Devils deal for Ryan Graves

    With next week looming for the NHL entry draft and the expansion draft for the newest member of the league, the Seattle Kraken, some teams are attempting to clean their roster a bit before those drafts start.

The New Jersey Devils attempted to take advantage of one team needing to make room on their roster and traded for defenseman Ryan Graves from the Colorado Avalanche.

New Jersey traded the second-round pick that they have acquired from the New York Islanders in the upcoming draft (in the 2020 trade for Andy Greene) and left winger Mikhail Maltsev to Colorado in exchange for Graves, who will immediately slot into one of the allowed defensemen to protected from Seattle in their expansion draft.

Graves scored two goals with thirteen assists in fifty-four games last season in Colorado but scored a career-high nine in 2019-20 for the Avalanche.

The 6'5 defensemen was drafted in the first round by the Rangers in 2013 and made his NHL debut with Colorado in 2019 after being acquired from the Blueshirts at the trade deadline for defenseman Chris Bigras.

Graves is likely to be a top-four defenseman in New Jersey and as mentioned earlier is likely to be one of the Devils' three protected defensemen along with Damon Severson and earlier trade acquisition, Jonas Siegenthaler.

Graves is a big and physical defenseman that accumulates minutes on ice and in the penalty box, and at worst brings a big body that isn't afraid to knock someone around, which should make him a fan favorite in Newark.

Graves is signed for the next two seasons, earning three million for next season and four million for 2022-23, so the trade isn't a one-year stopgap for the defensive group.

With Graves addition to the roster, New Jersey will now expose all three of P.K. Subban, Will Butcher, and Ryan Murray and one of the three could very well be the selection of Seattle from the Devils.

Subban would bring a big name to Seattle and give the Devils more money off the ledger, although the Devils have plenty of cap space already, Murray would make sense as a solid, steady veteran, and Butcher is young enough at 26 to have a chance to rejuvenate his career in a new town and system.

Any of the three would be an easy-to-understand player for the Kraken to select.

The trade of the second-rounder (61) will take the Devils out of the second round in next weeks draft, but there isn't a lot of difference between that choice and the Devils third-rounder (69), so it's not catastrophic to the personnel department, especially when the team owns two first-rounders (theirs and the Islanders at 29).

The Devils also included Mikhail Maltsev in the trade, who scored six goals in thirty-three games last year, two of them in the final four games last season.

I actually liked Maltsev a bit, but I'm not sure that he was a better prospect than several of the players already in the system at left-wing including 2020 first-rounder Alexander Holtz.

New Jersey also re-signed Michael McLeod to a two-year contract worth just under two million total, which may or may not be a sign that McLeod is available for the Kraken in the expansion draft.

The former first-rounder in 2016 scored his first career goals last season and finished with nine goals and six assists in fifty-two games.

 

53

   53 isn't only the number of Herbie the Love Bug, it's my age as of today.

As I've written before, I've been struggling to write as often of late and when I do, it takes longer to complete.

Much of that is due to my waning interest in sports.

While I feel that this is hopefully temporary, it's hard to say that I know for sure that my rabid interest would return.

The only sports that emerged from the pandemic at the same level of interest with me has been boxing and football but while basketball and hockey interest was because the Cavaliers and Devils aren't very good, I blame my flagging interest in baseball due to not having live baseball nearby, the ridiculous changes to the major league game, and Rob Manfred and all that comes with the worst commissioner in sports, which really does cover a wide amounf of ground.

While I can't really get into my changes at work, they are substantial and cause me a great deal of stress every day but I am working on doing better with it and I feel that things are improving.

I find that while I don't have a lot of interest in things, there isn't a lot that I'm doing but I don't miss going to games and autographing as much as I thought I would.

I do miss some of my friends there, but not the grind or the hot weather.

Now, to the salute to the people that care about me most-

I don't know what I'd do without my family around, Cherie, Ryan, and Rachel's support and tolerance means the world to me.

I have my share of friends in this life, but a special note to Fred Landucci and Mike Oravec.

I've never had friends like them before, that's not a knock on my older friends at all, but they check on me all the time and care about my well being and that's far before the last two months.

And special notes to Denise Nicarry, who allows me to play the bratty little brother that I've never been before. My favorite Aunt Becky and Uncle Terry and my favorite cousin Missy.

The relationship that I have with all of them are very important to me.

There are many others that I could name like Derreck Chupak or Corey Cunningham, or my nephew Jeff, of course come to think of it, I did just name them!

