The Broncos are shopping Jay Cutler.

Here's to hoping he doesn't end up in the NFC North, all though the Bears and Vikes would be insane not to make a serious run at him. My bet? NY Jets or Buccaneers.

Your thoughts?

Are we out of the woods?

So, last week, I lamented the Chicago Blackhawks play down the stretch to the playoffs (see "3-7-2"). As my previous article had mentioned, the Blackhawks had gone 3-7-2 in their previous twelve games, picking up only 8 points out of a possible 24. My next post, "'Hello again, Patrick Sharp!'", was mostly a celebration of the Blackhawks finally managing to win a game. However, at that point, I still wasn't convinced we had truly come back to form in order to compete against one of the best--if not the best--team in the league; the San Jose Sharks.

Tonight, I can be a little more certain of their abilities. Since the Blackhawks victory over the Los Angeles Kings, the Blackhawks have triumphed over two of the NHL's giants. The Blackhawks came out on Wednesday like someone had lit a fire under them, scoring three goals against one of the NHL's better goalies, Evgeni Nabokov, to make it 3-1 at the end of the first. Some wondered whether Nabby would be in net when the team came out for the second period. Surprisingly he did; and only allowed two more goals for the rest of regulation. His team showed their gratitude by making up the difference and tying the game 5-5 at the end of regulation. The two teams eventually went to a shootout, where Chicago lit the lamp twice and stoned the Sharks twice for an early end to the shootout. Final score: Chicago 6, San Jose 5.

The Blackhawks next test came on Friday, when they took on the New Jersey Devils, who have been nothing short of electric since Broduer's return (who am I kidding, they were amazing without him too!). Just last week, the Devils put down the Blackhawks in Newark to give Boduer his record-breaking 552nd career win. The Blackhawks came out and got the all-important first goal in the first period when rookie, Kris Versteeg lifted the puck over Broduer's shoulder in a tight space. The Devils would come back with a shot from the incredible Zach Parise; and would take the lead with a rebound shot by Paul Martin. The revitalized Martin Havlat (Blackhawks) would tie the game up once more in period 2. The game remained 2-2 for the rest of regulation. In overtime, the Blackhawks' Brent Seabrook ripped one past Broduer from the blue line to lift the Blackhawks past the Devils.

These wins mean something, for sure. The Blackhawks have--if nothing else--proven that their losing skid is over. I think that they have also proven that they can compete with some of the best in the league. Are they out of the woods? Not yet. The Blackhawks dropped a lot of points in the Western Conference during their skid. The Vancouver Canucks are now within 2 points of fourth place and threaten to take away the Blackhawks' home-ice advantage for the playoffs.

Interestingly enough, the Blackhawks and Canucks faceoff on Sunday. The winner accomplishes two things: they gain two points on their opponent, and they eliminate one more chance for their opponent to get points. The winner also threatens third place Calgary.

So, as you can see, those three playoff spots are in no way solidified. Everyone wants the home-ice advantage in the playoffs; so those third and fourth spots are going to be hard-fought-after. Anything can happen, so long as you make sure that when the dust settles, you're not in the fifth place spot.

Ted thinks the Packers are fine just how they are...

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had an interesting article wherein Thompson says the Packers roster isn't really in need at any position, and he doesn't feel much pressure to sign anyone in free agency. He also says they don't need any of this years draft class to step up and become starters. He's quoted as saying that they have, "a fair group of players."

Um....hello? This is the same team that went 6-10 last year right? Fair players don't win championships!!!

The article mentions a really interesting piece of trivia, only 4 teams have not signed an unrestricted free agent from another team, the Packers and 3 other 12 win teams. They won literally twice as many games!!

I think that TT is a little delusional about the state of his team right now. Not that it's time to panic after one bad season, but it seems that TT and the Packers management really believes that they can take a bunch of low round draft picks and 2nd stringers from other teams, "put them through the offseason program", and them make them into a winning team. I'm trying to stay optimistic, but I'm starting to feel that "staying the course" may not be the best option.

"Hello again, Patrick Sharp!"

Patrick Sharp left a game against Dallas in the third period with a lower-body injury over a month ago. In fact, the game was on Valentine's Day, but Dallas's dillhole, Steve Ott, was showing no love for Chicago's top goal scorer (at the time).

