Simon Gagne, expensive hypochondriac, traded for two problem contracts

As per TSN, Simon Gagne has waived his no-trade clause to play for Steve Yzerman and Tampa Bay. Him and his $5.250 million deal with one year left on it has been traded for a fourth round pick, Andrej Meszaros and Matt Walker.

It's also popping up that Tampa Bay also gets a second round pick out of this deal.

The oft-injured Gagne is still a legitimate scoring threat, completely turning around that series against the Bruins, with four goals after returning in Game 4, with the winner late in Game 7. If he gets hurt, well, you only have him for one more year before you can re-sign him to a much more appropriate dollar-figure.

Andrez Meszaros and Matt Walker, on the other hand, have a combined cap hit of $5.7 million with deals that don't expire until 2013 (Meszaros in 2014).

[NHLnumbers.com]

So a rookie, rebuilding General Manager saves his team money and gets the best player in the deal? Nobody told Darryl Sutter it could be that easy.

UPDATE:

Unfortunately, it does not seem that Andrej Meszaros is part of this deal, meaning that the Flyers don't get a good return defenseman and save $1 million in cap space to fix their goaltending tinker around with their blueline.

DOUBLE UPDATE:

Nope, I had it right the first time. Meszaros is a Flyer. Philly takes on more salary and downgrades.

Morning Briefing - Saturday June 5th

Fin big in Game 4, Jays radio host suspended

-Ville Leino scored a lucky little goal off of the back of Kris Versteeg, and his Flyers survived a late charge to win 5-3 in Game 4, tying the series at two, bringing us back to Chicago. Patrick Kane finally got an assist in this one, but Jonathan Toews is still held off the scoresheet.

Captain Obvious sez: If the Chicago top line doesn't get it together, Philadelphia win this series. Joel Quenneville is making himself look stupid by continually allowing Philly to match up Chris Pronger with Dustin Byfuglien. Put Patrick Sharp back up on that line, make the line faster and skate around the guy.

Or, just keep doing what you're doing. You're the coach.

Also to note, how great has this series been?

-Here's a dissapointing story out of Toronto (surprisingly, that doesn't even involve the Leafs). Wilner, a host for the Toronto Blue Jays radio station, Fan 950, has the weekend off due to comments made about Cito Gaston after Gaston brutally mis-managed the final two games of the Tampa Bay series. Rogers Communications own the Blue Jays, the stadium, the Fan 950 and Rogers Sportsnet, who show every Blue Jays game this year.

Convergence is a wonderful thing. Oftentimes in sports we forget how important basic beat reporters are. People who cover the team and question decisions. This is a case of the Toronto Blue Jays attempting to control their communications, which they're fine to do, but the radio network and the Jays should work at arms length from each other.

Whether it's pro sports, amateur sports, or collegiate sports, no reporter who has been granted access should ever be barred from attending, asking questions, or reporting games. Newspapers and radio stations are not free advertising space for sports organizations, though it often works out that way.

I dislike Rogers Communications, and part of it comes from the way they have a monopoly on pro baseball in Canada. TSN and CBC no longer have the odd weekend games to show.

-Meanwhile, the Jays managed to hold onto a 9th inning lead for a change, winning 6-1 over the Yankees. Jose Bautista had two more home runs, and at one point was a trending topic on Twitter. Brett Cecil went eight strong, allowing just five hits.

I'm scared to write anything negative about the game, since the Jays might cut off my access to the team.

-Gibdan Hamdan, apparently a former NFL quarterback, retired from football at Argos camp today apparently after looking at himself in the mirror and decided he couldn't offer "100% dedication to the team."

Following his lead, the rest of the Argos left, citing the same problem. Like you would want to dress in powder blue on national TV and lose 15 games a year.

The development just means that we are ever so close to Glen Suitor publicly fellating Danny Brannagan when he throws a completion.

-Finally, Toronto's Laura Newcombe tied for 5th at the Scripps Spelling Bee after missing 'confiserie'. I can't really complain about her performance, because it took me three times to type the word with a cheet sheet on my other tab. There's a joke about the Canada's performances at international sporting events (specifically, the Olympics) somewhere in here, but I haven't found it yet.

At 11, the youngest speller in the final, it seems as if we have a child prodigy on our hands.

===

This is the Eh Factor, the 100% green-efficient sports blog. Suck it, BP.

Tuesday June 1st - Morning Briefing

Pronger causes trouble, Jays continue to roll

-We've all played pickup sports with that kid who would pick up the ball and go home if a game didn't go his way. It turns out Chris Pronger is one of those guys.



