Trade Deadline 2.0

I love NHL trade deadline day. I always have. Its weird because in previous years its been like watching other kids eat good candy like 3 Musketeers and Starbursts and Peanut M&Ms, while I was stuck with the stuff in the glass bowl at Grandma's house. Still, I begrudgingly watched other teams make fun (if not always successful) moves, while my team made minor tweaks. Yet, I still loved it.

This year carries new hope. My team is listed nexted to all the 'buyers'. MY team made one of the first significant moves. MY TEAM is in a good chunk of the rumors, and for guys that aren't just spare parts. This is a new and improved trade deadline day.

That first moved mentioned was Brad Boyes. This already represents something of sea change for the Sabres and Darcy Regier. First of all, its something of a gamble. Darcy has, in the past, done deals that were almost fool proof. Sure, many of them didn't work out (Torres, Moore), but he gave up practically nothing to get them. This trade moves a pick (which Darcy has coveted in the past), and brings in a good chunk of salary.

Its also not a rental. Boyes has at least another year with the team, with that large cap hit ($4.5M). Again, not a move Darcy would've been able to make in the past.

The move is almost EXACTLY what Steve wrote about in his earlier blog. Boyes is a guy that has worn out his welcome in St. Louis. A guy that needs a change of scenery as bad as the Sabres need a scoring spark. The only difference is, while Boyes is listed as a Center, he doesn't actually play center.

This leads me to believe that Connolly (to the shagrin of Sabres fans and my Bold Prediction) isn't going anywhere. Like Steve said, Hecht cannot be your team's number one center. I think any move involving Connolly would need to bring a Center back, or at least would be a sign of another move that would bring a Center back.

Anyway (before I REALLY start to ramble), I'll post back here with any more Sabres news, or NHL news in general that I find intriguing. I've got around ten tabs open on different sites. Should be fun!

11:50 Very slow deadline day so far. Only two deals today thus far (Dvorak and Wideman trades). I wonder how much posturing is going on for guys like Richards and Spezza and Connolly who supposedly (if you ask their GMs) are NOT moving.

13:25 Odd move by the 'Yotes and Blue Jackets. Klesla to C-Bus and Upshall to Phoenix. The Jackets are on the outside looking in and Upshall is set to be a UFA. The Coyotes are in a good spot for the playoffs, and must've thought they'd lose Upshall for nothing. I guess this means Columbus is going to go for a late season push (currently in 12th), but it seems like a high price to pay (even if Klesla is dinged up). I admittedly know nothing about the other pieces of the trade (Lepisto and Byers).

14:00 I really feel for Panthers fans (there has to be some, right?)... What is Florida doing? They trade D-man Bryan Allen (who has another year on his deal) to Carolina for Sergei Samsonov. Samsonov is a rental player. The Panthers are 8 points out of the playoffs. They're doing it wrong. There must be more to this deal that hasn't come out yet. They've already traded away Stillman, McCabe, Dvorak and Wideman. And Buffalo fans, for those who felt bad for Tim Kennedy before...he now is a member of this proud franchise. Hell, he might be a first liner. Just move this team to Hamilton already.

EDIT: Judging from Fla fan (I found at least one) talk on messageboards, the team is dumping salary to retool in the offseason. Injuries forced them to take on 'rentals' like Sergei. These fans are confident the rebuild will be swift, but I can't say I trust anything Florida has done. Ever. So take that for what its worth.

14:30 Biggest deal of the day. Penner moves from Edm to the Kings for Teubert, a 2011 1st, and a conditional 2012. Seems win-win for both teams. The Kings get a player to help them be a real contender now, and Edmonton gets more pieces as they rebuild. They could be very good in a few years if they hit on some of these early picks.

15:25 Its over. Kind of uneventful. I guess we'll really see how the 'new' Sabres will operate come July 1. Can't complain much tho. They got better and it cost virtually nothing. A few more deals trickle in, but nothing overly significant. The Panthers dump another player (Higgins). That's probably it for me for today. I gotta go get my skates and drive down to Florida. I'm terrible but I hear they have plenty of openings.

