NHL Offseason 2010 discussion

[Canadave]

I thought about posting this in the 2009–10 season thread, but it seemed more logical to start an offseason discussion, especially with free agency opening tomorrow.

Anyway, the impetus for this is the fact that the Leafs are an early beneficiary of Chicago's fire sale. Versteeg and the rights to Bill Sweatt to Toronto for Victor Stalberg, Chris DiDomenico, and Philippe Paradis. Hell of a deal for the Leafs, if you ask me: we get a pretty solid top six forward with a bright future and playoff experience, and give up Stalberg, who I have a feeling won't ever quite live up to his potential. He always just seemed to lack what was needed to be a truly strong forward.

Seems to be pretty even on the prospects, as well. I don't think any of them are bound for stardom, though the two we gave up may have a slightly better chance when taken together, I'm not complaining too much.

And, incidentally, I hope this is just the start for Burke when it comes to the offence. It needs a lot of work, still.

 

[Danny99]

Some Leaf fans are tearing this trade apart, I am not one of them.

Versteeg is the best player in this deal and is head and shoulders above Stalberg. Stalberg had flashes of greatness, but Versteeg brings that skill along with some Burke style truculence.

As for the prospects, DiDomenico was injury prone, even after a great World Juniors. Paradis, as much as I liked him in theory, was never going to be a top six forward.

 

[Canadave]

^ The other factor is that Versteeg and Stalberg are the same age, and while Stalberg is still at least a season away from being a solid, reliable forward, Versteeg is already there. I guess there's still a slight chance that Stalberg could turn into a 50 goal elite sniper, but I wouldn't put money on it.

 

[Timby]

Versteeg will never be a 40-goal, top-line scorer, but he's a great two-way player and it's a shame to see him leave Chicago. (Tallon, you fuck.)

The bloodletting will continue, as the official NHL penalty to the Blackhawks is $4.19 million (due to exceeding the cap last year, primarily as a result of Toews and Kane hitting all their ELC bonuses). Assuming that Huet, Stalberg, Reasoner and Dowell are all on the opening-night roster, that leaves the team with 14 of its 23 roster spaces filled and $3.5 million in cap space. Ugh.

Complicating matters is that teams can only exceed the cap by 10 percent in the offseason, and they can't send players down to the minors to hide their salaries until opening day. This makes it impossible, basically, for the Hawks to continue building a roster without more trade skullduggery. Ladd is almost certainly gone (especially since he has arbitration rights), they'll almost certainly dump Skille and Brophey, and they might have no choice but to unload Sharp.

Now watch a team like San Jose swoop in and sign Niemi to a $3 million offer sheet, just to be huge dicks.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

Paul Martin and Zybanek Michalek to the Pens! Now we just need to spend our remaining $1.35 of Cap space to sign three elite wingers for Crosby and Malkin.


As for the stupidest news of the day. Darryl Sutter decides what the Flames really need is...
...
...
...
Olli Jokinen!

 

[BigFoot]

^ Seriously?




EDIT: Canucks signed Malhotra to a three-year deal. I'm interested to see how he'll do as the #3 center. He should be an improvement over Welly, especially in the regular season.

EDIT #2: And Canucks also signed Hamhuis for six years. They also got Ballard on Draft day, so I think they should be a very very strong team this year. I'm really excited now.

 

[Timby]

Assuming that Huet, Stalberg, Reasoner and Dowell are all on the opening-night roster, that leaves the team with 14 of its 23 roster spaces filled and $3.5 million in cap space. Ugh.

Complicating matters is that teams can only exceed the cap by 10 percent in the offseason, and they can't send players down to the minors to hide their salaries until opening day. This makes it impossible, basically, for the Hawks to continue building a roster without more trade skullduggery. Ladd is almost certainly gone (especially since he has arbitration rights), they'll almost certainly dump Skille and Brophey, and they might have no choice but to unload Sharp.

Welp.

Ladd is gone, traded to the Thrashers for Ivan Vishnevskiy and a 2011 second-round pick, and Adam Burish just signed with Dallas. The Blackhawks still need to clear salary and get Niemi and Hjalmarsson signed ... and then, oh, fill up the rest of their roster.

Man, this is going to get ugly.

 

[Canadave]

^ On the plus side, it looks like the Hawks may end up with a great draft pick next year.

EDIT: Canucks signed Malhotra to a three-year deal. I'm interested to see how he'll do as the #3 center. He should be an improvement over Welly, especially in the regular season.

EDIT #2: And Canucks also signed Hamhuis for six years. They also got Ballard on Draft day, so I think they should be a very very strong team this year. I'm really excited now.

Yeah, Canucks have made some good moves thus far. I think they'll be an improved team next year. At least, I hope they will be.

 

[Timby]

^ On the plus side, it looks like the Hawks may end up with a great draft pick next year.

With a core of players like Toews, Kane, Seabrook, Keith, Sharp and Niemi, I don't think the Blackhawks are going to the gutter anytime soon. The only really special player they've traded thus far is Versteeg; the rest are relatively easily replaced role players. And, to Stan Bowman's credit, he isn't pulling a fire sale and letting everyone go for a bag of pucks. He's been getting some pretty good return on these trades thus far, and I really like the Hawks' draft picks of Kevin Haynes and Lugvig Rensfeldt.

