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The NHL 2012 off-season thread. Lockout over!
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I've got a bit of a problem with this. Big time offender and undermines Shanny.
UPDATE-
Nick Kypreos @RealKyper
#Coyotes Brett MacLean is in stable condition and remains in I.C.U. He will undergo further tests to determine cause of his collapse.
Collapse
Oh no. I personally worked with Brett on charity projects when he was a prospect for the Hawks. He is a super nice guy. Ugh, I hope he's OK. That's terrible. He's too young for this kind of thing. I hope they find out what is causing this.
Sorry, I'm trying not to cry right now, but this kind of thing freaks me out. He's a good guy.
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I've been following that story too. I hope he pulls through okay.
He helped us launch the youth hockey project at the Center on Halsted in Chicago last year with Nik Hjalmarsson. He signed my Hawks cap. Sorry, this is making me a bit emotional right now. This really sucks.
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http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=399913
lets pray the league says no like they did to Kovie's first contract with Devils...
but good for the wild-
lets pray the league says no like they did to Kovie's first contract with Devils...
but good for the wild-
Uh - oh! it seems that Parise AND Suter are signing with the Wild, I was hoping that at least one of them would join the Wings!
Source: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=637188&navid=DL|NHL|home
Source: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=637188&navid=DL|NHL|home
I think it's a terrible decision by Suter mostly, but Parise as well. The team is now cap strapped and not very good. You can't rely on 'prospect potential', as that means nothing. If it did, KC would win countless World Series. The team has no history, no winning tradition, and is in a small market mostly ignored by anyone outside of Minnesota.
Minnesota now has half its cap locked up in 5 players. What does this make them now? Maybe a contender for their division - maybe? So at best still looking at a 5-8 seed (and don't give me that 'LA just won as an 8!' nonsense).
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Flip side is, wow. Detroit, your move? Kenny better have his phone off the hook for the next 72 hours-rest of the offseason. But what options are there really?
Defense - Carle is going to get overpaid. Colaiacovo isn't that good (or bad), but injury prone and cheap. Bouwmeester is overpaid and an underperformer as a possible trade target. Who else is really out there?
I think Semin could be a good grab for the offense. That signing would be conditional on him playing the way Babs and the Wings play. Babcock is a coach who would have no qualms about healthy scratching someone not buying into the system. Nash or Ryan trades might be worth looking into depending on the price. Their cap hits are fine, just a matter of what their teams demand.
I guess we'll see how it unfolds. Could just be a "screw it, we'll go as is, save our ton of cap space and attack 2013."
Minnesota now has half its cap locked up in 5 players. What does this make them now? Maybe a contender for their division - maybe? So at best still looking at a 5-8 seed (and don't give me that 'LA just won as an 8!' nonsense).
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Flip side is, wow. Detroit, your move? Kenny better have his phone off the hook for the next 72 hours-rest of the offseason. But what options are there really?
Defense - Carle is going to get overpaid. Colaiacovo isn't that good (or bad), but injury prone and cheap. Bouwmeester is overpaid and an underperformer as a possible trade target. Who else is really out there?
I think Semin could be a good grab for the offense. That signing would be conditional on him playing the way Babs and the Wings play. Babcock is a coach who would have no qualms about healthy scratching someone not buying into the system. Nash or Ryan trades might be worth looking into depending on the price. Their cap hits are fine, just a matter of what their teams demand.
I guess we'll see how it unfolds. Could just be a "screw it, we'll go as is, save our ton of cap space and attack 2013."
Exactly why they did it. These guys have a chance to go in and turn this franchise around. Parise is from Minnesota, and Suter is from Wisconsin (pretty close, and his wife is from Minnesota). It's a hockey hotbed in this country, and having a good NHL team there could be a huge thing for this league. You can't rely on prospect potential completely, but they have a bunch of great prospects. Adding these two guys in their prime is huge.
It kind of reminds me of the Bruins signing Chara and Savard a few years back. It didn't make them the instant favorite, but it strengthened the team greatly, and with a few other moves they were contenders and won it within 5 years.
These moves don't make Minnesota the favorites to win the cup by any means, but I think it definitely makes them a playoff team this year, and there's a good chance they make it deeper within 2-3 years.
