NBA Three-Point Play 2/1/12
LOS ANGELES– By Aron Jacobowitz
1) Are the Sixers really ‘contenders’ in the East, or are they impecable pretenders? They have won 13 games thus far by double digits (tied for the most this season with the Bulls – who they play tonight). They are killing their division with the likes of Boston and New York trying desperately to salvage a season, and they don’t even have a superstar.
Are they the East’s Nuggets? Is it too early for this type of question? Hmm. Well at 15-6, it’s safe to say that through a third of the season, you ain’t trippin’. Although they do not have very many quality wins, thankfully, as mentioned above, they are playing Chicago tonight. Because this will be the first legitimate threat to limit the Sixers window of success for the ’11-’12 condensed season.
How are the Sixers doing what they do so far? Two words: Doug Collins. Early season coach of the year? Yes. When you’ve coached Michael Jordan early in his career, you immediately demand the respect necessary to say whatever needs to be said to turn their fortunes around. They rank first in scoring defense (86.1) and fifth in rebounds per game (43.8). That said, they only own three victories against teams with winning records: Indiana, Atlanta and Orlando. Beating Atlanta is most likely the best thing these guys have done all year. However, they don’t choose their schedule. They were given these games, and they’ve plowed right through them. They beat Orlando, who is in complete dysfunction, in the midst of a 1-5 stretch that has seen them play worse than the Tulsa Shock, the WNBA team who went 3-31 last season.
We have watched Coach Collins turn this team into a collective group; a core of young talent (Jrue Holiday, Lou Williams, Thaddeus Young) surrounded by savvy veterans (Elton Brand and Andre Igoudala). As much as I hate to admit it, Elton Brand is actually helping his squad. His numbers aren’t the 20 and 10 he used to put up in Clipperland. However, his minutes are down, his mentoring up, and his contract is also up ($17.1 million). All jokes aside, a win tonight against the East leading Bulls will undoubtedly provide legitimacy to the City of Brotherly Love for the first time since The Answer left the building (the first time).
2) Did Kevin McHale spike the Gatorade after the Rockets dismal 2-6 start? Granted, Houston began the season with one of, if not the toughest schedule in the league. They also began the season with some players pretty damn upset about the failed trade that would have seen their landscape completely change. Kevin Martin and Louis Scola (their two leading scorers at 21 and 15 points per game) were to be shipped off and Pau Gasol was supposed to be brought in. Maybe because McHale thought he could relate better to a seven-foot soft Spaniard?
Kyle Lowry has literally transformed into one of the more efficient PG’s out West putting up 15, 8, 6.5 and the dude’s name has literally never been so much as uttered on SportsCenter before this season. Okay, maybe once or twice, but definitely not with the enthusiasm necessary. He had to fill Aaron Brooks shoes, who put up a monster playoffs a few years back, then disagreed with the coaching staff, and was shipped off to Phoenix (now he’s in China). Speaking of that trade, Goran Dragic was part of that deal and has also used his few years of watching Steve Nash to quietly put together a solid backup PG season (eight points and four assists per game).
The Rockets began the season with losses to Orlando, Memphis, Lakers, Clippers, and Oklahoma City (twice- home and away) while also posting wins against San Antonio and Atlanta (both at home), which accounts for their 2-6 record out of the gate. Since then, they have won 10 of 13 (only playing four road games during that stretch) highlighted by wins against Portland and San Antonio. They have also benefited from a relatively weak stretch, playing the Wizards twice, New Orleans, Detroit, Charlotte (ALL W’s). But at 12-9, the Rockets may slide into the 7th or 8th seed in the West and make some noise. With seven of their next eight games on the road, I’m sure we’ll find out by Valentine’s Day if this team is legit.
3) Fresh off of back-to-back victories against the top two teams in the West (Denver and Oklahoma City), the LA Clippers continue to add to their impressive early season resume. With wins against Miami, Oklahoma City, Lakers, Denver, Dallas, Portland and Memphis thus far, the sky’s the limit.
