14. Its not just about the boos. | Forum
miaowang123
Feb 26 '18
TSN Hockey Insiders Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, and Pierre LeBrun have the latest on available players on the New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres, if moving Dave Bolland is a possibility for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Steven Stamkos Olympics situation. From the moment Thomas Vanek turned down a reported $50 million contract offer from the New York Islanders, the thought was he has to be moved. Is a deal imminent? Pierre LeBrun: Its not imminent but it could happen before the end of the week, of course we have an Olympic trade freeze Friday at 3pm et. In a perfect world the Islanders would look to divest themselves of that big salary of Vaneks so they dont carry it through the Olympics. But that same big cap number is why some of the contenders – and we know that Los Angeles and Pittsburgh have some interest in Vanek – cant deal yet as they are right at the cap. So it makes this deal difficult before the Olympic freeze. To get Vanek, the asking price is three assets: any combination of a first-round pick, a young player, and a prospect. Whatever the combination, Islanders GM Garth Snow is trying to get his big haul here because we know how much he gave up to get Vanek at the start of the season. Bob McKenzie: The Islanders also have another asset in play in defenceman Andrew MacDonald. Heres a guy that is going to unrestricted free agency at the end of the season, hes only making $550,000 right now, but he leads the NHL in blocked shots. And for the last two seasons hes been the minutes leader for the Islanders. There has been a lot of interest in this player. The Islanders could do a deal with him, maybe between $4 million and $5 million a year, which would be a huge increase on what hes currently making, but the Islanders have lots of young defencemen coming and lots of teams are calling. MacDonalds name is definitely in play. And is one of Thomas Vaneks ex-teammates also drawing interest? McKenzie: That would be Steve Ott of the Buffalo Sabres. We all know that Matt Moulson has been drawing interest, with upwards of a double digit number of teams inquiring about Moulsons availability by the deadline. But Ott is attracting that much, if not more attention than Moulson. Obviously keep an eye on the Sabres, theyre at the bottom of the league and ready to offload people. In addition to Ott and Moulson there is the Ryan Miller scenario playing out but also Henrik Tallinder is another guy who could be moved as well as Drew Stafford and Cody McCormick. Dave Bolland hasnt played since November 2. Is he still in play? Darren Dreger: Hes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, so Dave Nonis and the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to have to figure out what option they want to pursue with Bolland. There are three of them: No. 1 is theyll negotiate relatively soon and find out what his number would be to avoid free agency. No. 2 is if they dont like the number at this stage in the season, they wait and use him as their own rental to push for the playoffs. No. 3, which isnt anywhere near as likely as No.1 but is certainly an option, is to trade Bolland if you know that a deal isnt likely to be made. By all accounts, everything is going to plan for Steven Stamkos. His plan is to play Saturday and then make a decision with Team Canada at that point. What is Team Canada doing to manage the situation if Stamkos cant go? Dreger: First of all, there are a couple hurdles Canada has to get by. No. 1: they want to find out what Wednesdays test results are medically speaking on Stamkos. Either way, expect Team Canada GM Steve Yzerman to reach out to at least a couple, as many as four or five, of the replacement players – Claude Giroux, James Neal, Eric Staal, Martin St. Louis – to put them on standby. Then you look to Saturday and if Stamkos is able to play against the Detroit Red Wings, then thats a great sign. Obviously theyll monitor how he feels post-game, then theyll make the decision as to whether he or somebody else gets on the Sunday charter flight. LeBrun: And theres a Stamkos-like situation playing out in Minnesota, obviously not getting as much attention. Mikko Koivu, the best player on the Finnish Olympic team, may not be able to play. This thing is going down to the wire. We know one thing, hes not going to play for the Wild this week. He hasnt played in a month after ankle surgery. Hes still recovering and skated on Tuesday, having felt better than he has in a couple days. But at the end of the day, be it Friday or Saturday, Koivu has to get together with Minnesota team doctors and the Finnish Olympic team to make a call on whether or not hes fit to play in the Olympics. That would be a gigantic loss for Finland. CALGARY -- Kyle Shewfelts Olympic gold medal in gymnastics shines bright a decade later because it is the first and only of its kind in Canada. Unlike the Olympic champion who has a teammate or hero to follow or emulate, Shewfelt blazed his own trail to win the floor routine in 2004. He is the only Canadian to win an Olympic medal of any colour in gymnastics. The Calgarian is among the athletes, builders and coaches who will be inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in June. Hell join speedskater Cindy Klassen, the victorious mens eight rowing team of 2008, speedskating coach Marcel Lacroix, hockey coach Pat Quinn and the late, former Alberta premier Ralph Klein among the 2014 inductees. Sports journalist Richard Garneau, who covered 23 Olympic Games, will receive the Canadian Olympic Order posthumously. While Shewfelt agrees no Canadian beat a path to the podium for him, he didnt feel isolated in his quest. "Why did it happen for me? I wasnt by myself," Shewfelt said. "I had tons of supporters, amazing teammates, my national federation was so supportive of the dream. They sent me around the world when I was 17 to get that experience. I just never wavered in my belief that it was possible. "I watched the Russians, I watched the Americans, the Chinese and the Japanese and I