2010 NHL Offseason Thread

[Palin]

I'm also curious if the Oilers could maybe swing trading down to the Bruins and milking an extra lower draft pick out of them, giving up Hall and taking Seguin. I know Hall's the better overall player, but the Oilers really need a center to build around just as much as a standout forward.

They won't, but I think this would be best for both teams too. Oilers need a Center and Bruins need a winger. If Tamberlini could grab both of the Bruin's first rounders in exchange for the #1 he'd be set IMO.

As for the salary cap, ya its tough. But really this situation is Dave Tallon's fault, not the salary cap. He signed bad contracts and went "balls to the wall all in mode" this year for the Cup, and it worked. But now you're going to see some ramifications for that.

Plenty of teams keep their core around and barely do moves, mostly southern teams on imposed budgets. They don't have the money for big FA signing, so you see the same guys there for years and years. Chicago had the means to make the trades and signings neccesary to make it to the SCF, and it worked out for them. Unfortunately the really poor contracts like Campbell and Huet, as well as adding Hossa when already so far against the cap, now come back to bite you in the ass.

[Callisto]

Assuming they can sign their RFAs for a minimum aside from giving Niemi 2-3m, unloading Sopel, Versteeg, and Huet would allow them to sign a full squad for about 61m...so yeah, the key is more or less whether or not they can unload Campbell. 7.1m~ cap hit for him is nuts, lol.

[isladar]

Chicago had the means to make the trades and signings neccesary to make it to the SCF, and it worked out for them. Unfortunately the really poor contracts like Campbell and Huet, as well as adding Hossa when already so far against the cap, now come back to bite you in the ass.

That's what I'm worried about, that they blew their wad, as it were, but hopefully there's enough pressure for them to keep the core.

Also is the deal with the Coyotes still keeping them in Glendale?

[Callisto]

The Coyotes deal is still up in the air. As far as blowing it all for one cup run, I can't think of a city in the world outside of maybe Detroit that would complain about it. It had been half a century, I think they did the right thing, and it's not like they won't be contenders for the next few years.

[Callisto]

Unrelated, Caps news: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=531707

It looks like Morrison, Walker, Corvo, and Theodore are all out. Looks like the blue line overhaul is underway, maybe they'll change it up and find guys who can actually play defense.

[Richybear]

I'm also curious if the Oilers could maybe swing trading down to the Bruins and milking an extra lower draft pick out of them, giving up Hall and taking Seguin. I know Hall's the better overall player, but the Oilers really need a center to build around just as much as a standout forward.

This has been talked about to death in the media around here.
Everyone and their dog knows Hall is the better player, and grew up idolizing Boston (Hence why he wears #4)
Apparently the rumour is that on Draft Day, it'll shake up like this:

To Boston: Edmonton's First and Second Rounder
To Edmonton: Boston's First and Second Rounder, plus Blake Wheeler.
Uh... yay?

The Oilers still need to ship Souray's contract somewhere else, then use the saved money to buy more of the drugs they were on when they decided Horcoff is worth $5.5 mill a season.

[Callisto]

Didn't Souray get seriously hurt near the end of the season? edit: nvm, must have had him mixed up with someone, though he is a seriously handsome bastard, no homo

add: also Blake Wheeler challenges Corey Perry for the whitest name in the NHL

[Richybear]

Souray gets hurt every year now. He hasn't been good since he left Montreal.

He had surgery on his wrist, and had to wear a brace for awhile, then got in shit for keeping it on while fighting.
But in a 6-1 game vs Calgary this year (You know that score wasn't in favour of the Oilers) Sheldon decided to fight Jarome Iginla.

a) If Jarome is willing to drop the gloves with you, you've already lost.
b) The game means nothing now, why bother scrapping at this point?

Souray ended up breaking his wrist again, needed surgery, which got botched and all infected, needed more surgery to repair that and drain it.

Then instead of going to the GM and asking for a trade out, he went to the media with it.
So now every team knows he wants out, so his market value is even lower.

I'd hate to be Tambellini like "Do I have any takers on a constantly injured, disgruntled defenceman with a howitzer of a shot that -might- hit the net maybe 1/42 times? Oh yeah, he's also making like 6 million a season... anyone?"

[Bregor]

So that means Washington is going to the Stanley cup finals in 2011? Naaaaah

Unrelated, Caps news: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=531707

It looks like Morrison, Walker, Corvo, and Theodore are all out. Looks like the blue line overhaul is underway, maybe they'll change it up and find guys who can actually play defense.

Cheap shots, man. Cheap shots.

Walker was the only guy who even had a shot at re-signing out of them. Eric Belanger is supposed to be in talks to stay on as 3C but no word yet, he's the only deadline guy that contributed really. Milan Jurcina was hurt but I think we're letting him walk too, which sucks because he looked pretty good in the Olympics.

And for the record, Jeff Schultz a.k.a. "Mr. Nasty" can play defense... as can Real American Hero and Calder Cup champ John Carlson.

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/...0N8xW/610x.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/...88178bbd49.jpg

[Callisto]

They should inquire about Sopel, guy's a shot-blocking machine >.>

[Ishido]

Fuck Corey Perry

Also

I can't think of a city in the world outside of maybe Detroit that would complain about it.

Fuck yeah.
Unfortunately it's headed slightly downhill at this point, unless Holland manages another Datsyuk/Zetterberg pick. If Howard can continue to play well they might be able to not worry TOO much about Lidstrom retiring in the coming years, so the defense will not be totally fucked, but when Zata and Dats are pushing 35+ and the team doesn't have Lidstrom, there will have to be a couple of younger guys that show themselves as the future of the franchise.