Early season MVP Chris Paul (although he missed five of their 18 games) has already proven he will be the guy to make the necessary buckets down the stretch. Blake Griffin keeps finding ways to top himself, while also amassing a large amount of haters – and you only gain haters when you increase your media coverage- so he’s doing something right. Mo “Money” Williams, if he keeps up his high energy and hot shooting, will be hoisting that sixth man award in front of the home crowd come May. The dude is approaching 50 percent from downtown, while putting up 15 points per game. This team has five guys averaging at least 15 points per game and they are a Kenyon Martin signing away from going nine-deep and legitimately becoming the best team in the West.
To play the other side, the Clippers have only played six road games (2-4) compared to 12 at the Staples Center (10-2). That’s about to change. They play in Utah tonight, where they were clobber-fisted about two weeks prior. Then they go home tomorrow against Denver before playing eight of their next 10 on the road. Are they battle-tested thus far? Yes. But not on the road. Beating Denver on Sunday in the Rockies was a nice start, but with games at Orlando, Philadelphia and Dallas on the upcoming trip, we’ll see if Vinny Del Negro and his band of Clippers wet the bed or continues to climb the ladder.
Reaction: A’s Acquire OF Smith in Deal With Rockies
The A’s and Rockies made agreed to a deal that would send OF Seth Smith to the Oakland in exchange for LHP Josh Outman and RHP Guillermo Moscoso.
Smith is the prototypical “Moneyball” player that Oakland GM Billy Beane covets. Although he has a career .348 OBP, Smith has shown patience at the plate over his five seasons in the big leagues. Smith should also provide some gap to gap power that could result in new career highs in doubles and triples. The problem Smith has had over his career is his inability to hit lefties. Smith has a .202/.269/.319 slash line over his career. In order to become a successful everyday player in this league, Smith must perform better versus left handed pitchers. If he does, this would be an excellent acquisition for the Athletics.
While the A’s probably acquired the more significant player in this deal, the Rockies received a pair of pitchers that should help solidify the backend of the rotation or bullpen. Josh Outman is a left handed pitcher who appeared in only 13 games last season (9 as a starter) after missing all of the 2010 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. It usually takes pitchers time to fully recover from Tommy John surgery so Outman’s 2011 numbers might be a bit misleading (3.70 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 5.4 K/ 9 IP) . Instead I would look toward is 2009 numbers (3.48 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 7.1 K/ 9 IP) and expect his numbers to fall somewhere in between those two seasons. If he fails to break the rotation, Outman has the chance to be a solid lefty reliever out of the bullpen. Moscoso is a RHP who performed well in his first full year last season. He could get a look as the fifth starter in Colorado, but can also be used as a long reliever out of the pen.
Overall this could turn out the be a good trade for both teams as the A’s were looking to improve their lineup and the Rockies were looking to add pitching depth, both in the rotation and bullpen. At the same time though, there are a lot of question marks surrounding all the players involved in this deal, but the reward could certainly outweigh the risk in this situation.
NHL Thoughts & Theories- Friday 1/13/12
The Part Where People Complain About All-Star Selections
Despite the NHL All-Star game being nothing but a meaningless exhibition, fans, writers, pundits and prognosticators always have to complain about who got “snubbed” or who was wrongfully selected to said one-weekend spectacle. So for the sake of conformity, here’s a crack at the whole All-Star thing:
Jordan Eberle may play for a subpar and unpopular Edmonton team, but an objective look at his stats scream All Star. His 43 points are the most by any player not selected to the game in Ottawa and is forming quite the tandem with Taylor Hall. He should surely get in over San Jose’s Logan Couture, whose numbers don’t stack up. Perhaps his injury prevented him from being selected, like Chicago’s Patrick Sharp.
Washington F Nicklas Backstrom has better numbers than his teammate Alex Ovechkin, but this is a game for television ratings. It’s why Teemu Selanne and Nicklas Lidstrom were invited, but both will opt for rest instead of playing.
Television ratings is also the likely reason for the selection of goalie Carey Price, whose 15-15 record with a 2.46 goals against average and .913 save percentage is purely pedestrian. Nashville’s Pekka Rinne is far more deserving, if we’re arguing about who should be selected to this glorified scrimmage.