If you don't have the luxury of the Sportscentre morning loop with Onrait and O'Toole, you may have not noticed that Pronger picked up the puck after the game (you can see it in his left glove at the 0:27 mark) and then flicked a towel at Ben Eager.

Of course, Philadelphia had lost their second straight one-goal game 2-1 this time, and Craig Simpson on CBC speculated that Pronger wanted to keep the puck away from the Blackhawks as a part of team history. Pronger will go down in history as a great defenseman, and also somewhat of a prick. The man might be better served getting his team ready for Game 3 in Philly rather than attempting to play jedi mind-tricks with Ben Eager. "You are not a goal scorer."

"I am not a goal scorer."

"This is not the puck you're looking for."

"This is not the puck we're looking for."

Pronger later said he didn't know what language Eager was speaking. Eager apparently came all the way across the ice to tell him "you can keep the puck."

Either way, this is sure to broil down to a bigger controversy than Greedo shooting first. It may be wise to avoid Nick Kypreos' opinion on this one.

-His numbers weren't spectacular and his form wasn't particularly impressive, but Brendan Morrow put together a solid outing and gave the Jays a huge win in their first of three against the Rays to improve to 4-4 on the year. The Jays knocked Tampa started Matt Garza (5-4) pretty well, but only had three runs to show for their 11 hits. Adam Lind hit an opposite-field shot in the first inning, Vernon Wells had two more hits and Aaron Hill went 3-for-4 to increase his batting average to a paltry .179.

-In more Jays news, the team will honour Roy Halladay with a jumbotron tribute sometime this week. In the comments of that story, commenter JoeKnowsIt points out that the Leafs did the same thing with Mats Sundin when he returned to Toronto as a Canuck. I guess the state of Toronto sports is that bad, where you've run out of players on your own teams to honour. I can't wait to see what kind of montage the Raptors have prepared for Hedo Turkgolu.

-Justin Morneau went 3-for-4 as the Twins beat the Mariners 5-4. Jason Bay went 0-fer with two strikeouts and the Mets got gulled by San Diego 16-8.

-CFL camps start this week, with the BC Lions practicing just down the road from The 'Eh' Factor's head offices in Kamloops. This means that chances are high that Casey Printers will overthrow a receiver during a drill and the ball will carry into my yard.

-Toronto FC's Dwayne De Rosario was voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week with a two-goal performance against San Jose. This is the kind of momentum that's nice to see from Canadian players as we prepare for the World Cup.

===

I'm really anticipating the start of football season. I think I might spend that time avoiding getting called out in the letters page of community newspapers by anonymous gym teachers. That's a pretty tight burden. Jays are on later, and if you're feeling particularly groovy, you can stay up late and watch the Twins on the Pacific channel, 100 per cent Buck Martinez free.

The Phantom of the United Center

Don Cherry brings weirdness to new heights



Seeing Michael Leighton battle Antti Niemi in the Stanley Cup Finals and not weirded out enough? What about Ben Eager scoring game winning goals? Still not weirded out? Okay, how about Ron MacLean headed under the bleachers at the United Center to see Don Cherry playing the organ while dressed as the Phantom of the Opera?

To be quite honest, I have never seen a single adaptation of the original play, so maybe I didn't get the joke. The brief wikipedia summary didn't mention how any of the scenes in the play could possibly tie into Philadelphia's lack of discipline with Dan Carcillo on the ice or the lack of production from Chicago's big line.

The other thing I had noticed is how good Cherry's organ rendition of Stranglehold by Ted Nugent. In fact, it's like there wasn't even an organ in the song as the Blackhawks were skating out onto the ice. The man is a man of many talents.

It was terrific foreshadowing by CBC. Ben Eager, who scored Game 2's winning goal, played for the Philadelphia Phantoms during the lockout.

Monday, May 31st - Morning Briefing

Jays, Twins sweep. Dirk to Phoenix?

-Current ESPN know-it-all and future Vancouver Pacers General Manager Bill Simmons destroyed the internet in Arizona today with this tweet that suggested the possibility of a Steve Nash/Dirk Nowitzki reunion in Phoenix. Rumours have apparently been floating around for a while now. To me the situation is pretty far-fetched, seeing as both Nash and Nowitzki would be migrant workers taking the jobs of hard-working Americans, something that Arizona was supposed to run out of the state.

