Canes re-ink Cole, Boulerice

Canes fans can breathe a little easier now. Erik Cole has been re-signed to a one-year $1.14M deal. Cole got us a little worried yesterday when he expressed some concern about the club's commitment to him. Frankly, I think he has a right to be concerned. He really wants to play for this team, and wants a long-term commitment. A one-year deal is not what he had in mind, and is not what we fans have in mind either. Our team, though, has never been known to shore up players with long-term contracts. Even still, it would have been nicer to get a three-year deal.
Cole, who can play either wing position, was the C to Bates Battaglia and Rod Brind'Amour's Bs on the BBC line which caught fire during our run to the Stanley Cup finals in 2002. During that post-season, Cole lead all rookies with 6 goals and 3 assists for 9 points. He also grew a really kick-ass playoff beard (see picture).
On the ice, Cole isn't the most talented skater, but he works hard and plays aggressively.
Off the ice, Erik is one of the fan favorites. He always makes time to talk to fans and to sign jerseys and caps. I've never met him, but everyone who has says he's a hell of a guy.
I'm happy that we've retained him, but I just wish it had been a longer contract. I don't know what the team has in the works, but I would assume that they have some plans for Colesy beyond this season.
There's still some talk of trying to get Battaglia back here. He would come cheap, and the ladies would really like it. I think we'd all like it, but the ladies especially. He'll never be a Rocket Richard contender, but his production would be well worth the salary he'd get (probably around $600k).
Right wing Jesse Boulerice is another guy who I think we had to retain. Yes, he's our "enforcer", but he made some really significant improvements in his offensive game in 2003-04. No longer just the agitator, he scored 6 goals in the 03-04 season to go along with his team-high 127 penalty minutes, and earned an "every-night-player" status rather than being a healthy scratch. I'm concerned, though, because he didn't play at all during the lockout. His contract, by the way, is for one year at $501,600.

Now, the only player I think we MUST retain is Josef Vasicek, who is rumored to make Cole-type money. I'm waiting....

Thornton commits to Bruins, Leafs steal Lindros

On Thursday, Boston Bruins centerman Joe Thornton signed a three-year, $20M deal to stay with the only NHL team he's ever played for. The 26-year old captain of the Bruins was the first overall selection in the 1997 entry draft, and has been an all-star three times in his seven NHL seasons. Thornton would have become an unrestricted free agent next summer, but opted to avoid that by signing the three year contract.

This contract should help Marian Hossa in his arbitration. Thornton's numbers are pretty similar to those of Iggy and Hossa, yet Hossa gets paid chump change compared to Iggy and Thornton

C JOE THORNTON, Boston. age 26. 3 years/$20M
2000-01 72GP...37G...34A...71TP...-4....107PIM
2001-02 66GP...22G...46A...68TP...+7....127PIM
2002-03 77GP...36G...65A..101TP...+12...109PIM
2003-04 77GP...23G...50A...73TP...+18...98PIM

C JAROME IGINLA, Calgary. age 28. 3 years/$21M
2000-01 77GP...31G...40A...71TP...-2....62PIM
2001-02 82GP...52G...44A...96TP...+27...77PIM
2002-03 75GP...35G...32A...67TP...-10...49PIM
2003-04 81GP...41G...32A...73TP...+21...84PIM

RW MARIAN HOSSA, Ottawa. age 26. (offer of 3 years/$11.9M refused)
2000-01 81GP...32G...43A...75TP...+19...44PIM
2001-02 80GP...31G...35A...66TP...+11...50PIM
2002-03 80GP...45G...35A...80TP...+8....34PIM
2003-04 81GP...36G...46A...82TP...+4....46PIM

With the exception of Thornton's number of penalty minutes, all three of those statistical sets are almost identical. This signing will go a long way to helping maid Marian get what he wants and deserves. But the difference in the players is that Thornton and Iggy each wear the "C" on their sweater, whereas Hossa doesn't even wear an "A". Something screams out about that. A guy who consistently produces at nearly a point a night, but he's not even the alternate captain? There's something else going on there. I don't know what, and I can't even begin to speculate, but something's going on in the state of Denmark. I don't want to call it rotten, but it's not exactly fresh, either.

Meanwhile, the Leafs continue to add big names at bargain bin prices. They signed Eric Lindros to a one-year, $1.55M deal ....

BREAKING NEWS ..... HURRICANES RE-SIGN COLE, BOULERICE

(back to our regularly scheduled post, already in progress)

Lindros, who, Like fellow Leafs newcomer Jason Allison , has had concussion problems, should still be a nice pickup for the perinnial Prince of Wales contender. The concerns are more significant for Allison, but folks are a little worried about #88, too. At that price, though, it's a risk well worth taking. If both of these guys play at about 85%, or even if either or both of them miss half a season, the benefits will outweigh the costs. Nobody will expect spectacular seasons from them, but Leafs fans should expect about 60 points out of both guys.
As much as I dislike the Leafs, I like the moves they've made this summer.

More on the NHL/Comcast deal

I don't think I did a very good job with my initial post about the agreement the NHL has come to with Comcast. There were some important details that I left out.

First, the owner of OLN, Ed Snider, is a hockey guy. He's also part owner of the Flyers. What this means is that although OLN isn't as high profile as ESPN, the TV deal will be in better hands. As a hockey guy, Snider wants this to succeed and he wants the NHL to succeed. That's in contrast to ESPN, who may has well change their name to THEC ("Texas Hold 'Em Channel"). Some folks around here are humorously suggesting that ESPN, who is based in Connecticut, is still angry that the Whalers relocated to Raleigh, and stopped caring about hockey then.

The other key piece of information that I neglected to include is that there's some buzz about the OLN folks having a long-term plan to establish an NHL Network. If this is true, then this might be the best thing in the world.

