2012 - Page 61 of 114 - Last Word On Sports

The History of NHL Offer Sheets

Posted on July 19, 2012January 2, 2021 by Ben Kerr

News this morning broke that Shea Weber has signed a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet made by Paul Holmgren and the Philadelphia Flyers. This means that his current team, the Nashville Predators, run by GM David Poile have 7 days to match the offer or be awarded 4 first round picks in compensation. In light of this major story, I decided to look at the history of NHL offer sheets today.

The Beginnings: The First Offer Sheets Gary Nylund & Geoff Courtnall

The first offer sheet came down in 1986 when Gary Nylund, a rugged defender for the Toronto Maple Leafs was in a contract dispute with Leafs owner Harold Ballard. Norris Division rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks swooped in and signed Nylund to a 3 year, $620,000 offer sheet. The Leafs were unwilling to match and Nylund was off to Chicago. The compensation for the move turned out to be Ken Yaremchuk, Jarome Dupont, and a 4th round pick in the 1987 NHL Draft.

The NHL would wait another two years before another offer sheet attempt was made. The Summer of 1988 saw the Oilers trade away their star Wayne Gretzky, in what was largely a cash grab move by Peter Pocklington. The Rangers, sensing vulnerability and watching Geoff Courtnall being unable to sign a deal in Edmonton, attempted to snatch away the young forward with an offer sheet. The Oilers would trade the rights to Courtnall to the Washington Capitals, who would then match the deal. Such a move of trading the player’s rights during the 7 day window was possible at the time, but is not possible today.

The Early 90s. The St. Louis Years

The offer sheet would really come into vogue in the early 90s, and there was one team that used it more than any other, the St. Louis Blues. The Blues saw offer sheets as a way to try and lure away young, established stars to the team, simply by flexing some financial muscle. The Blues under GM Ron Caron were very successful in luring the players they wanted to the midwest, but ultimately had little team success to show for the moves.

The Blues kicked things up a notch in 1990, by signing the first legitimate star player to an offer sheet. Scott Stevens was the cornerstone of the Washington Capitals defence and was emerging as one of the best defencemen in the NHL. He had already shown both an ability to be an offensive force with a 72 point season, and four years above 60 points in Washington. He was also developing a reputation as one of the most feared hitters in hockey. The Blues gave Stevens a 4-year, $5.1 million offer sheet which the Capitals could not match, and 5 first round picks were awarded as compensation.

The Blues would continue this poaching strategy in 1991 which lead to two very bizarre situations. First they signed winger Dave Christian from the Boston Bruins. The Bruins would retaliate by signing Dave Thomlinson, and Glen Featherstone from St. Louis just 4 days later. This situation was eventually resolved with all three players changing teams and the Blues picking up extra draft picks as compensation in what was essentially a 2 for 1 trade (plus picks) trade.

However St. Louis wasn’t done there, as they would make an offer sheet to the New Jersey Devils’ emerging power forward Brendan Shanahan, that same summer. This would create a problem as the compensation for Shanahan should have been set at another 5 first round picks, and the Blues were out of picks due to the Stevens offer. The Blues offered Curtis Joseph, and Rod Brindamour along with a couple late round picks as compensation, but the Devils would not budge. Eventually the issue went before an arbitrator, who awarded Scott Stevens to the Devils, nullifying the Blues’ 1990 move.

The Blues weren’t done there though. They would try to sign Michel Goulet away from the Chicago Blackhawks, but the Hawks matched the four-year offer.

While that ended the Blues involvement that summer, 1991 was the busiest year of offer sheets ever. We would also see Adam Graves move from Edmonton to the Rangers, with Troy Mallette as compensation. Following that, we saw Kevin Stevens was signed to an offer sheet by the Bruins, and the Penguins matched.

Things would continue the next summer with a couple of matched offer sheets. The Oilers would keep defenceman Dave Manson, matching an offer sheet from the Washington Capitals. Meanwhile in Winnipeg the Jets were having a hard time signing one of their prize draft picks, future NHL superstar Teemu Selanne. The Flames would submit an offer sheet to try and steal the young Selanne, but the Jets would match and Selanne would go on to become the highest scoring rookie in history and win the Calder Trophy. It was the start of a hall of fame career.

The Blues were back at in 1993, trying to sign Marty McSorely away from the LA Kings. The Kings would match the offer. As would the Capitals, when the San Jose Sharks tried to sign away Kelly Miller.

The Sharks would follow that up with an offer to Craig Simpson of the Edmonton Oilers for 3-years and $3.09 million. This was the first offer sheet to try a really creative salary structure as the Sharks put a ton of money into the deal as a signing bonus. The league invalidated the offer and stated that it was illegally structured, keeping Simpson an Oiler for a few more weeks. When the Sabres threatened to make a second offer sheet on Simpson, Edmonton traded the forward to Buffalo, rather than go through the situation again.

