Kovalchuk, and the Toronto Blue Jays

After 19 days of deliberation and indecision, today, Ilya Kovalchuk decided to resign with the New Jersey Devils. For 17 seasons. Well at least he made it interesting.

The good part about this is Ilya didn't need a one hour long televised special to inform the public of this monumental moment in history. But much like the Lebron decision, this reeks.

The deal works out to 102 million over 17 seasons but the balk of the deal is paid over nine seasons. 99 million dollars will be paid out in the first nine seasons, while Kovalchuk will be earning a whopping 550k in the last five seasons.

Something tells me he won't be finishing out this contract.

Kovalchuk will be making six million in the first two seasons but then in the 2012/13 season it spikes to a shocking eleven and half million over the next five seasons! This puts the pressure to perform on not only Kovalchuk but the entire Devils franchise. If they get ousted in the first two rounds in the next two seasons and Kovalchuk no shows, like he always does, then this may be the biggest over payment in the NHL right now.( Yes Oiler fans, even bigger than Horcoff. He's gonna have a comeback season, just you watch.)

Back to Kovalchuk. Nobody has scored more goals since the lockout than Ilya Kovalchuk. The man is a true sniper. His snap shot is deadly and his size and speed make it so tough for opposing d-men to stop him. Unfortunately none of these skills have been seen in the playoffs yet. The Devils have a new building and a new superstar to fill those seats. throw in Volchenkov with Parise, Zajac, Arnott, and Elias and you're doing alright.

One more thing though. The Devil's cap hit sits at 61,941,666 (as per cap geek), a good 1.8 million dollars over. So somebody needs to be moved. Look for the Devils to unload some bodies here in the future. I know it sounds crazy but if Elias is willing to move and the Devils, who badly need a puck moving D-man, can package and coerce Brian Burke into a deal with Toronto for Kaberle, then Lamoriello will look like a genius. (if not, take Souray, Omark and Cogliano and we'll take Elias and Langenbrunner off your hands. Hemsky and Elias could make a good duo and Langenbrunner would be a UFA after one season. Just saying.)

Switching Sports!

The Toronto Blue Jays swapped shortstops with the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, sending Alex Gonzalez along with two minor leaguers to the Braves for reportedly disgruntled shortstop Yanel Escobar and 25-year-old pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes. At first I thought the Jays were getting hosed and hey with Gregg choking in the 10th inning tonight against the Royals, it looks like nothing has changed for the Jays. Well more so for Gregg

Escobar, on the other hand, hit a grand-slam yesterday and went 2-4 with two RBI's and hitting an average of .471 tonight in the Jays' loss to the Royals.

So far so good.

I like the Jays, I always have. We all remember watching Joe Carter jump around the bases that night, even out here in Alberta, we remember that. It was a classic moment and it makes me glad that my father forced me to watch sports as a child. I'm off topic, the point is, is I want to see the Jays return to the playoffs! It seems impossible when the Red Sox , Yankees and Rays are sharing your division, i know, but the Rays used to be terrible and now they're led by an excellent group of young talent and look how good they have become.

I hope Alex Anthropoulos understands that the only way you can beat the Yankees and the Red Sox is by building up the farm and developing your talent. I like bringing in guys like Escobar and Reyes at ages of 27 and 26. That's prefect! If Escobar can play the way he did last season with Braves then the deal is a steal. But that's a big if. I don't know a lot about the prospects they sent away but if you're Anthropoulus, you kind of hope they turn out to be duds. Nobody wants to see someone fail, well some people do, but in this case it would be nice to see the Jays be on the winning side of a trade for a change. Take no prisoners! This is baseball! And there's no crying in baseball!

What's wrong with the Eskimos?

0-3. The Edmonton Eskimos have started the 2010 campaign, a season in which they will host the Grey Cup in November, at 0-3. Tough start. It's especially frustrating as a fan when you see a team playing hard and making plays, only to screw it all up when it counts and shoot themselves in the foot. Turnovers mixed with a terrible red zone percentage have given the City of Edmonton deja vu all over again. We've seen this before but this just seems so much worse.

The same mistakes made in the first two games were repeated again today in the Eskimos recent loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. 24-20. A game in which the Eskimos fumbled the ball two times, one, on a stereotypical "Yes, yes,yes! No, No, No", 42 yard catch and fumble by Fred Stamps.

D'oh!

Stamps had 12 catches for 213 yards on the day. Those numbers are unreal! So is another one: Zero touchdowns. Stamps had a fantastic game but having that ball ripped from his hands is all most people are going to remember about it. If it wasn't for that dropped pass against the Alouettes I don't think there would be any reason to doubt his reliability. The guy seems to be open a lot. Either he's a great route runner with suspect hands or he's just average and is the beneficiary of a good quaterback. For the most part Stamps appears to have game, but in key situations your key players have to make the plays. 213 yards is a good stat but if none of those catches are in the end zone, who cares?