Arbitration

When yesterday's deadline for players to file for salary arbitration came, there were only 11 players who stepped forward, which is much lower than expected.

The most notable player on that list is 26-year old Marian Hossa of the Ottawa Senators (story)
The smart money is on Hossa to win the arbitration hearing. The Sens have offered him a three-year, $11.9M deal, which he has rejected. He believes that he should be compensated the same way that Jarome Iginla. Iggy just inked a deal for three years and $21M.
Hossa's last four seasons have been quite spectacular. Way more impressive than I had remembered:

2000-01 81GP...32G...43A...75TP...+19...44PIM
2001-02 80GP...31G...35A...66TP...+11...50PIM
2002-03 80GP...45G...35A...80TP...+8....34PIM
2003-04 81GP...36G...46A...82TP...+4....46PIM

Compare those regular season numbers to those of Iggy over the same period of time...

2000-01 77GP...31G...40A...71TP...-2....62PIM
2001-02 82GP...52G...44A...96TP...+27...77PIM
2002-03 75GP...35G...32A...67TP...-10...49PIM
2003-04 81GP...41G...32A...73TP...+21...84PIM

Those numbers are pretty similar. In fact, it's a difference of only four points. So why should Iggy get paid so much more? Hossa has a point, and he will win the arbitration hearing. From a pure numbers standpoint, there's no doubt. Of course people will say that Iggy has more leadership qualities and other stuff that doesn't show up in the box score, but it's hard to argue with the offensive production. Problem is, Ottawa can't afford to pay him. Expect to see a trade involving multiple players to the Sens and Hossa somewhere else. I can't speculate about who the trading partner would be, but at this point it seems unlikely that the Sens will pay him an Iggy-like salary.

On the 'Canes front, winger Erik Cole made news this morning by expressing doubts about his future with the Canes. In this article from today's News & Observer, Cole (who did not file for arbitration) is quoted as saying:

"Obviously, my wife and I would prefer to stay in Raleigh... We love the area, we love the fans and it's a great place to be and a great place to play. At the same time, you want to make sure the organization is headed in the right direction and you're going to be treated like they want you there."

Wow. I'm not sure where he's been getting his information, but the last time I checked, he's one of the favorites around here, and to my knowledge, the organization has never given him anything but positive reinforcement. The Canes are offering him $1.1M, which he hasn't accepted yet. This is a key guy who we really need to retain. I hope it doesn't get ugly.

Canes re-ink Williams

Speaking of Fleury, (man, is this ever a bad pun) there's been a flurry of RFA re-signings today.
The only one I care about is that the Hurricanes re-signed Justin Williams to a one-year $1.225M deal.
The 23-year old right winger was acquired from Philly in a January 2004 trade. Daniil Markov for Williams. Markov was later traded to Nashville for a conditional pick, which was then bundled with J-Ro and shipped to LA for future considerations. Quite possibly the worst trade ever made in any sport. All of this was done to make room for the great Peter Forsberg's outrageous salary. I don't want to talk about that today, though. This is about Justin Williams.

Williams immediately became a fan favorite upon his arrival in Raleigh, and is expected to be on the verge of a breakout season. At the very least, he's on the verge of becoming a very good player. My concern here is that we signed him to a single-year deal. I'd really like to see him around for many years to come. I really like this guy. He's got good stick-handling skills, he's fast as all getout, he has good defensive skills, and you never see him lagging behind the play or dogging it. Best of all, he's young and will continue to improve.

I'm still waiting for the news that we've re-signed Erik Cole and Josef Vasicek, but I suppose I'll have to be patient.

Goalies find new homes

Two key goalies found new homes over the last 24 hours.
First, Sean Burke was picked up out of the free agency pool by the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bolts will be paying the 38-year old journeyman $3.2M over two seasons, which in my opinion is about $3.1M more than he deserves (I'll get to that later). This will be his eighth team in his 17-year career, including two stops in Philly and a stint with Hartford/Carolina. He's been involved in a number of trades, including a January 1998 multi-player trade that sent him, Geoff Sanderson and another player to Vancouver for goaltender Kirk McLean and Marty Gelinas.

As you may or may not recall, the impetus for that specific trade was Burke's domestic abuse arrest in November 1997. After the incident, Burke denied the charges against him, but ultimately plead guilty. From what I've heard, this was not the first time he had beaten his wife, Leslie. I generally don't have any use for wife-beaters, and this is certainly the case here.

Apparently, many clubs were aggressively courting Burke, including the Penguins, who ended up signing Jocelyn Thibault . The 11-year veteran and one-time All-Star missed 60 games with the Blackhawks in 2003-04 due to hip surgery. I'm not sure what the plans are for M-A Fleury. Perhaps they'll platoon in goal, which seems to be a new trend with all these teams having two #1 goalies.

And the goalie merry-go-round continues to spin.

I give Tampa a D- on their change in net. They lost out on Khabibulin and picked up a very marginal (not to mention scum of the earth) Sean Burke. Bad. Very bad.

I give Chicago an A. Although Thibault is excellent, his hip is a big question mark. They couldn't have done any better than the Bulin Wall. Very solid pick-up.

Penguins will get a B-. As stated above, Thibault is kind of a question mark. His experience will be a big plus, as Emma Fleury will still need some guidance. He's also (if healthy) a very good keeper. It'll be interesting to see how that goalkeeping scenario unfolds in Pittsburgh.

Comcast, NHL ink a deal

The NHL has found a new cable TV home.
Probably.

On Tuesday, the NHL and the cable giant ComCast came to an agreement in principle valued at $100 million for two years of broadcasting. The deal will be ratified by the NHL's Board of Governors and set into place for the upcoming season.
The Philadelphia-based cable company will nationally broadcast one to two games per week on its Outdoor Life Network . Formerly known best for its huntin' and fishin' shows, the channel has gained popularity over the past couple of years thanks to its outstanding full coverage of the Tour de France.
ESPN will have a chance to match or better the offer, but the smart money says that they won't. ESPN had been the national cable home of the NHL since 1985, but opted not to renew the contract or to have anything to do with the draft lottery or the draft itself.

