Another saga complete. Frank Thomas returns to Oakland for the rest of the season and only $337K. Any reason why he took so little?

The Big Hurt returns to Oakland for the second time in the past three years. The Mariners were the mystery team that made a late offer to try and sign Thomas, but failed.

Habs Come Back; Wings Hang On

The Montreal Canadians defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in overtime to take a 1-0 series lead.

With 28.6 seconds left in the third period, Alex Kovalev tied the game at three to force overtime. Tom Kostopoulos scored 48 seconds into overtime for the Habs, leading them to victory.

The Red Wings managed to hang on to their 4-3 lead to defeat the Colorado Avalanche.

Johan Franzen had a pair of goals and an assist and was crucial to the Red Wings victory. Jose Theordore was pulled after allowing four goals on 16 shots. Maybe he's finally starting to break down.

Report: A's Sign Thomas

MLBTradeRumors is reporting that The Athletics have signed Frank Thomas. Uh,
that's about it, really. There's not much more that I can say.

UPDATE: Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports now comes in to say that the A's have an offer to Thomas, and so does another team. The mystery team could be the Seattle Mariners or Texas Rangers.

NHL Semi Final Preview

Time to look at the second round of the NHL playoffs.


Eastern Conference
(1) Montreal Canadians vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers
(2) Pittsburg Penguins vs. (5) New York Rangers


Western Conference
(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche
(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (5) Dallas Stars


MON vs. PHI
Prediction: MON in 6
Prognosis: The Canadians swept their season series with the Flyers 4-0. The Canadians have more speed than the Flyers, something that could be the decider of the series. The Flyers on the other hand are riding off of their youth, and should be tough competition for the Canadians. Carey Price, in my opinion, is better than Martin Biron, a factor that will likely decide this series.


PIT vs. NYR
Prediction: PIT in 6
Prognosis: The Penguins are maturing at just the right time. The Rangers have a lot of talent, and a superpest in Sean Avery, that will be a pain in the backside to the Penguins. The Penguins have too much talent to not make it to atleast the Eastern Conference final.


DET vs. COL
Prediction: COL in 7
Prognosis: One of the most underrated rivalries in all of sports will be resurected. I don't think that the Claude Lemiuex and Patrick Roy days will come back, but there will more than likely be some sparks. Chris Osgood and Peter Forsberg, a pair of players from the old days will be expected a lot of. Osgood was named Detroit's number one goalie, and Forsberg will be counted on heavily to produce. It will be a hardnosed grinding series, but I think that Colorado can pull of the upset. Jose Theodore is proving himself at just the right time, and I think that that will make the difference.


SJ vs. DAL
Prediction: Sharks in 7
Prognosis: This may be the toughest series to win out of all of them. It will not be a goalfest with two of the league's top goaltenders in Evgeni Nabokav and Marty Turco going to battle. The Sharks need production from their top players, not just Jeremy Roenick. I think that Patrick Marleau breaks out a little bit, and carries the sharks a little bit further in to the playoffs.

2008 NHL Free Agents

With July 1st only two and a half months away, it's time to look at who will be available when the free agent market opens.

Anaheim Ducks
UFA: Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Joe Callahan, Joe DiPenta, Mike Hoffman, Jay Leach, Mark Mowers, Geoff Peters, Teemu Selanne, Bruno St. Jacques, Doug Weight
RFA: Darryl Bootland, Ryan Carter, Gerald Coleman, Stephen Dixon, Andrew Ebbett, Jonas Hiller, Shane Hynes, Jason King, Andrew Miller, Corey Perry, Geoff Platt, Brian Sutherby

Atlanta Thrashers
UFA: Milan Bartovic, Eric Boulton, Kevin Doell, Darren Haydar, Johan Hedberg, Bobby Holik, Jason Krog, Joel Kwiatkowski, Steve McCarthy, Karel Pilar, Mark Popovic, Mark recchi, Steve Rucchin, Jesse Schultz
RFA: Joseph Crabb, Guillaume Desbiens, Kari Lehtonen, Nathan Oystrick, Brett Sterling

Boston Bruins
UFA: Bobby Allen, Alex Auld, Sean Curry, Jeff Hoggan, Glen Metropolit, Jordan Sigalet, Brett Skinner, Aaron Ward
RFA: Mike Brown, Stanislav Chistov, Chris Collins, Chuck Kobasew, Petteri Nokelainen, Pascal Pelletier, Nathan Saunders, Mark Stuart, Nate Thompson, T.J. Trevelyan, Dennis Wideman