And the friends that I've never met but I've felt like I've known them forever like Ramon Malpica and Ian McArdle as well.

If I've forgotten anyone, please don't take it personally- I wrote early in the morning while at work and the mind does get foggy.

Thanks to all mentioned and even if not, I appreciate you all- Hope to see you next year here for 54.

Forgotten Superstars: Frank Bonner

 We have plenty of sad news as far as passings go, but I wanted to do something special for one of them and place them into the Forgotten Superstars universe here at TRS.

Frank Bonner's recent passing at the age of 79 may have been missed by most, but to Cherie and myself was a loss equal to many stars that were far better known to the general public.

Bonner was a character actor that would eventually transition to the director's chair but will be remembered by me as the actor that brought one of my favorite television characters to life.

Bonner's portrayal of the hopelessly inept salesman with the loud suit, Herb Tarlek, on WKRP in Cincinnati has to be one of the best acting jobs of the era. 

Bonner's Tarlek showed an everyman that desperately wanted to be shown as one person, yet underneath the outer shell, not only knew that he wasn't that person- he didn't really want to be.

For a character to be so remembered over forty years and a supporting character at that, takes an accomplished actor and while Bonner may have been stereotyped as Herb Tarlek a bit, I think his portrayal hit home with the average viewer.

If you are 45 and up and you see someone wearing loud clothing, the name "Herb Tarlek" not only is likely to be mentioned- most people of that age will get the reference.

Almost everyone knows a Herb Tarlek and that's where Bonner comes in.

Bonner managed to take a character that could have easily been a stereotype and not only used the obvious to make him hilarious, he occasionally made him human and relatable.

The best evidence of this came in an episode that saw Loni Anderson's "Jennifer Marlowe" finally give Herb Tarlek what he had begged for in every episode of the series- a date with her, despite Tarlek being married.

The show progressed with Herb bragging about his pulling off the thought to be an impossible feat, and the actual date itself, which in the end sees Herb admit that as attractive as he thought Jennifer was that he was going to be loyal to his wife, which was the point of the entire date to hopefully call Herb's bluff and eliminate the constant leering.

But Bonner managed to make Herb sympathetic when lesser actors would have played the final scene as the comeuppance of a buffoon, Bonner didn't play for easy laughs.

Bonner instead showed the pain of a guy who only wants to fit in and be liked, yet doesn't know how to accomplish that and wants to just once be looked at more than he is.

You don't see that often in television, let alone in a sitcom of the 80s and yet Frank Bonner pulled this off in a poignant yet not a typical reach for the heartstrings television moment.

Bonner's Tarlek didn't lack for comedic moments, such as his mixing up the photos for a store display or his commercial jingle (which to this day kills me), but I always admired his skill in making what could have been an unlikeable character and turning him into a beloved one.

Bonner only was part of two other shows after WKRP, one of them the attempted relaunch in the 90s, with the other as a priest in "Just the ten of us" a Growing Pains spinoff, but that could have been wanting to direct rather than act at certain stages of his career.

Frank Bonner bringing an iconic character to life won't be forgotten by me and we welcome him to the Forgotten Superstars universe.

Cleaning out the Inbox-Sports Passings

   Due to my recent lack of writing, the inbox is stuffed, especially with recent passings.

Goodbye to Rene Robert at the age of  72.

While Robert is pictured with the defunct Colorado Rockies, Robert's career is most often thought of as a Buffalo Sabre as part of the French Connection line with Richard Martin and Gilbert Perreault.

That line led the Sabres to their first winning team and to the Stanley Cup finals in 1975, where they lost to Philadelphia and remain the most loved line in Sabres history.

Robert never scored fewer than 21 goals in his seven full seasons with the Sabres and scored 40 goals twice and finished with 284 goals for his career after spending two seasons each with Colorado and Toronto.

Goodbye to Mudcat Grant at the age of 85.

Grant pitched for seven teams but is remembered by most as a Cleveland Indian, where he spent the first seven seasons and made his first All-Star team.

Some may remember Grant more from his days with the Minnesota Twins where in his first season, 1965, after being traded from Cleveland, Grant won 21 games and two in the World Series with both wins via complete games.

Grant worked for the Indians radio and television networks in the seventies and would later write a book- "The Black Aces" which profiled the fifteen black pitchers that had won twenty games in a season up to that writing.

The book is how I was able to meet Mudcat with Rachel at the Ohio Book Fair in 2007, he was quite a gentleman and spent a few minutes talking about the book and his career.

