Free Agency Set to Explode

This time last year, Brian Burke was secretly flying to Sweden in hopes of signing the Sedin twins.

Vancouver GM Mike Gillis beat him to the punch, but Burke was unfazed and quickly signed defencemen Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek as well as enforcer Colton Orr, and also used the trip to do a little extra work on what turned out to be the successful courtship of goalie Jonas Gustavsson.

This year, Burke is staying put in North America - Boston, actually -  but he could be just as active. Or more active.

Obviously, he's got the trading of defenceman Tomas Kaberle still to get done, and the market will likely intensify after teams find out what they can get from free agency over the next few days. There are still whispers of discussions with the Boston Bruins over the services of centre Marc Savard as well.

But who the Leafs will go after hard on Thursday when the market opens is still unclear.

With Kaberle set to be dealt, a defenceman is a priority and Dan Hamhuis is at the top of the list, although many are confused as to what Hamhuis is looking for after his rights were dealt to Philadelphia and then Pittsburgh in recent days, and he chose to sign with neither team.

A surprising name out there will be blueliner Paul Martin, who most expected to see re-sign with the New Jersey Devils after playing only 22 games last season because of a fractured arm. Martin is a multi-talented, underrated player who would have crossed Burke's radar because of his involvement with the U.S. Olympic program. If Hamhuis goes elsewhere, the Leafs might have interest in Martin, although his price tag might be high after he made $4.5 million with the Devils last season.

The Leafs missed out on Mike Cammalleri last summer and ended up trading for Phil Kessel instead. They hope to get a forward out of trading Kaberle, but they may be interested in some of the mid-range free agent wingers, particularly those with a bit of bite to their game. Raffi Torres and Colby Armstrong are two sandpaper-like players out there, and Armstrong might fit the Leafs' need. Ethan Moreau was a possibility until his rights were traded to Columbus, and there might be some interest in Calgary winger Eric Nystrom, who scored 11 goals and made $775,000 with the Flames last year.

Federer Exits

LONDON--It had to end sometime.

For seven consecutive years, Roger Federer had played in the men's final at Wimbledon, winning six times and losing once to Rafael Nadal in what many believe was the greatest match in tennis history.

That ended today in the 2010 quarterfinals when Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, the 12th seed and a semifinalist at the French Open this year, knocked out Federer in four sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Berdych, 2-8 lifetime against Federer going in, was nearly perfect on the day and seemed to wear down the Swiss master with his heavy, hard serve, pounding it in at speeds upwards of 220 kilometres an hour.

At 5-4 in the third set, Berdych had to serve out the match. He fought off one break point, then connected on his second match point opportunity with a scorching forehand to eliminate the six-time champion.

"It was the hardest game to serve in my life," said Berdych.

The Czech will face Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the semis. Djokovic easily handled Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan, who had earlier eliminated Andy Roddick.

Federer, who won the Australian Open in January but was beaten early at Roland Garros, turns 29 in August and now faces tough questions about whether he'll be able to add to his all-time record total of 16 Grand Slam titles. He blamed leg and back injuries afterwards, unusual for him.

"Everytime he had a chance, he took it," said Federer. "When I did have chances, I played poorly."

An Entirely Different Universe

LONDON--Never again will I go along with the notion that Canadians beat themselves up over hockey in a way that no other country does over a sport.

Not even close, folks.

Indeed, compared to the manner in which the English national soccer team is being absolutely and thoroughly trashed after being ousted from the World Cup on Sunday, we Canadians look like we barely give a fig when it goes all wrong on the international hockey stage.

Our strongest reaction, after our juniors lost to Kazakhstan and our seniors fumbled away the Olympics, was to call a national summit in 1998 to sit down and discuss it all like civilized people, a gathering that actually resulted in enormously positive developments for the sport in Canada.

By comparison to the English reaction to the big footie loss, we look like we don't care.

This country is into its third full day of tearing and shredding Fabio Capello and his charges after the worst loss in the country's World Cup history, with no end in sight. It's not just on the sports pages, either, but on the front page of many daily newspapers, with related coverage on TV and radio.

Unrelenting and unmerciful, with plenty of war references thrown in, no surprise given that the defeat was at the hands of Germany. One columnist opined that if the British military had defended the country in similar fashion to John Terry and Co., "we'd all be speaking German now." Today, another paper showed two players smiling as they disembarked a flight back to the U.K., suggesting they were laughing as the country cried.

The key difference is that while Canada might severely criticize its players and coaches when defeat comes, here the athletes and administrators are treated like traitors, accused of betraying their country, of knowingly and intentionally bringing shame to every man and woman in England.

