Mats Sundin.

In typical Leaf fashion they completely screwed up the potential trade of Mats Sundin. A lot of people will claim that Mats screwed the team by not waiving his no-trade clause or somehow owes the Leafs something. What does he owe them? He busted his ass for this team for over 13 years, was often the only reason they were worth watching and loves the city of Toronto and being a Leaf. In return the Leafs surrounded him with a collection of crap like Jonas Hoglund and pissed away the prime of one of the 10 best players in the league without ever really trying to contend. I say the Leafs owe him a lot more than he owes them.

I also like the fact that Sundin said he doesn't want to be a rent a player. Personally I think that is something to be commended. I hate it when guys who spent their whole careers in one place leave to win a cheap title somewhere else (see Bourque, Raymond or Malone, Karl). I think guys like that should have an asterisk besides their name on the Cup.

So basically the Leafs have put the whole onus on Sundin, made him look bad publicly and turned a portion of the fan base against him. All the while never putting stiffs like McCabe, Tucker or Kubina in the same position even though those guys could have been traded for a bit of value(but hey, they traded Wade Belak for a fifth-rounder so that will help bring the Cup to Toronto). If I were Mats at this point I would finish the year and go sign with Montreal just to piss everyone off.

Romo Better Win.

- The Cowboys better win on Sunday or Tony Romo is going to catch all kinds of hell for going to Mexico with Jessica Simpson for three days. I really don't see how him going down south affects his play this weekend, but people sure will if he plays like shit.

- Count me among the small minority who does not want to see a college football playoff. I think a playoff would take away from the regular season especially the early season upset games. Part of the fun watching Appalachian St. beat Michigan in early September was knowing that the Wolverines blew their chance at the title. Why have a bunch of two or even three loss teams in a playoff? This year was a weird year for college football due to all the upsets so everyone bitches about the BCS. But can you say that USC-Texas two years ago was not a real Championship game? The BCS ain't perfect but it's better than the alternative.

- I'm glad Goose Gossage got into the Hall of Fame. Nobody was as dominant as this guy was and anyone who played against him in his prime said nobody ever through harder. He didn't rack up the save totals that guys do these days because he actually got brought in in tight situations and had to pitch more than 4 outs, but in today's game he would be good for at least 45 saves a year.

And I won't go on a rant about Andre Dawson not getting in because I really didn't expect him to.

- I guess I should weigh in on the trading Mats Sundin question. My thought has always been that the NHL does not have any great teams anymore so you are always only two players away from winning the Cup, so I never thought they should trade one of the 10 best players in thr league which Sundin is. But at this point I am fairly certain that Leaf management will never be capable of getting those two players needed for a Cup run so if Mats wants to be traded I say trade him if he asks.

But trading him with the idea that you will get equal value in return is ridiculous because somebody will fleece John Ferguson Jr. and they will get back about 50 cents on the dollar.

- Toronto city council is officially a complete joke. Surely to Christ they have bigger fish to fry than hot dog carts.

Hockey Notes.

How ridiculous are the New York Islanders? Newly appointed GM Neil Smith is out already. Smith was appointed not even 2 months ago during the Cup finals. That has to be record for shortest stint. They haven't even opened training camp yet. It be would be hilarious if this had something to do with Ted Nolan after the problems he had with John Muckler in Buffalo but there's no way that can be it. I think the Islanders will be forever cursed for sticking with the incomparably incompetent Mike Milbury as long as they did.

I've long thought that Mike Peca was the most overrated player in the NHL so I am not exactly jumping up and down now that he has signed on with the Leafs. He's a good player but not great and I think $2.5 million a year is the going rate. But his signing isn't going to jump the Leafs into a playoff spot on it's own. I still want to see them sign Anson Carter. He's another Toronto boy and fit perfectly on a line with Mats Sundin. Hell, he scored 33 goals last year playing with stiffs like the Sedin tiwns. He would score 40 with Sundin. I can only imagine Mats' excitement over looking to his right and seeing Ponikarovsky and to his left and seeing Antropov.

Good Luck Mats!

I will always be a huge Mats Sundin fan and supported all through the trade deadline mess last year.

While it kills me to see him in a uniform other than Leaf blue and white I will be cheering for him when he takes the ice for the Canucks tonight. I don't see him getting a Cup with Vancouver but I hope I'm wrong. I would like to see him win it more than any other player in the league.

Toronto Sports.

- A big hats off to Raptors coach Sam Mitchell who was today named NBA Coach of the Year. That's a hell of a lot better than being named worst coach in the league, which he was last year by a poll NBA players. There are two parts to being an NBA coach, the first is game tactician, and the second is managing and motivating players. Not many coaches can do both so you can be an effective coach doing only one of the two well. Mitchel has learned how to handle his players well but is still a lousy game coach. It will be really interesting to see if GM Bryan Colangelo brings him back next year (his contract expires at the end of this year).

- The Jays are in very deep shit now that closer B.J. Ryan is on the 60 day DL. The bullpen was this teams biggest hole to start the year and losing Ryan is going to be death for them. I don't see how they can win the division with him gone for that long. Even with the Yankees pitching problems you know they will make a charge at some point and the Red Sox are not going anywhere but up in win column.