Flames Re-acquire Quality Chip To Flip
Michael Cammalleri said his team, the Canadiens, were playing like losers this week (he was only telling the truth) and it got him shipped out of town. Cammalleri was traded to Calgary, where he scored a career high 39 goals during the 2008-2009 season, for F and enforcer Rene Borque on Thursday night.
It was a knee-jerk move by Montreal, who clearly wanted to get rid of a bad apple despite the likely long-term benefit of keeping a productive forward with likely trade value. Instead, Calgary gets someone who can either be a quality forward in a Western Conference playoff chase, they’re only three points behind eighth place Minnesota, or they could trade him at the deadline if they fall out of contention. So for one hurtful and truthful comment, the Canadiens made a silly trade that cost themselves a decent asset. No wonder Montreal has been in decline over the last several months.
Top Canadian Clubs Assert Road Dominance
Vancouver and Ottawa both played huge Thursday nights away from home and the two teams got enormous wins to help their stocks as we reach the halfway mark of the season.
The Senators came to Madison Square Garden and dominated the NHL leading Rangers 3-0 behind two Jason Spezza goals and a 34-save shutout from Craig Anderson, outdueling Vezina favorite Henrik Lundqvist. Vancouver took over the overall league points lead on a Daniel Sedin overtime goal to win at St. Louis 3-2 after Alex Burrows scored the team’s two regulation goals.
Spezza made it clear who he thought the star of the Ottawa win was, and he thought Anderson should be joining him in the All-Star game. ”He’s just so steady back there right now and you can tell he’s got confidence,” Spezza said. “When your goalie exudes that type of confidence, the team has that type of confidence. He’s done a great job calming things down when we’re scrambling a little bit. There’s times in the game where the other team is going to take momentum, and he’s done a good job of taking it back.”
It was the third straight win for the Senators, who are only three points behind Boston for the Northeast Division lead (Ottawa has played 45 games to the Bruins’ 40). All-Star D Erik Karlsson added two assists for the Sens.
Sedin’s game winning goal came 46 seconds into overtime and Roberto Luongo recorded 31 saves as the loss pushed the Blues from second to fifth in the Western Conference after Chicago’s 5-2 regulation win over Minnesota. Sedin didn’t think his Canucks played particularly well, but they still came away with two points. ”It’s a sign of a good team when you can have so-so games and still come out on the right side,” Sedin said.
Both the top teams from Canada came out on the right side in two statement games that could carry them for the next week.
Weekend Games To Watch
Friday- Pittsburgh has lost six in a row and are currently in ninth in the Eastern Conference. Their tough schedule continues as the Pens visit the Southeast Division leading Panthers. Toronto has emerged as the league’s hottest team to begin the calendar year and they complete their home-and-home against the fast-fading Sabres.
Saturday- NBC has the marquee game with Detroit playing at Chicago in a huge Central Division clash, but the Rangers playing at the Leafs is pretty huge as well. Other intriguing games include Minnesota taking on St. Louis at the Scottrade Center and Philadelphia going to Nashville to take on the defensive minded Predators.
Sunday- NBC Sports Network has the Rangers at the Canadiens, but the game of the day is clearly San Jose at Chicago in a battle of the two and three seeds out west.
MLB Thoughts & Theories 7/8/11
Reyes’ Injury Is Good For The Mets
The Mets are now 7 1/2 games behind Atlanta for the NL Wild Card, and the way the Braves pitch the Mets are not catching them this year. With Jose Reyes out at least three weeks with his strained left hamstring, it’s time to put any kind of pipe dreams of New York reaching the postseason to rest. Granted, the Mets are playing good baseball but Reyes’ injury makes GM Sandy Alderson’s decision on whether to buy or sell a whole lot easier.
Francisco Rodriguez and a few of his veteran bullpen buddies will be jettisoned along with Carlos Beltran, who could fetch a decent haul the way he’s playing this season. This will allow Alderson to stock a farm system without a whole lot of talent. But more importantly, Reyes injury puts a hold on his incredible offensive season that was good enough to earn him SprungOnSports’ midseason NL MVP award.