With the Coyotes deal, I believe that there isn't anything in place at the moment but they will be in Glendale next season. They have a deadline of December to get something hammered out or they will be in Winnipeg the following season, or at least that is how things were last I heard about it.

[Callisto]

This is where I make a comment about Howard being up for the Calder while Niemi had a lower GAA and took home the Cup.

Then again, the rookie goalies this year were all kind of nuts.

[Ishido]

This is where I make a comment about Howard being up for the Calder while Niemi had a lower GAA and took home the Cup.

Then again, the rookie goalies this year were all kind of nuts.

This is where you blame Q for starting Huet so much so that Niemi didn't have enough starts and therefore wins to impress people (same shit with Rask, who would deserve it more than Niemi).

Also going to look at the stats, while his GAA was 0.01 better, his Sv% was 0.12 lower... stats would show he was actually worse than Howard in the regular season, moreso when you consider the lineups they each played behind.

[Snick]

Also is the deal with the Coyotes still keeping them in Glendale?

As far as I understand, they are staying in Arizona through next season, but if a buyer isn't found by December 31 this year, then the NHL can and "will" sell it to another willing buyer, which Bettman said is True North who owns the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. But it could just be a bluff by Bettman, who knows.

That being said, right now I thing Ice Edge holdings has 60 days of exclusivity right now, but they apparently admitted they don't know if they have the funds to buy the team.

It sorta does suck for Glendale, they were put in a position where they can't not try to keep the team in Arizona, cause if they don't find a buyer they A) Have a useless building and 2) Owe the NHL a lot of money that they will lose by keeping the team there for this year.

Last I heard, Reindsdorf has lost all interest in buying the team, making Ice Edge the only potential buyer, and they don't know if they can.


Admittedly, I don't know what a lot of this shit means. Until it's officially announced, I'm trying not to get my hopes up anymore for a team in Peg city. But I'm still following it the best I can cause I love the drama.

[Brill Weave]

Here's my prediction for the Penguins offseason.

They will re-sign Gonchar for more money than they should. They will let Billy Guerin walk. Mark Eaton walks as well and will be replaced by Ben Lovejoy or Deryk Engelland. Using that money left over as well as the salary cap increase, the Pens make a serious attempt at signing Lee Stempniak to a 4 year deal to play on the wing for either Malkin or Crosby.

[Absolutely Virtue]

I'm just hear to call shotgun on the Carlson bandwagon.

And give it up for the Hershey Bears, the only decent thing to ever come out of the state of Pennsylvania.

While we're on the subject, I am 100% positive that that must be the name for some gay sex act. But I'm way, way too scared to google it.

[Sepukku]

So if the Hershey Bears have been AHL powerhouses for like 5 years now, when are the Capitals going to win a Cup? Oh yeah, thats right...

Please... dumb fucks like Chris Borque and Semeon Varlamov may look good in the AHL, but everytime they send those guys up they look completely lost. Varlamov faired well when the Caps were giving him 5 goals a game to take the pressure off him, but once the Playoffs came the pressure was too much for him and he cracked. Chris Borque, perennial 1st liner on the Hershey Bears, does nothing but cause turnovers playing on an NHL 4th line. I would know, the Pens claimed him for a couple weeks, then put him back on waivers after they realized how much he sucks.

[Sepukku]

Ishido, you're a fucking retard if you think Datsyuk is the best forward in the game. Even claiming he's "Easily" third behind AO/Crosby at the worst is a fucking moronic thing to say.

Here are some forwards at least on the same level as Datsyuk, most better than him:
Sidney Crosby
Alexander Ovechkin
Evgeni Malkin
Nicklas Backstrom
Marian Hossa
Jonathan Toews
Patrick Kane
Ilya Kovalchuk
Jarome Iginla
Rick Nash
Marian Gaborik
Steven Stamkos
[sigh]Dany Heatley
Sedin Twins (both of them, the other one probably woulda finished w/ ~100 points if not for his foot injury)

[Bregor]

So if the Hershey Bears have been AHL powerhouses for like 5 years now, when are the Capitals going to win a Cup? Oh yeah, thats right...

Please... dumb fucks like Chris Borque and Semeon Varlamov may look good in the AHL, but everytime they send those guys up they look completely lost. Varlamov faired well when the Caps were giving him 5 goals a game to take the pressure off him, but once the Playoffs came the pressure was too much for him and he cracked. Chris Borque, perennial 1st liner on the Hershey Bears, does nothing but cause turnovers playing on an NHL 4th line. I would know, the Pens claimed him for a couple weeks, then put him back on waivers after they realized how much he sucks.

Some of this is actually correct. Hershey's top forwards are Keith Aucoin and Alex Giroux, who are all basically career AHLers. Same with their captain Bryan Helmer. Pat McNeill, who had two goals last night, is a middling defense prospect at best. Chris Bourque is only 24 but he's had his chances on the NHL level. Baseball calls guys like them "Quad-A," too good for the minors but over-matched in the bigs. This is why I'm not throwing it in people's faces that Hershey has a mini-dynasty on their hands.

But to say guys like Varlamov, Neuvirth, Carlson, Alzner, Perrault, Bouchard, Andrew Gordon, etc. won't be impact NHL players, some as soon as this year, is ridiculous. True, it's a much faster and tougher game up here, and not all of them will thrive, but help is on the way.

How did the WBS Penguins do this year?

[Sepukku]

While I agree about Datsyuk not deserving a place in the all time greats argument, saying he isn't easily one of the 12 best in the game right now is just dumb. He's pretty easily 3rd behind Crosby and AO, at worst somewhere around 5th or 6th, and depending on what kind of qualities you are looking at could be 1st in some arguments.

I can't even pretend to be as stupid as you were literally unintentionally stupid there when you said that.