It's frustrating to watch a good chunk of the team be dismantled because Dale Tallon is a fucking retard, but at least the team is maneuvering to make the best of its current financial straits.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

^ On the plus side, it looks like the Hawks may end up with a great draft pick next year.

With a core of players like Toews, Kane, Seabrook, Keith, Sharp and Niemi, I don't think the Blackhawks are going to the gutter anytime soon.

Dale Tallon is a fucking retard,

All of those players were either acquired by or re-signed by that "retard" Tallon. He built a Stanley Cup winning team. And they're going to remain a major contender thanks to that core.


If you want a retarded GM, read my previous post about Darryl Sutter and Olli Jokinen. Then add in the words "officially signed" (), "2 year-contract" (), and "6 million dollars". ()

 

[Canadave]

^ On the plus side, it looks like the Hawks may end up with a great draft pick next year.

With a core of players like Toews, Kane, Seabrook, Keith, Sharp and Niemi, I don't think the Blackhawks are going to the gutter anytime soon. The only really special player they've traded thus far is Versteeg; the rest are relatively easily replaced role players. And, to Stan Bowman's credit, he isn't pulling a fire sale and letting everyone go for a bag of pucks. He's been getting some pretty good return on these trades thus far, and I really like the Hawks' draft picks of Kevin Haynes and Lugvig Rensfeldt.

It's frustrating to watch a good chunk of the team be dismantled because Dale Tallon is a fucking retard, but at least the team is maneuvering to make the best of its current financial straits.

Yeah, this is true, I was exaggerating. Still, with the number of players they're getting rid of, I wouldn't bet on Chicago to repeat.

Then again, I also thought Montreal had become worse after last year's offseason, so what do I know?

Also, rumour has it Kovalchuk could be an Islander. $10 million a year for 10 years is what I've heard...

 

[BigFoot]

^ Honestly, any GM that pays Kovalchuk $10 million a year is an idiot. I'm sorry, he's just not worth it. That's one sixth of the cap gone right there. Not to mention the fact that Ovie and Crosby don't get paid that much.

 

[Canadave]

^ Yeah. He's worth around $7 million, I'd say... eight, tops. And I definitely wouldn't sign him for ten years. Sure he's only 27, so he should theoretically be productive at the end of that contract, but on the other hand the Islanders are still sending Alexi Yashin a nice fat cheque every year...

 

[Timby]

^ On the plus side, it looks like the Hawks may end up with a great draft pick next year.

With a core of players like Toews, Kane, Seabrook, Keith, Sharp and Niemi, I don't think the Blackhawks are going to the gutter anytime soon.

Dale Tallon is a fucking retard,

All of those players were either acquired by or re-signed by that "retard" Tallon. He built a Stanley Cup winning team. And they're going to remain a major contender thanks to that core.

Yeah, because giving worthless sacks of shit like Huet and Campbell utterly indefensible contracts, plus last summer's RFA offer sheet fiasco (which guaranteed this summer's salary cap bloodbath), show that Tallon has such a great grasp of hockey.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

With a core of players like Toews, Kane, Seabrook, Keith, Sharp and Niemi, I don't think the Blackhawks are going to the gutter anytime soon.

Dale Tallon is a fucking retard,

All of those players were either acquired by or re-signed by that "retard" Tallon. He built a Stanley Cup winning team. And they're going to remain a major contender thanks to that core.

Yeah, because giving worthless sacks of shit like Huet and Campbell utterly indefensible contracts, plus last summer's RFA offer sheet fiasco (which guaranteed this summer's salary cap bloodbath), show that Tallon has such a great grasp of hockey.

I agree on Huet, but disagree on Campbell. That deal is worse in hindsight than it was at the time of the signing, and many teams in the league would have Campbell in thier top 2 pairing.

I didn't say Tallon was a great GM, but he laid out the proper pieces for a string of Stanley Cup victories. Compare and contrast Tallon's failures to a real disasterous GM like Sather, and Tallon doesn't even come close.

 

[Danny99]

Even Huet's deal was good at that time, he was a decent goalie remember.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

^Not when they signed him.


Meanwhile, in the 'looming catastrophe' category:

Alexander Ovechkin recorded a song for his girlfriend, along with the artist Dzhigan of Black Star Inc. Russia's forward wants to be a star not only on the ice. Very soon a real surprise is awaiting the true fans of hockey and the fans of rap.

Source

 

[BigFoot]

^

 

[Canadave]

^Not when they signed him.


Meanwhile, in the 'looming catastrophe' category:

Alexander Ovechkin recorded a song for his girlfriend, along with the artist Dzhigan of Black Star Inc. Russia's forward wants to be a star not only on the ice. Very soon a real surprise is awaiting the true fans of hockey and the fans of rap.

Source

Oh gods...

 

[DeafPoet]

Why isn't that on the internet yet?