Wild sign Martin Havlat to 6-Year, $30 Million Contract posted by Jeff Ponder

Martin Havlat saw the writing on the wall in Chicago when they signed winger Marian Hossa to a 12-year contract earlier in the day.  The Wild jumped on the chance at grabbing the free-agent winger.

''We are excited to add the speed and scoring of Martin Havlat to our lineup,'' Wild GM Chuck Fletcher said late Wednesday night. ''He is a terrific two-way player.''

Havlat had some serious injury problems in his 3-season tenure with the Blackhawks, but managed to stay healthy throughout all of 2008-09.  He tallied 29 goals and 48 assists with the Blackhawks in 81 regular season games, and added 15 points in 16 games in the playoffs.  Havlat adds even more speed to a very quick Minnesota lineup.

The Wild lost star Marian Gaborik to the New York Rangers in free-agency earlier on Wednesday.  Gaborik played in just 17 games last season for his club, due to a nagging hip injury.  The team rallied around the loss of their dynamic player though, finishing ninth and just being two points out of a playoff berth.  With the addition of Havlat, this team is one to be reckoned with.  Stud center Mikko Koivu scored 67 points to lead the team, and crafty winger Andrew Brunette added 50 points.  Placing Havlat on a power-play line with these two strong players could improve the Wild's chances of earning a playoff spot.

The Wild are known for their defensive play behind recently-retired head coach Jacques Lemaire, but that style may change with the new man guiding the rickshaw, Todd Richards.  If he can addContinue reading "Wild sign Martin Havlat to 6-Year, ..."

Goaltender Options for the Flyers - Part 3 posted by Kevin Christmann

Part 3 of my “Goaltender Options for the Flyers” series will include a couple of “international” goaltenders, and additionally, I will give you my final opinion on what I’d like the Flyers to do.

Part 1 of the series covered Unrestricted Free Agent Options. Part 2 covered Restricted Free Agent Options as well as trade possibilities.

Before I begin, I’d just like to make an update to one of my previous entries. I read a rumor today from Eklund (love him or hate him…I personally hate him) that I thought I’d just throw out there. It said that Giguere is apparently Holmgren’s Plan A this offseason. Although Giguere has his no trade clause and was in the Anaheim area for his son’s eye condition, he doesn’t really want to be a backup goalie, and if the Ducks plan to stick with Hiller he may consider moving. If true, it is certainly interesting news. The Flyers would definitely need to shed some salary in order to get him. To me that means Briere, Lupul, Carle, Jones or maybe Gagne.

Ray Emery

It pains me to even make this entry, but I told a friend I would, and I’d also like to shed a bit of light on him. He has been playing in Russia this past season after nobody in the NHL wanted him (or at least wouldn’t pay him what he wanted). Recently, there was word that the Flyers had contacted his agent. I guess it’s good that the Flyers are considering every option, they should be; but Ray Emery is not a very good goaltender. Ray Emery had one decent season, the only one in which he was the full-time starter. In 2006-2007 he posted a 2.47 GAA and a save percentage of .918; both of which are pretty good numbers. However, I see no reason to believe that wasn’t a complete fluke. He was on a GREAT Ottawa Senators team; a team that had 105 points that season. For comparison, the Flyers had 99 pts this past season, and Biron’s numbers were arguably better (the SV% was, the GAA wasn’t).  In my opinion, Emery rode that awesome Senators team to the Stanley Cup Final, where they were promptly run over by Anaheim.  Somehow, Emery managed to convince people he was a good starting goalie. He managed to get himself a nice contract ($3.167 million cap hit), and was bought out shortly thereafter by the Senators when he showed his true colors. Those true colors being a GAA of 3.13 and a SV% of .890. Oh yea, did I mention that as part of being bought out, you then have to clear waivers? That means every single team in the league passed on him. But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that no team wanted him at a hit of 3.167 million. However, that doesn’t then explain why nobody wanted him as a free agent, when they could sign him for whatever price they see fit. The explanation is one of two things. Either literally nobody wanted him, or he thinks way too highly of himself, and wouldn’t sign the contracts being offered to him. Both of those don’t speak well for Mr. Emery. Oh yea, I haven’t even gotten into the fact that he’s apparently a coke head (with former teammate Brian McGratton), was perpetually late for practice, and beat up his trainer.

Continue reading "Goaltender Options for the Flyers - Part 3"

Goaltender Options for the Flyers - Part 2 posted by Kevin Christmann

Part 2 of this series will include Restricted Free Agent options as well as possible acquisitions via trade.