In the summer of 1994, an NHL lockout was looming, but not even that could stop the St. Louis Blues and their offer sheet madness. First they signed Peter Nedved who was involved in a contract holdout with the Vancouver Canucks, giving Craig Janney and a 2nd round pick as compensation. The Blues still stinging over the loss of Scott Stevens, would sign him to a second offer sheet. However the Devils would match, and after the lockout cancelled the first half of the season, they would see Stevens lead the team to their first Stanley Cup in 1995. There were also minor deals that summer seeing Mike Craig go to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Steven Rice to the Hartford Whalers.

Amazingly after all that, the Blues still weren’t done. In 1995 they would sign Shayne Corson from the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers declined to match and 2 first rounders were awarded as compensation. The Oilers would trade these two first rounders back to the Blues for Curtis Joseph and Mike Grier.

The Blues under “the Professor” Ron Caron, tried to use the offer sheet to build a Stanley Cup contender by poaching the best young players of others, however the loss of draft picks, and other young players as compensation de-railed the plan, and the Blues were a middle of the road team in these years. They would stop with the offer sheets, for 13 years at least, and eventually build a legitimate Cup contender (though they could never seem to get over that hump) in the early 2000s, but this was done through smart UFA acquisitions and trades and not on the backs of the RFA offer sheet.

The 1995-2004 CBA, The Mega Offers

Following the 1994 lockout the restrictions on front-loading contracts and massive signing bonuses, that created the issue with the Craig Simpson offer sheet were eased. What we would see next was a series of attempts that used massive front loading of their offer sheets in order to try and discourage the other team from matching the offer. The next wave of big money offer sheets created a huge ripple effect in the industry and led, in part, to a league wide skyrocket in salaries.

The first mega-money, front loaded deal came when the Chicago Blackhawks made a 5-year $17.2 million offer on Keith Tkachuk of the Winnipeg Jets. Despite the Jets well-known financial problems at the time, the team decided to match the offer. The massive payouts increased the burden on the Manitoba franchise and the continued escalation of salaries, combined with a weak Canadian Dollar, and an older outdated arena led to the Jets move to Phoenix at the conclusion of the following season.

In 1997 the Rangers sensed weakness in Colorado and made a massive offer sheet to Joe Sakic of 3 years $21 million. The deal featured a $15 million signing bonus and $2 million in annual salary. The Avalanche were playing in the outdated McNicholls arena at the time, and were waiting for the new Pepsi Center to be built. Revenues for the team were low because of the arena, and the Rangers thought that the Avalanche would have a tough time coming up with such a payout. The Avalanche were able to make it work and kept their long=time captain by matching the offer sheet.

Later that summer the Flyers were successful with an offer sheet as their 5 year $16.5 million offer to Tampa Bay centre Chris Gratton was not matched by the club. Gratton was the 3rd overall pick in the 1993 entry draft and with a 30 goal season in Tampa appeared to be growing into the elite power forward many thought he could be. The Flyers hoped he could provide a dynamic duo with then star centre Eric Lindros. The Compensation in this case was 4 first round picks, which were promptly traded back from Tampa Bay to Philly for Mikael Renberg and Karl Dykhuis. Gratton was seen as a disappointment in Philly and after paying his huge signing bonus and having him for one year, he was traded back to Tampa for Renberg. He would never again score 30 goals.

Also in 1997 the Maple Leafs attempted to sign the Canucks prize prospect, Matthias Ohlund who was drafted 13th overall in 1994 and was in a contract dispute with the club. The Leafs offered the young Swedish blueliner 5 years and $10 million in base salary, plus a $7.5 million signing bonus. The Canucks choose to match the deal.

Our last offer sheet prior to the 2004 lockout, came in February 1998. Sergei Fedorov was involved in a contract dispute with the Detroit Red Wings. Now Peter Karmanos, the owner of the Hartford Whalers, was involved in a non-NHL related business dispute with Mike Illitch, owner of the Red Wings, at the same time. Karmanos seeing the opportunity to take a shot at his rival, put together a frontloaded, 6 year, $38 million offer for the Russian Superstar. Illitch and the Red Wings matched, and went on to win the 1998 and 2002 Stanley Cups with Fedorov as a key part of those teams. The victory in 2002 would come in a 5 game Cup final victory over the Karmanos owned Carolina Hurricanes.

There would be no other offer sheets that followed the massive Fedorov offer, until the new CBA. Seeing the escalating costs, both in compensation and in massive front loaded salaries, teams simply stopped using them. Star RFAs were no longer targetted in this way, and even the lower tier RFAs couldn’t get any love as guys like Ron Tugnutt and Stu Grimson did interspersed with these bigger deals.

Post 2005 Lockout

Following the 2004-05 lockout we once again saw a more strategic use of the offer sheet begin to emerge. While they weren’t done often (and many would argue not nearly often enough), salary cap constraints made the possibility of unmatched offer sheets a bigger possibility. The reduction in compensation in the 2005 CBA also helped.

