Crawford 'Shocked'

Now ex-Kings coach Marc Crawford has been 'shocked' by another firing.

Crow only lasted two seasons after being let go by the Vancouver Canucks. Crawford didn't do anything to keep his job. He had a decet collection of young talent under his control, but couldn't do enough to get his team in to the playoffs.

Crawford needs to realize that he isn't Mike Babcock, and needs to take a step down, catch a job somewhere and try and get his reputation back to a somewhat respectable level. I guess that that might've come across as a little strong, but Crawford shouldn't be shocked that he was fired. And it doesn't look it he was shocked by the initial firing, but how much of a big deal is it that the timing was off. The new season is still months away, and there are still coaches to be fired and hired. Maybe if he sucks up a little bit he could latch on somewhere and like I said, try and earn back his reputation.

Ovechkin Takes Hart

The NHL has announced the award winners for 2007-08 this evening.

Washington Capitals F Alex Ovechkin takes the cake winning the Hart Trophy as league MVP, the Lester B. Pearson award as the player's choice for MVP, The Art Ross trophy as the top point scorer this season, and the Rocket Richard for leading the league in goals. It got leaked out a little while ago in the form of a t-shirt that had Ovechkin as the MVP.

Red Wings D Niklas Lidstrom picked up his sixth Noris Trophy as the NHL's top defenceman. I'd say that he definitly deserved it.

Martin Broduer took the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender. The Devils puck stopper never seems not to be in the running for another Vezina each year. This is his fourth Vezina in the last five years.

Patrick Kane won the Calder trophy just one year removed from being a first round draft choice of the Chicago Blackkhawks last summer.

Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau won this year's Jack Adams award for the top coach. I have to admit that I didn't know Boudreau's name untill just now. I apologize for that.

The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy was taken by the Toronto Maple Leafs F Jason Blake. Probably him being diagnosed with leukemia and still playing all 82 games for the Leafs this season was the main contributing factor.

Paval Datsyuk won his third straight Lady Byng after demonstarting the best sportsmanship in the NHL this season. Datsyuk also picked up the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the best two way player in the NHL. To me, if you can score 100 goals but can't do anything on D, you aren't that great of a player.

I agree with all of these selections. I'm still waiting to see Roberto Luongo win a Vezina, but when his Canucks didn't do anything for him this season, it's kind of hard. I thought that Evgeni Nabakov was robbed by Brodeur for the Vezina, but you can't argue giving it to one of the best goalies ever.

Jr. Joins 600 Club

Ken Griffey Jr. became the sixth member of the exclusive 600 home run club on Monday night.

Call him "The Natural" or "The Kid" or just "Jr.", he was and is a heck of a ball player. If it wasn't for all of the injuries, he probably would be number one on the home run list instead of Barroid B-lier-onds. The ex-Mariner, remembered for his unbelievable catches at the KingDome will be a first ballot hall of famer when he decides to hang them up. He is nine homers behind Sammy Sosa for fifth on the all time home run list.

Number 16 Hanging Them Up

After nineteen seasons and a Stanley Cup run in '94, Mr. Canuck, Trevor Linden has decided to call it quits.

The Canucks' second overall pick in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft netted 375 goals along with 492 assists in 1382 career games with the Canucks, Montreal Canadians and Washington Capitals.

Linden holds the Canuck record for assists with 415, and is second on the all time goal scoring list with 318, second to Markus Naslund.

I will be working on a proper tribute to Trevor Linden over the next few days.

Ron Wilson; New Maple Leafs Coach

Welcome to Tyler's Take, a new sports blog where I voice my opinions about sports. I'll be ranting on mostly baseball and hockey, but don't be surprised to see some variety showing up at different points.

Anyways, back to business. Ron Wilson, the San Jose Sharks coach of last season, has reportedly agreed to terms with the Toronto Maple Leafs on a four year contract that will pay him anywhere from $5-6M with incentives. An official announcement will likely be made Tuesday morning in the form of a press conference.

Now that the Leafs vacant coaching job seems to be filled, rising speculation about Brian Burke coming to Toronto to be the new GM is coming in to the picture once again. Burke said that he wouldn't leave the Ducks right now, he has one more year left on his contract. The most I've heard is that once he deals with the draft, free agency, Corry Perry and all of his off season goodies, he would join the Leafs.

Now it's time for my take. Ron Wilson going to the Leafs looks like a decent move. The Leafs get a pretty good coach in Wilson, who has done enough to get his Sharks in to the playoffs, but not much further than that. Wilson will be going in to a pressure cooker and will have to realize that if he doesn't produce results, quickly, he'll be hearing it from someone.

As for Burkey. I see him with the Leafs at some time in the near future. He has built up a mighty Duck empire (whoa, I didn't do that on purpose) that looks strong. He could do the same thing for the Leafs. He'd get more attention in the center of the universe, and move up the list of GM's with power, or something like that. Regardless, Burke's future seems to be with the Leafs, and sooner or later he'll realize that if he hasn't already.