Whats Wrong With The Fightins?

The Phillies suck right now. There is no other way to say it. One night the pitching sucks, the next the offense sucks, then when the pitching and hitting are clicking, the bullpen sucks, and even sometimes the best defense in the league makes bone headed plays. Even with all this shitty play for the better of 2 or 3 weeks the Phillies find themselves some how by the grace of the baseball gods still a half game up on second place. Think about that, the Phils are ONE for their last ten and still in first place. So if we are going to turn this around we have to get Jimmy Rollins rolling again, it is that simple. The Phils are 28-7 when the little guy scores a run. I also think a legit right handed pitcher couldn't hurt the cause.

By:Billy Donahue

NHL Recap: Dallas Stars

Dallas Stars have kind of fallen in the last few years. You don't see them as much anymore pushing deep into the playoffs. They missed the playoffs last season and it wouldn't surprise me if they did it again this year.

They are medium age team at forward. Mike Ribeiro lead the team in points and assists, 56 assists and 78 points. Loui Eriksson lead the team in +/- and goals, +14 and 36 goals. They need some help in the scoring department and defense needs to be put into there game more.

They are medium age at defense also. They defense was pretty bad last season. They had one player get into the 30 point range on defense and one player in the +10 area. They need some help on defense, they will be shopping around or really working hard on the defense men they already got this off season.

Marty Turco will start in net of course. He is one of the premiere goaltenders in the league so that's not a surprise. They have a lot of work to do to be playoff contenders again, could be some bad years for Dallas ahead.

By: Shane Murray

NHL Recap: Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus Blue Jackets made the playoffs for the first time in their short history. They got helped out big time by their young goaltender Steve Mason. They might make the playoffs for again next season and that would only be second time in the team's history.

They are a very young team at forward. They have a semi star in Rick Nash and he lead the team in goals, assists, and points overall. He is a good leader for the younger guys coming in and older veterans respect him too.

They are young on defense also. The leader in +/- for them was Jan Hejda who had a +23. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to bring in some veteran leadership into the defense.

Steve Mason will be the starter in net next year. He should be even better next year as long as he works on his weak spots this off season. Columbus looks to be able to get into the playoffs for the next couple years and maybe pushing deep into them also.

By: Shane Murray

Flyers Make Big Move

Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks both made a big splash in the first round. Ducks traded there big defense men, Chris Pronger. Flyers gave away some young talent for an older but skilled defense men. Ducks got Luca Sbisa and Joffrey Lupul, and draft picks from the Flyers for Pronger and and a prospect Ryan Dingle. (Lupul and Pronger have been traded for each other twice now.)
This is a big move for the Flyers who where waiting for free agency to talk to Jay Bouwmeester. It will be interesting to see if they Flyers will still be jumping to talk to him or will talk to another Defense men or try to bring in a winger with losing Lupul.
Next year is going to be pretty interesting for the Flyers with new defense men in Chris Pronger and new goalie in Ray Emery. It should be one interesting year in Philly next year.

By:Shane Murray

Tonight all is right wit the world again

Lakers won the NBA finals and that makes sure at least one thing is right in the world. They best team in the League won the championship. I have major respect for Kobe Bryant and the rest of the Lakers. Phil Jackson just made himself have the most championships of any coach.
The Orlando Magic had gave them a hard time. Dwight Howard, Rashard Leiws, Hedo Turkaglu, and rest of Magic had an amazing post season. Starting with beating the Sixers in first round in six games and without Dwight Howard for game six. Then beating the Boston Celtics in game seven. Then beating the Cleveland Cavaliers who sweeped their first two series.
The Lakers had the Jazz in the first round and they went five games with them. They went four with the Rockets. That was with the rockets not having Yao Ming or Tracy McGrady. Then they went six games against the Nuggets.
The Lakers finished what they started this year by bringing the championship back to Los Angeles. I'm glad Kobe finally was able to bring home that trophy without Shaq. So that people stop saying it was so much Shaq then more then Kobe.
By:Shane Murray

NHL Recap: Colorado Avalanche

Colorado Avalanche had a really tough season this year. They finished in the bottom of the Northwest division. They have a lot of changing to do if they want to get back into the playoffs next season.

They where extremely old at forward last year. They aren't going to be next year they have a lot of free agents this season and all of them are old guys. They are going to have all kinds of young guns next year so they might have to have a building year but they'll be back in playoffs soon enough. Ben Guite led team in +/- with +2. Milan Hejduk led team in points at 59 and goals at 27. Ryan Smyth led team in assists at 33.

They where old at defense too. They have some excellent young defensemen coming up though that should help them out. They had a really bad year last year on defense. That should change next season.