NBC also has a contract with the NHL, but is limited to seven regular season games, six playoff games, and games 3-7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Most clubs will still enjoy the same regional coverage they had through the Fox Sports Net or other broadcasting groups.

If OLN can do a job that is even half as good as the job they do with the Tour de France, this'll be an awesome deal. I have a lot of faith in them.

Kevyn Adams re-signs

Very good news on the homefront.

The Hurricanes have re-signed Kevyn Adams to a two-year deal. We don't yet know the terms of the deal because the club does not disclose that, but the speculation was that he would get something like $750k per season. This is an absolute steal for a player who works exceptionally hard on every shift and has a fantastic attitude.
I won't kid anyone by saying that Adams is a good goal-scorer. He'll likely have somewhere in the neigborhood of 15 goals. What he brings, though, is incredible tenacity, and a never-give-up outlook. A perfect example of this is Kevyn's shorthanded goal with less than a second remaining in an overtime game at Atlanta on March 5, 2004. He was among the league leaders in shorthanded goals with five.

There has been a good deal of speculation that Kevyn will be wearing an A on his sweater this year, while Brind'Amour wears the C. I am a very vocal supporter of that.

Check out this stunning goal Kevyn scored against the Rangers on January 8, 2004.

Bertuzzi reinstated

I thought long and hard about whether I should write about this, and I finally decided that I should.

On Monday, Gary Bettman decided to accept Todd Bertuzzi's plea for re-instatement into the NHL. Bertuzzi was suspended "indefinitely" after a vicious attack on Colorado's Steve Moore on March 8, 2004, resulting in a broken neck for Moore. The suspension amounted to 13 regular season games and 5 playoff games. It is said that this was a $501,926.39 forfeiture in salary. Additionally, Bertuzzi was banned from play in Europe and Canada during the lockout.

Bettman believes that Bertuzzi is "genuinely remorseful" for his actions. I actually believe that, but I am not of the opinion that he should be allowed to play again. While he wishes he could take it back, anyone who is familiar with the situation knows that this was an intentional, even planned attack on Moore. It was not a clean hit and served no purpose other than to severely injure Moore. Retaliation for Moore's hit on Naslund isn't a good enough excuse for what happened. Bertuzzi went WAY over the line. To his credit, he knows that he went way over the line, and his tear-filled apology gave him a shred of dignity. Does he deserve forgiveness? I don't think so.

I think Bettman messed this up in the first place by not being more clear about the terms of the suspension. He should have made the suspension "no less than 82 games" instead of using the vague "indefinite". The reason I use that as an example is that's the suspension Marty McSorley got when he clubbed Donald Brashear over the head with his stick. Bettman should have looked for precedence in doling out suspensions for predatory attacks like that. It would have been very easy to come up with the answer. I was disappointed with the terms of the suspension then, and I'm disappointed with the re-instatement now.

Bertuzzi has only missed 13 (regular season) NHL games. Nobody played any NHL games in 2004-05, so I don't think that should have been taken into consideration. Nor should the Canucks' postseason games be taken into consideration.

Meanwhile, Steve Moore is nowhere near ready to play hockey again. There are civil charges pending against Bertuzzi, which should result in significant compensatory damages.

Caps ink Cassels

The Washington Capitals have finally done something else. This time, I kinda like what they're doing. They picked up center Andrew Cassels, signing him for one year at an undisclosed amount.

Cassels, who is 36, is still able to put up some respectable numbers. His best season was 1992-93, when he tallied 85 points (21/64) for the Hartford Whalers. That season was not unusual in that his assist total was three times that of his goals. With few exceptions, that has been the case every year. His career totals are 720 points on 200 goals and 520 assists. I'm still not sure who (other than Ovechkin) he will have to pass to, but he should have some decent numbers this year.

Cassels was actually part of one of the biggest trades in Hartford/Carolina history. During the summer before the Canes inaugural season, he and J-S Giguerre were traded to the Flames for Gary Roberts and Trevor Kidd.

With a VERY limited budget, this might be about all the Caps can do. According to owner Ted Leonsis, they want to spend $25M this year. He, along with Canes owner Peter Karmanos thinks two things. First, that his team will qualify for revenue sharing, allowing the team to break even or possibly turn a profit. Without the revenue sharing, there's no way. Second, that the league-wide cap will have to be lowered next season. In respect to this, he and Karmonos are preparing themselves to be in a situation where they can actually spend money next year while other teams are frantically trying to shed contracts. It's brilliant strategy, but it will take some time and patience for it to pay off. You can read Leonsis' letter to fans here.
One thing I find laughable is when he attempts to quell fans' frustration over the Jagr-for-Anson Carter (and subsequent Carter-for-Aulin) trade. He states, correctly, that there's no way the Caps could have afforded to keep him around, and they would have had to buy out the contract, losing $ and getting nothing in return.

If we would have kept Jaromir Jagr, we would have had to buy him out by writing him a bigger check than we currently do and we would have received nothing in return. We now have Jared Aulin in our organization as a result of the Jagr trade.

Where he's gone a little screwy, though, is that they could have done much better with their negotiating skills. Agreeing to pay half of Jagr's salary was more idiotic than getting Carter in return for him. Then the crack-smoking continued when they gave up Carter for Aulin, who is still barely more than a prospect.

This is freakin' brilliant, though.

And as a final gesture to display our gratitude for purchasing season tickets, I'm happy to announce that this year's season-ticket holder gift is a replica Caps CCM jersey.

For the record, Canes season ticket holders get a drawing of a player. They make it sound nicer by calling it a "limited edition lithograph". I've never collected mine.

