Sid'd!

Better luck next time Flyers.

That picture pretty much says it all from last night's game between the Pens and Flyers. After a ho-hum 1st period (with the exception of Godard beating down Riley Cote) the Pens carried the play for most of the rest of the game. Big props to Brooks Orpik for hitting a wide open Pascal Dupuis in OT and not passing to the equally open Sidney Crosby.

Also, VS. is already in mid-season form... their announcers were pretty unbearable last night. At least they have finally learned about the invention called the instant replay. Baby steps...

The 08-09 NHL Prediction Experience

It is the first of October, and that means the start of the 2008-09 NHL regular season is just a few short days away. Like any respectable hockey blogger, I need to chime in with my predictions for the season to come, so without further ado...

• Pacific Division Champ: Dallas Stars - This is going to be a tight division as the Stars, Ducks, and Sharks are all built to win now. While I really like the Ducks' chances this season, I really like what is going on in Dallas and I think they will eek out a division title.
  
• Northwest Division Champ: Calgary Flames - This division is down right now. I think the Wild and Avalanche have regressed a bit, the Oilers are still a year or two away, and the Canucks just are not that good. That leaves Jarome Iginla and the Flames to come out on top. Iginla should get serious Hart consideration again this season.
  
• Central Division Champ: Detroit Red Wings - I hate picking them to win, but there is not another team in their division strong enough to challenge them this season. Maybe next year Blackhawks fans.
  
• Southeast Division Champ: Carolina Hurricanes - This was a tough one to call for me at first. After giving it some thought though I think Carolina comes out on top. I think the Capitals will regress a little bit under raised expectations and there just isn't enough defense/goaltending in Tampa for me to pick them. I think the Hurricanes will take advantage of being able to fly under the radar for a bit and claim the 3 seed in the East.
  
• Northeast Division Champ: Ottawa Senators - Everyone and their mother is picking the Canadiens to run wild over the rest of the Eastern Conference this season, but I just don't see it. For some reason I can not explain I think the Sens are going to make one more go of it before their Stanley Cup winning window officially closes for a couple years.
  
• Atlantic Division Champ: Philadelphia Flyers - The Flyers are getting their franchise back on track and look to benefit from some addition via subtraction thanks to Derian Hatcher's injury status. I think this will be the most competitive division in hockey (again) this year, and I see the Flyers ending up on top. I think the Rangers will get off to a bit of a slow start as all of their new faces start to gel, and I think the Penguins will hit too many bumps in the road to win the division. Between the Europe trip and their injuries on defense I think the Pens will be hampered enough that they will have to settle for the fourth or fifth seed in the East.
  
• Hart Trophy Winner (MVP): Sidney Crosby - You will get some argument over this, but I think Sid proved last Spring that he is the best player in the game today. I think the defeat in the Finals will drive Crosby to take his game to another level, something that I am sure is a scary thought for the rest of the NHL. I think the Penguins as a team will have their struggles this season, but I do not expect many for their captain.
  
• Vezina Trophy Winner (Top Goalie): Henrik Lundqvist - I think this will be the year King Henrik breaks through and takes his first Vezina. I expect the Devils to drop off enough to deal a blow to Brodeur's chances. Then again, if Marty can get this year's Devils squad back to the post-season he may be deserving of some more hardware. Hopefully this is the year Marc-Andre Fleury gets his name into the Vezina discussion.
  
• Norris Trophy Winner (Top Defender): Dion Phaneuf - Much like Lundqvist with the Vezina, I think this will be the year Phaneuf breaks Nicklas Lidstrom's hold on the Norris trophy and starts a run of his own. Phaneuf is arguably the best all-around blue liner in the game and he should be a regular Norris finalist for the next ten seasons.
  
• Adams Trophy Winner (Top Coach): Dave Tippett - I already said I expect big things from the Stars and that should translate into some honors for their coach. Hopefully this award will go to a coach who gets continued excellence from his team all season long and not someone who squeaks into the playoffs with a team nobody expected a lot from.
  