The starter for the Avalanche should be Peter Budaj next season. He is a little rough around the edges but he can help them out by being in net. They need everyone to step it up big time next season if they want to make in into the playoffs. Luckily they play in a pretty weak division so that should help them get some wins. It'll be interesting to see what happens next year.

By:Shane Murray

NHL Recap: Chicago Blackhawks

Chicago Blackhawks where one of the big surprises this season. They have a lot of great young talent after getting a couple of high picks past couple seasons. They proved they got a lot of grit to how the pushed the wings in the western conference finals.

They are extremely young at forward. They got some great talent at forward also. Patrick Kane is a rising star along with Jonathan Toews. Jonathan Toews lead the team in goals with 34. Martin Havlat led team in assists and in points at 77 points and 48 assists. They also have Kris Versteeg who was one of the nominees for NHL rookie of the year.

They are extremely young at defense also. They got some veterans on defense to help guide along the younger defensemen. Duncan Keith led the team in +/- at +33. I think that they won't do much about their defense maybe bring in another veteran for leadership.

They are set at goaltender with Christobal Huet. He has proven to be a good starter of the years. I'm only saying that if they lose Nikolai Khabibulin to free agency and have to use Huet as the starter. They are going to be pushing their way around western conference for next few years with all the young talent they have. Next year should be really good for them.

By:Shane Murray

NHL Recap: Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina Hurricanes came on really hard in the back half of the season. They made the it into to the playoff spot in the east. They made a real big push after the trade deadline and they brought back in Eric Cole. He made a huge impact on the team all around. He made their potent offense is even more scary.

They are an old team at forward. Eric Staal led the team with 40 goals. Tuomo Ruutu led the team in +/- at +15. They really need to bring in some young forwards. I wouldn't be surprised to see them trade away some old guys for some young guns.

They are old at the defense too. Ray Whitney team in assists and points at 77 points and 53 assists. They need some to bring in some young defensemen also. They have some talent and have a good core of veterans to teach the young guns.

They are set at goaltender at with Cam Ward. That is a great starter for any team. He already has won one Stanley cup. I think that they are pretty set to make another push for the playoffs and into them. They just need to have some little tweeks and they will be even scarier.

By: Shane Murray

NHL Recap: Calgary Flames

Calgary Flames where an interesting team last season. They made a move that they thought would help them go further into the playoffs. Trading Lombardi for Jokinen and it helped them out in the regular season a bit. Also they had a chance to clinch first place in Northwest division and couldn't capitalize and Vancouver took first place at the end. It just didn't have the impact they where hoping for in the playoffs getting knocked out by Chicago Blackhawks.

Calgary isn't extremely young at forward but not that old either. They have 4 unrestricted free agents in this off season. They biggest names on that list is Michael Cammalleri and Todd Bertuzzi. Jerome Iginla led the team in points at 89. Michael Cammalleri lead the team in goals at 39. Iginla led team in assists also with 54 assists. It will be interesting to see if they Keep Cammalleri or if someone gives him a bigger contract.

Calgary is the same at defense as they are at forward age wise. They have 3 unrestricted free agents coming in the off season. Two really big defensemen for them too in Adrian Aucoin and Jordon Leopold. I definitely see them trying to keep one of these two around for next season if not both.

Calgary has no questions who their net minder is. It's Miikka Kiprusoff who had 45 wins last season. The backup for Calgary is a free agent but I'm sure they can afford to let him go having a goaltender who wins 40 plus games himself. Calgary has the pieces in place to make it the the finals again like they did in the 03-04 season and lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

By:Shane Murray

NHL Recap: Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo Sabres have had some tough seasons the last two seasons. It seems like it all stems from injuries also. This year Ryan Miller went down and they struggled to win games with out him in net. Patrick Lalime had a real rough time of it this season. At the trade deadline the Sabres brought over Mikael Tellqvist. Who helped them win a few games and try to make the playoffs. They fell short again for the second year in a row after having their best season ever just 2 years ago now where the got the president trophy.

Buffalo isn't the youngest or the oldest team around at forward. Derek Roy led the team in points at 70. Thomas Vanek led the team in goals at 40. While Jason Pominville led team in assists at 46. Losing Maxim Afinogenov might hurt them too at offesne. They need some of there young guns to step up next season and produce some points and stops.

Buffalo isn't young at defense. They'll be losing Numminen and Spacek possible to free agency. I doubt they'll sign either of these guys at the ages they are at. Losing those two defensemen though is going to be putting a lot of pressure on lesser known defensemen or younger defensemen. That doesn't usually allow for great success during a season unfortunately.

There is no competition for the net minder job in Buffalo. As long as Ryan Miller is healthy it's his. He is a great goaltender with some suspect defense and no goal support at times. The Sabres will be an interesting team to see what they do to try to make the playoffs next season. They might be one of the few teams willing to make those crazy trades.

By:Shane Murray