At the pace Reyes was going at, Reyes was going to get more money than Carl Crawford’s seven-year, $142 million contract he got from Boston last offseason. With Reyes likely to miss the next month, his numbers will remain the same and his seemingly checkered injury past will become factors in upcoming negotiations and perhaps lower his asking price. Which is the only way the best Mets hitter in a long time will stay with the team. So can an injury actually be a blessing? Absolutely.
Konerko Done Right With All-Star Inclusion
How does someone who is a top five AL MVP candidate be left off the All-Star roster? That question was thankfully rendered irrelevant by the fans after they elected White Sox 1B Paul Konerko as the final man for the junior circuit. You would think someone with a slash line of .316/.387/.566 with 22 homers and 64 RBI’s for a team improbably hanging around in the AL Central would have been enough, but Konerko’s inclusion in Tuesday’s game in Phoenix made things right.
Colon’s Clunker Brings Questions For Yankees
In theory, it would be tough to doubt someone with a sub-three ERA and a solid strikeout to walk ratio. Unless, of course, you’re a 38-year-old with injury issues who missed two years of baseball and only returned to the game after going through a procedure that seemed like it came straight out of Captain America or the $6 Million Man.
Bartolo Colon is no Steve Austin or Bruce Banner, but a wonderful story for the Yankees who is incredibly fragile. So when the Rays knocked him around Thursday night in a 5-1 loss to the Rays that knocked New York out of first place in the American league, it’s more than justifiable to wonder if Colon’s days as a quality starting pitcher are numbered, if not over. Now, will the Yankees go after a starting pitcher with Colon and Phil Hughes in flux, not to mention the possibility Freddy Garcia’s time expires, Colon style? It’s a huge question GM Brian Cashman will have to address over the next three weeks.
Colorado Hits Rock Bottom?
Can a series go any worse than Colorado’s four-game set went this week in Atlanta? Lose all four games? Check. Lose your two best hitters to injury? Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez, check and check. Lose another one of your players to a severe injury? Check, thanks to Charlie Blackmon’s fractured left foot. All in all, the four-game sweep at the hand of the Braves not only put severe holes in the team’s lineup, it also likely knocked the Rockies out of playoff contention. Quite the bad series, indeed.
Talking Points
-Not often do teams come back from 8-0 deficits, but the Cardinals did on Wednesday against Cincinnati (St. Louis ultimately lost in 13 innings) and the Cubs came all the way back on Thursday against Washington. Chicago completed the comeback on a Darwin Barney single in the ninth in a 10-9 win.
-My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Shannon Stone, who died Thursday in Arlington trying to catch a ball tossed into the stands by Rangers star Josh Hamilton. A’s outfielder Conor Jackson hit a foul ball in left field that Hamilton picked up and threw into the stands. Stone bobbled the ball and fell 14 feet. He later died from the accident. What a tragedy.
-Travis Hafner hit a walkoff grand slam off Luis Perez as Cleveland bested Toronto 5-4. Too bad only 18,416 went out to Progressive Field to see it.
-The Angels are calling up 19-year-old prospect Mike Trout, regarded as the best positional prospect in baseball. He can beat out a ground ball and has tremendous speed.
NHL Free Agency Rumors 7/1/11
News
-Anaheim traded D Andy Sutton to Edmonton for D Kurtis Foster.
-Colorado inks Chuck Kobasew for two years and $2.5 million.
-Edmonton agreed to terms with Eric Belanger for three years at $1.75 million per.
-Florida signed Tomas Fleischmann for four years and $18 million
-San Jose signed Jim Vandermeer for one year at $1 million.
-Dallas signed Sheldon Souray to a one-year deal worth $1.65 million.
-Vancouver signed Marco Sturm for a year at $2.25 million.
-Carolina signed Alex Panikarovsky for one year and $1.5 million.
-Washington signed Ryan Potulny for two years.
-Young star Ville Leino signed a six-year, $27 million deal with Buffalo.
-Florida continued its reinvention, sending second and third-round picks to Philadelphia for Kris Versteeg.
-Boston signed Benoit Pouliot for a year at $1.1 million.
-St. Louis signed Adam Cracknell.