Yes, there have been a few howls over the disallowed English goal, which any reasonable person would agree made an enormous difference in the 4-1 result. Had that game, as it should have, gone into halftime tied 2-2, the second half would have been played in a different manner, although England's leaky defence would likely have, in the end, been unable to stop the German push.

But that goal has already been, if not forgotten, pushed to the side in favour of the most vicious and vile criticism of each and every English player imaginable. Capello, of course, has been drawn and quartered. Here, it's not like they just played badly, or got out-played. It's being treated as if they threw the match, and in so doing humiliated the country.

Given that England hasn't won a World Cup in decades, its not as though they were even a favourite. In fact, Germany's famed Franz Beckenbauer pretty much predicted the outcome beforehand, saying the English would be tired and "burnt out" because the heavy demands of the Premier League are so much greater than those faced by German players in the Bundesliga. But there remains a sense of entitlement here about soccer, not so different from Canada's attitude towards hockey, but expressed in a much more virulent, near lethal manner.

It really is ugly. Then there's the other side, the louts riding in a rickshaw through Trafalgar Square on Sunday chanting "We Won The War, We Won The War!"

They take their football very personally here. By comparison, we Canadians seem positively relaxed and reasonable about our national pastime.

Soccer Imitate Tennis? Not So Fast, Says Federer

LONDON--Roger Federer might just be the best interview in the sporting world, able to talk in multiple languages and completely unafraid to speak his mind.

Accordingly, he happily waded into the controversial no-goal decision in Sunday's England-Germany World Cup match and the suggestion that, like tennis, international soccer quickly needs to institute a form of replay review.

Yes, Federer agrees, soccer needs it. But rather than holding up tennis as an example of how replay can work, he wishes his sport would dispense with it entirely.

"We have it even though we don't need it," he said today after his fourth round victory over Austria's Jurgen Melzer. "We all know we don't, but we do have it. (Soccer) should have it, and they don't. So it's a choice the guys have to make at the top, you know.

"I do struggle a little bit with soccer. . .because there's so many mistakes from umpires. Don't blame them. They're so far away sometimes from what's happening, and then also there are so many goals disallowed that are goals and others are not counted that would be goals. It's frustrating as a fan. You just hope that those things go for you when you're in this kind of a stage of a (World Cup) tournament. (England) could have been sent home just because of that single mistake, and it's incredible.

"To me, it seems like (soccer) is crying for a change."

Federer celebrated Switzerland's shocking win over Spain at the World Cup and followed his country's fortunes until the Swiss were eliminated last week. He's never been a fan of the replay review system in tennis, even though it has all but eliminated on-court disputes. Perhaps he has been notoriously bad at replay challenges over the years.

"One forehand down the line doesn't change the outcome of the match, whereas one goal (in soccer) changes the entire mindset of a team, of a strategy," said Federer, seeded No. 1 at Wimbledon this year. "Tennis, we don't have that. (Line judges) are sitting there, not moving. They're only staring at the line. It's so much more simple. It's going to even out throughout a career or a season, the good and bad calls.

"Whereas goals (in soccer), it's such a huge impact in those 90 minutes. It changes everything. That's why they have it in American football, right? They have challenges you can do. I mean, there's so many ways of trying to adjust the system."

Living and Breathing Devastating Defeat

LONDON--Finding the pub, as it turned out, was the easy part.

Suffering through a 4-1 shellacking at the hands of Germany with a barroom full of English fans was, well, a bit miserable.

You think Leaf fans always expect the worse? Not compared to English football fanatics, who have suffered through penalty kicks and red cards and seem to expect no matter what, it the end something terrible will happen to their national side.

Which of course, it did today in South Africa.

From the Hops! Pub in Covent Garden - what it lacked in ambiance, it made up for in HD televisions - the misery was real and shared as what The Kaiser (Franz Beckenbauer) had forecast came true. As I emailed back and forth with The Star's Chris Young from his digs in South Africa - Young appears to have a footie man-crush on the superb Mesut Ozil - there was cautious optimism in the pub as groups of men and women assembled for the big game. Nearby stood a tiny clutch of face-painted Female German fans, utterly unbothered as they cheered on their country,

For a mere £15 a bucket of six imported beers could be had to lubricate the viewing of the match on the hottest day of the year in London. Interestingly, as God Save the Queen played over the Telly, few sang, and fewer stood as it played. Methinks O Canada in a big city bar before a big hockey game would get more respect.

At 2-0 Germany, the response was mostly stunned silence. At 2-1, Frank Lampard's obvious goal wasn't counted, and the atmosphere stank of sullen despair.

