Sorry For the Delay!

It's been awhile and I apologize for that. As for sports, the Lions seem to be fizzling out. The Packers are still undefeated, with Aaron Rodgers looking unstoppable with a defense giving up too many yards. The Patriots seem unstoppable with their next victim the injured Steelers, who after a rough start are on a winning streak, but against sup-par teams. I believe that this match-up will show which of the two receivers is considered the best in the NFL between Welker and Wallace. As for Megatron, he is still leading the league in TD's and in the top five in yards, so he is still in that fight too. Arian Foster is back like he played last year after a slow start plagued by injury. I do want to get into the Steelers first. After Aaron Smith's season and possibly career ending injury, Ziggy Hood has come in again and showed no sign of drop off, as he leads the team in QB pressures. Hampton goes down and Hoke comes in and the run defence actually gets better. Now Hoke is out and Hamp is Questionable. Suggestions? How about until the steelers draft Hamp's replacement at nose guard, move Ziggy to nose, have Heyward play left end and Kiesel stay at right end. As for secondary, Everyone thought it was the Steelers biggest weakness going in.... Except me. I knew if Troy was healthy him and Clark would be great at safety, and Ike Taylor is the most underrated shutdown corner in the league. Now that Keenan Lewis has stepped up they lead the league in pass defense. Now for offense, Big Ben's back to himself, the receivers are stepping up, and the running game is mediocre. The o-line is inconsistent and Bruce Arians is, once again, been almost losing games for us with horrible play calls. I mean honestly, WHY IS BRUCE ARIANS STILL THE OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR???? I don't just mean because of this year and yes I understand the whole lock-out so it made sense to not go out and get a new offense, but year in and year out he is bringing down this team with just awful play calls. I'm about to go to the Steelers facility and demand that I coach this offense. Seriously though Arians sucks. Cam Newton is still impressing everyone and getting better as a quarterback showing maturity. Now for Tebow.... Ok, we all know his story, yes he is a leader on the field. Yes he has more heart than most players in this day and age. BUT he cannot win because of his arm, and in this pass frenzy league thats bad. Look back on Miami when they introduced the Wildcat offense, it was great, it was a show, but it fizzled out because everyone figured out how to stop it. and with Tebow at the helm, thats all they have. Cincinnati in my mind is very impressive, especially with the short training camp. They have one of the top four defenses, by the way all top four are in the AFC North, and Andy Dalton with A.J. Green have really been consistent and impressive for rookies thrown into the mix. The Falcons have been a wild card to me, one week they look good the next awful. I don't know what to really say about them. Matt Ryan should have broken his ankle on the play last week against the Lions, but somehow didn't and is suppose to start this week. Atlanta's Defense looks old and inexperienced at the same time, oh wait, that's because they are. As for the Pack, will they go undefeated? No, only because of the defense. Rodgers is great, but no way he'll be able to carry this team that good if the defense keeps up or down however you want say it. As for hockey, the Red Wings and Capitals are ridiculous, the Pens are hurting again, but still putting up the W's like last year, and i'll get back to you on the rest....




Ice, OUT!

Tim Tebow

Okay, now that he's the starter I'm going to bring this up to all Bronco and Tebow Fans. Tim Tebow was a great NCAA quarterback at Florida. He was known for his passion, leadership, religious background, average passing skills, and his running. Now that he's in the big leagues, its a different ball game. He cannot be a NFL quarterback, he can be a NFL runningback. With him at the helm of the Bronco offense, the offense basically became a non-stop wildcat offense, or in Denver a "Wildhorse" offense. Tebow cannot win with his passing, but can run the ball. Teams will be able to stop him, and Denver will be back at square one having to draft another qb in the first round of the draft.


Ice, OUT!

Undefeated Teams....