-Dallas signed Michael Ryder to a two-year deal worth $7 million.
-Carolina resigned Jake Dowell.
-Montreal signed Erik Cole on a four-year deal worth $18 million.
-Edmonton signed D Cam Barker at one year and $2.25 million and Darcy Hordicuk at one year and $825,000.
-Ottawa signs Alex Auld for a year and $1 million.
-Washington signed RW Joel Ward for three years and $12 million and D Roman Hamrlick for two years and $7 million.
-The Islanders have signed Marty Reasoner to a two-year contract.
-Pittsburgh signed Steve Sullivan to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million.
-Detroit signed D Mike Commodore to a one-year deal worth $1 million.
-The Rangers signed Mike Rupp to a three-year deal worth $4.5 million.
-Montreal signed G Peter Budaj to a two-year deal worth $2.3 million.
-Carolina signed G Brian Boucher to a two-year deal worth $1.9 million.
-The first Winnipeg signing in over 15 years! The Jets sign D Derek Meech to a two-way contract worth $805,000.
-Semyon Varlamov gets two years and $5.5 million from Colorado.
-Philadelphia has agreed to a five-year contract with Max Talbot worth $9 million.
-Radim Vrbata returns to Phoenix on a three-year deal worth $9 million.
-New Jersey has resigned Johan Hedberg for a year.
-Washington has traded G Semyon Varlamov to Colorado for first and second round draft picks.
-Florida signed Marcel Goc to a three-year deal worth $1.73 million per.
-Philadelphia signed D Andreas Lilja.
-Chicago has signed Andrew Brunette for one year and $2 million.
-Philadelphia signed Jakub Voracek to a one-year deal worth $2.25 million.
-St. Louis resigned Matt D’Agostini for two years and $3.3 million.
-Florida has signed D Ed Jovanovski for four years and $16.5 million.
-Tim Brent gets a two year deal worth $1.5 million with Carolina.
-D Jan Hejda has signed a four-year deal with Colorado at $3.25 million per.
-Dallas has signed Radek Dvorak ($1.5 million) and Vernon Fiddler (3/ $5.4 million).
-Vancouver signed Mike Mancari for one year and $525,000.-Phoenix signed Mike Smith for two years and $4 million. In addition, Phoenix also signed Raffi Torres for two years and $3.5 million and Boyd Gordon for two years and $2.65 million.
-Philadelphia has signed Jaromir Jagr, the team announced.
-Florida has reportedly signed Scottie Upshall for four years and $14 million.
-Washington signed Jeff Halpern for a year at $825,000.
-Sean O’Donnell goes to Chicago for a year at $850,000.
-Calgary signed Chris Butler for two years and $2.5 million.
-D Adam Pardy signed with Dallas for two years and $4 million.
-Florida signed Jose Theodore to a two-year deal worth $3 million.
-Edmonton signed Ben Eager to a three-year deal worth $3.3 million.
-Chicago signed Jamal Mayers for a year at $550,000.
-Tampa Bay has signed Mathieu Garon to a two-year deal at $1.6 million per.
-New Jersey resigned D Andy Greene to a four-year deal.
-Drew Miller will head back to Detroit for two years and $1.65 million, according to Boc McKenzie.
-Pittsburgh resigned Tyler Kennedy for two years at $4 million total.
-Vancouver resigned Christopher Higgins to a two-year deal worth about $1.9 million per year.
-James Wisniewski is going back to Columbus for six years at a whopping $33 million.
-Patrick Eaves will get a three-year extension with Detroit worth $1.2 million per season.
-D Sami Salo will resign with Vancouver for one year at about $2 million, according to Craig Custance.
Rumor Timeline
5:35 p. m. Eastern
-Ottawa resigned Francis Lessard.
5:30 p. m. Eastern
-Anaheim traded D Andy Sutton to Edmonton for D Kurtis Foster.
-Colorado inks Chuck Kobasew for two years and $2.5 million.
5:20 p. m. Eastern
-Columbus signed Curtis Dekanic to be their backup goalie. St. Louis signed Brian Elliot to be their third goalie.