Philadelphia and then GM Bobby Clarke brought about the return of the offer sheet with a 1 year, $1.9 million offer to Ryan Kesler, who was then a young player on the Canucks. While many could see the promise of Kesler, the reality was that this was a very large contract for a player who was essentially a third liner at the time. The Canucks ultimately choose to match the offer, and Kesler would grow into one of the team’s leaders in the following years.

In 2007 the Edmonton Oilers got involved. The Oilers were looking to improve their offence and had a big need for a goal scoring winger. Kevin Lowe, GM of the Oilers, made a number of offers on unrestricted free agents and was having a tough time luring them to Edmonton after the Chris Pronger and Mike Peca fiascoes the previous summer. So Lowe opened up the vault and made a massive offer to Tomas Vanek of the Buffalo Sabres. Vanek was coming off a 40 goal campaign and was seen as one of the up and coming young snipers in the NHL. The 7 year $50 million offer was considered massive, and the tight budget Sabres (who lost Daniel Briere and Chris Drury as UFAs that summer) were thought to be vulnerable. However the Sabres decided they had bled enough talent for one year, and managed to retain their young star by matching the offer.

Not to be deterred, Lowe targeted another young star. This time signing Dustin Penner of the then Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks, to a 5 year $21.5 million offer sheet. This initiated the long running feud between then Ducks GM Brian Burke and Kevin Lowe and many harsh words would be spoken publicly between the two in the coming years. Burke also needing to pay young stars Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf and limited by the salary cap decided to let Penner go to the Oilers and take the 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks owed to him as compensation.

In 2008 we had another mini-war. The Vancouver Canucks signed David Backes of the St. Louis Blues to a 3 year $7.5 million offer sheet. The Blues would match the deal, but retaliated by then signing Steve Bernier of the Canucks to 1 year $2.5 million offer sheet. This was the Blues first offer sheet since 1995. The Canucks would also match the offer. Backes would go on to become a 30 goal scoring number 1 centre for the Blues, while Bernier would leave Vancouver unceremoniously as a minor part in a deal for Keith Ballard. He would eventually become a fourth liner in New Jersey.

In 2010 we saw the Blackhawks, coming off a cup run that saw stars like Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane earn significant bonus money in their contracts and push the Hawks into salary cap jail. The Hawks were forced to trade away their important depth pieces such as Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien, and sent Cristobal Huet to play in Europe. The Sharks pounced, submitting a 4 year, $14 million offer on RFA defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson. This offer would be matched by the Hawks, who were then forced to walk away from the arbitration award made to Antti Niemi, their cup winning goalie. The Sharks would benefit by grabbing the Finnish netminder as a UFA.

All that brings us today and the offer submitted to Shea Weber. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and where the Norris candidate is playing next year.

NFL Fantasy Profile #1: Arian Foster

Posted on July 19, 2012November 5, 2021 by Anto Dowsett

Leading up to the NFL season, we here at Last Word on Sports will be offering you, the reader, fantasy profiles on many different NFL athletes to try and help make your decisions easier when the time comes for your fantasy football league draft.

So let’s begin with the unanimous number one overall fantasy pick in almost all leagues, Arian “The Barbarian” Foster.

Half-Back
Born August 24, 1986 – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Height 6.1 – Weight 229

Previous Three Years		Rushing						Receiving
Season	Team	GP	Att	Yds	Avg	Yds/G	TD	Rec	Yds	Avg	TD
2009	HOU	8	54	257	4.8	42.8	3	8	93	11.6	0
2010	HOU	16	327	1,616	4.9	101.0	16	66	604	9.2	2
2011	HOU	13	278	1,224	4.4	94.2	10	53	617	11.6	2
	Total	37	659	3,097	4.7	88.5	29	127	1,317	10.3	4

Foster came into the league as an undrafted free agent when the Houston Texans signed him to a contract on May 1^st, 2009. He was later released, but then signed back onto their practice squad and officially made his debut on November 23 of that year. But it was not until the beginning of 2010 when fans began to see Foster’s potential; he replaced Steve Slaton in the opening game against the Indianapolis Colts and went on to run for 231 yards and 3 touchdowns – jaw-dropping numbers to say the least, especially in fantasy.

Many people say that fantasy football is based purely on luck, and while that may be true, to win your league you must place yourself in the best position to be as lucky as possible. A great way to begin your league is drafting Arian Foster with the first pick of the draft. Not only does Foster possess the many skills that a three-down running back needs, he also runs behind a dominant O-Line that can open up holes for him to run through. Also, he’s been placed on a heavy run offense and the more opportunities a running back receives, the more success he can achieve.

