NHL Offseason 2011

[Canadave]

So, Leafs fans, thoughts on Tim Connoly? I doubt he'll be amazing, but he'll add some nice skill and experience up the middle, and I think he'll be able to work off Kessel well. Should help the power play, too, along with Liles. And $4.5 million per year for two years is a lot better than paying Richards six billion dollars next season. Just so long as he stays healthy, I guess, that's the main concern.

And in other news, no more Brett Lebda!

 

[Timby]

Oh, God, I just realized the Sabres signed Leino for 6/27. What the hell was the thought process there?

"Hey, this guy has 30 goals, he'll be a great value at $4.5 million per year. It doesn't really matter that he'll be 28 to start the season, he's still a 30-goal scorer! ... wait ... wait ... oh fuck you mean he scored 30 goals over three seasons what the fuck have we done."

I mean, remember, this is the offseason when we're looking at another lockout in a year, maybe two -- and cracking 50 points is worth $4.5 million a year. Shit, remember when the salary cap was supposed to be a drag on player salaries? Yow.

 

[Canadave]

^ Arguably better value for money than Tim Connolly, though, and at the same price. The UFA market is just insane right now, given the overall dearth of high-end talent.

 

[DeafPoet]

And in other news, no more Brett Lebda!

Hilariously, this deal leaves Mike Komisarek something like #7 on the Leafs defensive depth chart. I'm hoping this means he's on his way out of town. Burke's shown willingness to fix his other mistakes, I don't see why this albatross should be any different.

Besides, NHL teams have shown a remarkable willingness in the past couple of days to pay a lot of money for fucking nothing. So that ridiculous contract of his may not be the deal-breaker that it otherwise should be.

 

[Skywalker]

So how does free agency work in the NHL? I've heard them mentioning the salary cap a lot. So is it sort of like the NFL? Are there unrestricted free agents and restricted free agents? It also sounds like the average contract works out to be a lot lower than, say, the average baseball contract. In both years and money.

 

[Canadave]

And in other news, no more Brett Lebda!

Hilariously, this deal leaves Mike Komisarek something like #7 on the Leafs defensive depth chart. I'm hoping this means he's on his way out of town. Burke's shown willingness to fix his other mistakes, I don't see why this albatross should be any different.

Besides, NHL teams have shown a remarkable willingness in the past couple of days to pay a lot of money for fucking nothing. So that ridiculous contract of his may not be the deal-breaker that it otherwise should be.

Yeah, I've heard a number of rumours about teams looking at him, but I put very little stock in rumours at this time of year. Seriously, I really hope he gets moved, maybe for a bottom six centre to replace Tim Brent? I'd be perfectly okay if we end up with a defensive corps where Lashoff is the seventh guy, given that we have guys like Gardiner waiting in the wings.

Incidentally, looks like our defense for next year is probably almost set, barring any unexpected moves:

Aulie-Phaneuf
Liles-Schenn
Gunarsson-Frasor

That's actually a damn fine looking group, if so.

 

[Timby]

So how does free agency work in the NHL? I've heard them mentioning the salary cap a lot. So is it sort of like the NFL? Are there unrestricted free agents and restricted free agents? It also sounds like the average contract works out to be a lot lower than, say, the average baseball contract. In both years and money.

The NHL has a hard cap, like the NFL; teams can exceed the cap through certain measures, but they pay penalties against the following year's cap. Prior to the 2005 CBA, unrestricted free agency began at age 31, though now it begins at (I believe) 27 or seven years of service, whichever comes first.

Restricted free agents were and are free to negotiate with any team, and sign an offer sheet with that team, though the player's original team is free to either match the offer sheet or let the player go for a draft pick. I don't believe there's any draft pick compensation for unrestricted free agents.

The NHL's current CBA expires on September 15, 2012, which is the first day of the 2012 - 13 season.

The UFA market is just insane right now, given the overall dearth of high-end talent.

And I just don't understand it. The NHLPA hired Don Fehr for a reason -- the union is not going to roll over in next year's labor talks, and the union's leadership committee has already essentially said that they're going to war over the next CBA. Why pay out the nose for marginal players when you're almost certainly looking at a repeat of 2004 - 05?

 

[Canadave]

^ Yeah. And some of these teams signing teams signing guys to 8, 9, ten year contracts are going to get fucked, more than likely.

 

[Skywalker]

So how does free agency work in the NHL? I've heard them mentioning the salary cap a lot. So is it sort of like the NFL? Are there unrestricted free agents and restricted free agents? It also sounds like the average contract works out to be a lot lower than, say, the average baseball contract. In both years and money.

The NHL has a hard cap, like the NFL; teams can exceed the cap through certain measures, but they pay penalties against the following year's cap. Prior to the 2005 CBA, unrestricted free agency began at age 31, though now it begins at (I believe) 27 or seven years of service, whichever comes first.

Restricted free agents were and are free to negotiate with any team, and sign an offer sheet with that team, though the player's original team is free to either match the offer sheet or let the player go for a draft pick. I don't believe there's any draft pick compensation for unrestricted free agents.

The NHL's current CBA expires on September 15, 2012, which is the first day of the 2012 - 13 season.

Thanks for the info. That's pretty crazy that players can't become UFAs until they've been in the NHL for seven years. That's probably going to get changed in the next CBA.