5:15 p. m. Eastern
-Edmonton gets Eric Belanger for three years at $1.75 million per.
5:10 p. m. Eastern
-Edmonton agreed to terms with Eric Belanger.
-Calgary is making a presentation to Brad Richards.
-Boston signed G Anton Khudobin to a two-year deal.
-G Curtis Sanford and D Aaron Johnson signed a one year, two-way deal with Columbus.
5 p. m. Eastern
-Florida signed Tomas Fleischmann for four years and $18 million.
4:50 p. m. Eastern
-Matt Barnaby would be surprised if Brad Richards wasn’t a Ranger by the end of the day.
-San Jose signed Jim Vandermeer for one year at $1 million.
4:40 p. m. Eastern
-Rangers officials are confident they’ll be able to sign Brad Richards. He’s still mulling his options, according to Scott Burnside, but Buffalo seems like they’re out.
4:35 p. m. Eastern
-Dallas signed Sheldon Souray to a one-year deal worth $1.65 million.
4:30 p.m. Eastern
-Vancouver signed Marco Sturm for a year at $2.25 million.
-Carolina signed Alex Panikarovsky for one year and $1.5 million.
-Washington signed Ryan Potulny for two years.
4:15 p. m. Eastern
-Young star Ville Leino signed a six-year, $27 million deal with Buffalo.
4:10 p. m. Eastern
-Florida continued its reinvention, sending second and third-round picks to Philadelphia for Kris Versteeg.
-Boston signed Benoit Pouliot for a year at $1.1 million.
-St. Louis signed Adam Cracknell.
3:55 p. m. Eastern
-Dallas signed Michael Ryder to a two-year deal worth $7 million.
-Carolina resigned Jake Dowell.
3:40 p. m. Eastern
-Will Brad Richards end up in Tampa Bay again?
-Montreal signed Erik Cole on a four-year deal worth $18 million.
-Edmonton signed D Cam Barker at one year and $2.25 million and Darcy Hordicuk at one year and $825,000.
-Ottawa signs Alex Auld for a year and $1 million.
3:30 p. m. Eastern
-Washington signed RW Joel Ward for three years and $12 million and D Roman Hamrlick for two years and $7 million.
-The Islanders have signed Marty Reasoner to a two-year contract.
3:20 p. m. Eastern
-Pittsburgh signed Steve Sullivan to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million.
-Tampa Bay is in on Brad Richards and Montreal is close to inking Eric Cole.
3:05 p. m. Eastern
-Detroit signed D Mike Commodore to a one-year deal worth $1 million.
3 p. m. Eastern
-The Rangers signed Mike Rupp to a three-year deal worth $4.5 million.
-Carolina still has not heard back from Erik Cole.
2:55 p. m. Eastern
-Montreal signed G Peter Budaj to a two-year deal worth $2.3 million.
-Carolina signed Jiri Tlusty for a year and $525,000.
2:50 p. m. Eastern
-Carolina signed G Brian Boucher to a two-year deal worth $1.9 million.
2:40 p. m. Eastern
-The first Winnipeg signing in over 15 years! The Jets sign D Derek Meech to a two-way contract worth $805,000.
2:35 p. m. Eastern
-Philadelphia has agreed to a five-year contract with Max Talbot worth $9 million.
-Semyon Varlamov gets two years and $5.5 million from Colorado.
2:30 p. m. Eastern
-Radim Vrbata returns to Phoenix on a three-year deal worth $9 million.
2:25 p. m. Eastern
-Washington gets a 2012 first-round pick and a 2012 or 2013 second-round pick from Colorado for Semyon Varlamov.
2:10 p. m. Eastern
-New Jersey has resigned Johan Hedberg for a year.
-Marcel Goc will make $1.7 million per season with Florida.
-Calgary has inked a pair of low level players.
2:05 p. m. Eastern
-Washington has traded G Semyon Varlamov to Colorado for first and second round draft picks.
2 p. m. Eastern
-Florida signed Marcel Goc to a three-year deal.
-There have been a lot of calls to Max Talbot but nothing pending just yet.
-St. Louis signed Cody Beach to an entry level deal.