Foster, with all of his pros, does have a few cons: injury and Ben Tate. Last year, Foster started the year on the bench due to a hamstring injury that he obtained during the preseason. The injury lingered into the third regular season game causing Foster to miss two of them. Fortunately, Foster was able to play the rest of the year and put up stats that were similar to his all-pro 2010. As long as Foster can stay away from the injury bug, he is bound to have another stellar year. Just in case, many fantasy owners may want to draft his back-up, Ben Tate, in order to be safe and secure all year long.

If Foster can remain healthy, I can see him running for about 1,400-1,500 yards, while picking up 55-60 receptions and 600-650 yards over the air. Add these stats with about 14-16 total touchdowns and you can see why Arian Foster should be your number one overall fantasy pick when draft day comes.

… and that is the last word.

Weber agrees to 14-year deal with Flyers: the Fallout?

Posted on July 19, 2012November 5, 2021 by Maksim Vasilyev

The big news out of NHL HQ today is that Shea Weber accepted a 14-year $100 million deal from Philadelphia Flyers. Not to be outdone by his former partner, Ryan Suter, Weber’s deal takes the cake this off-season. This may seem strange to you at first, because Weber was not a unrestricted free agent, but still carried his restricted free agent status. Indeed, this is an offer sheet, and Weber decided to accept. Nashville still owns the rights to match this offer and pony up the $100 million that Paul Holmgren dished out. So what does this mega deal mean and what affect it has on both teams?

For one the Nashville Predators will match this offer, and they have 7 days (thanks Reddit) to do so – by God they will. This may be an opportunity to lock-up Weber without having to negotiate with him, aka “pulling teeth”. He may have wanted out of Tennessee, but David Poile is very determined to keep one of his premiere defenseman after losing Ryan Suter earlier this off-season. The offer sheet was unexpected, since it is so rare that we see them, and it may create some tension between Poile and Holmgren. The easiest way to make GM-nemies is to make offers to the teams RFA’s. This was a gutsy move by the Philly and obviously comes with a prayer. I think, gulp, this could be good news for Nashville fans not so much for the owner. Although, the deal is huge and a lifetime will pass before Weber can play anywhere else, this locks up an all-star and the face of your franchise without any fuss. Commit and he is yours, do not and get four first-round picks. The problem with those picks is that Flyers have been good and look to be good for a while. You will not exactly be getting a top-10 draft pick.

Go look at the draft picks that were picked in the top 30 by Nashville for the past 10 years and see how good they have been. Here is the first round picks that Nashville Predators scouts have mustered up since 2004: Colin Wilson, Chet Pickard, Jonathon Blum, Ryan Parent, Austin Watson, Zach Budsih, and infamous Alexander Radulov. This does not mean gold can’t be found, I mean Weber himself was 49th overall in 2003, but that is rare and once you hit gold you want to hold on to it.

What this means for Flyers is that Pronger is probably done playing. I doubt this offer is made if Pronger is coming back full-time, full force, with passion and fire. Philly has about $62 million tied up in its players, Webers cap hit will be around $7.2 million a year, and this would put them mighty close to the cap ceiling. With Pronger gone, that clears $4 million in CAP space, they get room on the back-end and that number-one guy they were missing. You have to give it to Holmgren for being ballsy with these big contracts. He dished out one to Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Chris Pronger, Bryzgalov, and now Weber. This also means he believes strongly in the future of his prospects as he will lose four first-round draft picks. How will Philly fans feel about that?

Weber on the other hand, it seems was desperate to cash-in before the new CBA has been hammered out. He is very close to the negotiations, as he is one of the players that represents the National Hockey Players Association, and he clearly knew where the talks were headed. This tells us that he feared he would not be able to cash-in, like his old buddy, Ryan Suter, did with Minnesota Wild next year. This deal was his last chance at big money and maybe Nashville was trying to low-ball him or he did not want to sign there, but now he will have no choice. Accepting this offer ultimately has him locked in to playing with one team or the other for the rest of his NHL career.

So this is a bombshell indeed. According to NHL.com, Nashville and Philadelphia are trying to make a trade for Weber’s rights, but the Flyers GM got impatient with the talks and made the huge offer. I do not see how Nashville does not match this offer, they need him and this deal does carry a reasonable CAP hit at 7.2 million per year. This may shake up the off-season moves and may even shake up the CBA talks, offer sheets are usually detested by GM’s for this exact reason. The 4 first round picks that Philly may lose, how will fans react? What is going through Pekka Rinne’s head? This is a big contract and someone will have to fork over the cash for the next 14 years. So who will it be? The City of Brotherly Love or the Music City?

Battered and Broken Blue Jays

Posted on July 19, 2012November 5, 2021 by Mark Modeski

The Toronto Blue Jays came into this season with high expectations. Buzz surrounding the team extended well beyond the Toronto media; many baseball purveyors thought that the Blue Jays brass had built a solid core of young players and were now in a position to take a run at the playoffs. Unfortunately, things have not come to pass as anticipated, and a large contributing factor to this has been the injuries the team has been plagued with.