Great signings and a great day for the league. Pumped for Minnesota, their fans deserve this.
They're probably a top 4 team in the west after this. Los Angeles and Vancouver are clearly the top of the pile, but Minnesota is probably right in there now with Chicago, St Louis, etc.
Top 4? Huge leap of faith.
1) Los Angeles - as long as they actually play to their potential
2) Vancouver
3/4/5 tier - (not in any order) Phoenix (w/ Doan), Chicago, St. Louis however you want to mix it.
6/7/8/9/10 tier - (not in any order) Minnesota, San Jose then throw in the likes of Dallas, Nashville (never count them out), Detroit, Colorado or Calgary maybe.
I can't see Minnesota cracking all of LA/Vancouver/Phoenix/Chicago/STL to be in the Top 4 - even with Phoenix's Doan situation or Chicago's goalie situation not settled. Maybe in a few years, but I don't play the speculation game.
I really don't agree with your reasoning here. A great day for the league? How? This is just more material for Bettman to show the NHLPA how out of control things are. If anything, these signings will probably cause/prolong the impending lockout/strike.
The Wild being a good team does nothing for the league. It's such a small market. Now if you were talking about the Rangers, the Flyers, the Bruins, the Kings, or the Blackhawks, your statement would make sense. Those big markets are the important ones for the league.
Minnesota used to have a strong team, and what happened? It did so much for the league that they moved to Dallas.
Minnesota (or Canada jr.
) will always be a hockey hotbed, with or without the NHL.This deal definitely strengthened the Wild, but we'll have to wait and see if plugging two holes will be enough to make them a top 4 team. I highly doubt it though.
This makes sense. I think that they'll definitely make the playoffs, but not as one of the top teams in the league. That being said, we saw this season that being one of the top teams in the league doesn't matter once the playoffs start.
About the deal(s) itself.....I just don't like it. I really don't like these front loaded 10+ year deals that end when the player is in their 40s. I kind of think of these deals as short-term self-preservation moves by the GMs. They're hoping for immediate and short-term improvement so that they can keep their jobs longer. Most GMs wouldn't last as long as these contracts, so they won't have to be the ones to worry about what to do with an old, possibly constantly injured (see: Dipietro, Rick), and possibly untradeable veteran player ten years from now.
Same - really dislike these sort of deals. The combination of term and money is just too much to move. A $7.5m cap hit is huge... times two... for over a decade! And there's no contract restructuring in the (current) CBA.
I think Detroit/Nashville's max 90M/13 years was a solid offer because at $6.5M/year, that is actually manageable, moveable, and that extra mil really matters in a cap squeeze.
They were right at the top in the west for the first half of the season last year before they fell apart in the 2nd half. These guys could be the difference between that collapse and playing solid the whole year. Nashville isn't going to be nearly as good without Suter, and Phoenix lost Whitney. You might be right that they might not be top 4, but I can definitely see them in the 4-6 range.
The Wild being a good team does nothing for the league. It's such a small market. Now if you were talking about the Rangers, the Flyers, the Bruins, the Kings, or the Blackhawks, your statement would make sense. Those big markets are the important ones for the league.
Minnesota used to have a strong team, and what happened? It did so much for the league that they moved to Dallas.
Minnesota (or Canada jr.
Its a good thing for the league because they aren't New York, Philly, Chicago, or LA. If all of the big name players always ended up on one of these few "big market" teams, you'd have the NBA, where it's a half dozen teams who actually have a chance to win every year.
It was 20 years ago that the North Stars moved to Dallas, and a lot has changed since then. Yes, they aren't a huge media market like LA, New York, Philly, or Chicago, the NHL teams in those markets have to compete a lot more with the other three major sports. Minnesota is the biggest hockey market in this country, and they could be really successful if they have a strong team there. Since their team has been bad for so long, you can bet that many of the people who live there care more about high school and college hockey than the pros. The NHL doesn't have nearly as much competition with the other major sports there, so you can bet if they have a competitive team there will be a big surge in popularity. With the massive changes in the media coverage of the league since the early 90s, what happened with the North Stars really has no relevance anymore.
I'm just glad they didn't go to a team like Pittsburgh where the rich would have gotten richer, it would have just been a repeat of the Lebron situation in the NBA.