In Part 1 of this series I covered some of the more realistic Unrestricted Free Agent options for the Flyers in their quest to acquire a starting goaltender. In addition to the Unrestricted Free Agent options, there are several viable Restricted Free Agent options. The benefit of restricted free agents is that they are all young…that is, after all, why they are restricted free agents. They are often times coming off their entry level contracts, and just haven’t played enough seasons to be eligible for unrestricted free agency. The bad part about restricted free agency is that, depending on how much the player is signed for, the team is required to pay some sort of draft pick compensation.

The compensation thresholds are dependent upon the salary cap ceiling for that respective season. Since we don’t know what the salary cap will be set at for next season, the compensation thresholds have not been set either.

Last year’s compensation was as follows:

-at or below $863,812 = no compensation

-$863,813 to $1,307,812 = One 3rd round pick

-$1,307,813 to $2,615,625 = One 2nd round pick

-$2,615,626 to $3,923,437 = One 1st round pick, one 3rd round pick

-$3,923,438 to $5,231,249 = One 1st round pick, one 2nd round pick, one 3rd round pick

-$5,231,250 to $6,539,062 = Two 1st round picks, one 2nd round pick, one 3rd round pick

-$6,539,063 or above = Four 1st round picks

Continue reading "Goaltender Options for the Flyers - Part 2"

The Resurrection of Kentucky Basketball posted by Chris Giunta

The University of Kentucky Wildcats are the elite program in men's college basketball. They lead such categories as all time wins, winning percentages, NCAA tournament appearances, tournament wins, and tournament games. They rank second in tournament championships with 7 only to UCLA's 11. And yet, for the last 2 years the most prominent wildcats have been from Villanova, Arizona, and DAVIDSON!?

But fear not Ashley Judd, it seems your 'Cats will soon be king of the jungle again. If John Calipari agrees to come to Kentucky, not only will he bring his leadership, tenacity, and charm but also one of the nation's top recruiting classes.

 A lot has to happen before this comes true, but if you are a high school student planning on attending Memphis and the face of the school leaves, what do you do? The reason you were attending Memphis was not for the legacy or the skill of the competition but was all cause of the coach. And now he's at the premiere program in the country. Would you rather be driving Mercedes or a Hyundai? The answer is simple.

If this agreement happens (and it may come as soon as today) then grab a bottle and head to Lexington cause the party is just getting started.

Continue reading "The Resurrection of Kentucky Basketball"

Karatancheva To Make WTA Comeback Debut In Memphis posted by Justin Horowitz

Despite an unconfirmed rumor that she will accept a wild card in Bogota this week, Sesil Karatacheva will bring a world ranking of 382 into Memphis as a Wild Card recipeint in the Qualifying draw next week .  It will be her first WTA event since her 2 year anti doping suspension expired .  She was named ITF player of the month in January for winning 2 out of 3 tournaments she competed in and only dropping 3 sets. A former French Open Quarter Finalist in 2005 at age 15, Karatancheva should continue to surge in the rankings and make headlines before the year is through . She is a rising star with endless potential . Perhaps the next comeback kid, just as tennis witnessed with Jennifer Capriati .Continue reading "Karatancheva To Make WTA Comeback Debut In Memphis"

Blog Jammin with Mikey Treehorn: Eli, Mike, Tom and Brady da Baby posted by Michael McDonald

It's been just three days since the Giants won the Super Bowl and to tell you the truth, each day just keeps getting better.  The weather is warmer, jokes are funnier and the highlight clips are endless.  I mean, how many times have you watched the Manning to Tyree play?  Today I want to get into Eli, Strahan, the Coach, and the Tom Brady Snub

 -ELI, the New York Legend:   Eli Manning is now a New York hero.  I was talking to my good friend John, who is the only Eli Manning fan that I actually know.  When it comes to the Big Blue, there is no player that John stands by like #10.  John's been riding a one Mann bandwagon since the Jints drafted the kid out of Ole Miss in 2004.  John, a lifelong season ticket holder, never criticizes the Kid and wears his bright red Eli jersey to every single home game, literally, every single home game.  When Eli's was taking shots from everybody and their uncle, John stood by him, like Hillary did for Bill.  Ya see, in New York, we love a winner, but more than that, we love somebody that fights and stands up to the beast of adversity.  Manning never threw in the big blue towel.  Through it all, Eli never backed down.  Sunday after Sunday, he gave us everything he had, and he never seemed to get flustered by the critics.  Somehow, he never let that ole southern smile leave his boyish face.  And my pal John never gave up on him. A lot of Giants fans, incuding the author of these words, are eating crow because of Eli.  Not John.  Never again Eli, will you get blasted in the New York media bro.  Your

Continue reading "Blog Jammin with Mikey Treehorn: ..."