During Sharpie's time off, the Blackhawks went 6-10 and have given up a pretty comfortable lead over Vancouver for fourth place in the Western Conference. The Blackhawks were sliding terribly, losing 7 of their last 8 and were 3-7-2 in their last twelve...until Sunday.

Granted, the Blackhawks were playing the Los Angeles Kings (who currently sit at 13th place in the West), but you have to start somewhere, right? Sunday's game in Chicago was the much-awaited return of Patrick Sharp, and he didn't disappoint.

Sharp scored the first goal of the game at 9:46 of the first while on the power play. This goal already told Blackhawks fans that one of their favorites was back in business, but he didn't stop there. He helped Martin Havlat light the lamp on a beautiful give-and-go, letting fans know that he was up to his old antics. Think that's the last we heard of Sharp? No, Sharp thoought he'd might as well seal the deal by scoring an empty-netter off the boards from his own blue line.

Does this mean that the Blackhawks are back on track and have fixed all the problems that caused them to lose 7 of their last eight? No. Let's not kid ourselves, as good of a game as this sounds; it was still against the Kings. The Blackhawks need to continue to limit opponent's shots, as they did against Los Angeles. As good as Khabibulin is, he's even better when he doesn't face that many shots. Same goes for Huet. If he faces a bunch of shots, he eventually can't stop anything, but when the Blackhawks limit the shots of their opponents, he seems to make the saves that he needs to, even the difficult ones.

The Blackhawks need to help Khabi out and let him get back into his game. Let's not forget, he just came back last Sunday from a month off with a groin injury. The Blackhawks also need to be able to give Huet some time off after exhausting himself and compromising his ability by playing all but one of the games that Khabi was gone in the stretch from Feb. 11-Mar. 15. Huet needs some time to rest up and figure out how to manage his rebounds.

One last thing, the Blackhawks need to stop giving up the first goal of the game. And stop giving it up early. The statistics show that the team who gives up the first goal doesn't stand a great chance at winning. The Blackhawks seemed to be giving up the first goal IN THE FIRST MINUTE several times during their cold streak. Not only do you start off in the hole by one, but the pyschological effect must be tremendous as well. How do you go out and win the game when you promptly let all the air out of your balloon?

The Blackhawks play the NHL's best, the San Jose Sharks, on Wednesday. This will be a true test of their meddle. I'm not saying that they have to win on Wednesday to prove that they're out of their slump (although, that would be nice!). However, they need to put forth a good showing. I don't expect the Blackhawks to top the team whose proven themselves to be the best since week one, although I know they can (see Jan. 31, thier last meeting). For now, I'm just going to bask in the sunlight of Sunday and think good thoughts about the Blackhawks ending the season strong and heading into the playoffs with a full head of steam.

Packerslounge.com "Top Ten" reasons why they Packers have been quiet in free agency thus far...

So I've been pretty critical of the Packers failure to do much in free agency thus far. Packerslounge.com offers up 10 explanations. Some are funny, others legit, and some I'd disagree with. For instance, #7 is true every year, and thus doesn't really apply. As far as #6 and #8 go, every year they say there's no one worthwhile and we should save it for next year, and every year we don't. There'll be no cap in 2010, but I bet we won't sign anyone anyway.

From: http://packerslounge.com/?p=4330

10. We’re perfect. We don’t need much of an overhaul, a word I’m hearing far too much lately. We just need to get healthy, plug a few gaps (draft) and move onto camp!

9. Dom Capers stole it for hair cream.

Dom Capers Hair

Dom Capers has fabulous hair. Even at an old age, his hair is magnificent. That’s not good genes, that’s good hair product. Nobody can afford that much hair product unless they’ve pulled off a heist, or stolen the cap money from Ted’s mattress.

8. No worth while free agents. Seriously. There wasn’t much out there to begin with, (Canty was a big name. Think about it.) he’s not going to overpay like some of these other teams. I still think we’ll pick some players up as the market calms down and this is what Ted is good at, bringing in guys we never heard of to really help the team.

7. He needs it to sign draft picks. We’re going to draft 16 people next month and those guys are going to need contracts.

6. Waiting for the uncapped 2010 season when things get crazy. As it stands, there will be no cap in 2010 and small market teams like the Packers are going to be screwed. You think people don’t want to come to Green Bay NOW? Wait a year. Next year, it’s going to be like Jericho in the NFL. There will be chaos and outrageous shenanigans, death and destruction everywhere, and some money hidden for safe keeping. Ted will have ammo to possibly compete with the insane market that’s going to be here in a year.

