Midweek Musings

It?s time for Midweek Musings, Canada's favourite running blog segment:

- I took a look through my pre-season NHL predictions (Western, and Eastern) and was disturbed/surprised just how wrong I was about a few teams. No one predicted Boston would be so good, or Dallas so bad ? but I undervalued Vancouver (I wrote in my next blog that I instantly regretted that pick, even before the year began, but I didn?t think they?d be this good). I also thought the Senators would be much more respectable than they are, but they seem to be turning the corner so that?s not dead yet. The rest of my picks look to be on track, expect the one, inexplicable choice I made:

Tampa Bay to win the Southeast division.

I wish I had done my homework on this one.

The Lightning have taken the crown as ?most dysfunctional team? in the NHL, which is saying something considering there are a lot of dysfunctional teams to choose from. It was one thing to fire Barry Melrose after 15 or 16 games, but Tampa replaces him with Rick Tocchet? The same Rick Tocchet who pled guilty to ?conspiracy and promoting gambling? charges? I?m almost surprised the league allows this.

I mean, he doesn?t look shady at all?

On the flip side, when his coaching career is over (30 games from now) Tocchet can fall back to his back-up career: portraying a mafia hitman.

I spent some time analyzing the Lightning roster, and? I further regret my decision. Their big free agent signings are Ryan Malone (bust in the making), Radim Vrbata (after signing a $9 million contract, they are shipping him back to the Czech Republic), and Andrej Meszaros (not exactly #1 defenceman material). If it wasn?t for the play of Mike Smith, the Lightning could be worse than their 6-13-8 record. That?s 6-13-8 in a division that features Atlanta, Florida, and Carolina. Yikes.

- Along with Vrbata, the Lightning put Chris Gratton on waivers. That, in itself, is not a story. But did you know Gratton is ONLY 32 years old, and has played 1086 games? Incredible. I suppose it happened quietly because he?s played on six different teams (and is in his third stint with Tampa Bay) as well as making the playoffs five times in 15 seasons. What a long, and mediocre, career.

- I've been watching some Penguins hockey lately. As much as I dislike them, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are fantastic to watch. Hockey on another level. Malkin is also gutless, but that's a conversation for another blog.

- There?s been a lot of news coming out of the GM meetings that the league is indeed in financial trouble, contrary to what Gary Bettman told the media a few months ago. A number of teams are ?hemorrhaging? money (the Phoenix Coyotes are reportedly losing $2 million? a month) and the salary cap will stay level this season, and drop sharply the next.

The salary cap dropping excites me. Teams are going to suffer for long-term deals, and probably will need to get creative about buying players out. Let?s look at a team that has shown surprising disregard for their future: the Edmonton Oilers.

Two seasons from now, the Oilers already have 10 players under contract. I?ll operate on the assumption the cap drops to $50 million (from the current $56.7) as many are reporting. The Oilers will be paying the following players:

Ales Hemsky: $4.50 mil
Dustin Penner: $4.25 mil
Shawn Horcoff: $6.5 mil
Ethan Moreau: $1.75 mil
Robert Nilsson: $2 million
Zach Stortini: $800,000 (worst $800,000... ever)
Lubo Visnovsky: $6 million
Sheldon Souray: $4.5 million
Tom Gilbert: $5.5 million
The corpse formerly known as Steve Staios: $2.2 million

That?s $36 million right there? leaving the Oilers about $14 million to sign, well, another 15 players ? including goalies.

The Oilers aren?t the only team in trouble, but they are one of the worst. Forget about players not wanting to play here ? the Oilers won?t have room for anyone, anyway.

- Any sort of financial crunch may be a short-term problem for the NHL, but long-term I think it will be good news. No longer can the league go through with their ?let?s put a team in Las Vegas? plan, which apparently WAS going to happen in 3-4 years. There are also rumblings that relocation may be necessary at some point. When Phoenix, the Islanders, New Jersey, Florida, Anaheim, Atlanta, Nashville and Carolina can?t draw fans ? while usually decent hockey cities like Los Angeles, Detroit, and Denver are lagging badly ? you know the league is in trouble.

To put it in perspective, I am heading to Los Angeles in January, and plan to attend a hockey game (or two). I?ve decided I want to see a feature team ? Philadelphia ? on a feature night ? Saturday. The cost? $10 for a college student. Otherwise, I?d get in for $15. On the other end of the country, you can pay $9 to see the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.

Meanwhile, Gary Bettman?s reign as commissioner enters its 15th season (interesting sidenote: when running a search for Gary Bettman on Google, the top three links are ?Gary Bettman?s Wikipedia entry," ?garybettmansucks.com,? and ?firebettman.com.?)

- A small personal note... Two weeks ago, I stopped cheering for the Oilers. I was operating on the theory things need to get much worse before they get better. I still believe that, but it?s much harder to hate the team when they play Mathieu Garon, Ladislav Smid, and Robbie Schremp (Schremp, for the record, has an open Facebook profile. Check it out.)

If the Oilers keep playing guys like this ? who deserve to be in the lineup ? they are a lot harder to hate.http://scotttougas.blogspot.com