Buffalo Sabres
UFA: Dmitri Kalinin, Teppo Numminen, Nolan Pratt, Michael Ryan, Jocelyn Thibault
RFA: Steve Bernier, Paul Gaustad, Clarke MacArthur, Mark Mancari, Daniel Paille

Calgary Flames
UFA: Craig Conroy, Eric Godard, David Hale, Kristian Huselius, Curtis Joseph, Brent Krahn, Daymond Langkow, Curtis McElhinney, Owen Nolan, Eric Nystrom, Mark Smith, Jim Vandermeer, Stephane Yelle
RFA: Derek Couture, Cam Cunning, Ryan Donally, Tomi Maki, Adam Pardy, Brandon Prust, Grant Stevenson, Andrei Taratukhin, David van der Gulik

Carolina Hurricanes
UFA: Keith Aucoin, Ryan Bayda, Wade Brookbank, Tim Conboy, Trevor Gillies, John Grahame, Bret Hedican, Michael Leighton, Trevor Letowski, Joey Mormina, Sergei Samsonov, Glen Wesley
RFA: Pat Dwyer, Patrick Eaves, Mark Flood, Tim Gleason, Joe Jensen, Chad Larose, Daniel Manzato, Kevin Nastiuk, Brandon Nolan, Tuomo Ruutu, Dennis Seidenberg

Chicago Blackhawks
UFA: Kevyn Adams, Mike Brodeur, Jim Fahey, Wade Flaherty, David Koci, Patrick Lalime, Yanic Perreault, Prestin Ryan, Jason Williams, Andrei Zyuzin
RFA: Rene Bourque, Adam Burish, Dustin Byfuglien, Corey Crawford, Colin Fraser, Jordan Hendry, Andrew Ladd, Steve Marr, Danny Richmond, Martin St. Pierre, James Wisniewski

Colorado Avalanche
UFA: Andrew Brunette, Jeff Finger, Adam Foote, Peter Forsberg, Eric Healey, Jaroslav Hlinka, Jeff Jillson, John-Michael Liles, Scott Parker, Dale Purinton, Joe Sakic, Kurt Sauer, Wyatt Smith, Jose Theodore
RFA: Jason Bacashihua, Johnny Boychuk, Darcy Campbell, Daniel Dasilva, Philippe Dupuis, Mitchell Love, Cody McCormick, Cody McLeod, Brad Richardson, Marek Svatos, Michael Wall, Tyler Weiman, Wojtek Wolski

Columbus Blue Jackets
UFA: Nate Dicasmirro, Ron Hainsey, Jan Hejda, Zenon Konopka, Derek Mackenzie, Michael Peca, Mark Rycroft, Dan Smith, Dick Tarnstrom, David Vyborny
RFA: Dan Fritsche, Pascal Leclaire, Joakim Lindstrom, Mikko Maenpaa, Marc Methot, Alexandre Picard, Tomas Popperle, Aaron Rome, Clay Wilson

Dallas Starts
UFA: Stu Barnes, Nolan Baumgartner, Trevor Byrne, Niklas Hagman, Johan Holmqvist, Dan Jancevski, Bryce Lmpman, Antti Miettinen, Mattias Norstrom, Toby Peterson, Brad Winchester
RFA: Brandon Crombeen, Trevor Daley, Loui Eriksson, Nicklas Grossman, Marius Holtet, Vadim Khomitski, Steve Ott, Vojtech Polak, Konstantin Pushkarev, Marty Sertich, Jussi Timonen, Janos Vas, Francis Wathier

Detroit Red Wings
UFA: Adam Berkhoel, Chris Chelios, Carl Corazzini, Mark Cullen, Aaron Downey, Dallas Drake, Brad Ference,Mark Hartigan, Dominik Hasek, Andreas Lilja, Darren McCarty, Garrett Stafford, Brad Stuart
RFA: Jonathan Ericsson, Valtteri Filppula, Igor Grigorenko, James Howard, Logan Koopmans, Francis Lemieux, Ryan Oulahen, Kyle Quincey

Edmonton Oilers
UFA: Curtis Glencross, Marty Reasoner, Allan Rourke, Geoff Sanderson
RFA: Jonas Almtorp, Troy Bodie, Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, Glenn Fisher, Denis Grebeshkov, Jean-Francois Jacques, Frederik Johansson, T.J. Kemp, Joni Pitkanen, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Tim Sestito, Jarret Stoll, Zach Stortini, Danny Syvret

Florida Panthers
UFA: Wade Belak, Jassen Cullimore, Rob Globke, Magnus Johansson, Branislav Mezei, Steve Montador
RFA: Jay Bouwmeester, Gregory Campbell, Kamil Kreps, Drew Larman, Martin Lojek, Stefan Meyer, Garth Murray, Rostislav Olesz, Anthony Stewart, Adam Taylor, Martin Tuma

