BY ROB REATH

Intangibles. That was word Philadelphia Flyer General Manager Paul Holmgren used in justifying the lengthy contract he gave his captain Mike Richards. At the time, many suggested Richards was too young, not developed enough, and hadn’t achieved enough. That’s what some people said, anyways. Those close to the situation, who were well-versed with both the game and the player saw it differently.

Holmgren knew what he had on his hands — a keeper. He had a player who had won at every level before the NHL; a player who hated to lose; a mild-mannered person who possessed a burning desire to win; a player who would stand up to anyone and anything when it mattered.

It didn’t take long before the proof started showing. After former coach Ken Hitchcock had lost the dressing room in Philly following a bad loss, Richards commented “Typical Philadelphia Flyers game — we got the lead and then folded.” Vice President Bobby Clarke defended Richards, suggesting that players are the first to notice such things. No one characterized Richards as a coach killer because they knew better.

Richards’ work ethic and drive have excited every coach he’s played for. The point he was making was that there was a problem was not being addressed and while it was ugly and risky to talk about it, Richards spoke up.  
 
He also took a shot at Holmgren during a playoff post-mortem press conference, stating that he thought it was learning year for the GM too. Richards was referring to the incident where the Flyers’ salary cap problems had forced them to keep budding star Claude Giroux from practicing with the team.

Now, Holmgren casts a long shadow in NHL both as an intimidating fighter during his playing days and in his influence as an executive. Very few have thrown stones in his direction, fairly or unfairly. Stranger still, that criticism would appear from a player he could easily trade or otherwise have an impact on his career. Holmgren declined comment on the remark, but did mention that it was desirable to have a cushion for the cap

Holmgren took the comment in stride once again because those who know Richards also know comment like that were in the best interest of the team. It also signaled that Richards has claimed that team as his own, and everyone in the Philly organization is pleased as punch about it, from owner Ed Snider to Clarke, Holmgren, and present coach John Stevens.

One question remains: Where does Richards rank among some of the legendary Flyer leaders?

He scores, he fights, he sets up his teammates to score, he hits and kills penalties (and is often a threat to score short handed), and just recently has been vilified by the Philly media for not answering their questions. This occurred after he asked them not to keep bringing up a partying episode that occurred last season that many felt resulted in the trading of Joffrey Lupul.

Since then, Richards has been responding with one-word answers, if at all. He now joins the ranks of Clarke, Eric Lindros, Ron Hextall, Peter Forsberg, and many other Flyer leaders who were flayed in the Philly media over any human flaw that could be found Last weekend, when Richards nailed Florida Panther David Booth with a clean hit, it was the Philly press crying for a suspension the loudest. The media doesn’t like him there, but the players, fans and his bosses love him.
 
Congratulations, Mike. You are now truly a great Flyer captain and leader! Once the local press turns on you in Philly, it often means they just don’t have anything to write about and therefore you are doing great!

By ANDY HOLLOWAY

Like a Tsunami, the 2009-10 RotoRob NBA Draft Kit rolls on with another team preview. While Chris Bosh owners cringe at the prospect of him already hurting and possibly missing some of training camp, let’s turn our attention to the Chicago Bulls, who will try to build on a near upset of the Boston Celtics in a classic first round battle in last season’s playoffs.

Da Bulls took a step forward last year in their attempt to return to the glory years by finishing .500 after collapsing the previous year to just 33 wins. Since then, leading scorer Ben Gordon signed with the Devil, i.e., the Detroit Pistons, as a free agent. Losing your top point-getter is usually not a good thing, but the Bulls might be better off. For one thing, Gordon is an undersized shooting guard whose defensive abilities are highly suspect. For another, last year’s rookie of the year, Derrick Rose, is on the verge of superstardom, and his teammates are vastly different than the ones who came out of the gate last season with a thud.

Aside from Gordon, the Bulls dispatched Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, Michael Ruffin, Larry Hughes and Thabo Sefolosha mid-season and brought in Brad Miller and John Salmons (as well as a lot of salary cap ballast), both of whom are expected to start in their respective positions. The newly configured team put on a push into the playoffs where they almost upset the Boston Celtics in the first round. The series went seven games with four of them going into overtime (including a double OT game and a triple OT contest). In the first game, Rose potted 36 points (plus 11 assists) to tie the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record for most points in a playoff debut by a rookie.

If Rose and the Bulls can continue that kind of play they should be a lock to make the playoffs, although they will not challenge the Cleveland Cavaliers for the division. One potential pitfall is the health of forward Luol Deng, whose season ended in February with a serious stress fracture in his right shin that has taken longer to heal than expected. Deng says he will be ready for the October 6 pre-season opener, but the Bulls need him to return to his 2006 form if they’re going to be anything more than a middling team.

Projected Starting Lineup

PG: Derrick Rose
SG: John Salmons
SF: Luol Deng
PF: Tyrus Thomas
C: Brad Miller

Key Bench Players

Kirk Hinrich, Jannero Pargo, Joakim Noah

Position Battles

The starting five lineup is mostly set with Hinrich as the all-important sixth man, although there are some whispers that Noah could unseat Miller as the starting centre. Two rookies, forward James Johnson (Wake Forest) and power forward Taj Gibson (USC), will battle for minutes since the Bulls aren’t very deep. Indeed, the team will probably keep just 13 players and that’s including centre Jerome James, who is currently hurt (what a shock), and guard Lindsey Hunter, who is expected to be more of a coach than a player.

Stud

The Bulls have pegged their fortunes on Rose, the hometown phenom who led all rookies with 6.3 assists per game and was second in scoring with 16.8 points. He also chipped in 3.9 rebounds a game. Rose may not be the first point guard you’d pick, but he should be good for 20 points and a couple more assists per game as the Bulls’ first true cornerstone since Michael Jordan.

Dud

With a retooled lineup it may be tempting to bank on Deng returning to the numbers he put up in 2006-07 (18.8 points and 7.1 rebounds), but he’s recovering from a serious leg injury and will get some competition for scoring opportunities from Salmons, who last year put up career numbers (18.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists) as his playing time increased. Deng is only 24 so he should be resilient enough to bounce back, but his numbers declined in both 2007-08 and 2008-09, when he posted just 14.1 points and 6 rebounds a game. Since Gordon is gone, both Deng and Salmons are expected to start.

Sleeper

Thomas showed signs of life last year (10.9 points, 6.4 rebounds) and is entering a contract year, but sixth man Hinrich, finally healthy, might be the better bet. With Gordon out of the picture, Hinrich will get more time at shooting guard, which should improve the career-low totals (9.9 points, 3.9 assists and 2.4 rebounds) he achieved last year when his production was limited by a hurt thumb.

Rookies to Watch

Both Johnson and Gibson should make the team, but likely won’t get a lot of minutes unless there are injures. Gibson is a defensive specialist while Johnson showed some offensive flair at Wake.

Fantasy Stories to Watch

Pargo is no replacement for Gordon, but he doesn’t have to be since the keys to the offence have been given to Rose, who must avoid a sophomore slump if the Bulls are going anywhere. Deng has to return to good health and put up numbers similar to that which he posted in 2006, unless Salmons can pick up the slack. Coach Vinny Del Negro is now in his second year on the job and has nearly a completely different team than he had to start last year. How he handles the budding Rose will be a key to his continued employment.

Andy Holloway is a Toronto-based writer.

By ANDY HOLLOWAY

We’re back with another team preview as part of the unstoppable beast that is the 2009-10 RotoRob NBA Draft Kit. While you’re wondering what the new NBA social media rules will entail, let’s check in on the Philadelphia 76ers, who are seeking their first winning season since 2004-05.

The Philadelphia 76ers were an ill-constructed team last year. Big free agent signee Elton Brand was hurt for most of the season and did not fit when he was around into the go-go offence directed by the now-departed Andre Miller. Need proof? The Sixers had a better record without him than with him. Centre Samuel Dalembert should have thrived in Brand’s absence, but he looked out of place more often than ever. His obvious lack of interest culminated at season’s end when he asked for a trade. And while others showed sparks, Philly was a frustratingly inconsistent team.

This year there’s hope Brand can become the dominating presence that has seen him average more than 20 points and 10 rebounds a game during his career (and that includes his disastrous totals last year). The reason for such optimism? New coach Eddie Jordan is bringing in the Princeton offensive scheme, which relies on constant motion, pick and rolls, back-door cuts and disciplined teamwork, and that could allow Brand to become a force near the basket if everyone sticks to the game plan.

That means Andre Iguodala will have to post up and drive to the basket more often, point guard Lou Williams will have to show the ability to break down defenders and Dalembert will have to be happy setting screens for others to score. Ideally, all five players in the Princeton offence should be able to shoot the three—something Brand and Dalembert can’t do (neither could Miller, for that matter). But newly acquired Jason Kapono and Rodney Carney should make the Sixers a better three-point shooting team overall.

In the weak Eastern Conference the 76ers may have enough to stay in the playoff chase throughout the year, but if Brand or especially Iguodala are out for any length of time, Philly will likely find itself on the outside looking in.

Projected Starting Lineup

PG: Lou Williams
SG: Andre Iguodala
SF: Thaddeus Young
PF: Elton Brand
C: Samuel Dalembert

Key Bench Players

Willie Green, Carney, Kapono, Marreese Speights, Jrue Holiday, Jason Smith

Position Battles

There are surprisingly few battles for a team that just scraped into the playoffs. The starting five is set and there’s not much strength once you get past them. Rookie Jrue Holiday (UCLA) will probably get some time as the back-up point guard since Williams isn’t exactly the second coming of Jason Kidd. In fact, Williams, who is more of a shooting guard, has never started in his four-year NBA career with the Sixers. Free agent signee Primoz Brezec, Smith, recovering from a torn ACL, and Speights may take minutes away from Dalembert, but likely won’t start—at least at the beginning.

Stud

A bit of a toss-up here if Brand returns to form, but Iguodala is probably the safer choice since he can fill up more columns on the stat sheet. Last year, Iggy averaged 18.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.6 steals—numbers that have been fairly consistent over the past three seasons—and he should be able to repeat that performance in the new offence.

Dud

Dalembert asked to be traded at year-end, but his albatross of a contract (two years and $25 million remaining plus a $3.75-million trade bonus upfront) made it impossible to move this Canadian. Two years ago, Dalembert was a solid double-double man (10.5 points and 10.4 rebounds), but last year his production dropped to 6.4 points and 8.5 rebounds. Those are not numbers most teams want to see from a starting centre unless he’s a defensive specialist, which Dalembert is not. Dalembert can be a decent shot blocker, but needs to realize his place on the team is to play some D and allow others to score.

Sleeper

Williams averaged 12.8 points, three assists and two rebounds in 23.7 MPG last year, all numbers that are bound to increase now that he is a starter. In Brand and Iguodala, Williams has two teammates who can score in buckets, and the new offense emphasizes passing and teamwork, always good for assist totals.

Rookies to Watch

Holiday has apparently impressed the Sixers with his defensive acumen during scrimmages, which is good since his offensive skills are a work in progress. In his first and only year at UCLA, he averaged 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists so he has plenty to learn. The Sixers also invited former Temple swingman Dionte Christmas to camp, but it would be surprising if he makes the team, even though coach Jordan says he has a legitimate chance.

Fantasy Stories to Watch

With Miller gone to Portland, can Iguodala become an elite NBA player and how will he adapt to being the team’s undisputed leader? He’s a good basketball player to be sure, but can he be a great basketball player? Can the Princeton offence work for the Sixers and Brand? Coach Jordan’s last team, the Washington Wizards, weren’t exactly a powerhouse. Which Dalembert will show up to camp? The one who was kicked off the Canadian Olympic team last summer and followed it up with a disappointing season? Or a more humble player who can handle not being the first, second, third or even the fourth go-to option on the team?

Andy Holloway is a Toronto-based writer.

By ANDY HOLLOWAY

We’ve got more of the 2009-10 RotoRob NBA Draft Kit today with the first ever article on the site written by Andy “Mad Bunny” Holloway.

Three short seasons ago the Blazers won just 21 games, so their rapid rise to respectability and return to the playoffs has been nothing short of remarkable. But more than just dedicated fans think the Blazers will top their 54-28 record from last year, which was good enough for second in the Northwest division and fourth in the conference. Indeed, there’s good reason to think they could win 60 games and top their division if new point guard Andre Miller can seamlessly fit into the lineup.

There’s no doubt Miller, who signed a three-year $21.8-million contract this summer, is a talent, averaging 16.3 points and 6.5 assists with the Philadelphia 76ers last season, and he should be good to put up those numbers again. But he wasn’t the player the Blazers wanted this summer. That was Hedo Turkoglu, who verbally agreed to sign, but bolted to the Toronto Raptors instead. However, Miller gives his youthful new team a veteran presence as well as someone who can distribute the ball, even if no one fears he’ll make a shot from the outside. He also takes some of the heat off phenomenon Brandon Roy, who can now focus on being the excellent two-guard that he is, as opponents will also need to key on his backcourt partner.

