Monday Moaning

The Rangers lost the Stanley Cup Finals Friday night...There's only one real way to get over it...Yep, sexy women and drinking!

Now I haven't been full of confidence in this team all year, but when they've gone this far, it's hard to not buy into what they've been doing...They got to the finals for god's sake...They must have done something right...Well shit, they do have one of the best goalies in the world...He alone will steal you some games...But it was clear, against the Kings the Rangers would need more...As I pointed out last week...The lack of production from Rick Nash was a killer, and if they were going to come back, they needed him to start lighting the lamp...Well, it didn't happen...

That right there really sums up "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."

Lundqvist made 48 saves in Friday's double OT game 5...I'm not sure what else they guy could have done...The winning goal, he had no chance at, and still was close to getting it...Rewatching the play, the winger racing back, along with the two defensemen all went towards the shooter breaking in...Lundqvist made the save and the rebound went off to his right...Right onto the stick of the wide open defensemen Martinez...Martinez who also got the game 7, winning OT goal against Chicago in the conference finals...Nice playoff for him...

Lundqvist has always been an intense competitor, but I've never seen him look the way he did after this defeat....

It took some time before he got out of his pads...

My hope is that the Rangers who will stay in New York with Lundqvist, will remember tis feeling, and use it to drive them next year...

That said...Now is the part were I call some players out...As I mentioned, I took care of Nash last week...First...The three guys wearing "A" on their chests...Since trading Callahan no one has worn the "C"...

1. Brad Richards with his grossly high priced contract...Last year he sucked so bad in the playoffs Torts put him on the 4th line, and then scratched him for a couple games...That couldn't happen again right...Wrong...new coach Alain Vigneault put Richards on the 4th line during the Finals...Richards had 1 assist in the Finals...That's it...Big-money playmaker, one assist...Luckily, reports are now out that the Rangers will use their buyout and unload Richards after 3 disappointing seasons...

2. Marc Staal...At least 1000 of my tweets are bitching about how much Marc Staal sucks and is overpaid...Staal is suppose to be a top-notch defensive defenseman...BULLSHIT! He often looks slow...Often gets caught out of position...Often is too weak with his passes, or clearing attempts, leading to turnovers...I would be thrilled if the Rangers could trade this overrated prick...Please Carolina, try to reunite all the overrated Staal brothers!

3. Dan Girardi...This one hurts because I like Girardi...And when he shit the bed in game one and coughed up the puck in his own end, leading to a Justin Williams OT winning goal, I was pissed, but it's rare that he fucks up like that...But as I watched more, I noticed he was not playing like himself...His passes started looking like Staal's...He was getting physically manhandled...Not what you want to see from your defensive stalwart...I'm honestly expecting to hear about an injury with Girardi soon...His whole game looked off, and I wouldn't be surprised if an injury was the root of that...

So he's getting a bit of a pass, for now...But the other two can eat my ass...

The Rangers leading scorer  in the playoffs was defenseman Ryan McDonagh...While I'm glad the kid had a great run, that says something about your teams offense....But there are positives...Along with McDonagh, the Rangers showed there is a core of young, scrappy, talented players...Krieder, Stepan, Hagelin, Brassard, Zuccarello, all played well, and consistently through the playoffs, and all ahead of Richards and Nash in scoring...

The Rangers have some good talented players in the minors...Getting a few of them in the mix next year could add speed and grit...Two thing LA showed they had more of...LA rolled four strong lines...All had speed...All had at least one guy who will do the dirty work...They also rolled 6 strong blueliners...Not many teams can say that...

The fact of the matter is, The Rangers getting to the Finals was a helluva feat...But whatever team they were going to face was gonna be a bitch for them...Right now, the west is a better conference...LA, Chicago, Minnesota, St. Louis, San Jose, Anaheim, are all strong...Colorado is on a big upswing...Dallas is showing signs of life...The East has the Rangers, The Bruins, Montreal...The Penguins get hype but have show a knack of blowing up in the playoffs...Philly can't find a goalie worth a shit...Detroit is a mix of old and young, and was hammered with injuries...

The only team in the East that could hang with LA and Chicago this year would have been a healthy Boston team...And they weren't close to healthy come the playoffs...

Enough hockey...It's making want to drink more...

I hope all you dads out there enjoyed your Father's Day...Doing what I do...I had to work...So this is how I celebrated...

Have a week...