The Blue Jays came into the season relatively healthy, but there were cracks in the structural integrity of the team from day one. Key pitchers that were part of the playoff equation were out early – Brandon Morrow, Dustin McGowan, Sergio Santos and Jesse Litsch. While Morrow has returned since being injured at the start of the season (and pitched quite beautifully at that), his stay on the active roster was short-lived and he now finds himself blacklisted on the 60-day DL – which really means that we won’t be seeing him for the rest of the season.

The pitching woes don’t stop there. Dustin McGowan is still out and Jesse Litsch has been a ghost this season. Kyle Drabek has fallen prey to tommy-john, and his hiatus might extend beyond this year. Drew Hutchison, who was a surprise fill in for the injured starting rotation, saw his hopes of cementing a permanent spot for the season evaporate with an elbow injury. As surprising as it may sound we’re not done with the pitching problems, as Luis Perez has also landed on the 60-day DL.

If the beaten down pitching staff wasnt enough of a comedy act, the hitting squad hasn’t been immune to injuries either. Most significant to this point, earlier in the week the Jays learned they would be without All-Star, Jose Bautista, due to an injured wrist tendon. To put the icing on the cake, stand-out Jays rookie, Brett Lawrie, injured his right calf and will be day-to-day.

Can the Blue Jays rebound from all of these injuries and turn their season around? The prospects at this stage are not promising. While Toronto is only whisper from a wildcard playoff spot, without a healthy team they cannot realistically hope to make a serious late-season charge.

Injuries to Bautista and Lawrie aside, having a pitching rotation that is in “limbo” on a daily basis is a very important missing ingredient. I can’t help but think that Ricky Romero’s less than inspring performance as of late may be the result of total demoralization at watching his comrades fall one at a time; thinking to himself “could I be next?”. For the sake of the Jays, I hope Romero stays healthy – as he is all they really have in their starting rotation right now.

The bright side in this whole ordeal is that we may start to see some players who wouldn’t normally get a chance shine. Hutchison, as aforementioned, is one. Villeanuva is another player who has shown some flashes of brilliance. Hopefully these players can keep the gears greased until the team is healthy again. 1992 and 1993 were a long time ago and I wouldn’t mind seeing the Jays back in playoff contention again.

… and that is the last word.

Follow me on Twitter – @LastWordMark

Feel free to add comments below

Andy Carroll – Alive and Well in Liverpool?

Posted on July 19, 2012November 5, 2021 by Michael Kovacs, ADMIN

If I had a ha’penny for every time someone told me how awful Andy Carroll is and how ridiculous Roy Hodgson would be if he played him during the Euros, I’d be a very rich man. Hodgson did, Carroll performed (take that, Sweden), but alas, I am still far from rich.

What is it about Andy Carroll that causes angst? Is it because Liverpool paid an exorbitant amount of money for his transfer? Is is that he is about three metres tall and scrapes his head on the clouds when he goes in for headers off set pieces, and let’s face it, we all want our own friendly giant. Or maybe people just don’t like him because they feel he is overrated? I’ll take the latter for $1000, Alex.

The “should he stay, or should he go” game has been going on for some time from the chaps at L’pool. I suppose it depends on the day of the week whether he seems to be on his way out, or set to retire in Liverpool red. He certainly has had a tumultuous time since arriving a couple of seasons ago. The 23-year old far from flew out of the gate this year, causing many to declare his transfer an utter failure, on par with that Torres guy who demanded a ridiculous transfer to Chelsea, which gave Liverpool the play money to purchase the England international.

Thankfully for him he turned his season around somewhat, finishing strong with performances in the FA Cup vs. Everton and later, Chelsea, as well as in several matches to conclude the Premier League season. But does his strong finish amount to a hill of mash for this season? Probably not, not considering Liverpool’s new manager, Brendan Rogers. See, Rogers likes the tic-tac-toe tactical game – he tried that with his Swans last year. Carroll is not so much a delicate surgeon, threading pass after pass with precision, as he is a physical and imposing presence. That’s his game. He is big, and plays accordingly.

It is said that Newcastle has come crawling back with a loan offer of around £13. HAHA, what steel balls! After selling him a couple years ago for much more than double that? I love it. Liverpool have responded with a proposed price tag of £20 million. Maybe a bit high, but not horrible. Consider Porto is asking three times that for Hulk. Lunacy.

What I fear is that this young lad is jerked around. Don’t believe me? How about this doozy from his manager; “Andy’s a player I want to assess and speak with. We’ve already had a good chat on where we’re at.” It doesn’t seem suspicious, but in football talk when a manager is said to have an understanding with a player, it oftentimes is the exact opposite. Hell, I think Wenger and van Persie were said to have an understanding not so long ago, and that is as ridiculous a situation as one would find.