Roy signed a five-year undisclosed contract extension with the Blazers this summer and his consistent play makes him well worth whatever money was paid. Expect even better numbers now that Miller has joined this lineup. Will that be enough to put the Blazers in the finals for the first time since 1992? The potential is there, but they will have to top the Los Angeles Lakers first and that means getting out of the first round, something the Blazers haven’t done since 2000.

Projected Starting Lineup

PG: Andre Miller
SG: Brandon Roy
SF: Nicolas Batum
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge
C: Greg Oden

Key Bench Players

Steve Blake, Joel Przybilla, Martell Webster, Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw

Position Battles

Miller will be pushed by Blake to be the starting point guard, but the newcomer has the edge and the contract to be the man on opening day. Batum and Webster, returning from a season spent mostly on the sidelines with a foot fracture will battle it out for the small forward spot, with Batum figuring to start based on his continued improvement this summer playing for the French national team (alongside Tony Parker and Boris Diaw) at EuroBasket. Look for Outlaw to be in the mix there, too.

At centre, Oden and Przybilla will duke it out for time. Look for Oden to become the centre if he improves on last year’s so-so rookie season and stays healthy, but Przybilla will get plenty of minutes because Oden has a nasty habit of racking up fouls.

Stud

Without a doubt it has to be Roy, who should continue the ascent to superstardom that started when he was named Rookie of the Year in 2006-07. The 25-year-old two-time All-Star led the team last year with 22.6 points and 5.1 assists and while he likely won’t get as many helpers with Miller controlling the ball, his other numbers should improve, making him a first-round pick in most leagues.

Dud

This is not a knock against Blake, but his numbers from last year (11 points, 5 assists and 1 steal per game) have to decline if he’s not the starting point guard. Expect his points to drop below 10 and his assists to fall off since he won’t get 30 minutes a game with Miller and Roy taking up most of the guard time.

Sleeper

The Blazers have arrived as one of the elite teams in the NBA so their starting five will get a good look at draft time. Aldridge was a good sleeper pick last year, but will probably go fairly high this year. That leaves Oden, who could be a low double-double man in his second year after averaging 8.9 points and 7 rebounds last year. The Blazers will shoot a lot so there should be plenty of rebounds to mop up on the offensive glass. The key for Oden is to stay out of foul trouble (he led the league with 3.9 fouls a game last year) and hope he doesn’t get injured. More likely, though, Oden is a year away from being a sure bet.

Rookies to Watch

It’s quite possible the Blazers will start the season without any rookies in their active 12. First-round pick Victor Clavert is staying in Spain for another season, but three second-rounders are trying to make the team. Two 6’9” forwards, Jeff Pendergraph (Arizona State) and Dante Cunningham (Villanova), will get a shot at supplanting back-up veteran Outlaw, but more likely will hit the D-League or be on the three-man reserve team, especially since Juwan Howard will likely take a third-line role to provide veteran experience. Pendergraph underwent hip surgery this summer and is questionable to start training camp. The fourth rookie, guard Patty Mills (St. Mary’s), might sneak in as the third point guard, but he broke his foot on the first day of rookie camp and may not be in good enough shape to steal a spot.

Fantasy Stories to Watch

Will Miller fit in with the walk-it-up Blazers and can he defer to Roy as the go-to star? Can Oden stay on the court long enough to show that he has more than just potential to be an All-Star big man? Will the Trail Blazers suffer a setback after three straight seasons of improvement now that everyone knows they can be an elite team? Can Batum improve his range enough to ward off PT challenges from Webster?

Andy Holloway is a Toronto-based writer.

By Brendan McIntyre

The year was 1980 and the United States had just beaten the Soviet Union to win the Olympic gold medal in one of the biggest upsets in sports history. All hockey fans know the story. The underdog group of young Americans managed to beat the powerful, skilled and experienced Soviets, thought to be a team destined to win gold.

This was also the year that free-market capitalist Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States. Throughout the ‘80s, Reagan worked to set the United States on course to some of the most prolific years in that nation’s history through tax cuts and an overall reduction in the size and control of government. In sharp contrast, the ‘80s were dark years in Russia’s history. The Soviet Union, as it was then known, faced a stagnant economy and steep unemployment, leading the near bankrupt government to raise tax rates in an attempt to keep itself afloat, only to collapse in 1991.

Throughout that time, the NHL was experiencing a European invasion of young, fresh, highly-skilled, motivated players. The athletes came to the North America from the Soviet Union, Czech Republic, Germany, and other European nations to not only play hockey in the most notable league in the world, but in many situations, to avoid oppression from their governments, to safely make a living for their families, and exploit their God-given talents.

Now, just 30 years later, a role-reversal is beginning to occur. Talent is beginning to leave North America, finding home in a league operated under a government that once drove players from their own nation to North America’s premier hockey league, the NHL. A new Russian-based hockey league, the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), was created in the post-Soviet Union nations in the fall of 2008. The league has attracted some fine talent, including youngsters trying to break into the NHL as well as former stars trying to regain some of their past glory. But this is not the only caliber of player moving to Russia to play in the KHL.

Some of the world’s top Russian talent has been leaving the NHL to play in the KHL, despite having potentially many years left to play in the NHL. These players include Sergei Fedorov, Sergei Zubov, Dmitri Kalinin, Viktor Kozlov and Alexei Zhitnik. However, these departures are not surprising to most because of the opportunity for Russian players to return to their own nations to earn similar salaries that they could have abroad.

The most shocking part of the story is the growing list of big name former NHL stars that have signed contracts to play in the KHL despite not being Russian nationals. Notable names include superstar Jaromir Jagr (Czechoslovakian), Jiri Hudler (Czechoslovakian), Jozef Stumpel (Slovakian), Bryan Berard (American), Trevor Letowski (Canadian), Richard Zednik (Slovakia), Radek Bonk (Czechoslovakian), and tough-guy Chris Simon (Canadian).

What could have drawn such a big number of high caliber former NHL players from around the world to a newly established league? It’s especially puzzling considering the number of players complaining of poor playing conditions and traveling arrangements, difficulty adjusting to a new Russian culture and language, and rumours of payment problems on top of requirements that Russian teams have a maximum of five non-Russian players. Why would any player suffer through conditions in the KHL when the hallowed NHL still has room for players like Jagr and Fedorov? The answer, of course, is money.

Many former NHL players are transferring to the KHL for lucrative, big dollar contracts, bringing instant recognition and publicity to the new league. Many NHL supporters are not concerned about this sudden drain, believing that the problem will balance itself out. They feel that such a young league can not continue to outspend a better established, better organized, higher quality, and better marketed league.

The thought is that the KHL will either go bankrupt, or will have to choose between a rock and a hard place: either spending all of their money on a few high caliber players or spending their money prudently by creating a more balanced team, made up of players that can’t make the NHL. These are all good points, but the overarching problem is not that simple.

A major factor that NHL supporters who dismiss this seemingly temporary shift in the tide have been neglecting is the government and its role in the United States. The Russian government has learned many valuable economic lessons from the fall of the Soviet Union, including the need to maintain low tax rates in order to promote long-term economic growth.

In response to the same set of events, the United States government has slowly made our nation less competitive in the global marketplace by maintaining high business and individual tax rates, in turn dramatically affecting all parts of the economy, now including the NHL and its stars.

The top Federal Income Tax Rate in the United States in 2009 is 35 per cent, beginning at $372,950 of income (when filing as “married filed jointly,” “single,” or “head of household”) or $186,475 of income (when filing as “married filed separately”). The NHL collective bargaining agreement has the minimum salary for NHL players for the 2009-2010 season at $500,000, so every player in the NHL will be subject to the 35 per cent Federal Income Tax.

Further, states like New York and California charge another 10 per cent on top of the federal rate, with even some cities (like New York City) having even more income taxes.

In contrast, after Russia’s 2001 Tax Reform, the Federal Income Tax Rate for 2009 is 13 per cent for an individual that is a Russian resident. That’s an across the board, flat tax rate, no matter how much you make. Non-resident Russians are taxed at a Federal Income Tax Rate of 30 per cent, still lower than the top American tax burden.

The difference between the two tax rates is astonishing when applied to hockey players’ salaries. Jagr is reportedly making US$10 million annually in the KHL. After taxes, he will be charged US$1.3 million dollars annually in tax. If playing in the NHL under the same salary, Jagr would be charged at least an additional US$1.7 million in tax, plus possible additional income taxes from his state and/or city.

Where would you play? Could you deal with a slightly less luxurious locker room or hotel room over the course of a season for at least an additional US$1.7 million dollars? The reality is that many NHL players, all of whom have limited careers, would take the tradeoff to make the jump to the KHL.

You are likely used to seeing franchises deal with tax implications by doing things like shopping around for the best location for their stadiums based on tax breaks and the like. Unfortunately, the tax burden on players is a heavy one that isn’t possible to avoid. A new factor in top hockey players’ decision-matrix about to where to play is now what the nations’ tax policies are and how they will affect their income.

As for the leagues themselves, although the NHL is not to be operated for profit, it is subject to the United States Federal Corporate Tax Rate of 35 per cent, lowered to that rate by Reagan in the ‘80s and unchanged since, despite nations around the world seeing the advantages of low corporate tax rates.

On top of the federal rate, the NHL, LP is registered in my home state, New York, a state which since 1977 has had the dubious distinction of having the highest or second highest state/local corporate tax burden in the nation. While in sharp contrast, the KHL is subject to the standard Russian Corporate Profit Tax in 2009 of 20 per cent and local tax rates based on property ownership. Companies also may pay a 9 per cent tax on dividend income.

Over the years, Americans have been getting used to seeing the best players in the world and with good reason, as we pay a high premium for our entertainment. But seeing the best players in the world play hockey is an even higher priority for Russians. As the Russian economy continues to grow and high tax rates continue to put the NHL and its teams at a competitive disadvantage, NHL players will continue to realize a greater draw to play in the KHL.

As a result, National Hockey League fans are in jeopardy of losing the best players in the world to leagues that can better compete in the global marketplace for players because of their nations’ lower tax rates.

So yes, politics is now involved in every aspect of our lives, but if you care about the NHL or your franchise, you’ll begin to get involved in politics to work to keep the top players here in the NHL. The same problem will also occur in other sports, as various leagues around the world begin to take advantage of their built-in government benefit of a hospitable money-making climate for businesses and individuals.

From MLB players heading to leagues in Japan (where the federal individual tax rate is 5 percentage points lower than in the U.S.) to soccer leagues keeping the majority of stars in European leagues
(Germany: a federal income tax rate that’s 19 percentage points lower; UK: seven percentage points lower; Spain: five percentage points lower), American sports leagues need the federal government to lower income tax rates to have a chance at competing in the global marketplace.

As the world continues to “shrink,” it becomes more and more essential to maintain low income tax rates to attract the best talent. If the government fails to make significant changes, the departure of top quality players from the NHL will continue to happen until none are left.

On the drive home last night, Greg Brady had Rick Bucher, an NBA analyst for EPSN on. After they talked NBA playoffs, the topic turned to your Toronto Raptors. It was interesting to get a U.S. perspective on the Raptors as I always get the feeling that the Toronto press is a little too in love with the players and the team. Just my opinion, anyways. In any event, here a few tidbits from what Bucher had to say to Brady. I would provide audio but 640 doesn’t have it posted on their awesome web site.

On Jay Triano re-signing: A safe hire, not sure there was anyone marketable better out there right now. Although Bucher didn’t use the word, the adjective he should have used was vanilla as in plain. Now, little TSM loves him some vanilla ice cream, and we all know there is nothing wrong with vanilla. When I take little TSM to a Ben and Jerry’s or to one of those Marble Slabs and he gets vanilla I get a tad bit annoyed.

On Chris Bosh: This is the summer of Bosh. The Raptors aren’t (according to Bucher anyway) convinced that Bosh wants to stay here. If they ask the question of Bosh and don’t get a resounding yes they will flip him before the start of the season. Bucher said that Bosh is a high character guy who played through some injuries last year. He isn’t sure he is a league superstar. He also isn’t sure that Bosh isn’t frustrated with the lack of success compared with those in his draft class. The most interesting comment from Bucher was that he said he had talked to other league executives about Bosh and the executives were surprised that Bosh wasn’t able to get the Raptors into the playoffs. The suggestion was that if Bosh were another player (Dwyane Wade or LeBron James are two that I can remember him naming) there was little question in the executives’ minds that the Raptors would be in the playoffs. Unfair comment? Perhaps. It’s interesting that this is the mindset out there of the decision makers. Bucher did say that he isn’t sure that Bosh has categorically told the Raptors he won’t be back as Bucher’s colleague Stephen A. Smith suggested in his much publicized report earlier in the season, but Bucher does think that Bosh hasn’t sent the Raptors any signals that he wants to stay.

All interesting banter. Should be interesting to see how Bryan Colangelo stick handles through this offseason.

