The NHL Free Agency Draft Thus Far

The flood gates are wide open, and the NHL's Unrestricted free agents are pouring through. As of June 29th, hockey's free agent signing frenzy has become a major topic of conversation throughout sports. Just 3 days in, it's quite clear which teams have made significant improvements and which teams have failed to address their needs. On paper, I can see the Montreal Canadians and the Chicago Blackhawks as the clear winners this off season. Of course, the obvious loser this year happens to be my team, the New York Rangers. I'll talk about the winners in a future blog, for now I'd like to rant about the New York Rangers.

Like most Rangers fans, I admit my disdain towards Rangers GM Glen Sather and team Owners James Dolan and Cablevision. But this offseason, they've managed to add fuel to my fire. It all started with a 6 player trade, where the teams best offensive player, and fan favorite, Scott Gomez along with Tom Pyatt and Mike Busto were traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Forward Chris Higgins, defensive prospects Ryan McDonagh, and Pavel Valentenko. The Rangers, who signed Gomez on the same day two years ago as Chris Drury, was considered and underachiever in his 2 years here in New York. Playing in former Rangers coach Tom Renney's system and not being able to find consistent productive line mates didn't exactly help Gomez. With Scott Gomez due to make $33.5 over the next 5 years, this was an obvious move to free up salary. I feel the Montreal Canadians may have won with this trade. The defensemen we acquired in this deal are top prospects that may one day be featured on the Rangers starting blue-line, but Chris Higgins is a 2nd line winger at best.

But why trade Scott Gomez? The more obvious move to me would be to trade Rangers Captain Chris Drury who has alo been a disappointment since his arrival here. I've always been a big fan of Chris Drury, but criticism must be given where due. He hasn't been able to fill the shoes of prior Rangers captains such as Jarmoir Jagr, Brian Leetch, and Mark Messier. Drury has been a quiet factor on this team. Trading him for draft picks during the 2009 NHL draft would have been a logical salary saving move. Instead, we now have to rely on Chris Drury as our top line center, who without Gomez, will have even more weight to carry on his shoulders this season. A weight that should be equally shared by the Free agent Players GM Glen Sather will sign to play around Drury.

And that's where my next gripe lies. After 3 days of free agency (as I write this at 11:22 AM on Thursday June 2nd), all Glen Sather has been able to give us is 37 year old goon Donald Brashier and Minnesota Wild star Marian Gaborik. Obviously, Marion Gaborik is a huge name to add to this team. He's the bonified goal scorer this team desperately needs. While injuries limited Gaborik to just 17 games last season, I'm excited to have him on this team. However, I'm also weary of having him on this team because the Rangers haven't signed anyone yet to play around him. I'm very pessimistic on how Gaborik will respond playing on a top line centered by Chris Drury and featuring newly acquire Chris Higgins.

I'm not sipping the Kool Aid just yet. Marian Gaborik is just one guy. He's not going to make a difference by himself. I'm sure he wasn't Sather's first choice to sign, but instead was the big name that Sather HAD to sign. The Rangers have to address A LOT of other needs before I decide to invest in tickets this season. They still need to upgrade on defense. It's doubtful Derek Morris will return to the team unless he's still available in a month and the Rangers fail to sign anyone else. One defensive player I'd like the Rangers to acquire is unrestricted free agent Marc-Andre Bergeron. To use a wrestling term, he'd be a perfect mid card defenseman for this team who could provide a little bit of offense on the power play.

This team also needs another winger to replace retiring Markus Naslund. With the absurd and laughable amount of money Nik Antropov is seeking, chances are Glenn Sather will look elsewhere for a winger. With a trade for Dany Heatley falling through, the Rangers will have to turn to the Free Agent market in hopes of filling the void. Out of the free agents left, I don't know who I'd like for Sather to sign, but I can see him spending money on Todd Bertuzzi. I'm no fan of Bertuzzi, but he fits in with Sather's tradition of spending big bucks for players who don't exactly deserve it.

And then there's the void on our penalty killing line as Fredrik Sjostrom signined with the Calgray Flames and Blair Betts still being a free agent.

There are a lot of questions to be answered, and angry Ranger fans will watch Glen Sather and this team under a microscope. The Rangers need to keep adding pieces to the puzzle. Time will tell, but patients is slowly running out.

Of Photography and Technology

I decided the time had finally come for me to purchase a DSLR camera. Wanting to take my photography hobby to another level and transition it into the workplace, I felt now was the right time to invest in a new camera. The Nikon D60 was my DSLR of choice. Having read all of the reviews, I felt it had the best bang for my buck, while still offering the quality photographs that professionals want. I purchased my camera at B&H photo as part of a kit. The kit included a memory card and an additional zoom lens which has an excelent range, perfect for sports and candid photography. I saved a lot by purchasing the lens with the camera.

After taking the camera on a coupel of outings, I was able to see some great results. However, I'm still learning how to use the camera to it's full potential, and it'll take plenty of practice before I'm able to produce the results I want with each shot. The camera is a fantastic investment, and I can't wait to take it on my vacation to Montreal later this summer.

While peaking around the internet for sites dedicated to providing photgraphy tips and tutorials, I uncovered some valuable online resources which I'm sharing below. A lot of the sites do assume you have a DSLR, but offer great tips which can be applied to anyone who uses a point and shoot or a 35mm film camera.

