THE WILSON GAZETTE

Which team will win the Stanley Cup? Will it be the Anaheim Ducks or will it be the Chicago Blackhawks? How about the Tampa Bay Lightning or the New York Rangers? As a hockey analyst, this question has been going through my mind since day one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There truly will be only one winner. First of all, the Tampa Bay Lightning have a stacked roster. Secondly, since the Lightning have already advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, they will be matched up with the New York Rangers, whose roster is less talented. Clearly, the Tampa Bay Lightning will become the Stanley Cup Champions.

 

First of all, the Tampa Bay Lightning have a roster full of amazing players.  An example of one of their premier players is Tyler Johnson. Tyler Johnson is leading the league in most playoff goals with eight. That means he is ahead of Anaheim’s Corey Perry and Chicago’s Duncan Keith. Another example of a star player is Steven Stamkos. Steven went to the NHL All-Star Game with players such as Anze Kopitar (LA)  and Alex Ovechkin (Was.). I can also go on with other great players, like Goaltender Ben Bishop, Right wing Ryan Callahan, and many more. That is why the Tampa Bay Lightning will win the Stanley Cup.

 

Secondly, The New York Rangers only have a few good players like Rick Nash, Henrik Lundqvist, and Marty St. Louis (who used to play for Tampa). But besides those few players, who is this Matt Hunwick. Matt Hunwick has played 5 out of the 11 playoff games this season. Do you know why? Because in those 5 games he scored 0 goals, assisted 0 times, and took 2 shots on net. C’mon, Matt, I know  you can do better. Another example is Tanner Glass. Tanner played 10 games out of 11 playoff games that the Rangers have been in. In the 10 games, he has 0 goals and 0 assists, and the only stat except for his 10 shots are his 7 penalty minutes. That is another reason why the Tampa Bay Lightning will sweep the Rangers and then go to the Stanley Cup Finals and win it all.

 

Those 2 pieces of evidence prove that The Tampa Bay Lightning will become the STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS. I can already imagine the stanley cup champions logo …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Things NFL

Staff Writer Tyler Duby breaks down the NFL Free Agent Frenzy and the NFL Draft. 

 

2015 NFL Offseason: Free Agent Frenzy

 

This NFL offseason we have seen big deals in free agency such as 114 million dollars for the Miami Dolphins' new defensive end Ndamukong Suh along with Chip Kelly's big trade sending LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for Kiko Alonso. Maybe the biggest deal will end up being Andre Johnson and Frank Gore going to the Indianapolis Colts or Demarco Murray going to his former rival, the Eagles.

 

Other teams have been busy as well with the Jets acquiring Brandon Marshall from the Bears, Darrelle Revis from the Patriots, and Antonio Cromartie from the Cardinals, but they also had to get rid of wide receiver Percy Harvin.

 

Also, the Patriots, who had a great defense last year on their way to winning the Super Bowl, got rid of defensive tackle Vince Wilfork (Texans), Darrelle Revis (Jets) and others, bumping them back in the rankings heading into next season.

 

It looked like Chip Kelly’s intention was to get better players for his system, which he did when he acquired running backs Ryan Mathews (San Diego Chargers) and Demarco Murray (Dallas Cowboys). Also, he got Sam Bradford (QB) in a trade with the Rams for Nick Foles (QB), and tried to bulk up his defence by getting linebacker Kiko Alonso in the trade for LeSean McCoy (RB).

 

Look out for the Titans who added to an already scary defense by getting OLB Derrick Morgan and another linebacker from the Redskins named Brian Orakpo while the Jacksonville Jaguars acquired tight end Julius Thomas from the Broncos and Jared Odrick from the Miami Dolphins.

 

 

Draft Predictions

 

When you think of this year's draft, you think of quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, but there is even more potential than you might think at other positions as well. I think the best player in the draft is either Amari Cooper (wide receiver from Alabama) or Dante Fowler Jr. (linebacker from Florida) because they played in the SEC Conference, which was easily the hardest NCAA Conference in the nation.

 

Also look out for Devante Parker, a wide out from Louisville who I think is better than Kevin White, the wide receiver from West Virginia who is receiving more praise than Parker before the draft. Parker had 650+ yards in SIX games last year at Louisville and White can really only catch the deep ball.

 

On defense, dominating the draft talk so far has been Danny Shelton (Washington), Leonard Williams (USC), Shane Rey (Missouri), Fowler (Florida) and Vick Beasley (Clemson). All are supposed to go in the first round.

 

At running back, Melvin Gordon  out of Wisconsin is getting the attention, but I think Todd Gurley (Georgia) is more ready for the NFL because he also played in the SEC and he runs more like an NFL back.

 

Going into the draft, my overall my top five is:

• Winston, Florida State (Tampa Bay)

• Leonard Williams, USC (Tennessee)

• Dante Fowler Jr., Florida (Jacksonville)

• Amari Cooper, Alabama (Oakland)

• Vic Beasley, Clemson (Washington)

 

 

 

NFL Draft Recap

 

 

 

Was it a surprise that the Redskins took an offensive lineman when star defensive end Leonard Williams was still available? What other surprises came up at this year's draft?

 

Throughout the draft people saw a lot of No. 2 position prospects like Damarius Randall, a safety from Arizona State, taken ahead of No. 1 position prospects like Landon Collins, the top rated safety from Alabama.

 

The first top ten picks, as you see below, were quite odd compared with the mock drafts leading up to Draft Day.

 

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• Jameis Winston, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

• Marcus Mariota, QB, Tennessee Titans

• Dante Fowler Jr., OLB, Jacksonville Jaguars

• Amari Cooper, WR, Oakland Raiders

• Brandon Scherff, OG, Washington Redskins

• Leonard Williams, DE, New York Jets

• Kevin White, WR, Chicago Bears

• Vic Beasley, OLB, Atlanta Falcons

• Erik Flowers, OT, New York Giants

• Todd Gurley, RB, St. Louis Ram

 

 

From the first ten picks above, all the teams filled their team needs, like Amari Cooper to the Raiders and Winston and Mariota fill the quarterback needs for Tampa Bay and Tennessee. Also, when the Rams picked Todd Gurley, people were shocked because they already had Zac Stacy and Tre Mason, two established running backs in the league, but 24 hours after their pick, they traded Stacy to the Jets.

 

All of the first 10 picks were not that surprising and all the teams filled their needs. Later on in the draft, the New England Patriots picked defensive tackle Malcom Brown from Texas with the last pick of the First Round. This was surprising because he was supposed to go earlier in the first round.

 

Overall, throughout the draft, there were not many big moves or trades, which left some fans disappointed.