Thanks to a reader who sent me this after the post above. I am not going to comment at all as I am in no position to do so. Here is the gist of the article in the San Jose Mercury News: the Golden State Warriors are hoping to win Tuesday’s NBA draft lottery or at the very least move from No. 7 to No. 2 or 3 (sound familiar?). If they don’t win the lottery and move up that way then they have targeted Bosh as the next best thing. Here is what was written in the article about that:

“The main targeted veteran, I’m told, is Toronto’s Chris Bosh –- no surprise, given how hard Riley tried to get him at last year’s trade deadline.

Though Bosh is a big member of the great free-agent class of 2010, and therefore potentially available in a deal this summer if the Raptors are scared of losing him next year, it’s hard to see Toronto giving him away.
They’re going to want Anthony Randolph. The Warriors are going to have to think hard about anything involving Randolph, though I’m sure Don Nelson wouldn’t be broken-hearted about it. Heck, Randolph’s not going to be in his prime until Nelson is long retired, so why would Nellie want any part of him?

But could the Warriors trade Randolph, at 19 with a chance to be one of the top 10 players in the league in a few years…for a possible one-year rental of Bosh, who may or may not ever be a superstar?
(I guess Nelson thinks Bosh would be an idea [sic] big man in a scatter-ball mania.)

Another huge problem: To get Bosh, the Warriors almost have to include Andris Biedrins (no problem for Nellie, obviously) for value and contract purposes, but Biedrins remains a base-year player until June 30 next summerOOPS THAT CHANGES THINGS.

That’s complicated, but basically it means that a Biedrins-involved trade has to be a monster monetary deal (involving three or four big contracts going both ways) for Biedrins’ deal to fit into any trade. Update: But only until June 30. Again: OOPS.

Randolph and Biedrins for Bosh doesn’t even come close to a workable NBA trade. The money’s all wrong. The Warriors and Raptors would have to build another $10M or so both ways into this deal.

Also, by my reading of the CBA, I don’t believe Jamal Crawford can be traded until and unless he DOES NOT opt-out on June 30. It’s like the Baron Davis situation last year–Crawford, for trade purposes, is considered a potential free agent, and you can’t trade pending F/As until July 1.

If Crawford opts-in, which is likely, he can be traded after June 30, since he will then have two years left on his deal.

If he opts-out and becomes a free agent, then the Warriors can still sign-and-trade his rights after June 30. But, unless I’m wrong, Crawford CANNOT BE MOVED in the period from now until July 1, which means zero movement for him at draft time (June 25).

Obviously another candidate to be moved: Monta Ellis, but he’s also a base-year player until June 30 next summer.

Much easier to trade: Brandan Wright and Marco Belinelli, but they don’t have much value, thanks, in no small part, to Nelson’s handling of them.”

Okay NBA fans tell the rest of us…what should we think?

Not that there is much left to read, but the story can be found here.

BY ROB REATH

So the Philadelphia Flyers were once again ousted by the Pittsburgh Penguins this season, only this time — to add insult to injury — they could have won and for long periods looked as though the might. I suppose that suggests they competed hard and made a contest of it, and yet I am very much dissatisfied with the myriad Flyer problems that remain in my view, not properly addressed. I will break my assessment down into four categories: Players, Coaching, Management, and the Future.

Players

First, the glaring lack of a big physical defenseman who can drop bodies with hard checks and move the puck continues to be an issue with the Flyers for reasons that can only somewhat be excused by cap issues and availability of players who fit the physical/offensively skilled hybrid mold. My editor always argues that these players don’t grow on trees, to which I argue, no, they are found in hockey rinks playing major junior, college, and various other levels of the game.

Under GM Paul Holmgren, the Flyers have significantly improved their criteria in terms of what they look for in defensemen and they have some good ones coming up the pipeline. This does not completely excuse them for leaving a soft D unit out there all season; while Andrew Alberts has some size and can be strong in a limited role, his finesse game has extreme limitations.

Randy Jones plays a decent enough positional game and can produce occasionally, and while that suggests two-way play, apart from one unlikely hit that resulted in a suspension, he is almost completely devoid of bringing any physical game to speak of whatsoever. He does enough seemingly to keep from getting traded. This is the very reason I would trade him, and replace him with a more passionate player who can move the puck well and throw a hit. I am not asking for Scott Stevens or Dion Phaneuf; a player like Brooks Orpik would do just fine.

That may seem sacrilegious to a Flyer fan, but the reality is Philadelphia’s defense can skate, but at times seem almost fearful of the corners and clearing the crease. This is hockey, not curling, and the defense needs some snarl. I would hang on to Matt Carle, as he upped his game for the playoffs, which is a commodity that cannot be overvalued.

However, I would let go of Alberts because re-signing him will cost a higher draft pick and Luca Sbisa can definitely have his spot – will likely bringing more to the table.

Kimmo Timonen is fine as is. Braydon Coburn just needs to work on his consistency and he should be the player we all see so much potential in.

Ryan Parent may have the brightest future of the pack as a shutdown defenseman without an offensive game — with the exception Sbisa, who hopefully will be just as good defensively and more than capable of contributing on offense.

So, to summarize: Alberts and Jones, adios.

As for the forwards, the only players I would deal are Joffrey Lupul, because his streaky play leaves too many wasted games for players who bring it every shift, and Riley Cote, because you cannot justify a roster spot for a fighter who loses more than he wins. He’s a great guy, but there are better players to be had for his position.

Coaching

The enigma that is John Stevens has confounded and perplexed me for some time, but my patience has run out. Last season, Holmgren cautioned that the team can’t afford to have another 10-game losing steak that nearly cost them a playoff spot, and by gosh, Stevens did something about it. The Flyers had no long winless streaks other than a stumble out of the gate, yet they also failed to win more than five games in a row after November.

Stevens gets career years from players and can get strong individual performances but he seemingly cannot get the team interested in keeping a lead, playing hard for a full 60 minutes or to stop turning over the puck more often than they enjoy proper break outs. Stevens is a great coach of individuals, but not a good team coach.

His treatment of rookies is laughable. Claude Giroux tied Mike Richards for most playoff points this year, but got so little playing time and was barely employed on the power play despite clearly exhibiting superior play than most of his teammates. Sbisa, meanwhile, was only allowed to sub for a suspended Daniel Carcillo at wing and, even then, he was given precious few minutes.

Stevens may well become a great coach, but he plays favourites without getting the optimum results which is not the same as leaning on your strongest players because they get the job done. Sitting rookies is fine, but only if you have the horses that are doing a better job, and this was not the case in this situation.

Reggie Lemelin has been the goaltending instructor for years and years and never brought anyone to the elite level. I think there is room for new blood in this area as well.

Larry Robinson, Terry Crisp and Jacques Lemaire — among others — have either won a Cup as coach or had startling success and are not working in the NHL and none of their teams turned the puck over more than twice per game — if that — most of the time.

Management

I like Holmgren and I love his drafting tendencies, provided we have enough drafting spots left to get good players.

The Flyers need some physical defensemen who can move the puck, not one or the other, they have to do both or teams just capitalize on their weak side and move in anywhere they want. Yes, Holmgren had cap limitations but the Jaroslav Modry, Steve Eminger and, to an extent, Alberts deals were expensive in terms of the returns. The good news is Homer has some gems headed toward the NHL which leads us to the next category.

The Future

It’s really all about the defense. Marc-Andre Bourdon has all kinds of promise; he is a leader, he fights, he nails people with big hits, he scores, he gets assists, he won best defenseman in the QMJHL and he wants to make it in Philly. Kevin Marshall patterns his play after Chris Chelios and plays an agitating shut down game with some offensive ability. Both of these guys are team captains and the Flyers have both waiting in line after Sbisa, so the there’s definitely reason for optimism on the blueline.

I think the James vanRiemsdyk hype is getting a little out of control and while I see him as a good prospect, people are being absolutely ridiculous if they think he is going be capable of doing anything that Eric Lindros did. JVR is a good player if we let him develop. He is nothing at all like Lindros, but he brings his own brand of game and it should be left at that.

vanRiemsdyk is a finesse player with size which is not the same thing as a power forward. That is a big difference, people! I also see him as someone likely to be traded as his commitment to the Flyers vs. his commitment to school seems questionable in some people’s minds.

If any of the trade speculation holds true, the Flyers may get another goaltender and a big defenceman, which is something that would make them quite a force in the East. Time will tell!

By ALEX ZELVIN, Draftbug.com

Despite being a multi-billion dollar industry, online sports betting in the United States currently has an ambiguous legal status. Additionally, even if you overlook its unclear legality, it can be difficult getting money into (and out of) online sportsbooks. That’s a real shame, because having a piece of the action on a game you’re watching can really enhance the enjoyment of sporting events. So can beer, but that’s another story.

Luckily there’s a new alternative (not to beer, but to online sports betting), which has all of the advantages of sports betting, without any of the drawbacks. Daily fantasy sports contests like Draftbug allow players to pick a team of players, and win (or lose) cash based on the statistical performance of those players on that day. Fantasy sports are completely legal, deposits can be made by credit card, and payment or withdrawals by cheque. Unlike traditional fantasy sports, Draftbug doesn’t require a season-long commitment, which is perfect for those among us who are borderline ADD. Sorry…what was I talking about? Oh, right…gambling. Picking a team takes about five minutes, and results are calculated the same day.

Draftbug is currently offering daily basketball and hockey contests and baseball will be available on Opening Day (April 5). Registration is free, and a promotion providing 4,000 player points (which allows entry in $4 of real money contests) has been extended until the end of March.

So what the hell. Get off your duff and give it a shot. Tell them RotoRob sent you and get a free Chinchilla! Okay, not really. But still, mmm…chinchillas. I hear they make great pets.

What a day it was. GM Brian Burke was busy; not as busy as I would have liked, but busy nevertheless.

Here is a review of the deals (in case you didn’t know):

1. The Maple Leafs acquired a 2009 second round draft pick and a conditional draft pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft from the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Nik Antropov.

2. Toronto traded forward Dominic Moore to the Buffalo Sabres for Carolina’s second round draft pick in 2009.

3. Toronto obtained goaltender Olaf Kolzig, defencemen Jamie Heward and Andy Rogers and a fourth round draft pick in 2009 from the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenceman Richard Petiot.

4. The Maple Leafs claimed goaltender Martin Gerber off waivers from the Senators and defenceman Erik Reitz from the Rangers.

Here’s a tour of the reviews:

Damien Cox, Toronto Star

“The Maple Leafs started the day with five picks in this summer’s draft, selections in the first, third, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds. They ended it with eight picks, adding two second rounders and a fourth, as well as an extra conditional selection acquired in the Nik Antropov deal with the Rangers. Nothing spectacular, but certainly necessary. Instead of having one pick in the top 60 selections, the Leafs should have three in the top 50. Instead of having two picks in the top 120, the Leafs now have five.That’s how the restocking of the prospect cupboard starts.”

Interesting that Damien has a positive spin on the Burke’s day…

“Dominic Moore, acquired after waivers last year by John Ferguson, re-signed by Cliff Fletcher and traded away Wednesday by Brian Burke, netted a second-round pick, a net gain for the Leaf organization. And what of Antropov, the 10th overall pick in 1998, moved to Manhattan for a second rounder? Well, the Leafs got a lot of years of service for the Kazakh. We watched him grow from a skinny, confused kid with little ability to speak English into a power forward with scoring ability, not to mention a gentleman and a father. Was he a bust? Well, he didn’t become a star, but look at the other players taken in ‘98. After Vinny Lecavalier went first, the order went David Legwand, Brad Stuart, Bryan Allen, Vitali Vishnevski, Rico Fata, Manny Malhotra, Mark Bell, Mike Rupp and then Antropov. Based on that group, Antropov was a very successful pick by the Leafs. At the end, he was traded because he wasn’t good enough for the dollars he’ll be looking for as a free agent to a team that’s at the very early stages of a long rebuilding period. And if he pans out for the Rangers and helps them win two playoff rounds this spring, the Leafs will get an additional fourth rounder.”

The fact he is so positive scares the hell out of me. Let’s see what the days ahead bring…

Paul Hunter, Toronto Star

“Vesa Toskala is finished for the season. Toskala has been struggling though hip and groin problems and said he would have surgery to correct those issues next week. His spot between the pipes will be filled by former Ottawa Senator Martin Gerber, who the Leafs claimed on re-entry waivers. As expected today, the Leafs also traded Nik Antropov and Dominic Moore, two players who were headed for unrestricted free agency this summer. Antropov went to the Rangers for a second-round draft pick and another conditional draft pick. Moore went to the Buffalo Sabres for a second-round draft pick.”

Just the facts, ma’am!