• Art Ross Trophy Winner (Most Points): Sidney Crosby- As long as Sid stays healthy this one is a slam dunk. When the game's most gifted offensive player is also its hardest worker you have a recipe for scoring titles.
• Richard Trophy Winner (Most Goals): Dany Heatley - I went back and forth between Heatley and Iginla on this one, but finally settled on Heatley. I think Dany has the edge because he has better talent around him, like center Jason Spezza, and he will face more teams with bad defenses in the Eastern Conference (see Toronto and the entire Southeast Division as a reference). If Ilya Kovalchuk can stay interested for a full season in Atlanta he coule walk away with the Richard easily.
  
• Stanley Cup Finals: Dallas Stars v Pittsburgh Penguins - Only Detroit stood in the way of this dream matchup (as a Penguins fan withing driving distance of Dallas) last season, but I think I might just get my wish this time around. A lot can change between now and then (especially if someone like Marian Gaborik gets moved), but for now I'm taking this Finals matchup with the Pens skating the Cup on home ice with a six game series victory.

That's all for me from now. There's not much else to do except wait for the puck to drop in Prague and for Yahoo Fantasy to put Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney on IR (more on that later). So for the time being I guess I'll just sit back and wait for all the Caps, Habs, Sharks, and whoever else fans to tell me how stupid I am in the comments section. Game on!

Atlantic Division 2008 Free Agency Preview

Well, it's time for the last stop on the incredible journey that has been the 2008 Free Agency Preview. This probably won't be the last time I touch on free agency between now and July 1st, but I'll probably take a step back and see if anything interesting goes down at this weekend's draft in Ottawa. In the meantime, let's break down how things look for the teams in the Atlantic Divsion.

New Jersey Devils

Pending UFA's:

• Bryce Salvador ($1,500,000)
• Karel Rachunek ($1,400,000)
• Jay Pandolfo ($836,000)
• Aaron Asham ($700,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• David Clarkson ($555,000)
• Rod Pelley ($522,000)
• Barry Tallackson ($475,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $39.8 million
Notes: I don't expect much movement from the Devils. I'm sure they will continue to depend on Martin Brodeur and milk whatever offense they can out of their current roster. Having said that, Jay Pandolfo really deserves a raise. He is a very underrated player and probably deserves to at least double his salary from last season.

New York Islanders

Pending UFA's:

• Miroslav Satan ($4,500,000)
• Ruslan Fedotenko ($2,900,000)
• Josef Vasicek ($750,000)
• Bryan Berard ($725,000)
• Rob Davison ($525,000)
• Wade Dubielewicz ($500,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• Sean Bergenheim ($500,000)
• Bruno Gervais ($475,000)
• Aaron Johnson ($475,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $31.3 million
Notes: The Isles are in a pretty good position to begin a rebuilding process with hopes of being competitive in a couple years. Vasicek and Berard have both been solid performers and probably deserve pay hikes, but the money they spent last season on Satan and Fedotenko could definitely be put to better use. They might want to make a run at one relatively young, big name free agent, but they need to come up with a plan for remaking most of their roster if they want to have a chance in the Atlantic. One can only wonder if GM Garth Snow is up to the task.

New York Rangers

Pending UFA's:

• Jaromir Jagr ($8,360,000)
• Martin Straka ($3,300,000)
• Paul Mara ($3,000,000)
  
• Brendan Shanahan ($2,500,000)
• Marek Malik ($2,500,000)
• Michal Rozsival ($2,300,000)
  
• Sean Avery ($1,900,000)
• Stephen Valiquette ($635,000)
• Jason Strudwick ($500,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• Fredrik Sjostrom ($800,000)
• Nigel Dawes ($475,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $31.2 million
Notes: It will be real interesting to see what the Rangers do this offseason. They have some pretty big contracts on the books (see Gomez and Drury), but they also have a lot of UFA's who they could simply not bring back. That would give the Rangers a lot of cap room to work with and most of the buzz around this team seems to have them wanting to upgrade on the blue line. Could Glen Sather be getting a monster bid for Brian Campbell ready, or we he aim a little lower and go after someone like John-Michael Liles, Wade Redden, or Mark Streit? It will also be interesting to see what Sean Avery does as I'm sure he has not forgotten all the less than flattering things the Rangers had to say about him in arbitration last year.

