Author: Chris Ostrander

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

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Not Christmas. The lead up to the NHL Draft and the beginning of free agency. It started, in earnest, today. Now the following nine days leading up to July 1st will be full of trade fodder and moves to improve teams for the 2010-11 season.

Today saw, perhaps, the most deals since the end of the Cup finals. But, the wheeling and dealing really took off on June 17th when the Canadiens made a major splash by sending playoff hero Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues. I wish that I had put my thinking into words on this space because, the move cleared cap room for the team to sign Tomas Plekanec to an extension. In addition, the trade that saw Nathan Horton sent to Boston for Denis Wideman and a pick this afternoon.

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Nathan Horton shipped to Boston

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The Boston Bruins, this afternoon, acquired Gregory Campbell and Nathan Horton from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Denis Wideman and the 15th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft (per Bob McKenzie’s Twitter).

Nathan Horton is on his way to Boston with Gregory Campbell.

This is quite possibly one of the most even trades I have ever seen. The immediate benefits will be seen by Boston more so than Florida. But, the Panthers can do quite a bit with the pick they received in the deal. Plus, Wideman covers up for the trade that sent Dennis Sidenberg at the deadline.

Wideman is coming off a poor year with the Bruins and will have a chance to bounce back with more minutes in Florida. Currently, monster defenseman Dylan McIlrath is rated 15th. Although, there is a good chance that the Panthers go with a forward in this spot, a guy like Nick Bjugstad or Emerson Etem could be a good fit for Florida.

Boston receives a solid power forward in Horton, plus a serviceable center in Gregory Campbell. Horton has been rumored to want out of Florida for some time, he will be put in a great situation in Boston. He, combined with Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin (depending who Edmonton goes with at #1) will more than make up for the loss of Phil Kessel last season. Boston has definitely set themselves up for a very strong run next season. Continue reading →

Blackhawks up against the cap

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A few quick hits regarding the Blackhawks salary cap situation:

  • Chicago has 10 upcoming free agents, four UFAs and six RFAs.
  • They have $1.234 million available to sign these players.
  • There is at least $3.5 million invested in each of the following players: Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Brian Campbell, Patrick Kane, Jonathon Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp and Cristobal Huet. Plus, Kris Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien and Dave Bolland are each on for $3 million.

The Hawks are in a very precarious situation moving into Friday’s draft. Of their upcoming free agents, Nick Boynton and Kim Johnsson aren’t likely to be brought back. As UFAs and veteran defensemen the pair don’t have a big impact in the future of the organization.

Andrew Ladd (rear) and Jordan Hendry (#42) are likely to be playing in a different city next year.

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Pebble Beach 2010: The Open nobody won.

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It was glamorous, it wasn’t sexy, it wasn’t fun to watch. But, Graeme McDowell hung on to win the 2010 U.S. Open.

The fact of the matter is, McDowell didn’t lose the Open. Because, everyone else who was in position to win did just that. Tiger, Phil, Ernie, Gregory Havret and 54-hole leader Dustin Johnson all managed to play poorly enough to keep McDowell’s name on top of the leaderboard.

Let’s start with Johnson, who will go down next to Greg Norman and Jean Van de Velde for the worst chokejob at a major. His 82 featured a three-hole stretch that saw him make 7-6-5. Then he was on his way to a birdieless round that let him slip to a T-8 at +5 for the championship.

If only this was hanging in the locker room this morning…

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Mr. Coulibaly, you have a companion

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Mason Coulibaly’s disallowed goal in the USA/Slovenia game will most likely be the worst call of the 2010 World Cup. To date, it is heads and shoulders above the rest. But that didn’t stop Stephane Lannoy from attempting to top his counterpart.

Kaka is sent of by French referee Stephane Lannoy after his second yellow card. Drawn on a dive by an Ivory Coast player.

I only saw bits and pieces of the Brazil/Ivory Coast match this afternoon but, it seems as if I missed quite a bit. In the short period that I viewed, I didn’t see any goals or fouls but, I did see the highlights later. From what I could tell, this guy was awful.

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Blowing up the Predators

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The Nashville Predators made some very interesting moves this afternoon.

First, they shipped UFA to-be Dan Hamhuis to the Philadelphia Flyers for a conditional pick in 2011 and Ryan Parent. Secondly, they sent captain Jason Arnott to the New Jeresey Devils in exchange for winger Matt Halischuk and a second-round pick in 2011. Lastly, they resigned defenseman Francois Bouillon to a two-year $2.7 million contract.

So, in one afternoon, the Predators traded away two major players and reupped one 4th/5th defenseman.

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More thoughts on the FIFA muck-up

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Its a day later and there isn’t much more info out regarding the foul that cost the United States the winning goal against Slovenia on Friday.

This ESPN story has two good videos on the matter, including coach Bob Bradley’s comments. The fact that he so adamantly calls the goal a good one shows the calamity of this situation. Watching the overhead shot in the second video on that page makes me think in very extremes, fixed game extremes.

It was an opportunity for the US to complete an outstanding comeback and put themselves in a fantastic situation to advance. But, they had that taken away. Watching Maurice Edu run through the box almost unmarked and receive a foul is nothing short of embarrassing. For me, it really makes me think that Coulibaly was out to keep the US from winning that game, that is how big of a phantom call that was.

Literally, the only call that could have been made would have been to award the US a penalty for a foul committed on Michael Bradley. Instead, the US a clinging to second place in group C and must beat Algeria on Wednesday to advance.

The U.S. had a victory stolen. Plain and simple.

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I truthfully don’t know how to sum up my thoughts on the obvious missed call by FIFA referee Koman Coulibaly in today’s USA vs. Slovenia World Cup match.

Nothing, short of wild profanity, sums up the call. Terrible, brutal, awful atrocious – none of them really cover all of the bases.

Can you pick out the US foul in this picture? Didn’t think so.

The fact of the matter is, this guy screwed up. In fact, he robbed a victory from the US. This was a near must-win for the US and they didn’t get the victory. Partially because of the no call and partially because the US did not come to play in the first half.

Despite trailing 2-0 after 45 minutes, the US showed outstanding resiliency as Landon Donovan scored early on in the second half and Michael Bradley scored the equalizer on a beautiful play later in the half. That set up the now infamous play. Donovan layed a cross into the 18-yard box that was finished by Maurice Edu to give the US the apparent winning goal. But, Coulibaly called the US for a foul, but no one knows what for. The most apparent foul being committed was on Bradley, not the other way around. Continue reading →

Jaroslav Halak dealt out of Montreal

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The Montreal Canadiens have decided who their number one goaltender will be. However, it isn’t who many would have guessed. Montreal shipped Jaroslav Halak to St. Louis for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.

Jaroslav Halak is now a member of the St. Louis Blues. Weeks after leading the Canadiens past the Capitals and Penguins in the playoffs.

So, the Habs picked up a pair of prospects in exchange for the goaltender that carried them to the conference finals. Eller spent the 2009-10 season in the minors, while Schultz has been inked to his first NHL deal but stayed in juniors last season.

The quick winner here is definitely the Blues. Chris Mason is an Unrestricted Free Agent and will obviously not be signed. They dealt two players who haven’t shown a real push to crack the lineup for a proven goaltender who is entering his prime. The Canadiens still have a year or two to see if these two prospects will pan out. But they have given Carey Price a vote of confidence and hopefully that will light the necessary fire under him.

So, now the Habs really need a good season out of Carey Price, something that has yet to be seen since his fabulous rookie campaign.

Clearly Europeans haven’t done their homework

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You don’t call out the United States. Particularly in sports. Bulletin board material is such a no-no in North American sports, you would think it would be the same in Europe.

Tim Howard didn’t really buy into what Andrej Komac had to say. Now Howard must lead the US past Slovenia tomorrow morning.

Apparently not. Slovenian midfielder, Andrej Komac, decided he would put a guarantee on the table. He said his side will defeat the United States Friday in their World Cup match. Now, the Americans are considered to be the favorites, but I don’t know how much faith I have in our side in international play. The game has certainly come a long way in the US, and it seems like our national program is making leaps and bounds. But, I don’t know if we are a team that can go out and win no matter what.

That being said, American athletes are some of the most pride-filled men and women you will ever meet. Putting that kind of guarantee out there is a dangerous move on Komac’s part. While soccer isn’t a sport that allows for serious retribution, see football or hockey, this should give the United States more than enough motivation to win tomorrow.

However, goaltender Tim Howard took the high road (sort of) when asked about the comments. Continue reading →