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The long anticipated deal finally took place. From ESPN-
The New Jersey Devils have won the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes, acquiring the superstar winger from the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night.
The Devils have struggled of late, especially scoring goals. Veteran Devils GM Lou Lamoriello didn’t hesitate, swooping in and acquiring the biggest rental player available on this year’s trade market.
In exchange, the Thrashers get rookie forward Niclas Bergfors, defenseman Johnny Oduya, prospect Patrice Cormier and a first-round pick in this year’s draft.
Oduya has two more years on his deal after this season at a $3.5 million salary-cap hit. Bergfors will be a restricted free agent July 1. Cormier was suspended for the rest of the season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for an elbowing incident but he’s a highly regarded prospect.
In addition to Kovalchuk, New Jersey also gets defenseman Anssi Salmela, who was originally a Devil and sent to Atlanta at the trade deadline last year.
Kovalchuck is still a free agent at the end of this season. The Devils may have acquired a rental only. If Kovalchuk doesn’t get New Jersey to the Stanley Cup finals at least before fleeing for greener pastures, this deal will rate as a total bust.
Here is another concern with the dea- How well will Kovalchuk, 31 goals and 27 assists in 49 games this season, play under the system, sometimes referred to as ‘neutral zone trap’ used by NJ Devils Coach Jacques Lemaire? It is very defensive oriented. I think Kovalchuk will adapt but may slow scoring goals and assists till the Olympic break.
He had a record of 215-326 leading the team. From ESPN-
The Los Angeles Clippers have decided to make a coaching change with just 32 games left in the season, relieving Mike Dunleavy of his duties, the team announced on Thursday.
The Clippers have named assistant Kim Hughes as interim coach.
Dunleavy, who has been serving as the Clippers’ coach/general manager since Elgin Baylor left the club early last season, will retain his front-office title.
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The Clippers began play Thursday with the 12th-best record in the Western Conference, seven games out of a playoff spot at 21-28.
Dunleavy has been a head NBA almost continuously for the last 20 years, the last seven of which were with the Clippers. The Clippers were doing better this season than last year’s horrible 19-63 but still Dunleavy hasn’t been able to turn around this moribund franchise. It looks about time to me to try giving someone else a chance.
He was league MVP in 1946. RIP.
Bill Dudley, a Hall of Fame player who in 1946 with the Pittsburgh Steelers led the NFL in rushing, punt returns and interceptions, has died. He was 88.
He had a stroke Saturday and was admitted to Lynchburg General Hospital, son Jim Dudley said Thursday. He said his father had not been ill before the stroke and died in his wife’s arms.
“Bullet” Bill Dudley was a runner, passer, punter, kicker and defensive back during his nine-year NFL career, highlighted by his 1946 season in which he was the league’s Most Valuable Player. While with the Washington Redskins, he shared an apartment with NFL great Sammy Baugh. Dudley later served in the Virginia Legislature.
“He lived to a high standard,” Jim Dudley told The Associated Press. “He was devoted to service and having a positive effect on those people he associated with, and he did. If that’s the measure of greatness, he was a great man.”
Dudley starred in college at Virginia and was the No. 1 overall draft choice of the Steelers in 1942. He played three seasons with Pittsburgh, a stay interrupted in 1943 and 1944 because of Army service during World War II. He later played three years with the Detroit Lions and three with the Redskins, ending with his retirement in 1953.
The year after his MVP season, Dudley scored 11 touchdowns — on seven receptions, two rushes, a punt return and an interception return.
Female Lone Star NBA fans are so friendly. From the Oregonian-
The league is looking into the security lapse that allowed two fans to walk into the Blazers’ huddle during Portland’s game at Dallas Saturday.
Two women walked onto the court and into the Blazers’ team huddle during a timeout with 41 seconds remaining in the game. One of the woman wrapped her arms around a stunned Rudy Fernandez from behind. The women were ushered away from the huddle.
By any measure, the incident is a major breach of arena security and a league spokesperson said the league is investigating.
“We’re looking into exactly what happened,” Tim Frank, the NBA’s vice-president, basketball communications, said in an e-mail Wednesday.
What could be even more shocking – if that’s possible – is that the women were allowed to return to their seats and were not kicked out of the arena. Normally, fans walking onto the court would likely result in an automatic ejection from the arena.
Sports fans running out on the court or field doesn’t shock me. Dumb spectators just doesn’t move me very much.
As for security not ejecting the fans, there was less than a minute to go in a close game. I’m betting security wanted to view the ending, not deal with a couple of drunks who were going to leave very soon any way.