It was "C'mon England" in the second half up until Lampard's free kick was not only blocked by the German wall, but turned into a jail break that led to the third German goal and lights out for the English. "Way to go, Fat Frank!" howled one fan, although the lean Lampard looked anything but chubby.

It was, really, anything but ugly when it was over. not a hooligan or buffoon to be seen as fans spilled out into the streets. more like quiet resignation, really, plus an expectation that the disallowed goal - no replay review in this day and age? Really? - would dominate the headlines on Monday.

Well that plus England's dreadful defense - "hopeless" according to former national team star Alan Shearer - which looked throughout like it had been organized by Ron Wilson, with Hapless David James playing the part of Vesa Toskala.

Too bad Rio Ferdinand couldn't play because of injury. Too bad John Terry turned into such a horse's ass in the months before this World Cup.

Too bad this happens only every four years. Oh, the ecstasy but mostly the agony, especially in England today.

For £15 and six beers, quite worth it, all in all.

No Three-Peat For Nestor

LONDON--Daniel Nestor's dream of a third straight Wimbledon title is over.

The Canadian doubles specialist and his Serbian teammate, Nenad Zimonjic, were shocked today in the second round by the unseeded and nearly unknown British pair of Chris Eaton and Dominic Inglot in a five-set marathon.

Nestor and Zimonjic were the No. 1 seeds after winning this year's French Open and both the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon doubles titles. But they struggled to get through a first round match against a British combo and were, for all intents and purposes, served off the court by Eaton and Inglot today.

Eaton, 494th in the world in singles and 176th in doubles, has no career titles in either and has been best known as a bit of a heartthrob. His partner, Inglot, was a star at the University of Virginia and is 591st in the world in singles and 204th in doubles.

So to say this was an upset would be putting it mildly.

The Eaton/Inglot combination got off to a quick start by winning the first and third sets, and looked headed for victory when they broke Zimonjic in the first game of the fifth set. Nestor and Zimonjic broke back, but Zimonjic finished off a miserable day - he was terrible on returns - by double-faulting away the 13th game of the fifth, and the Brits converted a second match point in the next game to eliminate the top seeds.

A Face To Match A Trade

So Leaf fans can finally stop obsessing about losing out on Taylor Hall.

It was Tyler Seguin.

Now, those same fans can start obsessing about the identity of the 18-year-old their favourite team won't get with its first round pick next year.

Phil Kessel? To those worst afflicted, he's barely an afterthought, even if he wins the Rocket Richard Trophy the next five seasons.

But Kessel now clearly equals Seguin plus whatever else comes from those other sacrificed draft picks, and over the next five to seven years as Kessel develops (or doesn't) and as those drafted players develop (or don't) this trade will continue to be debated.

But Seguin, going second overall to Boston on Friday night in L.A., puts another face on the deal, just as Brandon Gormley, taken 13th overally by Phoenix with a pick once owned by Calgary, puts on another face on that nightmarish deal that brought Olli Jokinen, briefly, to the Flames.

An absence of trades meant the draft lacked huge pizzazz, but it was intriguing, particularly for the way in which the prospects went after Hall, Seguin and Kingston junior defenceman Erik Gudbranson.

We won't know for years whether the NHL teams got the order right, but it was certainly different than NHL Central Scouting's list, and from many of the mock drafts and insider lists that were out there. That's no insult. These drafts are tough to handicap and predict, and clearly teams are more determined now than ever to shield their intentions.

Really, most of the top 20 projected players were there, just in a different order than on most lists. Defenceman Cam Fowler, once a lock to many to go third, tumbled to Anaheim at No. 12. Ryan Johansen was a surprise all the way at No. 4 overall, much higher than Central had him at 10th among North American skaters.

Ditto for Swiss forward Nino Neiderreiter, a star a last winter's world junior championships in Saskatoon, who was 12th on the NHL scouting bureau's list and went fifth to the Islanders.

The biggest shocker in terms of a team looking beyond the Central rankings came at No. 17 when Colorado picked up Owen Sound centre Joey Hishon, who was rated 55th in league rankings, and that just among North American prospects. Hishon, of Stratford, Ont., played less than half a season a year ago because of a broken foot and was rated lower at the year end rankings than he was at December, and it will be interesting to see if the Avalanche knew something others didn't.

Both Edmonton junior blueliner Mark Pysyk and California-born Emersen Etem of the Medicine Hat Tigers, meanwhile, were ranked in the top 10 but weren't taken in the opening 20 picks.

New Florida GM Dale Tallon was the most active executive in the Staples Centre, moving defenceman Keith Ballard to Vancouver in a deal that brought Steve Bernier, Mikael Grabner and a first rounder to the Panthers, and then trading the 15th overall pick acquired in this week's Nathan Horton deal with Boston to Los Angeles.