We have two 4-0 teams this year, and both are in the same division. We have the defending World Champs in Green Bay and the comeback savages made in Detroit. The best part about this is the fact that these two teams don't face one another until Thanksgiving Day. The Pack came into this season with arguably the nastiest secondary in football and yet teams are passing all over them. is it because you can't run on this team? Pittsburgh fans are familiar with that scenario. When you can stop the run like Green Bay teams give up on the run and pass 90% of the time causing the defense's numbers to look skewed. Even with the numbers given up no one can compete with the Packers high flying passing attack. Aaron Rodgers is destroying teams, his only mishap was against the Panthers where he didn't show up until the second half. Can anyone stop this juggernaut? On the other hand we have the dark horse Detroit Lions who have over the years of losing stockpiled a group of great players, and with the youth involved it will be great for years to come. Stafford is by far one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and shows intensive toughness with the hits he takes and gets back on the field. His only weakness is the injuries he's been taking his first two years, can he last an entire season? Anyone who took a hit like he did from Julius Peppers would of been out. The first injury he took and went back onto the field and won the game for them. The medical staff made him sit the rest of the season. Matt wanted to play with the separated shoulder. Megatron is the best wideout in the NFL and he's been playing on a tweeked ankle! He is the perfect combnation of Randy Moss's speed, jumping ability, and hands with Vernon Davis' strength and physicality. He will be fun to watch for years to come! Teams have come close to ending the Lions streak, but the come back in the second half and dominate the opponents on all sides of the ball. Is Matt truly the cure to the curse in Detroit? So far so good. I see both of these teams being undefeated when they face each other on Thanksgiving. And both of these teams facing off in the playoffs after playing each other twice already. The winner of that playoff game will win the Super Bowl. I'm predicting it now. Unless some major injuries become a setback that is the future of this season.


Ice, OUT!

week 4

ok this post is going be short and sweet..... first off fantasy sleeper, pick up Victor Cruz he's going to have another monster week this week against an average Cardinal secondary. James Starks is also another quality pickup this week. Bust this week Cam Newton, he's going to get beat up today by Peppers.

Alright upset special this week: Seahawks over Falcons, dont ever count out Seattle at home. Sidney Rice will have a big day today.

Upset special #2: Dolphins over Chargers, Miami plays good on the road and they are playing for their coach today and they pull off the upset.

Also, being a homer all I got to say is GO LIONS!!

Cowboy Stadium

Hi everyone, I'm Paul and I will also be dropping in with things to say about the world of sports. My main love is football so I will lean there more often than not. Like this post is about the new and state of the art football stadium deep in the heart of Texas, for America's team with the star on their helmets, Dallas Cowboys. My thoughts are this, yes the stadium looks amazing and the gargantuan screen at the top may be the only thing bigger than Jerry Jones ego, but did anyone stop and ask is the field safe. It just seems that every time I see a game in this stadium, I see players walking to the locker room at a higher pace than normal. I just wonder what they have under the turf. Remember the Super Bowl, Charles Woodson dove to deflect a pass, hit the turf and separated his shoulder, Emmanuel Sanders for the Steelers got his leg injured and there were others being taken off in that game. The field injured Tony Romo last year when his shoulder hit the turf and he then broke his collarbone. I think if the dictator, oops I mean Commissioner Goddell is really concerned about player safety he should look into the injuries that are caused by this new monument to Jerry Jones and the Cowboy ego and see if it is safe, I mean he made the Patriots go to field turf because of bad grass and probably wants to do the same with Heinz Field, maybe he should step in and see if the field in Dallas is actually a healthy place for NFL players to play on. Well, that's all I got for now, so until next time enjoy your sports and dont be afraid to speak your mind about what's going on in the world of sports.