Stephen Brunt, The Globe and Mail

“Brian Burke has a way with words, and in his current gig, that’s going to come in mighty handy. Yesterday afternoon, at the conclusion of his first signpost day as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was called upon to explain the absence of highlight-reel goals and home runs and one-punch knockouts. The trade deadline had come and gone, leaving the franchise minus a couple of useful pieces they declined to sign for what those players and their agents believed they were worth, Nik Antropov and Dominic Moore. The Leafs are now in possession of a marginal starting goaltender acquired on the waiver wire, Martin Gerber, to replace the now-shelved Vesa Toskala, and have four new drafts picks — two second round, one conditional, one fourth round — to partly fill the gaping hole left behind in that department by previous administrations. But there were no first-rounders acquired, though that was the original asking price for Antropov. There were no bright young prospects added who might some day be part of a contending Leafs team. There was no real blockbuster deal, through which a Tomas Kaberle might have brought something truly significant in return. It was more housekeeping than renovation, which for an understandably anxious fan base might not have been quite the Burkean miracle they had imagined.”

I don’t disagree with anything Brunt says there…

“To get better, the Maple Leafs will have to make far better use of the draft than they have in the recent past. They will have to patiently and skillfully develop those players. They will have to create a positive environment and create cap space so that they can attract free agents. And they will have to get lucky, because however adept Burke is at manoeuvring through the current collective agreement, however savvy he is in his dealings with his peers, at some point his team is going to have to stumble on a franchise player. Today, early in his honeymoon period, most fans are probably willing to take Burke at his word, and to cut him some slack, especially since he declines to make excuses. ‘If you hear me start complaining people should throw something heavy at me,’ he said. ‘I work in one of the greatest cities in the world, I work for one of the greatest teams in the world and we’ll get this sorted out. I didn’t think it was going to be an easy or quick process and it’s not going to be.’ But check in again in a couple of years, on another deadline day, in what will likely be a rather different NHL, with the Leafs’ building process advanced, the stakes higher, and the movie presumably well into its second or third act.”

This passage could have been written at any time during the last nine months. Nothing new here folks, nothing at all.

Tim Wharnsby, The Globe and Mail

“The Toronto Maple Leafs restocked their supply of draft picks, but also have left their roster bare to play out the remainder of this season. Not only did the Leafs deal forwards Nik Antropov and Dominic Moore for a pair of second-round selections yesterday, they also shut down goaltender Vesa Toskala.”

And this is a bad thing? Plummet, Maple Leafs, plummet, for god’s sake!

“Although such talk is taboo, the move enhances the Leafs’ chances of sliding into the bottom five in the league standings and being eligible for the draft lottery. With 18 games remaining, the Leafs are 23rd in the 30-club NHL, six points up on the 26th-place Colorado Avalanche.”

Now you are talking. That is more like it.

“As a fill-in for Toskala, the Leafs plucked Ottawa Senators goalie Martin Gerber off re-entry waivers. Gerber will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and he hasn’t played a NHL game since Jan. 8, when the Senators buried him in the minors. What made the Toskala decision intriguing was that Leafs general manager Brian Burke publicly scolded Toskala last month for poor work habits in practice. The harsh words prompted the Leafs goalie to inform his boss that he took it easy in practice because of his chronic hip problems. After the information session, Toskala, Wilson, Burke and the medical staff discussed their options. When surgery as soon as possible was agreed upon as the best course of action, Burke and his management team began searching for another goalie last week. ‘I have been talking with the team and I’m on the same page,’ Toskala said. ‘We made a decision that is best for me.’”

I am calling bullshit on this one. Bill Watters and Greg Brady have been saying for weeks that Toskala hasn’t been healthy. Then Burke attacks him. I don’t know why, but I am just not buying the chain of events as they are being laid out. This doesn’t smell right. To be honest, who cares?

“Both Moore and Antropov, who were kept out of the Leafs lineup on Tuesday, were moved because they are set to become unrestricted free agents this summer. Antropov was the first to be traded. He went to the Rangers for a second-round pick and a conditional pick. Moore went down the highway to the Buffalo Sabres, also for a second-round selection. These were moves expected to be made by Burke, who will now turn his attention to signing two or three U.S. College players, then the draft and possible trades there as well as the free-agency frenzy in July. ‘We intend to be aggressive on a lot of different fronts,’ Burke said.”

Let’s hope so. I am not thrilled with what happened today. I wanted more. Having said that, it appears to be a start. Maybe more tearing down is needed before the rebuild starts…

Lance Hornby, Toronto Sun

“Brian Burke is committed to rebuilding the Maple Leafs, but other National Hockey League teams were just as determined not to let him do it with their best draft picks. Burke’s attempt to wrestle a first rounder for Nik Antropov and a high second rounder for checking centre Dominic Moore were only partially successful on a day when the Leafs also shut down goalie Vesa Toskala with hip/groin surgery and added goalie Martin Gerber and defenceman Eric Reitz on waivers. Antropov is taking his act to Broadway, dealt to the New York Rangers at today’s 3 p.m. deadline for a second rounder and a conditional pick, likely based on the Rangers making the playoffs. Toronto began the day with a first pick in the top 10 at the June draft and hoping to parlay Antropov into another, but had no second or fourth rounder. It turned out just one first-rounder changed hands as the anticipated slow day because of salary cap concerns came to pass.”

Like his counterpart at the Star, Lance offers no opinion.

Bruce Arthur, National Post

“But you want a deal that epitomizes the new NHL? Try one of the day’s final trades, in which the Toronto Maple Leafs sent an undistinguished gentleman named Richard Petiot to cash-strapped Tampa Bay for the expiring contracts of Olaf Kolzig (torn biceps), Jamie Heyward (concussed), minor-leaguer Andy Rogers, and a fourth-round pick. Kolzig and Heyward are unlikely to play a game for the Leafs; Rogers, from all appearances, is an afterthought. So basically the Leafs are paying the salaries of Kolzig and Heyward until the summer – a total of about US$500,000 – to get a fourth-round pick, while the Lightning save some cash. Toronto can afford it; Tampa cannot. Welcome to the new NHL. ‘I think part of it is people are scared to death of the 2010-11 season,’ Burke said. ‘The coming season, what the cap’s going to be, the cap will be based largely on this year’s revenues, and most of our revenues were in the tills before the bad news really hit. So I think it’s artificial in terms of what revenues will be in a year. But because the cap always follows 12 months of financial developments, my sense is that teams – and I know I am – are scared to death of 2010-11 in terms of committing money or locking up guys. This is where, if you go back to when guys were doing six, seven, 12-year, 15-year deals and patting themselves on the back for how smart they were, I think some teams are really going to regret going that far along.’”

This is not editorial on Burke or the Leafs per se, however, it’s very interesting to see how Burke used cap space and wealth to acquire a later draft pick.

Mike Brophy, Sportsnet

“Toronto’s Brian Burke likely hoped to make a bigger splash than he did as he tries to resurrect the Maple Leafs, but with Antropov and Moore gone, and Martin Gerber tending the net down the stretch, perhaps the Leafs stand a better chance of getting a lottery pick. That, for the record, is a good thing especially if they get John Tavares or Victor Hedman.”

Here’s hoping…

Jim Kelley, Sportsnet

“One could even make a case that the winner is the one that comes up with the most innovative way to perhaps legally circumvent the rules of transaction, much the way Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke is attempting to do in essentially buying a fourth-round draft pick for $500,000 by buying off injured and likely retiring players via a complicated transaction with the Tampa Bay Lightning.”

If it weren’t legal, do you think the league would have passed it?

“Take Burke’s deal with Tampa Bay. Burke may have done something outside the spirit of the rules while working completely within them. He traded Richard Petiot to the Lightning for veteran goalie Olie Kolzig, Jamie Heward, Andie Rogers and a fourth-round pick. Knowing full well that Petiot isn’t likely to ever be a player in the NHL, that Heward hasn’t made it (and likely never will) and that Rogers is also looking at the end of his career, he essentially delivered about a half million dollars in cap space to the Lightning in exchange for a fourth round pick. If this kind of transaction holds up, Burke will have won a battle he’s been losing for years, that being the ability to trade cap space from a team that has it to a team that doesn’t. This bears a whole lot of watching.”

A GM has to do what he can within the confines of the rules. That is a two way street. The Bolts are tight on cash and need any break they can get. The leafs needed a pick and took some dead weight from the Bolts and turned it into a pick.

Howard Berger, National Post

“What seems like an emotional let-down today for fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs may ultimately be viewed as the perfect beginning to a long, complicated process. And, don’t fool yourself for even a second into thinking there are any short-cuts in the task of properly re-structuring the Maple Leafs, a franchise that only now – four years after the fact – is starting to be managed compatibly in the post-lockout NHL. Brian Burke was depicted by some as a media manipulator with his tempered comments of the past couple of weeks. He was merely lying in the weeds – managing expectations in the unseemly event he couldn’t re-shape the hockey club with a few bold strokes. In the end, however, Brian was typically shooting straight. He warned observers not to work themselves into a frothing mess over the Leafs’ trade deadline possibilities, suggesting as recently as Tuesday night that it was only the first step in his long-range plan.”

I think Howie is right (I know, two blogs in a row). Lots of us were hoping for much more today and are disappointed with the little that Burke did. I guess in time we will see if it was enough.

“Whether or not that plan actually lifts the hockey club out of its perennial quagmire remains to be seen, and will obviously determine if Burke was, indeed, the best man for the job. But, on the day of his first trade deadline with the Leafs, Brian kept his word. He mentioned on numerous occasions that his primary goal in this initial step was to re-stock the franchise with draft picks that were lost in recent trades, and he did exactly that – acquiring two second-rounders, a fourth-rounder and a conditional selection. In bartering for those picks, he vowed not to take on wasteful salary – contracts of middling players that extend into the 2010-11 season, when the global economic crunch is likely to affect the league’s payroll cap. Again, Burke stuck to his guns. And, the players he moved – Nik Antropov and Dominic Moore – were widely rumored to be going elsewhere as they prepare to test unrestricted free agency this summer.”

Credibility is a good thing in this town. I still am not buying the Toskala thing one bit, but that is a discussion for another day. While all the pundits were yelling bullshit, that Burke is merely playing poker, the reality is he was being pretty straightforward. Not only that, but his near f-bomb on the TSN deadline marathon was priceless.

“So, really, an outbreak of clinical depression should not be endemic among Leaf fans that chose to pay attention, and viewed the 2009 trade deadline for what it was – a table-setting exercise. Much more anticipation can be reserved for the warm months, when Burke will begin to replenish his draft stock, and will have more cap room to work with in free agency than most other big-market teams. It will enable him to sign a premium talent such as Richmond Hill native Mike Cammalleri – a bonafide 40-goal shooter that is young enough, at 27, to be a vital cog on a contending team three or four years down the road. It will allow Burke to try and deal for a top-end player with a contract that does extend beyond next season, now that he eschewed taking on fringe holdovers at the deadline. And, the process of fashioning the Leafs into a winning club will advance to the next level.”

Here Howie heads offside. One, he predicted in his last blog that Burke could make up to six or seven deals if he wanted to. So don’t give me this ‘if you paid attention’ crap. Also, folks, should Burke sign Cammalleri, remember this blog post for when Berger slams Burke for doing so.

“There was much deception from the Leafs – and from Toskala, himself – over the goalie’s suspected groin and hip problems this season. It’s never pleasant to be outright lied to – Ron Wilson, you’ll recall, assured that Toskala’s recent hip examination showed no structural damage – but the Leafs aren’t the only team to go down that path, and it’s understandable that teams would wish to protect their assets in any way possible.”

Hey come on, Howard, it’s not a lie if you know the truth!

“Burke doesn’t yet seem like the “hot shot” he rhetorically called himself on the radio last month. The moves he made at the deadline lacked even a modicum of flair. But, showy maneuvering isn’t the recipe for a pseudo-expansion team with legitimate designs of advancement in today’s NHL. Large steps must be preceded by baby steps.”

Modicum, love it! I don’t necessarily disagree with this comment. I think the Tampa deal was creative, though. Interesting to see Howie give a hat tip to Burke’s moves.

All in all, it was an interesting day. I think the TV networks looked like idiots for being on at 8 a.m. Going from eight to nine hours of coverage translated into an hour of my life I will one day wish I can get back. To me, the big winner of the day was those of you who were on Twitter, and Twitter itself [Note from the Editor: you can now find RotoRob on Twitter]. It was pretty wild to see all the dialogue on it. For those of you who are curious as to what I am talking about, go here and then enter #nhltrade into the search bar and you will see all those who were talking NHL trade deadline over the last several hours. I can tell you that the numbers were staggering. It just proves once again that NHL fans are the most tech savy of any sports fan out there.

Second place goes to the folks over at The Globe and Mail. Their online live blog was good. I don’t think they talked to the room enough, but this was their first time. Coverage on the Fan 590 was weak. Really weak. It started with Hogan and Toth who essentially started the day with nothing to talk about. They seemed almost annoyed to be there. The rest of the day was, well, just boring. I know the moves didn’t really start until later in the afternoon, but man, they didn’t seem to have an real planned programming. I only heard about an hour of Brady and Bill Hayes. In my opinion, it paled in comparison to what the TV guys were doing. Then again, that isn’t a fair comparison.