Philadelphia Flyers

Pending UFA's:

• Jason Smith ($1,976,000)
• Jaroslav Modry ($1,200,000)
  
• Jim Down ($500,000)
• Riley Cote ($500,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• R.J. Umberger ($1,250,000)
• Jeff Carter ($942,000)
• Patrick Thoresen ($542,000)
• Randy Jones ($525,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $48.3 million
Notes: The Flyers are really in a bind against the cap. They spent big last offseason in an effort to turn their team around overnight, but now they are going to have a hard time keeping the young players they have developed themselves. The smart money says that either Carter or Umberger won't be back next season. Personally I wouldn't be shocked if other teams managed to snatch up Carter, Umberger, and Jones thanks to the Flyers lack of cap room.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pending UFA's:

• Marian Hossa ($7,000,000)
• Gary Roberts ($2,500,000)
• Mark Eaton ($1,600,000)
  
• Ryan Malone ($1,450,000)
• Georges Laraque ($1,300,000)
• Jarkko Ruutu ($1,150,000)
• Brooks Orpik ($1,075,000)
  
• Pascal Dupuis ($880,000)
  
• Kris Beech ($585,000)
  
• Adam Hall ($525,000)
• Ty Conklin ($500,000)
  
• Jeff Taffe ($500,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• none
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $26.8 million
Notes: Where to begin here? The good news is that Marc-Andre Fleury was offered arbitration by the Penguins, so that will keep him from becoming a RFA and give the team a longer window to negotiate with him. Ryan Malone is gone. He is going to take the biggest offer he gets and that won't be from the Penguins. It is hard to blame Malone as his stock will likely never be higher. Signing Hossa and Orpik seem to be the top priorities and both players have gone on record that they would take less money for the chance to stay in Pittsburgh and get back to the Finals. I believe it from Orpik, but I'm just not sure I'm buying it from Hossa. Beyond them I think Ruutu, Laraque, Dupuis, and Hall will all be back. Dupuis may even want to think about signing a one-year deal and then trying to really cash in next July after spending a season on Sidney Crosby's wing. Gary Roberts could be back for one more go, but it will have to be at a cheaper price. This is shaping up to be the most interesting offseason in Penguins history, and I'm not even taking into account all the insane Evgeni Malkin trade rumors.

2008 Playoffs: Recapping The Conference Finals

After a pair of series that at one point both looked to be heading towards sweeps, we now have our Stanley Cup finalists. The Pittsburgh Penguins will be taking on the Detroit Red Wings for the right to lift hockey's holy grail. Before we get into breaking down the Finals, let's take one last look at how both teams got there.

Pittsburgh v Philadelphia

I said: Pens in 5
What happened: Pens in 5
Comments: This series was never close, as I expected going in. The Flyers were banged up on their blue line, but I really don't think that mattered too much in the end. The Penguins are getting near-flawless performances from every player on a nightly basis right now. Philly are a much improved team and they can be proud of what they did this season, but they simply had no answer for the Penguins defense or offense in this series. Oh, and having MAF in net helped a little too.

Detroit v Dallas

I said: Stars in 6
What happened: Wings in 6
Comments: I probably should have listened to my head more than my heart when predicting this series, but I really thought the Stars would have enough gas left in the tank to force out Detroit. They did make things interesting before all was said and done, but it was too little too late. Now Detroit has to get ready to face by far the toughest opponent they have come up against this post-season.

All Is Right In The Eastern Conference

The universe has finally righted itself and after a brisk 14 games the Pittsburgh Penguins have taken back their rightful spot atop the Eastern Conference. I have to say that the path the Pens took to the top of the East could not have been sweeter either. Let's reflect for just a second...

