I think the spending is pretty whacked, but it is making a clear delineation between stars and the workhorse guys.
The WCE is set to roll October 5. Seeing as the Canucks have given Gretzky so many landmark moments, they will be happy to do so again - his first loss as coach.
Vancouver is also close to resigning Matt Cooke and Bryan Allen. Ohlund has filed for arbitration, but a deal is expected before then (his QO is way low).
With Vancouver being the goalie graveyard it is, many would like Cloutier gone, but it would be hard to find a replacement in that price range who can put up back to back regular seasons like Cloutier. If he can stay healthy, and get his playoff performance in line with the regular season, I think we are okay.
Chubarov has gone back to Russia. There is still a D position that needs addressing, and perhaps a fourth line slot. We have some pretty good talent on the farm, so it will be interesting to see how they transition to the NHL.
BostonBruins.com has confirmed, 3 years, no terms. I think this was Joe's agent being afraid of a possible lower max/cap next year due to lost revenues, so he signed for three and will cash in after the league recovers.
The Penguins strategy has been to focus on the offense with free agents since they have spent the past 4-5 years drafting defense in the first round. Before Crosby their past 5 picks have included 3 defenseman, 1 goalie and 1 winger. 3 of those 5 picks should be on the team this year (Brooks Orpik, Ryan Whitney and Marc-Andre Fleury) and another has signed and will be in the AHL this year and could compete for an NHL spot in 2006-7 (Noah Welch).
Lecavaliere(sp) just signed for $6.8M a season. What is Tampa Bay thinking? These GMs are nuts for spending this kind of money on players, especially with a $450,000 minimum. One star and a bunch of AHLers is not what I want to watch on the ice.
Tampa signed Sean Burke & John Grahame a few weeks ago, I'm pretty sure they intend to go with either of those two as the #1 (depending on the pre-season).
You are right tho' 6.8M is far too much to keep Vinnie. Not only is St. Louis now a problem, but Tampa's best player (IMO) Richards is only getting 3.4M. Imagine what he will want next year when his contract comes up.
Someone will have to go, you can't afford 3x 6-7M dollar players.
How did Tampa put priority on lecavalier over St.louis as well?
I would have thought they would have signed both players around the same time, perhaps at a bit of a discount so that they could keep all three stars together and all three happy. However, since I'm not a lightning fan i'm thrilled at this signing because there's just so many things wrong with it.
I heard on the radio this morning that the NHL has awarded cable broadcast rights to OLN, taking their bid for more money over one from ESPN. I think this is a mistake, taking more short term money but getting a lot less TV exposure on an obscure network.
The NHL did the same thing several years ago when they awarded rights to SportsChannel instead of ESPN. You would have thought they would learn from their mistakes.
Paul, I know that Comcast owns OLN. However, SportsChannel was owned by one of the major eastern cable companies, too, and that didn't work out too well. I just do not think that OLN is on the radar of the public (heck, I do not even know what channel it's on with my Comcast cable system). Anyway, this means that I can forget about watching any NHL in HD this season. At least we get CBC and Hockey Night in Canada here.
I would rather Isbister with JT and Murray. Someone has to go in the corners and I don't want it to be my franchise center. Put Sammy with Bergeron and Zhamnov, Bergie will get his nose dirty for that line.
As for everyone's infatuation with Andy Hilbert, I agree with what was said on another board. The question was asked "Whatever happened to Cameron Mann?" The answer was "He had his name legally changed to Andy Hilbert."
Cameron Mann, Cameron Stewart, Andy Hilbert etc., all guys who could light it up in Providence, but were a step too slow in skating, a second too slow in playmaking, a testicle too short in toughness and a degree too small in vision to make it to the big show. Yet everyone becomes enamored with them. I just don't get it.