A New Way of Doing Business

It's a steal of a deal, depending on your perspective.

For the Chicago Blackhawks coming off a Stanley Cup championship, it has to be pleasing that not only were the team's salary cap problems essentially solved by a single deal with the Atlanta Thrashers, a first round pick was acquired in the process, plus a second rounder for good measure.

That, some would argue, is how champions remain champions. By converting veteran assets into future assets. That, and the Hawks were able to hang on to talented centre Patrick Sharp, a player many figured would have to go to make the Hawks salary cap situation work.

Then there's the Atlanta end of things. For the cost of the 24th overall pick in the draft, no better than a 50/50 shot to make the NHL eventually, at best, they acquired three meaningful pieces from the Stanley Cup champions, including the team's No. 1 right winger, Dustin Byfuglien.

Anybody who watched the Vancouver-Chicago playoff series this spring would regard Byfuglien as an impact forward, a rare combination of overwhelming size (perhaps has much as 270 pounds) and remarkable skill who was a one-man wrecking crew against Roberto Luongo and the Canucks. Plus he's just 25 years old and makes a manageable $3 million per year.

Add in Ben Eager, an enforcer and energy player who scored the winning goal in a Stanley Cup final game this year, and Brent Sopel, No. 4 on Chicago's blueline depth chart in these recent playoffs, and you have a set of enormously helpful additions to a team that desperately needs to become relevant in its market by becoming a regular playoff participant.

Given that the first and second picks given to Chicago were acquired from New Jersey in the Ilya Kovalchuk deal, that basically means that the Thrashers were able to convert their ex-captain into Byfuglien, Sopel, Eager, defenceman Johnny Oduya, young winger Niclas Bergfors and former Canadian national junior team captain Patrice Cormier.

Not bad.

So the Hawks got what they wanted, but this is also true. Playing the high wire act with the cap got them a Stanley Cup, but it also will make it much more difficult, maybe impossible, to repeat.

It's not just Byfuglien, Sopel and Eager, don't forget. During the season, the Hawks had to sacrifice 6-foot-3, 24-year-old defenceman Cam Barker to Minnesota in order to get their salary cap house in order for next season. Barker not only could have helped the Hawks in these playoffs - turns out they had enough without him - but would have been a fixture for years on the Chicago back end.

Sopel and Eager are replaceable parts, Byfuglien and Barker not so much, or at least not so easily.

In many ways, the Chicago-Atlanta swap is precisely what many in the industry have been anticipating for years, and that's the ability of one team to essentially use cap space to trade for tangible assets.

The Thrashers basically sold $4 million of cap space to Chicago for a first line winger and spare parts.

It's the business of the new NHL, still emerging five years after the lockout.

Courting History

Remarkable. And a little bizarre.

Wimbledon today saw a match that began as a two-day affair, moved into a marathon and slowly became a theatre of the absurd as American John Isner and opponent Nicolas Mahut of France waged combat in the longest match in tennis history.

And they couldn't even finish.

Tied 59-59 in the fifth set – there are no fifth set tiebreaks at Wimbledon – the match was suspended because of darkness at about 9:10 p.m. London time. By the point, exactly 10 hours of match time had elapsed, the two players had combined for 192 aces and a total of 651 winners.

At times it appeared that Isner, a 6-foot-9 righthander from Georgia and the 23rd seed, was actually staggering on court, but he still protested the decision to suspend the match, while Mahut wanted to quit.

Isner actually had match point at 59-58, but Mahut then hit his 94th ace of the match.

Isner was so exhausted at one point that he forgot to bring his racquet on court, while Mahut seemed to have more energy, diving all over the court even in the final few games, but couldn't break Isner's serve.

The battle of wills, which began Tuesday, has already shattered all existing records for length of match, number of games and number of aces.

The previous longest singles match in tennis history was between Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement at the 2004 French Open, a contest that lasted six hours and 33 minutes, shorter than the fifth set alone of the Isner-Mahut match.

Last year's marathon Wimbledon men's final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick went to 16-14 in the fifth set before Federer won, and lasted less than five hours.

The two players will resume their match on Thursday, the day Queen Elizabeth II is expected to visit the All-England Club for the first time in three decades.

Players like Federer and Roddick, meanwhile, have already completed their second round match.

Canada's Alexandra Wozniak, the country's best hope in women's singles, was eliminated today by Jelana Jankovic of Serbia.

Live NHL draft Q&A

Damien held a live chat Wednesday at noon, answering readers' questions about the NHL draft: