Month: September 2009 (Page 14 of 66)

      2009 NHL Preview: Calgary Flames

      September 25, 2009 /

      We’ve partnered with On Goal Analysis to bring you a team-by-team preview of the upcoming NHL season. (Just scroll down on the OGA website and hit the calendar.) Here is the preview for the Calgary Flames…

      SUMMER SPLASH

      * Brent Sutter was named new coach in June.

      * Hoping to both sure up the defense (a top priority for the new coach) and improve on the Power Play (the Flames finished 21st last season), the Flames made big news with the off-season addition of Jay Bouwmeester.

      * Flames’ second overall scoring leader Michael Cammalleri signed with Montreal creating a vacancy in the ‘netting goals’ department. Will Olli Jokinen (obtained at last season’s trade deadline) allow Calgary to bypass ‘replacing’ Cammalleri? Time will tell, but Jokinen seemed to be a good fit in Calgary at the conclusion of the regular season and in the six playoff games against Chicago.

      * Jordan (Easy Come, Easy Go) Leopold is gone (again) as part of the Bouwmeester deal but the Flames brought back the feisty fan favorite, Brandon Prust.

      * Adrian Aucoin signed with Phoenix and Big Todd the Bertuzzi is moving to Detroit.

      Interesting Flames Factoid: Calgary has lost each of its season openers in the previous four seasons. Now, if I were a betting man….

      Click here to read the rest of the preview (which includes the site’s unique Playoff Qualifying Curve and fantasy information) at the On Goal Analysis site.

      NHL

      2009 NHL Preview: Buffalo Sabres

      September 25, 2009 /

      We’ve partnered with On Goal Analysis to bring you a team-by-team preview of the upcoming NHL season. (Just scroll down on the OGA website and hit the calendar.) Here is the preview for the Buffalo Sabres…

      Team Play: ISSUE – What’s old is new again, right? As the picture of the day on the OGA home page indicates, there will be a lot of clock watching this season in Buffalo. There will be games left with thoughts of ‘…If I only had a little more time…’ when the thought should really be ‘…If we’d ‘a only scored more goals….’ That’s because a sampling of off-season transactions indicates barely any change to this team. Mike Grier is in for knuckles; Steve Montador arrives to replace Jaroslav Spacek(!?); and Joe DiPenta and Cody McCormick are present for duty. That’s not a lot of additions, which implies (with the loss of Max Afinogenov and possibly an as-yet un-signed Drew Stafford) some room for Nathan Gerbe and Tim Kennedy to step up. But it equally says there may be trouble putting the biscuit in the basket.

      We had a look at the CBS Sports page for the Sabres which has a projected line pairing of Vanek-Roy-Pominville from left to right on No. 1 and Hecht-Connolly-Stafford on No. 2. Line 1 is the team’s formidable pairing. On Line 2, however, Connolly has not been healthy for an entire season since 2001-02 and Stafford remains an unsigned RFA at the time of this posting. So that leaves you with a potential mix of depth players to match up/call up throughout the season. That will equal some turmoil in the forward ranks from Line 2 on down.

      On the blueline, ‘Houston, we have a problem…’ is an accurate characterization of the situation. None of the projected top six defenders scored even five goals last year (the average is 2.5), they were a combined +11 (bolstered mostly by Steve Montador’s +17 with Boston last year), and none broke an average of 22 minutes per game TOI.

      Click here to read the rest of the preview (which includes the site’s unique Playoff Qualifying Curve and fantasy information) at the On Goal Analysis site.

      NHL

      Browns’ rookie throws punch, ice in locker room fight

      September 25, 2009 /

      Things are getting a little testy between players of the 0-2 Browns.

      According to a report by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, rookie defensive back Coye Francies threw a bucket of ice at several teammates after he was a victim of a prank, then threw a punch at veteran safety Abram Elam.

      Francies burst into the locker dripping wet and carrying a Gatorade bucket full of ice and water. Apparently, his teammates had dumped a bucket on him and he was looking for revenge.