Jaromir Jagr - age 33
career totals: 1027 GP 537 G 772 A 1309 TP 699 PIM

Anson Carter - age 31
career totals: 529 GP 158 G 180 A 338 TP 170 PIM

Jared Aulin age 23
career totals 17 GP 2 G 2 A 4 TP 0 PIM

You see the progression? Plus, they're still paying half of Jagr's salary! Unbelievable. What's next, I wonder. Trading Aulin for a couple of rolls of tape?

Osgood back to Wings

The Detroit Red Wings have signed goalkeeper Chris Osgood to a one-year contract.

Osgood was originally drafted by the Wings in the 1991 entry draft, and spent 8 seasons in Detroit, winning the Cup twice. He's played solidly for the Islanders and the Blues since then, but did not play at all during the lockout.

I'm guessing that the Wings have no intention of re-signing UFA CuJo, and will use Osgood as the every day goalie and Manny Legace (who is already under contract) as a respectable backup.

What will become of CuJo? Hello, Tampa Bay Lightning! As a Canes fan, I certainly hope not, but they've just lost Khabibulin, so they need a #1 netminder.

Very interesting.

'Canes re-sign Cullen

The Carolina Hurricanes re-signed center Matt Cullen to a one-year deal.

Cullen, who signed a one-year deal just before the lockout, spent 2004-05 playing in Italy, where he potted 60 points (27/33) in 36 regular season games plus 22 points (8/14) in 18 playoff games for Cortina of the Italian league.

Although Cullen has never suited up for the Hurricanes, he has played for Coach Peter Laviolette. He was on the Lavy-coached Team USA at the 2004 IIHF championships in the Czech Republic.

We're not expecting big things out of Cullen. Maybe a 30-point (10/20) season. One thing that we really like about him, though, is that he's a guy who plays a smart game and isn't going to do anything to hurt us.

I expect this to be the first of many re-signings by the Canes today and the rest of the week.

Around the league, I wouldn't expect a lot of free agency signings today. There's still lots of speculation about Eric Lindros. There had been speculation (mostly fueled by Eklund) that he was set to sign with the Leafs for something nominal like $1.5M. There are significant concerns about his health after multiple concussions. There are also new concerns about his conditioning. The Leafs have already gambled on one cobweb-head (Allison) and one fat slob (O'Neill), so I think they probably wanted to avoid gambling on a guy that is both. I can't blame GMs for not blazing a bath to pound down his door, but his price has dropped, and as Eklund so lucidly put it:

Face it, when 88 is playing even at 75% he is capable of doing more than a majority of NHL players. And a year off does great things for concussions.

He deserves a chance, and wherever he ends up, I'm sure he'll do well.

...but can he coach?

Another inevitability will be officially announced today.

Sometime around 4:00 ET, The Phoenix Coyotes will announce that Wayne Gretzky will become their new head coach. Gretzky, who has been a managing partner and 18% owner of the Coyotes for a few seasons will retain his ownership. This has been the speculation since his retirement from the game in 1999. Rumors about this started to get serious before the lockout, and they'll finally become a reality today.

Lots of people have concerns about this. Just because he's the greatest player ever doesn't mean he'd be a good coach. Coaches are wired differently. Nobody will doubt his passion for the game or his knowledge of the game or his insight into the game, but they might doubt his ability to coach. Also what comes into question is how the players will respond. It's not far-fetched to say that the players may feel intimidated. They may get a little star-struck. I, for one, discount the "star-struck" theory, but I can see how they may be overly intimidated. Hopefully, for the Coyotes sake, they'll be able to have a more relaxed approach.

I do have some concerns though. Why push him into the Head Coach position? Why not try a season or three as an assistant? You know, to get some coaching legs.

Some people, though, will say "What about Larry Bird?", which is an excellent point. Bird was one of the greatest basketball players ever. After his retirement, he spent a few years doing absolutely nothing, and was then thrust into the Head Coach job with the Indiana Pacers. Bird had never coached, but was excited, as the team was, to have him. He actually did very well, but he inherited a VERY good team. The Great One, on the other hand will be inheriting a team that isn't good. He'll really have his work cut out for him.

I hope he does well. I hope also that Yotes fans will be patient. This team will not become a Cup contender overnight. One thing we can be sure of is that fans in the desert will be very excited about this.

big news on a slow day

While I was out of blogging commission Saturday night, a series of significant signings were made. Not very many of them, but they were pretty big.

The Penguins got another name-brand player when they signed right wing Ziggy Palffy to a three-year, $13.5M deal. Fans should not be concerned about Ziggy's right shoulder, which kept him out of 42 games with the Kings in 2003-04. During the lockout, he tallied 40 points (21/19)in 41 games for Slavia Praha of the Czech Extraleague. He also scored 13 points (10/3) in 8 games for Skalica of the Slovak Republic Extraleague.
This is kind of out of the clear blue sky. There were lots of rumors about Palffy, but none of them involved the Penguins. Most rumors saw him going to The Rangers, Flames or Sabres

The Avs were active on Saturday, securing two brand-name players. They re-signed right wing Milan Hejduk to a five-year $19.5M deal. According to the terms, the 2002-03 Rocket Richard winner will get $3.7M this season, $3.8M the next, and $4M in each of the following two seasons. If you ask me, this is a very good price on a player of this caliber. The 'Lanche also picked up winger Andrew Brunette, signing him to a two-year deal. The sound but unspectacular wingman won't even come close to filling the void left by Peter Forsberg, but it's still a great addition. Even without Forsberg, I think the Avs should be in great shape. They've made some very solid and very economical deals this off-season.