-In more basketball news, it was pretty much confirmed yesterday that Hedo Turkgolu wanted out of Toronto. The only team he'd be able to get a starting job at is one that rewarded poor shooting with playing time, lack of rebounding prowess, and quitting midway through the third quarter. May I suggest trading him to the Raptors?

-Justin Morneau went 1-for-4 as the Twins doubled up on the Rangers 6-3, completing the sweep. The game's highlight came as Dernard Span caught the final out running in from centre (that's right, it's a Canadian blog) field and Orlando Hudson, apparantly not hearing Span call for the ball, clipped his shin. Hudson, the former gold glover with the Jays, stayed down for a while as the fans cheered the Twins win. I haven't seen a second baseman get up that slowly since the morning after Stubby Klapp earned his name.

-It was funny hat day at Skydome Rogers Centre:



That didn't seem to faze the Jays, who easily completed the sweep of the Orioles with a 6-1 win. Ricky Romero pitched a complete game, giving up the only run in the first inning and was just six hits and two walks shy of the second perfect game on as many days.

-Gibson, British Columbia's Ryan Dempster threw 6.2 innings before being chased by the Cardinals. He gave up nine hits and six earned runs with three walks to seven strikeouts and he drops to 3-5 on the year. St. Louis won 9-1, off of two homeruns by Albert Pujols. I can only imagine how many fruit flies were attracted by the Dempster/Pujols pitcher-to-batter combination in this game.

-Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimo... Zimongi... Zinmoji... Zimonjic made it to the men's quarter finals at the French Open in Doubles, defeating the host French pairing of Guillaume Ruffin and Alexandre Sidorenko 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3. They will play in the semifinals on Tuesday (Mardi in France) against two guys you've never heard of.

-The lead story on both Sportscentre and Sportsnet Connected was that a goalie who is 6-1 in the playoffs with a 1.96 GAA and a .930 save percentage will start in Game 2. Although considering Philly's revolving door of goalies ever since Ron Hextall left, perhaps it is headline news that the Flyers are starting the same goaltender on consecutive nights. Hell, Ray Emery never made it to the rink sober in consecutive weeks.

===

Today is going to be busy. Stanley Cup Finals, maybe some tennis action, and a couple of baseball games later. Toronto has a pretty important three-game series with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. For those in Sportsnet's Pacific Region (or have the channel) you can watch Justin Morneau play against the Seattle Mariners for the nightcap.

Sunday May 30: Morning Briefing

Halladay perfect, Nash out

-Roy Halladay... remember when he used to pitch for Toronto? Well, it turns out he's doing well in Philadelphia too. He was 6-3 and third in ERA in the National League coming into last night's game against Florida.



Oh. Hm. I guess that's pretty damn good. What could have been, eh Jays fans?

-What do you think will be on the front page of the Philadelphia Bugle Sports Section this morning? The story of some guy the Phillies got in a trade with a team from far up north? Of course not! Philadelphia lost Game 1 to the Blackhawks 6-5 in a game described to me as one "with terrible goaltending and even worse defense." Not without controversy! CBC showed footage of a puck hitting Tomas Kopecky on the bench, and minutes later, he jumped onto the ice and scored!



Okay, it's not quite up there with the non-call on the Gretzky high-stick, partly because Kopecky being hit by the puck had nothing to do with the fact that Brian Boucher refused to move his right leg, instead flailing at it with his stick à la Goldberg the Goalie from the first scene of The Mighty Ducks (when the team wasn't good).

-NBA playoffs. The Suns found themselves down 14 at the half and didn't have another miracle comeback in them (only to be sabotaged by Ron Artest. DRAAAGOOOOO!) and lost to the Lakers 111-103, meaning that the Lakers and Celtics will meet in the NBA finals for the 437th time. Steve Nash's ceremonious exit (21 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds) means that we can finally go back to concentrating on hockey. The fact that the two most destestable teams in the NBA meet in the finals have nothing to do with the fact that hockey will take precedence over basketball for the rest of the year.

Charles Barkley did say that Steve Nash represents all that is good about basketball. That has to count for something. It's also worth noting Nash is pretty much Barkley's exact opposite on the court.

-Did you know that the upcoming A-Team movie had some scenes filmed in Kamloops, British Columbia? Probably not. But B.A. Baracus, also known as Quentin "Rampage" Jackson, also fights people for a living. Foreshadowing the upcoming film's critical reception, he lost to Rashad Evans in a unanimous decision, the teammate of Montreal's Georges St. Pierre, who 'guest-Tweeted' the fight @ufc.

Considering GSP can't speak in English for 140 characters, I'm amazed he got two words in in all four tweets.

