2010 NHL Offseason Thread

[Sepukku]

It was kind of a testament to everything the Caps had done wrong recently. Go 0-for-4 on the PP in the 1st period, take a dumbass penalty and give up a PP goal that deflected off a defenseman, hit three fucking posts in the 3rd and OT alone, Ron Hextall standing on his head with huge saves... But Dale Hunter's breakaway goal and Hextall's reaction were priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sErlYdpSFco

Please tell me I wasn't the only one who cracked up at the guy celebrating from 0:30-0:35 LMAO

[Sepukku]

This weeks Outide the Lines special report was on Food Concession safety at arenas and Verizon Center (Capitals arena) was specifically cited as one of the most severe and repetitive violaters in all of professional sports.

[Callisto]

Please tell me I wasn't the only one who cracked up at the guy celebrating from 0:30-0:35 LMAO

Someone needs to make a gif of that.

[Abraxas]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

sorry, what were you saying?

[Bregor]

Damn, I just got Huet'd.

Please tell me I wasn't the only one who cracked up at the guy celebrating from 0:30-0:35 LMAO

No clue who that is, it's not Abe Pollin (owner) or Dave Poile (GM) so maybe it's just some random luxury box fan?

[Abraxas]

Poile was GM in WSH? the same one who's in Nashville now?

[Bregor]

For about 15 years, yes. Him and McPhee have been the only 2 GMs I've known in DC.

[Thoronas]

Canucks managed to sign Mason Raymond to a 2 year deal just before arbitration. 2.5/2.6 mil over the two years. It's honestly better than I was expecting, I thought he'd get 2.75 minimum.

[Callisto]

Looks like the Hawks picked up two more minimum-wage forwards, seems they're scrimping every penny they can to actually keep Niemi, wondering what they'll do if the arbitration on Thursday comes out too rich for their blood.

[Bweigelt]

Looks like the Hawks picked up two more minimum-wage forwards, seems they're scrimping every penny they can to actually keep Niemi, wondering what they'll do if the arbitration on Thursday comes out too rich for their blood.

Even if the award isn't high enough to walk away from I think they still get seven days to make additional moves to fit him in. So if he gets to much they'll have a week to trade him or someone else.

[Deader2818]

Even if the award isn't high enough to walk away from I think they still get seven days to make additional moves to fit him in. So if he gets to much they'll have a week to trade him or someone else.

They can go over the cap so they can accept it and have until the season starts to get under the cap. So would be best for them to keep it and make other moves, or keep him and trade him for something.

[Thoronas]

If I was Campbell I'd wear knee protection and be on the lookout for guys in ski masks with lead pipes.

Edit:
Goes to bar, tells girls that his pants are nicknamed "Kovalchuk" because they're ridiculously front-loaded.
https://twitter.com/DownGoesBrown/status/19578734914

[Bweigelt]

They can go over the cap so they can accept it and have until the season starts to get under the cap. So would be best for them to keep it and make other moves, or keep him and trade him for something.

Chicago is already over the cap, and I believe there is a situation where Niemi's contract will put them over the allowed 10% off season cushion but wouldn't be high enough to let them walk away. That's where the seven days would come into play.

[Selamis]

We weren't over the cap unless things have changed, we had cleared out roughly 9 million with our trades but still had to sign 8 or 9 guys, and this was before San Jose fucked us in driving up Hammer's contract. Last I heard we had about 5.5 mil to resign Niemi and a bunch of roster spots to as minimal as we could get.

[Ratatapa]

NHLPA files grievance against NHL over Kovalchuk

The Associated Press
TORONTO - The National Hockey League Players' Association has filed a grievance over the league's rejection of the landmark $102 million contract between Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils.

The league rejected the 17-year deal contract last week, saying the longest contract in league history violated its salary cap.

The union disputed that belief in its grievance Monday. It said that under the collective bargaining agreement, the union and Kovalchuk are entitled to an expedited resolution.

The NHL acknowledged that it has received a copy of the grievance.

"Although there is no defined timetable at this point, we intend to work with the Players' Association to ensure an expeditious resolution of this dispute," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. "The league looks forward to the opportunity to establish its position before the arbitrator."

Daly said that the league would have not further comment until the issue was resolved.

Kovalchuk's deal was likely rejected because he was to earn $550,000 in each of the last five seasons of the contract that was to run through the 2026-27 season, when he would be 44. He was to earn $98.5 million in the first 11 years of the deal.

By extending Kovalchuk's contract and paying him less money late in the deal, the Devils lowered their salary-cap hit to $6 million annually.

Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello said last week that he believed that the contract complied with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. He also said he would not comment again until the grievance process played out.

Kovalchuk's agent, Jay Grossman, also said last week that he wouldn't comment until the matter is resolved.

[Deader2818]

I really think the NHL will win this since the last 5 years of the contract he will be making league minimum and 12 years from now, the minimum should be higher. Clearly those years were added just to bring down the cap number.

They will point to Hossa, Louongo, Etc but the difference is at the end of their contracts, Hossa is making 750,000 the last 2 years, Louongo's last 2 years are at 1 million.

Zetterberg/Franzens deals they make 1 million in the last 2 years as well.

Now with Pronger, the last 2 years of the deal he IS making the league minimum of 525,000 but the difference there is his whole contract will count against the cap even if he retires.

If the contract was different for the last 5 years, making around 750,000, the NHLPA could make a better case.

But really, I think that is what will do them in and what will make this different than the other long term deals that the NHLPA will use to prove their point.

[Callisto]

We weren't over the cap unless things have changed, we had cleared out roughly 9 million with our trades but still had to sign 8 or 9 guys, and this was before San Jose fucked us in driving up Hammer's contract. Last I heard we had about 5.5 mil to resign Niemi and a bunch of roster spots to as minimal as we could get.

Teams are allowed to be up to 10% over the cap up until opening day, Huet's contract is a shade under 10% by himself, so they can pretty much spend up to the cap over the summer with the assumption that he'll be AHL'd on opening day.

[Callisto]

also for those who play hockey themselves, I was showing Selamis this in another thread but I suppose I should post it here too, I went to Lowe's and picked up a 4'x8' piece of whiteboard(the stuff dry-erase boards are made out of, it's by the building materials/siding usually) for $13, and a can of Blaster Silicon Lube Spray from Home Depot for $3.27, and got this as a result:

Board:
http://slashangry.net/callisto/board.jpg

Spray:
http://slashangry.net/callisto/spray.jpg

Result:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GcA2IO7BTc

[Selamis]

You know, the angle at which you filmed makes it seem a LOT smaller than the head on picture. Understatement of the year when you said transporting that in a Cavalier wasn't fun, good lord lol.

[Callisto]

We had to use nylon rope and bungee cords to strap it to the top of the car, then I had to hold my hands out of the front passenger window to keep it from flipping up with the wind, was a definite workout on the forearms trying to hold that thing down when we hit 25-30mph driving into the wind, lol