1:55 p. m. Eastern
-Philadelphia signed D Andreas Lilja.
-Andrew Brunette gets one year and $2 million with the Blackhawks.
-Ed Jovanovski will get $16.5 million over four years with Florida.
1:50 p. m. Eastern
-Chicago has signed Andrew Brunette.
-Jan Hejda will make $3.25 million per season over his four-year deal with Colorado.
1:45 p. m. Eastern
-Philadelphia signed Jakub Voracek to a one-year deal worth $2.25 million.
-Vern Fiddler gets three years and $5.4 million from Dallas.
1:40 p. m. Eastern
-Florida has signed Ed Jovanovski to a four-year deal.
-St. Louis resigned Matt D’Agostini for two years and $3.3 million.
1:35 p. m. Eastern
-Florida has signed D Ed Jovanovski.
-Jaromir Jagr will get $3.3 million in Philadelphia and Radek Dvorak $1.5 million in Dallas.
-Tim Brent gets a two year deal worth $1.5 million with Carolina.
1:32 p. m. Eastern
-D Jan Hejda has signed a four-year deal with Colorado.
-Dallas has signed Radek Dvorak and Vernon Fiddler.
-Vancouver signed Mike Mancari for one year and $525,000.
1:25 p. m. Eastern
-Scottie Upshall signs with Florida for four years and $14 million.
-Phoenix signed Mike Smith for two years and $4 million. Tomas Vokoun is likely headed to Colorado. In addition, Phoenix also signed Raffi Torres for two years and $3.5 million and Boyd Gordon for two years and $2.65 million.
1:22 p. m. Eastern
-Philadelphia has signed Jaromir Jagr, the team announced.
1:20 p. m. Eastern
-Washington signed Jeff Halpern for a year at $825,000.
-Florida has reportedly signed Scottie Upshall for four years.
-Tampa Bay gave Michel Oullette a two-way deal.
1:10 p. m. Eastern
-Sean O’Donnell goes to Chicago for a year at $850,000.
-Calgary signed Chris Butler for two years and $2.5 million.
1:05 p. m. Eastern
-D Adam Pardy signed with Dallas for two years and $4 million.
-The Blackhawks, Predators and Rangers are interested in Andrew Brunette, with Chicago as the frontrunners.
1 p. m. Eastern
-Florida signed Jose Theodore to a two-year deal worth $3 million. It likely signals the end of Tomas Vokoun with the Panthers.
-Los Angeles is going all out for Brad Richards.
12:55 p. m. Eastern
-Edmonton signed Ben Eager to a three-year deal worth $3.3 million.
-Chicago gets Brett McLean on a two-way contract.
12:50 p. m. Eastern
-Free agent Teemu Selanne reportedly had arthroscopic knee surgery on Wednesday.
-Chicago signed Jamal Mayers for a year at $550,000.
12:45 p. m. Eastern
-Tampa Bay has signed Mathieu Garon to a two-year deal at $1.6 million per. It could signal the end of Mike Smith with the Lightning.
-Buffalo resigned Cody McCormick.
12:35 p. m. Eastern
-New Jersey resigned D Andy Greene to a four-year deal.
-Tampa Bay signed 2010 first round pick Brett Connolly to an entry level deal.
12:30 p. m. Eastern
-The Michael Handzus to Philadelphia rumors are false, as per Bob McKenzie and Craig Custance.
12:25 p. m. Eastern
-Drew Miller will head back to Detroit for two years and $1.65 million, according to Boc McKenzie.
-D Mike Commodore is now available for buyout.
12:20 p. m. Eastern
-The Kings are in LA to meet with Brad Richards and his agent. Toronto waiting for their turn.
-Philadelphia has signed Michael Handzus.
12:10 p. m. Eastern
-Detroit is also out on Jaromir Jagr.
-The Islanders signed Kirill Kabanov to an entry level contract.
12:05 p. m. Eastern
-Pittsburgh resigned Tyler Kennedy for two years at $4 million total. The Penguins are likely out on Jaromir Jagr.
-Steven Stamkos is eligible to be signed to offer sheets as a restricted free agent.