My Blog

I figured I'd quickly use this space to explain what to expect out of my blog, but quite frankly, I'm not totally sure. If I wrote every thought I had up here, it'd really kill the material I have available for my weekly '3 Things'.

My guess would be that I'll use this space for items that are either really local (ie. Bills and Sabres) or for ideas that I either don't get to or just don't fit the podcast. I'll also try to keep them humorous or opiniated, since this obviously isn't where readers are coming for 'news'. So, thanks for reading and I look forward to checking out the comments and responses.

Blog-Casters: Cookies, Getting Ready, Pick 4, Sabres, Booking th...

Blog-Casters: Cookies, Getting Ready, Pick 4, Sabres, Booking th...: "Good lord! Females are a strange breed. Tonight, I witnessed my girlfriend and her best friend making cookies shaped as male genitalia and ..."

Cookies, Getting Ready, Pick 4, Sabres, Booking the 3-1 show

Good lord! Females are a strange breed. Tonight, I witnessed my girlfriend and her best friend making cookies shaped as male genitalia and then decorating them every way you can think of. Some of the poor cookies were ejaculating. The whole process was making me wonder more and more, "What the hell goes on at a bachelorette party?"

After the cookies, the girls escaped into the bedroom for an hour of giggling, tickle fights, makeup, and hair products. They emerged rather beautiful. My girlfriend obviously the prettier of the two.

Pick 4 Update

Pick 4 was strange this week because although we make our picks separately, three of the categories ended up being the same:


Game of the Week, BYU over SDST (80-67)


Steve: SDST (0-1)
Don: SDST (0-1)


World  Wide Leader, Kansas over Oklahoma (82-70)


Steve: Kansas (1-1)
Don: Kansas (1-1)


Host's Choice, Sabres over Thrashers (4-1)


Steve (2-1)
Don (2-1)


Bold Prediction


Steve: After starting the home-stand 0-3, the Sabres would finish it 3-3
Don: Tim Connolly will be traded before episode 8 of The Sports-Casters

Don is going to have to wait a few more days to find out if his bold prediction will make him 3-1 or 2-2.


Steve had the Sabres pegged just right as they beat the Thrashers on Pegula Night, then beat an AHL Senators team on Friday, only to watch a 2-1 lead against the Red Wings slip away with less than a minute left and then lose in the shootout. Overall, a tough way to finish 2-2 this week. 


If Tim Connolly is traded, Don and Steve will be tied with 18-11 records. 

What Would I Do if I were the Sabres GM?

The NHL trade deadline is coming on Monday and the rumors are everywhere. A few of the better ones I may or may not have heard:

• The Capitals have had it with Ovechkin's lack of scoring touch this season and they are looking to move him for a top prospect and The Social Network on Blu Ray (That thing is loaded with bonus features. (E4)
• Even Lemieux isn't buying the headache story anymore Sidney. Kid Crosby is just too much of a baby for the rough, tough, hypocritical Pens. If you want Crosby it might only take a couple of draft picks, the Kim Kardashian sex tape, and a left handed d-man who can move the puck on the power play and move players from the front of his net with tough body checks. (E2)
• With Eric Johnson being traded, the door is open to move top overall picks. Steven Stamkos could be out in Tampa Bay. He just really wants to play in a natural hockey city like Atlanta, Phoenix, Kansas City, or Dallas. (E5)

I may be exaggerating but the silliness of the trade deadline grows and grows as the pace of the media speeds up with blogging, and twitter, and podcasts, and all of the other stuff we do at Sports-Casters. It isn't our fault though, many other people started this evil trend well before we did. Ok so on to the Sabres:

I would first make a decision about the back-up goalie situation. I would like to be able to let Miller rest another 3-5 times and to do that I have to be able to believe the guy in net can get us some points in those games. It is clear the Sabres don't think Lalime is that guy so he is just wasting space and collecting a paycheck. 

I think this is how I would fix it. I would try to trade Lalime for a 6-7th round pick. If no one bites I would put him on waivers and call up Enroth. I know they don't like him sitting when he could be playing in Portland but playing 3-5 meaningful games in the show and then get my feel wet watching Miller in the playoffs. 

