Toe

Clemens blah blah blah steroids blah blah blah. I find myself not caring at all whether or not he used steroids.

I don't think the Wild are a team that will go deep. They have some good offensive players and play a good defensive system, but they aren't deep enough (especially on the blue line). However, they do have the goaltending that could suprise a few teams and get them through a round or two. I like Nick Schultz and Brent Burns on the blueline, and I like Gaborik, Bouchard and Koivu up front. They need to add one or two more pieces to be a threat, especially considering that they are competing against Anaheim and Detroit.

If the Avalanche get Sakic, Smythe and Stastny back and they are all healthy, I would then put the Avalanche up with Detroit and Anaheim as teams that are favoured to win the Western Conference.

I think with Forsberg, it's only two teams - Colorado and Philly.

There is a rumour floating around that Mats Sundin has agreed to waive his no-trade clause if a trade came along with a certain group of teams.

The trade between the Senators and Hurricanes helps the Senators in the short term. Corvo was a good offensive defenceman, but he made WAY too many defensive lapses for my liking and on that team, they already have Redden and Meszaros who can bang from the point. Patrick Eaves is young, quick, and has some offensive upside, but the Senators want to win now. Stillman is an upgrade on Eaves. I think combined with Mike Fisher on the second line, the Senators will finally have some effective second line scoring. Commodore adds another strong, physical defenceman to the blueline. Remember how the Ducks beat the Senators up in the finals last year? They needed to get another defenceman that can take the hit and not be effected.

Call of Duty. I was in a clan, and there was six of us on one team against about 24 random people on our server. The six of us won, it was amazing and crazy and awesome.

One reason Sundin might not be moved is he feels he doesn't want to or can't play another season and is retiring. He wants to end his career as a Leaf, so he would stay with the team until the end of the year then retire. I hope he doesn't, he hasn't really slowed down over the past three years. I think he has more gas in the tank then a lot of people think. Anyone notice that when he does well, no one says a word about Nikolai Zherdev? He has 22 goals right now, he is really doing well now under Hitchcock after going through some growing pains. I don't feel like looking up the stats for the Sharks, but how the hell does Thornton have 47 assists? I thought they had trouble scoring with Cheechoo clumping and stuff!?

I have an issue of The Hockey News magazine talking about deadline deals, and on the cover is Marian Hossa edited into a new Sens jersey, Brian Campbell in a San Jose jersey and Mats in a Vancouver jersey. I think one way to lessen the rental player thing is that teams are now putting conditional draft picks into the deals. Last year, the Blues got a first rounder from Atlanta, but had to give it back when Tkachuk didn't sign with the Thrashers. Putting a clause into the deal saying that the team only gets a pick if the team makes it so far in the playoffs or if the player resigns with them is a good way to make rentals less expensive if they truly are just rentals. And getting these guys can help a team - just look at the Hurricanes when they won with Recchi and Weight. And one good move JFJ made was getting Toskala. This also applies a bit to getting Raycroft. He got these guys not to be the amazing netminder for years to come (although Toskala is great and I really like him) but to protect Justin Pogge. With Toskala in place, there is absolutely no reason to rush Pogge to the NHL. He is allowed to work and develop into a great goaltender with starting minutes in the AHL. And if Pogge does come to be the next starter for Toronto, then the Raycroft deal doesn't look too bad. I know he is a big contract, but I want McCabe to remain a Leaf and I think he is our next captain. He has the big shot and, from everything I hear, is great in the dressing room. Another reason why I like him is that, although people boo him and stuff, he is solid in his own end and you can see by our record when he is in and when he is out of the line-up the effect he has on the team. Some Teams That Won The Cup After Making Moves At The Deadline.

I don't see how, at least in the game, you can say the Giants are a low scoring team. A decent QB with a great deep threat in Buress, another solid WR in Toomer, Jeremy Shockey, and then the running of Brandon Jacobs. In the game they are a pretty good offence.

I somehow think the loss of Schilling will not have a big effect on the Red Soxs. They have depth and have guys like Lester who could become great starters for them.

Good game by the Leafs. However, does the win even matter to us at this point? We have to win 19 of the next 26 just to get to 90 points.

I want to see Toronto add someone too, simply because they have not looked as good as they did last year. The bench needs a boost, as last season that was the weapon of the Raptors - a bench full of great players that would really outwork the other teams bench. They don't need another PG. TJ Ford is now playing limited minutes and getting more and more healthy, and Jose Calderon has had a great year. I think they may need a guy who can play both forward positions well from the bench. Chris Bosh eats up a ton of minutes, but we don't have anyone past him. They have some guys at the SF position, but another option off the bench is always welcome since sometimes the position is a revolving door on the court trying to find the hot hand. The Raptors game on Friday will be the 1,000th game in franchise history.

Is Sakic expected to be back anytime soon? What about Smythe?

New Noise by the Refused. The Final Countdown by Europe. Stronger by Kanye West.

Beating Earthbound was awesome, because it was one of the first games to truly engross me in its plot. Having a multi-tap and playing 4 player Bomberman on the SNES was amazing as a kid. Also, playing Goldeneye for hours and hours was also amazing. I can't play games for that long anymore, I always lose interest after an hour or so. But I could play almost any game on the N64 or SNES and be hooked for a whole day. More recently, the first time I scored a goal in NHL 07 using the new skill stick was amazing. I felt like I had actually scored instead of simply hitting a button.