• Round 1 - Annihilating the Ottawa Senators in 4 games and getting revenge on the team that took them out behind the proverbial woodshed in last season's playoffs.
• Round 2 - Dispatching Jaromir Jagr and the rest of the Penguins alumni squad that not calls themselves the New York Rangers.
• Round 3 - Eliminating the rival Flyers in near perfect fashion, culminating in the 6-0 series clincher on home ice.

Back on top, where they belong!

Not looking past the fact that there is still one more round to go, I can't resist the opportunity to look back on what was a dominating romp through the East for the Penguins. Here are a few of my observations on the first 3 rounds:

• The Flyers and their fans can make all the injury excuses they want, but except for the 3 goals the refs gift-wrapped for them in the first period of game 4, they were never in their series against the Pens. It was not nearly as close as the 4-1 result would lead you to believe.
• Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin get most of the press, but Marc-Andre Fleury and Sergei Gonchar have been the Penguins two most consistent and arguably best performers this post-season.
• Jordan Staal has gotten better and better as the Pens have gotten deeper into the playoffs. Anyone who would complain about his drop in scoring during the regular season just does not get what hockey is about.
• Where have all the people bashing the Pascal Dupuis Marian Hossa trade gone?
• Ryan Malone and Marc-Andre Fleury have both made themselves a fortune in the last six weeks.
• Every single player on the Penguins has performed their role perfectly. Knowledgeable hockey people realize how valuable guys like Tyler Kennedy and Max Talbot have been in Pittsburgh's run to the Finals.

Well, the Red Wings just (finally) finished off the Stars. So now we know who our new enemy is. Nothing in the world could make me happier than to see the Pens beat the Wings in the Finals. Nothing. This is going to be unreal. The ghosts of '96 have been exorcised! Strap in Pens fans, there's four more miles to go to the promised land!

2008 Playoffs: Conference Finals Predictions

The chase for Lord Stanley's Cup is down to four teams as the NHL Conference Finals get underway tomorrow night in Detroit. Both series should be very entertaining and hard fought. Much is being made of the physical aspect of the Flyers/Pens series in particular, but I think the Western Conference Final has the potential to get a bit nasty as well. In any case, on to the predictions!

Western Conference Final

(1) Detroit vs. (5) Dallas

Breakdown: Dallas has had arguably the toughest road to the third round of any of the four remaining teams, and I think that will help them against Detroit. By comparison, the Wings had a cakewalk series against Colorado and haven't really been tested since games 3 & 4 against Nashville. I think the Stars can walk away from this series victorious, but I really think they need to at least split the first two games in Detroit. I think Dallas is the better team here, but not so much better that they can afford to go down 2-0 in the series and expect to win 4 out of 5 games against the Red Wings.
Player to Watch: Marty Turco (DAL) - Playing in Detroit has never been kind to Turco, as his 0-7-2 record at "The Joe" will attest. Turco is going to have to forget about that and focus on the now if the Stars are going to return to the Stanley Cup Finals. If Turco can continue to play at the level he has in the first two rounds, then I really like the Stars' chances to move on.
Prediction: Stars in 6

Eastern Conference Final

(2) Pittsburgh vs. (6) Philadelphia

Breakdown: They invented the phrase "no love lost" just for a series like this one. These teams really don't like each other and this could turn out to be the most physical series of the entire post-season. That in turn could lead to a lot of odd-man situations, which favors Pittsburgh. The Pens' power play has been great in the playoffs, but their penalty kill has quietly been their strongest asset thus far. If the Pens can continue to dominate special teams play, get scoring from the third and fourth lines, and keep getting clutch goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury they will make short work of the Flyers.
Player to Watch: Jarkko Ruutu (PIT) - Ruutu is one of those guys who is always trying to stir up trouble. If he can get under the Flyers' skin without crossing the line (to much) and ending up in the box then he could really help tilt the special teams battle in Pens' favor. Plus he is one of those guys for Pittsburgh who has the ability to chip in with a very timely goal.
Prediction: Pens in 5

2008 Playoffs: Second Round Recap

Well that didn't take long! The second round of the NHL playoffs went by pretty fast as only one series failed to see a team go up 3-0. Ultimately there was only one series sweep, but the second round flew by nonetheless. Let's take a final look back at how I fared with my predictions (quite well if I may say).

