It's That Time! The NHL Trade Deadline is Almost Here!

One of my favorite days of the year is right around the corner.  Hockey Christmas! That’s right, the NHL trading deadline is just over two weeks away. If history is any indication, the market will be heating up soon. In fact the Winnipeg Jets and Buffalo Sabres officially kicked off the festivities a few days ago by swapping injured forward Evander Kane for inconsistent defenseman Tyler Myers in old-fashioned blockbuster trade.

This year, despite the early deadline, I expect a couple of more big deals to be consummated before the actual deadline day. After all, if you’re jockeying for playoff position, why wait a couple of extra games to fill that needed hole in your roster. And if you’re in full “Dishonor for Connor” mode, getting rid of any actual talent you have on your roster might be the difference between drafting first or second (Powerball Winner!) and drafting third or fourth (Scratch Off Winner!).

So will my beloved Lightning be a part of the chaos, the false rumors, the fake B0b Mackensie tweets, and the eventual empty feeling that comes at 5:00pm on March 2nd (Wait, it’s over…there are no more last minute deals? But we didn’t get what we needed! You mean we didn’t get Taylor Hall for the rights to Riku Helenius and Bobby Taylor’s Hattricks Frequent Diner Card? C’mon!)?  Sadly I feel that the answer is going to be no.  I’m sure General Manager Steve Yzerman will kick the tires on a few players, answer a few calls about some of their forwards and then go on about his day of scowling from the press box during game.

This is Steve Yzerman smiling.

Why can he schedule a little more time on the golf course and less time meeting with his scouts? Well, simply put, he’s done a great job of building the roster he has in front of him right now.  So, at best, he might tinker a little or perhaps acquire an extra draft pick or two with a minor deal.  If there are any weak spots on the team right now it would be on the blue line, and those could be considered temporary.  As long as there are no setbacks, and they don’t decide to rehab in the Buccaneers MIRSA-riddled clubhouse, Radko Gudas and Matt Carle should be back in time for the postseason grind.

Among the ever growing Lightning presence on the internets it does seem that Mr. Yzerman will be doing his due diligence to see if he can improve the defense to carry the team during the remaining weeks that Carle and Gudas are out.   The current fill in rotation of Luke Witkowski, Nikita Nesterov, and Mark Barberio has played out as expected.  They’ve had some good games and some not so good moments on the ice.

With the Lightning fighting for the top spot in the Eastern Conference,  it might behoove Mr. Yzerman to find someone who can fit in right away and eat up some of the minutes that the younger players are currently absorbing and then transition to a support role once the regulars are healthy. Oh, and they can’t really cost that much either.

If his past has taught us anything, Mr. Yzerman morphs his needs for what’s best for the organization at the trade deadline. When they’re not in competition for a playoff spot he looks for draft picks and young talent (2012 - young defensemen like Keith Aulie and Brian Lee along with a cornucopia of draft picks, 2013 - Ben Bishop and draft picks).  When they are looking like the playoffs are a possibility he brings in veteran players to fill a need (2011 - Eric Brewer, 2014 - Ryan Callahan. Is anyone trying to trade their captain this year?).

I’ve read in a couple places that Mr. Yzerman doesn’t like trading for “rental players”. That is, players who will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the season thereby only helping the team for a couple of months. Whereas I would say that he doesn’t make a habit of targeting them, he isn’t allergic to the idea either.  After all, both Brewer and Callahan were set to be free agents when Mr. Yzerman made the trade for them. I think the fact that they both ended up re-signing with team makes people forget that he was willing to trade assets for rental players in the past (of course, had Callahan walked the Lightning still netted two first round picks and unloaded a disgruntled Martin St. Louis in that deal so it was totally worth it).

More so than ever I think Mr. Yzerman would be inclined to bring in a player who won’t have to worry about buying property in the area (although if they are I have a nice condo in Largo for sale!). The aforementioned notion that whoever he might bring in will slide down the depth chart once the injured blue-liners return is one reason.

A second reason is, and its importance can never be discounted, finances. The Lightning aren’t exactly abounding with room under the salary cap. While they’re pretty set for next season (Brenden Morrow is their only unrestricted free agent) signing anyone with a long-term commitment could make things a bit dicey for the capologists in the area.  So don’t expect Oliver Ekman-Larsson or Dion Phaneuf to come walking through that door.