Goodbye to Tom Kurvers at the age of 58.

Kurvers played for seven teams during his eleven-season career and was serving as the assistant general manager for the Minnesota Wild at the time of his passing.

Kurvers won a Stanley Cup with the 1986 Canadiens and at his peak was thought of as one of the league's better power play defensemen with excellent puck-moving skills.

The New Jersey Devils acquired Kurvers from Buffalo in 1987 and in his second season with the Devils, Kurvers looked to be moving into All-Star status after scoring 16 goals and 50 assists in 1988-89, but Devils GM Lou Lamoriello traded Kurvers when he believed his value was highest and traded him to Toronto for a future first-round draft choice which turned out to be third overall and the Devils would draft Scott Niedermayer with the selection.  

Goodbye to Terry Donohue at the age of 77.

One of the most underrated coaches of his era, Donohue was the head coach at UCLA from 1976 to 1995 and led the Bruins to their most sustained run of success in program history after replacing Dick Vermeil at only 32 after Vermeil left UCLA to take the head coaching position with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Donahue became the first coach ever to win seven bowl games in a row (in the era of more bowl games), and his 151 wins are the most ever at UCLA along with his 98 conference victories setting the standard in Pac-12 history including five league titles and three Rose Bowl victories.

Donahue left UCLA to broadcast college football games and would later serve as general manager for the 49ers from 2001-04, but almost returned to coaching with the Cowboys in 1998 as the replacement for Barry Switzer, but negotiations broke down with Dallas eventually hiring Chan Gailey.

Goodbye to Del Wilkes at the age of 59.

Wilkes was an All-American guard for South Carolina in 1984, but went undrafted in 1985 and failed in two training camp tries at the NFL before heading to the world of professional wrestling.

Wilkes would achieve his greatest success as the masked Patriot in the WWF in a brief stint against Bret Hart and with All Japan Pro Wrestling and held the WCW tag team titles twice with Marcus Bagwell in 1994.

The colorful mask and persona allowed the character to be better remembered than one would think for a wrestler with such a short body of work in American wrestling, but I think there is a reason for that.

When ESPN televised wrestling at four o'clock on weekday afternoons, Wilkes was a staple on both shows that the network programmed, first with the dying AWA and followed by Global wrestling based in Dallas.

With the AWA, Wilkes used a silly gimmick that saw him as "The Trooper" complete with hat, giving out plastic badges, and writing out tickets to defeated opponents as one of the top "babyfaces" of a territory that was alive only due to their meager contract with ESPN.

Silly as it was, the Trooper was memorable and might have been a bigger hit had the character been used as a "heel" similar to the WWF's use of the "Big Bossman".

Wilkes retired the Trooper gimmick when used as the top babyface with Global in favor of the Patriot where he spent much of his time feuding with the "Dark Patriot", who was Doug Gilbert in an all-black bodysuit.  

Boxing Challenge: Ramirez, Diaz win in Los Angeles

   The Golden Boy card from DAZN couldn't have turned out better for a company that is still fighting its way off the ropes from the loss of Canelo Alvarez and the recent mental health issues of Ryan Garcia.

The Oscar De La Hoya-led company not only received the spectacular win that they needed from their newest addition Gilberto Ramirez, but they won a fight that they weren't guaranteed to win with a unanimous decision from Joseph Diaz.

In the main event, Ramirez dominated an apparently close to the end of the line Sullivan Barrera and took the air out the 39 year old Cuban with body blows that Barrera was unable to take as Ramirez scored a fourth-round knockout.

The fight was essentially over the third when Ramirez realized that every time that he hit Barrera to the body, Barrera couldn't shrug them off and late in the third scored a knockdown on a body blow.

Ramirez, who hasn't always been a fabulous finisher in the past, showed signs of development as he continued to crack Barrera to the body in the fourth, scoring two more knockdowns before the fight was mercifully ended.

For Ramirez, it's the type of win that could set him up for a challenge of WBA champion Dmitry Bivol and to win against a well-known opponent in an exciting manner, which hasn't always been the case for Ramirez, is very encouraging for boxing fans that want to see that fight.

As for Barrera, this loss is now his third in four fights and he continues to slide down the light heavyweight food chain as this loss will likely move him from fringe contender to gatekeeper or perhaps even trialhorse status.

The co-feature was an entertaining lightweight bout for a WBC minor title, but more importantly, would position the winner for a shot at WBC champion Devin Haney or a big name and perhaps payday in Ryan Garcia.