NFL Week 3

   What a week so far in football, only Redskins vs. Cowboys to go. The Mighty Buffalo Bills defeated the pass happy Patriots in a 34-31 upset. I knew this Bills team could beat the Patriots, the only loss was that of rookie cornerback Aaron Williams out of Texas. Williams was one of a few trying to make a tackle on Wes Welker, who had a career day receiving (16catches - 217yds - 2tds), and his teammate fell hip first on his neck, forcing him to leave the game via stretcher.  Baltimore's rookie receiver Torrey Smith had his way with the unorganized Ram secondary in just the first half, with three touchdowns for 154 yards on only five catches. Two of these touchdowns were for over forty yards. This kid has a future in baltimore with the absence of Derrick Mason and Todd Heap in the passing game and they brought in Lee Evans but Evans hasn't been the same since he played alongside Eric Moulds and company in Buffalo. Seattle beat Arizona, who cares that the Seahawks aren't great this year, but like a wise man i know says, "They retired number 12, for the fans, for a reason." Miami lost to Cleveland and that game stayed at miami 13-10 for what seemed like forever. Lions beat the Vikings in a nail biter, with the Vikings being up 20-0 at the end of the first half. So as I've said there are three teams that are good this year and if Washington wins tonight, all three will be undefeated. If I would of said these three teams two years ago would be undefeated this year people would of said, "WHAT? your crazy!" They are Detroit, Buffalo, and Washington. Is it possible that Detroit could be the NEW City of Champions? can the Lions pull of a Super Bowl victory this year? Can the Tigers win the World Series? Can the Red Wings get back to greatness? Could all three happen this year? I think it could, and it might. Steelers barely pull off a win in Indianapolis. People seem to forget that the Colts have a great pass rush, Antoine Bethea is a great Pro Bowl safety, and that in the last two years they have drafted two defensive tackles to fix there HUGE problem at stopping the run and they are decent at it. Once again though, a win is a win. Poor Kansas City, the injury bug just keeps biting those Chiefs. Add Brandon Flowers to the list of injuries to starters. San Diego takes advantage of there injuries and becomes 2-1. San Francisco wins in a low scoring battle against Cincinnati. The biggest story to me was that Cam Newton's explosion was put out with a monsoon in Jacksonville. Granted he did get his first win, Newton only threw for 158 yards and a touchdown. A shootout occurred in New Orleans between the Saints and Texans. Came down to the wire, but the Saints pulled it out. The big story in the fantasy world was the Giants smashing the Eagles in a 29-16 win where they rammed the ball down the Eagles throat and took Vick out of the game, twice. Kafka came in and threw two interceptions, when the eagles needed him to keep possession the most and just manage the game. Well my hand is on the fritz again so i'm calling it a night. LETS GO 'SKINS! I'm going to be adding another blogger to my site. Hope you enjoy his posts as much as mine.

Sydney Crosby...

   Ok, Sydney Crosby is a good player. He does set up the players around him for points, he is great in the face-off circle. Crosby has gotten better at shooting and has shown it in 2010 with 51 goals and last year before he got hurt had 32 goals in literally half of the season which meant he was on track for 64 goals. This is an improvement to the new media-proclaimed great one, who before was known for his assists and not goals. In my mind from the start of his career he was over-rated. You cannot call an 18 year-old man the new great one, possibly better than Lemieux and Gretzky ESPECIALLY when he isn't even a goal scorer! His biggest flaw is his toughness. Let's recall 2009 when the Pens won the cup. Game Seven, Franzen hits Crosby into the boards and Crosby leaves the game with a "knee" injury. Soon to Follow Talbot scores again and then to finish the game and season Fleury makes his greatest save of his career by robbing Lidstrom of the game tying goal off of a rebound with only seconds to play. The reason I bring this game up is for Crosby not returning to the game and then comes out after the win and hoists Lord Stanley in the air skating around like he was never even hurt.... Would any other captain in the NHL do anything like that to his team, his peers, his fans? No. Malkin is back, looks great and in my opinion better than ever because he shows hustle like never before, and is even showing he can play a great forecheck. Granted it's only preseason, meaning you take his play with a grain of salt, but since he's doing things he never did before and claims himself he is only at 90% this means great things are to come. Malkin is better than Crosby because his points don't rely on the players around him, actually they rely on if Crosby is playing or not. Malkin plays better when Crosby isn't playing. Back to my point for this post, one team has already traded away their premiere center who happens to be their captain.... they also made their new captain their veteran defenseman. This team is the Flyers, and that center is Mike Richards, and their new captain is Chris Pronger. Maybe the Pens need to go another way. What has Crosby really done for this team? honestly? Score some points, set some people up, make his teammate Malkin look worse than he is, wimp out in the sign of failure, pansy out when hurt. Ok, he has a double concussion, meaning it will take a long time to recover. He is DEFINITELY milking this! Grow a pair and show your teammates what a captain really is, if not step down as the captain and give it up to a better candidate, like Orpik, Kunitz, Adams, Letang, or how about Tyler Kennedy? Who yes is a goal scorer, but he is a two-way player meaning he is just as good defensively as he is offensively and is willing to use his body for the benefit of the team, unlike crosby.