I agree with you here. These huge, extra long term deals aren't a good thing for the league. But these guys were getting 10+ years from whichever team they chose, so I'm glad it was Minnesota and not Detroit/Pittsburgh/Philadelphia.
I am a little confused. Is Weber actually an RFA? Could someone actually give him an insane offer sheet and force Nashville into a corner ? Why isnt he getting all kinds of offers for his services ?
That said he sounds like the girl who got dumped on prom night or the woman who was left at the alter and you know the saying-hell hath no furry like a d-partner screwed.
That said he sounds like the girl who got dumped on prom night or the woman who was left at the alter and you know the saying-hell hath no furry like a d-partner screwed.
NHL GMs are part of the tightest ol' boys club network on the face of the earth. No one wants to step on anyone's toes or piss anyone off.
If a team wanted to really piss Nashville off, they should just do a one year offer with a boatload of money. It would force Nashville into a corner - match, pay a ton for a one year rental just to see Weber leave or let him walk.
Edit: It would piss Nashville off because a matched offer sheet means Nashville can't trade Weber the following year, so they'd pay more in the short term, can't trade him, and he'll still walk summer 2013.
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Here's a nice story about Jags:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...perstar-mentor-201720136--nhl.html#more-37448
Too bad (but not really) that the Caps didn't land him last year (or this year). They could have used (and could still use) his mentoring for Ovie and Semin.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...perstar-mentor-201720136--nhl.html#more-37448
Too bad (but not really) that the Caps didn't land him last year (or this year). They could have used (and could still use) his mentoring for Ovie and Semin.
My guess - shockingly - is more likely to be Chicago. He's fine with either location, Chicago has a greater need, and Theodore would have to drop his no trade to go in return for Luongo.
I hope not Chicago for their sake. Still think it would be funny if he went to the Leafs. Realistically, he should go play in Sweden or something.
I hope not Chicago for their sake. Still think it would be funny if he went to the Leafs. Realistically, he should go play in Sweden or something.
You think a guy who won 31 games out of the 55 he played this past season (with 5 shutouts) should pack it up and go to Sweden? Okay then.....
You must be forgetting that the Bruins/Canucks Cup final went to 7 games.....if he would have won one more game, your perception of him would be very different.
I think that Luongo has a lot of good hockey left in him. I even think he has the ability to rebound back to being considered one of the top goalies in the league. I just don't think he can do it in Vancouver. I think having Schneider there looking over his shoulder for the past few seasons hasn't helped or motivated him. It probably made him "squeeze the stick" more than he should have been, which led to his inconsistent play.
Whether he goes to Toronto, Chicago, or Florida, I think he'll do well. I wouldn't be upset if he became a Leaf.
You think a guy who won 31 games out of the 55 he played this past season (with 5 shutouts) should pack it up and go to Sweden? Okay then.....
You must be forgetting that the Bruins/Canucks Cup final went to 7 games.....if he would have won one more game, your perception of him would be very different.
The Sweden thing was more of a joke, but lets be realistic. Luongo can't handle the pressure of a big hockey market. If the Canucks had played Schneider for one more game in that series, things would have most definitely been different. Luongo gave up 20 goals in that 7 game series (for the record, Thomas gave up 8). That's not very good.
He's not a bad goalie by any means, but he folds when there is more pressure on him. A backup playing better should put the pressure on the starter and make him play better, too. It shouldn't be an excuse for the starter playing worse and getting demoted by the end of the year.
Florida seems like the best place for him. I think I remember reading that he lives down there in the offseason, and it would be a low pressure market where he would probably be very successful.
I just dont think Florida has the pieces to move him. Vancouver isn't gonna just hand him over-its gonna take some major pieces. Frankly the price that Columbus wants for Nash is more in line with what Luongo is worth and Florida just does not have those pieces(and even if they did they wont part with them).
I really doubt there's much Florida is going to have to return - maybe a prospect and a handful of draft picks. It's the fact that Florida has two goalies signed - at least one (Theodore) with a no trade clause that would need to be waived for the trade to go through.
It's still doable, but that's why I'd put money on Toronto or Chicago as the key destination.
It's still doable, but that's why I'd put money on Toronto or Chicago as the key destination.