The Beeze.

The Beeze's Friday Finger Pop (NHL Off Season Madness)

Well, it looks like a couple people are ready for some finger poppin' good times...Here we are, day after the 4th of July...Do you still have all your fingers? I hope every one had fun celebrating the 4th...That said, if your city/town is one of those shit-dick places that did fireworks on July 3rd, or 5th, fuck off...You celebrate on the 4th...Do the firewworks on the 4th...You see this more an more...Just like those asshole places that have their Halloween trick-or-treat on the Saturday before...Fuck you...You trick-or-treat on Halloween! 

You don't ever see anyone or anywhere celebrate New Years on December 29th or January 3rd...Why?  Because there is onlt one fucking New Years, just like there is one Halloween, and one 4th of July...Come on America, lets get our shit together...

Next up in the Finger Pop...NHL teams are all trying to find salary cap space, while holding onto key players, and landing quality and high profile free agents...There is a hot term now in the NHL...The "Compliance Buyout."  This lets teams string out a percentage of a players contract, when waiving him, and it not killing their cap number...

In Philadelphia the Flyers dropped big money, $28 million to buyout the contracts of Ilya Bryzgalov and Daniel Briere...Then what did they do...Get themsleves another big contract on the books, signing 33 year old Vincent Lecavalier to a 5 year, $22.5 million contract....I think 5 years for a 33 year old who has spent a lot of time injured the last couple years is dumb, but good for Vinny...He's going to be sitting pretty making his $4.5 million a year from Philly...But on top of that is his buyout from Tampa Bay, who wanted/needed to get him off the books...From the Lightning he'll get $2.3 million a year for the next 14 seasons...WOW!

And and Flyers fans don't get too excited...Your team still has some holes to fill...Which should be fun to see since Lecavalier's contract just took them $300,000 over the salary cap!

While that buy out mess, and signing made me laugh...And sick...My favorite so far, and I doubt it will be topped is the New York Islanders buying out Goalie Rick DiPietro...Seven years ago GM Garth Snow thought it would be a good idea to give this average goalie a 15 year, $67.5 million contract...Since then DiPietro has either sucked, been injured, or both...Well, the Islanders have decided to finally rid themselves of this douche...To do so, they used the Compliance Buyout...DiPietro will be given $1.5 million annually for the next 16 years....

Yeah, Lecavalier will be earning more, but at least he put together a really good career so far...DiPietro has just blown...And I love that Snow had to finally admit he made a huge mistake...If I was teh owner I'd make him hold a press conference stating that he is sorry, and that he is a fucking idiot....They have to pay a guy $1.5 million a year, for 16 years, to go the fuck away!

How I wouldn't love a job that I could suck at, and the boss just finally breaks down and says, 'You're fucking killing us...Here, I'll pay you $1.5 million a year for, lets say 16 years...All you have to do is go the fuck away!'  

Where the fuck do I sign!?!

Surprisingly, the New York Rangers didn't use the Compliance Buyout on Brad Richards, as many expected...GM Glen Sather says he expects Richards (33 yrs. old) to bounce back...So the Rangers will take the $9 million cap hit this season...Many Rangers fans, myself included, don't like this move, because it is giving the Rangers very little room to hold onto key players, and make any splash in free agency...

The Pittsburgh Pengins signed 26 year old defenseman Kris Letang to an eight year $58 million extension...It's not a horrible signing, but I'm just not a fan of going that long with anyone...But there is another reason this deal is risky...With this extension, the Penguins will have nearly half of their salary cap space locked up in 4 players...Letang, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and James Neal...Those 4 fuckers better stay healthy and produce or your team is gonna be in trouble...

Then comes the Boston Bruins who were talking to teams during the draft about moving 21 year old and former #2 overall pick, Tyler Seguin...Well, Thursday the Bruins sent Seguin, Rich Peverley, and minor-leaguer Ryan Button to Dallas for Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith (22), 23 year old Matt Fraser, and Joe Morrow (20), the key piece Dallas got from Pittsburgh when they traded Brenden Morrow...Eriksson(27) gives the Bruins an elite left-handed winger who can play either side, and knows how to shoot...He's posted 70 points in each of the last 3 seasons...He has 3 years left on his $25.5 million, 6 year deal, which will be a smaller cap hit what Seguin would have been...The Bruins added a lot of youth and potential, and a proven player...