So technology won the day for me. A buddy hooked me up with his slingbox so i could watch TV on my laptop. It was phenomenal. Add Twitter to that and it was a fun day. Here’s hoping draft days and free agent days are more active in the future. I’ll be back with more thoughts and commentary tomorrow.

Check out more of TSM’s articles here.

It’s a frosty Monday morning, folks. It’s a blustery -15 C here in Toronto. The only place it may be colder is on Brian Burke’s cellphone. There are numerous theories out there this morning as to what is happening and what is going to happen. In essence, they all boil down to two:

Burke is playing rope-a-dope: Set expectations low and over deliver vs. there is no real interest in the Maple Leaf players and therefore Burke’s hands are tied.

Take a look at the Boston-based Tomas Kaberle rumour this morning — Kaberle for first round pick, a third round pick and a prospect. Burke quickly “pissed” all over it. Why would he do that? Of course it could be because there is no truth to it and Burke is a straight shooter. He said that he hasn’t talked to Boston about Kaberle. Now, let’s take a look at that comment too. Why would he say that, besides the fact that it is truthful?

Isn’t it in Burke’s best interest to at least give the impression that the wheels are in motion? With the Kaberle rumour, Burke not only shot down that specific story but shot down any talks involving the Leafs and Bruins as they relate to Kaberle. If you are Burke and you are hoping to get your socks knocked off, wouldn’t it be in your best interest to have as many teams think that you are talking about Kaberle as possible? Isn’t that how the game is played?

Let me throw this out there for a second. I believe that in many a hockey markets, owners react to news they read in the press. I am convinced of it. The owner of team A reads that the Bruins have offered X Kaberle, a player whom he has heard that his team may like and therefore he reacts. He calls or goes to visit his GM. In other words, I believe that the reason that stories get scooped in the media is that teams use the media as vehicles to help them get info and get shit done.

In some markets, the press (what’s left of them) can make or break an executive’s career. I would say that the press killed JFJ here in Toronto but I think it’s safe to say he did it himself. I think there is tremendous pressure on a GM from owners and I am positive that owners react to what they read or hear in the press. I think that GMs react to that pressure, or are forced to.

Which brings us back to Burke. From the beginning of training camp we have been told several, honest, not so flattering things about our Maple Leafs. Everything from Nik Antropov being the only top forward on the team, to the team being devoid of any real talent. We have also been told to be patient, that this could take some time. We are all fine with this. We have recognized that this season is little more than a necessary evil; we are doing little but hoping that the calendar would move a little faster than it is, without any real care for current results.

There are three specific days or times of the year that are actually important to us. They are milestones in the development of our team. These are: the draft, the opening of the free agent period and the trade deadline. For Maple Leaf fans that is it. That’s all we got. So people can or should understand the pent up energy as one of these days approaches. Burke is strong enough not to really care about that. He has the spine to do whatever he thinks is in the best interest of the team that employs him. However, like Cliff before him, he does have an ego.

Matt Millen will be forever remembered as the GM which built the first and only (so far) NFL team to not win a single game in an entire season. This is now Burke’s team. It has been for a few months. This is his shot to make his first imprint on it. Trading a pick for Brad May was one move. The next couple of days sets up the beginning of Burke’s legacy here. For now, all is quiet.

I will say it again. There isn’t a single guy on the roster I wouldn’t move for the right package. For 50 per cent of the guys, give me a draft pick back — any pick — and I am good. The rest, it would be nice to get an earlier draft pick for. It says here that Burke’s inability to move players for picks, or use available cap space to his advantage will be detrimental to the franchise. Does it all have to happen now? No. Does it have to start? Yes. To hell with the rest of the season…

For more content from TSM, visit his site Torontosportsmedia.com.

TSM of Torontosportsmedia.com is back with another guest spot for us.

Hi, folks. I had a great session with Bob McKenzie Thursday as our first TSM Chat gues. Here is the audio for your listening pleasure. There is about 10 minutes of silence while I waited for Bob to join in. The audio on my end isn’t great as I had to use my cell. Keep your ears open for the next one — pencil in next Wednesday night at 9 p.m. for the TSM general chat.

Here is a brief review of what was discussed

• We talked about the big deal of the day.
• We talked about Bob’s background.
• We talked about the effect of the Internet on his life.
• We talked about rumours for the upcoming draft.

Listen here.

Editor’s Note: Maybe your fantasy hockey team is sucking more than a $10 whore. You’re rapidly losing interest (hell, the other day you found yourself listening to women’s diving on the radio for your sports fix), yet there’s still several weeks left in the season. What to do? Hell, screw your current team and head on over to Draftbug.com, where you can dabble in very short fantasy seasons (how about daily leagues?). Don’t forget to tell the dudes at Draftbug.com that RotoRob sent ya. Every time one of our readers signs up for one of their contests, a box of Skittles arrives on our doorstep. Life is good.

BY ALEX ZELVIN, Draftbug.com

Traffic is beginning to increase on Draftbug. It’s likely that within the next few weeks, larger fantasy hockey contests will be available, with six, 10, 20 or more players in each. To succeed in these, you’ll need to keep one important principle in mind: in large tournaments with top heavy payouts, always use a high variance strategy. In other words, it does you no good to play it safe and go for second place in a winner-take-all contest.

This principle applies to all types of contests or tournaments, whether you’re playing fantasy sports, poker, or anything else. However, it’s easier to apply in some arenas than others. Draftbug fantasy hockey may just be the easiest place to profit from it.

One of the best ways to increase variance in your score in any fantasy contest is to pick players whose scores will be highly correlated. Draftbug hockey uses a scoring system that makes this very easy to do. Picking players who play on the same line is one of the keys. Whenever one scores a goal, the others are likely to get assists. Most of the time, they’re either all going to have good games on the same day, which is the key to running up a high enough score to win a large contest with six or more people entered. Additionally, players are rewarded for their plus/minus, which is generally going to correlate well with whether their goalie scores 15 points for winning the game, and also will have some correlation with the goalies’ success at preventing goals.

So the key to winning at Draftbug hockey is pretty simple: as much as possible, pick linemates and their goalie. Draftbug’s hockey scoring system allows such great correlation between picks, that this strategy should make you a consistent long-term winner.

I offer you just two warnings related to this: The first is that high variance only helps you in large tournaments. In a head-to-head contest, you should simply focus on picking the best team you can, without regard to the correlation among your players’ scores. The second warning is that Draftbug does not allow you to pick all your players from the same team. To maintain its status as fantasy sports rather than gambling, anybody who uses an entire team made up of players from the same team needs to be disqualified. So make sure that you mix at least one player from another team into your squad.

BY TSM

Editor’s Note: This article comes to us courtesy of Torontosportsmedia.com, a web site that focuses on the sports journalism scene in T.O. We will soon be engaging in a content-sharing arrangement with this site, so here’s a taste.

The world is going to hell in a hand basket. Unemployment is at a recent high, people are losing jobs, homes, etc. There is so much to talk about and yet the editors of the Toronto Sun in Friday’s paper actually had the balls to not only write about Mats Sundin’s return, but to shame Leaf fans into cheering for the guy. Are you kidding me? A freaking editorial on Sundin’s return? Pertinent snippets from the editorial and other stories on this issue can be found in quotes below.

“As hockey players say, the fans pay for the tickets and they have a right to cheer or boo whom they please. But we hope fans at the Air Canada Centre tomorrow night cheer Mats Sundin when he takes the ice for the Vancouver Canucks. In his first trip back to the ACC in an opponent’s uniform, Sundin deserves respect. ”

What a total load of crap. Utter, 100 per cent crap. He “deserves” respect. He plays for another team! Since when are we “supposed to” cheer another team? We fans of Toronto teams take a beating from the press. We are suckers, idiots, too quiet, too cheap, too die-hard, too biased and now this? Enough.

This isn’t an attack on Sundin. This is a matter of fact. When he retires and gets his jersey raised to the banners that will be the time for respect. We are supposed to cheer a member of the opposition now?

“Anyone who doubts that, need only look at them this year, without him. There’s not much worth watching.”

With Sundin and the rest of his “crew” over the last three years, what exactly was there worth watching? That is not a condemnation on No. 13. It’s a fact. The results over the last nearly four seasons — with or without Sundin — have been the same, so don’t give me that crap.

“Sundin grew into an NHL superstar in a Leaf uniform and a lock for the Hockey Hall of Fame. He merits our respect because he’s earned it. The old-fashioned way. One game at a time.”

I agree 100 per cent, he was a terrific athlete and player and representative of our team. We don’t have to cheer him Saturday night. He plays for another team. Every time Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux touched the puck in the middle of their legendary careers they got booed. We as fans don’t cheer the opposition (unless of course you are a paying member of tank nation). When those guys came to town later in a non playing life or on their last visit, when they were honoured, they got what the respect they deserved.

“Some will bitch Sundin never led the Leafs to a Stanley Cup, even as they praise other captains who failed to do exactly the same thing. Some will whine Sundin should have waived his no-trade clause last year for some late-season draft picks or talent. We don’t hold any of it against him. Sundin simply exercised a no-trade clause he fairly negotiated. It wasn’t a sneak attack.”

None of those are reasons not to cheer for him. I would have preferred he won a Cup, but that alone doesn’t warrant him not getting cheered. Let’s get this no trade clause thing over once and for all. Oddly enough, The Sun’s Steve Simmons hit one out of the park on Friday, especially on the issue of Sundin’s no-trade clause:

“The last important decision Mats Sundin made as captain of the Maple Leafs set his beloved hockey team back several seasons. There cannot be much disputing of that. Sundin’s decision to remain a Maple Leaf last winter was a determination based on loyalty, his own built-in naivete and a position he was entitled to take by the very contract he had signed. But his public rationalizations for not relinquishing the no-trade aspect of his contract have been proven over time to be contradictory, baseless or, at the very worst, dishonest. He said one thing and did the other. He said he couldn’t envision himself in another uniform. He said he didn’t believe in being a rental player, that to live through the Stanley Cup process, you had to start from the beginning.”

Bingo. He owed the team and its fans nothing. Nothing. He had, if nothing else earned a reputation of being truthful, so many hockey critics said it over and over — Sundin is a genuine guy. We were told to believe what he said. When Sundin said he wasn’t willing to move after talking to Borje Salming and that he always had believed you have to be with a team from day one, we were told to honour that. That is fine. I had no problem with that then. I have a huge problem when he goes back on that word. Can he change his mind? Of course he can. We all do. We certainly do in our own lives every day. We all don’t look into a TV camera with a tear in eye and say something as powerful and meaningful as he did. When you do so, and you go back on your word (lie) you better be prepared for the repercussions.

“If I were a paying customer of the Leafs, overpaying for a less-than-capable NHL product, I would boo Sundin with fervour. I would hold him partly responsible for making Brian Burke’s job as onerous as it is. You can’t play both sides of the fence. You can’t say you are staying out of loyalty, out of passion, and then do the opposite, without angering the passionate, without being held responsible for some of the carnage you left behind.”

Exactly. That, from Simmons, in comparison to this from his editors, is the gospel:

“And let’s get real. Leaf management was never serious about building a Stanley Cup contender around Sundin. Where were the wingers Number 13 needed when he was in his prime? The seats were full and so were the owners’ pockets. The Leafs made Sundin rich, too. What decent NHL player isn’t? But more than a superstar, Sundin was that increasingly rare phenomenon in hockey and professional sport — a role model. Tomorrow night, cheer. He deserves that much.”

Raise your hand if you truly believe, in your heart of hearts, brain of brains, despite what Wilbur says, that the owners didn’t want to win. That is complete and utter horsekaka (check out Private Eyes starring Tim Conway and Don Knotts for more). It is such a hollow line of crap. Where they successful? No. Did they make huge mistakes? Yes. Should we be furious? Yes. Did they not want to win? No, that is just plain dumb. Any idea how much more cash they would make if they had won?

“The fact he is a rental player now with Vancouver makes that all the more difficult to digest. Sundin may have been acting out of love for his Maple Leafs in making his decision last season, but his love, in this case, has proven to be selfish, contradictory and externally damaging.”

Someone give Mr. Simmons a prize.

Over at The Globe and Mail, Roy MacGregor takes a more philosophical look at the comeback:

“Still, Sundin is both a special player — 1,332 points in 1,321 NHL games — and a special person, a quiet captain for the Leafs who was both a model of consistency and a model citizen. At least until last year, when he chose to engage his no-trade clause and thereby denied the Leafs the chance to trade him for something, anything, that might have advanced the team’s rebuilding plans. Then there were the embarrassing poker ads on television, Sundin essentially endorsing the wonky notion that there is something sporting in a card game. And then there was the endless hemming and hawing over where he was going — the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa and Vancouver were all in pursuit — only to have him declare the Canucks had been his choice all along. If only he’d just said so.”

I had never really thought about the Poker ad. That actually is pretty funny.

“’I feel good about going back. Toronto is still a home for me. I spent 13 years within the city as a Toronto Maple Leaf, so it’s always going to be part of my heart. At the same time, once the puck drops, it’s going to be a game like any other game.’ Sure. And Barack Obama is going to be a president like any other.”