imagined myself being just like them. I did have incredible Canadian ambassadors in sport, Jennifer Wood was my idol, Curtis Hibbert, Stella Umeh, these are people I really looked up to. "For myself, I wanted to take it to the next level and I guess it took a lot of courage for myself to do that, but it was something I was willing to risk. I knew as an athlete that when I ended by career, I wanted to look back and have no regrets. I had to chase the biggest dream possible." Shewfelt, 31, retired in 2009 after competing in three Olympic Games. He broke both legs in competition less than a year out from the 2008 Summer Games, yet finished ninth in the vault and 11th in the floor routine in Beijing. Shewfelt, who has a vault named after him, recently opened a gymnastics school in the city. The Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame was established in 1949. It is housed in the Frank King Olympic Visitors Centre at Calgarys Canada Olympic Park about a kilometre from Canadas Sports Hall of Fame. Previous inductees into the Olympic Hall of Fame include wrestler Daniel Igali, swimmer Mark Tewksbury, synchronized swimmer Caroline Waldo and sprinter Donovan Bailey. The class of 2014 was revealed Wednesday in downtown Calgary along with the announcement that the city will host a three-day celebration June 4-6 of Canadas performance at the Sochi Games. Shewfelt and Lacroix, who coached Christine Nesbitt and the mens pursuit team to Olympic gold in 2010, attended the news conference. Quinn and members of the mens eight participated in a conference call. Klein spearheaded Calgarys bid for the 1988 Winter Games when he was mayor of the city. Albertas premier from 1992 to 2006 died last year at the age of 70. Winnipegs Klassen won five medals, including one gold, at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee at the time, labelled her "the woman of the Games." With six career medals, she and Clara Hughes are Canadas most decorated Olympians of all time. Klassen, 34, did not compete in trials to qualify for Sochi because of a concussion. She has yet to announce her retirement from speedskating. Canada won the first mens hockey gold in 50 years in 2002 with Quinn behind the bench. Canadians were still stinging from finishing out of the medals four years earlier when NHL players first participated in the Winter Games. It didnt help that Canada got off to a rough startt in Salt Lake City with a loss to Sweden.dddddddddddd "In the first game, we had eight lousy minutes," Quinn recalled. "Everybody was down after the first loss to Sweden. By the time we reviewed the tape of the game, we knew that we werent that far off. Even though the score was ugly, the game wasnt ugly." The leadership of Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic and Joe Nieuwendyk steered the team through choppy waters and also got young players on the team to toe the line, Quinn said. "Our leadership took over and said this is the way were going to do it," Quinn said. "That was when we simply had a change in our mindset about what team means. We got these young guys paying attention through the process. "Thats what saved us in Salt Lake. Our goal was to get better shift by shift because we had no real practice time and thats where the coach needs his team to come together is through practice. We used the early games as a practice to get ready for the final round." The mens eight of coxswain Brian Price, Andrew Byrnes, Ben Rutledge, Dominic Seiterle, Kyle Hamilton, Malcolm Howard, Jake Wetzel, Adam Kreek and Kevin Light led the final from start to finish to win gold in Beijing. It was a tale of redemption after a heavily favoured Canadian crew finished out of the medals four years earlier. The Canadians dodged early pitfalls in Beijing. Primed and ready for their first heat, races were cancelled that day due to lightning. "Picture a bunch of racehorses or dogs at a race track and theyre all revved up to go and attack and they have all this energy and adrenaline built up," Kreek explained. "We were like these racehorses ready to run, these hunting dogs ready to pounce." With officials hustling boats off the course, Price used what little time they had to get hard rows in as they headed for the docks. "We didnt have to go back and sit on bikes or on the rowing machine and try to get some work in," Hamilton said. "We were able to manipulate the situation to make sure we got our work in and were ready to go. "Instead of just paddling back, Brian had already shifted us into the next day into the next race plan. That really kind of set us up for the next day, set us up for the regatta and told the young guys on the crew that we were ready to go, we knew what we were doing and we could handle every situation." They needed that composure the following day. Not 500 metres into their heat, the Australians blew a rudder and veered towards the Canadian boat. "Were seeing this Australian boat coming towards us and its going to pierce right through our hull," Kreek recalled. "The eight of us wont act unless Brian says something. Brian sees the Aussies coming at us and says take five strokes now. "All eight of us take the biggest strokes of our life. We barely missed the Aussie boat as it skidded right behind our stern." Lacroix coached Nesbitt and the mens pursuit team of Denny Morrison, Mathieu Giroux and Lucas Makowsky to gold at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C. Now the associate director of sport at Calgarys Olympic Oval, Lacroix says Canadas sport system now recognizes and values the coachs contribution to an athletes performance. One example is the Canadian Olympic Committee now pays medal bonuses to coaches of Olympic medallists. "From the provincial level all the way to the national team and to the COC, there is a big push in terms of recognizing the profession of coaching," Lacroix said. "It has become a profession. Now with the bonuses that are given to the coaches for their effort, I think it is showing a lot of respect for that profession at all levels." Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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