I’m not Andy Carroll, but if I were, I would not want to leave after only 18 months, as difficult as they were. Who wouldn’t want to prove they could do it, especially with a club as historic as LFC. At only 23, he has a lot of growing to do (I mean in the mental game and in technical abilities – god forbid he becomes taller or fills out more). That said, if Rogers indeed plans on bringing a more intricate atmosphere to Anfield, then perhaps Andy want to find a new, more fitting home? Judging by the fact that Liverpool want Suarez long-term, I mean they really want him, along with the signing of Borini from Serie A’s Roma, it appears Rogers is indeed to poised to create a small-game in Liverpool. In that case, adios, Mr. Carroll. It’s been fun. But really, it wasn’t you, it was us.

…until tomorrow, lads.

Hammer Radio: UFC 149 Preview, StrikeForce Review

Posted on July 18, 2012November 4, 2021 by Ben Kerr

Its Wednesday Night, so the Hammer Radio show is back, and available in Hamilton on 93.3 CMFU FM, and archived on the internet at http://thehammar.libsyn.com

The Boys at the Hammer feature weekly coverage of all things MMA. This week they are back with their 102nd episode and you can listen to the archived podcast by clicking here. Hammer Radio 102

“UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao is coming up this weekend, and it’s mostly notable for having lost all of the major fights originally announced for the show. Still, between the UFC Interim Bantamweight Title fight, Hector Lombard’s debut, and heavyweight fight that’s sure to be fun, there’s still some excitement left in this card.

We preview the whole event (including the fights that no one wants to see), as well as Friday night’s Bellator 72, and recap last weekend’s Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy.”

The Hammer features lastwordonsports’ own writer Greg Persson, long time internet superstar Steve Jeffrey, and is hosted by MMA aficionado Dave Abraham.

The Hammer has had interviews with some of the biggest names in MMA over the years, including BJ Penn, Dan Henderson, Sean Sherk, Mark Coleman, and others. They continue to bring unparallelled, independent coverage of all things MMA to fans of the sport.

We highly recommend that you check them out.

NFC South: Tampa Bay Bucs, the Division Darkhorse

Posted on July 18, 2012November 5, 2021 by Ben Kerr

The Forgotten Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

This offseason the Bucs have added a dynamic deep threat at wide receiver (Vincent Jackson), and they stole one of the top offensive players from one of the league’s best offenses, who was a division rival no less (Carl Nicks). They changed coaches and hired the dreaded College Coach to run their team, which is usually enough to blow up all message boards and the NFL Network alike. But this is the Tampa Bay Bucs, and the big news in the NFC South this off-season is owned by the New Orleans Saints, the Atlanta Falcons and Cam Newton’s Panthers, so no one is quite willing to talk about them at length.

Here is the thing though, I like nearly every single move the Bucs have made. After the Bucs collapsed late into the season last year it was clear they were in need of a new head coach. I don’t think it is necessarily a death sentence to get a college coach, so I can overlook that choice. In free agency they were aggressive and smart. They signed Vincent Jackson and Carl Nicks to big-money deals, but these are established players who are at the top of their positions across the league, and are exactly the type of players they needed to target in free agency. They also added cornerback Eric Wright, who should push Ronde Barber into a back-up role which was imperative.

These Bucs have made all the right moves to improve their team, but are they close enough to compete? It wouldn’t surprise me to see a big turnaround from the Bucs because of all these moves and because they have a young QB who has shown he has the ability to play in the league. But in the same breath, that QB is the reason I can’t pick the Bucs to be division winners. I like Josh Freeman and I think he can be really good, but there is one big, giant problem – even if Freeman is able to rebound from a terrible 2011 and he plays well all season long, it is still very likely that he is the 4th best QB in his division. Can anyone argue that? Think about it for a second. The Bucs as a team would have to improve so much that not only are they the best team in the division, but they are the best team in the division by so much that they can overcome the fact they have the division’s worst QB. That is a tough pill to swallow and that is why I can’t predict the Bucs to take down the division until I see this new squad put it together on the field. At this point, and in this division, I can’t pick them to be a playoff club, though the great thing about the NFL is that anyone can surprise.

To see my first look at the other teams in the NFC South, links to each team:

New Orleans Saints

Carolina Panthers

Atlanta Falcons

Mike Modano and Dominik Hasek: Please Just Say NO!

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Ben Kerr

Two legends of the sport are apparently looking to make an NHL comeback next season. Recently word surfaced that 47 year old goaltender Dominik Hasek was practicing daily and making enquiries about an NHL comeback attempt. Now another NHL legend has followed his lead as 42 year old Mike Modano is also looking for a comeback attempt.

Both of these players were out of hockey last year, with Hasek playing his 2010-11 season with Moscow Spartak in the KHL and Modano playing 40 games that year for the Detroit Red Wings.