Exactly. Sundin was less than honest then and he is being less than honest now. The lie he told then was more hurtful, this more recent one more understandable.

Even Damien Cox, who is usually pretty sane when it comes to this stuff, wrote the following:

“But if Maple Leaf fans can imagine any time in the near future that their team will regain a sense of respect around the NHL and become an organization that celebrates excellence over mediocrity, they might want to reconsider their too-frequent reflex to boo. They boo Sidney Crosby like they once booed Bobby Orr, apparently because talent offends them. They showered derision upon Larry Murphy, who promptly moved to Detroit and won a couple of Cups with the Red Wings. They boo Daniel Alfredsson for an alleged crime of disrespect committed, interestingly, against Sundin, mimicking the Leaf captain’s petulant toss of his stick into the audience five years ago. For Sundin on Saturday, however, the only reasonable response should be two-fold. The man deserves a good, hearty round of applause, with a good number of those in attendance on their feet. He may not have contributed more to the Leaf organization than Doug Gilmour or Wendel Clark, but he surely didn’t contribute less and deserves similar treatment. Once the ovation is over, the Leafs should then try to knock his block off. Nothing illegal or cheap, but good, hard hockey that would leave Sundin leaving the ACC thinking it was no fun at all.”

What a farce. Why are people comparing a current player to two retired guys? Why are we comparing guys who got traded away as opposed to one who chose to walk away? The media were equally as culpable for running Murphy out of town as the fans. Every arena in the NHL boos every star player. Is there always a handful of that star player’s jersey in attendance? Yup. Do they still get booed? Hell, yes. Oh, and Damien, that happens in every sports arena in every league in North America. Do Laker fans cheer on LeBron James? Of course not. Do they overpay to see him? Hell, yes. Do some wear his jersey? Yup. Do they boo him? Yes — it’s what fans do!

“That’s how to produce a strong impression that the club has turned the page on the Sundin years and is marching towards a better future with pride rather than wasting time trashing former heroes.”

Ummmm, no. When he retires, honour him. While he plays for another team, you do as Simmons says, you boo. Or as you accuse most Leaf game attendees of doing, you sit on your hands (sorry, I couldn’t resist!).

“Leaf fans, really, should care about only two Sundin related issues. First, that the classy Swede grew sick of the screwed-up manner in which the Toronto operation was being run. Are things different under Brian Burke? We’re still learning the answer to that question. Second, as with any number of good players in recent years, Sundin left town without fetching any assets in return. This is an organization that has consistently been unable to understand that the best time to move athletes is at the peak of their value, not when they’ve outlived their usefulness. None of this was Sundin’s fault. Those who accuse him of lying to the Leafs about his true intentions are fools. Those who would jeer him upon his return belong to the same category.”

It’s fascinating that the guy who called Sundin the most honest and truthful Maple Leaf in recent memory is drinking the Kool-Aid. I agree with Damien’s first point above. I think it is hilarious, mind numbingly funny that out of one side of his mouth Damien says that Sundin didn’t lie, and out of the other Damien blames the buds for not getting anything for Mats. The worst part is that Damien is dead on with one of the Leafs’ biggest problems over the years, especially John Ferguson, Jr., being “unable to understand that the best time to move athletes is at the peak of their value, not when they’ve outlived their usefulness”. That is right. This is why Vesa Toskala should have been dealt last year. It’s why perhaps Matt Stajan and Dominic Moore should be dealt this year.

Berger was just on The Fan previewing his blog (thrilling, I realize). He did say one thing that was interesting. He really loves argyle sweaters. No, just kidding. He said that the reason this is such a big story is because there is nothing else to talk about. To a certain degree, he is right. He is right in that there is a huge void in this town with regard to interesting sports stories. The Hab boys who are being tied to some mobster may be able to tell us which is a better bet, the Leafs or the Raptors will finish dead last. Can you imagine the lull on March 6? At least between now and then we can focus on the deadline. What the hell do we do between that and the draft? Seriously! Back to reality…this is a big story because the press has nothing better to talk about. None of these guys cares about Sundin. They all care about selling clicks or papers. This is controversial and right now there just isn’t anything else out there.

I will say it one last time. People should do what they want to do. Those who cheer are a little bit nostalgic and I suspect a little bit like sheep, doing that which they are told to do. Those who boo, I hope you are booing the opposition, or at the very least the liar. Sundin was one hell of a Maple Leaf player. Some called him the quietest Maple Leaf leader ever. If true, he should have kept his mouth shut; it is that and not his play that got him in to trouble.

Links

Read Simmons here.

Read The Sun idiot editors here.

Read Roy MacGregor here.

Read Cox here.

Editor’s Note: Did you miss the boat on joining an NBA fantasy league this fall? No problem-o. Over at Draftbug.com you can hop in whenever you like and play in a fantasy league that features a shorter season. Try daily or weekly leagues. That sure takes the sting out watching your team suck all season after a crappy draft. Go check out Draftbug.com and tell them RotoRob sent you (we get free Popsicles for every one who signs up!).

BY ALEX ZELVIN, Draftbug.com

I realize that most of you are primarily interested in fantasy baseball, but since it’s basketball season, I thought I’d share some fantasy hoops strategy to help you win at Draftbug and other daily fantasy basketball contests (such as Snapdraft). My approach to this (and it’s worth mentioning that I haven’t had time to try this out yet) is fairly similar to the approach I used to win the 2008 Rotohog Baseball contest. I’d recommend doing the following in MS-Excel:

1. Calculate player statistics in all scoring categories per minute played. This gives you an idea how good the player is when they’re actually in the game.

2. Estimate expected minutes played for all players. Assuming that you don’t follow basketball closely, I’d probably use something like the average of the last five or 10 games. You’re going to miss out on players filling in for very short periods when someone is injured (and those probably are the best values), but at least you’ll also avoid giving a high ranking to most players who were filling in and will be pushed to the bench by returning players. Giving someone who won’t play a top rating is a much worse mistake to make here than underrating someone who will play more than expected. For instance, don’t put too much stock into the fact that Daniel Gibson played 32 minutes Tuesday night in the Cavs’ win over the Raptors. First of all, it was a blowout win. Secondly, with Sasha Pavlovic sidelined with the flu, Boobie got extra run. That won’t happen consistently, so don’t let it fool you into overinflating his value.

3. Make an adjustment to play statistics based on whether the player is home or away. I would add 2 per cent for home players and subtract 2 per cent for players on the road. That may be slightly under adjusting, but in general I’d rather do this than overshoot with my adjustments.

4. Make an adjustment for opponent. You can get fancy with this and try to use statistics for how opponents affect specific statistics or players at specific positions’ stats, but for starters just calculate the impact specific teams have on opponents’ scoring, and adjust projections by that amount. So if a given team allows 95 points per game vs. a league average of 100 points per game, then adjust their opponents’ projections in all categories down the difference (in this case, 5 per cent, so your calculation will be projections x 0.95).

5. Calculate a points projection using Draftbug’s scoring system based on the statistical projection you’ve done.

6. Select a team that balances solid undervalued players based on your points projection with top rated players (who may or may not be underpriced).

You can refine this strategy to be more precise, but I’m fairly certain that it will be a winning one, even in the relatively crude form described above.

John Stevens, the one-time captain and former coach of the AHL Phantoms and the current coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, is facing tough times these days. Let’s explore why.

First, let’s look at how Stevens got to where he is. He wore the Phantoms jersey proudly, leading a team to the Calder Cup, which takes some leadership. Stevens did see a few games with the big club, but was never really the quality of player that makes it in the NHL. Well, that’s no shame — thousands of people spend years targeting the NHL and fall short. It’s not that easy. Still, he made good as a player and was a person of integrity deserving of respect. Further, Stevens has a fine intellect and very composed demeanor which would stead him well when dealing with the Philly media.

He coached an ordinary Phantoms club into the playoffs and as an added surprise, that spring Jeff Carter and Mike Richards were awarded to his club for the playoffs that year. My initial response was “here comes a guaranteed Calder Cup!” However, that’s not really fair because it was a hard fought road to win the title even with Carter and Richards, and the rest of the team had to count on strong performances from less heralded names that all elevated their play.

That Phantoms team functioned as a unit. They were strong and, deservedly so, took home the cup for being the best team in the AHL. Now, some might say that team should have cruised their way yet they had a tougher time of things than they should have, but in hockey you are judged by the results. Stevens was behind a cup winning team and that earned him his shot with the big club.

When Stevens arrived as the Flyers coach, he walked into an organization in disarray. Bob Clarke had put together a club of bigger physical players that had some limitations with mobility. For years, the NHL had shown a consistent history of cutting down on clutch and grab hockey at the beginning of seasons and then relaxing their policies at playoff time. Clarke planned to capitalize on this and make a serious run for the Cup.

He gambled, and he lost.

For once, the League not only stayed true to its annual promise, but in fact took officiating to new levels of pettiness. Diving became more prominent and even up calls became rampant – the arrival of penalty fest was clearly here to stay. Referees became the deciding factor in most games and Clarke’s team got exposed by the speedy Buffalo Sabres and not even those even up calls could save them.

Clarke got criticized and was issued orders to rebuild. He got smaller quicker players right away, but they didn’t have the needed grit. Paul Holmgren replaced Clarke as GM and set the wheels in motion for proper change, but needed time to do it right. Peter Forsberg was in and out of the lineup and was less than suitable as the captain at the time due to nagging foot injuries and other problems.

Stevens got to deal with the mess and the result was the lowest finish in team history. The Flyers finished dead last in the entire NHL and to add insult to injury they didn’t get the first overall pick due to the lottery. Stevens can’t be blamed for the mess he walked into, but he sure didn’t get much accomplished from a results standpoint by any stretch of the imagination.

We were told it wasn’t his fault. He had no players; it was the circumstances; Foppa was injured; it couldn’t be helped. 

Alright, so we gave him a mulligan and looked to following year.

Holmgren made a series of unprecedented moves that boosted Philly’s reputation as place free agents want to play and he brought in some marquee talent. Braydon Coburn, Daniel Briere, Scott Hartnell, Joffrey Lupul, Jason Smith, Kimmo Timonen are all names on black and orange jerseys and the team is suddenly looked fast and hard to play against.

Despite early season successes, there were problems, especially when it came to protecting leads. This problem continued all season and into the playoffs, festering into this season as well.  The team gets scored upon at moments when they shouldn’t. Last minute goals, grudge goals coming moments after the Flyers score, and surrendering two-goal leads has become a regular attraction.

It should be pointed out that the Flyers are often able to over this disturbing trend and reclaim victory despite their own disastrous play. Stevens boasts about the resiliency of this team. Point taken; they never quit, and that’s fabulous.

Still, the issue of allowing teams to come back hard against them and preserving a lead gets lost in translation somehow, and the trend continues.

In last year’s playoffs, the Flyers had Washington on the ropes and stood to win the first round in five games but the Caps fought bravely and came back, forcing Philly to Game Seven overtime before the Flyers put them away. Letting teams come back on them nearly cost them their season in the first round. Once again, hockey judges by people by results and the Flyers won, so all was forgiven.

In the next round against Montreal, the Flyers played extremely well and despite again coughing up two-goal leads repeatedly, they squeaked out a victory in five games. And yes, they caught a few lucky breaks, but winning teams generally do.

Stevens mentions in post-game press conferences that “we felt fortunate to be here.” This confirms opposing coach Guy Carbonneau’s message that Philadelphia got lucky and he didn’t feel such luck could continue. It struck me as odd that Stevens would be so quick to agree, or at lest that he would do so publicly. Talk about sending the wrong message to your team! Stevens frequently punctuated his sentences with expressions like “against a great team like the Canadiens.” 

This may have been a public relations move in a league where it often seems the Flyers end up getting unfair calls by refs and receiving negative media coverage and unprecedented suspensions that cause one to wonder whether it is the player being punished for the transgression or the sweater he wears.

Perhaps Stevens was just trying to do a little repair work on a negative bias toward Philly in the league’s eyes. Maybe the league needs be less judgmental and make fairness its mandate and its only mandate. Can you imagine the task of trying to get Steve Downie a fair trial if the NHL were in charge of justice in the courts?

I’ll skip the five-game Conference Finals loss to the Penguins, including that awful 6-0 trouncing in the last game. The penguins who felt so good about it, they had T-shirts made up calling them State champs, a fictitious title at best. The point is there wasn’t much rallying by the Flyers in that game, injuries or not.

In terms of dealing with the media, Coach Stevens has been exemplary. The Philly press is tough, and you have some people who don’t even like hockey who tend to cover it with a dim view.

Stevens is considerate, thoughtful and as honest as you can be in his position. Apart from Fred Shero, he is probably the best coach Philly has had in this area. Ken Hitchcock was well spoken, but rambled on at times and too often would use the media as a tool to criticize players and drive confidence levels way down as a result.

