Wednesday Meanderings

Points to ponder on a Wednesday morning:

--That Jays starting rotation after Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow is at best unproven and at worst dicey. If it makes you feel better, AL East rivals Boston, Tampa and New York have pitching troubles of their own. Boston closer Andrew Bailey needs thumb surgery and won't be back for a while, while Tampa closer Kyle Farnsworth will start the season on the DL. With the Yankees, their big off-season acquisition, right-handed power pitcher Michael Pineda, starts the season the DL and Ivan Nova has been blowing up this spring just like Brett Cecil. In sum, everybody has their problems. Its about whether you have substitutes that can produce.

--Looking forward to my first-ever opening day experience at the dome next Monday. Not looking forward to the idiocy which Toronto baseball "fans" believe is part and parcel of the occasion.

--So Kentucky wins the national title and now all of its starters will leave for the NBA. Its not like they're mostly seniors with a junior or two. We're talking three freshmen and two sophomores. This is not the NCAA basketball of days gone by, and the style of play, generally, is unwatchable. The NBA draft rule is now that players must be at least 19 years old and a year out of high school. The league wants to increase the age limit, but the players union was unwilling to go along with any change in last year's CBA negotiations.

--Good for Connor McDavid to be recognized as an exceptional player for this weekend's OHL priority draft. Kid sounds super-talented. But part of the deal is that he must go first overall, which means this 15-year-old has to pack up, leave the country and go play at least three years for the Erie Otters, an operation that has lots of youth but has fallen on hard times. Moreover, there's some instabiity there, with talk the team may move to Hamilton. Its understood this may be McDavid's best option rather than a year of midget hockey or Tier Two or shuffling off to a U.S. prep school, but its a lot trickier than John Tavares going two hours east to Oshawa or Aaron Ekblad leaving his Windsor-area home to play under Dale Hawerchuk in Barrie.

--I have no earthly idea why Mike Milbury would say what he said other than to be intentionally colorful and controversial. You may not like every element of Sidney Crosby's game, but he absorbs a lot more abuse than he metes out, competes like hell and has worked extremely hard to fight back against injuries. Concussions, obviously, are no joking matter. All this said, why would Milbury apologize? If you want to go out on a limb, have the stones to stay there. If he said it, he obviously meant it. This post-comment censorship is silly, iike it makes it all better. Unless he was coerced or somehow tricked, stand by your words, man. Why turtle?

--For a contract worth $58.5 million over nine years, the Rangers have received excellent early returns for their money from centre Brad Richards. The timing of the move was perfect as it coincided with the maturation of many of New York's young players, a group that may add winger Chris Krieder as soon as this weekend. The nature of the industry these days makes the contract an early success, although what Richards will be like in year six or seven of the deal is unclear. But the Rangers are better now and a Cup threat, no question.

--There's something about Ben Scrivens worth liking. Just hard to say whether he can stand up to the rigours of not only playing in the NHL but playing for the Leafs. Love the personality and ability to play the puck, though. He has a great chance in the upcoming AHL playoffs to make a statement about his ability.

--Add Mike Smith alongside Brian Elliott to the list of goaltenders once thought below average who prospers with a little more support around them. 

 

 

 

Comments

[Conn Smythe]

Agree about Milbury's comments - why does he need to apologize? I like Crosby and find Milbury an idiot, but that's Milbury's opinion. Why does he need to apologize for having an opinion?

[Ron]

Damien, about Mike Milbury..this was an average defenseman who went into the crowd and beat a fan over the head with the fan's shoe. This is also the guy who got into an altercation with a 12 year old because the kid was picking on his son during a hockey game. This is also the guy who demeans people who do not agree with him. I don't know about you but it tells me that anything he does or says isn't a surprise but what is interesting is the fact that the networks that employ him continue to allow this to happen without any real repercussions.

[80s Leafs]

Lost in all the bluster and apologies is the fact that Milbury's original point was valid: Crosby instigated the incident with the Flyers' Schenn, then acted completely innocent, looking over at the ref incredulously, as though a total travesty of justice had just been done, after he was leveled to the ice by Schenn's retaliatory cross check.

As for the Leafs, that tying goal by the Sabres last night is/was a microcosm of Leaf organization's ineptitude over the past 4+ decades. An artist should commemorate that moment in a painting. It had everything: Leaf players collapsed all over the ice facing different directions, total uncertainty over where the puck was, who they should cover, what to do; their goalie on his knees, arms outstretched, appearing to be saying, "Why me, oh Lord??" And, of course, the icing on the cake: THE PUCK ENTERING THE NET TO BLOW A LEAD YET AGAIN!!!

[Ken]

Also about Milbury turtling, that's the perfect analogy. This is the verbal equivalent of being an annoying pest on the ice, picking fights, and then running away scared hoping that a teammate will stick up for you. Something that I'm sure Mr. Mulbury has no issue with mocking and denigrating when it happens on the ice. Way to run scared Mike. I'm glad that Crosby isn't accepting his apology. Saying "sorry" after you intentionally try to stir things up isn't good enough.

[Mark McDonald]

Damien - are you sure McDavid has to go first overall? I know part of applying for EP status is that he has to report to whomever drafts him, but I didn't think Erie *has* to draft him. In a league where you can't trade your first-rounder before the draft, I don't think it makes sense to force a team to pick a certain player.

[doesitmatter]

it's what bullies do. when a bully gets push-back he turtles. i've never understood why milbury gets any work, unless you consider the jerk perspective insightful or valuable and therefore worth paying for.

[Jani]

Mike Milbury is also the one who destroyed the Islanders trading away guys like Roberto Luongo for next to nothing. I don't think highly of his hockey knowledge. He's simply a clown.

[Basshat]

A lot of people complain about the one and done players that seem to fill many top NCAA programs these days yet they make the mistake of attacking the schools that recruit them and the NCAA for allowing them to play. Talk about misplaced criticism.
If one doesn't like the system in place then point the finger of blame at the NBA for creating the rule. Why not let the best high school prospects go to the NBA directly like they used to and then the top coaches can instead compete for the next level of prospects and develop them for more than a season? Sure some high schoolers will flame out in the NBA but that's no different than the many NCAA picks that flame out in the NBA. At least we can eliminate this charade.

[John Carss]

Milbury was a foot soldier player, an average coach, a terrible GM & is now a terrible broadcaster.

[nick]

Mike Milbury was a hockey mediocrity whose skills and knowledge of the game were limited to the old (boring) "dump it in; dump it out; clutch-and-grab" system. He has no understanding of the fast modern game, so why was he hired as a hockey commentator? If he was hired to be a spokesman for tough old-style hockey, what a joke! We used to mockingly call Milbury, "Pillsbury", because he was about as tough as the proverbial Doughboy when confronted by a genuine tough guy for some cheapshot committed on a smaller teammate . Sid "the punk" could annihilate Doughboy in a physical confrontation any day! I would even wager on the 12-year-old!

[Greg]

"Looking forward to my first-ever opening day experience at the dome next Monday. Not looking forward to the idiocy which Toronto baseball "fans" believe is part and parcel of the occasion."
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I realize baseball isn't your primary subject Damien, but as a sportswriter isn't insulting the entire fanbase of the local team right before Opening Day kind of a.... I'm not sure what the adjective is... thing to do?

[Kevin]

Damien, don't you think you should actually experience your first ever opening day before slandering Toronto's baseball fans? As someone who's experienced a great many opening days (including several at the Ex) I can assure you that the idiocy you speak of is the domain of a select few and likely no different than the idiocy that is likely experienced at pretty much any baseball home opener anywhere.