Well, after 4 games in the playoffs that nobody expected to go the way they did, the Avs finally succumbed to the attack of the Sharks in games 5 & 6. The Sharks win, Avs go home, but all is not so bad. Sure, the sting of losing in the playoffs is never very fun, but there is so much positive for the Avalanche as they look into the up-coming offseason.
Firstly, the Avs should be congratulated, and should feel very good about their season. Most people picked the Avs to, once again, be the bottom-dwellers of the Western Conference, have no shot at the playoffs, and barely be a blip on anybody's radar. Well, they definitely overcame that, and while the whole team is obviously to be given credit, there are 3 people, in my opinion, that did more than their share. 1. You can't turn things around without a coach that people believe in, and the players clearly believe in Joe Sacco. Many people were thinking that Patrick Roy may make a return to Colorado to coach the lowly Avs team, mostly as a ploy to get people back in the stands, but they went with Sacco, who had been the coach of their AHL affiliate in Lake Erie. Great move. Makes total sense, especially for a young team. Bring up the coach that most of them have already played for, know what to expect of him, and know what is expected of them. Sacco could be considered for the Jack Adams trophy with the huge turn-around the Avs had this year, but probably won't be given all the credit he deserves.
Second, Matt Duchene. There were some who thought it would be a mistake for Duchene to come right up to the league so quickly, and thought that he might need some more time with his junior team to develop. Well, a season later, Duchene led all rookies in points, in the top 2 for rookies in goals scored. In my estimation, he WILL win the Calder, for rookie of the year. He provided energy, tenacity, and amazing maturity from a kid, yes, a kid, who is only recently 19 years old. If I'm the Avs, the second this kid's third year comes up, you sign him to a HUGE contract extension and keep him around until he's 80, just to be safe. The Avs will continue to get great things from him.
Third, and most obviously, the signing of Craig Anderson. Nobody knew who this guy was, as he was an underused back-up in Florida, though last year he was third in the league in save %. Again, I know he won't win this award, but you look at things, and what player has been more valuable to his team than Anderson has been to the Avs? He played 71 of 82 games, faced the most shots of any goalie in the NHL, had 7 shutouts this year, and still kept a very respectable .917 save %. Without Andy in net, the Avs would have been those bottom dwellers. It seems there is finally some stability in the Colorado net again. Though I don't know if playing him another 71 games would be wise. Yes, he's young, but that many games and that many shots will wear down anybody.
So what's next? Well, for a while the Avs must watch the playoffs with everybody else, but I think there will be a very active free agent market this year for the Avs. Mueller will be an obvious person they will want to re-sign, as he came alive the second he step foot on the ice in Colorado. I think we'll have a decent amount of cap space to play with as well. By my guess, I doubt we will see the following people back in an Avs jersey next year, at least not at the price they currently have. Darcy Tucker, Marek Svatos, David Koci (a rather stupid signing in the first place), Brett Clark, Ruslan Salei, maybe Adam Foote (depending on whether or not he decides to retire). Svatos made 2.35 mil this year. Clark made 3.5 mil. We've already got 7.7 mil in space before letting those guys go, add in their salaries to that, and the others that are going, then there could be room for a run at a serious D-man, which may be a HUGE help to the Avs. Never know, because there are also some big offensive names coming up for free agency as well. Ilya Kovalchuck, Patrick Marleau (will depend a lot on how the Sharks do the rest of the way in the playoffs), our old buddy Wojtek Wolski is a free agent again. The Avs could add some serious fire power on to what is a very talented squad.
In the end, the Avs are in good hands. I look forward to free agency, and to the next season for the Avs. Who knows, in a couple years, my wife may even let me get season tickets! **crosses fingers!!** I'll be writing another big on the Sharks very soon, probably tomorrow.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
First round for the Broncos.
Broncos ended up with 2 first round draft picks tonight. First one, not a big surprise. A lot of folks figured they would go with an inside linebacker, but apparently not. Broncos traded down twice, and ended up with Demaryius Thomas, see his draft report here. A big wide receiver to replace the one the Broncos just traded. Will he be as good as Marshall? Maybe, it's hard to tell if a rookie will be able to have the kind of impact that Marshall did. But the off the field issues aren't there with this guy, at least at the moment, so he seems like a good match.
But then, out of the blue, the Broncos come back and trade UP to get the 25th pick in the draft, from the Ravens, for none other than..... Tim Tebow???? Ummm, wait a minute. Didn't we take care of what we wanted at QB? Didn't we sure up our back up spot with Brady Quinn? I'm going to be honest, with the still very large need at line backer for the Broncos, this actually shocks me. We didn't need another back up quarterback, we needed somebody at ILB. Who knows, maybe the Broncos will get somebody in the second round, but this is still a pretty glaring need.
Just another move by the boy king that kind of defies logic. Why get a line backer that can come in in the first year and help make a difference on a defense that needs it when you can draft a QB with questionable mechanics that is definitely going to be on the bench for at least 1, maybe 2 years? I guess that's what makes the difference between me and most Broncos head coaches of late, only they can really understand the moves that they make.
But then, out of the blue, the Broncos come back and trade UP to get the 25th pick in the draft, from the Ravens, for none other than..... Tim Tebow???? Ummm, wait a minute. Didn't we take care of what we wanted at QB? Didn't we sure up our back up spot with Brady Quinn? I'm going to be honest, with the still very large need at line backer for the Broncos, this actually shocks me. We didn't need another back up quarterback, we needed somebody at ILB. Who knows, maybe the Broncos will get somebody in the second round, but this is still a pretty glaring need.
Just another move by the boy king that kind of defies logic. Why get a line backer that can come in in the first year and help make a difference on a defense that needs it when you can draft a QB with questionable mechanics that is definitely going to be on the bench for at least 1, maybe 2 years? I guess that's what makes the difference between me and most Broncos head coaches of late, only they can really understand the moves that they make.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Big Ben's Big Bad
I would like to start this off by giving massive kudos to Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the NFL, for his actions regarding Ben Roethlisberger. As I'm sure everybody has heard, Big Ben was being charged for raping a girl in Georgia and in Lake Tahoe. These charges were later dropped because the "victim wished to avoid court proceedings." But, as we have learned of late, Roger Goodell doesn't need a guilty verdict to sit you down.
Roethlisberger was suspended, today, for 6 games!!! 6!!! Again, kudos to Goodell for the consistency. It would have been incredibly easy for him to bow to the popularity of Ben, knowing that he is a huge name in the sport that is a household name. I mean, that kind of thing happens in the NHL all the time. Goodell has made it clear, with a variety of players, it is a privilege to be in the NFL, and if I see your name in any kind of publicity that makes the NFL look bad, you will pay for it. He doesn't care who you are, and I applaud Goodell for that.
So what do the Steelers do now? Do they just deal with the suspension and hope that a back up will help them weather the storm? Do you trade him? Do you cut him? From what it sounds like, according to the ESPN article above, it seems as if the Steelers are looking into the possibility of trading Roethlisberger in hopes of getting themselves up in the top 10 picks of the draft. I don't know what I would do, but again, allow me just continue to voice exactly how much I appreciate the fact that Roger Goodell has made it clear he hold all players, not just the thugs, to the same precedent. This is something that is long over due. Now the players know that they have to earn their ridiculously high salaries both on the field, and off!
Roethlisberger was suspended, today, for 6 games!!! 6!!! Again, kudos to Goodell for the consistency. It would have been incredibly easy for him to bow to the popularity of Ben, knowing that he is a huge name in the sport that is a household name. I mean, that kind of thing happens in the NHL all the time. Goodell has made it clear, with a variety of players, it is a privilege to be in the NFL, and if I see your name in any kind of publicity that makes the NFL look bad, you will pay for it. He doesn't care who you are, and I applaud Goodell for that.