5. Doesn’t know how to work the phone. Old people struggle with technology. Maybe he WANTED to make some deals, but couldn’t get the phone to call anyone outside of the Packers offices. Hit 9 first, Ted!

4. Spent it on glasses and cool shorts.

The man knows style

Come on, look at that. The guy is styling and profiling.

3. Saving up to buy a soul. Look at that soulless son of a bitch. He’s going to be using our money to make a deal with the devil so there’s a soul behind those beady little eyes.

2. Hates Packers fans. Maybe all the Brett Favre purists were right when they started saying this in 2005. Thompson was a Houston Oiler and has no real ties to the Green Bay area. He hates us and this proves it.

1. He forgot. Hey, he’s an older guy and sometimes you just forget things. I forgot my ex-girlfriend’s birthday once, thus the ex part. You know that emotionless look Ted has sometimes when he looks like he doesn’t even know what day it is? Maybe he doesn’t.

Broncos vs. Cutler

VS.

The Jay Cutler saga drags on. Cutler has officially asked for a trade. The Broncos say they want to smooth things out. So, who's in the right here? I want your opinion. I can understand why Cutler's feelings are hurt and why he may want out. I'd probably feel the same. But is demanding to be traded justified? I'd say he needs to just suck it up and sign somewhere else when he becomes a free agent. Yeah, he's a good QB and the Broncos will be in trouble without him, but he's still never taken them to the playoffs.

In other news, the Packers continue to be inactive in free agency. They resigned UFA DE Michael Montgomery. He's a backup, so this is not a big splash. They also matched a tender for restricted FA CB Jarrett Bush. This may be classified as clinically insane, as Bush is a walking pass interference machine. Why they didn't let him go is beyond me. One possible explanation is the Thompson Doctrine, as explained by Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Another reason that's been thrown around is that he's a good special teams player. Who cares? They already have a CB that's good for special teams but not much else: Will Blackmon. Plus, both Nick Collins and Tramon Williams want more money, and increasing Bush's salary is not going to quiet them down.

My bracket is ruined. I'm doing pretty poorly in all of my pools. Oh well, I just do it for fun anyhow.

3-7-2

The Blackhawks have lost once again. That puts them at 3-7-2 in their last 12 games. Pretty anemic for the team who's 4th place in the Western Conference. And that position they only hold by one point over the Vancouver Canucks.

I thought that perhaps the Blackhawks were only slipping because they were missing two big factors in their line-up: Nikolai Khabibulin (G) and Patrick Sharp (RW). But with the "Bulin Wall" back and Sharpie's return just around the corner, the Blackhawks don't seem to be doing any better. Why not?

Their defense is soft. Just last night, the Blackhawks allowed the New Jersey Devils' Jamie Langenbrunner to slip into the offense zone behind the defense without anyone on him. They were all too entirely concerned with team scoring leader, Zach Parise. It was no surprise that when Parise dished it to Langenbrunner, he ripped it past Khabi with less than a minute gone from the game clock.

A few minutes later, while on the power play, Matt Walker unsuccessfully lifted Travis Zajac's stick to prevent the one-timer goal through Khabi's five hole. Two goals in the first period; both of them a failure on the defense's part.

Tonight, the Blackhawks lost in OT to the Columbus Blue Jackets (the second time in 4 games). This was scored by a pass across the front of the net and a shot, despite Brian Campbell being right there to defend the play.

Looks like we could use some help on defense...

WAIT A MINUTE! DIDN'T WE JUST TRADE A GREAT DEFENSEMAN FOR A MIDDLING CENTER?!

Yes, yes, we did. By the way, Sami Pahlsson, not impressive. I knew he wouldn't be. He was hailed as a great face-off man. Yeah, I saw him win some face-offs, but not the face-off in the Blue Jackets offensive zone on their power play that led to a quick goal.

Let's review the Blackhawks' acquisitions this year.
Cristobal Huet: disappointment
Brian Campbell: Soft, doesn't put his body out there, and let's people by all the time.
Sami Pahlsson: Too soon to tell, but I don't like what we gave up.

Granted, all these guys have had their flashes of brilliance and this post is probably coming from a very disappointed and disillusioned Blackhawks fan. A short win streak may change my opinion on all these guys, but right now, I'm not sold on any of them.