the 4th star

Some bad news for the Manitoba Moose.

The Jason LaBarbera deal the Vancouver Canucks orchestrated during Tuesday’s loss to the Philadelphia Flyers will have little impact to the Moose until Roberto Luongo returns from injury.

LaBarbera was picked up from the Los Angeles Kings for a seventh-round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft not as an indication that Cory Schneider is heading back to the Moose, but as a move that requires the Canucks to dress two goaltenders for the next few games.

Curtis Sanford, a goaltender who has somehow managed to keep a spot on an NHL roster, hurt his groin in Tuesday’s warm-up — putting his availability to a week-to-week timetable and leaving Schneider up in Vancouver.

The big question is what happens when Luongo returns from his groin injury. Schneider will obviously come back to Winnipeg, but what about Sanford or LaBarbera? There’s no way the Canucks will carry three netminders. That means one of the back-ups could be headed for Manitoba (baring a trade and clearing waivers, of course), making things very crowded in the Moose crease in 2009.

Update that resume, Karl Goehring.

Some background: In an effort to add more hotness to the blog, I’m starting a new weekly feature called ‘Hump Day’ — a post designed around hot chicks and sports. During the time off, I hired a research team to study the correlation between the two and surprisingly, a number of guys who like sports also like looking at women they have no chance of sleeping with.

Thus, ‘Hump Day’ was born.

First up is the suddenly hot Hilary Duff. Before you go there, she’s 21-years-old so don’t worry about it. Turns out a lack of talent isn’t something she only embraces, but finds attractive, too. She has dated (or is currently dating — who knows?) the mucho over-rated Mike Comrie.

Comrie is currently squeezing out one more season in the NHL this winter (with the NY Islanders, his fifth team in seven NHL seasons) before recognizing his ability and heading overseas to play in a lessor league next year.

Who had Mike Shanahan in the next-to-be-fired pool?

Shanahan gets called onto the Denver Broncos’ carpet after dropping the last three games and failing to win a division (AFC West) so bad it should be relegated to the CFL next season. Just goes to show you, the days of sticking with a head coach through thick and thin are almost completely gone. Jeff Fisher is lucky Vince Young went crazy and Kerry Collins’ sleepy style of safe quarterbacking didn’t cost him a ton of games, or he’d be feeling the heat, too.

And if I was Jon Gruden, I wouldn’t be getting the large rib-eye or springing for too many rounds of champers when enjoying the New Year’s Eve festivities tomorrow night. Things might be tight in 2009, Jon-Jon.

Hark the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled”
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
“Christ is born in Bethlehem”
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Jesus. Let me see if I have this straight: Mats Sundin is not playing against the Philadelphia Flyers tonight. He is not going on the coming road trip to Nashville and Atlanta. His next scheduled skate is for January 4, 2009. Or next year, if that puts more emphasis on the span of time for you. Regardless, no word was given today if the 17-year NHL veteran will play that night against Dallas.

No word on when he’ll play his first game, either.

Wasn’t Sundin supposed to help put the Vancouver Canucks over that playoff hump? Tough to do if he doesn’t play in games to help get the club into the post season in the first place. Somewhere in the bowels of The Garage, general manager Mike Gillis is texting coach Alain Vigneault some words of encouragement.

PLAY 13 ASAP

Forget about Wade Phillips for a second. We all know he’ll be lucky to see the end of the week, joining Eric Mangini, Romeo Crennel, and Rod Marinelli at Kinko’s updating their resumes for those lucrative co-ordinator and special team jobs.

This is about Marvin Lewis.

Either you’re the luckiest son of a bitch on the face of this Earth to still have a job as Black Monday draws to a close, or the people in charge of the juggernaut that is the Cincinnati Bengals missed the first three months of the season and only tuned in to watch the three game win streak they closed out with.

That brought the 2008 season win total to four. FOUR. The guy has been the head coach for six years. His record is 46-49-1. Guess how many times he’s been to the post season. C’mon, take a guess.

Herm Edwards. You’re on deck, buddy.

The New York Jets will try to duplicate the ‘success’ of the 2008 season by bringing another legend into the fold.

Whispers within the organization have owner Woody Johnson contemplating bringing in former San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh to run the football operations.

Walsh has been dead for 17 months. He was 75.

“Ownership really wants to bring a winner in here,” a source said. “Woody was really happy with the way the first time went and he thinks they can still squeeze some life out of a respected football man like Walsh.

“The guy is a qualified gridiron genius.”

Earlier today, Johnson fired coach Eric Mangini after he missed the post season for the second straight year. Ironically, with the news of Woody’s Walsh wooing coming today, Mangini was dubbed ‘Mangenius’ by members of the local tabloids, who the coach later ate at a bye-week press conference in 2007.

Walsh is a multiple Super Bowl champion, guiding the 49ers to three titles in the 1980s.

It would be the second time in two off-seasons the Jets are trying to raise the dead to fill a spot in their organization.

Prior to the 2008 campaign, New York drifted into the quarterback cemetery like a slow moving fog at dusk and grabbed Brett Favre, who spent the better part of the last 50 years gun-slingin’ it in Green Bay.

As expected, Walsh could not be reached for comment.

San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson inked one-time NHL super pest Claude Lemieux to a two-way contract today.

Lemieux, who is playing in Worcester of the American Hockey League, is 43-years-old. He started the year playing in China and should he clear waivers Tuesday, would be free to join the Sharks when they wish to ruin any chemistry they’ve developed over the first half of the season.

In an unrelated story, doctors in Detroit are baffled by the recent tick Kris Draper has in his surgically repaired face.

Still rolling over here. Should be up and running shortly.