Also, players with controlled costs tend to fetch a bit more on the trade market. Arizona is committed to Ekman-Larsson for four more years at $5.5 million. That’s not a horrible contract for a top pair defenseman. And it’s only going to look better as salaries go up, so to pry him away it’s going to take a pretty nice package.  There is no pressure for Arizona to deal him right at this moment. They can quietly listen to offers and if nothing makes them happy, they can just keep him.

In comparison, Zbynek Michalek is a pending free agent.  There is a little more urgency to deal him because if they don’t he has the ability to walk away leaving Arizona with nothing but $4 million in extra cap space. So teams calling General Manager Don Maloney have a little bit more negotiating power.  So a second round pick and a fringe prospect might do it as opposed to a first rounder and top prospect for Ekman-Larsson.

The Lightning don’t really need to bring a defenseman that they’re going to keep past this season. Carle, Anton Stralman, Victor Hedman and Jason Garrison (the nominal top 4) are all signed long-term. The young guys like Gudas, Barberio and Andrej Sustr are still under team control. It doesn’t really make sense for them to take on a player with 5 or 6 years left on their contract when the organization has more pressing financial decisions to worry about (yes this is an oblique reference to Stammergeddon II).

So let us get to the real reason you’re reading this column.  Who do I think the Lightning should go after (also known as what names am I going to add to the rumor mill with absolutely no factual evidence to support my claims)?

6. Andrej Meszaros - He’d be cheap! The former Bolt hasn’t played much recently (only one game in February) but he plays for a team that is in sell-off mode and could do alright getting 15 minutes a game. At worst it would cost the Lightning a mid-to-late round draft pick.

You know you want him back! Dust those jerseys off.

5. Cody Franson - I actually think the Toronto blue-liner would do well in Tampa, but he’d also do well in other uniforms. With Myers off the market the 27-year-old might be one of the top players on the market. A bidding war could drive his cost past what Mr. Yzerman is willing to pay.

4. Jeff Petry - Switch “Toronto” with “Edmonton” and you have the same story with Petry.

3. Nick Schultz - The Flyers signed Schultz as insurance in the off-season and he’s been the poster boy for why players take a chance on one-year deals. He’s played top-pair minutes and held his own on a Philadelphia team that is on the outside looking in.  There is a good chance that he parlays this season into a multi-year deal this summer.  Would the Lightning be willing to part with a young forward to bring in the 32-year-old?  Perhaps.

2. Zybnek Michalek - The previously mentioned Coyote has been mentioned in rumors since January. Mr. Yzerman might have held off on trading for him while he monitored the play of his young replacements.  Without a second round pick to deal, it would probably cost the Lightning a player like Brett Connolly or Vlad Namestikov to top what other teams can offer.

1. Marc Methot - His name is starting to crop up more with Myers now in Winnipeg. Supposedly the Senators are working to re-sign him, but have not ruled out trading him at the deadline (after all they could theoretically trade him and then re-sign him in the summer). Injuries have limited his time on ice this season, but he has played well when he’s been on the ice.


The Lightning have a couple of arrows in their quiver to offer teams. Despite not having a second round pick (the asset de jour) they do have an extra picks in the first (thank you Marty), third (thank you Eric Brewer) and fourth (thank you Nate Thompson) . Couple one of those picks with one their extra forwards that are battling for playing time (Connolly, Namestikov, JT Brown) and that’s not an unattractive offer for a team that is rebuilding.

Thankfully, due to all of the work he’s put in over previous years,  it shouldn’t be a particularly stressful or interesting deadline for the team and its fans. Of course, all that means is that Mr. Yzerman is sitting in his lair plotting ways to make his future teams better.

Never forget those that have netted the Lightning picks on Deadline Day. #DownieForever (photo by Scott Audette)

C'mon Panini!

Even though I’m no longer a set builder I like to keep an eye on the products that the companies are releasing just to see if there is anything novel.  Last week Panini, one of two companies that have a NHL license, released some images from their upcoming 2011-12 Limited Hockey set.

Panini, long known in the U.S. for their sticker yearbooks, jumped back into the hockey market last season with mixed results.  They revived several defunct brands such as Score, Pinnacle, and Donruss while also offering collectors an alternative to Upper Deck’s monopoly.  They also flooded the market with thousands of pointless parallel versions of cards and inserts upon inserts. 

One of the new inserts for Limited Hockey is Back to theFuture. The card will feature autographs from two players from a team.  From their post they think the cards are a “compelling insert {that} unites one current superstar with one all-time great (along with their respective autographs)”.  That’s not a bad idea for an insert set.  Although I don’t collect vintage cards, it’s nice to see cards that tie the past with the present.