Finally, my Hurricanes made another offensive acquisition. We signed left wing Ray Whitney to a two-year, $3M contract. The two-time All-star tallied 43 points (14/29) in 67 games with the talent-laden Red Wings during the 2003-04 campaign. One of his upsides is that he's very effective on the power-play. This is a recurring theme with our new additions, and thankfully so. Our power play production has been paltry, to say the least.
I really like this pickup, and I LOVE our other offensive signing, Cory Stillman. We haven't spent a lot of money, and we haven't picked up any superstars, but we should be able to field a very competitive team. With these additions, and assuming that we'll re-sign Erik Cole, Josef Vasicek, Kevyn Adams , and Justin Williams, we'll be in good shape. Re-signing ALL of those guys is crucial, though. They've all been offered qualifying sheets, which is a start, but I won't be able to rest easily until they're inked. Caniacs everywhere have been losing sleep over the horrifying possibility that Pavel Brendl (AKA "Krispy") might make our opening night roster. Thankfully, these moves have virtually assured that he'll find himself in Lowell. Brendl has made a bad name for himself by grossly under-achieving, by his exceptionally poor conditioning habits, and by his fondness for the doughnut. During the lockout, he was booted from no less than four European clubs for his attitude and his conditioning habits. I was really surprised to see him receive a qualifying sheet, but I guess JR still sees something in the kid.

I'd still like to see the Canes pick up one more recognizable offensive name, but I'm very happy with what we've done so far.

more on Tie Domi

I've always thought that Tie Domi was nothing more than a thug, but I never knew he was a baby. Until now.

During an interview with Toronto AM640 "Leafs Lunch" host Bill Watters, Domi launched into a diatribe about how much he hates it when people criticize him, especially radio talk show hosts. TSN.ca has a video clip of the event here.

After pouting for a while, Domi just walked away from the interview.

Of course I didn't hear the entire interview so I don't know if Domi was being mistreated, or if Watters crossed the line, but it seems kind of drastic to walk away like that.

Hey, Tie... You're a professional athlete. Athletes get criticism from the media and fans. Especially in a city where the the fans' expectations are really high. That's just the way it is. You're supposed to be thick-skinned about that. You're also supposed to keep your nose out of the newspapers and your ears away from the radio. Just focus on hockey and on cashing your paychecks. Don't worry about what radio personalities say.

....update on Kariya

Hold the phone.... It turns out the terms of the Paul Kariya contract were incorrect. The contract was actually for 2 years at $4.5 million per year. When I heard the initial numbers, I was thinking it was too good to be true. It was.

This went from a "tremendous" deal to a "good" deal. I still think this is going to work out nicely for the Preds. It is, though, a LOT of money to spend on a guy whose health is in question. If it turns out that the injury problems are still lingering, there'll be a lot of second guessing, but for now I think Nashville fans should be thrilled with this.

Andre Roy has lost his mind

On Thursday, the Penguins made what I thought was an inconsequential free agency pickup when they signed wingman/enforcer Andre Roy to a three-year $3M contract. He knows that his role on the squad will be to protect Crosby and Lemieux. However, he's earned his entry into the Red and Black Hockey Cracksmoking Hall of Fame by saying he's going to do that while scoring 50 goals. That's right. That's not a misprint on my part.

In this article, from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he made that lofty claim. Twice.

New Penguins tough guy Andre Roy knows his role.

"I'm going for a 50-goal season," he said yesterday.

Why, oh why didn't the reporter challenge him on that? Or if it was meant as a joke, why didn't he simply include the phrase "Roy jokingly said ..."

Then later, perhaps to suggest that it wasn't a joke, he said it again. Alluding to his past run-ins with officials and his tendency to lose focus :

I did some silly stuff obviously in the past," said Roy. "I'm a little hot-blooded. I've learned. I think I'm ready for my 50-goal season."

In seven partial NHL seasons, the tough guy has scored a grand total of 25 goals in 310 contests. His best offensive output was 2002-03, when he lit the lamp 10 times for the Bolts. That's pretty impressive for an enforcer, but that's sheer insanity fueled by crack smoking for him to even joke about scoring 50 goals. The reality of it is that Sidney Crosby might not score that many goals this season, and we're all aware of his offensive potential...

Who does Roy think he is?

Allison's starting to happen

Allison's starting to happen.... to Toronto.
Sorry, but I couldn't resist the temptation to quote the Lemonheads.

After an unbearably long period of silence, and presumably an extremely thorough physical examination, the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed center Jason Allison to a one-year $1.5M deal. Fans everywhere are screaming about the injustice of this. Surely their club could have offered more than 1.5 for a potential 80-point guy. There's so many different things going on with this free agency market that the fans (including myself) don't know about. The reasons the players have for rejecting offers, the reasons they have for wanting to take less money to play for a certain team, the different performance based clauses included in offers, all sorts of different things. Apparently the bonus clauses in this contract make it worth up to $4.5M.
There's some word that the Leafs found a loophole in the CBA which allows them to make what would be an illegal contract with Allison. The loophole is that he's been injured for more than a year. Please don't quote me on this, because I'm just repeating what I read on a message board, and I want to clearly state that it's merely speculation at this point.
This is a very risky move, but the price is definitely right. The Leafs really needed to do something, and this is a good move. Losing Roberts and Nieuwendyk was going to hurt their offense. The addition of Jeff O'Neill is probably going to help them, provided O can turn over a new (pardon the pun) leaf. Still, though, they needed something else, and this is probably going to work out. Actually, both of these guys are risky, but the payoff could be really nice in both cases. On the defensive front, they've still got some work to do. Re-signing Domi was a good move, but they need to do something really big to make up for the loss of Brian Leetch.

The Nashville rumors turned out to be true. They signed Paul Kariya to a two-year, $4.5M contract. This is an incredible move. That's a tremendous price for a guy like Kariya, who made $10M with the Ducks back in 2002-03. I'm not sure what happened between Anaheim and Denver, but apparently his joints turned to glass, forcing him to miss 31 games with various DIFFERENT wrist and ankle injuries. Maybe it was the altitude. Yeah. The altitude. If healthy, he could score 25 goals and twice as many assists. If not healthy, they still got a good price on him. Preds fans will be holding their breath every time the little guy gets knocked down.
Actually..... Don't look now, but the Preds could be kinda nasty this year. They've got a good thing going there.