Geof Lawrence's website -
http://www.geofflawrence.com/photography_tutorials.htm

Shutterbug article on some good Nikon D60 tips
http://www.shutterbug.com/equipmentreviews/amateur_digital_slrs/0708nikon/index2.html

Photography Monthly's tips and techniques
http://www.photographymonthly.com/Tips-and-Techniques

The Nikon D40/D40x/D60 Blog
http://d40-photog.blogspot.com/

Good Tutorials' Photo Tips
http://www.good-tutorials.com/tutorials/photography

I'll have more on photography in the future. But for now, I'd like to post an interesting follow-up to my Up-Converting DVD Player vs. Blu-Ray Blogs. In a recent article on Hothardware.com, surveys show that Blu-Ray adoption is at a snils pace. In fact, Blu-Ray sales are 3% lower than HDVD sales! 7% Blu-Ray to %10 HDVD. Blu-Ray is tanking as more people are purchasing upconverting DVD players. In this economy, people want to buy cheaper DVDs that look great on an upconverting player than have to spend up to 3 times more for new Blu-Ray releases and to upgrade their current DVD collection. It's an interesting article worth reading. You can find it here - http://hothardware.com/News/Bluray-Adoption-Still-Sluggish-HDTV-Sales-Up/

Devin Townsend Project - KI

I recently decided to purchase a few new music albums to update my music collection with. The first album I bought was Devin Townsend's latest release Ki. This album is the first in a series of 4, under the name Devin Townsend Project which he hopes to release this year. With his signature skullet shaved off, and a new drug and alcohol free lifestyle. Devin paves the road for what will be the most diverse collection of albums ever. Ki is a progressive and mello release, unlike any Strapping Young Lad album that came before it. The second CD in the trilogy will be a return to a heavy sound, while the third album was best described as being "chaotic" in nature. CD 4 bookends the collection with an ambient offering from the outer reaches of Devin Townsends mind.

Ki is definitely different. If you're hoping for to hear the aggressive sounds of Strapping Young Lad, you won't find them hear. Progressive as it may be, this album touches upon a wide range of music genres. Everything from Rock, to Blues, to ambient, to folk can be found on it. I probably shouldn't make the comparison, but this is what you may get when you combine Pink Floyd with Tool. Each album in this series will feature different collaborators. Ki features an array of talent including blues drummer Durius Maxwell, ambient keyboardist Dave Young, Jean Savoie on Drums, and guest vocalist, folk singer/song writer Ché Dorval.

There are a lot of standout tracks on this album. My favorite of which is "Trainfire", a well done blues hit. "Gato" is possibly the heaviest song on this release, while "Lady Heaven" and "Quiet Riot" would fit perfectly on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Ambient sounds litter this album alongside simple but elegant musical arrangements. The track arrangement is a strong point of this album. Devin Townsend did a great job with the track arrangement and Ki is easily one of the best releases I picked up this year.

Devin Townsend hopes to tour with the release of the 4th album, and I'm looking forward to seeing him perform live. If you're looking to see how much of a musical genius Devin can be, Ki is a perfect testament to it.

4 out of 5 stars.

For more information, and a sampler track of the album, visit Devin Townsend on Myspace.Com

Star Trek (A few Spoilers within)

I finally made it out to see Star Trek this weekend, or as I refer to it, J.J. Abram's Star Trek. While I went into the film fearing a complete Battle Star Galactica rip off, I was pleasantly surprised. Star Trek was an entertaining film that in the end respected the original Gene Roddenberry franchise by creating an alternate reality aside from the epic voyage we once knew of. This is not a sequel or a retelling, but rather a new fresh concept with familiar names. Hence forth, this is why I'm refering to it as J.J. Abram's Star Trek. It's his concept of what the universe would be.

The film reads as a What If!? scenario, and while we're presented with the story of how the USS Enterprise's crew came together, it does reinvent the history of the ships original crew. For starters, in this universe, James T. Kirk grows up never knowing his father. The back story of Christopher Pike, the first captain of the USS Enterprice, is also touched upon. Somehow, Uhura and Spock are involved in some kind of relationship, which I didn't really find convincing. But the essence is in fact the same, and the crew comes together in a tounge in cheek fashion which will draw no complaints from any original Trekies.

The only main problem I had with this film was the plot device which tied in James T. Kirk's revolation that they were dealing with Romulans and not some kind of catostrophic geological event. Even if he read Captain Pike's Dossier, James T. Kirk wasn't even born when they first attacked, killing his father int he process. I also didn't appreciate the non Homosapien humans peppered throughout. With only a handful of aliens from the original series not resembling human being in some way, J.J. Abrams took the liberty to sprinkle in some odd Star Wars like aliens.

Overall, the casting was well done. Simon Pegg provided pleasant comedy relief as Scotty. I also thought the rolls of Uhura and Doctor McCoy were played well. Actor Karl Urban must have studied DeForest Kelley day and night. Eric Bana was the highlight of film, providing probably the biggest bad ass villan in Star Trek history since Ricardo Montalban put on his plastic chest piece as Khan!


Overall, I recomend seeing this film. It's an entertaining ride. New fans and old will come to appreciate it. I'm looking forward to a sequel. The second film will be it's true test and will come to tell if J.J. Abrama's version will live on in infamy.