Their website features some pre-signed versions of the cards.  Some of the pairings are pretty cool: Brad Marchand/Ken Linesman, Claude Giroux/Tim Kerr and Jeff Skinner/Ron Francis. These cards should be a big hit for team collectors, especially since it appears the cards will be hand-signed.

As I was scrolling through the images I was delighted to see the Lightning represented in the set.  Even though I would be classified more as a player collector than a team collector since I focus most of my collecting budget on Vincent Lecavalier, it’s still nice to see the boys from Tampa included. 

The “current superstar” half of the card is Steven Stamkos.  As the most prolific goal scorer over the last three years, that’s pretty much a no brainer.  Stamkos is the best player on the team and does have appeal outside of the Tampa Bay area (enough so that he made the cover of NHL12). 

Look at the flowing locks! - From Panini's site

So who, out of the almost 20 year existence of the organization, did Panini pick to represent the “all-time great”?  None other than Steve Yzerman.  Holy crap do I have a problem with that selection. Not just a little problem, but a large-probably-overreacting-taking-too-personally-problem with it.

I don’t disagree with the notion that Yzerman is an all-time great, just not for the Lightning.  If you want to put his autograph in the set, put it on the flipside of Pavel Datsyuk.  Yzerman has done a good job of putting a professional product on the ice in Tampa, but he never donned the uniform for Tampa Bay.  Heck, he hasn’t even been with the team as long as Stamkos has. 

Sweet Suit Stevie - From Panini's site

Despite what some people in the media and in the stands believe, the Lightning existed before they drafted Steven Stamkos in 2008.  Hundreds of players, some good, a lot not-so-good, have skated for them since the franchise debuted with Chris Kontos banging in 4 goals against Chicago on October 7, 1992.  It strikes me as lazy and a bit of a shot at the organization that Panini would chose Yzerman to represent the other half of the card.

So who should Panini have tracked down to sign the cards instead of Yzerman? From looking at the other pairings it appears that Panini matched up players with similar skills, or at least ones that played the same position.  So that rules out Darren Puppa (and as a novelty, Manon Rheaume) since he was a goaltender.  Chris Gratton was more of a big, physical center, not the gifted scorer that Stamkos has developed into.  Rob Zamuner, Alex Selivanov and Dave Andreychuk were all wingers so despite their contributions to the team they’re out as well.

That leaves, as the only logical choice, Brian Bradley. The center from Kitchner, Ontario was the first true scoring threat, some would say the only threat, for the Lightning. He played 328 games for the Bolts from 1992 to 1998 and tallied an even 300 points.  He scored 111 goals in a Lightning uniform and provided some legitimacy to the organization in its infancy.

Overall in his career he also played for Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, logging 652 games and 503 during that time.  He retired during the 1997-98 season, a season prior to Vincent Lecavalier joining the team.  I wonder if Lecavalier’s transition to the NHL would have been smoother if Bradley had been around to help him out.

I don’t know why Panini chose Yzerman.  If someone over there reads this, feel free to let me know.  They imply that this insert is for team collectors so it would be nice if they actually picked someone who skated for them in the past.  They might not know it, but there those of us that remember folks who played for them prior to 2008.

If they were worried that no one outside of Tampa would know, or want to collect a card with Brian Bradley on it at least chose an organizational figure that has been tied to the team longer than a season and a half.  Throw Phil Esposito on the other half of the card and I would understand.  Like Yzerman, Espo never played for the Lightning, but unlike the current GM, he has been around since day one.

Either guy would be better, especially in those uniforms - Photo from St Pete Times

I would be remiss not to mention that the cards Panini posted on the website aren’t the complete set.  There is a chance that there is a second card that represents an actual player from the Lightning’s past. After all, the Alex Ovechkin card shown features Mark Messier as the other signer and while that is a cool card, not entirely indicative of Washington’s past. 

Despite being in the same area for 20 years having a hockey team in Florida still seems to be a bit of a novelty for the rest of the hockey world. That holds true for the collecting world as well.  Throwback sets rarely feature Lightning players, even if they feature other players from the 1990s.  Cards like the one Panini is producing don’t help the cause. 

July 1st - Happy Stamkos Day or Sad To See You Go Day?

