Friday Incompletions

There's a very good chance that an NHL team that has never won the Stanley Cup will do so this spring, as five of the eight remaining squads have yet to hoist the trophy. But there's a 100 per cent chance that a coach who has never before coached a Cup winner will enjoy that honor this spring. One of Mike Babcock, Lou Lamoriello, Tom Renney, Ron Wilson, Randy Carlyle, Alain Vigneault, Bryan Murray or Lindy Ruff will have their lives changed forever in June. . .One of the most amazing things about Jaromir Jagr is that he's sure not cut like an elite athlete. The guy has love handles, for goodness sakes, but he remains one of the game's dominant players. . .Interesting point by Lindy Ruff in regards to Dainius Zubrus' surprising level of physical play since he became a Sabre. Buffalo is using him more on the wing than at centre, his usual position in Washington, which allows him to throw his weight around a lot more. . .TSN's Pierre Maguire paid the price for being at ice level in Game 1 of the Buffalo-New York series when he was clipped by the errant high stick of Ranger blueliner Karel Rachunek and cut. Maguire assures one and all he's day-to-day. . .Given how often Russian news reports quote the musings of Alexei Kovalev, its as though the various English and French media outlets and Quebec need a reporter just to sift through the Moscow media every day. . .An example of a good, hardworking player earning an NHL paycheque; Boyd Devereaux's new contract with the Leafs. . .Still waiting to see how much of a salary cap break Mats Sundin will give the Leafs. It's worth remembering that he was paid above market value for several seasons in the middle of his Leaf career when the club unilaterally re-did his deal. . .No surprise the Senators nearly blew a 4-0 lead in Game 1 against the Devils. Ottawa is a good team, but it has been doing that all year long. . .Honest. I never knew Angelina Jolie was the daughter of Jon Voight. . .The only this goofier than the Curt Schilling bloody sock story is how worked up the Red Sox get over it. . .The New Jersey Nets are supposed to be moving to Brooklyn, but you never hear about it. The proposed arena is apparenty on the same site that Walter O'Malley once wanted to build a domed stadium before giving up and moving his Dodgers to Los Angeles. . .Believe me, there was no more discussed topic in sports media circles this week than the announcement by a Los Angeles sportswriter named Mike Penner than he is a transexual and will soon return to work as Christine Daniels. . .Enough already with the mock NFL drafts. Can we have the real one now, please?. . .Guess the Florida Panthers didn't mind Ville Peltonen getting caught out late with Ed Belfour. They've signed the veteran Finn to a new two-year deal. But will Belfour get a contract?. . .Angelo Esposito of the Quebec Remparts has suffered from the Mike Ricci syndrome. Too much exposure for too long has seen him plummet in pre-draft ratings. . .Seeing Pat Quinn on Hockey Night in Canada Thursday night made one wonder; will Quinn ever coach in the NHL again?. . .Chris Drury and Daniel Briere will get all the free agent publicity, but Scott Gomez might be a better fit for the Leafs. . .Are there going to be any exciting games in the Western Conference playoffs this spring?. . .Hard to believe the TV-concious NBA thought it was really a good idea to have the Suns wear orange and the Lakers wear yellow for Game 3 of their series on Thursday. . .While he's at it, will GTHL boss John Gardner make excuses for Alec Baldwin, as well?. . .There's no greater proof that Long Island is the dead zone of the NHL than the fact the Sean Hill drug suspension story disappeared so quickly.

Comments

[mark]

Why is it that everytime I read about the Leafs woes and how to fix them people (including you Damien) look at the forwards and believe we need another skilled (and potentially high priced) addition there? This team was 6th in the league in goals for. Is it not obvious to all that an upgrade in goal and a couple more solid defensemen are the most pressing needs? Think of where the Leafs could be a couple years from now if they didn't have the likes of Kubina, McCabe and Gill (the later two's salary burden too) and instead had a couple of big young mobile defensemen. Unfortunately, the Leafs brain trust (and I use the term loosely) generally cave in to the average fans plea for more offence, even if it's the last thing the need. I would bet they do nothing to shore up the defence and instead go after a sexy name like Briere, Drury et al. Entertaining, yes, winning hockey...no, never.

[R. McDougall]

Paragraphs man .. paragraphs...

[Bill B]

Damien - this isn't so much a comment for your blog as a request from a loyal reader to fix your website -- it's driving me nuts that I can't hit thestar.com/sports/hockey and see a play-off summary! I want to know who's playing who, up by how many games, last score. What gives?

Thanks! Bill

[Stephen]

Mark, Giguere's the only decent goalie on the market this summer, so he's going to be hugely overpriced anyway. Best thing the leafs could do would be trade any combination of Kubina, McCabe, Gill, and of course Raycroft for an upgrade in goal and then go after Andrei Markov and Chris Philips. Add that to White, Colaiacovo, & Kaberle and I'd be pretty happy letting Kronwall and Wozziewski battle it out for the final spot.

Damien, Quinn looked great on HNIC and did more than just mumble quaint responses like so many of the talking heads do. His answers were quick, insightful, and directly to the point and he'd make a great addition to the broadcast.

[chris]

Damien, You never knew Angelina Jolie was the daughter of Jon Voight? Oh well, Angelina Jolie would like to feel the same way about Jon Voight!

[Marijan Kalman]

I am ready to pay huge money for half page in any newspaper just to write what , obviosly none of you want's to write.

This NHL leauge should be closed and lights turned out.

Last night thay let goal stand, against Senators, which was not a goal.But because this sheet of the NHL makes mistake in starting their clock late they want to put it under the rug.
All of these tough spinles hockey players, managers and coaches have NO BALLS to leave the game and then let the league deal with their own sheet.

OFFICIANT IS SO BAD THAT ALL OFFICIALS SHOULD BE ARRESTED AND SENT TO PRISON.
Cluching, holding, hitting from behind,running the golies, shoving after the whistle it is WORSE THEN 10 years ago.

For this kind of officiatin in NBA Stern would find them all and fire them forever.

It is about the TIME that someone writes this.

Close the NHL arrest all the idiots , who are promoting violence like these two idiots on CBC.

No wonder three times more people were watching soccer game bettwen MU and MILAN then all of the play-off hockey.

WHat a leage , what a joke.

Regards,

Marijan Kalman

In NBA for