Noon Eastern
-Vancouver resigned Christopher Higgins to a two-year deal worth about $1.9 million per year.
-Pittsburgh’s Max Talbot is headed to free agency. Phoenix’s Radim Vrbata as well.
11:55 a. m. Eastern
-Any successful offer sheet to a restricted free agent worth over $7.835 million per season will cost four first-round picks. That’s looking at Steven Stamkos.
11:50 a. m. Eastern
-G Tomas Vokoun is still open to playing in Florida and elsewhere, says Criag Custance.
-Scottie Upshall, Christopher Higgins and Simon Gagne could be a few of Nashville’s free agent targets. Ville Leino will also be a hot name. We get started in 10 minutes.
11:45 a. m. Eastern
-Pittsburgh withdrew their offer to Jaromir Jagr and they’re surprisingly out of the mix. They did not want to get into a bidding war with other teams. It could means they’re close to resigning Tyler Kennedy.
-San Jose won’t be resigning D Ian White.
11:05 a. m. Eastern
-Columbus may not be done yet after signing James Wisniewski, according to Craig Custance.
11 a. m. Eastern
-Columbus D Jan Hejda will be testing the free agent market.
-SprungOnSports Hockey Analyst Adam Davis on Wisniewski, who played last year in Montreal: “Averaging $5 million a season is far too much. I don’t like it. He won’t be rivaling Christian Ehrhoff as the best defenseman on the market.”
10:55 a. m. Eastern
-James Wisniewski is going to Columbus for six years at a whopping $33 million.
10:45 a. m. Eastern
-Patrick Eaves will get a three-year extension with Detroit worth $1.2 million per season. Detroit will go after a defenseman.
-Vancouver is close to agreeing to a two-year deal with Christopher Higgins.
10:40 a. m. Eastern
-D Sami Salo will resign with Vancouver for one year at about $2 million, according to Craig Custance.
-Josh Harding will go back to Minnesota.
10:35 a. m. Eastern
-While Tampa Bay continues to negotiate with Steven Stamkos, other restricted free agents could be in high demand according to Craig Custance. Rangers wing Ryan Callahan and Phoenix D Keith Yandle are other candidates to be signed to an offer sheet. The first team would have five days to match the offer sheet. More Custance includes Detroit likely resigning Patrick Eaves, Sean Bergenheim hitting free agency and more.
-Los Angeles will go hard after Brad Richards and are still talking with Michael Handzus, but Handzus will likely hit free agency.
10:05 a. m. Eastern
-Joel Ward’s status has not changed and the door will “always remain open” in Nashville, says Josh Cooper.
10 a. m. Eastern
-Communication lines are still open between Vancouver and Raffi Torres, but he’ll be hitting the open market.
9:25 a. m. Eastern
-Darren Dreger: Erik Cole could not agree to a deal with Carolina and will explore the free agency market. He’ll give the Hurricanes one last look today. Brad Richards won’t make a decision until late afternoon or evening.
-Toronto has interest in Richards, perhaps just to drive up the price for the Rangers, Sabres, Flyers and Lightning. Philadelphia could move Kris Versteeg if they ink Richards. Colorado and Phoenix have interest in Tomas Vokoun. Montreal will have interest in Ed Jovanovski and Maxime Talbot could be on the move.
-Los Angeles also liked Richards but Buffalo can offer the most money. The Rangers also like Mike Rupp, Tanner Glass and Anton Babchuk.
-Tampa Bay wants to keep both Steven Stamkos, who Toronto likes, and goalie Mike Smith. If the Lightning can’t keep Smith, Jose Theodore, Mathieu Garon and Brian Boucher could be on the radar. Tampa Bay likely won’t bring back Sean Bergenheim.
-Pittsburgh, Montreal, Detroit, Philadelphia and one other team has interest in Jaromir Jagr. The Penguins offered him a one-year deal worth $2 million and his agent said his heart was still in Pittsburgh.
-Vancouver could have interest in Tomas Fleischmann, Joel Ward and Tyler Kennedy.
-Colorado also likes Vokoun, Jovanovski and Bergenheim and would look at other veteran goalies if Vokoun goes elsewhere.