A big date looms in the not too distant future. July 1st, 2011. It is a day that some folks in the Tampa Bay Area are dreading, perhaps even bemoaning. Those folks would be Lightning fans. You see, as the calendar switches to the greatest of summer months a certain pale-faced centerman could be tempted by the lure of unspeakable riches from rivals to the north.

If you’re not a hockey fan I’m sure you’ve already turned the page. If you are a fan of the puck then I’m sure you’ve noticed that Steven Stamkos has completed his standard entry level contract and is now a Restricted Free Agent. What that means is that his current club (the good and mighty) Tampa Bay Lightning have exclusive negotiating rights with him on his next contract until midnight on June 30th. After that date, any team in the league can sign young Mr. Stamkos to an offer sheet. The Lightning would have the choice to match that contract or let the sensational sniper leave and in return receive 4 first round draft picks.

Since there hasn’t been much reported on the negotiations that has led fans and pundits to expect the worst. Gruff Brian Burke in Toronto is ready to sign Stamkos to $9 million a year long term contract to bring him back to his home town. The despised Flyers jettisoned two of their stars (Jeff Carter and Mike Richards) to free up cap space to snag the 21 year old from their playoff rivals. Lowly Florida, in a desperate bid to reach the salary cap floor, will offer Stamkos a one year $12 million contract to lure him away from their upstate competitors.

As each day goes by, the rumors increase. On Monday, Nick Kypreos reported that he heard at the draft that the sides were “not close to getting a deal done”. Of course, he didn’t cite any sources or even vaguely insinuate that the person he heard this rumor from had any connection with the ongoing discussions.

If there is one thing we’ve learned from Steve Yzerman, GM extraordinaire, it’s that he does not negotiate with terrorists. Err. Negotiate through the media. On the eve of the draft, stalwart defenseman Eric Brewer resigned with the Lightning with barely the rumor out that they were close. No one knew he was going to draft a Russian with his first round draft pick. Going back a year, no one saw him being able to unload Meszaros’ unwieldy contract.

In other words, he plays his cards pretty close to his chest. The same goes for the Stamkos Situation. There is an excellent chance that details are being ironed out as you read this. Details, like how many luxury boxes Stamkos gets per game, what color M&M’s are in his locker pre-game, and if they will finally unblock the hotel porn channels in his room on road trips. You know, the important things.

Personally, I think the deal is done and they're just messing with the fans at this point. Milking the drama for all it's worth, keeping the Lightning name in the news. Not that signing Mike Vernace doesn't make for top of the fold news.

It’s not like Lightning management only has the one problem to worry about. It would kind of be nice to have a goaltender on the payroll that has more than 5 games of NHL experience. There’s also the matter of finding a winger to replace Simon Gagne (Brooks Laich, maybe?) and a grinder to replace the soon to be departed Sean Bergenheim (Jimmy Wright?). Oh and there are other twelve restricted free agents in the organization to be tended an offer and signed.

That being said, he has done quite a bit since the Lightning last skated a month or so ago. He has solidified the defense by bringing back Brewer, trading for and signing Bruno Gervais and locking up depth players such as Blair Jones and Vernace. The Bolts now have their top six defensemen under contract with reports of the seventh (Mike Lundin) close to being signed.

He has more than enough cap space (roughly $23 million not counting the Gervais contract) to resign young Mr. Stamkos and still entertain the thought of bringing Brad Richards back to the Bay. However, the chance of Richey skating in the blue and white are slimmer than the chances of Stamkos playing in a uniform that doesn’t resemble the Flash’s outfit.

Of course, it’s not likely that the Lightning will spend up to the cap. Mr. Vinik, the owner, has enjoyed a nice return on his investment over the last year, but he doesn’t strike me as someone who is going to rashly run around dropping large sums of money on people just to get to a league mandated cap. This year’s draft is a good example of smart spending. It is unlikely that any of the Russians drafter this year will be on the roster come October, in fact, they might not even be in this country. That allows them to develop at a reduced cost to the Lightning.

The Stamkos deal will get done. If you ask me my somewhat less-than-expert opinion I say it ends up being somewhere in the 7 years /$47 million range. Long enough that the cap hit isn’t horrible, but short enough that Stamkos can think about another long term deal when this one is over.

Of course, if by any chance this posting jinxes the negotiations and Yzerman lets Stamkos sign for 9 years/ $72 million with Toronto I will have to seriously reconsider my devotion to this team. I think the Blues need some fans….