Pittsburgh v Rangers

I said: Pens in 6
What happened: Pens in 5
Comments: I expected this series to be longer as I thought these the best two teams in the East. Every game in the series was close, but at the end of the day the Pens prevailed thanks to their special teams and goaltending. The Penguins' power play and penalty kill were both amazing throughout the series and that was the difference. Marc-Andre Fleury continued to be outstanding in net as well. In the end the Rangers just couldn't keep up with the youthful Penguins. It was nice to see Jaromir Jagr still has some gas left in the tank though.

Philadelphia v Montreal

I said: Flyers in 6
What happened: Flyers in 5
Comments: This was the Montreal team I had been waiting to see. I am going to give the Flyers credit for overcoming their game 1 collapse and still wrapping up the series in five games, but Montreal was never really in this series. Carey Price was a disaster for the Habs and he left them with almost no chance to prevail. Easy work for the Flyers in round 2.

Detroit v Colorado

I said: Wings in 7
What happened: Wings in 4
Comments: What a disappointing end to the season for Jose Theodore. He almost singlehandedly got Colorado past the Wild in round 1, and then singlehandedly lost round 2 for them against Detroit. I'm not trying to short change Detroit here, but the Avalanche had no chance in this series with the way Theodore played. Detroit could not have had an easier second round.

Dallas v San Jose

I said: Stars in 6
What happened: Stars in 6
Comments: The Sharks were lucky to get by Calgary, while the Stars took out the defending champs. Seemed like a no-brainer to me. Plus I just think Dallas is a flat out better team than the Sharks. Plus with Marty Turco and Brenden Morrow playing at the level they are right now things are looking really good for the Stars. The Sharks were lucky to push this series to a sixth game.

2008 Playoffs: Second Round Hype Machine!

It's time to get the blood flowing!!!

Red Wings/ Avalanche


Stars/Sharks


Penguins/Rangers


Flyers/Canadiens

2008 Playoffs: Second Round Predictions

We're on to round two of the playoffs! This is generally where the real Cup contenders start to separate themselves from the other remaining teams and I don't think this season will be any different. I think this will be the round where we look back and see that the eventual finalists really started to get on a roll.

Eastern Conference

(1) Montreal vs. (7) Philadelphia

Breakdown: I'm man enough to admit that I really have no handle on Montreal at this point. I really don't think that highly of them and would love to pick against them in round two. That said, I also have a hard time picking Martin Biron to get a team to the Conference Finals. I guess that's my long way of saying that I go back and forth on this series.
Player to Watch: Derian Hatcher (PHI) - Hatcher may be the worst skater in the NHL today. Not just among playoff teams either, I'm talking all 30 teams here. Having said that, if he can keep up with Montreal's speedy group of forwards and help neutralize them then Philly stands a much better chance of getting by the Habs.
Prediction: Flyers in 6

(2) Pittsburgh vs. (5) New York Rangers

Breakdown: This is the premier match up in the East to me. I am on record as saying that I think the winner of this series will win the Cup. The Rangers did well against the Pens in the regular season, especially at MSG, but I'm not reading too much into that. Both teams are well rested so I don't think the layoffs benefit one particular team leading into game 1. It should be a pretty tight series, but the Devils were able to score a few goals against the Rangers which makes me think the Pittsburgh offense should be able to get the job done.
Player to Watch: Michal Rozsival (NYR) - Rozsival has made a career out of playing the Pens since joining the Rangers and they will need some of that offensive boost from the blue line to get enough pucks by Marc-Andre Fleury to be competitive in this series.
Prediction: Pens in 6

