• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

NHL Offseason 2010 discussion

Well, the San Jose Sharks have dicked over the Hawks, signing (not offering -- signing) Niklas Hjalmarsson to a four-year, $14 million offer sheet.

This leaves the Blackhawks with only a few options. They can match, which would essentially guarantee that Antti Niemi will leave town, or they can let Hjalmarsson walk and grab some first- and third-round draft picks from the Sharks. While I'd love for them to match the sheet and then fax Doug Wilson a middle finger, as Pierre Lacroix did to the Rangers after they signed Joe Sakic to an offer sheet in 1997, I don't think there's any realistic possibility that the team will plunge itself deeper into cap hell for a defenseman with limited offensive potential.

I'm surprised it took this long for a team to decide that it was not, in fact, going to just casually help out the Blackhawks with their salary cap woes. (Atlanta, I'm looking at you.)
 
Oh, God, the Blackhawks matched the Sharks' offer sheet for Hjalmarsson.

For those keeping score at home, this leaves the Blackhawks with 15 players on the roster and $113,000 of cap space. Sharp and Niemi are headed straight out of town unless Stan Bowman can convince someone to take Campbell and Huet off his hands in exchange for a bag of pucks.

Just to illustrate how dire the Hawks' cap situation is, if Niemi gets more than $1.6 million at his arbitration hearing and the team wants to retain him, the Hawks will need to pay players less than the league minimum to reach a 21-man roster. And that's assuming they're dumping Huet.

Oh, and Campbell has a no-trade clause.

Matters wouldn't be nearly as dire as they are right now if Toews and Kane hadn't hit all their entry-level contract bonuses and Dale Tallon hadn't fucked the dog on last summer's qualifying offers, but, shit, the Blackhawks are now faced with becoming the Florida Marlins of the NHL.

Dale Tallon, fuck you.
 
Last edited:
The most galling part is that Dale Tallon signed Campbell and Huet to utterly obscene contracts despite having all the evidence in the world indicating that Toews and Kane were going to hit their ELC bonuses. He knew that the team was going to go over the cap as a result, so he decided, "Fuck, okay, we'll take a penalty next year."

Yeah, and now he's fired and the team could really use $4 million in cap room.

Edit: Oh, God. If the Blackhawks were to buy out Campbell's contract (which they can't at the moment, due to the cap), they'd have to pay him (and eat the cap hit) for the next twelve years.
 
It's weird to have a sport with a hard cap and guaranteed contracts. There seem to be literally no-win situations where you need to sign somebody, but it would push you over the cap.
 
So is it just me, or has the offseason been pretty dull so far? I don't expect much major wheeling and dealing until later in the summer, but even the free-agent market has been pretty quiet. Mostly seems to be teams going after depth players.
 
Canadave said:
So is it just me, or has the offseason been pretty dull so far? I don't expect much major wheeling and dealing until later in the summer, but even the free-agent market has been pretty quiet. Mostly seems to be teams going after depth players.
Click to expand...

Like watching paint dry.

Everyone is sitting, waiting, to see where Kovalchuk lands when there are really only two scenarios: he signs in the NHL with some ridiculous contract or goes to the KHL when the NHL people realize he isn't worth it.

I'm surprised Frolov hasn't gone anywhere. Is he a bad guy in the dressing room or something?
 
Anyone else hear about the controversy in Manitoba, where a soldier's mother is angry that Toews got a lake named after him before her son, whom died in Afghanistan.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_y...F?slug=capress-hkn_cup_toews_soldiers-3948660

Seems like there's a lot of lakes for everyone. The soldier will be getting the lake named and I think the mother is being a little hard on Toews, when it's governmental policy that is slowing down her son getting his lake named.
 
Nice to see Kovalchuk finally sign. Kinda wish the Sharks got Jhammerlson but that didn't come to pass. Only thing I'm cocerned with going into the regular season is that they didn't address the defensive concerns (And let go of Malholtra) that plagued them in the postseason.
 
Last edited:
PHEW! So happy Kovalchuk didn't go to the Kings, they would have dominated the West for years I think.
 
Garak said:
PHEW! So happy Kovalchuk didn't go to the Kings, they would have dominated the West for years I think.
Click to expand...

If I were a Kings fan, I'd be glad we didn't sign Kovalchuk so we could dominate the West in a few years.

They got a great young core and a plan. Why throw that out the window for a selfish, me first hockey player who wants hundreds of millions of dollars?
 
^ The big question is what's in this for the Flyers? Walker hardly seems like fair compensation for Gagne.

I wonder if Kovalchuk signing will open the floodgates a little... maybe we'll see Kaberle moved soon?
 
Canadave said:
I wonder if Kovalchuk signing will open the floodgates a little... maybe we'll see Kaberle moved soon?
Click to expand...

At least Kaberle moving would get rid of a lot of the trade rumors and proposals on the Leafspace and other fan sites.

Unfortunately, it'd be replaced by how Burke is in an idiot and how we got nothing good back for Kaberle posts.
 
I didn't see Kovalchuk fitting well in NJ a few months ago, and was mostly proven right. Short-term, I still don't see a great fit. So long as McLean keeps the team on their typical rigid defensive game, he's not right for their system.

Long-term, with Brodeur's career winding down, this could be interesting. Hopefully, it'll start an offensive-rebuild that kills their damned trap once and for all.


Philly trading Gagne's been in the works for a while, but hell if I know why they took a defenseman. I can think of 29 other teams in the league that need defensemen more than Philly.


Danny99 said:
Unfortunately, it'd be replaced by how Burke is in an idiot and how we got nothing good back for Kaberle posts.
Click to expand...
Look on the bright side. Even Burke would be hard pressed to outdo the Habs in the race for the most brain-achingly stupid trade of the post-season.
 
Last edited:
Danny99 said:
Garak said:
PHEW! So happy Kovalchuk didn't go to the Kings, they would have dominated the West for years I think.
Click to expand...

If I were a Kings fan, I'd be glad we didn't sign Kovalchuk so we could dominate the West in a few years.

They got a great young core and a plan. Why throw that out the window for a selfish, me first hockey player who wants hundreds of millions of dollars?
Click to expand...
At a cap hit of 6 mil? I'm sure they'd prefer him there. Players like Kovalchuk, as selfish as they are perceived by some, is the type of player that doesn't come along very often. If their goaltending improves, he would have put them over the top.

Like the move by Tampa, very low risk - and Stevie Y took advantage of Philly's salary cap problems quite nicely. Looks like he might be the real deal.
 
Deadspin had a pretty good assessment of the Kovalchuk contract:

What gives? Oh, nothing. Just New Jersey taking a dump on the salary cap, and wiping its ass with the CBA.
Click to expand...
The Pronger and Hossa contracts were pretty outlandish, but this Kovalchuk deal just takes it to a whole new level.

Also, Stan Bowman says that the Blackhawks will not trade Patrick Sharp, and the plan is to re-sign Niemi.

They must be planning on murdering Huet or something. I bet they could get Mike Danton for cheap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top