The air has cooled, college football is on the TV in the background and that can mean only one thing. Hockey is right around the corner. The good times are back again. In fact, the first puck drops in one month and a handful of increasingly shorter and crisper days.

All of the major storylines have been resolved and the major free agents have all found their homes for the next season. Gary Bettman made his power move and foreshadowed what could be a difficult renegotiation of the CBA in the not too distant future. With rosters mostly set, teams and fans can start thinking about how the season is going to play out.

Of course, it also brings the dilemma of how a transplanted Lightning fan is going to watch games in the big city. Do I forgo groceries for a few weeks and get the Center Ice package? Do I test the limits of the little netbook that could and stream games from some of the various websites out there that provide them on a possibly illegal basis? There is no way I can afford to go a bar 81 times in the net 6 months so that’s out of the question.

In all likelihood I will cough over more money to Comcast and sign up for the Center Ice package. After all, I will be alone in the cold darkness of my first Midwest winter and will need some comforting reminder of the town I used to call home. Nothing says hockey like seeing the Chief Bobby Taylor and Rick Pekhem sweating through the pre-game show on the Ice Palace plaza in the middle of November.

I’ve been warned that Fall can start any day after September 15th and I should invest in a heavy jacket and boots sooner rather than later. Lucky for me I’m now living in a neighborhood that is overrun with shops. I should be able to throw something together soon and for not too much. I now remember the beauty of second hand thrift shops and discount clothing chains.

The cold weather will make it feel more like hockey season, there’s just something not right about going to the beach before a game. Even better it should be a fun season in Hockey Bay, USA. After 3 years of wandering in the darkness Steve Yzerman has put together a balanced team - at least on paper. Many paper teams have gone up in flames in the past, and injuries could quickly undo all of the work the first time GM did this summer.

It’s too soon to anoint him a savior, but it would also be unfair to withhold praise. The shedding of Andrej Meszaros’ contract alone was enough to earn him another couple of years at the helm. To add a potential potent scorer in Simon Gagne and an up and coming goalie in Dan Ellis was damn near sorcery.

So while I can’t invest in season tickets and I probably shouldn’t invest in the TV package I will. The off-season moves have earned that, and it’ll give me a chance to watch Vincent Lecavalier’s phoenix-like rise to the upper echelon of hockey superstardom as well.

After all, who needs to eat well? Ramen noodles are very filling.

"Y" All the Excitement?

Most rebuilding projects start off with small key moves. Taking a chance on a goalie that missed a year due to a contract dispute. Or it can be a quiet move like picking up a talented defenseman who has worn out his welcome on another team for a fifth round pick. Maybe it’s the well traveled winger who has never won a Stanley Cup brought in to mentor a young club. It isn’t the banner is hung that you can look back at and find the moves that worked.

The 2004 Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lighting were one of those projects built by unheralded GM’s Rick Dudley and Jay Feaster. Will the very much heralded Steve Yzerman be able to duplicate that success? Time will only tell.

To say Yzerman comes from a winning organization is like saying the Blackhawks bandwagon is only slightly full. (Full disclosure, I wore a red polo to support the team at work today. I like to think of myself as a casual observer hanging onto the edge of the wagon – like the guy hanging onto the edge of the San Francisco streetcar.) He’s a three time Stanley Cup winner and holds the record for longest serving captain of a single team. He was named an all star 10 times, the Conn Smythe, Lester B Pearson, Selke and Masterson trophies all collect dust in his billiards room.

The most important thing he represents, along with owner Jeff Vinik, is normalcy. Fans in other markets might not realize how important that is to the organization and supporters. The Bolts aren’t a storied franchise. They are a team that plays in a non-traditional market. Not only that, but the majority of the fan base is comprised of people who root for other teams. Sure they had a nice run in the early 2000’s that culminated with that bad-ass banner that hangs in the Ice Palace, but for most of their tenure they’ve been known for the less than brilliant moments:

* When he was GM Phil Esposito never met with Takashi Okubo the man who ran the Japanese consortium that owned the team. It’s widely accepted that Okubo never saw the team play once in the ENTIRE SEVEN YEARS he owned the team.


* Esposito had female goaltender Manon Rheaume play in an exhibition game as a publicity stunt.


* Keeping things interesting was the saga of restricted free agent Chris Gratton.
After 1996-97 season Esposito tried to trade Gratton to Chicago for either money or players (according to the New York times the names Ethan Moreau and Keith Carney were bandied about). The NHL ruled that the trade was null and void because Gratton had signed an offer sheet from the Flyers before the trade had gone through. Esposito tried to say that the offer wasn’t valid because some numbers were “smudged” by the fax machine. His ploy didn’t work.