No Canadians were on the card, but the next UFC card, two weeks from now, is in Vancouver!

-The Blue Jays took the second game of the three game set with the Orioles, thanks in part to eight strong innings by Brett Cecil (5-3) and two dingers by Lyle Overbay. The Jays have won the second most games in the American League but are tied for third in the AL East. Justin Morneau went 1-for-3 with an RBI in a Minnesota 8-3 win over the Rangers, and Jason Bay went 2-for-5 in a losing cause against the Brewers. Bay left 4 runners on base.

-And, right at the bottom of the page, is your Major League Soccer update! Dwayne De Rosario scored two goals to lead Toronto FC over the San Jose Earthquakes 3-1. The Reds hold onto second place in the Eastern Division, and play next January 5th against Kansas City at BMO Field. I don't think I even need to STRESS how important that early season, inter-conference game is for the Canadian Nutri-Lite Champions.

===

It's Sunday, and unless you like baseball or cars driving around a circle, chances are you won't be watching sports. My afternoon project will consist of trying to kill that damn fly that's been buzzing around my kitchen screen window for the past two days.

The lesser of two evils

Or, who should you cheer for in the Stanley Cup Finals?

If you're Canadian, chances are, you're a fan of hockey. If you're a fan of hockey, chances are you'll watch the Stanley Cup Finals. If you're watching the Stanley Cup Finals, chances are you'll want to cheer for somebody. We're here to help.

The case for Chicago:

If the Blackhawks win the Cup, chances are Jonathan Toews will win the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff MVP. Toews also won the Top Forward award at the Olympics. Any 'True Canadian™' like Toews is easy to like, and we love to see kids from small towns across Canada recognized in the United States as sporting heroes.

Also in that column, Duncan Keith could potentially win Olympic Gold, the Norris Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same year. He wasn't as prominent in junior as his teammate Brent Seabrook, so since his early accomplishments are blasted in our precious ears every single time we watch a game on TSN, it's good to appreciate his play as one of the best two-way defensemen in the game rather than meaningless accomplishments he had as a 12-year old.

Chelsea Dagger: The catchiest goal song in hockey has lyrics about a British prostitute, one classy enough to be too expensive for former realtor Ken Jowdy.

The case against Chicago:

As easy as it is to like the Canadian trio on that team, its two Americans piss us off to no end. Dustin Byfuglien constantly screws our fantasy teams by playing like a defenseman on years where he's listed as a forward and playing like a real bad defenseman on years where he's listed as a defenseman.

The case for Philadelphia:

One of the few things as annoying as Philadelphia sports fans are Boston sports fans, so it was fun to see that 3-0 series comeback in the second round. It's also worth noting the Flyers probably spared the beautiful city of Montreal from rioters by ensuring that they didn't get further than the third round.

If Philadelphia wins, the chances that Peter Laviolette ever returns to the TSN panel is pretty well slim-to-none.

Michael Leighton's rise to prominence is awesome. This is a journeyman goaltender, one of the best Cinderella stories of the playoffs, who proves that you should continue doing what you love and never give up, a perfect embodiment of the transcendence of sports. Also, it means that if you're a Leafs fan, there's always hope in whoever Brian Burke/Ron Wilson choose to go with next year.

The case against Philadelphia

Daniel Carcillo:



The stupid shootout. The way the Flyers made the playoffs. The stupid, stupid shootout that everybody hates decided the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Chris Pronger. Seeing him win one Cup was sickening enough.

When Kate Smith was alive, she sang a song called 'That's Why Darkies Were Born.' To see her more than once singing pre-game on the video board goes beyond gimmicky.

Deal breakers:

For Calgary fans... If Chicago shell Leighton, then his free agency value diminishes to the point where the Flames might be able to sign him as a backup goalie. He could be the next Roman Turek. Verdict: Chicago.

For Edmonton fans... Chris Pronger. Verdict: Chicago.

For Montreal fans... Usually it's wrong to cheer for an Original 6 rival, but these are special circumstances. Philly eliminated the Habs, and a Blackhawk win means that rival Toronto will have the longest Cup drought. Verdict: Chicago.

For Ottawa fans... Have we forgotten this one yet? Verdict: Chicago.

For Toronto fans... See Montreal. Verdict: Philadelphia.

For Vancouver fans... Chicago has knocked the Canucks out in the last two playoffs. About the only thing less popular in downtown Vancouver than Dustin Byfuglien right now is Roberto Luongo. Verdict: Philadelphia.