2010 NHL Offseason Thread

[Bregor]

I think they should have just let Hjalmarsson walk, had to figure Niemi was going to get more than $2 mil. I don't think the Hawks can't repeat because of their cap issues, they'll still have two great lines and probably the best core of defensemen in the league. Oddly enough, the one thing that could kill them would be a sophomore slump from Niemi, and calling up Huet would be cap suicide.

Oh, and WTB Patrick Sharp.

[Bweigelt]

Another funny thing to note- the Hawks lost money this year, and next year they will have an additional 5+ mil to pay out to Huet beyond the cap limits if he's in the minors or Europe.

It's actually a weird situation in Chicago. The team itself lots money because they have to pay to rent the united center, have to pay for various advertising deals, have to pay to get their games on CSN. But all that money is paid to the Wirtz company, as in the one that owns the Blackhawks. So while the team is shown to be losing money the owner paying a bunch of the expenses to himself.

[Callisto]

I like Chicago but they dropped the ball big time with how badly they fucked themselves over with the cap.

Absolutely, but, obviously it was totally worth it. Tallon loaded up for a big run, it paid off at least, but the Campbell/Huet contracts and late RFA offer filings from last year both were very costly mistakes.

And this is even with Huet presumingly playing in the minors? Wow you guys fucked up big time cap-wise hahahahaha

Yeah it's been assumed since the beginning of the offseason that Huet will be off the books on opening day.

I think its safe to bet that the hawks WONT be repeating as champions?

We lost our third/fourth lines minus Bolland, and lost Byfuglien who will be replaced by Kopecky, who had similar if not better numbers than Buff considering he had much less playing time. They still have a monster top two lines of Kane/Toews/Brouwer and Hossa/Sharp/Kopecky, one of the best third line centers in the NHL(I'd put like...Staal above Bolland, maybe Malhotra if purely going off faceoffs), their top two defensive pairings are intact, and the goalie they need to replace is only a .910 guy who faced less than 25 shots a game for less than half an NHL season. They won't be quite as good as last year, but they're still going to be better than a large portion of the league and be in contention.

I think they should have just let Hjalmarsson walk, had to figure Niemi was going to get more than $2 mil. I don't think the Hawks can't repeat because of their cap issues, they'll still have two great lines and probably the best core of defensemen in the league. Oddly enough, the one thing that could kill them would be a sophomore slump from Niemi, and calling up Huet would be cap suicide.

Pretty much, there's been so many instances of goalies having a hot rookie year then falling off hard the next year, as much as you want to keep him you can't throw someone like Sharp off the train for a guy who hasn't even played a full season yet and put up pretty average numbers against a team that played absolutely smothering defense a lot of the time in front of him.

Niemi made probably a total of 5 or 6 absolutely brilliant, clutch saves during the playoffs, but for the most part any reasonable goaltender only seeing 25 shots a game can put up a 2.30~ GAA. In all honesty if they could afford Huet and played in front of him as well as they did with Niemi in the playoffs I'd bet he'd have a monster year.

[Ishido]

Rumors of the Hawks doing a sign-and-trade with Niemi, I guess it's a decent idea to get some return for him, although there are not many teams in the market for a goalie right now so I can't imagine them getting more than a decent draft pick or a prospect for him. Moreso since teams know that Chicago has to shop him (or put 2 goalies in the minors lol).

[Callisto]

Bowman's done a pretty decent job of getting a solid draft pick/prospect return on his deals so far this summer, honestly it'd be cool if the Hawks just walked on it to let Niemi get a chance at signing a contract longer than a year elsewhere as a bit of a thanks for his service if nothing else.

[Callisto]

Decent interview video with Kane, now that he's finally sober lol:

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/blac...e-winning-goal

[Selamis]

Aw man, he got rid of the mullet.

[Sepukku]

We lost our third/fourth lines minus Bolland, and lost Byfuglien who will be replaced by Kopecky, who had similar if not better numbers than Buff considering he had much less playing time. They still have a monster top two lines of Kane/Toews/Brouwer and Hossa/Sharp/Kopecky, one of the best third line centers in the NHL(I'd put like...Staal above Bolland, maybe Malhotra if purely going off faceoffs), their top two defensive pairings are intact, and the goalie they need to replace is only a .910 guy who faced less than 25 shots a game for less than half an NHL season. They won't be quite as good as last year, but they're still going to be better than a large portion of the league and be in contention.

I think people never realize Staal is well above 3rd line talent o_O He could be a first line center on some shitty (in regards to center depth) teams: Florida, Phoenix - yes, I know they made the playoffs but name their centers without looking, maybe Buffalo, heck even pre-Stamkos Tampa Staal could've given the sucky version of Lecalvier a push for 1st line role.

He's 2nd line quality on just about any team in the league except the Pens (Crosby/Malkin) and perhaps Vancouver (Kesler/Sedin) Who do the Red Rags have for a 2nd center? Datsyuk and Zetterberg always confuse the fuck out of me with their positions.

Jordan Staal is also the center Columbus wishes Rick Nash had. That line would be a fucking BEAST. Even on the PK, you know the hell offensive defensemen would be in? They wouldn't be able to pinch for a puck when they're on the PP cause Nash/Staal have some of the best strides in this game and would just fucking take off on them like a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier.

I mean, lets be real - in a hypothetical hell where good guys go on bad teams, you could put Staal on Washington and he would put up just as good numbers as Nicklas Backstrom, maybe a few more Goals, a few less Assists, finish every year with 85-105 points, only difference would be the Capitals would be a lot more sound defensively. Mike Green out of position? Don't worry, Jordan hurries.

[Ishido]

Filppula, Staal, and several other are better than Bolland. Also Tomas Kopecky slated to be on the 2nd line... Tomas Kopecky does not deserve to be on the 2nd line on any NHL team.

[Ishido]

Hawks have reportedly signed Turco to a 1 year deal, 1.75m.

[Selamis]

Yea they had mentioned him a few days ago, pretty much on stand by waiting to see what happened with Niemi, if the contract was low enough they'd resign him, if not then they'd go with Turco.

[Bregor]

I mean, lets be real - in a hypothetical hell where good guys go on bad teams, you could put Staal on Washington and he would put up just as good numbers as Nicklas Backstrom, maybe a few more Goals, a few less Assists, finish every year with 85-105 points, only difference would be the Capitals would be a lot more sound defensively. Mike Green out of position? Don't worry, Jordan hurries.

cool story bro

[Ivaden]

The day Staal puts up numbers like Backstrom, I will cut off my left nut.

Never did like my left one too much anyway, not a huge () loss.

[Abraxas]

and you guys give me shit for first arguing his Eaton vs Timonen debacle -_-

now Staal vs Backstrom? he straight trollin

[Selamis]

It's official, Hawks walk away from Niemi and sign Turco.

[Callisto]

Got a source?

nvm ESPN got it up, lol @ them breaking it first of all the sites I check

[Selamis]

I actually got it right from nhl.con, my bad on not linking the source.

[Callisto]

Honestly I'm not too mad, I like Turco's style of play and his stats are the sameish or better than Niemi's while having played behind much worse defenders. I'm glad the Hawks didn't do a sign-an-trade so that Niemi will at least get a shot at a slightly longer deal with whoever picks him up.

The super ironing is I'm pretty sure the Flyers will be in the running for him.

[Selamis]

Didn't they just give Leighton a contract extension though?

[Callisto]

I think they still wanted someone over Boucher to do a 1a/1b with but now that I see their cap space they're probably going to stick with those two again. Speaking of Philly goalies, wondering if anyone's going to give Emery another shot this year, I really like him