Not Stevens; he is too refined for that, and it is one of the reasons the Flyers aren’t littered with dissent in the locker room.

Handling players is a risky game because if you are too tough on them in can get you in trouble with team management. Just ask Robbie Ftorek about his differences with Wayne Gretzky and his prompt firing from the Kings in 1989 after that episode.

Conversely, if we look at former Flyer John Paddock (currently the coach of the Phantoms), when he was the Senators coach he gave Ray Emery a bye on a disciplinary issue and that played a role in his being replaced. It’s a fine line, but we’ll come back to Paddock in just a moment.

Stevens generally handles players quite well. For the most part, he takes care of things behind closed doors, but there have been a few questionable situations. When Lasse Kukkonen first arrived in Philly as a former team captain in Finland, he was blocking shots, playing physical, and emerging as a team leader in many areas. The fans took a shine to him, which is no simple trick in Philly, but there were issues between him and Stevens.

Many times, Kukkonen was found in the press box and even when injuries to the defensive corps got way out of control, he received precious few minutes of ice time. His value to the club as at least a solid number four defenseman has been relegated down to that of a semi-serviceable number seven, and this rendered his trade value down to next to nil.

Stevens was playing Jim Vandermeer at the expense of Kukkonen at a point when Vandermeer had never played worse. 

Vandermeer, a Stevens supporter, was traded and still Kukkonen did not benefit or resume his level of play or ice time.

I’m not sugggesting that Stevens has been trying to slowly, calculatingly ruin the player’s career, but if he were going to, this is the exact way to go about it.

Strangely, Briere does not get disciplined for things that other players do, such as ill-timed penalties for lousy reasons.

In the summer, Stevens said that this season Briere would play his system better. It’s hard for me to imagine a system that Briere couldn’t fathom, or maybe he just plays the most effective way he can despite Stevens’s system.

Either that or he is a no-good locker room cancer who advocates disrespecting the coach, but that’s pretty unlikely given that he was a co-captain in Buffalo and carries the respect all who know and have played with him.

If he is floating, then he should be benched like everyone else.

Sparing Briere while punishing others is evidence of suspect leadership and disrespect.

Downie is an interesting case because Stevens seems to like him despite taking him off lines where he was very successful and sending him to the AHL for lengthy periods because of lack of production (although with scant ice time). Maybe that was best for the player’s development, but if Downie had enjoyed success playing with Richards and Hartnell, and the team was playing terrible that year, why not reunite them to get the kid’s confidence back?

Instead, he put Downie on the fourth line (in all but one game), and he — like most Flyers this season — is not being productive.

So, the kid can get points at 19 but not at 20? That makes me wonder if he is being handled correctly. For those about to jump aboard the Downie character assassination committee, it should pointed that even Stevens has gone out of his way to illustrate Downie has not once shirked his responsibilities, is a big game player and been very disciplined in terms of admitting to any shortcomings at every turn.

So Downie — another former captain, this time of the Canadian Junior Nationals (oh yeah, he led them to gold) – struggles a bit this year.

Do we have a pattern here of former captains not meeting expectations under the same coach?

How odd.

It’s not fair to say that it goes across the board because Timmonen has thrived, however, I can’t help but wonder how much the stigma of Stevens having never really played much in the NHL goes against him in the minds of his players.

Let’s come back to Paddock for a moment. Here is a former Flyer with a strong NHL background who is a proven NHL coach.

In Stevens’s second season, Holmgren surrounded him with the best hockey people he could find. Joe Mullen was brought in to help with the power play; Jack McIlhargey is handling the assistant coaching duties; Terry Murray was added, but has since left for L.A; Bill Barber is back; and Craig Berube is also assisting. Everyone is there to help and still there have been no positive results so far this season.

I can hardly imagine how it must feel to know that a successful former NHL coach like Paddock is guiding the farm team as the losses mount on the parent club.

I wonder how long it is before some other team approaches him.

Credibility, confidence, courage and composure…or confusion and chaos, I am not certain. The Vancouver Canucks recently named goaltender Roberto Luongo as their team captain. There are scores of problems with this kind of thinking but first off, it should be pointed out the Luongo is a top notch athlete, an upstanding citizen and is among the best in the business at his position, so one could understand the temptation to buck the 60-year trend of not having a goalie as a team captain.

Actually, it’s more than a trend, it’s against league rules.

Former Montreal Canadien Bill Durnan was the last netminder who wore the “C,” and he often disputed ref calls to buy his team a rest when they needed it.

The rule prohibiting goalies from serving as captains was put in place and all teams since then realized that there are other reasons why it makes little sense to pass over 20 skaters for the honour of leading their clubs. First, there is the obvious slight to those who felt they may have been ready for the role. There is also the problem that there is no one actually wearing the “C” on their sweater for the player to rally around when things get tough. The “A” has meaning, but it came from the term assistant and was later converted to alternate to give it more meaning.

That’s right it needed a makeover, and as such there is still something of a perception that it is a cute title without the same merits of a Captain’s “C” in most hockey arenas. Everyone involved with hockey on a serious level knows what Bobby Clarke, Mark Messier and Dale Hunter could do for their teams with an inspired shift. They single handedly reshape the mindset of their teamates. They might cross the lines of good conduct to send a message to their opponents. They might chastise others for not doing enough of what they were doing.

How does a goalie do that, when he plays a different position, with different rules, different boundaries, different expectations?

Imagine for a moment it’s playoff season, and Vancouver’s opponent just got lucky while firing on all cylinders for five minutes and scored five goals.

The coach pulls Luongo from the game, and then the team’s captain is found watching from the bench due to the perceptions that he isn’t playing well enough and is not likely to be called upon to return all night. How inspired would the Canucks be then? How inspired would their opponents be knowing they just chased the other team’s captain out of the game?

Any player can have an off night, but skaters sitting out for extra shift wouldn’t be noticed in such an obvious way. 

If a team is taking liberties with a finesse player or running the goalie too often, it is generally the captain’s role to ensure something is done about it. That also leads to more questions. Of course there are others to deal with that type of thing, but there are times when the leader has to step up to prove he’s in charge. I don’t that can be done from between the pipes.

There have been other goalies with strong leadership qualities like Billy Smith, Ron Hextall and others, yet their teams never considered them for the captaincy. The quick reaction would be to decide against that because their clubs already had good leaders, which begs the question: Are the Canucks suggesting they don’t?

Further, I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t unspoken insult in all of this. Like winning an Academy Award and being told you won the award but you don’t get the statue. I don’t think the insult is to Luongo in any way, but rather is to the team skating without a “C” on any player’s sweater and to the fans of that team watching them when they are down and most need inspiration.

I’m going to try to take some of Steve’s advice next year and stay away from underachievers and cripples, something I saw way too much of this past season. Now let’s move forward to our very deserving champion Steve’s words of wisdom:

In this special election year edition of the RotoRob’s Regulars (a 15-team mixed, vanilla 5×5 league of writers, bloggers and a few loyal players assembled by Tim McLeod, who surely regrets it now), we gathered together in order to form a more perfect union of quantitatives and qualitatives. A bipartisan mixture of hitting and pitching. One that balanced the needs of middle class infielders with the elites of starting pitching while at the same time not overtaxing our valuable resources of steals and saves.

The mighty Hidalgo All-Stars rode a fantastic roster guided by my unparalleled expertise to a rousing victory. My strategy was basically to not mess up too badly at the draft, and to set up a little shrine of crystals, magnets and, for some reason a 1971 Oscar Robertson trading card, to ward off the injury bugs. One-hundred and thirty-six transactions and one trade later and we had a winner, finishing with 121 points, 12 points more than the second-place Full Mounties!

Gleaned from 25 years of Fantasy play in all sports (Sammy Wynder, if you’re out there, I owe ya!) and this year’s victory, here are SteveP’s 10 immutable principals for fantasy victory. Follow these and you can’t lose:

1. Do not draft players who subsequently get major injuries or unexpectedly stink — This season, I demonstrated this by not drafting Victor Martinez, David Ortiz, Aaron Harang and others. Just ask your league mate who invested a second round pick on V-Mart this past season. They didn’t win. Don’t make this mistake; that’d be like drafting Tom Brady.

2. Manage your risk — Make sure that all of your risky guys do well and don’t let any of them get major injuries. To implement this strategy, this I picked up Brad Lidge at pick 92, Rich Harden at 179, Troy Percival at 209 (see below) and Milton Bradley at 272. Getting players at a discount because of age/injury risk who then universally perform well is a great source of value.

3. It is vital that you follow up your trades correctly — For instance, in my only trade I dealt Hideki Matsui, Julio Lugo and Percival for Chone Figgins. On the face of this, I overpaid for a mixed season for Figgy, but I followed up, and shortly afterwards Lugo and Matsui were done for the year. Percival, who for me had 14 saves and an ERA of 2.95 with a WHIP of 0.66 in two months, afterwards had 14 saves in four months with an ERA of 5.92 and a WHIP of 1.73 for my trading partner. Remember that to maximize your trade value, it’s not only important for you to fill a need, you really want the goods you are selling to stink up the place worse than a Barry Zito start.

4. Sometimes the trade you don’t make is the best one, part I –- After Justin Upton’s fine start, I made an offer to his owner. He declined, and Upton was an albatross around his neck for the rest of the season. Make sure the players you don’t get end up tanking big time and remember to crow about it next year.

5. Sometimes the trade you don’t make is the best one (sorta), part II -– I had a hankering for the fine canuck backstop of the Dodgers. I made an offer (remember his slow start, Russell Martin owners? Yeah, I didn’t think so) which as I recall involved a bucket of warm spit and two used wiffle balls. The owner declined much more politely than I deserved, and he didn’t win. See, by not making that trade he helped me to victory…at least that’s the way I am going to pimp this story when I am offering bad, buy-low sucker deals next season.

6. When old players with recent histories of declining play or players sent to the minors for awful performance are cut by other teams, choose the ones that are going to play like a phoenix rising from the ashes — Three examples:

Mike Mussina (age 39)
2007 — 11 wins, 5.15 ERA, 1.47 WHIP
2008 (for me) — 16 wins, 3.19 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 127 Ks

Jason Giambi (37)
2007 — 31 runs, 14 homers, 39 RBI, .236 BA , one steal
2008 (for me) — 52 runs, 25 homers, 76 RBI, .259 BA, one steal

Brett Myers (dropped prior to his fine finish)
2008 (not for me) — four wins, 5.44 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, 100 Ks
2008 (for me) — six wins, 2.86 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 65 Ks

[Due to the wonders of modern technology, one reader asks: “Steve, what kind of site would actually print this? This isn't strategy, you just got lucky.” Ha Ha, excellent question, thanks for writing. Indeed, this is the only web site where you can get this caliber of information, but only when RotoRob is on vacation and forgets to lock the liquor cabinet.]

7. When your pickup doesn’t work, get something else out of the player, part I — Looking at Francisco Rodriguez’s workload, injury history, that he would soon have the save record and that the Angels had wrapped up the division (they would never pitch him on the last weekend in a non-save situation down four runs…oh wait, they did), I grabbed Jose Arredondo for some bonus saves. No saves were forthcoming, but I got a bushel of cheapy vulture wins.

8. When your pickup doesn’t work, get something else out of the player, part II -– In the last weekend, I stood to gain two points in steals, so I grabbed speedster Josh Anderson. No stolen bases, but Anderson, who had four home runs in nearly 500 minor league at bats this season (after hitting two in 513 last year), hit two home runs in one game giving me a point and a half in home runs and RBI.

9. When you’re dropping and adding the same player, make sure you get all their good months and none of the bad — Here I am thinking of Andre Ethier (20th round draft pick), dropped in the middle of the year and then re-acquired just before Manny Ramirez went to the Dodgers. With my team, Ethier had 54 runs, 10 homers, 47 RBI, a .328 BA and three steals, while on waivers he had 36 runs, 10 homers, 30 RBI, a .173 BA and three steals.

10. The Oscar Robertson card — you need to get an Oscar Robertson card.

During this league-driven era of parity, suppose your favourite team rises from the middle of the pack and begins to raise its play during the stretch, and then shocks the league by winning three rounds in the playoffs. Shouldn’t they be rewarded?

I think they should, but under Commissioner Gary Bettman’s new rules, teams are punished for advancing in the playoffs by having their draft picks drop deep near the bottom of the crop. The Stanley cup winner? They go last.

Isn’t that rather like those silly children’s leagues in soccer where nobody is allowed to win so it won’t make the kids on the losing team feel bad?

I don’t think the kid who scores 15 goals for his side feels too accomplished knowing it was all for naught, so maybe he stops at three and figures “why bother?”

Why try? Why want to win?

I think the fans of the teams who follow the draft and the organizations that ice the best product should be rewarded, in full.

How about this for an idea?

If your team wins the first round of the playoffs, your team is awarded the opposing team’s fourth round pick.

A win in the second round gets your team the opposing team’s third round pick.

Now you are cruising — you make it to the semi-finals and you get the opposing team’s second round pick.