- A friend asked me if I thought the Leafs should sign Mats Sundin. I think they should. But if they sign Sundin they need to overpay a quality winger who is capable of scoring 35 goals on his wing. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to sign him for max money than put him with Ponikarovsky and Antropov again.

Mini NHL Preview

As most of you now I took most of last year off from following hockey. My reasoning was that the NHL sat out a year so I had to sit out a year once they came back. Though I have to admit that the game was better last year than pre-lockout. That's not to say it was great, there were way too many power plays. I hope this year every game won't be decided on the power play.

So I will follow more closely this year but not enough to give a full season preview. I am going to stick to how the six Canadian teams will do this year and a Stanley Cup prediction. So let's get going.

Western Conference

Calgary Flames

I think the Flames are the most likely Canadian team to make a Cup run this year. They have the best goalie in their conference in Miikka Kiprusoff, a strong blueline with rising superstar Dion Phaneuf ready to start getting Norris Trophy attention, and stud Jerome Iginla up front. Iginla can't have a worse year than he did last year and the Flames still finished 3rd in the west and lost to a good Anaheim team in the first round. They lacked goal scoring which will be addressed by a better year from Jerome and the addition of Alex Tanguay. They will win their division and finish 3rd in the west.

Edmonton Oilers

It was great to see the Oil back in the Cup final last year. The city was electric and all the old greats showed up in the building to watch the run. Then what happens? Chris Pronger leaves town taking any hope of another run with him. The loss of Mike Peca will also hurt too if or when they get back to the playoffs. Without Pronger the Oilers have an average blue line at best, a slow and immobile one at worst. They will continue to score a lot of goals but stopping other teams from scoring is going to be their big problem. They key to this year is goalie Dwayne Roloson. Is he the guy whho was awful with the Wild or the guy who was great for Edmonton in the playoffs. I think he's far closer to the former than the latter and it will cost this team. It's rare for a team to go from the Cup finals to missing the playoffs but it's going to happen this year. 9th in the west.

Vancouver Canucks

Todd Bertuzzi is finally out of town which should cause a lot fewer distractions. That is until Markus Naslund, pathetic Swedish choking dog west coast version, starts pouting that his buddy isn't around anymore. I think Naslund's attitude will sink this team and he will be gone by the trade deadline. Roberto Luongo is one of the top 4 goalies in the league and is a big upgrade in net but he is going to see more rubber than a tire factory. Don't underestimate the loss of Ed Jovanovski on their blueline. He was big, fast and could move guys in front of the net. Their blueline is a lot weaker without him. I think the loss of Anson Carter will also hurt as the Sedins will fail to improve this year. It's going to be a long year in BC. Canucks will finish 11th in the west.

Eastern Conference

Ottawa Senators

I still think the Sens are the best Canadian team. In the regular season of course because we all know their playoff history. The Sens will take a step back this year without Zdeno Chara. Ottawa fans are trying to claim he wasn't that important but don't kid yourself, you can't lose a top 5 defenseman in the league and get better. Chara's absence will also expose Wade Redden as the most overrated defenseman in the league. Up front the Sens will still score a lot of goals despite the absence of Martin Havlat who was hurt most of last year anyway. I think Martin Gerber will do well in goal but I don't see him as a surefire Cup winning goalie. It will take a lot of hard work and guts for the Sens to fulfill their promise. Which is the big problem. As long as Daniel Alfredsson, pathetic Swedish choking dog east coast version, is wearing the Captain's "C" this team will never win. The fact that this stiff hasn't been run out of Ottawa shows what a lame sports town Ottawa really is (and I'm allowed to say that because I live here). The Sens should do themselves a favor and put the "C" on Mike Fisher's jersey and leave it there for the next 10 years. 4th in the east and out in the 2nd round.

Montreal Canadiens

I'm a Leaf fan so I hate the Habs. But they are a fun team to watch. It's pretty much impossible not to like Saku Koivu. And they will score goals this year. They are quick up front wth a number of guys capable of scoring 20 goals. Their blueline is average but average should be enough for them to compete. The big question is whether or not goalie Cristobal Huet is a one year wonder. I don't think he will be and they will ride him to the final playoff spot in the east. 8th in the east.

Toronto Maple Leafs

It's funny. I don't like all the power plays yet the power play was the only reason the Leafs came within sniffing distance of the playoffs last year. Special teams will be crucial for the Leafs again this year because they are not going to score many goals 5 on 5. For yet another year in a Leaf uniform Mats Sundin is saddled with third line players on his first line. I would love to see Jeff O'Neill have a big comeback year but I don't see it happening, even under his old coach Paul Maurice. The Leafs upgraded their blueline with Pavl Kubina but Hal Gill was a mistake. He is way to slow to be effective in the new NHL. I think new goalie Andrew Raycroft will return to form and steal a few games for this team. But unless Mike Peca figures out how to score in the regular season again and Alexander Steen and Kyle Wellwood pop 25 goals each the Leafs will be hard pressed to beat out Montreal for the last playoff spot. Leafs finish 9th in the east which I pray will result in GM John Ferguson Jr. getting the axe.

Stanley Cup Prediction: San Jose over Buffalo