The Capitals have done something!!! As expected, they signed Alexender Ovechkin to a three-year contract. The terms of the contract were not released, but we do know that his salary cannot exceed $984,200 in the first year. I don't know the particulars about how incentive-laden contracts work within the new CBA, but if they are allowable with draftees, his is probably packed with incentives. Okay, that's a start, but someone ought to alert them to the fact that they need to start signing players. They now have exactly four players with NHL experience under contract, plus Ovechkin, plus some clown who won't even play on their AHL squad. It would be a crushing blow if someone snags Jeff Halpern from under them. There's already rumors that Bates Battaglia is interested in returning to Carolina. Not that he's a key part of the Caps system, but any loss at all would be huge at this point.

Speaking of which, I wouldn't mind seeing ole Batesy back in Raleigh. His dad owns a couple of restaurants in the area, and Bates likes this area. The ladies really liked him when he was here, and when the Canes made their improbable run at the Stanley Cup back in '02, he was a huge part of this team. The Battaglia/Brind'Amour/Cole (BBC) line was absolutely en fuego throughout the final months of the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs. He's kinda struggled since leaving Raleigh, but the fans that I've talked to would be excited about welcoming him back. He'd certainly come cheap, which seems to be the way we need to go. All indicators are that Jim Rutherford is looking to come in at under $29M, so our team can qualify for revenue sharing. As a business plan, not bad. However, there's some concerns that we won't be able to field a competitive team.

There were a significant number of signings around the league Friday which involved players from the minor leagues. There were also a load of re-signings for close to the league minimum. Frankly, I don't think any of them are worth mentioning.

The dust, my friends, is starting to settle. We should see some of the "inactive" teams become very active in trades. That should also be fun to watch.

Bulin Wall and more

The Chicago Blackhawks ended all the speculation about Nicolai Khabibulin when they inked him to a four year, $27M deal. Things are really starting to shape up in Chi-town. With the exception of the contract they gave Martin Lapointe, I like everything they've done so far. Actually, I think this Khabibulin contract is too big. That's an awful lot of money to pay a goaltender. He's awesome, but I think that's kind of excessive. The bright side is that the Bolts just got worse.

Other stuff:

The Toronto Maple Leafs re-signed thug right wing Tie Domi to a two year contract valued at $2.5M. He refused more lucrative offers from the Penguins and a couple of other teams. As one Hurricanes fan put it (and I'll paraphrase and extrapolate) it's better off that he stays in Toronto. If he were to sign somewhere else, fans would have to boo their own player all season long.
With two seasons, Domi should approach the NHL all-time penalty minutes record. He's currently third on the list with 3,406 minutes. Dave "Tiger" Williams is tops on the list with 3,966. He's been close to 200 minutes per season, although he had a jaw-dropping 365 minutes in 80 games during the 1997-98 season. Two more seasons like that, and he's golden.

There's still lots of teams in the hunt for Paul Kariya, who has been a point-a-night player, but struggled with injuries in 2003-04. The Edminton Oilers are rumored to be in the hunt for him. However, they've blown their budget on Pronger and the highly over-rated Michael Peca. They would have to pull a Philly maneuver to make cap room. They need to be careful though. They may find themselves in a situation where the trading partner has the upper hand, as Philly did. As the rumor goes, there are six teams making a serious charge at him, and that he is showing a lot of reciprocal interest with Nashville. I don't know.

Eric Lindros is still a hot commodity, although there isn't a lot of buzz about him. I know there were the injuries, and I know he's prone to concussion, but this is a guy who can give (and historically HAS given) his team more than a point-a-night. I'd guess that he's got three or four years left in him. His price would probably be around $2M, and he would be worth every penny. I don't understand why there isn't a lot of clamor.

Speaking of injury-prone players, I still don't know what's going on with Jason Allison. The rumor was that he was all set to sign with Toronto, physical pending. That was like three days ago. Maybe he's not as healthy as they thought. Hmmm.

Inactivity by the Caps

Does somebody want to tell me what the heck is going on with the Washington Capitals?

To my knowledge, they have four guys under contract. Netminder Olaf Kolzig, left wing Alexander Semin, right wing Boyd Gordon and right wing Jonas Johansson.

Well, we all know about Olie the goalie. The other three guys are not exactly household names. Not even in the DC area. That's because Semin and Gordon each have less than a year of NHL experience and Johansson has none. In fact, he's not NHL-ready. His bio indicates that he's not even ready for the AHL. So forget about him.

Pretend they have three guys under contract.

Assume they'll sign 2004 top pick Alexander Ovechkin . They're back up to four.

They made their first off-season move yesterday, surrendering 2006 draft picks for former Flame Chris Clark. They're up to five.

They tendered qualifying offers to 14 players. Under the best case scenario, all of them re-sign and they've got 19 players. That's not gonna cut it. I guess they plan on filling their roster with players from their AHL affiliate.

If things do not go well for them and someone like, say, Jeff Halpern accepts an offer from another team, they're in really big trouble.

If I were a Caps fan, I'd be very, very concerned right about now.

sadly, this isn't a paying gig

I'd love to sit here and write about hockey all day long, but it doesn't pay the bills. I've got my 10-hour shift tonight. I'll be holding my breath the whole time, and when I return, I hope to find some more very good news on the Hurricanes front.

Tverdovsky to Canes

Thank you Mr Helms for breaking the story.

The Carolina Hurricanes have finally made another free agency pickup. We've signed defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky to a 3-year. $7.5M deal. He's a solid defenseman who can run the point on powerplay. This is an area we've desperately needed to improve, and we've made good strides in that department.