Western Conference

(1) Detroit vs. (7) Colorado

Breakdown: This rivalry doesn't carry quite the buzz it used to, but that doesn't mean we aren't in store for a good series. I think these teams match up pretty well and it should be a close series. I think Detroit is in a little better shape with Osgood in net and they have more talent and experience on defense. I think those two things will be enough to put them over the top. Joe Sakic and company are playing well enough to make quite a series of this though.
Player to Watch: Andrew Brunette (COL) - The Avalanche will need to continue to get goals from their depth players to make this a competitive series. If Brunette can carry over his hot hand from the series against Minnesota that will go a long way towards helping Colorado make life hard on Detroit.
Prediction: Wings in 7

(2) San Jose vs. (5) Dallas

Breakdown: Much like the Pens/Rangers series in the East, I think this series will produce the team that represents the Western Conference in the Finals. This should be a hard fought series and I think there will be more scoring than one might initially think. These teams are really close on paper and it really could go either way. I think Dallas has an edge though based on how they played while taking out the Ducks and the consistency they showed.
Player to Watch: Brad Richards (DAL) - This series is why the Stars went out and got Richards at the trade deadline. He can be the difference maker for Dallas in this series with his scoring and two-way play. He will need to be among Dallas' top scorers in the series for them to move on.
Prediction: Stars in 6

Reactions To The Mike Richards Contract

The Flyers set the hockey world on fire today with their signing of Mike Richards to a 12 year, $69 million contract extension. Here are some reactions from around the league:

"Only 12 years? That kid needs a new agent."
- Rick DiPietro

"Man is that kid overpaid."
- Brad Richards

"That deal is so insane I got excited when I heard about it because I thought I had signed him."
- Kevin Lowe

"Ka-ching!"
- Evgeni Malkin's agent

"That's almost $700,000 for each career point. I can't believe they didn't offer me a 12 year, $1 billion contract. I'll show those ungrateful jerks!!!"
- Mark Recchi

"When did Kevin Lowe become GM for the Flyers?"
- Brian Burke

"So, you don't want me back next year then I take it."
- R.J. Umberger

"Are hey trying to one up us as the team dealing with the cap the worst? Quick, get Wade Redden's agent on the phone! I'll show them how to ruin your team's future."
- Bryan Murray

Anatomy Of A Salary Cap Crisis

In the wake of Mike Richards' new contract signing today, I figured the Flyers were painting themselves into a corner in regards to the salary cap. Never one to ignore a hunch, I opened up the Flyers page at nhlnumbers.com, took into account the new deal for Richards, and then found the following situation facing the Flyers:

• Daniel Briere - $6.5 million cap hit (8 years remaining)
• Kimmo Timonen - $6.33 million cap hit (6 years remaining)
  
• Mike Richards - $5.75 million cap hit (12 years remaining)
• Simon Gagne - $5.25 million cap hit (4 years remaining)
• Scott Hartnell - $4.08 million cap hit (6 years remaining)
• Derian Hatcher - $3.5 million cap hit (2 years remaining)
• Mike Rathje - $3.5 million cap hit (3 years remaining) yikes!
• Martin Biron - $3.5 million cap hit (2 years remaining)

That's over $38 million committed to 8 players, with the cap currently sitting at $50.3 million. I hope the flyers have a long list of players willing to play for the league minimum, because they have to fill out the remaining two thirds of their roster for about $12 million. I can already smell Kevin Lowe getting an offer sheet ready for R.J. Umberger.

Breakout Passes: Pennsylvania Is Burning

Welcome to the first installment of Breakout Passes! There's just too much good stuff going on out there in the hockey blogosphere to go unlinked. So away we go!

