NHL Season 08-09

[Abraxas]

oh snap.

gomez to montreal for higgins

[Thoronas]

Im amazed someone would take on that contract but hey good luck to the Habs. At least now they might not be able to sign the Sedins.

The Sedins are looking more and more like they are going to explore free agency which can pretty much guarantee they will be playing with Toronto or maybe LA or Minnesota.

[Ishido]

Hossa turns down the Wings 10 year ~40 million contract. Not surprised, it probably would have forced us to ship some people out, and is drastically below his market value.

Where to next? We he be able to keep his streak of finals without a cup alive?

[Sepukku]

Calgary signed JB for 5 years, 33 mil. Sick lineup in Calgary, even if their salary situation will be tight.

Heatley reportedly going to Edmonton, according to NHL.com.

Looks like everyones going out west!! I'd say this makes the East less competitive / easier to get into the playoffs in, but these stars are leaving teams that didn't make the playoffs as it is, so its not really reducing the quality in the East at all.

[Oxyminus]

YYYYYYYEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

I'm completely and totally in shock, awe, and in love with this trade that Sather pulled off!!!

This was a MAJOR step, and does a lot for the team. The obvious part is it clears about 5mil of cap space, which is awesome. But I think it's also a huge addition by subtraction. Tortorella is molding an image/philosophy/identity/work ethic in his team that Gomez just won't fit in. Great skater, great set-up guy, but that's it. He's got a lousy shot, and is not willing to go do the nitty-gritty work that this team needs.

From what I've been reading/watching of Higgins, he's going to fit in VERY well with the direction this team is going. From what I can tell he scores real "goal scorer" goals, but because he works hard for them, and makes his offense. Good North/South kinda player it looks like. He should do really well with how this team is going to play.

Higgins/Dubinsky/Callahan

Has the potential to be a SICK 2nd/3rd line. I think 40-50pts out of each of them is not out the question if they click. This also forces the kids to step-up, and really puts faith/trust into them to not just make the team, but lead it.

What shocks me is besides Gomez, all we gave up was Pyatt and Dupont... two prospects that have done little in recent years, and have been passed by many people in the dept-charts. Hell, I totally forgot Dupont was even in the system until I read his name in this trade. On the other hand, from what I'm reading, McDonagh is a STUD, and was MTL's best Dman prospect... legitimate 1st pairing guy. The Rangers have a sick crop of current and up and coming Dmen.

Last week, or before that, Arnwulf said the Rangers were in real trouble, and needed to make a major move or would become irrelevant in 2-3 years. This wasn't a cure all move, but it SURE paves the way. I said all I wanted this summer was the Rangers to clear out at least 1 of their BAD contracts, and they did, and got quite a return in the process. Now we can resign our guys that we're building around.

Going forward for this summer; I'm glad Heatley seems to be ready to be going to Edmonton. He'd cost too much to come here, 2 of Callahan/Dubinsky/Staal as a starting point. While Cally and Dubi are never going to be confused for Getzlaf, Malkin, Ovechkin, or Crosby.. These are SOLID guys who have made it clear they're part of the Rangers foundation, and shouldn't be traded in almost any trade.

I expect Sather to sign a moderate goal-scorer to a 1-year deal. Part of me would like to see him try to bring in Sykora (minus the fact that he dissed the Rangers when he didn't resign after his trade here). BUT what's important is to use the cap space to lock-up our guys. THEN, next season, when more (of MANY) Dmen are ready to be promoted, trade Roszival, bring in Kovalchuk.

This deal was a BIG DEAL to changing things around!

LETS GO RANGERS!!!!!

[Oxyminus]

In other news: Heatley killed the deal with Edmonton...this should be interested.

Reports were the only teams in the hunt were the Oilers and Rangers. Sather isn't going to budge on his offer. Heatley, who killed all leverage by going public with demanding a deal, just made it even worse.

Murray may not deal him now just to spite him. And personally, I wouldn't blame him.

[Richybear]

Here in Oil country the fans are a little choked.
If it ends up not going through ("I have to sleep on it." from Heater) then guaranteed he ends up being more hated here than Chris Pronger.
Well, maybe not that bad. He doesn't have a house in Edmonton to set on fire.
Yeah... hockey fans are crazy in Edmonton.

Not sure if I like the Habs trade at all. Montreal has always been my #1 team, ever since I was a little kid and had a Stephane Richer poster on my wall. LOL
But getting Gomer and his $7.375m seasonal contract is hurting.

J-Bo signing in Calgary is huge. Now do they use Dion as a bargaining chip, or hang onto 2 all-star d-men?

[Arnwulf]

Calgary is screwed to be honest. They're going to HAVE to trade away a couple of their more expensive players just to be able to fill out their roster. ~45mil committed to 7 players for next season is not good at all. Granted they have serious talent in those 7 players, but last I checked you needed at least 20 to have a full roster with 4 lines and 2 goalies. ~10mil to spread around 13 people is not a lot of money.

[Brill Weave]

Well the Jaybo deal may just have pushed Cammalleri out of town. I don't think they are going to be able to offer him a deal like he's going to want. I haven't seen the exact contract details, but I'm sure with what they gave Jaybo there's no way they would be able to front load Cammalleri's contract. Which with a guy like that, this is his first big payday, he's going to want a front loaded deal.

Gomez to the Habs is a bit odd to me. A good deal for the blue shirts just because it frees up an absurd amount of cap space(I'm sorry Gomez and Drury are disgustingly overpaid.) Higgins is a third liner with a good amount of skill. It's going to be interesting to see if he's able to adjust to New York's nightlife and if that is going to impact him during the season.