In other Canes news, we signed two schmucks to fill the Lowell roster. Center Kieth Aucoin and some other guy.

More to follow...

Forget Phoenix

The deal is done. Apparently. J-Ro is off to LA. I really don't understand the way this trade works, though.

To LA: Jeremy Roenick and a third round pick in the 2006 entry draft

To Philly: Future considerations

It's this "future considerations" thing that I have never understood.
Hopefully there are more details that will emerge later.

Incidentally, this news is not yet on the Kings website, so it might not be official. After yesterday's Mike Modano merry go round, you never know...

D-men starting to thin out

I fought the temptation to title this post "oh, brother"

The Ahaheim Mighty Ducks made big waves today, signing the most sought after defenseman in the market. They have come to terms with Scott Niedermayer on a 4-year $26.9M deal. They also re-signed his brother, (a winger) Rob to a four-year $8M deal.

The Sabres made their first move by signing Teppo Numminen to a one year deal. The Sabres' defense took a blow when they lost Zhitnik to the Islanders. I don't think Numminen, who recently turned 37, is the answer to that problem. I don't know what the terms of that contract are, but unless they got him real cheap, I don't think it was a good move.

The Blackhawks also picked up a d-man, signing Jaro Spacek to a 2-year $2.25M deal. They also added a potential 20-goal scorer by signing Martin Lapointe to a 3-year $7.2M deal. I'm not sure if Lapointe is worth a contract of that size.

No more info on the rumors about Gagne and/or Hamrlik to Carolina. Actually, the one tidbit of additional data is that (as the rumor goes) the Canes are interested in sending Radim Vrbata plus picks to the Flyers for Gagne. That would work for me. Vrbata never panned out. Not in Colorado, not here. He's got a ton of potential, but it hasn't worked out as of yet.

What's going on with the "Roenick to Phoenix by way of LA" deal? I sure as hell don't know. Nor do I know what's going on with the Jason Allison situation.

This is officially crazy

Mike Modano has had second thoughts about refusing Dallas' offer.
According to the Stars' website, they have come to terms on a five year deal, the details of which are not available for $17.25M. He will get $4.25M for the first three years and $2.25M for the last two. The contract also features a no-trade clause, virtually ensuring that the 35-year old will retire in Dallas. He will have played every game of his career for the Stars franchise after being selected first overall by the Minnesota NorthStars in the 1988 entry draft. Those of us in Carolina know too well that the "no trade" clause isn't worth the ink it's written with. Ron Francis had a "no-trade" clause in his contract, but opted out of that. I don't see Modano doing that, though.

Disregard the disregarding of my previous comments on the Modano matter.

For now, anyway.

In other news, the Flyers have signed Peter Forsberg to a two-year, $10.7M deal. This puts the Flyers way over the $39M salary cap, and are going to be forced to unload some players. Jeremy Roenick is rumored to be headed to back to Phoenix. Or the Kings. J-Ro flourished in his four year stint (from 1997-98 to 2000-01) with the Coyotes, and would be a welcome addition to their squad. Although he's lost about three steps, he's still a great player. However, with the "new changes", his mouth could get him in a lot more trouble than in years past. They say that moving Roenick won't be enough and that the Flyers have Simon Gagne on the block as well. If this proves to be true, I'd like to see the Hurricanes make a run at him. He'd be cheap (less than $2M) and could bring another young-ish goal scorer to the table.

In a room-making move, the Islanders are having to ship Michael Peca to the Oilers in exchange for Mike York and a conditional pick. I immediately thought that the Oilers made another spectacular trade, but I'm not so sure. Peca is way overrated. For the money they'll have to spend, it was probably a bad deal.

Call me naive, but I kinda like the position the Canes are in right now. We've only made the one transaction. Meanwhile, the Islanders, Flyers, Rangers are finding themselves in tight spots. Several other teams are spending a lot and coming really close to the spending max. We may be in good shape to make some trades with these teams looking for cap room, and also to "pick up the scraps" without fear of approaching the top limit.

more signings

Some of these are big, big news

The Oilers have acquired Chris Pronger from the Blues for three mediocre defensemen. The Oilers gotPronger in return for Eric Brewer , Doug Lynch and Jeff "I am only a prospect" Woywitka. If I wasn't sure that the Blues were on crack before, I'm sure of it now. They got hosed in this deal. Actually, I think they got bent over.

Boston scored again by signing Brian Leetch to a one year deal.

Les Habitants were active today, re-inking Alexei Kovalev to a four-year, $18M contract. Other offers were refused. They also picked up free agent defenseman Mathieu Dandenault. (sorry, Great White Bear), formerly of the Red Wings. His contract is for four years totalling $7M.

The Flames re-signed defensemanJordan Leopold to a 2-year $2.3M contract.

The Blue Jackets struck again, inking defensemanBryan Berard to a two year $4.5M deal.

and here's another BIG one... just arriving on my desk

The Islanders have won the Miro Satan sweepstakes, signing him to a three year deal. The terms of that deal are not available yet.

Zoinks!!!!

Apparently, every news agency and every rumor mill had it wrong. Mike Modano has, in fact, REJECTED (!!!) the offer made by Dallas. Disregard my previous comments.
For the time being, they're saying that his return to big D looks "unlikely".

Still no word on Satan
Still no word on Allison

Still no confirmation of the Hamrlik-to-Carolina rumor.

New rumor -- Canes pursuing Anson Carter. Hmmmmpfh.

Iggy and Naslund stay put, Pens ink Gonchar

The Calgary Flames have retained their captain, signing two-time Rocket Richard winner Jarome Iginla to a three year, $21M deal. Official announcement will come at 4:30 this afternoon.

Vancouver, meanwhile has retained their captain, re-signing Markus Naslund to a three year, $18M deal. Naslund turned down similar offers from other teams to stay in Vancouver.