• Tuesday night's Pens/Flyers tilt has rekindled the interstate rivalry. The Battle of Pennsylvania has responses from both sides. Melt Your Face Off has a great post about how the officials should have taken control of the game. The Pens' visit to Philly on January 24th can't come soon enough.
• On a more positive note, the boys over at The Pensblog were able to drop a little knowledge on some poor soul who managed to slip through the cracks of the Philadelphia school system. Just do a find on palindrome...
• James Mirtle's man-crush on Mark Recchi is still going strong! All I will say about this is that the Pens' record is a lot better without Recchi in the lineup than in it this season.
• The buzz around the Lightning moving one of their big three forwards continues to grow. Good luck finding someone who will take on that Richards contract!
• Someone apparently needs to hold an intervention and explain the concept of a salary cap to the Flyers. They just aren't getting it.
• Going Five Hole scored an interview with Steve Williamson, he of 30 games in 30 nights fame.
• GFH was also the first blog I saw run the amazing Max Gherlach goal. That may be the best one-on-one goal I've ever seen at any level.
• Sidney Crosby... Lou Marsh Award winner!
  

Nice to Meet You / $idney I$ Re-$igned

Hi! I'm new here. My name is Jodie, but I'm better known in the blogosphere as snoopyjode. Along with Loser Chris, I'll be sharing some facts and opinions about anything and everything sports. I have been a Pittsburgh Penguins fan for more than 10 years now. I live in central Pennsylvania, so I get to go to Pens games once in a while, and I look forward to sharing my experiences at some of the upcoming season's games with you. I'm most familiar with hockey, but I'm smart enough to pick up on a good sports story when I hear one. I can't wait to get started, so without further ado...

---

Imagine, if you will, going to a car lot. You've narrowed it down to 2 choices. Vehicle A is a brand new Range Rover that normally sells for more than $80,000 but the dealer has offered to you for $60,000. Vehicle B is a used 2001 Ford Explorer that is valued at around $10,000 but the dealer has informed you that he will accept no less than $30,000 for it. Which do you choose? (I know. It's a stupid analogy, but bear with me. I'm making a point...)

Well, if you chose Vehicle A, you're Penguins' general manager Ray Shero and you've just signed NHL phenom Sidney Crosby to a 5 year extension at the bargain price of $43.5 million. (FUN FACT: Crosby was born on 8-7-87, wears the jersey number 87, and his new contract works out to be $8.7 million a year.) Sir Sidney could have commanded top dollar (which would have been more than $10 million a year based on current NHL guidelines) because, after all, he is the best player in the league. But Sid showed his Penguins loyalty and gave Shero the "team-player" discount. Get this: There have been Internet grumblings that the contract is too expensive. That is an incredibly ridiculous statement. He's the best player in the entire NHL and could have demanded the maximum payment and would have gotten it (Shero doesn't want to be forever known as the one that let Sidney get away) but he didn't. $8.7 mil a year is a bargain basement price for a player like Sid! What other teenager who is the best in player in his or her sport is going to pass on collecting an extra $2 mil in order to leave some extra cash in the pot for his coworkers? That's one of the big reasons Sid is my favorite player.

Now, if you chose Vehicle B, well that makes you one of these guys:

• Glen Sather, GM of the New York Rangers, who just signed Chris Drury to a 5 year, $32.25 million contract. He's a decent player, I realize, but on a scale that's weighted with Sid's talent-to-salary ratio, Drury's new salary is a joke. I guess it doesn't help that the Rangers have always seemed to have more money than brains...


• Paul Holmgren, GM of the Philadelphia Flyers, who just signed Daniel Briere to an 8 year, $52 million contract. What is with the OUTRAGEOUS amount of money? One awesome season does not make any player worth that kind of money. Wow. I wonder if I have one outstanding day at work if they'll quadruple my salary with no guarantee that I'll ever have another day as good as that one again?

Was it just me, or did you too think the dollar amounts being thrown around to average (hear me out - I mean average in terms of the NHL) players during this year's free agency frenzy was out of control? Does ANYONE think Briere would have gotten that kind of offer if Sid's contract was inked first? Maybe now other general managers can Sid's deal as a guideline to get the overspending under control. Hey, a girl can dream, right?



On a somber note, former Detroit Red Wings coach Jimmy Skinner, who was at the helm when Hall of Famers Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay captured Lord Stanley's Cup in 1955, died on July 11, 2007 at the ripe old age of 90. T.O.F.T.T. offers our condolences to his family, friends, and fans.