ottawa has been asking for two players I thought were better than both. Ottawa is certainly going to be reloaded in the farm, though it may take a season or two before the draft really pays dividends for them. It’s a step in the right direction without a doubt however, as this was what the Senators desperately needed to do. Frankly, I thought the Sens would have been better off doing this a few seasons back but the low level appearances in the post-season a few times probably dissuaded them.

Eh, called it right? Sorta. Well give me a break, I did say Versteeg was likely to be moved by Toronto with Lupul coming on board. Kris Versteeg, last year on the squad that beat the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals, now joins the Flyers in their quest for a Stanley Cup this year. Not a bad move by a Phily team already loaded top to bottom with talent on both ends. Worth a first round pick? Hardly. Still having a third line of John Van Riemsdyke and Kris Versteeg makes for one entertaining third line with those two alone. In return it is sounding like the Flyers gave up a first round pick, which has to make Toronto happy…except for the fact the pick is likely going to be 25^th at the lowest. That sure makes up for the fact the Leafs still don’t have their first round pick from this year which is likely to be in the top ten but what ya gonna do? Oh yeah, that’s right, draft Tyler Seguin.

The only thing that shocks me about this trade was that the Senators traded Mike Fisher for a first round pick. I like Versteeg’s hustle and grit but he is worth a first and third rounder? There may have been a bidding war on Toronto’s GM Brian Burke’s phone lines because I can’t see why a team would trade their first round pick (albeit basically a second round one) plus another pick for a guy that is at best a second line player. In defense of Ottawa settling only for a first round pick for Fisher they were also trying to unload a contract.

Versteeg moves onto a contender, likely to up his play drastically. Photo courtesy of zimbio.com

So as it breaks down the Flyers add on some more depth to the roster which already features one of the scariest top two lines in the league, one daunting defense, and now a third line with the potential to light things up. It also helps them for next year where it is likely Ville Leino is saying so long as the Flyers’ cap space is incredibly tight right now. Versteeg was having a decent year with a sub-par Toronto team and frankly was beginning to coast. Understandable, since the Leafs look to be about to wrap up their season when the playoffs start. Still, Versteeg could find himself really energized on a Philadelphia squad that is atop the leader board and the early pick to make a trip back to the finals.

Toronto on the other hand at least has a few draft picks to come away with from this deal. It certainly doesn’t excuse the crazy idea of dealing two first round picks for Phil Kessel, but Brian Burke has re-tooled things a bit where things don’t bleak for another decade. Last week’s deal to get Joffrey Lupul provides the offensive depth for at least the top two lines. The bottom six are still problematic at best and even though they have the top lines filled out they are far from the league’s elite. But most importantly Burke has shed a lot of salary to make sure the Leafs can re-sign Tyler Bozak, Clarke MacArthur, Luke Schenn, and Carl Gunnarsson and perhaps even make a splash during this off-season as J.S. Giguere and Tomas Kaberle (let’s be realistic, he’s not staying) come off the books as well. Burke has slowly begun rebuilding the farm system as well with the draft picks and he could be gathering more if he can deal Giguere and Kaberle before the deadline. Versteeg was a good player, and losing him does hurt Toronto in the now, but long term it was a smart move by Burke especially given how Versteeg wasn’t fitting the system in Toronto. Pretty good win-win situation for the Flyers and Leafs.

So thus ends another career this season of players that have been in the NHL since the 1990s. First there was Bill Guerin, the player who got much recognition mainly because his career bounced back a bit for being the one winger to play effectively with Sidney Crosby. Then there was Craig Conroy, mostly notable because the guy was just so damn likeable. And now there is Peter Forsberg, two games into his comeback after everyone already thought he had retired a few years ago. Maybe that was Domick Hasek, I can’t remember.

Oops. See ya around instead. Photo courtesy of denver.cbslocal.com

Foppa on the other hand seemed to be having a not so spectacular second coming as he went -4 and a big goose egg in points. Understandable since he hasn’t played NHL hockey for a number of seasons. Though it is surprising that Forsberg decided to hang them up after only two. Heck, I thought he was going to at least wait until the season was over seeing how the Avalanche are slowly falling out of contention. Maybe Forsberg realized this was a young man’s game. Really young, seeing how the Avs sport one of the youngest rosters around. That or he missed Joe Sakic, or Patrick Roy, or Claude Lemiuex. Maybe he just wasn’t that good of friends with Adam Foote.

One of his two gold medals, though this one isn't on a stamp. Photo courtesy of pucksandfisticuffs.tumblr.com

In any regard Forsberg will go down as quite the player, and in my opinion the most skilled of the players retired this season. Foppa will go down as a player that potted 50 points and 30 assists at least in 10 straight seasons (only if you disregard the whole year he missed for an injury in the 2001-2002 campaign) and was a positive +/- up until this season where it will mark the first time Forsberg finished in the negatives. He also scored a playoff goal in every season he played in the NHL (again up until now) and won two Stanley Cups along with two Olympic golds. And oh yeah, he was on the postage stamp in Sweden for his penalty shot that won Sweden the gold back in 94. On top of that, Forsberg ranks up with the greats for his 1.254 points per game and only behind Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemiuex, and Bobby Orr for his .901 assists per game.

Less glamorously Forsberg will also be known for being one injury prone playmaking superstar before it was cool (i.e. Vincent Lecavalier). Still, I can at least say watching Forsberg with the Avs storm through the playoffs in 96 (the first year I watched the playoffs) may have been one of the greater pleasures I have had in regards to sports. His bouts with injuries were inevitable seeing how he never turned it down as he got older and the ankles just seem like they never fully got back up to snuff. It is a shame to see Peter Forsberg hang them up, but truth be told he was done back 2007-2008 where he was shutdown only to nine games in his last stint with the Avs. Impressively, he still put in 14 points in those nine games, too bad he didn’t stop while he was ahead and now has that annoying -4 hanging on his stat line.

Almost half way into the 2010-2011 NBA season and the Miami Heat are currently on top of the Eastern Conference. They are half a game ahead of the Boston Celtics and 5 games behind the league leading San Antonio Spurs. Ever since LeBron James made his “decision” to come to Miami, there has nothing but high expectation for this Heat team. Some, such as Jeff Van Gundy, expected them to beat the 72 wins record set by the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls. Of course this is out of reach now, but still many expect this team to win the championship this year and anything less is unacceptable.

The big three are putting up pretty good numbers with LeBron averaging 26.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game, Wade getting 25.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists and Bosh putting up 18.2 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. Not only do they have two of the best scorers and finishers in the league, but they also currently rank in the top 5 for points scored by the opposing team. Plain and simple, the Miami Heat are pretty damn good!

The Miami Heat Big Three Can Do It. Photo courtesy of www.lebronjames.com.

So do I expect them to win it all this year?  No. I am not one of those critics that will give this team crap if they end up getting knocked out of the playoffs or losing in the NBA Finals. The big 3 have 5 years together and they will win at least one championship in that time, and most likely more. This is just their first year together and although they are already playing so well, it takes time to really reach your peak. This doesn’t mean that I would be shocked if they did end up winning it all this year, because they obviously have the talent to make that happen. I am just saying that just because you stick 3 great players together, you cannot expect them to be great right away. They will have their time to shine, and whether that is this year or later on in their contracts, it is all dependent on their growth and ability to blend with each other…but it will happen!