There was a time when my favorite sport was, without hesitation, baseball. Recently, however, my interest in the game has been lost. Not because of a steroid scandal or the incompetence of Bud Selig, but mostly because the team I grew up cheering for, the Pittsburgh Pirates, has been a Major League Baseball team in name only and is currently working on its 17th consecutive losing season with no end in sight.
You might argue that makes me a fair-weather fan, but I disagree. My interest is so low that if, by some perfect storm -- like the rest of the National League halting operations and disbanding from the league -- the Pirates actually won something, I still probably wouldn't care as much as I should. I just don't care about baseball anymore, but I certainly don't begrudge those who still do. It's still a great game, even if my interest is at an all-time low.
It's been a rough season for Joe Sakic and the Colorado Avalanche. While the team has struggled to lottery status, Sakic has only played 15 games and been besetby injuries.
Complicating matters is the fact that there has been retirement talk surrounding Sakic this year. With speculation rampant about Sakic's future, he gathered the media Wednesday morning to give an update on his health.
I'm pretty sure I have said this before, but I'll risk being repetitive, because I think it's important. Coaches tend to get way too much credit when things go well, and even more of the blame when things go poorly. This has been especially true, for some odd reason, in the NBA and NHL over the years. Turnover is ridiculous.
Tony Granato is in his second stint as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche. His first shot at the job lasted not even two full seasons, before Joel Quenneville was brought in. When Quenneville left, Granato got a second opportunity. Unfortunately for him, the help from management and the players has been horribly inadequate.
Lately, it's become all the rage for fans and players around the NHL to pile on Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. The latest player to jump on the pile was Atlanta Thrashers forward Ilya Kovalchuk, who responded to Crosby's criticism of Alex Ovechkin for his often times over-the-top goal celebrations.
On Saturday night, legendary Canadian hockey analyst Don Cherry offered up his opinion on Ovechkin, and, well, if you're familiar with Cherry, it shouldn't be much of a shock. Video after the jump.
There are certainly at least two really good teams in the NHL's Western Conference. Defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit and fast-starting San Jose appear in the clear to duke it out for the right to play for the Stanley Cup later this year.
Of course, we know that anything can happen in a best-of-seven series. In addition, we still have half a season left to play. What we don't know is which team in this conference is set up to challenge either the Red Wings or Sharks. They've beaten - at least once - pretty much everyone who has stood in their way, including each other.
While the top of the conference appears to virtually locked in place at this point, there are still serious battles to be fought, especially for the last four positions in the West. Currently, eight teams are separated by just six points. St. Louis, the last-place team in the West, is just nine points out of eighth.
It's one thing to be a Hall of Famer. Mats Sundin, Joe Sakic, Martin Brodeur, and (soon) Brendan Shanahan are examples of active players who will definitely be enshrined once they are done. It's another to be a young superstar. I'm talking about the kind of player you can build a team around for now and the future.
No disrespect to the veterans, but this roundtable is centered around the players we would want to build a new team around. Sure, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Alexander Ovechkin (in no particular order) are widely recognized as the best players in the game today.
But would you pick them first when trying to build a new franchise?
This has, by far, been one of the oddest weeks that I can remember in the NHL. The Lightning are fighting with Barry Melrose like they're a pair of ex-high school sweethearts. Penguins fans and Capitals fans are, I can't believe I'm typing this, working together. Joe Sakic's career may have been ended by a snow blower. And then there was that whole Sean Avery thing.
Seriously.
When was the last time the NHL was this wacky? But that's the gist of it. All that and more inside your Friday dose of Buys and Sells. It's just what the doctor ordered. That is, if your doctor likes hockey and mildly entertaining hockey bloggers.
Every Thursday, Earl Sleek will conspire with his pen and scanner to bring you another installment of PuckToons. Hopefully you will find these amusing, relevant, well-drawn, or you're a person who is tolerant towards mediocrity. Of course this cartoon is only meant as a joke. The NHL doesn't suspend snow blowers, only loud blowhards. Still, it's quite clear that Joe Sakic's snow blower demonstrated conduct "detrimental to the League or game of hockey" when it attacked and injured three fingers on Sakic's hand, keeping him off of the Colorado Avalanche roster for the next three months.
Of course, being a Southern Californian, I suppose I should come clean: I've never seen a snow blower in my life. I'm not sure how accurate my cartoon depiction is, and I'm not really aware of the hazards in operating such a piece of machinery. Perhaps this serves as a wake-up call to NHL players to find employment in warmer-climate cities, where the threat of snow blower injury is significantly lessened.
As for the Avalanche, they currently sit one point behind the Nashville Predators for the western conference's 8th seed and will have to figure out how to cope with Sakic's loss for the bulk of the season. If Colorado management is smart, its players will also have to figure out how to cope with mandatory snow blower safety seminars. C'mon, fellas, let's keep those injuries on the ice!
The only consistent thing about the Colorado Avalanche this season has been their incredible inconsistency. They've followed three game winning streaks with four game losing streaks, four game losing streaks with four game winning streaks, and so on and so forth.
Currently, the Avalanche sit at 12-12-0 on the season, two points behind the Nashville Predators for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference. Complicating things for the Avalanche, as they attempt to make a return trip to the postseason, they received word today that they are going to be without their captain, Joe Sakic, who will be out of the lineup for the next six weeks with a herniated disc in his back.
"He's a guy that knows his body probably as well as any professional athlete I've been around. When he came back he felt great, he looked great, you could see how he was skating, it looked like he had his jump back and the back wasn't an issue at all," Granato said. "So, when he came off the ice after the shift in Phoenix and his back tightened up again, obviously it was an injury that was more significant than the first time it happened."
Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.
What's Changed: The Avalanche are not younger, and it's hard to argue that they look like they're going to be better. Joe Sakic is back to lead the offense, and he's just a small part of an aging group. Sakic turns 40 next summer, and he's joined by over-30 guys like Ryan Smyth, Milan Hejduk, Ian Laperriere, Scott Parker, Brian Willsie, and Tucker.
There was a time when my favorite sport was, without hesitation, baseball. Recently, however, my interest in the game has been lost. Not because of a steroid scandal or the incompetence of Bud Selig, but mostly because the team I grew up cheering for, the Pittsburgh Pirates, has been a Major League Baseball team in name only and is currently working on its 17th consecutive losing season with no end in sight. 
It's been a rough season for 
I'm pretty sure I have said this before, but I'll risk being repetitive, because I think it's important. Coaches tend to get way too much credit when things go well, and even more of the blame when things go poorly. This has been especially true, for some odd reason, in the NBA and NHL over the years. Turnover is ridiculous.
Lately, it's become all the rage for fans and players around the NHL to pile on Penguins captain 
There are certainly at least two really good teams in the NHL's Western Conference. Defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit and fast-starting San Jose appear in the clear to duke it out for the right to play for the Stanley Cup later this year.
This has, by far, been one of the oddest weeks that I can remember in the NHL. The Lightning are fighting with Barry Melrose like they're a pair of ex-high school sweethearts. Penguins fans and Capitals fans are, I can't believe I'm typing this, working together. Joe Sakic's career may have been ended by a snow blower. And then there was that whole Sean Avery thing. 