Next is Defense, every team in the league if they could would trade for a puck moving defenseman that can hit and score a goal here and then. The problem is they are very hard to find and very expensive. Now that Rivet is gone, let's take a look at what we have:

#1 Myers, Butler (Sekera)

#2 Montadour, Morrisonn

#3 Weber, Leopold 

#1- Myers has best Sabre ever upside. He is a rare talent and the single greatest asset in the entire organization. Butler and Sekera are the two guys that need to earn their spot in the lineup every night. 

#2- These two are looked at as solid, dependable, veterans. 

#3- Weber is tough and has a lot of upside. Leopold is good in the o-zone but not as much in his own end. 

So the way I look at it, we could use a good puck moving defenseman. (HA) I would probably stand pat and go with the seven we have. The top 5 have been good and only the 6th spot could realistically be upgraded at the deadline. Personally, I think Sekera can put it all together in the playoffs and get some solid production out of that sixth spot. I seen him do it at the Olympics last winter and I think he can do it again.

Last is forward and this is really tricky. Everyone and their sister's cousin that isn't white but your not really sure what she is wants to see Tim Connolly run out of town. I don't have a problem with it as long as the Sabres end the day with an NHL Center coming back. I am not okay with Hecht being the #1 center. The Sabres are solid at Wing, Stafford, Vanek, Ennis, and Pominville are nice top 6 wingers and Kaleta, Grier, and Gerbe works on the bottom 6. Neidermayer is a problem.  So lets say they trade Connolly for a similar #2 NHL center looking for a fresh start and swap out #20 for a double order of Duffs.  After all this, the Sabres would look like this after the deadline

Miller, Enroth

Myers, Sekera

Montadour, Morrisonn

Weber, Leopold

Vanek, Hetch, Stafford

Ennis, NEW CHANGE OF SCENERY CENTER, Pomminville

Gerbe, Gaustad, Greier

Kaleta, McCormick, Duff's Chicken Wings

Only a few subtle details, but I think the team is much better this way. Connolly gets his fresh start and Buffalo off his back. Our new center feels the same way (Stephen Weiss?) and the whole team is improved with drumstick playing hard in the corners on the fourth line. 

Booking the March 1st Episode of The Sports-Casters

People often ask me how did you get the guest for the podcast. It seems to me that each guest has their own story and the blog would be the perfect place to share some of these stories. 

The first guest on episode 8 is Sean Leahy from the Puck Daddy blog on Yahoo Sports! When we had Dameshek on for the Super Bowl show he recommended Leahy and said he would be a fantastic guest. I looked him up on Twitter and sent off a message. We decided he would make a great guest after the trade deadline and we booked it for 3-1. It was a pretty easy one. 

The second guest is Jon Wertheim one of the greatest American Sports Writers of all time. It was obviously a little more difficult to book. It started when we has Richard Deitsch from Sports-Illustrated on the third show. Richard explained to me that everyone at SI has the same email address FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME@SIMAIL.COM He gave me Jon's email and I didn't even have to ask for it. Then I emailed Jon and said I would love to read his book but I cant get a response from the publisher. He wrote right back and gave me a direct email to his girl over there and his book was in the mail the next day and at my doorstep by the end of the week. I wrote Jon back and thanked him for helping me get the book and I asked him if he would come on the show and talk about it with him, and he said no problem. 

Alright, I am going to watch a little Goodfellas and eat a little of that ice cream. One more blog post later. 

-Steve

BYU Dominates, Groceries, Kansas Dominating

I just got back from the grocery store and you can clearly see that my purchases are similar to that of the Chef preparing for the Royal Wedding. I can almost guarantee that at least one of those ice creams will be empty by my 4AM cab call (Cabs are here!!!).

