Hairyducked Idiot

I'm going to go with "the U.S. drawing this match from here is such a ridiculous scenario that I ignored it.)

Eh? Wouldn't Slovenia have 5? No, Slovenia beat Algeria (3), are about to beat us (3) and would get a point for the draw with England (1), totaling 7.

Maybe we'll go a game without conceding, or score goals that aren't gifts from the opposition.

He was on. See you in four years.

He got called for a handball, but it was no such thing.

How does that not end in a goal? How?

Yeah. We can talk about Confederations Cup miracle scenarios, but a loss here and we're playing a dead rubber in the third group game. This game is far from over, though.

Oh look, Altidore! That's better.

I want Beach to be regular-season Byfuglien. If Skille is a competent third-liner (and I mean most teams' third lines, not the Blackhawks' uber-thirdline of the last few seasons), I'm happy with that.

You can kick it and let your forward run past him. The key is where the recipient of the pass is the moment the pass is kicked.

The U.S. seems more interested in long balls than controlling possession and creating any sort of buildup.

So does this presumable German loss change the equation on how desirable it is for the U.S. to win the group?

May have already been posted, but here's the US Lineup: Howard; Cherundolo, DeMerit, Onyewu, Bocanegra ©; Dempsey, Bradley, Torres, Donovan; Altidore, Findley.

I've heard comparisons to Versteeg and Ville Leino. But I've also heard that he struggled in the Swedish league, so who knows if he can handle the NHL or not.

My puck and hat came today, but I wasn't home so I can pick them up at the post office first thing tomorrow morning. The t-shirts are a few days behind.

Montreal gets a couple of forward prospects, one of whom seems to be pretty good from what I'm reading.

I agree that Sharp is far better than Versteeg or Byfuglien. But his cap hit is a non-trivial amount larger, and we can barely put a roster together right now.

My bad, I meant Fraser on the "without" list.

Absolutely yes. Moves have to be made, and they have to be made quickly. Let me ask you this Kyle, if trading Sharp means you keep Hammer, woud you trade Sharp? Yes. Sharp is a UFA after next season anyway, and we just can't afford the $3.9 million cap hit. I want to keep him, he's by far the best of the expendable wingers, but every little bit counts and we are struggling to even field a roster here.

Absolutely yes. Moves have to be made, and they have to be made quickly.

I keep changing my mind on these things, but I think you have to keep Byfuglien over Sharp, just because of the 900k difference in their cap hits and Byfuglien's ability to play D in a pinch. That could prove valuable on a roster that may stay short a player or two all season. Here's the best I can come up with on CapGeek, though I may be off on the salary estimates for the super-cheap RFAs like Fraser, Bickell, Hendry and Skille, who will get cheap new deals and I just gave them all very small raises over what they made this year, and if we're lucky Hjalmarsson might not get the full $3.5 million that many are guessing. Assuming we need to carry 13 forwards, 7 D, 2 G, and that we can pick up a couple of super-cheap guys either as returns on the trades or free-agents. Also assuming our cap is about $54.5 million, as reported, because of the bonus cushion carryover hit. Also assuming that with the glut of goalies, we can wait until the summer is over and find some vet without a job who will take a super-cheap one-year deal. This is the best I can do and we are *still* $1 million over. May not be able to keep *any* of the RFAs if we can't get lucky and move Campbell: AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES FORWARDS Jonathan Toews ($6.300m) / Patrick Kane ($6.300m) / Marian Hossa ($5.275m) Dave Bolland ($3.375m) / Dustin Byfuglien ($3.000m) / Kyle Beach ($1.200m) Tomas Kopecky ($1.200m) / Troy Brouwer ($1.025m) / * Jack Skille ($1.000m) * Colin Fraser ($0.900m) / * SuperCheapF ($0.600m) / * SuperCheapF ($0.600m) * Bryan Bickell ($0.500m) DEFENSEMEN Brian Campbell ($7.143m) / Duncan Keith ($5.538m) * Niklas Hjalmarsson ($3.500m) / Brent Seabrook ($3.500m) * Jordan Hendry ($0.800m) / Shawn Lalonde ($0.800m) * SuperCheapD ($0.600m) GOALTENDERS * SuperCheapG ($1.000m) / Corey Crawford ($0.800m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (these totals are compiled using the bonus cushion) ROSTER: 22; ; PAYROLL: $54.956m; BONUSES: $0.520m; CAP HIT: $55.476 This team is missing Sharp, Versteeg, Sopel, Madden, Brouwer, Eager, Huet, Niemi, Ladd and Burish.

Earlier than that, even. In order to keep RFA rights, you have to give the free-agent a "qualifying offer" which is a small, one-year deal based on his previous salary. The deadline to qualify your RFAs is June 27. The Blackhawks don't even have the cap room to give those qualifying offers right now. Something will have to happen, probably at the draft, to clear space for the QOs, or those guys all become unrestricted free agents.

Saw a rumor that the Penguins might offer Hjalmarsson a 5-year, $17.5 million offer sheet. I hope that the Blackhawks could match that. If they even keep one RFA, I want it to be Hjalmarsson. If they didn't match, that would give Chicago a 1st and 3rd rounder in 2011 from Pittsburgh.

The stupid horns just went silent. Awesome.

Once all the news came out about the incident, I think it's clear the cabbie crossed a line and I'm not all that upset that Kane and/or his cousin punched him. You can't just lock people into your cab. But the first news to break is always the part that sticks in people's minds, not the details that come out later.