So what do the Steelers do now? Do they just deal with the suspension and hope that a back up will help them weather the storm? Do you trade him? Do you cut him? From what it sounds like, according to the ESPN article above, it seems as if the Steelers are looking into the possibility of trading Roethlisberger in hopes of getting themselves up in the top 10 picks of the draft. I don't know what I would do, but again, allow me just continue to voice exactly how much I appreciate the fact that Roger Goodell has made it clear he hold all players, not just the thugs, to the same precedent. This is something that is long over due. Now the players know that they have to earn their ridiculously high salaries both on the field, and off!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Stanley Cup Playoffs
I know that I constantly say how we're "in one of my favorite times of the year" for a lot of my posts, but in this case, this is the biggest and the best! My favorite time of the year is the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After watching these games, I really can't believe how anybody can't LOVE hockey! I mean, this isn't like the NBA, where you almost always guarantee that the 1 seed beats the 8 seed. Yes, it definitely happens more frequently than not, but the NHL playoffs provides far more competitive action.
Proof positive of this comes from tonight's games of San Jose vs. Colorado. San Jose dominated most of the play after a fairly even first period. But that X factor came out to play. Craig Anderson, who I know won't win the Hart Trophy as the MVP, but honestly, who on earth has been more important to his team than Craig Anderson?, stopped 51 shots! And Ryan O'Reilly gets a stick on a puck that ricocheted in past Evgeni Nabokov. Yes, the Avs were not the better team that night, but the nature of hockey allows for them to stay in, and win what ended up being an amazing game. How many times do you see that type of thing happen in the NBA? Never!
It's just the nature of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, anybody can win, and if you don't come to play every single game as if it is your last, then you won't win! The Olypmic tournament provided us with some absolutely amazing hockey, and I think that the Stanley Cup Playoffs will provide us with a lot more hockey like that. During the playoffs, it isn't about your contracts, it isn't about your endorsement deals, it's about winning the cup. For my money, I'll take a triple over time thriller over Kobe vs. Lebron any day of the week.
Time for the sporting world to go CUP CRAZY!!!
Proof positive of this comes from tonight's games of San Jose vs. Colorado. San Jose dominated most of the play after a fairly even first period. But that X factor came out to play. Craig Anderson, who I know won't win the Hart Trophy as the MVP, but honestly, who on earth has been more important to his team than Craig Anderson?, stopped 51 shots! And Ryan O'Reilly gets a stick on a puck that ricocheted in past Evgeni Nabokov. Yes, the Avs were not the better team that night, but the nature of hockey allows for them to stay in, and win what ended up being an amazing game. How many times do you see that type of thing happen in the NBA? Never!
It's just the nature of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, anybody can win, and if you don't come to play every single game as if it is your last, then you won't win! The Olypmic tournament provided us with some absolutely amazing hockey, and I think that the Stanley Cup Playoffs will provide us with a lot more hockey like that. During the playoffs, it isn't about your contracts, it isn't about your endorsement deals, it's about winning the cup. For my money, I'll take a triple over time thriller over Kobe vs. Lebron any day of the week.
Time for the sporting world to go CUP CRAZY!!!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Long Wait, but now Some Takes
Man, it has been quite a long time since I've written anything, and a lot has happened! So I'm going to give my take on what I see as some of the biggest things that have happened this sporting season!!
First, Tiger. I wrote an earlier post about Tiger Woods praising his character. For not acting like a diva when a kid hit a better ceremonial drive off the tee than he did. Then, all of this stuff happened and we learned that the squeaky clean Tiger Woods has some blemishes. First off, his wife is freaking hot! Can we honestly think that any of the women that Tiger was messing around with had it going on more than her? Seriously. More seriously, though, I do hope that they are able to work things out, although trust issues like that have a tendency of never going away, no matter how ok things seem. I hope they are able to work this out for their kids. It's hard enough to be a kid with a celebrity for a parent, it's even harder when those parents have to break up and you see it plastered on the news every day of your young life. I hope Tiger's words are sincere, but it's just hard to know now. Tiger has shown us that we really don't know what kind of a person he is, and just because he says the right things on camera, doesn't necessarily mean that he's doing the right things as a person.