Los Angeles Kings
UFA: Rob Blake, Brendan Buckley, Kevin Dallman, Jeff Giuliano, Jon Klemm, Ladislav Nagy, Richard Petiot, Scott Thornton, Brian Willsie
RFA: Erik Ersberg, Gabe Gauthier, Peter Harrold, Petr Kanko, Matt Moulson, Patrick O'Sullivan, Joe Piskula, Dany Roussin


Minneasota Wild
UFA: Keith Carney, Pavol Demitra, Todd Fedoruk, Sean Hill, Steve Kelly, Andre Lakos, Petteri Nummelin, Serge Payer, Branko Radivojevic, Erik Reitz, Brian Rolston, Chris Simon, Aaron Voros, Wes Walz, Joel Ward
RFA: Shawn Belle, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Kurtis Foster, Matt Foy, Danny Irmen, Miroslav Kopriva, Peter Olvecky, John Scott, Clayton Stoner, Stephane Veilleux


Montreal Canadians
UFA: Andrew Archer, Mathieu Biron, Patrice Brisebois, Jean-Philippe Cote, Yann Danis, Brett Engelhardt, Jonathan Ferland, Duncan Milroy, Michael Ryder, Bryan Smolinski, Mark Streit
RFA: Jimmy Bonneau, Marvin Degon, Josh Gorges, Mikhail Grabovski, Jaroslav Halak, Andrei Kastsitsyn, j\Janne Lahti, Maxim Lapierre, Corey Locke, Ryan O'Byrne, Cory Urquhart


Nashville Predators
UFA: Dan Ellis, Martin Gelinas, Alex Henry, Jan Hlavac, Darcy Hordichuk, Josh Langfeld, Shane Willis, Nolan Yonkman
RFA: Brandon Bochenski, Matt Ellison, Martin Erat, Dov Grumet-Morris, Kevin Klein, Ville Koistinen, Janne Niskala, Rich Peverley, Oliver Setzinger, Ryan Suter, John Vigilante, Shea Weber


New Jersey Devils
UFA: Arron Asham, Sheldon Brookbank, Noah Clarke, Frank Doyle, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Grant Marshall, Richard Matvichuk, Ian Moran, Mike Mottau, Jay Pandolfo, Karel Rachunek, Erik Rasmussen, Jason Ryznar, Bryce Salvador, Barry Tallackson, Jari Viuhkola
RFA: David Clarkson, Ivan Khomutov, Olli Malmivaara, Jordan Parise, Rodney Pelley, Petr Vrana


New York Islanders
UFA: Bryan Berard, Kip Brennan, Rob Davison, Wade Dubielewicz, Ruslan Fedotenko, Michael Morrison, Miroslav Satan, Josef Vasicek
RFA: Luciano Aquino, Sean Bergenheim, Jeremy Colliton, Drew Fata, Bruno Gervais, Tim Jackman, Aaron Johnson, Matt Keith, Masi Marjamaki, Michael Mole, Frans Nielsen, Steve Regier, Matthew Spiller, Jeff Tambellini, Ben Walter


New York Rangers
UFA: Sean Avery, Mitchell Fritz, Andrew Hutchinson, Darius Kasparaitis, Marek Malik, Paul Mara, Michal Rozsival, Brendan Shanahan, Martin Straka, Jason Strudwick, Stephen Valiquette
RFA: Ivan Baranka, Nigel Dawes, Bruce Graham, Josh Gratton, Chris Holt, Hugh Jessiman, Rick Kozak, David Liffiton, David Leneveu, Greg Moore, Pierre Parenteau, Fredrik Sjostrom, Matt Zaba


Ottawa Senators
UFA: Matt Carkner, Mike Commodore, Niko Dimitrakos, Shean Donovan, Chris Kelly, Matt Kinch, Martin Lapointe, Justin Mapletoft, Wade Redden, Luke Richardson, Randy Robitaille, Cory Stilmman
RFA: Feff Glass, Josh Hennessy, Arttu Luttinen, Brian McGrattan, Andrej Meszaros, Antoine Vermette, Jesse Winchester

Philadelphia Flyers
UFA: Jesse Boulerice, Riley Cote, Jim Dowd, Rory Fitzpatrick, Martin Grenier, Jaroslv Modry, Vaclav Prospal, Darren Reid, Jason Smith
RFA: Rejean Beauchemin, Jeff Carter, Triston Grant, Nathan Guenin, Martin Houle, Randy jones, Lars Jonsson, Scott Munroe, Ryan Potulny, Stefan Ruzicka, Patrick Thoresen, R.J. Umberger