Former IBF junior lightweight champion Joseph Diaz took the fight on somewhat short notice when Garcia claimed mental illness as a reason to drop out of his mandated fight against Javier Fortuna and claimed he would be stronger at the higher weight after dropping his IBF title on the scales for missing weight.

Diaz's claims turned out to be true for this fight as he survived a questionable point deduction and a headbutt that opened a slice along his left eye to dominate the second half of the fight to win a unanimous decision over Fortuna.

Diaz was far more efficient (landing more while throwing less) than Fortuna and after falling behind on my card early, his work took command, and Diaz, never known as more than average hitter at 126 and 130 pounds, appeared to have hurt Fortuna in the tenth although the veteran rode out the storm.

Diaz now is the mandated fight for Devin Haney's WBC belt, although an in-house Ryan Garcia fight could pay more and be a more valuable win should he emerge with the win.

As for Fortuna, he fought well enough to remain in the top ten picture, but with the championships residing with Teofimo Lopez and Top Rank, Fortuna may have seen his final title opportunity go by the wayside.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored two points to move the total to 98-89 in my favor.

Back later, with some tributes to recent passing from the sports world. 

Boxing Challenge

 The boxing challenge consists of two strong bouts on a Friday night in Los Angeles as Golden Boy brings two very intriguing pairings.

The main event will see the Golden Boy debut for former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez against former title challenger Sullivan Barrera in a light heavyweight tilt.

Ramirez, who vacated his title at 168 pounds, severely overestimated his value, left promoter Top Rank, and allowed mandatory title shots at light heavyweight against then-WBO champions Elieder Alvarez and Sergey Kovalev to slide by, is saying all the right things after his career decisions backfired, but he'll have to prove it at the higher weight.

Ramirez, at his best, wasn't a big puncher and ground his opponents down in winning usually lopsided decisions or occasionally a late-round stoppage, so it'll be interesting to see how his punches carry against bigger men.

Barrera was at one time, a top ten contender in the division but at 39 seems to be a long way from the fighter that gave Andre Ward a few problems in 2016 and holds a win over WBO champion Joe Smith.

Barrera has lost two of his last three, being stopped by Dmitry Bivol with seconds remaining in a WBA title attempt, and was outhustled in his last outing by Jesse Hart, who Ramirez defeated twice in title defenses.

A Ramirez win could earn him a shot against WBA champion Bivol with both fighters working with DAZN, although with different promoters, while Barrera needs at least a good performance to remain as a top ten-fifteen fighter in the division.

While Ramirez-Barrera is interesting for several reasons, the best fight may be for a WBC minor title as Javier Fortuna faces Joseph Diaz in a lightweight battle.

Fortuna, who has held minor WBA titles at 126 and 130 pounds, has watched title eliminators/minor title chances against Luke Campbell, Jorge Linares (Covid-19) and Ryan Garcia (claim of mental distress) go by the boards in the last year.

Diaz won the IBF title at junior lightweight in an impressive win over Tevin Farmer in 2020 but lost his title on the scales in February before struggling to a majority draw in the actual fight against Shavkat Rakhimov.

This is a fight that could be a good one as neither fighter is a hard puncher, but both have enough power to hurt the other and aren't afraid to throw punches.

The difference could come down to the quality of the chin and Diaz has never stopped or even badly hurt, while Fortuna has been stopped by Jason Sosa and that might be enough to give Diaz the edge in a tough fight to call.

Both fighters are quality top ten fighters that can be world champions against a certain level of competition but seem to be a cut below the top of the division and both have plenty to fight for in this one.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 96-87.

Light Heavyweights.12 Rds 

Gilberto Ramirez vs Sullivan Barrera

Both: Ramirez Unanimous Decision

Lightweights. 12 Rds

Javier Fortuna vs Joseph Diaz

R.L: Diaz KO 8

TRS: Diaz Majority Decision 

The Anniversary Present and Wheelhouse Art

    After leaving the toy store in Canal Fulton, I drove a little under two hours to actually pick up Cherie's present and to see an old friend.

I had come with an idea a year or so ago about something that I wanted to give Cherie, but I didn't have an idea on how to go about it.

I have often thought about artwork with a group picture style going back to my childhood in the 1970s when DC Comics would do wonderful special issues with their heroes around the Christmas tree enjoying the Christmas cheer.

Those covers always stuck with me and I always wanted to work on something that would comprise some of the people (real and fictional) together in one picture to represent my life and the people/characters that I always loved in one picture.