Quarterback Ricky Ray's stats are surprisingly similar to Stamps'. Going 22/31, passing for 319 yards, and committing zero interceptions is an impressive game but none of that matters when the TD column reads zero. Ricky Ray is an elite quarterback in the CFL. His arm strength is fine, it's just being wasted on 90 degree, 15 yard dump passes to slotbacks who either aren't talented enough( *cough Kamau cough*) to make plays in open field or just unable to get any blocking up field. Either way, it's not working and something needs to change.

Maybe Ray needs a little friendly competition and today we saw just that when Jared Zabransky got into the game. Once. It was a 14 yard play for a first down. He then handed off for a reverse play that went nowhere fast. I like Zabransky. The guy was on the cover of NCAA Football 08! Maybe there's a curse there too, cause I'm not sure if this guy is ever going to get an honest look. Which is too bad cause Zabransky won Eastern Oregon's Male Athlete of the Year award his senior year in 2002 and passed for 1,600 yards and 15 touchdowns as team captain that season. I mean the guy was ranked number eleven in the US among quarterbacks and in his 2006 college season he was named to the second-team All-WAC. (Seriously check this guy out.)

Running back Arkee Whitlock was used sparingly in this game. After running for 116 yards against the Lions, and 99 yards against the Alouettes, you would think that Arkee is a top go-to guy for this offense. Instead he saw the ball just 13 times and ran for a season low, 49 yards. Arkee has the dynamic ability to make plays in the open field, something this team is lacking. So why so few touches?

The defense looked alright though. Mo Lloyd is playing up to his ability after a not so stellar debut season last year with the Eskies. He was all over the backfield and sacked Durant two times. Lloyd is the leader this team needs on defense and for the most part the defense has been alright. It would be nice to see the defensive linemen get more pressure on the QB and force him into throwing interceptions or throwing it away more often. The team currently sits tied for last place in the league in sacks with four.

But back again to the original question: What's wrong with this team? How do we go from a proud, successful franchise to one that gets out worked on home field and gets over looked by every other team in the West to make the playoffs. This franchise holds the North American pro sports record for most consecutive playoff appearances at 34 straight years. Some say General Manager Danny Maciocia inherited Tom Higgins' team in 05 and that's the only reason why a third placed, 11-7 team won that year ( I think Jason Maas won that one.) Since Maciocia has taken over, the Eskimos have finished last in the West for three straight years, narrowly making the playoffs last season cashing in on the playoff crossover opportunity.

If the Eskimos continue to play the way they have for the past four seasons you would think that some heads are gonna roll but ultimately will it be the right ones? Will it be Hall and Strasser that get canned or will changes be made at the top, where I beleive they should be. Sorry Danny, But how many times do you got to turn over a roster? Honestly how many guys have played one season for the Eskimos and then got cut: Omarr Morgan and Davis Sanchez come to mind. How is a team supposed to build any identity or chemistry?

Ultimately the players on the field need to play the game. It all comes down to them. They need to man-up and make some plays and they need to do it in the red zone. There is still a ton of football to be played and while Maciocia isn't taking the snaps or rushing on the end to pickup a sack right now, at the GM level, he has done a terrible job. Players can't be held accountable for that.



photo credit: Ryan Jackson

Oilers news, Koivu resigns in Minny and Kovy still not signed...

Let's start with some hometown news:

The Oilers have made a couple of moves lately by formally signing forward J.F Jacques to a one year deal and both defencemen Theo Peckham and Shawn Belle as well. All three guys bring size to the team, but questions still remain.

Can Jacques play a full season and stay healthy? Is Shawn Belle ready to make the jump to the NHL and if so, does he really have a spot in the Oilers top 6? It would have to be won over the likes of a Theo Peckham, who showed that he can deliver some punishing hits and hold his own in a scrap, no problem. But his defensive play needs to improve.

A little competition never hurt anyone and that's exactly what this is. Good ol' fashion competition amongst teammates. You've got to earn that job. That's the message Tambellini is sending.

In other NHL news, Mikko Koivu signed a seven-year, 47.25 million dollar contract extension with the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Wow. Let me say that I'm a Koivu fan. I love his game. But that's a lot of money. Granted he is the teams captain and he had 71 points last season. That being said, 22 goals doesn't really wow me. He's a great 2-way player though and it's good to see him re-sign but he needs to score more goals. That whole team needs to score more goals!

Guess What!?

Kovalchuk still remains unsigned. Does anyone care? Honestly though, this stupid back and forth, the "negotiations have broken down" crap we've all been hearing has become just boring. Get it over with. Or go to the KHL, I don't care.

What's unfortunate is that Kovalchuk has been an amazing player stuck on a mediocre team. His playoff experience is limited, so to expect a ton of money is risky but when you have the regular season stats that Kovalchuk does, the arguement doesn't sound nearly as crazy. The man can score.

What's funny about it is that Atlanta isn't looking too bad. Take young guys like Bogosian, Little, Kane, Bergfors, with veterans like Antropov and Hainsey, and then add Byfuglien, Ladd and Mason, and you've got a decent team. If I'm a Thrasher fan, I've already looked past Kovalchuk. I would be pretty excited.