The Mexican born pitcher saw Major League duty with Washington Nationals in 2008 and 2009. From AP-
The Milwaukee Brewers claimed right-hander Marco Estrada off waivers from the Washington Nationals.
The 26-year-old has pitched in parts of the last two seasons for Washington, going 0-1 with a 6.14 ERA in one start and three relief appearances last year. He was drafted by the Nationals in the sixth round in 2005.
To make room for Estrada, the Brewers designated right-hander Tim Dillard for assignment.
As I see it, Estrada over Dillard because the former has more potential. Both are 26-year-olds and rate as middle relievers at this moment.
Why I think Estrada has more potential is pretty simple. He strikes out more batters than Dillard. His fastball is in the low 90′s and is said to have a good changeup. The problem Estrada has had in the majors so far, is his tendency to give up gopher balls. Estrada has had the same problem in the minors.
Both these guys are probably going to have little impact in the majors, but if one of them does, I would bet it is Estrada.
Note- This is my 2000th Blog post at OTB Sports since I began writing here in May 2006.
With last night’s victory, Phil Jackson becomes the winningest coach in franchise history. From AP-
With his superstar hobbling and the Charlotte Bobcats refusing to go away, Phil Jackson never got terribly comfortable while becoming the winningest coach in Los Angeles Lakers history.
Andrew Bynum had 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Lamar Odom scored 19 points while making several big plays down the stretch, making sure Jackson added another superlative to his matchless coaching career in Los Angeles’ 99-97 victory over the Bobcats on Wednesday night.
Jackson, also the winningest coach in Chicago Bulls history, passed Pat Riley with his 534th win with the Lakers. The Hall of Famer won 545 games and six titles in nine seasons with Michael Jordan and Co. before winning four more rings in his first nine seasons with the Lakers, rising to fifth on the NBA’s career coaching victories list when he passed Charlotte’s Larry Brown earlier this season.
“It’s been a really good run,” Jackson said. “Having this opportunity to coach this team is always special. The fact that we’ve had some great teams, great players, is always a credit to them. It’s not really an individual record in my mind.”
Jackson is the winningest playoff coach in NBA history, and the only coach to win more than 70 percent of his regular-season games. Against the pesky Bobcats, he managed to coax a late-game win out of his Lakers even with just a season-low five points from Kobe Bryant.
Bryant, who is playing on a sore foot, had his worst ever NBA game in which he played at least 30 minutes.
Jackson has had great success as his coach, but its been his good fortune to coach some of the best talent the NBA has ever seen. He is at this moment, 64-years of age. I predict Jackson to quit coaching within the next 3 years.
He spent over 50 years with the New York Knicks first as a player, then as a coach, and eventually in the team’s front office. His brother Al was a successful college coach. RIP.
Dick McGuire, a basketball Hall of Famer and longtime member of the New York Knicks organization, died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 84.
The Knicks said McGuire died at Huntington Hospital in Long Island. McGuire still worked for the Knicks as a senior basketball consultant.
McGuire was a part of the Knicks’ organization for 53 of its 64 seasons.
“Dick McGuire was the epitome of what it means to be a Knickerbocker: pride, tradition and class,” Knicks president Donnie Walsh said in a statement. “It was an honor to watch him play for our hometown team and I consider myself very lucky to say I worked alongside a man who shaped the National Basketball Association for parts of all eight decades of its existence.”
A Bronx native, McGuire was a five-time All-Star and led the Knicks to three straight NBA Finals from 1951-53. He went on to serve the team as a coach, assistant coach and scout. His No. 15 was retired in 1992 and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame a year later.
McGuire still ranks third on the Knicks’ career list with 2,950 assists.
“As one of its first superstars, Dick was instrumental to the early success of the NBA,” commissioner David Stern said in a statement. “Whether as player, coach, scout or consultant, Dick loyally served the New York Knicks organization.”
Nicknamed “Tricky Dick,” McGuire was born Jan. 26, 1926, in New York, part of a famed basketball family. His younger brother, Al, also played for the Knicks and later won a national championship as coach of Marquette — before being himself inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992.
Dick McGuire played collegiately at St. John’s and was picked by the Knicks in the first round of the 1949 draft. He played eight seasons for the team before he was traded to the Detroit Pistons on April 3, 1957, for a first-round pick. McGuire spent his final three seasons with the Pistons.
