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.

To move aimlessly from place to place

Monday. You know how it arrives.

I haven't written in about a week. So effected was I by Mark McGwire's bombshell announcement. Steroids. Who knew? ...

1. Inspired by the fine folks at Silver Seven Sens, who donated $0.05 for every comment in Saturday's game day thread to the Canadian Red Cross's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, I've donated Sports And The City's January ad revenue (up to the 17th) to the same cause. I'll be topping up the donation at the end of the month. The pictures of dead bodies in the streets of Port-Au-Prince are difficult and downright disturbing to look at. The poor country can't catch a break. The donation isn't much, but it's something. Thanks for reading.

2. On to more distracting things ... The last time the Edmonton Oilers won a game, it was 2009. December 30th, actually, at home against -- you guessed it!!1 -- Toronto. As bad as the Maple Leafs are, the Oilers are worse. Poor Pat Quinn. I'm worried about his physical and mental well being.

3. I'm high on Phil Kessel, but at least Oilers fans have their first round draft pick to look forward to.

4. The immediate years post-Mats Sundin (last season, this season, and probably the next two) will do wonders for #13's legacy. With Phil Kessel the only true offensive threat the Maple Leafs boast, people will eventually marvel at just how consistent, and just how good, Sundin truly was in Toronto. Don't get me wrong, Kessel's good. He's got the potential to be great. But as a sniper, I'm not sure he possesses the acumen to become a guaranteed 30-goal scorer, and point-per-game player, like Sundin was only three seasons into his career.

5. You're Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli. Would you trade Toronto's 2010 first round pick, David Krejci, and Blake Wheeler for Ilya Kovalchuk?

6. I recently began reading mc79hockey.com - "Where we're welcoming the local and national media to the news that the Oilers suck" - and it's fantastic. Check it out. Last week, an excellent post was written about Ethan Moreau's propensity to take more penalties than he draws. In conclusion: since 2007/2008, five-on-five, Moreau has "generated 20.5 more power plays for the opposition in the course of a given season than would a forward who takes and draws penalties at average rates." Interesting stuff. There's a chart and everything. Fourteenth on the list: Toronto's Jamal Mayers, at 14.4. Mayers hasn't done much in Toronto. Other than take a lot of penalties, clearly. While he's simply trying to fit in, it's probably safe to say the trade to acquire Mayers is a wash. As I'm sure you remember, Florida's third round pick in the 2008 draft, acquired by Toronto for Chad Kilger, was sent to St. Louis for Mayers. The Blues drafted James Livingston 70th overall with the pick. Livingston's playing out his final year in the OHL and has 14 goals, and 26 points, in 38 games. Knowing nothing about Livingston but his numbers, I'm going to go ahead and conclude he will not be an impact player in the NHL.

7. I try to watch Tyler Bozak's first career NHL goal on YouTube at least twice a day.

8. Since being traded by the Montreal Canadiens, Guillaume Latendresse has become a rather prolific goal scorer. In 24 games with Minnesota, he's lit the lamp 13 times. Latendresse is now only one goal off his career high of 16 and, as a Leafs fan suffering through yet another bullshit season, this pleases me.

9. There was irony in watching Jacques Martin lose to the Ottawa Senators's next young hope in the crease, Mike Brodeur, Saturday night. The carousel of goaltenders in Ottawa also pleases me.

10. In his last three games, Andrea Bargnani has pulled down 35 rebounds - 17, 12, and 6, respectively. With half the season officially in the books, Bargnani has posted seven double-digit rebounding efforts. Last season, he managed the feat six times. In 2007/2008: once. In 2006/2007, Il Mago's rookie year: twice. It's happening, folks. Bargnani is learning how to rebound. The patience is paying off.

11. For good measure, Bargnani is putting up the best shooting numbers of his young career as well: 47.2% from the floor, and 17.2 points a game.

12. I'm not sure what the "That's Vernon Wells type money" vote means in the new poll on whether Chris Bosh is worth $130 million. It's either a shot at Bosh, a shot at Wells, or a shot at both of them. I'm assuming its connotation is negative. But it's good to see the most number of votes, so far, are in the "Yes" category. Bosh and Bargnani, with Bargnani at his peak? I'd like to see that.

13. To be a fly on the wall at -- if it happens -- Jeremy Accardo's arbitration hearing.

14. Jason Frasor made only $1.45 million last year, and is in line for a nice raise. What is The Sausage King of the Bullpen worth to you in 2010 - $2.5 million? $3 million?

15. With only two weeks left to vote, it's all but certain that Aaron Hill will replace Roy Halladay in the Sports And The City banner. Which means he likely won't be a Toronto Blue Jay for much longer.

16. There's nothing -- absolutely nothing -- like a devastating block in football. Kurt Warner surely agrees.

17. My boy 40's a New York Jets fan. I'm happy for him.

The Perfect Day

As far as Saturdays in March go, this is about as good as it gets.

At about 11:30 AM, I'll be opening my first beer of the day.

At 2:00 PM, mildly drunk, I'll be at the Rogers Centre to watch Canada beat the USA in World Baseball Classic action.

At 5:30 PM, wonderfully inebriated, I'll be at Spadina Garden, enjoying the finest Chinese food Toronto has to offer.

At 7:00 PM, in a stupor, I'll be at the Air Canada Centre, where the Leafs will proceed to crush the Edmonton Oilers, and continue their most unlikely quest to qualify for the second season. Playoffs!!!!1

It's the perfect day, nothing's standing in my way. (Thanks for the big tune, Lori.)

WEEKEND UPDATE: Canada lost, the Buffalo Bills signed Terrell Owens, the Leafs lost, and, on Sunday night, I watched Venezuela vs. USA from a private box at the Cable Box. Ri-dic-u-lous.

Sheldon Souray Sucks

Sheldon Souray has signed a long term contract with the Edmonton Oilers. Really, he did. Edmonton actually got someone to agree to come to their team. But it doesn't matter, because Sheldon Souray sucks.

Souray was the last of the "big name" free agents left on the NHL's open market. Rumour had it that he was going out west, to Los Angeles or San Jose, but TSN is reporting that Souray has signed on long term with Edmonton, the Siberia of the NHL.
Nobody wants to go there. Well, that's not true. Hockey players don't mind playing there, it's their wives who have the problem. Edmonton is called Deadmonton for a reason. As a recenty study has shown us, women run shit. So free agents and their families are steering clear of Oil Country.

I'm sure the Oilers and their fans are going to be all pumped up about this signing, and although I don't know the terms of the contract - they were not disclosed - I am 110% sure that Souray is now grossly overpaid.

Sheldon Souray is the NHL's version of a pylon. He can't skate very well, isn't a great passer and is absolutely atrocious defensively. He had one good season - last year, which happened to be a contract year. Souray was -28 last year with the Canadiens, one of the worst plus/minus statistics in the entire league. He's a defenseman, but he's not so good with the whole defense thing.

The only thing he can do is shoot the puck. Better than anyone. In the whole league. That's it. Sure, it's nice to have a great shot, but at what cost to the team's defense? He's a power play specialist, and prior to last season had never put up more than 39 points.

Mention the name Sheldon Souray to hockey enthusiasts and it will conjure up memories of Jason Spezza deking the jock strap off Souray one-on-one and then proceeding to score the game winning goal, in overtime no less. This guy has been posterized by a bunch of players.

Sheldon Souray sucks, and is definitely the NHL's newest, most-overrated multi-millionaire.