A lot of things going on in football! The Broncos traded to get Brady Quinn. Not a huge bit of news in and of itself, considering it was for a rarely used FB and a 6th round draft pick for a guy who has played on one of the worst teams in the last few years, but Brady Quinn does still have the potential to be a great player for a long time. A year to get used to the Bronco's system and to work with a full time QB coach will only do good things for him.
A new overtime rule. Really? Is it really needed? Granted, it is only for the playoffs, but come on. How long have we gone with the previous version and been ok with it? How many actual NFL players have called for changes to this rule? It has always only been fans of teams that lost in the OT and "expert" columnists that claim that it was needed. The players have always been matter of fact about the whole thing. We didn't stop them, so we didn't deserve to win. Ok, that seems like a good enough reason to me. How much of this is because it was Brett Favre's team that lost in the NFC championship game? It wasn't needed, but it may provided the public with what they want. Something they've deemed "more fair" than before. I guess I can live with that.
Donovan McNabb got traded!? No really! This time he actually did! For how many years have the Eagle's fans been calling for him to be traded, only to love on him when he took the field the following year? Sure, they got to a bunch of NFC Championship games, and only won one of them. Lost the only Super Bowl they played in, more because they didn't begin to play quickly until far too late than anything else. And what's more, they traded him WITHIN THEIR DIVISION!!!! This guy was the best quarterback that the Eagles have ever had!! Why on earth would they trade him to a division rival? I know they wanted to do right by McNabb, or at least Andy Reid did, but come on! You still have to think the most about your team. Do you really think that Kevin Kolb is going to out duel McNabb when they take the field against each other? This is definitely a HUGE gain for the Skins and Mike Shanahan. A mobile quarterback who can throw anywhere on the run. Hmm, nah, Shanahan doesn't know how to work with a guy like that. cough cough, John Elway, cough cough. This could be the start of something really good in D.C.!
Duke won March Madness for the 4th time! Congrats to the Blue Devils and the Cameron Crazies! Duke was my favorite college basketball team for a long time when I was growing up. Then I stopped caring. But man, I wish that I had actually watched that Duke v. Butler game. Sounds like an incredible amount of drama for such a low scoring game. At any rate, I did NOT predict really anything in the NCAA Toury. After a promising start, my bracket took a pretty huge nose dive. Thank you Kansas, New Mexico, Georgetown.
NHL! After an up and down year, my Colorado Avalanche have clinched a playoff spot! It looks as if they will be playing the Sharks in the first round. The Sharks are quite a good team, with quite the history of blowing it, big time, in the playoffs. The Avs are a young team with a lot of energy and a goalie that has been out of his mind. Even though it is a 1 vs. 8 series, I wouldn't be at all shocked if it went a long way, or even if the Avs won the series. Matt Duchene should be the runaway winner of the Calder Trophy, NHL's rookie of the year award. I'm sure that Joe Sacco won't win the Jack Adams trophy, coach of the year, but turning a team from last in the conference to a playoff team, with the youth and inexperience of the team, deserves serious consideration. And I know that Craig Anderson will not win the Hart Trophy, but if you look at things, he has absolutely been the player that has been most valuable to his team, in my opinion. How many unbelievable saves has that guy made in tight times? He has faced more shots than any other goalie this year, and has a 2.56 GAA, a .916 sv. %, and 7 shutouts! That's insane!! It will obviously go to Ovechkin or Crosby, but really, what guy has made a bigger difference for his team than Craig Anderson?
I'm going to try and be much better about my blogging. I hope to make certain I do things once a week, but the school year is winding down, and I'm going to be moving here pretty soon. So I may not be able to hold onto that promise. Anywho, if you're still reading, thanks very much for your time! I hope that you stay around!
First, Tiger. I wrote an earlier post about Tiger Woods praising his character. For not acting like a diva when a kid hit a better ceremonial drive off the tee than he did. Then, all of this stuff happened and we learned that the squeaky clean Tiger Woods has some blemishes. First off, his wife is freaking hot! Can we honestly think that any of the women that Tiger was messing around with had it going on more than her? Seriously. More seriously, though, I do hope that they are able to work things out, although trust issues like that have a tendency of never going away, no matter how ok things seem. I hope they are able to work this out for their kids. It's hard enough to be a kid with a celebrity for a parent, it's even harder when those parents have to break up and you see it plastered on the news every day of your young life. I hope Tiger's words are sincere, but it's just hard to know now. Tiger has shown us that we really don't know what kind of a person he is, and just because he says the right things on camera, doesn't necessarily mean that he's doing the right things as a person.