In a huge coup, the Penguins made their first free agency move by signing defenseman Sergei Gonchar to a five-year, $25M deal.

Still no word on Satan. Still no word on Allison.

A lot of action today.

There was a ton of action today in the free agency market. Too much to mention all of it.

The first one I'll mention is the one that matters the most to me. The Carolina Hurricanes jumped into the free agency pool, snagging Cory Stillman, who had a spectacular season for the Bolts in 2003-04. He was seventh in the league in points scored (80), third in the league in assists (55), and was among the league leaders in powerplay goals (11) and game-winning goals (6). In addition, he has a really accurate shot. All of which are things we really need. The beef on him is that he dogs it sometimes, but if a guy can score 80 points while dogging it, so be it.
According to rumor, and from a pretty reliable source, the Hurricanes are expected to ink Roman Hamrlik at some point. The source indicated that Hamrlik and the Canes were "very close" to signing. This is a guy who would really improve the steadily improving Carolina D. What we have is a bunch of guys who play their tails off, but they're getting old. Hence all the d-men in the draft and all the trades before the FA period. He's also a guy who is familiar with coach Laviolette, having played for him on the Islanders. If this is true, I'd be pretty happy.
Actually, the addition of Stillman should be awesome. We still need some more forwards, though.

In other free agency news...
The Thrashers signed Bobby Holik to a three-year $12.75M contract. There are those who think Holik isn't worth that, but I think it's a great move by Atlanta. They're really starting to shape up offensively. The first line of Kovalchuk/Holik/Heatley scares the crap out of me. We've gotta play them eight times.

The Islanders took a step backwards (in my opinion) when they lost Adrian Aucoin to free agency (Blackhawks)and signed Alexei Zhitnik in a span of minutes. In my opinion, Aucoin is a much better balanced player, but on paper they're about the same.

The Red Wings re-signed Stevie Y to another season, his 22nd. I'm kind of surprised by this, but kind of not. I hate the Red Wings, but I respect the hell out of this player. He's awfully close to some significant milestones, so it would be kind of neat to see him reach those.

The Flyers had to have made the biggest move yet, signing four players. The significant ones were former Red Wing Derian Hatcher who plays an unspectacular but very solid defensive game, and former Shark Mike Rathje, who plays a fairly solid defensive game. Although I'm not crazy about Hatcher, he's a good add for them, and I really don't know about Rathje.

The Bruins also made a fairly big splash, signing three. They retained Glen Murray, which is a terrific move. The perennial 30-goal scorer was being eyeballed by many clubs. The Bs also picked up Shawn McEachern, whose contract was bought out by Atlanta. Although not a household name, McEachern is a nice pickup.

The Kings scored big, picking up Pavol Demitra. The three-time All-star and winner of the 1999-2000 Lady Byng trophy led the crack-smoking St. Louis Blues in scoring four of the last six seasons. The rub on him though, is that he's prone to concussions and other injury. What is it with the Kings and their love for concussion-getters? Speaking of Jason Allison, I'm sort of surprised that he hasn't landed anywhere yet. I haven't even really heard any rumors.

Calgary landed Tony Amonte and Darren McCarty, which should beef up their offense quite nicely.

Meanwhile, former Flame (and former Hurricane) Marty Gelinas became the newest Florida Panther. They're starting to look really good. Old as hell, but good.

Oh, and then there's that guy in Dallas. The Stars have retained Mike Modano, re-signing their alternate captain to a five year deal. After a good deal of speculation, the seven-time All-star is staying put. Throughout his illustrious 15 year career, Modano has averaged better than a point a game, and every game of his career has been with the Stars organization. He was selected by the Minnesota North Stars with the first overall pick in the 1988 Entry Draft. In all likelihood he will retire as a Star and will be a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Although his production is tapering off, I don't think there was any choice in the matter but for the Stars to retain him. As a side note, I love this guy.

Plenty more happened, but I can't go on about it all. I didn't mean to go on like this, in fact. This was supposed to be a post (I thought about this all night at work) about the Columbus Blue Jackets, the impact these new-fangled composite material sticks have had on the game, and I was going to work in professional tennis and Andy Roddick. I'll write that post later.

Keep your eyes peeled Wednesday. Expect to see some really big names find new homes. Miro Satan, for example.

first day of free agent market not exactly booming

Almost 24 hours have passed since the opening of the free agency market. Most people expected to see a flurry of activity right out of the gates, but there really hasn't been very much worth writing home about. See, watch this:

Dear Mom,
Yesterday the much anticipated NHL free agency market opened, and there were a few signings I'd like to tell you about. The St. Louis Blues signed Aaron Downey, the Minnesota Wild signed Andrei Nazarov and the LA Kings signed Tom Kostopoulos. I've never heard of any of those guys. In bigger news, the Florida Panthers signed two aging veterans in Joe Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts. Bigger, but not earth-shattering. Late last night, the Columbus Blue Jackets were able to pick up Adam Foote. That's pretty solid. The biggest thing, though, came this morning when the Blackhawks signed Adrian Aucoin. A lot of teams, including the Hurricanes, were hoping to get him. Oh well.
Guess I should go now.
Love,
Your son

See what I mean? Nothing. I mean, the Aucoin deal is kinda big news. The only other thing worth mentioning is the Adam Foote to Columbus deal. That'll help their defense quite a bit.

People are making a big deal about Nieuwendyk and Roberts going to Florida, but I really don't see that as being all that huge. These are both guys who are frequently hampered by injury and who are also both rapidly approaching 40. They both put up 50-point seasons in Toronto back in 2003-04, but neither played hockey at all during the lockout. Rumor has it that Roberts has been staying sharp the whole time, though. Maybe they've still got it.

I'm just surprised that not much has gone on. I think there's some speculation that everyone is kinda waiting for someone else to make the first move, and to set the bar. Meanwhile, fans everywhere are getting anxious.