News: The Blackhawks sign Marian Hossa to a 12-year deal, despite both Kane and Toews coming up as RFAs next year and having no cap room. Views: WHAT THE FUCK, CHICAGO? Edit: Oh, Jesus, 2 years, $2.4 million for Kopecky.
I call Chicago as the Stanley Cup runners-up in 2010 through 2021! But seriously, NHL.com says that the details of the deal haven't been made public. I found the 12 years report on TSN, but it sounds pretty suspect to me. And though the news is a few days old, thank God Billy Guerin resigned. For the first time in his NHL career, Crosby will keep both of his linemates between seasons.
I wonder if he was playing with an undisclosed injury. He was certainly a valuable player for the Wings during the regular season, and had a great playoff performance last year.
It's front-loaded pretty heavily. $59.3 million in the first 8 years, and only $3.5 million total for the last four years. Seems like it's structured to allow Hossa to retire after he gets most of his money, but the Hawks get to lessen the salary cap hit because of the length of the contract. God damn, though. They have about $20 million next year to sign a dozen players, four of whom will easily take up $5 million-plus.
Sedins re-sign with the Canucks. They'll each get $6.1 million per season. Too bad about Ohlund going to Tampa though. And that Hossa deal is just... absolutely nuts if you ask me.
Montreal has armed themselves with some pretty solid guns: Cammalleri, Gionta, Gomez, Spacek--and they all have reaonably lenghy contracts.
Agreed!! I think Gillis was sleeping, and isn't going to get much. as their seem to be not much out there.
I think the Habs will struggle next year, though. They've lost too much talent, and haven't replaced it with enough. And they also picked up Hal Gill.
It was an interesting first day of free agency.... aside from what was already mentioned: Gaborik to the Rangers (Too injury prone... he'll hardly play), Havlat to the Wild (same deal... as Gaborik... I think Chicago upgraded with Hossa, even if the contract is a little excessive), Antroprov to the Thrashers (welcome to obscurity, Nik!), Khabibulin to Edmonton (Uh oh Chicago... seriously going to rely on Huet?), Komisarek to the Leafs (decent pickup... Burke finally does something!)... Can't wait to see how the Heatley saga plays out...
^ I like the direction Burke seems to be going. We're not a contender yet, but it's obvious he has a plan. Which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for the Leafs under JFJ.
If there's any justice, it'll end with him warming the bench for a few months or playing for a few seasons in the ECHL. He really fucked over Ottawa by rejecting a trade he asked for and saddling them with his hefty bonus. Edmonton's got just cause to hate him, too. It was a perfectly good offer, but he got greedy.
Well, they lost Koivu, Tanguay, and Kovalev but have replaced them with Cammalleri, Gomez, and Gionta. IMO, that's a big upgrade. They also lost Komisarek but signed Spacek and Gill (who was great in the playoffs last year). Plus, playing under a good system with Jacques Martin coaching, I think Montreal will do pretty well.
Nice to see the Sharks choke in the playoffs and Doug Wilson is doing nothing while teams like Chicago have gotten better and Detroit probably got better getting rid of Hossa.
What's so bad about Gill? He's not very useful offensively and his skating speed is measured in epochs, but there are few men I'd rather have killing a penalty. He and Scuderi were invaluable of the Penguins' defense this season, and will be far too sorely missed.
Personally, I always found him pretty mediocre. His only real asset is his size, I've always thought he lacked the skill to go along with it. He's a hindrance at least as often as he is a help, and I really think his best years are behind him. His play was just elevated by being on the Penguins for the past few seasons. As for the Habs overall, I'll grant I'm biased against them, but I'm not convinced they've improved. I think they've made some very Maple Leafs-esque moves so far, actually, by letting their homegrown talent bleed away while they try and cobble together a team of players who've had success and won in the past. With the exception of Cammelleri, the Habs have signed a bunch of guys who will be, at the least, turning 30 in the upcoming season and are likely moving into the tail end of their primes. That's not how you build a winning franchise... believe me, I know from years of similar, painful experience. I think Montreal will still make the playoffs next year, but they're in for some lean years in the seasons to come.
Seconded. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with keeping a player for an extensive amount of time, but the actual contract being 12 years? Crazy talk.