Miracle on Ice

Sidney Crosby scored the biggest goal to win the highest prize for the greatest nation in hockey. So what if Canada's 3-2 overtime victory over Team USA Sunday wasn't actually a miracle. When you look at it objectively, could there have been a more fitting, riveting finish to one of the greatest hockey games in history?

Most people in the Pittsburgh area who don't follow hockey nearly as much as they follow the Penguins are unaware of the animosity that so many worldwide (or more specifically, outside of Canada) feel for Sid. I checked a couple of blogs and forums during gold-medal game and, let me tell you, there were many harsh words for Crosby and for Canada.

Hockey is the national pastime of Canada. To compare, being a hockey fan in Canada is like being obese in America: everybody does it. And Sid is the symbol of the Canadian hockey fan, doing everything he can to be a part of the game's greatest moments.

So if you go back to hating Crosby because he isn't piling up points for you team, so be it. All I can ask is that you take a second to realize that while unique, this victory is as important and as storybook to Canadian hockey as the 1980 miracle was to American hockey.


And now back to your regularly scheduled blog...

The Olympics are officially over and now I can ease back into the task at hand: giving advice to get your fantasy team over the hump and into championship contention.

There was a trade minutes after the NHL's trade embargo was lifted at midnight Sunday. It will bring Jordan Leopold to the Pittsburgh Penguins while the Florida Panthers receive Pittsburgh's 2nd round draft pick in 2010.

This trade does little to the value of Leopold for fantasy purposes. He has 7 goals and 11 assists this season, but is a middle of the pack minus-7 and is nothing more than a big body. He should see a higher plus/minus with Pittsburgh and may even see an up-tick in points playing with better forwards, but his value for fantasy will be severely limited to only the most desperate of teams.

Where this deal gets interesting is in the fact that it now gives Pittsburgh 8 NHL-quality defensemen: Sergei Gonchar, Alex Goligoski, Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik, Mark Eaton, Martin Skoula, Jay McKee, and now Leopold.

One of these is very likely to be traded by the March 3rd deadline. I suspect that Letang or Goligoski will move on (perhaps packaged with Jordan Staal) in exchange for a winger to play with Sid or Evgeni Malkin. All this could lead to a change in fantasy value for Letang, Goligoski, and the party-to-be-named-later. Of course this is all just speculation and is part of the fun with the trade deadline.


Thats a wrap for today. The next entry will see what the biggest shakeups from the deadline have for fantasy teams going forward.

Jordan Leopold image courtesy of NHL.com