Sunday, June 17, 2007

It's just around the corner

Late June and early July is typically the "dead" time in the NFL. The draft and minicamps are over, and training camps don't begin for another month.

So what's a football fan to do?

Read.

The preview publications are beginning to appear, and two of the best year-in, year-out are produced by The Sporting News and Pro Football Weekly.

I like the Sporting News' annual because they utilize beat writers in each city to write the previews. There is no substitute for being there day-in, day-out.

Pro Football Weekly does football, and football only - every week of the season - and their annual is as thorough as you'll find in terms of player rankings.

I'll give special mention to Sports Illustrated, whose online coverage continues to improve, and whose NFL preview has the advantage of coming out at the end of training camp.

So get reading.

Stanley Cup Finals thoughts

It's been a week and a half, and I'm not sure it's sunk in yet - the Anaheim Ducks are Stanley Cup Champions!

This should not come as a shock given their acquisition of defenseman Chris Pronger and the scoring balance and good goaltending they had all season. The Ducks also proved they have much better depth than given credit for.

Make no mistake about it, those who vote for the Conn Smythe Trophy for the playoffs' most valuable player got it right. As good as Pronger, goalie J-S Giguere and centers Andy McDonald, Samuel Pahlsson and Ryan Getzlaf were, Niedermayer was the rudder that steered Anaheim's championship ship. The Ducks' captain consistently settled things down when needed and pushed the tempo when the situation required. Keep in mind, Anaheim won Game 5 in Detroit without Pronger and Game 4 in Ottawa in the Finals without Pronger. A big part of the reason was Niedermayer.

The temptation is bash Ottawa for a poor Finals performance, however, the ineffectiveness of players such as Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley was due in large part to the line of Pahlsson, Rob Niedermayer and Travis Moen. Frankly, the Senators had a lot of others who didn't show up, including defenseman Wade Redden and forward Mike Comrie. In the face of Anaheim's persistent physical play, many Ottawa players grew disinterested in a hurry.

The Finals also should serve to show Senators fans two things: captain Daniel Alfredsson isn't deserving of much of the blame heaped on him, and Mike Fisher is their best two-way player. Had the series gone to six or seven games, a strong case could have been made for Fisher being the Conn Smythe winner. He and Alfredsson and goalie Ray Emery kept the Senators in all but Game 5 of the Finals.