Official NHL thread?

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Originally Posted by Nabby

Damn, Campbell is good but not that good :eek:. Still was an expensive rental though.

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The cap going up to $56 million has given some players room to be more greedy. Apparently Hossa was offered $7 million per year by Pittsburgh and turned it down. I think that the max salary allowable is now like $12 million per year.

Speaking of Hossa... according to ESPN, Edmonton is in the sweepstakes for Hossa. He is an incredible talent... just not sure if he's worth more than $7 million per year. And I agree with one online review on him (think that it was ESPN too)... he's a great supporting player... not a "has to be THE man" kind of guy.

Rumour is that Pittsburgh is after Jagr too.

And Wade Redden is now a Ranger.

Players are being gobbled up fast...

I seriously can not believe the contract some of these GM's were doling out to mediocre players today. Jeff Finger? 4M /year for Michael Ryder? 5M per year for Theodore?? wth

IMO the Campbell deal is lunacy because he doesn't really play defense. The Redden deal is almost as bad--he's getting the same money Ottawa paid him but for drastically diminished production. It's almost like the Rags felt obligated to make waves today whether the shoe fit or not.

Philly are winners today; upgraded two needed positions and only spent 2M doing it. I kind of wanted Mike Commodore until I saw how much Columbus paid for him.

Also noticed the Pens got Godard, so Laraque must be on his way out. That's a downgrade...Godard is a great fighter but BGL is the best, and also a decent hockey player. Godard can barely skate.

My Hawks picked up Huet and Brian Campbell. We got rid of Lalime which makes me sad, so we'll be paying $12 million for two goaltenders next year since we have yet to release Khabiboulin.

Hossa signs with the Wings. Jesus just give them next years cup too.

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Originally Posted by r'aggro

Hossa signs with the Wings. Jesus just give them next years cup too.

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Geez Louise man!

How can that team afford him?!? This is starting to seem like the pre lockout Wings!

Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Lidstrom have to all be making top dollar. And all the supporting cast the Wings have to be paying significant dollar to as well.

***?!? Had no idea that they were even in the running...

Detroit was actually low on spending this last year so they had cap to work with. I have NO idea how Boston spends that amount of money on a team of basically nobody's.

1. Philadelphia Flyers - $56,700,000
2. Boston Bruins - $56,200,000
3. NY Rangers - $51,300,000
4. Anaheim Ducks - $51,000,000
5. Chicago Blackhawks - $49,900,000
6. St. Louis Blues - $49,100,000
7. Edmonton Oilers - $49,700,000
8. Vancouver Canucks - $49,900,000
9. Toronto Maple Leafs - $49,100,000
10. Minnesota Wild - $48,900,000
11. Carolina Hurricanes - $48,500,000
12. Calgary Flames - $48,400,000
13. Dallas Stars - $48,100,000
14. Montreal Canadiens- $48,100,000
15. New Jersey Devils - $47,100,000
16. Ottawa Senators - $47,100,000
17. Colorado Avalanche- $46,700,000
18. Detroit Red Wings - $46,600,000
19. Florida Panthers - $46,200,000
20. Los Angeles Kings - $46,000,000
21. Buffalo Sabres - $44,900,000
22. Atlanta Thrashers - $44,400,000
23. NY Islanders - $43,000,000
24. Tampa Bay Lightning - $43,900,000
25. Pittsburgh Penguins - $42,600,000
26. Columbus Blue Jackets - $41,800,000
27. San Jose Sharks - $40,600,000
28. Washington Capitals - $39,400,000
29. Phoenix Coyotes - $37,400,000
30. Nashville Predators - $35,600,000

Some surprises on that list for me... Detroit being one of them. I thought that between Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Lidstrom that they'd pretty much be handcuffed. They must have got a deal on some of those guys.

Edmonton reportedly offered Hossa $9 million per season. That looks like it would have maxed them out and forced some trades on their part. As well as having made their restricted free agents next season vulnerable.

I think that part of the new system is that you shouldn't max out your cap if you have restricted free agents that you don't want other teams taking a run at and not being able to match if you want.

I like my sharks being at the bottom of that list. We have some room to work with and need a Power Play Defenseman that can put up some points. I Sharks GM saw the weaknesses in Brian Campbell's game this post season and put a dollar value on him right after the season was over, un-willing to pay more then x amount he went after a team that would. The personal reasons had a factor but everyone has a price. If the sharks would've laid out 7-9 mil a year he would've signed but I bet they refused to do so.

