Deep Thoughts

Public transportation. Where there's nothing but time to ponder ...

1. "I want to play for a contender" is all the vogue these days in professional sports. I can understand when Roy Halladay says it. Hell, that makes sense. Jamal Mayers? Not so much. I'm sure Brian Burke's phone is ringing off the hook now that word has leaked that Mayers and Garnet Exelby are officially available, with their agents exploring trade possibilities. Actually, we know that's not the case, otherwise Burke would be trying to make the trades himself. Anyway: good riddance. Whether it's now or via unrestricted free agency come the summer.

2. Can Brian Burke tell Jeff Finger and Jason Blake's agents to explore trade possibilities as well? Please? Pretty please?

3. Whose position would you rather be in: the pathetic Edmonton Oilers, first round pick in tow, and approximately $46 million in salary committed to only 13 players for next season, thanks to a ton of brutal contracts - Shawn Horcoff (20 points, -23) at a cap hit of $5.5 million through 2013/2014, Sheldon Souray at a cap hit of $5.4 million through 2011/2012, Steve Staios at $2.7 million through next season, and the injured, and old, Nik Khabibulin at $3.75 million through 2012/2013. Or the equally pathetic Toronto Maple Leafs, without their next two first round picks, but Phil Kessel, and approximately $34 million committed to 11 players for next season. You tell me.

4. I know; I can't bring up Edmonton's brutal contracts while not bringing up Blake's and Finger's. And at $2.9 million, Mikhail Grabovski might be overpaid as well. Bollocks!!1

5. And I can't ignore the fact the Oilers have Jordan Eberle in their system. Yeah, that guy who doesn't panic, even when destiny does. If Edmonton is blessed enough to draft Taylor Hall, the scales might be tipped, albeit slightly, in the Oil's favour.

6. Staying with Edmonton, they remain winless in 2010. Their best bet to change that might come on March 13th when they visit Toronto. It will be a night to remember.

7. Random thought: Seinfeld remains the greatest comedy sitcom ever written and produced. You may disagree, but you're wrong.

8. I took in the Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers game a couple of nights ago on TSN. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Those kids are alright. And back-to-back first round lottery selections. Ha.

9. As a television hockey personality, anyone compared to P.J. Stock is articulate. Even Matthew Barnaby. And "articulate" is the last word I'd ever imagined labeling Barnaby.

10. The Hawks appear to be the real deal. If Chicago loses in the Stanley Cup final, they will only have Marian Hossa to blame. Could you imagine? As for Cristobal Huet, he doesn't strike you as a stand-on-his-head, playoff-type goalie, does he? Me neither. The Hawks need some insurance. It's a good thing the Leafs have a veteran goalie in Vesa Toskala, with an expiring contract whom they can explore trade possibilities for. It's a shame Burke will be laughed on the phone as soon as he mentions Toskala's name.

11. The Blackhawks have allowed an astonishingly low 25 power play goals so far this season. The Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres are even better: 23. Ron Wilson's Toronto Maple Leafs check in at 59. I'm sure the Leafs have allowed 23 power play goals in a month this season. I refuse to check; that's a little too depressing.

12. To add salt to the gaping wound this Leafs season has already wrought, the Ottawa Senators seemed to have legitimized themselves as a playoff team. They've won seven in a row, and are dominant on home ice. It pains me to admit it, but Brian Elliott has been more impressive than Jonas Gustavsson this season, and their workload has been about the same.

13. Francois Allaire? The Leafs clearly should have hired Eli Wilson.

14. A quick nugget on the Toronto Raptors: don't those Huskies jerseys look rather dashing?

15. Due to increasing and unrelenting comment spam, which I absolutely love to read on my BlackBerry, the comments section is back to being embedded below each post. If that doesn't get the terrorists to stop, I might be left with no choice but to employ the dreaded "word verification" system. Let's hope it doesn't get to that, folks. Thanks, as always, for reading and commenting.

Image courtesy, as usual, This Isn't Happiness.

Hope Personified

"Hope costs nothing."

- Sidonie Gabrielle

That's not entirely true.

Hope - Phil Kessel - costs first and second round draft picks in 2010, a first round draft pick in 2011, and $5.4 million a season.

And you know what? He's worth it.

Life Isn't Fair

Toronto FC, in the biggest game of its young existence, delivered the type of pathetic performance only a Toronto team could in a must-win situation.

The Toronto Maple Leafs? A strong, and much better, effort. But another loss. Another fucking loss. I don't know about you, but when I think about the Leafs, I find it impossible not to shake my head in disgust. There's certainly no pressure on Phil Kessel to live up to that 2010 first-round draft pick, which I pray - to Allah, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna ... you name 'em, I'm praying to 'em - will not be a lottery pick.

And to end the weekend, a champagne shower of one A.J. Burnett. What we all wanted to see. Fucking Yankee$.

Keepers

NHL general managers aren't the only ones making difficult roster decisions these days. I had to lock up four guys in my Yahoo! Sports keeper league last night, and I agonized over the decision. A lot more than I probably should have. Then again, this is the closest I'm ever going to get to running a franchise, and there's a decent chunk of money on the line - 20 guys at $125 a piece.

I finished third out of 20 last season and in the process, in what's becoming a disturbing trend, traded away my first, second, and fourth round picks in 2009, and my third and sixth round picks in 2010. Thankfully I finished in a money position (top five), otherwise I might have had to fire myself from my post.