The Sports-Casters game of the week was #6 San Diego State hosting #7 BYU. I was excited to check it out and see how SDST looked. I am familiar with Jimmer and BYU, but SDST has been a mystery to me all season. A few weeks ago on the podcast, Luke Winn kind of dismissed SDST as being a team that he didn't think would be anything more than a Sweet-16 team at best. About ten minutes into the game it was pretty much over. Jimmer was launching threes from the set of Big Love and it seemed like their was a ten-point gap the whole game. It was one of those games that during the tournament always seems to be played when there is nothing else to click over to. Final Conclusion: BYU is the class of Mountain West and SDST must have been sweet at football when Marshall Faulk played.

Don and I both picked against Oklahoma on the podcast this week. Don always tries to use one of our guest's alma mater for his host's choice. He struck gold this with with Oklahoma playing Kansas. Sure this game is in Norman, but they could probably have played this game in the lot of an Arby's and Oklahoma still would have taken a spanking. Down 12 at the half as I write this, its sad how bad Oklahoma has fallen since Blake Griffin left. Jeff Capel told Sooner Nation he was going to be a great recruiter because he was fluent in rap music and could connect with young kids. Well, his recruits are as fly as Kurtis Blow and the team is days away from going on probation and losing any relevance on campus that they might have had. When does spring practice start?

Alright, I am going to break into that ice-cream and get ready to for the rush of girls into the house to "get ready."

A few links for you to check out before my next blog...

• Luke Winn has the absolute best power rankings column on the internet.
• I am really enjoying the tweets from this blog that focuses on the NFL Draft. I am trying to get someone from the site to come on the show after the combine. 
• Apple relaunched their MacBookPro line Thursday and I was their to purchase a 15inch.
• Netflix is streaming the Freakonomics documentary and I watched it last night. It was as excellent as I thought. 

Welcome to the Blog

I have spent the last couple of weeks agonizing over how this blog would look. What purpose should it serve? Do people really want to listen to me talk on the podcast for over an hour on the podcast and then read what I have to say on top of it?

Initially, I thought the blog would just serve as a compliment to the podcast. It would be a list of links to information that came up on the podcast and other information that could just compliment The Sports-Casters.

Then, I changed my mind. I figured I would treat the blog as sports page column in the Buffalo News. I would write these pieces that are well researched and thought out and then would end up in, "The Greatest American Sports Writing Anthology."

My last idea was that I could use this space to do some live blogging. The "Pick 4" Game of the Week came to mind first. I should live blog our featured game and give my unique insight as the action progresses. Yea, that's it, live blogging.

Well, after considering all of those great options I decided that my blog didn't have to be anything specific. My blog could be a combination of all of those things. If I have an idea for a column, I plan on writing it. If there is some information that I think would compliment the podcast then I will post a bunch of links. If I want to live blog, then sure live blogs it will be.

I think this is the real appeal to the idea of blogging. The space is always there to share your thoughts in whatever way makes the most sense at that date and time.

Here is the idea for today. Its Saturday, and my girlfriend is getting ready to go to a bachelorette party tonight. She is running around all day and just being a girl. So, I am going to be a man and write all day long. I have to pick her up at 4:00 AM and it is just after 3:00 PM now and my day is jam packed with activities that you might want to hear my thoughts on today. Its going to be a mega-blowout, ultra, maximum blogging debut.

Here is what's on tap:

3:00-4:00: BYU vs. SDST (The Sports-Casters Game of the Week)
4:00-7:00: I have to make a trip to Tops and get some cash out of the bank for Tammy's festivities this evening. There is going to be some cookie making in the house and a group of girls are coming over "to get ready" for the party tonight. I will get some pics guys.
7:00-8:00: Sabres vs Redwings My bold predication is on the line as the Sabres have the chance to finish the home-stand that started 0-3, 3-0.
8:00-10:30: I will have both televisions cranking as the Sabres should be in the second period as the puck drops in Cedar Rapids for the USHL game between the Cedar Rapids Roughriders (CFL?) and the Waterloo Blackhawks. My brother is #14 for the Blackhawks and getting the chance to watch him play USHL games is a huge thrill for me.
10:30-4:00: I have no idea what I will do during this bock of time, but I am sure it will be fascinating to blog about.

Alright, lets do this.

Welcome to the blog of Steven Bennett the co-host of the hit podcast, The Sports-Casters and the worlds #1 Son/Boyfriend.

Game on...