What can I say about Dominik Hasek? He is unarguably one of the greatest goalies of all time. Surely a top 5 guy all time, and someone who can claim to be number 1. Hasek is the only goalie in NHL history to win 2 Hart Trophies. He owned the Vezina in the late 90s and early 2000s and put up ridiculous season after ridiculous season. In 1998 Hasek turned in what was arguably one of the most dominant performances in Olympic Hockey History, nearly singlehandedly leading the Czech Republic to a Gold Medal. In 2002 he backstopped the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup, and got a second ring as Chris Osgood’s backup on the 2008 squad.

Hasek would leave the NHL after the 2008 Cup win, his final year in the NHL he posted a very un-hasek like (and below NHL average) save percentage of 902. While his numbers playing in 2009-10 in the Czech league, and in 2010-11 in the KHL are good, he is an aging goaltender who looked past his prime and a shadow of his former greatness in his final year in the NHL, and that was 4 years ago. I just don’t see Hasek as having what it takes at age 47 to play in the NHL at a high level and be the Dominator again.

Modano is one of the greatest hockey players of his generation, and has a legitimate claim to be the greatest American born player of all time. He has made his mark in hockey winning the Stanley Cup in Dallas, the World Cup with Team USA, and scoring 561 career goals and 1374 career points. Modano was a leader on and off the ice who spent twenty-one of his twenty-two NHL seasons as the face of the Stars franchise, both in Minnesota and Dallas. The 1988 first overall pick was the face and cornerstone of the franchise that would become a perennial NHL contender in the late 90s/early 2000s, and win the 1999 Stanley Cup.

In his last year’s Modano had regressed into the shell of the player he once was. He was relegated to a third line checking role, and then in 2010 as his game further regressed, he was told by General Manager, and former Stanley Cup Winning teammate, Joe Nieuwendyk that his services in Dallas would no longer be required. Trying to hang on Modano decided to play one more season close to his childhood home in Livonia Michigan, and suited up for the Detroit Red Wings. The season was a disaster, when Modano wasn’t hurt, he could often be found in the pressbox as a healthy scratch. In the 40 games when he was on the ice, he scored just 4 goals, and managed to have the 4th worst +/- among the forwards on the time, despite playing over 30 less games than the three players who were worse than him. His lack of speed was a major concern, and he just could no longer keep up in the NHL.

I know that guys like Ray Whitney, Jaromir Jagr, and Teemu Selanne are still playing in the NHL in their forties, but these three guys played last season, and produced in their last NHL season. Its great to see a living legend out there, playing the game at a high level. Its great to see these guys score one more goal, one more point, and continue to produce. However, this only works when they are still NHL caliber players. When a legend goes out there and just cannot perform at a high level anymore, its sad to see. Based on their most recent NHL performances there is little to suggest that Modano and Hasek have what it takes to continue to be NHL players, and a comeback will do nothing for these two men, other than tarnish their outstanding legacies.

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NHL Happy Hour: How the NHL Can be Compared to Vodka

Posted on July 17, 2012November 5, 2021 by Maksim Vasilyev

Lots of things in this World should not be. Vodka should not cost $80 per bottle, and you really should not have to pay $12 dollars for a vodka drink. Good vodka should not be littered with juice, candy, and salty water – what’s the point then? To make a profit? To win? Which brings me to some hockey talk.

There are four teams in NHL that have a roster that costs more than $66 million dollars. That is about 6,600,000 hot dogs and about the same amount of beers at a stadium. So if you’re a fan of these teams, get to drinking and eating. Some of these rosters might have been better of spent on better things.

Today’s mid-afternoon drink cost me $12 and change. It is called something too extravagant for me to remember, and it uses the “finest” vodka mixed with other ingredients. I cannot really tell what those ingredients are by tasting it just yet, but since its 12 bucks it must be good.

Something else that is expensive and has the potential to be good are the Boston Bruins, Minnesota Wild (really?), Vancouver Canucks, and Calgary Flames. These are the teams threading the upper limits of the salary cap. One could say they are on the edge of cap restrictions, but that doesn’t mean they necessarily are quality teams. The amount you spend does not always equate with how much you win, and this could hold true for my drink. The best Mojito I ever had, was made in a small Mexican place that had a two-for-one special with a meal. So does the price equal quality? That is the question I will try to answer today.

So what about my drink? It has a fancy name and a fancy price tag, but what about value? I’d say it delivers. With a few sips, the orange pineapple mix with a bit of lime and mint flavors hit my tongue and nose, which takes me straight to memories of a sunny beach somewhere where it never hits below 80 and girls wear those tiny things on their bottoms. Ahhh. I know you’re with me on that at least.

So how do those teams aforementioned compare to my fine drink? Let’s talk about their quality before getting back to my drink. The big paycheck guys, that jump at you like a hairy mole on the chin of the old man sitting next to me with his newspaper and a beer; will be the focus point here. Demanding five, six, seven million a year comes with the added responsibility to perform, with the added bonus of giving fans something to yap about.