It's not all rainbows and sunshine though; the way our league works is that draft picks must be traded for draft picks. For my 2009 first, second, and fourth round picks I received two 12th round picks (out of 12 rounds), and an eighth round pick, respectively, in return. For the 2010 third and sixth rounders, two 12th round picks came back my way.

I may have mortgaged the future. This might be a rebuilding season.

Since we all consider ourselves to be fantasy hockey aficionados, I'm curious as to how you might have made my decision differently. Below is the roster I had to pick four players from, and each player's respective fantasy points ...

Forwards:

Sidney Crosby - 2830

Brad Boyes - 1985

Todd White - 1960

Alex Kovalev - 1820

Jason Blake - 1725

Kris Versteeg - 1580

Shawn Horcoff - 1485

Mikhail Grabovski - 1255

Andrew Ebbett - 855

Defence:

Nicklas Lidstrom - 1845

Shea Weber - 1485

Filip Kuba - 1150

Carlo Colaiacovo - 850

Goalies:

Marty Turco - 1825

Ilya Bryzgalov - 1747

Which four would you take? And, no, I haven't a clue as to how Todd White put up 73 points, including 34 on the power play, last season. But there's no way he can do it again. Right?

My selections: Crosby; tough call. Boyes; if he can work on his atrocious -20, he's good for at least 2000 points. Lidstrom; the game's top fantasy defenceman. And Weber; high-scoring defenceman are at a premium.

I flipped a coin between Weber and Turco. Marty was awful last season, yet he still put up more than 1800 pool points. It was a best-of-seven coin toss. Who am I to argue with gravity? Weber one, four-two.

It was tough to see Jason Blake go back into the draft; #55's my guy. Kovalev, too. But he's simply too hit and miss; too moody. Versteeg's a player on the rise, and Turco and Bryz are both number one goalies.

The way I see it, Crosby's the equivalent of two solid guys up front, and Boyes might be even better on an improving St. Louis team. Forwards who can put up 1500 points are available in abundance; I'm releasing five of them. Drafting a goalie will certainly be a priority and, if all else fails, I'm sure Ray Emery will be available. Barring injury, I'll have one of the league's most potent defence cores thanks to Weber and Lidstrom.

It all means two things: one of Lidstrom and Weber will surely suffer a season-ending injury in October, and Kovalev's going to rip it in Ottawa.

The Matrix

Brace yourselves, my friends. You're about to read a post about the Toronto Raptors...

First and foremost, so long, Jermaine O'Neal. We hardly knew you, mate.

I think it's safe to say we all know of the deal by now. Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo finally - no, mercifully - made a move, and O'Neal, along with Jamario Moon and a first round draft pick, is off to the Miami Heat. Your newest Raptors are "The Matrix" Shawn Marion, and some dude named Marcus Banks, who I've never heard of, but who makes more than $4 million a season.

I was actually going to post breaking news of the trade yesterday afternoon, when word dropped that the deal was done. But then I remembered that I don't really give a shit.

Sorry, it's the truth. I care about the Raptors. Not so much about the Craptors. And, make no mistake about it, occupying second-last place in the Eastern Conference, the Raptors are once again the Craptors.

If you're looking for analysis on the big trade, you'll find a small nugget of it here. You know this already, but the trade is all about cap-space. Colangelo is clearing the decks as, with each passing day, we get closer to the summer of 2010, when everyone and their mother becomes a free agent in the NBA.

That being said, O'Neal and his ridiculous salary - $23 million next year - had to go. With the emergence of Andrea Bargnani as a not-so-useless NBA centre, O'Neal, Colangelo's prized off-season acquisition, and his wonky 67-year-old knees, became expendable. Period.

In Marion, the Raptors get a guy who can rebound, and who is known to play defence. I know, imagine that. "The Matrix" is a free agent at the end of the season, and I'm not sure anyone is really expecting him to stick around, his ties with Colangelo be damned. But, hey, I'm sure we'll offer him the choice between the blue and red pill (sorry, I had to do it).

As for Jamario Moon and Marcus Banks, they're all but irrelevant. Moon is clearly happy to just be in the NBA. He doesn't seem interested in, you know, actually improving. Was there another player in Raptors history who so frustrated his coaches? And, Banks. Well, he's going to live up to his surname and get paid a fuck-ton of money to sit on the bench, so who am I to criticize what is, in all honesty, one sweet gig?

As I mentioned above, Toronto's first-round draft pick, between 2010 and 2015, is going Miami's way. All you need to know is this: whenever the Raptors make the playoffs again after this season, Miami gets the pick. And you also need to know this: it doesn't matter the sport, when MLSE makes a deal, it includes a first-rounder going the other way.

Based on some of the comments I've seen over at RaptorBlog.com, it's the addition of the first-rounder that is causing die-hard Raptors fans major angst. As a die-hard Toronto Maple Leafs fan, I'm used to the trading of premium draft assets. So, I'm not about to get my boxer briefs all tied up in knots. Deep down, I know that if the Toronto Blue Jays could trade draft choices, they'd deal their first-round picks, too.

Know this, however, and boxers/briefs/panties beware. If Marion walks away this summer, the Raptors (read: Bryan Colangelo) will have traded T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston, a first-round pick in the 2008 NBA draft (Roy Hibbert), and a conditional first-rounder between 2010 and 2015, for Nathan Jawai, Marcus Banks, and salary cap room (cap room that O'Neal would have provided in 2010, anyway).

Somewhere, Rob Babcock is smiling.