A lot of things going on in football! The Broncos traded to get Brady Quinn. Not a huge bit of news in and of itself, considering it was for a rarely used FB and a 6th round draft pick for a guy who has played on one of the worst teams in the last few years, but Brady Quinn does still have the potential to be a great player for a long time. A year to get used to the Bronco's system and to work with a full time QB coach will only do good things for him.
A new overtime rule. Really? Is it really needed? Granted, it is only for the playoffs, but come on. How long have we gone with the previous version and been ok with it? How many actual NFL players have called for changes to this rule? It has always only been fans of teams that lost in the OT and "expert" columnists that claim that it was needed. The players have always been matter of fact about the whole thing. We didn't stop them, so we didn't deserve to win. Ok, that seems like a good enough reason to me. How much of this is because it was Brett Favre's team that lost in the NFC championship game? It wasn't needed, but it may provided the public with what they want. Something they've deemed "more fair" than before. I guess I can live with that.
Donovan McNabb got traded!? No really! This time he actually did! For how many years have the Eagle's fans been calling for him to be traded, only to love on him when he took the field the following year? Sure, they got to a bunch of NFC Championship games, and only won one of them. Lost the only Super Bowl they played in, more because they didn't begin to play quickly until far too late than anything else. And what's more, they traded him WITHIN THEIR DIVISION!!!! This guy was the best quarterback that the Eagles have ever had!! Why on earth would they trade him to a division rival? I know they wanted to do right by McNabb, or at least Andy Reid did, but come on! You still have to think the most about your team. Do you really think that Kevin Kolb is going to out duel McNabb when they take the field against each other? This is definitely a HUGE gain for the Skins and Mike Shanahan. A mobile quarterback who can throw anywhere on the run. Hmm, nah, Shanahan doesn't know how to work with a guy like that. cough cough, John Elway, cough cough. This could be the start of something really good in D.C.!
Duke won March Madness for the 4th time! Congrats to the Blue Devils and the Cameron Crazies! Duke was my favorite college basketball team for a long time when I was growing up. Then I stopped caring. But man, I wish that I had actually watched that Duke v. Butler game. Sounds like an incredible amount of drama for such a low scoring game. At any rate, I did NOT predict really anything in the NCAA Toury. After a promising start, my bracket took a pretty huge nose dive. Thank you Kansas, New Mexico, Georgetown.
NHL! After an up and down year, my Colorado Avalanche have clinched a playoff spot! It looks as if they will be playing the Sharks in the first round. The Sharks are quite a good team, with quite the history of blowing it, big time, in the playoffs. The Avs are a young team with a lot of energy and a goalie that has been out of his mind. Even though it is a 1 vs. 8 series, I wouldn't be at all shocked if it went a long way, or even if the Avs won the series. Matt Duchene should be the runaway winner of the Calder Trophy, NHL's rookie of the year award. I'm sure that Joe Sacco won't win the Jack Adams trophy, coach of the year, but turning a team from last in the conference to a playoff team, with the youth and inexperience of the team, deserves serious consideration. And I know that Craig Anderson will not win the Hart Trophy, but if you look at things, he has absolutely been the player that has been most valuable to his team, in my opinion. How many unbelievable saves has that guy made in tight times? He has faced more shots than any other goalie this year, and has a 2.56 GAA, a .916 sv. %, and 7 shutouts! That's insane!! It will obviously go to Ovechkin or Crosby, but really, what guy has made a bigger difference for his team than Craig Anderson?
I'm going to try and be much better about my blogging. I hope to make certain I do things once a week, but the school year is winding down, and I'm going to be moving here pretty soon. So I may not be able to hold onto that promise. Anywho, if you're still reading, thanks very much for your time! I hope that you stay around!
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