   The NHL's biggest problem are teams making their "superstar" goal scorer their captains. Take a look at the captains who aren't these huge goal scorers, Boston - Chara, Buffalo - Rivet, Colorado - Foote, Detroit - Lidstrom, Florida - McCabe, Nashville - Weber, New Jersey - Langenbrunner, NYI - Weight, St. Louis - Brewer, Toronto - Phaneuf. Now lets go through this list more thoroughly. Chara is considered a "superstar" yes, but he is also a defenseman meaning he has a different set of core values. Chara has that nasty 109 mph slap-shot which makes him a key factor on offense and his stature of 6'9" has put him in the spotlight. Chara is still known for being one of the best defensive players in the NHL with his unselfishness to use his body to block shots, when anyone on his team is blatantly gone after with one of those "gray area" hits, Chara is the first one to retaliate and stand up for his teammates. Next we have Craig Rivet, former Montreal Canadiens, San Jose Shark and now plays for Columbus. Rivet is one of those defensive oriented guys that can add that offensive firepower when needed. He's a respected veteran who's been around the league, been through the ups and the downs of NHL and knows what is needed for a team to achieve greatness. Once again a player who will use his body to benefit his team and stand up for his teammates. Colorado's Adam Foote is one of the most note-worthy defensive players in the NHL because of the length of his career and the success of being known as one of the greatest shutdown defenseman of all-time. Foote is another guy who has been through the ups and downs of the NHL being part of eight straight division titles and winning two stanley cups. Again a man who will use his body to benefit his team and stand up for his teammates. In April Foote decided to hang it up after 13 seasons. Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom will go down as arguably the best Defenseman to ever set foot on the ice of an NHL arena. Nominated twelve times, winning seven, for the Norris Trophy, being a member of the red wings for all 19 of his NHL seasons and going to the playoffs all 19 years, winning four Stanley Cups, Lidstrom lives and breathes success. Being an alternate captain for ten years under the reigns of former Red Wings' captain, center, legend, and current GM, Steve Yzerman, Lidstrom was trained to become one of the league's greatest captains. The man, who was always known for his offensive abilities for a defenseman, is underrated in his defensive abilities and knack for shutting down opposing teams shots on goal. His story is legend, his career will become legend someday, and when that day comes he has already helped produce the next big captain from Detroit by the name of Pavel , who is arguably the best player in the NHL because he is arguably the best all-around player in the NHL. Next we have defenseman Bryan McCabe of Florida. McCabe has been around, and I don't mean just how many years he's played but his experience of playing for six different teams. McCabe has played with some of the best and note-worthy players in his career. He's always been a gritty defenseman who, once again i'm seeing a pattern, uses his body to benefit his team and stand up for his teammates. He's played in over one thousand games and now plays for the Rangers. Now we come to Shea Weber, the 6'8" goliath defenseman for Nashville. Weber is the young version of Chara so not much needed to be said there. Then you have Jaimie Langenbrunner of New Jersey. Jaimie has been there through their massive successes and the recent lows. He's a two-way forward who knows his teammates, knows the system, knows how to stand up for his guys, and once again my favorite quality using his body for the benefit of the team. Next Doug Weight of NYI. One of the best two-way centers in the league who's been around and knows what it takes for a team to come together and strive for greatness. Weight has the offensive touch you need and is a great defensive player. Now you have Brewer of St. Louis who, in his prime, was the premiere shut down defenseman. Became a member of St. Louis in a big time trade and ever since has really slipped out of the spotlight. What he lacks in highlights he makes up in bringing a young team together and striving to break out of their recent dark age. Finally we have Dion Phaneuf, a.k.a. "the Freight Train". Phaneuf was the leagues up and coming great defenseman who packs the hardest hits, has a nasty and accurate slap-shot, a good passer, great shutdown defenseman, and was under another great captain in Jarome Iginla, who I didn't mention only because he is that "superstar" status that is a captain and is a great one. Granted Iginla is one of the best two-way players out there, he has some of the best offensive qualities you would want in a star winger. Back to Phaneuf, with all of those traits he has turned into a bust, another overrated, overpaid player out of Toronto. Which brings up a curse of Toronto, but thats another topic. All in all Defense wins championships, and defensive captains are key to building a dynasty.

Oh October....