Players spend most of their careers building value and try to cash in at the perfect time when the market is dry of talent and teams are desperate. Not always these sort of signings pan out for the teams – think Sabers signing Ville Leino. The good GMs know the value of a player and will not over pay no matter what, but some are desperate to please the hungry owners and pitch fork fan base that has the guillotine ready at the front door.

Calgary Flames did some spending this off-season and they did not bring their store card, because there were zero discounts handed out. Hudler and Wideman were pricy additions, at $4 million AAC and $5.2 million AAC respectfully, to give some support to a team that missed the playoffs last year. Will it be a just a fancy yet worthless umbrella decoration or a potent berry-flavoured bomb? I would lean towards the umbrella, my apologies Flames fans. The Wall St. paychecks belong to Cammalleri, Bouwmeester, and Iginla. Two of these players are looking to re-kindle their glory days that earned them those 7-digit pay stubs and the third player is an aging star who may or may not have any spunk left in him. The expensive backbone, Miikka Kiprusoff, is still there. He is seasoned and properly distilled, kind of like a nice whiskey. If pieces fit and new ones do not disappoint, we may see this cocktail prove its worth. Unfortunately, I fear that this one will disappoint and become another example of gluttony over substance.

My drink is empty now, sigh, but a few slightly yellowish ice cubes, the ones that tease you with ‘what once was’. So far it has been a nice combination of tropical flavors and a bite of ice cold vodka. Rum is usually reserved for the summer, but I tend to think rum is to vodka what baseball is to hockey (try to figure that one out, Mensa). I need another drink and good thing I have a tab that’s open because it’s always easier to spend on plastic than cash. Your welcome, Visa.

Speaking of spending, “Hello, Minnesota Wild” and its new pair of players, Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. The couple was rewarded by the brave owner, Craig Leipold, with 13-year $98 million deals. The once “poor” Wild franchise went all in this year and became one of the top spenders in the league. Parise and Suter are joining the highly-paid cast of Mikko Koivu, Dany Heatley, and Niklas Backstrom. Will the hockey state see a playoff berth? I don’t think so. To me Parise is not the sniper he once was and Heatley is a washed up has-been. Last year the Wild were the worst Corsi team in the league according to KuklasKorner.com by a mile (LA Kings for example, had a high Corsi rating). That low rating may have been a result of all the injuries they had, but let’s be honest, when was the last time adding a pair of players made you a championship team (the Miami Heat needed a three-headed monster, not just two-headed)? Hey, I am sure this will help sell a couple more seats and hot dogs, eh?

Vancouver Canucks are an expensive team. They have been so for quite some time. The huge disappointment that comes with their expectations took its toll. Instead of Champaigne erupting and washing over people’s faces in celebration, we saw a city burn itself. But that ugly stain was long ago, long apologized. The big money here is in goaltending. Two goalies worth $9 million plus. Luongo is set to be traded, but that is always easier said than done. The back-end heavy Canucks, have invested $23 million into their defense as well, with four defenders making over four million each. The cherry on this bottom-heavy mix, are the twins. Henrik and Daniel are wonderful to watch and have been a dominating offensive force for some time, quite a bargain too with AAC of 6.1 million. The question mark here is David Booth. After his gruesome injury he has not been himself. He makes almost Ryan Kesler cheddar, who himself had an off-year after a shoulder surgery. Booth did have a high Corsi rating, so he may be worth the ticket price.

My second drink is stronger than the first, but just as good. The drink is served in a tall rounded glass with a Chara-sized straw.

Boston Bruins are two years removed from a championship celebration and from Vezina winner and playoff MVP Tim Thomas this year. Timmy has had an interesting year filled with Facebook messages and to top it all off, he decided to take a year off from hockey to hang out with Peggy. The problem with Thomas is that he is costing the team cool $5 million in CAP space and he is not playing. That is like having a fancy fruit salad made of plastic in your drink – it’s there and you kind of feel like you paid extra for it, but it serves no purpose. They also have Marc Savard who could not shake his concussion issues and may never play again with an AAC of $4 million, he may retire or a long term IR placement could help. A slightly discounted deal that Tuukka Rask and Boston Bruins recently agreed to was clearly done so Boston can stay under the cap. The championship-built Bruins are just as good as they were when they won the cup. The player depth upfront is excellent, but may lack of scoring punch. Need more goals from Krejci and Seguin to see them have another parade in Boston.

My last sip comes just in time. What is to say of how good it was and what it is worth. Well, I can say that it all depends. The moment and the timing is what helps decide the value. It has been a hot muggy mid day and this kind of drink is worth every penny. I guess the same can be said about those teams. The team needs have to be filled and the market has a shallow talent pool. The price may seem steep for players like Hudler, Wideman, and Jason Garrison, but do not forget that the CAP is at 70 million. Teams have room to spend and they do. When it comes to talks and next CBA, they will cry poor again, as I will no doubt complain that I have no money at the end of each week, and as I order another expensive vodka drink, I wonder where it all went.

Bottoms up, comrades.

Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

Year: 2012