* The Bolts have played in an exhibition hall at the fairgrounds, a baseball stadium and a building in Tampa named for a newspaper from St Petersburg.

* Alex Selivanov, who married Esposito’s daughter, had his car repossessed from the team parking lot during a game.

* The Japanese sold the team to Art Williams for $117 million (roughly the same amount Vinik would pay for the team a decade later). The best part of the insurance magnate’s nine-month tenure as owner was his “dud or stud” speech about Vincent Lecavalier, who he also dubbed the future “Michael Jordan” of hockey.

* A period of stability would follow when Bill Davidson bought the team. The team won on the ice, but was much less interesting off the ice. Although Dan Boyle’s house did catch fire during the 2004 playoffs.

* The Clowns bought the team. I am from here on out never talking about those dark times in detail ever again. They will be known as the Dark Times. Due to this recently imposed ban I won’t talk about the GM who tried to trade a draft pick he didn’t own or that they demoted a well liked assistant coach during the only hot streak of the season. Or the Dan Boyle trade, or the botched Lecavalier trade, or the fact that the two owners didn’t talk to each other for the last year they owned the team.


So you can see why fans are a little giddy about the recent developments. With Vinik quietly showing that he is willing to invest in this team past the initial check he wrote, and Yzerman who was trained by the best organization in the league leading them, the turnaround could accelerate this season.

Unlike the Dark Time Cowboys, Yzerman’s first move was a quiet one. He signed young defenseman Mark Barberio to a three year entry level deal. Not quite the unfocused free agent frenzy fans were greeted with during the Clowns first off-season with the team.

The Red Wings have remained competitive through the years because of their ability to recognize talent at lower levels in the draft and the ability to manage their players under the cap. The Red Wings have maintained a high level of success despite not having a first round pick in the top 10 since 1991. In other words since the Bolts have been in the league. With the salary cap and a new CBA around the corner, drafting and developing your own players only gets more important.

Will this mean fans will have to support another summer of “Trade Vinny” rumors? Probably, after all what’s a summer in the TBA without trade rumors, hurricanes and dead fish on the beach? If he does feel the need to trade the face of the Lightning I think it will be done quickly and quietly.

The new Lightning organization seems to be hell-bent on secrecy as word on the street was that any contender for the GM job who talked about it would eliminated from consideration. The same seems to be the case for the head coach search.
Yzerman has a good foundation to build from. Now it’s time for him to find the quiet deals that transform teams into championships. What will it be?

Bonus Fact discovered during my lackluster research for this post. Twenty Four players were drafted in the first round of the 1992 draft. Twenty-five percent of them have played for the Lightning at some point during their career. Those six players:

Roman Hamrlik - #1
Todd Warriner - #3
Corey Stillman - #6
Robert Petrovicky - #9
Andrei Nazarov - #10
David Wilkie - #20

Quick Hits

So just a quick post as I'm waiting for my roommate to get home so we can head to the Cubs game.

1. I have thoughts on the Lightning signing Steve Yzerman as their GM. Lot's of thoughts - mostly good - but I haven't had time to organize them and put them to paper. Maybe tomorrow.

2. Carl Crawford and Joe Maddon got themselves thrown out of a game Tuesday night. Normally, I support the umpires, but in my opinon Bob Davidson overreacted a bit. From the replays I saw any contact was either mutal or miniscule. I think Davidson was having a bad day at the plate, Crawford called it on him and the ump lost it for a bit. I would be extremely surprised if there are any suspensions.

3. The Blackhawks will have their work cut out for them against the Flyers. Philly is the most physical team they will have faced in the playoffs and will make Antti Niemi's life a living hell. However, if the Flyers go to far and start taking penalties, the Hawks can make them pay.

4. If the Flyers win, will Marion Hossa's streak of being on 3 consecutive Stanley Cup Finals losing teams be a record?

5. Is the previous questions the most awkward sentence ever posted on this site?

6. Brian Matusz hasn't won since I made the comment on how promising his season had started...jinx!

7. Ty Wigginton is the O's MVP so far. He didn't have a position coming into the season. What contender is going to be looking for a corner/utility infielder come deadline time?

That's all for now. More to come soon - including a Through The Mail autograph!