I really hate Detroit. They picked up Conklin as a backup and now Hossa, they also inked Brad Stuart for 4 years. He made an impact on their Cup run this post season. Like the Yankees of hockey only with better money management :p.

Teams that have something to prove this season:
1) Toronto
2) Chicago - I'm a bit concerned about their goaltending because both Huet and Khabibulin are number 1 goalies. This is what happened in SJ twice already. Nabokov/Kipper and then Nabokov/Vesa.

I think they will both make the playoffs this season.

EDIT:
Wait, how the hell is Boston at the top of that list? They're not terrible but they're not that good either.

Unfortunately I don't see DW signing any big free agents, at least any that are still left. What's the last big free agent brought in, Mike Greir? It seems most guys have been brought over in trades and brought up through the minors.

But maybe this year is different, although I read that DW said he's looking to acquire a d-man through trade :(

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Originally Posted by JDC

Unfortunately I don't see DW signing any big free agents, at least any that are still left. What's the last big free agent brought in, Mike Greir?

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I like Mike Grier a lot (former Oiler)... but he's not really that big of an "impact" player. He'll contribute... just not much in the scoring department.

And most of the top FA players have been picked over already. Increasingly little left...

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Originally Posted by Nabby

I like my sharks being at the bottom of that list. We have some room to work with and need a Power Play Defenseman that can put up some points. I Sharks GM saw the weaknesses in Brian Campbell's game this post season and put a dollar value on him right after the season was over, un-willing to pay more then x amount he went after a team that would. The personal reasons had a factor but everyone has a price. If the sharks would've laid out 7-9 mil a year he would've signed but I bet they refused to do so.

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It seems to me that many offensive defensemen are defensive liabilities. Very few defencemen it seems can excel at both ends.

Zubov. Campbell. Ozolinsh. Souray. etc. etc.

But I also think that if a player is very one dimensional... that it's more difficult to aquire offensive defencemen than it is a good "stay at home" defenceman. Thus... the premium put on them.

Thus... with the Sharks having cap space and the newest trend being to overpay for players... I'm surprised that the Sharks didn't just bite the bullet and pay for Campbell. Especially since they gave up quite a bit to get hinm there in the firstplace.

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I really hate Detroit. They picked up Conklin as a backup and now Hossa, they also inked Brad Stuart for 4 years. He made an impact on their Cup run this post season. Like the Yankees of hockey only with better money management

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I agree. I still can't stand them from even before the lockout. And I thought that the cap would have killed that team and all of their overpriced players that they had. But to their credit... they got smart with their money.

As mentioned... look at Boston in comparison.

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Teams that have something to prove this season:
1) Toronto
2) Chicago -

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I think that Chicago is going to be close to having a breakout year.

Toronto I think is doomed to failure. Unlike Detroit, they are caught in a time warp of the old system. They are locked in and stuck with McCabe. They overpaid last year for Blake who had one career year at an older age and they paid the bank for him. I don't see them breaking out of their funk anytime soon.

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I'm a bit concerned about their goaltending because both Huet and Khabibulin are number 1 goalies. This is what happened in SJ twice already. Nabokov/Kipper and then Nabokov/Vesa.

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I wouldn't sweat it too much having $12 million tied up in two top tier goalies. Sometimes that can actually be a lifesaver should one falter or get injured. And even your best golaie can't start EVERY night...

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I wouldn't sweat it too much having $12 million tied up in two top tier goalies. Sometimes that can actually be a lifesaver should one falter or get injured. And even your best golaie can't start EVERY night...

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Tell that to Nabokov and Brodeur, haha. They started all but about 10 games this past season.

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Originally Posted by Spank_Me_Hard

I like Mike Grier a lot (former Oiler)... but he's not really that big of an "impact" player. He'll contribute... just not much in the scoring department.

And most of the top FA players have been picked over already. Increasingly little left...

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Yea, that's what I was getting at. Sharks just don't seem interested or attract any big name players :(

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Originally Posted by Nabby

Tell that to Nabokov and Brodeur, haha. They started all but about 10 games this past season.

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I don't know if there is any truth to it or not... but the "experts" talk about goalie fatigue for goalies that start that many. That they aren't as sharp come playoff time...

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Originally Posted by JDC

Yea, that's what I was getting at. Sharks just don't seem interested or attract any big name players :(

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Joe Thornton? That isn't a big name player? We got him for peanuts as well.

http://oilers.nhl.tv/team/console?type=fvod&id=19625

MacTavish on Pitkanen. "Not a good fit" and that his personal goals and the teams goals were different.

Hmmm... makes one wonder...

I'd never heard anything like that B4...