The cost of that means it might end as an unfinished work somewhere, but thinking of things like that caused a thought to jump into my mind- What if I was able to do a picture of all of the pets that had brought so much into Cherie's, the kids, and my own life?

That seemed possible, if not cheap but very possible.

I'm not skilled at art, a stick figure from me looks disjointed and I wondered who, where, and how to accomplish this task.

Then over the winter, it struck me who could do it and who I wanted to do it that the project could be done and that was an easy choice.

In my earliest coaching years (1993-96), I often had to umpire other team's games and for the first three seasons, I was struck by the competitiveness and attitude of a catcher on one of the league's consistent also-rans.

When you umpire home plate, you get to know the catchers better than any other players, and I knew Mike O'Brien with his competitive toughness didn't deserve to have to play on the perennial cellar-dweller managed by a fellow that would fit in well with today's why even keep score attitude and I tried many times to land him in a trade, but his manager despite his mismatch of styles didn't want to let him go.

Entering Mike's final season in the league, I was determined to land him for my team, defending the league championship, and after working it out to get him at the league meeting (they had a really dumb way of team allocating which was not a draft), I drove home to call my new players and his mom told me that he wasn't playing because he didn't make the upper league, but his younger brother was.

I started selling my team and what I'd do for Mike as a player and while I couldn't promise a championship, I could promise a chance at one, the most fun he will have with baseball, and for the only time in coaching- I guaranteed he would make the All-Star team.

Mike's mom agreed to pass it on to him and at my first practice, he came running onto the field, exchanging a high-five as he told me he was on board and yes, he did make the All-Star team, and we did win the league title complete with Mike hitting his only homer off his pitching nemesis in the final game.

So, Mike O'Brien ranks right at the top of my favorite players of ten years of coaching and fast forward from 1996 and Mike is now a professional artist.

And by professional, I mean he makes his living at it and has done commercial work for many companies that you have heard of in his career and his freelance work for his own Wheelhouse Art.

Of course, I wanted to have a work that Mike did for myself and I decided to start the process with the pets for the family.

I started with Posey, Big Ed, Chancellor, and of course the irrepressible Teddy. and as I rolled on I thought that I couldn't have such a project without Shiloh.

As Mike worked through various drafts of the picture involving me in the process of refining how the pets looked, about midway through I remembered that there was one missing animal.

Bramble was Cherie's and I's first pet and named after the former WBA lightweight champion Livingstone Bramble.

I told Bramble's story during the pandemic for Rachel's Day as part of the friends and family series.

I wanted to add Bramble, but I didn't have any pictures that I could remember until it hit me that there may be a small photo album from that time in my attic, which could have two pictures of Bramble in it.

Trooping up to the less than a seasonable attic, I dug the book out with the pictures in there, sent them to Mike, and added him to the picture.

I had several choices in what I wanted, ranging from 5x7 to 16x20, penciled, painted, color, black and white, and torn on what to choose.

Price did come into play to a certain degree but even though a color picture would have been really sharp, I would have had to have settled for a small picture in color compared to a sizable one in black and white and I thought a larger work would be far more detailed.

The project from start to finish was around three months in time and when it was ready for delivery, I didn't feel good about it.

The mail has slowed for everyone since the installation of Louis DeJoy as head of the USPS during the Trump administration and not only slowed but in many cases taking weeks and occasionally months to arrive after being sent.

So my concern with a one-of-a-kind item not only not getting there on time, but being potentially damaged made me think that I should go and pick it up myself.

I'm not sure I would have picked it up elsewhere, but it worked this time.

After arriving at Mike's home and seeing the picture in person for the first time, I really thought it was great and the above picture shows just how great Mike's work truly is.

I was able to spend a very enjoyable hour with Mike at his beautiful home and saw the studio that he does all of his work and talk sports and re-live plenty of old memories from days gone by.

I likely took up far too much of his time, but I had a great time visiting with him and perhaps I can do it again sometime down the road.

I quickly buzzed through the return trip, stopping in Triadelphia WV for a Quaker Steak wing stop and some gas before arriving home.

I'm really thrilled with the picture, I couldn't be happier with it, and everyone that has seen it has been extremely complimentary towards it.

It was an all-around great experience and I couldn't speak higher of Mike, his work, and should you be interested in a custom work of any type, Mike can be contacted at his website- Wheelhouse Art.

Tell him that his old coach sent you!

Sorry that my writing has slowed to a crawl, I'm still trying to get back what I need to roll things out as normal, but hang in there- I am working on it!