Heatley nixing the deal to Edmonton is no surprise. I really believe he doesn't want to go to another smaller market team. He's been with Atlanta and Ottawa. Both of them aren't exactly overpowering in their markets. They have great fan followings but Atlanta isn't a hockey town and Ottawa just doesn't have the population. I truly believe he wants to go to a big city that has a great fanbase so he can become a star. Sadly there's only a few teams in the league that would meet that expectation. Off the top of my head I would say the Rangers, Red Wings, Maple Leafs, Kings, and the Habs. There are other cities that would fit that category but I didn't sleep much last night and I'm tired so fuck you if you get pissy because I left your city out of it

[BadKarma]

Im liking the Higgins deal, now all we need to do is let Redden rot in Hartford so we dont have to pay his salary and get Heatley in a trade. The Rangers are a great defensive team, but last year they struggled to score without the dominance of Jagr. Someone like a Heatley or a Hossa will provide that sort of dominance once again.

[Brill Weave]

Wade Redden is one of the most overpaid defenseman in the league right now lol. It's that kind of mentality that fucks your team when you sign someone like him to a the deal he has.

[BadKarma]

Wade Redden is one of the most overpaid defenseman in the league right now lol. It's that kind of mentality that fucks your team when you sign someone like him to a the deal he has.

Especially when two kids like Staal and Girardi are emerging as one of the premier d-pairs in the NHL, Staal is especially talented. But Redden is just, well to put it simply he makes me emo.

Anyways, off to work.

[Arnwulf]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the obsession with Brian Burke being some sort of genius is still lost on me...

He's probably one of the most hesitant GMs I've ever seen, he'll never pull off a big deal because he won't give up anything, ever. The fact that he thought he was going to get Phil Kessel and a 1st round pick for Kaberle is absurd. Even more absurd is the fact that he wouldn't toss in Toronto's 1st to get that deal done.

[Abraxas]

Kessel and a 1st rounder isnt all that unreasonable for Tomas Kaberle. he is a very good D-man. look at what the flyers gave up for Pronger. it always takes more to get good defenseman. they take longer to mature as a player, so their value is much higher than most forwards.

oh yea, the flyers home page is fail. its a pic of Pronger and Emery, photoshopped onto Braydon Coburn and MArty Biron's bodies. so lame

brill, how the hell is meatball?

[Thoronas]

Oh thank god!

Canucks re-sign Sedins to five-year contracts

Now we can hopefully land Gaborik and our front end will look pretty good.
First two lines being Sedins and Burrows and Demitra, Gaborik and Kesler.

[Arnwulf]

Nice, good for Vancouver, now they can continue to build on their recent success. I'm anxiously awaiting 12pm EST to see who signs who first.

[Thoronas]

Same here Arnwulf, 30 minutes away!

Who will be the first to sign a huge deal thats millions over the players value? I think Cammalleri is gonna sign big somewhere.

[Brill Weave]

brill, how the hell is meatball?

Still a little skittish but nowhere near as bad as he was when we first got him. He's learned to climb the curtains and he still is playing the I'm going to knock my poo out of the litterbox for fun game. Other than that he is always attacking my wife's tabby named Charlie. We were very concerned that he wasn't going to get along with Meatball because he's fucking smart as shit. So we worried he was going to see Meatball as a rival. The only way to describe their interactions is Charlie is the older brother with an extremely annoying little brother bothering him all the time. He puts up with it for a while, then he brings down the furry hammer.

Now the other cat we have hates Meatball. But neither of us care because she's dumb as a bag of rocks. And they fucked up when my wife took her to get spayed or whatever. So now she has furry ballsacks hanging down in front of her hind legs. We're hoping a family friend takes her because we hate her.

Now sorry, onto hockey. I'm surprised Vancouver was willing to pony up 6.1 a year for both of them. And I don't want to be a naysayer but with that contract I don't think they are going to be able to come up with the kind of money Gaborik is going to want.

Cammelleri is going to be an interesting pick up for whatever team is willing to go for him. He puts up Sedin-like numbers. But seeing as last year was his first real break out year, I don't think he's going to get the kind of money they did. I could see him easily getting a 5 per year deal from someone.

[Thoronas]

Just because Gaborik bought a house in Vancouver I think he could still sign here. He might take a one year deal at a pay cut to prove he's not made of glass or just to play for a team with a decent shot in the playoffs, We'll see.

Cammelleri could come to Vancouver especially at the numbers Brill is talking. Vancouver's GM was Cammelleri's agent up until last year so we'll see. I could see it either being Cammelleri or Gaborik that signs, just so long as it's NOT SUNDIN. At least not Sundin at a trillion dollars like last season.

[Richybear]

Heatley nixing the deal to Edmonton is no surprise. I really believe he doesn't want to go to another smaller market team. He's been with Atlanta and Ottawa. Both of them aren't exactly overpowering in their markets. They have great fan followings but Atlanta isn't a hockey town and Ottawa just doesn't have the population. I truly believe he wants to go to a big city that has a great fanbase so he can become a star.

Hi, we aren't Phoenix.
Our season tickets have been sold out since before the run to the Finals in 2006.
The city itself may be small in population compared to the US, but to say we're a small market with a low fanbase is pretty wrong. Hell, we even have a lottery within a lottery to see if you have a chance at buying mini passes to games.

Granted there's been the smudge on the city since the whole Chris Pronger thing, which ok, he asked for an out like a douchebag (Odd that we're thinking of chasing Heatley when he's doing the same to Ottawa) and fans here set his house ablaze.
But hockey dominates the city.
It's like golf is around Tiger Woods, the attention always goes back to him, no matter where he is in the hunt. Sure there's other shit happening, but the main focus will always be the one thing around here, hockey.
Ask Joffrey Lupul how passionate our fans were for the one season he lasted here.