   October is creeping around the corner and that means one thing.... MLB Playoffs! As of right now Detroit is locked, Yankee's are locked, Rangers are four and a half up on the Angels, Boston is three and a half up on Tampa in the wild card. As for the National League, Phillies are locked up, Milwaukee's four and a half up on St. Louis, Arizona is five and a half up on the Defending World Champs, and Atlanta is about a game and a half above St. Louis and two or three and a half up on the Giants. My prediction is Tigers playing Phillies in the World Series. Who to win, undecided. First things first, who is the MVP of the National League? Alot of talk about Braun vs. Fielder, how is that possible when the true definition of an MVP is the one player that carried that team, the one player who without him the team wouldn't have done what they did. Which if that's true shouldn't the MVP be Matt Kemp? Kemp leads the NL in runs, and rbi's and is second in homeruns and stolen bases, and third in average. That is an MVP season, but he isn't being mentioned because his team is at .500 and is 12 games out of first in the west. Cy Young's need to go to Verlander, of course, and Clayton Kershaw. I'm not a dodgers' fan, but you have to give props to the players that deserve it. Kershaw is number 1 in MLB in ERA, tied for second in wins, second in K's, and third in WHIP. Now when it comes to the AL in MVP i believe that Joey Bats deserves this title with him once again leading the majors in homeruns and being the main force behind Toronto, but since they are out of the playoff picture I feel that Adrian Gonzalez deserves this title leading the majors in batting average, being fifth in the majors in runs, and tied for third in the majors in rbi's. I do have to note that the Pirates had an amazing run this year til they fell off the planet in August. One thing I never understood was, why bring back Ross Ohlendorf after his injury when his rehab starts in the double-A Altoona Curve were horrendous and he gave up double digit runs to double-A teams? Why do the Pirates have so much faith in this guy when he amounts to nothing but adding more to your loss column? Hopefully they'll be able to figure it all out and get back to greatness, in the mean time across the state the Phillies are tearing it up and show how to become a dynasty organization. Building up a farm system is key in the majors because once you have a team, and your farm system has depth you can do what the Phillies did this year at the trade deadline and trade a couple for a great middle-aged player like Hunter Pence. Pence has shown he's good in Houston but since the rest of the team was awful he really didn't get the national spotlight he deserved and he ended up carrying the team on his shoulders. On a stacked Phillies team now he can do his thing and show how great he truly is. Watch this guy for years to come because i smell greatness in the air in Philadelphia.

Rookie QB's

   Let's talk rookie quarterbacks. Sit 'em or start 'em? Examples, Aaron Rodgers sat his first two years in the NFL behind a future hall of famer in Brett Favre and is now among the top 5 elite QBs. Ben Roethlisberger would have been sat but due to injury to Tommy Maddox he was forced to start his rookie season, Ben started 13 games that year. The team went 15-1 in his rookie season and the loss was actually in the game he was thrown into. Ben has won 2 Super Bowls and should be among the leagues elite top 5 QBs. Philip Rivers sat behind Drew Brees his first year then Brees tore up his throwing shoulder and Philip has been one of the top QBs in passing yards and touchdowns every year with mainly an above average wide receiver in Vincent Jackson and one of the top 3 tightends in Antonio Gates. Joey Harrington was considered on of the best Qbs out of the draft but was thrown into the mix immediately in Detroit and with an awful offensive line he took a beating and became scared in the pocket. Joey would tally up over 400 yards a game but would throw more interceptions than touchdowns. He later went to Miami where once again they had a bad offensive line and had the same outcome. Were Harrington benched his first two or three seasons to learn the NFL would he be in the talks of who is the top 5 QBs, we'll never know. Jamarcus Russell is considered the biggest bust in recent history. Mainly for him being the 1st overall pick in the draft and him being paid over 9 million dollars a year. Fist of all He was under a new head coach in Lane Kiffen who was fired shortly into his second season in his NFL coaching career and became the college head coach of Tennessee. Oakland was already in shambles and forced this kid to start on a team that Kerry Collins looked horrible on, Andrew Walter and Aaron Brooks shared the load the season previous and had the same outcome. Dante Culpepper would be Russell's mentor for his rookie season and yet Russell never became anything and recently was cut by the raiders. Of course i need to bring up Dan Marino who had a great rookie season and went on to become a hall of famer and then throw in Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco who had great rookie seasons, Ryan is a good quarterback and has a long career ahead of him, but Flacco is inconsistent and doesn't really impress me. Warren Moon and Jim Kelly also had great rookie season. Moon became the first African American QB to be elected to the Hall of Fame and when he retired led Professional Football in Passing yards, Touchdowns, Passing Completions, and Passing Attempts. Now we have Cam Newton blowing up secondaries in his first two games and looks like he could become a record breaker seeing how he already broke the record for most passing yards in a rookies' first two consecutive starts with 854. We shall see what is to come of Cam Newton, Blaine Gabbert who gets his first career start in the NFL this week and Andy Dalton who started his career off with a win but is now 1-1. In my opinion I believe this topic comes down to the individual your wanting to start or sit. Every single person is different and every situation is different so no two should be treated the same. What do you guys think?

