Posted by Mike Petraglia

Bill Belichick nailed this one on head when he said there’s seems to be a lot going on in a short period of time this week.

Adalius Thomas getting surgery on Wednesday on his broken left forearm, most likely ending his terrific season for the Patriots. Randy Moss getting fined $20K for comments about the officials he made after the Colts game. David Thomas getting fined $7,500 for a football hit after the whistle in that same game, with Moss’ being rescinded after cooler heads prevailed.

The 6-3 Jets invading Foxboro to take on the 6-3 Patriots for first in the AFC East.

And then there’s the little matter of a former Pro Bowl cornerback coming back to the NFL with his former team just in time to help against another former team. Ty Law will “probably get a shot” to play Thursday night for the Jets, according to coach Eric Mangini.

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How much and where on the field remains to be seen.

Reaction from the Patriots ranged from professional (Belichick, who else?) to warm (Ty Warren).

Warren gave us one of the more entertaining answers of the season on his reaction to Law returning just in time to face the Pats.

“I talked to Ty before the season even started and I knew he would still be playing somewhere this year. I didn’t know it would be this late, but it’s definitely going to be a little bit weird. We did play against him after he left here that one year, but Ty is Ty. It’s like Manny [Ramirez] is Manny; Ty is Ty.” To hear this, click here.

Consider this exchange between reporters and Belichick on Law’s return Thursday…

Q: Where surprised about Ty Law’s signing with the Jets?
BB: It didn’t surprise me that he signed with somebody. I didn’t think he was really looking at every team in the league so, no not really.

Q: Had you maintained contact with him?
BB: I haven’t talked to Ty in probably a couple of months.

Q: Will you spend time preparing for Ty Law?
BB: It will be as a defensive back in whatever role they put him in.

Q: You don’t really know where they will play him….
BB: He was down there in 2005. We played him. I think we all know what Ty’s skills are. Where they put him or what they do with him, you never know that until the game starts.

Classic Belichick there.

Even Trags Take is on short rest this week as we prepare to break it all down for you on Wednesday.

Posted by Joe Haggerty

Versteeg has perfected the art of the dangle in the Windy City

Sometimes the deals that stand out like a blinking neon marquee in the minds of NHL executives across the NHL landscape are the ones that simply got away from them. A potentially successful deal that was passed over due to prohibitive cost or concerns about how much an older player still has in his career tank, or frittering away a young asset on the verge of development into a bone fide NHL maker of plays.

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli has stayed the course with the vast majority of young players that are now flourishing within a rising Boston Bruins organization, but Chicago Blackhawks right wing Kris Versteeg easily qualifies as “the one that got away” for a B’s GM that’s been coming up aces lately. The 22-year-old Versteeg was the Bruins prospect sacrificed in a forgettable deal — along with a draft pick – for minor league journeyman Brandon Bochenski, who totalled 11 goals and 17 assists in 51 games over two seasons for the Bruins before plummeting off the Black and Gold landscape. At the time of the trade, Versteeg — a B’s fifth round pick in the 2004 draft – had 22 goals and 27 assists in 41 games for the Baby B’s and was another in a long and winding line of bright light B’s talent that’s now filling up the roster in the Hub.

Ultimatelly Bochenski was spun off to the Anaheim Ducks for “Sheriff” Shane Hnidy and a sixth round draft pick last season, so currently Hnidy stands as the only remaining remnant from a trade that netted the Blackhawks one of the top rookies in the NHL this season.

Bochenski appears more and more like a career AHL player with each passing period while Versteeg enters Thursday night’s game among the NHL rookie scoring leaders with 3 goals and 9 assists through Chicago’s first 13 games — a stretch that’s also seen him earn PK minutes and impress the Chicago coaching staff with all-around game. 

“Kris has got a ton of skill and its always been National Hockey League level,” said Blackhawks assistant coach Mike Haviland between periods of Sunday night’s Blackhawks/Flames telecast. “The other parts of the game I really had to get through to him…turning pucks over and when not to turn pucks. He’s playing with some real skill guys and he’s a skill guy. He’s getting a chance to show what he can and he’s a competitive kid. I think he’s really matured on and off the ice.”

Former P-Bruins teammates Mark Stuart and David Krejci each remember Versteeg as a crafty, slick offensive playmaker that was among the youngest players in the AHL during his time in Providence, and he’s only grown more dangerous since getting paired with fellow ”Young Guns” skaters Pat Kane and Jonathan Toews in Chicago.

“He’s a good player and when I heard that he had a chance to play with Kane and Toews I knew he was going to make it,” said Krejci, who lit up the P-Bruins scoreboard in 2006-07 when they both skated on the same line together. “We had a good time. On the ice and off the ice he was a good guy. We played most of the year together.  He was actually kind of like me as a player: he can handle the puck and he was patient with it to make plays, and he could shoot it. He’s good.

“I guess it was good for him to be able to go out to Chicago and make the team,” added Versteeg.

Stuart qualifies as a willingly physical member of a B’s blueline corps that will be under a good deal of heavy pressure from a young, skilled Chicago attack. Its expected Stuart and Co. will up the physical ante against the young ‘Hawks to slow down the skating speedsters racing up and down the United Center ice before a packed house. 

“I’ve heard he’s doing pretty well,” said Stuart. “But I’m not very surprised at what he’s doing. He’s a really young guy and he’s skilled enough to play with anybody. They definitely have the talent there for him to play with some highly skilled guys.

“He’s able to find guys [out on the ice], he’s got really good hands and is good with the puck and he’s also very shifty,” added Stuart. “He’s good around the net too, so we’ll try to slow him down a little bit and shut him down. Off the ice he’s a nice kid. He was a young kid [during his time in Providence] and he still is…really fun to be around too.”