It is less he took the NHL franchise to its first ever playoff appearance. From AP-
The Columbus Blue Jackets fired defensive-minded coach Ken Hitchcock on Wednesday, less than a year after the club made the postseason for the first time.
Assistant coach Claude Noel was chosen to lead the team on an interim basis.
General manager Scott Howson announced the firing a day after the struggling Blue Jackets blew a 1-0 lead in a listless 5-1 loss at Colorado. Columbus stands 14th of the 15 teams in the Western Conference with a 22-27-9 record and 53 points.
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The Blue Jackets play their next game at home against the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.
“You’re going to see some changes,” Noel said. “But I’m not going to reinvent the game.”
The 54-year-old Noel joined the Blue Jackets as an assistant coach in June 2007, after spending four seasons as the head coach of the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals. During that time, he led the club to a 183-94-12-31 regular-season record, three 100-point seasons and two West Division titles.
Built around star forward Rick Nash, the Blue Jackets made it to the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs a year ago before being swept by the Detroit Red Wings.
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Hitchcock, who is also an assistant coach on Canada’s Olympic team, picked up his 500th career victory behind the Columbus bench a year ago, but the team appeared stagnant after a fast start this season.
The club got off to a 12-6-2 record through Nov. 19 but then wilted. The Jackets won just three of their next 24 games, spiraling out of the playoff picture. The defense sagged at times and even when last year’s rookie of the year, goalie Steve Mason, had a good game, the offense fell apart.
Mason, who was Rookie of the Year and Vezina finalist last year, has been nothing short of terrible this year. His 3.28 GAA and .890 are I think is the biggest reason the Blue Jackets have done so poorly this year.
I think Hitchcock will be a head coach again in the NHL. He led Dallas to a Stanley Cup Championship and had good records in Philadelphia and Columbus. Who knows maybe Florida will hire him when they fire Peter DeBoer. The Panthers certainly could do a lot worse than Hitch.
Someone in Atlanta should give Antero Nittymaki the key to the city. From AP-
Ilya Kovalchuk couldn’t break Antero Niittymaki’s “curse” on the Atlanta Thrashers. Instead, the Thrashers captain broke his stick in frustration.
Niittymaki stopped 26 shots for his 16th straight win over Atlanta and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Thrashers 2-1 on Tuesday night for a rare road victory.
Stephane Veilleux and Martin St. Louis scored first-period goals and Niittymaki protected the lead, giving up only a second-period goal to Todd White.
“Sometimes you get a game like that where you can’t get a goal behind,” Thrashers coach John Anderson said. “The curse continues, I guess. A little frustrating.”
Kovalchuk, the Thrashers’ star who is the subject of trade rumors, broke his stick against the net at the end of the game. He has no goals in the three games against Niittymaki this season.
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Niittymaki improved to 13-9-5 overall this season. He is 5-1-1 in his last seven games.
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The Lightning improved to 4-1 against the Thrashers this season with their fourth straight win in the series, including three victories with Niittymaki in the net.
Niittymaki, in his first season with the Lightning after five with Philadelphia, improved to 11-0 at Philips Arena.
Tampa has split its goaltending duties between Nittymaki and Mike Smith, but if I were Rick Tocchet I’d hand the job to Nittymaki. His stats(2.47 GAA and .918 save pct) is far better than Smith’s (2.97 and .904).
As for Nittymaki’s mastery over the Thrashers, some players get so hut against a particular team it starts getting into people’s heads. I know it did when I played high school sports and competitive chess. Some teams or players always appeared unbeatable.
Tampa(23-21-11 57 pts) and Atlanta(24-23-8-56) are both in the midst of the 8-team Eastern Conference playoff shuffle. One point separates the teams but the Lightning stand in 8th place and Atlanta 11th. I expect alot more movement between now and April.
The Kovalchuk saga in Atlanta is playing out similarly to what went on between the Florida Panthers and Jay Bouwmeester last season. Will Atlanta trade their best player or do what Florida did, keep him for a playoff push? I think Kovalchuk will end the 2009-10 season in Atlanta but will be playing somewhere else in the NHL next season.
He is also in the WWE Hall of Fame. RIP.
Former Oklahoma State NCAA wrestling champion Jack Brisco has died at age 68.
The university said Tuesday that Brisco died on Monday after suffering from heart disease.
Brisco was a native of Blackwell and was the 1964 and 1965 Big Eight champion at 191 pounds. He was runner-up for the national title in 1964 and won the NCAA championship the following year. He finished 27-1-1 as a Cowboy.
He wrestled professionally after college and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.
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