They also rid themselves of what they felt could be a major problem...According to "sources around the team," the Bruins had to have a sit down with Seguin during their playoff series with Toronto...They questioned his commitment to the team, and wanted him to start acting like a "Professional"...One report says Seguin showed up to the Air Canada Centre wearing the same close for 3 straight days...The 21 year old has earned quite the rep for partying since his 19 year old rookie season when he helped the Bruins win the Cup...and the rep isn't that good, based on this tweet from the Cask 'N Flagon...

"The Boston nightclub scene will be a better place without #tylerseguin demanding entry.#TradeSeguin"

The Bruins have another pressing issue to get to as well....

The contract extension people are waiting to see done in Boston, is goalie Tuuka Rask...The speculation is saying the 26 year old could be looking at a deal in the area of $56 million over 8 years...Smart moving taking that 1 year deal last season and proving yourself...Rask and the Bruins both gambled in those negotiations, and it looks like Rask won...

Have a good weekend!

The Beeze

Monday Moaning

   No, my weekend wasn't this good...Sunday started with me hungover, and three kids, (ages 11, 8, and 2) being loud as fuck...My goal was to sleep until 11:00AM, a rare thing in this house...I made it to 9:30AM...As soon as I showed up in the living room, crabby that my kids were so loud, my wife bolted to the grocery store...After she got back, it was a mad scramble to get everyone ready to go to our friends daughter at Build-A-Bear...One of those special Hell on Earth places...Kids, chaos, and money being spent...Luckily it wasn't mine money being spent...I put my foot down that the kids weren't getting any extras...Unfortunately, our friends dropped a helluva buck for all these bears being built...

Our oldest took home a bear with a girl outfit...Well put together...She likes to shop...The Little Beeze came home with a Camouflaged bear wearing his full military digs...Molly got a Girl Scout bear with the uniform and all...They had fun, that's what it's all about...right?

Saturday night we went to a benefit for a guy I went to high school with...He's a firefighter, so automatically he's getting a certain level of respect...He had an accident, and suffered a serious brain injury...He's rehabbing, and getting better...He showed up briefly, and thanked his family and friends and the nearly 1000 people there...I caught up with some guys from high school, saw some other people I hadn't seen in awhile...Had a couple of those conversations that eventually get awkward because it's been so long...Oh, and I drank beers...

After that the wife and I stopped at the old Fish House...We were going to have some dessert, but they set us up with a bunch of apps, so I had a couple more beers...Then we had dessert...Then I wanted to pass out...But of course, when we got home, 2 out of the 3 kids were still up...The oldest and youngest...Some how I got stuck getting Molly down...Me and her crashed on the couch watching the x-games...She loves the skiing and snowboarding....Especially when they wipe out...That's my girl!

The worst part about getting a night out...having to clean the house like crazy, so your sitter doesn't think you're total pieces of shit...Luckily, when I threw on some music to get started with the cleaning, Molly put on a little show, that made things a little easier...




Now some of you may be asking, where's the sports?  Well I've written enough about Manti Te'o....I've beaten that fake, dead girlfriend enough.....What, did you expect a recap of the Pro Bowl?  Who watches that?  Nobody I know...If you watch the Pro Bowl, the worst version of the NFL...1. you don't need a recap of that boring shit...2. Slap yourself!

I have been slowly getting into the NHL...Seeing Rick Nash skating with Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards for the Rangers is a dream come true...

 

Seeing this line lighting the lamp has been great...

These three guys are clicking really well, and while their names and salaries mean they should be doing what they are, caring the offense...It wouldn't be a bad idea to put Richards on the second line and put Stepan between the two play-makers...Richards may be able to get the second line going...That's just me doing some armchair coaching...

 Now, let's talk "Super Bowl"...As many of you have seen, I've had no problem tooting my own horn for correctly predicted the "Super Bowl" matchup at the beginning of the year...Well lets see just how good I am...Here comes my prediction...As much as the conspiracy theorist in me wants to say the Ravens will win, because it's fixed for the NFL and the media's love affair with that asshole Ray Lewis...I can't...Because when I look at everything, the 49ers just look like a better team...So I'm calling it...San Fransico wins...What, you want a score?  San Fran 34 - Baltimore 27...

But the real question my wife wants to know...Who will have the best commercial...I know this...No one will beat this commercial that was made for the "Super Bowl" but got banned...





Have a week...

The Beeze.