Hockey Season

   That's right folks, it's a HOCKEY NIGHT IN PITTSBURGH!!! Man have I been waiting to say that. Penguins, Redwings are underway and expecting greatness like always when these new rivals faceoff. Evgeni Malkin is back in the center circle for the Pens and is suppose to be better than ever! Pittsburgh's lost a beloved player and grinder this year with Max Talbot going to their dreaded rival the Flyers. Also losing center/winger Mike Rupp to the Rangers, with the sudden death of their havoc maker Derek "The Boogie Man" Boogaard. They did however pick up the crafty veteran Steve Sullivan (age 37) of Nashville and St. Louis of late. Other mentionable acquisitions of the Pens would be speedy winger Richard Park (age 35), jack-of-all-trades center/winger Jason Williams (age 31), defenseman Alexandre Picard (age 26) and last but not least the gargantuan 6' 7" defenseman Boris Valabik (age 25). Detroit's been Detroit as always and kept their core players together and just keep getting older. Okay seriously, the Red team has added some players this year and lost Mike Madono.... Wait did he do anything last year? Anyway the Wings have added former Penguin Chris Conner (age 27), who had an exceptional year last year as a fill-in player with all of the injuries Pittsburgh accumulated and showed that he can really hold his own on the forecheck and around the boards, even if he's only 5' 8". Two more players the Wings have signed this offseason are defenseman that I actually have always liked due tho there grittiness and being solid defensive defenseman, and they are Mike Commodore (age 31) and Garnet Exelby (age 30). My players to watch this game are Malkin in black and gold, and Jimmy Howard in white and red. Malkin mainly because i want to see this improvement everyone around him has been talking about. I want to see the effort this year. Howard I've always had my eye on before his NHL debut. Mostly with him being American and him being a hybrid style goalie. For those of you who don't know what that means i'll explain. A hybrid goalie is exactly what it says, a hybrid style that between the original stand-up style and the more modern butterfly style. Being a butterfly style myself you gain more respect for goalies and a keener eye for the diamonds in the rough, which is what I saw in both Howard and in the great Marc-Andre Fleury. Back to topic, if Howard can have another great year he will join the league's elite goaltenders.
   My big free agent acquistion this year goes to Washington. They signed one of the most respected goaltenders Tomas Vokoun. Vokoun is known for his occasional 50 save night shut out and carrying poor offensive and defensive teams on his shoulders. Going to a highlight reel team in the spotlight of the nation like the Caps could turn his misfortune around and add his name to lord stanley. Am i predicting the Capitals to win the cup? No, it's too early to make a bold statement like that. I'm saying by adding a quality goalie in Vokoun, Washington might finally get over their early playoff exit hump. Another big off-season move was the Los Angeles Kings trading young winger Wayne Simmonds to Philly for the Flyers Captain Mike Richards. This move is HUGE for the young and talented Kings who already added the big goal scorer from Edmonton Dustin Penner last year at the trade deadline. The Kings have been slowly making their way back to greatness by drafting players like Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson, and goalies Jonathan Quick and Jonathan Bernier. Another player the Kings added this off-season was winger Simon Gagne from Tampa Bay. This team has the Talent to dominate this year and I WILL go out on a limb and say this is the Western Conference Champs playing in the Finals this year. My big question this off season is this. Why did the Flyers trade away two top notch centers to get young up-coming wingers and only go out and get third line centers to replace them? Max Talbot and Blair Betts are not first and second string centers in this league. I don't care if you have Jaromir Jagr, Wayne Simmonds, Scott Hartnell, James Van Riemsdyk, Jakob Voracek (who they acquired from Columbus in the Jeff Carter Deal), and Danny Briere (who used to play center for Buffalo but is better as a winger). They did bring in the great Ilya Bryzgalov from Phoenix and Anaheim, but that won't help you win face-offs and set up your high-caliber wingers.