Phoenix Coyotes
UFA: David Aebischer, Ryan Caldwell, Jon Disalvatore, Bryan Helmer, Niko Kapanen, Matt Murley, Travis Roche, Joey Tenute, Mathias Tjarnqvist, Pete Vandermeer, Radim Vrbata, Craig Weller, Michael York
RFA: Brendan Bell, Daniel Carcillo, Marcel Hossa, Matt Jones, Alexei Kaigorodov, Al Montoya, Joel Perrault, Tyler Redenbach, Bill Thomes


Pittsburg Penguins
UFA: Kris Beech, Ty Conklin, Pascal Dupuis, Mark Eaton, David Gove, Adam Hall, Marian Hossa, Connor James, Ryan Lannon, Georges Laraque, Ryan Malone, Alain Nasreddine, Brooks Orpik, Gary Roberts, Jarkko Ruutu, Nathan Smith, Jeff Taffe
RFA: Mark Ardelan, Paul Bissonnette, Tim Brent, Patrick Ehelechner, Daniel Fernholm, Jonathan Filewich, Marc-Andre Fleury, Ryan Stone


San Jose Sharks
UFA: Brian Boucher, Curtis Brown, Brian Campbell, Tom Cavanagh, Brennan Evans, J.D. Forrest, Mike Iggulden, Graham Mink, Brad Norton, Sandis Ozolinsh, Dmitri Patzold, Tomas Plihal, Patrick Rissmiller, Jeremy Roenick, Alexei Semenov, Jody Shelley, Craig Valette
RFA: Riley Armstrong, Ryane Clowe, Christian Ehrhoff, Marcel Goc, Lukas Kaspar, Mike Morris, Joe Pavelski, Dan spang, Brad Staubitz, Jonathan Tremblay

St. Louis Blues
UFA: Alex Brooks, Petr Cajanek, Micki Dupont, Mike Glumac, Mike Johnson, Ryan Johnson, Juuso Riksman, Martin Rucinsky, Yan Stastny, Jean-Guy Trudel, Matt Walker
RFA: David Backes, Chris Beckford-Tseu, Francois-Pierre Guenette, Martin Kariya, Jay McClement, Hannu Toivonen, Jeff Woywitka

Tampa Bay Lightning
UFA: Mathieu Darche, Chris Gratton, Doug Janik, Andreas Karlsson, Junior Lessard, Craig MacDonald, Norm Milley, Andre Roy, David Schneider, Tim Taylor, Kyle Wanvig
RFA: Jonathan Boutin, Ryan Craig, Mike Egener, Justin Fletcher, Zbynek Hrdel, Marek Kvapil, Ryan Munce, Alexandre Picard, Jay Rosehill, Mario Scalzo Jr., Karl Stewart

Toronto Maple Leafs
UFA: Scott Clemmensen, Jay Harrison, David Ling, Dominic Moore, John Pohl, Mats Sundin, Andrew Wozniewski
RFA: Reid Cashman, Alex Foster, Chris Harrington, John ,Mitchell, Ben Ondrus, Jaime Sifers, Matt Stajan, Kyle Wellwood

Vancouver Canucks
UFA: Greg Classen, Brad Ssbister, Trevor Linden, Drew MacIntyre, Aaron Miller, Brad Moran, Brendan Morrison, Markus Naslund, Byron Ritchie, Curtis Sanford, Mike Weaver
RFA: Jozef Balej, Marc-Andre Bernier, Mike Brown, Zach Fitzgerald, Colby Genoway, Nathan McIver, Rick Rypien, Ryan Shannon, James Sharrow

Washington Capitals
UFA: Dean Arsene, Josef Boumedienne, Matt Bradley, Frederic Cassivi, Matt Cooke, Sergei Fedorov, Cristobal Huet, Olaf Kolzig, Jason Morgan
RFA: Steve Eminger, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon, Mike Green, Jameson Hunt, Brooks Laich, Shaone Morrisonn, Stephen Werner

Brewers Trade Gross to TB

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Milwuakee Brewers have traded outfielder Gabe Gross to the Tampa Bay Rays for Class A right-handed pitcher Josh Butler.

Gross was originally acquired by the Toronto Blue Jays, when they sent him and Dave Bush is a deal for Lyle Overbay.

Report: Canucks Hire New GM

A new report tonight says that the Vancouver Canucks have hired Mike Gillis as their new GM. Gillis is currently the player agent of Markus Naslund. If Gillis is the new GM, will that mean the Naslund will be back?