Apparently he’s also got a devastating singing voice somewhere between Fergie and Jesus…an ear-piercing gift that his teammates in Chicago recently discovered. Here’s the damning video evidence:

 –Shane Hnidy skated at practice on Tuesday morning for the first time since suffering a lower body injury against the Dallas Stars 10 days ago, but head coach Claude Julien cautioned that the veteran D-man likely wouldn’t return to the lineup until Thursday night’s much-anticipated home tilt with the Canadiens.

“I don’t think I’m going to dress him [Wednesday night] because it’s been a while, but is he a possibility for Thursday? Yeah,” said Julien.

Speaking of the Habs, Thursday night’s game against the Canadiens at the Garden represents the first of three different Habs/Bruins matchups this season taking place in the second game of back-to-back efforts for the B’s. Thursday night at the Garden is the first, a Nov. 22 Saturday night game at the Bell Centre after a Friday night game against the Florida Panthers is the second and a Feb. 1 Sunday matinee in Montreal following a Saturday afternoon game against the Rangers pulls off the scheduling hat trick.

The Cigarette Smoking Man may be behind the NHL schedule...

For the consiracy theorists out there, the first two aforementioned games between the two Northeast Division rivals also allows the Habs to enjoy a full day off against a potentially weary B’s team fighting through back-to-back games.

Julien apparently doesn’t believe in the grassy knoll or Area 51, and definitely doesn’t believe that “The Truth is Out There.”

“I guess unfortunately we don’t have much control over the schedule and it’s ironic that its always [Montreal] waiting for us at home, but so be it,” said Julien. “I think the best way to handle it is to have all 19 of your guys going and being able to stretch your bench as much as you can to get the results you want. Then try to get home as quick as possible and get your rest for the following night.”

Posted by Jessica Camerato

All five members of the Boston Celtics starting lineup will be named to the 2009 All-Star ballot today, presented by T-Mobile. The ballot will be unveiled today during a special kick-off ceremony in Phoenix, Arizona.

Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and Kendrick Perkins are all up for spots on the Eastern Conference team. The Big Three participated in last year’s game (Allen was a replacement for Caron Butler) while Rondo and Perkins have never been named to the team.

The All-Star Game will be held February 15 at the US Airways Center. Voting will begin on Thursday, November 13 and run through mid-January. This season fans will be able to cast their votes in every NBA arena, online at NBA.com in several different languages, and via cell phone.

Posted by Rob Bradford

David Ortiz just spoke at Fenway Park, appearing to promote his charity golf tournament. Here is what he said:

(Regarding his wrist): ”I know it’s going to feel fine. It’s feeling better. I had inflammation at the end of the season, but it went away. Just like the doctors said, you take a month, a month and a half without swinging, you feel fine.

“There’s one thing I can control is what I time I go to sleep. That’s it. After that there are a lot of things you’re not going to be able to control, and injuries are one of them. You have to just deal with it and suck it up.”

(Did he feel like he was missing a lot of pitches he normally hits in October): ”Oh yeah. It wasn’t only October, it was since I got back I was missing a lot of pitches.”

(Do the Red Sox need another middle of the order hitter): ”I think so, I think so. Especially our division the pitching is improving a lot and next year, let me tell you, you’re going to have to face a lot of good pitching.

“We just need a few guys in the bullpen and another 30 home run guy and we’ll be all set.”

(Regarding the possibility of acquiring free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira): ”I haven’t thought about it because we have Mikey, we’ve got Youk. Mike just had surgery so you don’t know what’s going to happen, hopefully he comes back healthy. You definitely need to find another guy who can produce here.”

(About his concern regarding what moves the Yankees might make): ”All I know something crazy is going to happen out there. I know they’re going to do something because of the situation they have right now. That’s why we need to get stronger too.”

(Does he think Manny Ramirez will end up with the Yankees): “I don’t think so. I don’t think it will happen. I never heard Manny talking about that, about going to New York. I really think he will stay in the National League.”

(When was the last time he talked to Ramirez): ”Been a while.”

(Regarding the how the Red Sox finished up): ”Nobody said you’re going to win every year. Things have to happen for you to get better.

“We wasn’t the best team this year. We had a lot of injuries, we had our ace hurting, we got some key (players) missing. But we still show we can beat people up. We beat the best team in baseball, the Angels, and we were like 70-75 percent.”

(On if he thought the Red Sox would have won it all with Ramirez): ”I don’t know. Probably, probably not. I’ll leave it up to you.”

Posted by Jessica Camerato

When Jermaine O’Neal looks at Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, he can’t help but get frustrated.

Very few can do this in just one season.

Garnett and Allen were able to hit the ground running in their first season with the Boston Celtics, starting off 20-2 en route to the first NBA Championships of their career. For O’Neal, his debut season with the Toronto Raptors has anything but a joyride.

“It’s been kind of a roller coaster for me,” he said. “And it’s been hard.”

This summer O’Neal was traded to the Raptors from the Indiana Pacers, a year after Garnett’s blockbuster trade to the Celtics. The move paired O’Neal with dominating big man Chris Bosh and positioned the Raptors as an Eastern Conference contender. Like the Celtics, the Raptors united unfulfilled All-Stars in hopes of winning a title.

“You try not to base your career and your success off of somebody else’s,” O’Neal said. “A lot of people can say, ‘I want it to be like this,’ but it’s not necessarily like that. [The Celtics] definitely have put together a format on how to do it, for sure. Sometimes you’re not able to go that route. You’ve got to take another route and that’s the route that I’m on.”
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