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On Kovy — Chapter II

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

This just doesn’t end, does it?  It looks like all of the drama surrounding Ilya Kovalchuck’s massive $102 million contract is back for another season, making this one of the more tumultuous off-seasons ever.

In case you haven’t heard, heard an independent arbitrator has ruled in the NHL’s favour and has voided Kovalchuck’s insane contract for cap circumvention.  As a I said a few weeks ago, it’s about time that the NHL stepped in on these contracts.  I can’t say that I’m particularly surprised or stunned by the news, but what shocks me is the fact that the league has said that they will be looking into other, already registered contracts, namely those of Roberto Luongo, Marc Savard, Marian Hossa, and Chris Pronger.  This my friends, has the potential to get ugly, very, very, ugly.

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On Kovy

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

It looks like everyone spoke to soon about Ilya Kovalchuk’s mammoth contract with the New Jersey Devils. The NHL has rejected his 17 year, $102 million contract because of cap circumvention. All I can say here is, what took them so long?

Precedent was set for this kind of front-loaded, stupidly long term contracts last year with Chris Pronger, Marian Hossa and Roberto Luongo’s long term contracts. In all three cases the contracts start out huge but taper off very rapidly, and takes them all past their obvious playing days.

While this may not seem like a big deal, it is something that really shouldn’t be allowed. In all cases the Devils, Flyers, Blackhawks, and Canucks all are creatively getting around the cap. They are signing these player for longer than they will play, knowing full well that they will retire before the contract runs out. Once the players retire, they still get paid but their salary does not count against the cap.

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Why Not Canada?

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

One of the more interesting things to circulate both TSN and The Globe and Mail last week was the six-part, multi-platform story where they investigated the possibility of Canada adding a seventh NHL team, title Why Not Canada?. They looked at four potential locations for franchises including Winnipeg, Hamilton, Quebec City, and a second team in the Greater Toronto Area.

If you did not get a chance to either watch it on Sports Centre, or read it, I highly suggest that you do it now. It was a very interesting and intelligent look at the different locations and went beyond the “We Want a Team Here” and looked at the building, corporate support, legal issues, and regional demographics.

After it was all said and done, they seemed to be high on the possibility of a team in either Winnipeg or Quebec, and not so much on adding a third team to Ontario. As much as I would love a team in Southwestern Ontario, or in Toronto, I think that I understand the situation now.

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Deal or No Deal: NHL Off-Season Edition

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

For all of the talk and rumours going around about big name trades this off-season, there really hasn’t been that much.  Sure Nathan Horton, Jaroslav Halak, and Jason Arnott were traded, but after that there hasn’t really been all that much to be honest.  I think that in the coming days this will change.  The key figure holding everything up right now is Ilya Kovalchuk.  The Kings and Devils are actively pursuing him, with rumblings of the Islanders, Flyers, and Rangers having interest.  After he gets signed, I think that a number of dominoes will start falling and some potentially big names will be on the move.

Let’s have a look at the big names that are in all of the rumours…

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World Cup Winners and Losers

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Well the biggest sporting event in the world is over for another four years.  The past month has certainly been filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, and all sorts in between.

Obviously only one team really won, but many of the other 31 teams also did a lot that they should be proud of and some of them…well there’s always 2014.

Here are my thoughts on the biggest winners and losers of the event.

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Why I Love the World Cup

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

I’ll admit it. I’ve a bit of a wagon rider when it comes to The Beautiful Game. I don’t follow the big European leagues, or even the small North American ones. But every two years when the World Cup and European Championships are under way, I start to get soccer fever. But this year, working in an International School, the passion and emotion for the game that I was surrounded with where much more than I’ve experienced in indifferent Canada.

So in bringing back an old feature of this blog, here are the main reasons I’ve grown to love this sporting event.

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Dear LeBron, Thanks for Everything

Friday, July 9th, 2010

I’m not from Cleveland, I’m not from Miami, hell the NBA isn’t much more than a passing interest to me at the end of the day. It’s not hockey we’re talking about here after all.

But all of that being said, it’s hard not to get caught up in the drama of the past 8 days that has centred around LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. These three have been on a serious of high profile meetings with a variety of teams looking to improve their chances of breaking the Lakers-Celtics-Spurs hegemony of the post-lockout era.

Understandably, the people of Cleveland are upset. For the first time since the early days of the Browns they had the best athlete in their sport. To make it even more incredible, he was from the area. He loved the dirty little town and its inhabitants. Now, he has gone for greener, warmer, and potentially more successful pastures.

I know that people are upset and all, but really, can you blame him?

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Stanley Cup Final Predictions

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Welcome back to our Predictacular!  The third round seems to have ended as quickly as it begins, lasting only one game longer than the minimum.  Now we are faced with a very intriguing Stanley Cup final between the two teams that finished near the bottom of the league just three short seasons ago.  Oddly for two traditional hockey cities, this is only the second time that they have faced in the playoffs, with the Hawks getting a sweep back in 1971.  Will history repeat itself a mere 39 years after the fact?  Here’s what our supposed experts have to say.

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3rd Round Playoff Predictions

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Welcome back to our Predictacular, just when we thought things couldn’t be any crazier after the first round, things get even crazier.  The 8th seed Habs rock the defending Stanley Cup Champion, the fourth 3-0 comeback in North American Professional Sports takes place, the Sharks find a way to not choke, and the Hawks rally from losing 5-1 at home.  These are a host of things that would have been difficult to predict, but we’ll try our best here…

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2nd Round Playoff Prediction

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Welcome back one and all to the 2nd round of the third annual three man and a coin playoff predictions.  It’s been a wild one, with some ups-downs, thrills and chills.  And we aren’t even half way done.

So after a crazy first round, the score is as follows:

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