      The incident happened during the media’s open locker room period. Francies threw half the bucket toward cornerback Brandon McDonald, some at safety Mike Adams and then headed toward Elam. When he got to Elam, he threw a punch, but Elam grabbed his arm. Before it got out of hand, Shaun Rogers, Eric Barton and D’Qwell Jackson led him outside to settle him down.

      “We were just playing around, having some fun and games, know what I’m saying?,” said Francies at his locker after cooling off. “That’s pretty much it. It was all fun and games.”

      So that’s your story and you’re sticking to it?

      “Absolutely,” he said, with a smile on his face.

      These kinds of situations have a weird way of bonding teammates. Despite their record, Cleveland hasn’t played poorly on defense and maybe this incident will lighten up the locker room or at least help clear the air. Either way, it looks like a dead issue and something that probably won’t spiral out of control.

      I would love to hear how much head coach Eric Mangini is going to fine Francies for after wasting all of that ice though. Mangini was the same man that fined a Browns player $1,701 (which is the maximum fine allowed by the league’s collective bargaining agreement) for not paying for a $3 bottle of water from a hotel mini-bar upon checkout.

      NFL

      2009 NHL Preview: Boston Bruins

      September 25, 2009 /

      We’ve partnered with On Goal Analysis to bring you a team-by-team preview of the upcoming NHL season. (Just scroll down on the OGA website and hit the calendar.) Here is the preview for the Boston Bruins…

      Team Play: ISSUE-Phil, we hardly knew ye. As the Bruins begin drifting back into The Hub to prepare for training camp, their leading goal scorer in 08-09, Phil Kessel, is missing. It seems that what young master Kessel thinks he’s worth and what Bruins management can afford to pay him and maintain some salary cap sanity are quite far apart. Until Kessel is either signed or traded, Boston’s forward lines will be in a state of flux. Even if the B’s are able to sign Kessel, he could miss the first two months of the season as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery. Don’t be surprised to see a top line of Lucic-Savard-Ryder come October, followed by Sturm-Bergeron-Kobasew, Wheeler-Krejci-Bitz, and Recchi-Begin-Thornton…and even without Kessel, don’t be surprised if the B’s have eight or nine 20+ goal scorers at the end of the season.

      On the blueline, Norris Trophy winner Zdeno Chara returns to a unit unchanged but for the departure of Aaron Ward and arrival of Derek Morris. For the B’s purposes, this is an improvement: Expect a little more offense out of the defense in 09-10.

      In goal, Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas rules the roost, but backup Manny Fernandez will be replaced by Tuukka Rask. With a compressed schedule (due to the Olympics), expect Rask to see around 30 starts this season.

      Click here to read the rest of the preview (which includes the site’s unique Playoff Qualifying Curve and fantasy information) at the On Goal Analysis site.

      NHL

      Derrek Lee injured during Cubs’ celebration

      September 25, 2009 /

      If this doesn’t sum up the Cubs’ 2009 season, I don’t know what will.

      From ESPN.com:

      While celebrating a come-from-behind, ninth-inning win over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday, the Chicago Cubs couldn’t avoid yet another “Cubby Occurrence.”

      First baseman Derrek Lee scored the game-tying run ahead of Jeff Baker, whose two-out, two-strike home run off San Francisco closer Brian Wilson put the team in line for the win.

      As Lee and Baker were mobbed by teammates in the dugout, relief pitcher Angel Guzman slapped the side of Lee’s helmet, causing Lee to experience neck spasms that forced him to come out of the game for defense in the bottom of the ninth.
      Manager Lou Piniella coined the term “Cubby Occurrence” to explain strange happenings that may have factored into the organization going more than 100 years without winning a World Series.

      Even when the Cubs win, they still find a way to lose.

      While we’re somewhat on the subject, stick a fork in the Giants. They surprised a lot of people this year with the way they’ve played and their pitching staff is going to make them competitive every season.

      But they had a golden opportunity last night to get within three games of the Rockies for the NL Wild Card lead and they couldn’t even muster more than two runs at home to the Cubs. Playoff-caliber teams take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves and the Giants couldn’t do that last night.

      MLB

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