And yes, you guessed it – make it to the finals and win and you snag the losing team’s first round pick at the draft.

It’s not like the losing team would be hurting because it would have captured several extra picks in the previous three rounds.

The lottery is cumbersome, is a divided process that only involves non-playoff teams and it adds weeks to the process of resolving the draft order.

If teams want to throw away their season and tank it to shoot for last place, they aren’t the team most people will be watching anyway. Throw the bottom five teams in a lottery and quit complicating the formula so that no one knows when their team will draft until the summer.

It’s ridiculous. No professional league has such a convoluted and confused draft system as the NHL. Since when is confusion a marketing team?

Last year, the Flyers went the conference finals and were so thrilled with their draft position in the first round that theu traded it and had to make a separate trade to move up just to get the 19th overall pick instead of 27th.

Does that sound like an organization rewarded for its miraculous turnaround from last place overall the season before to going to the final four in 2007-08?

Let’s put the emphasis back on winning and let teams compete for it all, the way the game was meant to be played.

Editor’s note: This is Alex’s debut article on RotoRob. We look forward to his fantasy football input each Tuesday during the season.

Perhaps you heard something about Tom Brady? Okay, now that we’ve established you haven’t been living under a rock, let’s get to meat of what was Week One of another glorious year of NFL action. The biggest surprise to me was the NFC’s domination over elite AFC squads. Jake Delhomme and his Panthers went into San Diego and got a dub-yah; the Bears, led by Kyle Orton, went into newly-christened Lucas Oil Stadium and beat up on Peyton Manning’s Colts; and the highly-touted Cowboys just destroyed the upstart Brownies. That’s 3-0 NFC vs. AFC and that just caught me by surprise.

Well, what did we learn from Week One in fantasy land? I think we figured out that some teams are not as far along as others. I would place the Redskins, Colts and 49ers under this category and I believe that their fantasy numbers will be down across the board the first few weeks.

The Redskins are clearly adjusting to a new offensive staff as they just never found their rhythm against the Giants. If you own Jason Campbell, I would keep him tucked away on your bench for the first handful of games, and maybe he will be ready to produce by the time you need a fill-in QB.

The Colts will be fine once Manning is back to 100 per cent after his knee injury. His timing just didn’t seem to be all the way back there.

Finally, the 49ers are in trouble. Mike Martz teams are supposed to produce a few fantasy diamonds, but with J.T. O’Sullivan at the helm, this may hold them back and even cut down on Frank Gore’s numbers throughout the year.

We also learned that there will be a few productive rookies this year. Matt Forte of the Bears and Chris Johnson of the Titans seem the most likely to make consistent contributions to your fantasy squad. Forte is a three-down back that will get full-time work as long as he stays healthy. Johnson is supposedly splitting carries with the Pillsbury doughboy, LenDale White, but C-Jo has already shown to be the more effective and explosive back.

Let’s take a look at some Week One studs and duds.

STUDS

Willie Parker, RB (PIT) – Fast Willie had quite an afternoon, racking up 138 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. I for one thought that Rashard Mendenhall coming in signaled an end to Parker’s days of 20-carry games. He may eventually end up losing carries, but Parker looked great coming off his broken leg and rewarded his owners.

Michael Turner, RB (ATL) – The “Burner” is lit! Mr. Turner gained 220 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. Seriously, those are Tecmo Bowl numbers. Who averages ten yards a carry in an NFL game getting the ball that many times? This makes me think the Lion defense is just horrible. When a team with a new coach, a rookie quarterback, and a bunch of spare parts come in and dominates a game like this, one would think that the defense they faced is severely flawed.

Reggie Bush, RB (NO) – Finally, it looks like Bush is going to be utilized properly. He only gained 51 yards on the ground over 14 carries, but he caught eight passes for 112 yards and a TD. I believe the addition of Jeremy Shockey really helps this offense — especially Bush, as it gives him more space to operate when opposing defenses have to keep a bruising TE with great hands in check.

Donovan McNabb, QB (PHA) – He’s baaaaack, baby, and looking great. McNabb threw for 361 yards and three TDs against the Rams in the season opener. Coach Andy Reid loves to throw the ball and I believe McNabb will be a reliable start all season long, as long as he (and Brian Westbrook) stays healthy. Even though McNab’ss WR corps was banged up, DeSean Jackson and Hank Baskett stepped up big. Of course, it was the Rams, so this doesn’t surprise me at all.

Forte, RB (CHI) – This guy will be a household name by the end of the year. Forte is a three-down back out of Tulane that will get steady carries all year long. He rushed for 123 yards with a TD in his NFL debut on the road. How impressive is that?

DUDS

O’Sullivan, QB (SF) – Big things were expected, little was delivered. He wasn’t horrible, as he was 14-for-20 for 195 yards, but he did not have a TD and he was burned for a pick. I thought O’Sullivan would be a solid QB2 for your fantasy squad, but unless you are in a 14-team league, he is free agent material.

Steven Jackson, RB (STL) – After signing a fat contract, more was expected than 40 yards without a TD. He only carried the ball 14 times and the Rams were never in the game. This earns Jackson a Week One dud, but look for him to bounce back and get things rolling. I still think he is a top ten fantasy option.

Every Bengal, QB/RB/WR (CIN) – I know the Bengals were playing on the road against a quality defense, but they were quite awful. Carson Palmer had the worst day of his career as he was 10-for-25 for just 99 yards. That just does not happen. The running game was not much better as Chris Perry managed only 37 yards on 18 carries. If you started Carson, hopefully you did not have him teamed up with T.J. Houshmandzadeh or Chad Johnson.

Matt Hasselbeck, QB (SEA) – First of all, I love the Buffalo defense this year and I think this performance was more an indication of great defense. Also there was the subtraction of Hasselbeck’s long time QB coach, Jim Zorn. Mr. Hasselsuck (as I am sure his owners were screaming) was 17-for-41 for 190 yards. I do not place the blame fully on him as his receivers are banged up, but if you started him, you definitely paid for it.

Braylon Edwards, WR (CLE) – Big time WR? Check. Potentially potent offense? Check. Two catches for 14 yards? Uh, this is not a performance you should be proud of by your WR1. He obviously did not have an impact on the game, but perhaps his foot injury is not 100 per cent. I would keep a close eye on Braylon over the first few weeks.

Looking ahead to next week, here are some match-ups that you may want to keep your eye on. These are mainly borderline sit/start situations as it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to suggest you to start LT, Manning, Randy Moss, etc.

Aaron Rodgers, QB, GB – Coming off the Monday night victory over the hyped up Vikes, Rodgers and the gang head over to Detroit. I really think he has a huge game here as the Lion defense is very suspect, as we discussed earlier. By now, I think Rodgers is on the same page with his wide outs, and I expect Greg Jennings to show big numbers as well. Verdict: Play Rodgers.

Turner, RB, ATL – If you think he is the next LT, check your dome. Week One was an anomaly for the dirty bird ground game. The Falcons will not have another offensive output like Week One as they go into Tampa Bay to get knocked around by the Bucs. Verdict: Sit Turner.

Johnson, RB, TEN – The Bengal defense is weak, and this guy is explosive. I think Vince Young being out does not hurt Johnson at all because it makes the passing game more stable, opening up the run for CJ. Verdict: Play Johnson.

Forte, RB, CHI – First of all, I love this kid. With that being said, the Bears are going to face Carolina and I think the Panther defense will key on the Chicago running game, limiting Forte’s effectiveness. Led by Jon Beason, the Panthers will stack the box and force Orton to beat them. Verdict: Sit Forte.

Laurence Maroney, RB, NE – I think the loss of Brady will force the Pats to run the ball more. This benefits nobody more than Maroney as he is very talented, but sometimes does not get enough carries to put up quality fantasy numbers. I think the passing game will be fine, as Moss and Wes Welker will create separation and still allow them to move the ball. I am just worried about Sammy Morris stealing goal line TDs. Verdict: Play Maroney.

Bush, RB, NO – He was dynamic last week, but I have some reservations for playing him Week Two. The Redskins had trouble facing Brandon Jacobs last week, but Bush is exactly the opposite of Jacobs. The Washington defense matches up much better against Bush and I believe it will bottle him up. With that said, I think Shockey has a great game. Verdict: Sit Bush.

Here are my projections for the Top three fantasy scorers at QB/RB/WR for Week Two. We will check in next week to see how these turned out.

QUARTERBACK

1. Tony Romo, DAL – Big MNF game, big numbers, tons of offense. Hopefully Yoko Romo stays home.

2. Jay Cutler, DEN – He’s the next great QB, and is getting Brandon Marshall back. Eddie Royal has stepped up and the Broncos have a very efficient offense that will move the ball against the Chargers.

3. Rodgers, GB – Facing the Lions. ‘Nuff said.

RUNNING BACK

1. Adrian Peterson, MIN – Purple Jesus will run all over Indy.

2. Larry Johnson, KC – Expect a bounce back game. He will run for 100+ yards with two TDs and show us the real LJ.

3. Clinton Portis, WAS – The Redskin offense will wake up and show a pulse, led by Southeast Jerome who will rush for 100 yards and a TD.

WIDE RECEIVER

1. Larry Fitzgerald, ARZ – Kurt Warner to Fitz will be commonplace versus the ‘Fins.

2. Terrell Owens, DAL – Get’cho popcorn ready!

3. Jennings, GB – He’ll be the No. 1 target for Rodgers as they hang 30+ on the Lions. A week of 120 yards and a TD is very possible.

Enjoy Week Two and may all your fantasy prayers be answered.

This year was full of surprises at the Flyer prospect camp, some pleasant ones and some disappointing ones. Usually one or two players shine at the expense of others and vault their status with the club while inadvertently raising questions about the rest of the pack. This year there was no dominant player taking their game to new heights and forcing management to take note like Claude Giroux did last year, and Mike Richards and Jeff Carter did in their initial seasons.

Still, there were a lot of telling moments from key players.

James vanRiemsdyk did not shine, but played quite well and more importantly showed up in better shape than he did last year. Clearly, he spent the summer taking advantage of the fact the Flyer training facility is located just 85 miles up the road from his home. It looks as though vanRiemsdyk’s decision to play university hockey may not have been best one for his development, as he managed just one goal in his last 15 games there.

Flyer GM Paul Holmgren felt it was important for him to play with someone who will get him the puck, so John Matsumoto got the call.

Matsumoto had a strong camp, paying the price to fish out pucks for vanRiemsdyk and making creative passes often very late in the play as this pair showed good chemistry. Steve Downie was the other player on their line, and he played adequately. For Downie, this may have all been done before, but he still showed some fire, getting into a fight with Matt Clackson. Clackson, who has a limited skill set, may have been trying to show the Flyer brass that he was “bringing it” to camp with a serious attitude, but his judgment and timing of trying to instigate seemed a bit out of place at times. Finally, Garrett Klotz took Clackson on as well, displaying a clear understanding of the enforcer’s role.

Klotz is a great kid with a great attitude, but his skill set is also lower than the other prospects, so one wonders how far he and Clackson can go on their pugilistic abilities alone. Both appear to be strictly fighters at this stage in their careers.

Kevin Marshall did not stand out at camp, but shows very good work habits and was rewarded with a pro contract by the Flyers. Marc Andre Bourdon was hurt so he could not show much. He definitely needs to work on his speed and mobility before getting to the bigs.
 
There were some defensemen in the fold who raised a few eyebrows. Mike Ratchuk can burn it all the way up ice and consistently showed he could skate rings around most of the other prospects in a gear that they just simply don’t have. He made a couple of bad decisions, but for the most part he was flying in between traffic effortlessly. On the downside, he is not a gritty player and was also taken out with devastating checks more frequently than any other prospect. For instance, on the last day of camp, Giroux nailed him with a world-class hit that reminded people of Dale Hunter’s heyday. In fact, Grioux took Ratchuk out so badly, people thought he might not play ever again. However, to his credit, Ratchuk came back two shifts later.

Luca Sbisa also justified his first round selection to an extent. Unlike most players who seem strained and tend to force their reverse C-cuts in backward skating drills, Sbisa moved effortlessly and fluidly about twice as fast as most other prospects, finishing most backward skating drills about 20 paces ahead of the pack every time.

Sbisa played fairly well, displaying a good, crisp first pass, but he was looking to pinch too early and got burned several times. When he didn’t get caught, he was a key component in the offensive zone, but, clearly, he needs work on the decision making process. Still, he was one of the better players at the camp.

Ryan Parent was probably the best defender with his unspectacular, but highly efficient play.

Zac Rinaldo had a strong camp for a guy who most considered lucky to even be there. He is fast, feisty and intense. I’m not sure how he’d fair against established vets, but he definitely shows promise.

Rob Bellamy played pretty well, but seems to have hit his ceiling as a checker with limited offensive abilities.

Giroux played very consistently, but the expectations on him are through the roof so despite a strong camp he still didn’t dominate the way one might have hoped. He did make great passes and show off his moves and skating, while potting the odd goal. Giroux oozes with promise every time he is on the ice.