This Week in Sports: January 18th

NHL:

While there were a few noteworthy stories in the National Hockey League this past week, none were as big as the news of Mike Cammalleri getting shipped to the Calgary Flames for winger Rene Bourque.

The Cammalleri saga began on Wednesday afternoon when Cammalleri vented his frustrations to La Presse reporter Francois Gagnon and NHL.com editor Arpon Basu after the team's usual media availability session was over. Cammalleri told the two he was tired of the team's "losing mentality," noting that they prepared like losers and therefore played like losers. He reportedly ended the conversation by telling the reporters to "read between the lines," immediately intensifying the speculation that Cammy wanted out of Montreal. Habs GM Pierre Gauthier was happy to oblige, sending the disgruntled winger west to the Flames along with the rights to goaltender Karri Ramo (currently playing in the Russian KHL), and a 5th round pick in this year's draft in return for Bourque, Patrick Holland (7th round pick in 2009) and a second round pick in the 2013 draft.

While many fans have lashed out at Gauthier over the trade, many underestimate the value the Habs get out of this deal. The Habs didn't give up any young assets; Ramo was never going to see the Bell Center ice as a Hab, and giving up a late round pick won't make-or-break the Canadiens' future. In return, they get a rising prospect in Holland, who, despite his late-round status, has begun to impress with his junior team, the Tri-City Americans, and adding a second round pick down the road is a huge bonus for the Habs.

Plus, who knows? Maybe Rene Bourque just needed a change of scenery and will reach his full potential with the Habs. He is a big body, adding size the Canadiens desperately need, and currently has 3 more goals than Cammalleri despite missing games due to suspensions this season.

NFL:

It was a wild Divisional Round Weekend as Tebow got Tebowed, Yates yacked it up, the Saints got a taste of the Wild Wild West, and the Giants slayed The Giant. Let's break it down game by game:

Patriots 45, Broncos 10

Tebowmania is officially over: Tim Tebow was shut down by the much-maligned New England defense while Tom Brady showed young Tim who runs this league by throwing - count 'em - SIX TD passes in the game, effectively ending the Broncos' Cinderella season.

Tebow has been named the Broncos starting QB going into next season, but can he make the necessary improvements to his passing game in order to get to the next level? Or will he be but a flash in the pan?

Ravens 20, Texans 13

This game would have been completely different if the Texans had had starting QB Matt Schaub under center in this one. But alas, Schaub was injured near the end of the regular season and backup Matt Leinhart was injured in his first start of the year, leaving T.J Yates in command of the otherwise elite Houston offense. A rookie third-stringer against the vaunted, hungry, Ray Lewis-led Ravens defense? Fuhgetaboutit!! Despite numerous chances to pull ahead or tie the score near the end of the game, Yates was unable to break the Ravens tough defense, but we did see that it bends, quite too often, and if the Ravens don't get their act together this week they will get slaughtered by Brady and the Patriots in the AFC Championship game.

The Texans had a solid season and definitely took advantage of Peyton Manning's absence from the Colts offense to take over the AFC South crown. Regardless of what happens to Manning in the off-season, the Texans now have the burden of heading into a season with a target on their backs. Can they handle the pressure?

Giants 37, Packers 20

There will be a new NFL champion this season as the defending champions, the Green Bay Packers, bowed out at the hands of the relentless New York Giants Sunday night in a game that the Packers lost themselves. Killed by dropped passes and costly turnovers, Aaron Rodgers watched helplessly from the sidelines as Eli Manning shredded the Packers secondary all game long. The Giants are on a tear right now and are looking like the team that won the Super Bowl in 2007, but this squad is much deeper and Eli Manning is that much better.

The Packers can take solace in the fact that they have a Top 3 NFL offense, and if they shore up their defense in the off-season they will no doubt be in contention for another Lombardi Trophy this time next year.

49ers 36, Saints 32

In what was the most thrilling game of the playoffs thus far, and perhaps one of the greatest games of all time, Alex Smith and the 49ers took down Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. The teams traded scores up until the final 10 seconds of the game, when Smith connected with tight end Vernon Davis for the game-winning TD and effectively supplying the Saints with a taste of their own medicine. No one believed that the Niners could keep pace if the game was a high-scoring affair, but they did, and they will prove to be a serious test for the Giants in next weekend's NFC Championship game.

The Saints, on the other hand, like the Packers, have one of the best (if not the best) offenses in the league, but defensive shortcomings ultimately doomed their run for another Super Bowl. They will need to make improvements in this area, while probably learning a new system as defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has left to St.Louis to take on the same role there with newly-appointed head coach Jeff Fisher.

It’s still early in the week, but I'm feeling a rematch of the epic 2007 Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Giants. My predictions:

Patriots 35, Ravens 24

Giants 30, 49ers 27

NBA:

The start of the shortened National Basketball Association season has been an interesting one to say the least, with numerous storylines to pick from: the dominance of superstars Kobe Bryant and Derrick Rose, the much-hyped Miami Heat, the surprise start of the Philadelphia 76ers, the resurgence of Lob City, Los Angeles, starring Chris Paul and be, and the complete ineptitude of the Washington Wizards.

However, what is perhaps most intriguing is the effect the compacted schedule is having on every single team in the league. The sixty-six game season has called for incredibly demanding stretches, like having 5 games in six nights, or three games back-to-back-to-back. Not only does this make it difficult to evaluate the true potential of a team, it also toys with sports bettors who don't know what kind of effort to expect on any given night. Teams coming into their third game in three nights have had a tendency to run out of gas, leaving the door open for weaker teams to beat (and sometimes dominate) teams that, on paper, are clearly better than their opponents. The extreme conditions of this schedule seem a bit unnecessary, and players are paying a toll in the form of injuries, but the NBA didn't give themselves much room to manoeuvre if they were dead-set on finishing the season on-time.

That being said, let's hope a lesson has been learned and that greed will not get in the way of future labor negotiations, not only in basketball, but in all sports... but alas, we know that day will probably never come.

I hope you enjoyed this first blog post, come on back next week for more sports talk!

-Andrew Maggio runs a dedicated Habs blog, check it out here