Blood in the water

The NHL’s free agent feeding frenzy opened up on the first with tons of names, including some big ones, flying across the board. Several small market teams were forced to absorb big personnel hits, especially Buffalo and Long Island. Who said the salary cap makes every team equal?

Daniel Briere is going to be lacing them up for the Flyers who had a season disappointing enough to put them in the lottery and force them to fork out a massive front-loaded deal to the diminutive dynamo. Lucky for them his cap number is the average of the eight-year contract he signed, not the $10 M that he’s getting for his first season.

The other player that struck a $10 M deal was Scott Gomez who crossed the state-line north from Jersey to New York. Gomez will be joined in MSG by another one of the top-flight free agents from this year’s crop, Chris Drury.

With the exits of Briere and their captain Drury, it’s looking like the Sabres will be hard-pressed to equal their run from last season that saw them fall just short of reaching the finals.

Philadelphia also made a trade to bring in the Oiler’s captain Jason Smith and Joffrey Lupul, who had a disappointed year in Edmonton after coming over in the Pronger trade last off-season. Going the other way were Joni Pitkanen and ??

Speaking of former Oiler captains, Ryan Smyth, who was dealt to the Islanders at the trade deadline, signed on with the Colorado Avalanche after a reported “convincing” phone call from Joe Sakic. Seeing those two on a line with some of the youth they have developing in Denver should make for a return to the playoffs. The Avs were also able to ink defenseman Scott Hannan

On the blue line, two big names filled some holes. In Anaheim, after learning that Scott Neidermayer is leaning towards retirement, GM Brian Burke went out and got Mathieu Schneider from Detroit, who then went and signed Brian Rafalski to a five-year deal.

The defending champion Ducks also brought in a player that suits their rough style perfectly by netting Todd Bertuzzi. If he can find his form from prior to the Steve Moore incident, he will pay off in spades.

The Toronto Maple Leafs addressed their need for a winger to pair with aging Mats Sundin in the form of Jason Blake. But is signing a guy who is 33 to a five-year deal really a smart move? Considering he just hit his career high last season, I wouldn’t expect more than 60 points from him and that’s on the generous side.

With this amount of signing in the first few days, there aren’t very many names left that will gather too much interest other than some role-players. I’m glad to say that after Peter Forsberg and Sheldon Souray come off the board, there won’t be too much NHL posts ‘round these parts.

The NBA, It's draft-tastic!

I'm sure that's not a word but it sure was fun to write. There weren’t many more exciting days on the NBA calendar than the draft this year with amount of talent coming into the league. A lot can be also be said for the amount of rumours that were flying around leading up towards draft day.

While we knew that Oden and Durant would go one/two, the Hawks at three (new uniforms and all) were hard to predict because, well, they can be dumb at times. Selecting Al Horford and then grabbing Acie Law IV at 11 was probably the best they could've made out from their early picks.

The real shockers came in at the five and six slots though. First, Boston traded the number five pick of the draft, along with Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West to Seattle for Ray Allen and a pick that would turn out to be Glen "Big Baby" Davis in the second round. Seattle then used the fifth selection to take Jeff Green out of Georgetown. I think Danny Ainge proved himself as a better G.M. than he has a reputation of being (awful).

Next, already knowing that Yi doesn't particularly want to play in a city where he would be one of seven Chinese people, Milwaukee selected him. Well, good luck working out that contract guys; should be a ton of fun, most of it lost in translation.

In a trade that didn't involve any of the day's picks, Isiah Thomas made a great move bringing Zach Randolph to the Knicks from Portland for Channing Frye and Stevie Franchise. Coming along to MSG were also Dan Dickau and Fred Jones in the deal. I don't see how this deal makes sense for Portland, especially considering the front-court they could have had with Greg Oden and Randolph.

The NBA Draft is here!

That night that's been the focus of most NBA fans since San Antonio won the championship against Phoenix has finally arrived. Experts are calling this year's edition the deepest in recent memory and even a casual college basketball fan could tell that just by looking at the names being thrown around in the top-12 area.

While there is a fairly good debate over who should go first overall, it really depends on what school of thought you're into.

On one side, there's the seven-foot who's a monster on defense, can score in the paint and has a huge presence. There is no doubt that Greg Oden will be a franchise centre and can be a team's centre piece for years upon years to come. Centres like Oden will win you championships more often than a high scoring swingman.

But, when they high scoring wingman has a limitless ceiling like Kevin Durant does, who knows where he'll take you. After wowing everyone in North America with his amazing talent and versatility last season, he propelled himself into the rarefied air that Oden was occupying.

There's no doubt that both of these guys are destined for superstardom, unlike the top players of the last few drafts. Both men will be shock and awe the Pacific Northwest for many years to come, but, if it were up to me, Oden's my man.

The player I'm really curious about is, my boy, Arron Afflalo of UCLA. I've seen mock drafts putting him in the early twenties and some in the early second-round. Wherever he, goes, I'm cheering.

It just keeps getting worse

I'll keep this short and simple. If Chris Benoit is even as much as mourned now, I may be sick. These is the last words on this site about the coward who was once regarded as one of the best techincal wrestlers and an inspiration to many.

It has been reported that his seven-year-old son, whom he suffocated to death, was in fact, mentally challenged and suffered from a rare disease know as Fragile X syndrome, which is often coupled with autism.

I'm ashamed to have ever rooted for, actually, lay eyes on Chris Benoit. What a piece of shit.