Upset day in college basketball! posted by kellex

http://lebasketbawl.blogspot.com/2008/01/upset-day-in-college-basketball

Such a wild day today in the land of college basketball! In what turned out to be a rather boring day in the NBA was made up for with 7 nasty NCAA hoops upsets. Here is a quick breakdown:

• #1 North Carolina takes one on the home chin; go Terps! 82-80 Maryland.
  
• The battle for L.A. goes to those Trojans! #4 UCLA is still #2 in Hollywood. 72-63 USC.
  
• #9 Texas A&M, please meet Michael Beasely of Kansas State. 75-54 Kansas State.
  
• Auburn beats a top 20 team in basketball? Sorry #15 Mississippi but you are overrated. 80-77 Auburn.
  
• #16 Pittsburgh's bundle of injuries finally caught up to them. Cincinnati needed this. 62-59 Cincinnati.
  
• NC State takes out #24 Miami (FL); why are we surprised at this? 79-77 NC State.
  
• Stanford drops #25Arizona State; Sun Devils...stick to football. 67-52 Stanford.

And as I posted HERE, Memphis will now be #1 and stay there for the rest of the season. Thanks North Carolina.
Continue reading "Upset day in college basketball!"

Eli's Coming! posted by Macklen Jackson

Eli Manning won a wild card game, but Eli Manning is not a wild card. All season long, and all off-season, too, NFL analysts across the board love to talk about Eli Manning’s unpredictability. People love to lay into him about his demeanor not becoming of a winning quarterback, and his number one overall draft selection as a byproduct of his last name only, not his talent. I’m sure that last name on the back of his jersey just handed him the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award in 2003, as well as naming him SEC Offensive Player of the Year. Undoubtedly, if I had that last name I would have been able to pass for 3,600 yards, 29 TD’s and only 10 INT’s, while amassing a completion percentage of 62% my senior year. Even as recently as this past weekend prior to the Giants/Bucs kickoff, the FOX studio crew was pondering which Eli would show up? The Good Eli or the Bad Eli? And yet as recently as halftime during the same game, the same studio crew was praising Eli saying that we may be witnessing the coming of age of the young quarterback.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this Manning’s fourth year in the NFL? Number one overall pick or not, $45 million 6-year investment or not, $20 million in bonuses notwithstanding, no team would stick with a starting quarterback this long if he weren’t producing for them. The Giants have as much reason to expect their signal-caller to transform into Peyton Manning overnight, as the Raiders do when they turn the reins over to JaMarcus Russell. There is only one Peyton Manning. Not to say that he’s the greatest quarterback of all time, and not to say that Eli will never be as good. Suffice it to say that each NFL quarterback, and indeed, all human beings bring their own strengths, weaknesses, and personalities to the jobs they perform. I find it very ill-informed of sports fans and analysts to assume that the Giants management was infatuated with Eli’s pedigree to the extent that they blindly sought him, are blindly paying him, and will always blindly start him, despite performance.

Continue reading "Eli's Coming!"

Gaborik signs deal with Rangers

The New York Rangers are already spending the money saved when Scott Gomez was traded to the Montreal Canadiens, handing it over to flashy forward Marian Gaborik.New York made its usual splash in the free-agent market Wednesday night by signing Gaborik, who scored a career-high 42 goals in the 2007-08 season with the Minnesota Wild. He was limited to 17 games last season due to injuries. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for NHL

Rangers ink Gaborik for 5 years, $37.5M (AP)

Once the New York Rangers got out from under Scott Gomez's expensive contract, they turned to Marian Gaborik and gave him the money they suddenly saved. One day after trading Gomez and the five years and $33.5 million left on his contract to the Montreal Canadiens, the Rangers signed the 27-year-old Gaborik away from the Minnesota Wild with a five-year, $37.5 million deal. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Wild star Gaborik enters open market (AP)

Marian Gaborik is officially a free agent. The Minnesota Wild's cornerstone forward had his contract expire when the NHL's offseason formally began Wednesday. Gaborik is the only remaining player from their original team, and was their first draft pick nine years ago. Gaborik wanted to test the market, so the Wild had little chance to lock him up. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Wild introduce hometown draft pick Leddy (AP)

[read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Wild introduce Richards as new coach

Todd Richards has returned home to coach the Minnesota Wild. And the Minnesota native promises to bring a more exciting, up-tempo style with him.The Wild introduced Richards as the second head coach in franchise history on Tuesday. The hiring completes a new power structure alignment that includes new general manager Chuck Fletcher.Fletcher says Richards earned his trust while the two worked together with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for NHL