 

[tomalak301]

This took me completely by surprise:

Sharks/Wild Trade Again

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks have traded forward Dany Heatley to the Minnesota Wild for forward Martin Havlat.

The trade Sunday is the second major deal this offseason between the two teams. San Jose acquired All-Star defenseman Brent Burns from Minnesota late last month for a package headlined by Devin Setoguchi.

The 30-year-old Havlat had 22 goals and 40 assists in 78 games last season. He has 209 goals and 303 assists in a 10-year career with Minnesota, Chicago and Ottawa.

The Sharks acquired Heatley two years ago, hoping he would be the piece that lifted them to the Stanley Cup. He had 39 goals his first season but only 26 last year. He also scored five goals in 32 playoff games with San Jose.

I'm not good at talking about the numbers (Hell, I barely understand capgeek) but my first thought on this trade was man Doug Wilson is Ruthless this offseason. First Setoguchi and then Heatley? Holy Cow.

 

[Timby]

That's pretty crazy that players can't become UFAs until they've been in the NHL for seven years. That's probably going to get changed in the next CBA.

It used to be 31, and the transition to 27 was grandfathered in over the last few years -- it was one of the "major" concessions the owners made when reaching a new CBA in 2005.

The NHL is probably heading towards labor armageddon that will make the NFL's situation look tame; Eric Lindros and his cronies basically gained control of the NHLPA executive committee a year or two ago, which led to the hiring of Don Fehr as the union's bulldog. Lindros has been screaming "go on strike and roll everything back, aside from free agency, to pre-2005" and Fehr is following that message. Hell, they were dragged, kicking and screaming, into the CBA amendment that grandfathered in the Hossa, Luongo and Kovalchuk cap circumvention contracts but banned any such deals afterwards.

I've said before that most sane people believe the NHL can't survive another labor disaster like the one that wiped out the '04 - '05 season, but the problem is that the NHLPA is currently led by people not generally believed to be the sanest people on the planet.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

No major signings or resignings for the Bruins yet, but Michael Ryder signed a two-year deal with the Dallas Stars. I don't think the Bruins were planning on resigning him anyway. And from the sound of it, Tomas Kaberle likely won't be back either, which, considering his meager contributions (especially in the playoffs), is fine by me.

No but they lost Tomas Kaberle, he signed a three-year deal with the Canes for an average of $4.25 million a year Story

 

[Canadave]

The Leafs have re-signed Clarke MacArthur for two years at $3.25 million a season. This is a good signing, IMO. We'd overpay for a similar guy in free agency, and he had wicked chemistry with Kulemin and Grabovski. Brad Richards or no, I think Burke's been doing some good work this off-season. I just hope it pays off next year.

 

[Winterwind]

Signing MacArthur is good. I was wondering what kind of money he`d get considering the contract they signed Connolly to.

 

[Pegaritaville]

This took me completely by surprise:

Sharks/Wild Trade Again

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks have traded forward Dany Heatley to the Minnesota Wild for forward Martin Havlat.

The trade Sunday is the second major deal this offseason between the two teams. San Jose acquired All-Star defenseman Brent Burns from Minnesota late last month for a package headlined by Devin Setoguchi.

The 30-year-old Havlat had 22 goals and 40 assists in 78 games last season. He has 209 goals and 303 assists in a 10-year career with Minnesota, Chicago and Ottawa.

The Sharks acquired Heatley two years ago, hoping he would be the piece that lifted them to the Stanley Cup. He had 39 goals his first season but only 26 last year. He also scored five goals in 32 playoff games with San Jose.

I'm not good at talking about the numbers (Hell, I barely understand capgeek) but my first thought on this trade was man Doug Wilson is Ruthless this offseason. First Setoguchi and then Heatley? Holy Cow.

I'm not sure what to make of those trades, but I am happy to finally see the Wild do something. It was starting to look like they weren't going to make any moves.

 

[tomalak301]

Seems like Wilson and Fletcher decided to be trading buddies this offseason because I don't remember the last time the Sharks were this active in terms of making trades. It's been a hell of an offseason though.

I think you guys are going to like Setoguchi, and all the draft picks you're picking up. On the Sharks, seto kind of was the anchor on the third line, fast skater and when he's rolling can rack up a lot of points. I think the thing I didn't like about him was he can be really streaky at times. Have a week of good play, and then have a few weeks where he is non-existent.

As for Heatley, He's going to probably be the go to scorer for the Wild. Didn't really watch them play all that much though so not really sure. What I have heard and do agree with is Heatley and Havlet are kind of the same player, only Havlet is cheaper and has a reputation of being good in pressure filled situations. I hope that's the case because Heatley disappeared in the playoffs.

 

[eastman23]

And we've got a logo (or two or three)...

I approve.

Oh, and the line-up to get into the Official Store was almost a block long less than an hour after this was announced. I decided to try another day (assuming there will be anything left).

 

[Danny99]

Considering how bad it could've been, I really like these logos. I like that it has some significance with the military. It almost reminds me of a junior hockey logo in a good way.

Check out the video they released.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=569909&navid=mod-rr-headlines

 

[AdmiralGarak]

Very nice. I like it.

 

[Canadave]

I quite like both of the actual logos, but the font they chose for the one that's mainly "Jets" is awful.