The league that won’t learn

Remember that sport called hockey?\nIf you forgot about it, it’s time to start remembering – unless you’re from Buffalo. \nGeneral managers now have $6 million more in cap space to spend so teams are spending money and big names are moving. This makes me wonder: Isn’t this what led to the lockout in the first place? Am I stuck in that Denzel Washington movie, “Deja Vu”?\nThe lockout happened because big-market teams had a higher salary cap than small-market teams. The small-market teams couldn’t keep up and were selling players just to save money. This week, it looks very similar – except no lockout is looming. \nWhy? Beats me.\nBut there are some clear early winners and losers to start this summer. Let’s look at a few of them.\nThe New York Rangers have started off a clear winner this summer. A team that had the potential to be dangerous last year with a young goalie and a revived Jaromir Jagr went out and spent $14 million to grab two high-profile names – Chris Drury from Buffalo and Scott Gomez from New Jersey. \nWith Gomez working on the top line with Jagr and Drury working center on the second line with veteran Brendan Shanahan (if he re-signs like he said he would), that’s a scary offense – especially in a weaker Eastern Conference. If they trade for a defenseman or two, this team would be my clear favorite to win the Cup.\nOn the other hand, let’s look at the Buffalo Sabers, the team with the best record last season. They lost Drury to the Rangers and their next best player Daniel Briere to the Philadelphia Flyers. \nNow, the team that held home ice through last year’s playoffs must try to salvage a summer by keeping young talent such as Thomas Vanek happy and \nin Buffalo.\nThe Sabers are a clear loser at this point, which is sad for a team that actually has fans.\nThe Colorado Avalanche are the next winners, signing prize-winger Ryan Smyth. Stick him with Joe Sakic on a top line, and you get a good scoring duo. The two played together on the Canadian Olympic team and will reunite on the NHL stage to try to bring the Aves back to the playoffs after a near-miss last year.\nIf you can’t catch the trend, the next losers are the Edmonton Oilers who rolled the dice by trading Smyth in a risky deal. It has now come back to bite them. It’s not panning out and they are ending up with nothing to show for the trade. \nThere are more winners and losers in the early stages of the off-season but only time will tell if they will work out.\nEither way, I’m excited to watch this new Rangers team play together. They will have a dynamic offense, and since they are in New York, there is always the slim possibility that Isiah Thomas will bribe their ice dancers to flirt with the refs.