Dear Lighting: worry about the fact your goalie gets beat like a rug, not about a spin move

One of the discussion items on TSN’s Off the Record today was Linus Omark’s shootout goal from the weekend.  The question asked if the goal was embarrassing for the NHL. 

I don’t want to put too fine a point on it, but let’s go with… no.

Absolutely not. 

Not in a million years could that goal be considered embarrassing to Omark, to the league, or to hockey in general.

The goal demonstrated an extraordinary amount of skill and is a much better way to put the NHL on Pardon the Interruption than anything Sean Avery has ever done.

Here in Canada, the goal inspired a Sports Centre Top 10. 

I was raised to like old time hockey, and Lord knows my dad would want to knock Omark on his ass for hot-dogging like that.  But he would never discount the skill Omark displayed.

The only people that have a problem with Omark’s spin move are the Tampa Bay Lightning and the dinosaurs that wish pre-lockout hockey would come back.

The only thing embarrassing about this goal is the way talking heads and writers seem to think it was so horrible.  Why would anyone watch a hockey game when the people that are supposed to sell the game never have anything good to say?

As I wrote earlier this season, it’s the skill that sucked me back in.  I love watching hockey.  I can be critical like anyone, but I can’t imagine criticizing a player or play for being too skillful.  The skill is what makes this game great, and anyone that has a problem with the skill should probably find another hobby.



(with thanks to BK for inspiration for the title)

The Washington Nationals really are trying to ruin everything

Turns out the Washington Nationals didn’t want to just make it harder for other teams to sign first-overall picks, they also wanted to make it harder for other teams to sign anybody.

They started, of course, by signing Stephen Strasburg to a ludicrous deal (which later hindered their own ability to sign their next first-round pick), and now they’re blowing the doors off this winter’s MLB free agency period with the Jayson Werth signing.

Given the presence of starting pitcher and former Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee, and former Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Carl Crawford in the free agency pool, it’s fair to say Werth was at best, the third-best player available (assuming Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter were never actually going to sign anywhere by New York).

It’s also fair to say Werth won’t transform the Nationals’ lineup the way Lee will transform his new team’s starting rotation and Crawford will transform his new team’s batting order.

So how do teams approach signing Crawford or Lee knowing they’ll have to top a seven-year, $126 million pact? 

In case Adam Dunn’s $14 million-a-year contract last week didn’t give it away, the December tradition that sees baseball executives far and wide lose their collective marbles known as free agency is officially underway.  And officially as silly as ever.



--Steve

Two in one

Well let’s see.  Where were we?  Scott Hannan got traded to Washington yesterday.  My first thought was “how’d they get him under the salary cap?”  Turns out the Caps are in pretty good shape, with almost all of their players making less than $2.5 million. 

It’s a pretty interesting strategy they have, and it will be interesting to see how long they can find success with goalies making entry-level contract money.

The best thing the Caps have done is keep their entry level contracts under control.  By avoiding the salary bonuses we see elsewhere, Washington maintains a ton of flexibility.  The Captials are spending just over $5 million on five entry-level players in their lineup.  Only Karl Alzner has a cap hit of $1 million or more in all of Washington’s system.

Many other teams have a lot of the wrong guys signed to long-term, big money contracts (looking at you, Edmonton and Shawn Horcoff) or two or more entry-level players taking up more than $3 million in cap space.

It will be interesting to see how Washington manages these entry-level deals as they start to expire, but they seem to be in really good shape.

***

Elsewhere, some Twitter rumblings yesterday say the Bruins are considering releasing Tyler Seguin to the World Junior Team.  I can’t stress how much I think that’s a great idea.  Seguin had some benefits in being drafted second overall behind Edmonton’s Taylor Hall.

Hall had the pressure of being picked first, by a struggling Canadian team, after winning back-to-back Memorial Cups and playing at the 2010 World Juniors and was put on the cover of The Hockey New Yearbook.

Seguin was drafted second by a good team, and faced almost no pressure coming into the league.  Naturally, with less fanfare and pressure, Seguin has had room to grow and is quietly becoming a very good player.

Which is all the more reason releasing him to the World Junior team is the right thing to do.  It gives him the opportunity to take his new skills and new outlook on the game, and go lead a team while facing a ton of pressure.  Frankly, the Oilers would do well to release Hall as well.  Playing at the World Juniors has to be better for his development than sitting at the end of Tom Renney’s bench is.