What part of before the lockout are you missing? I understand they made signings after the lockout cause 1) there was a cap floor, and 2) there was revenue sharing. Don't kid yourself that they wouldn't have put out another crap filled team out there to get some more high picks. Before the lockout, 28, 27, and 23 wins with AHL talent. Kovalev and Straka for garbage...but you forgot the best one...Jagr for nothing. Yes everyone in the world knew Jagr wanted to get out but everyone in the world knew that the Flyers wanted to dump Lindros. They still got actual players back in return. That trade to the caps was a joke.

They brought back Lemieux?? They were already paying him to be the Owner from the money they still owed him and he had vested interest because if the team wasn't going to make it, he needed to get some money or some return.

If I am an angry Flyers fan then you are just another one of those disillusional pens fans who just can't admit your team tanked. You don't get 5 top 5 picks IN A ROW without trying. And yes I know they traded up for MAF but they only traded up 2 spots.

If you are talking about offensive defensman, I'm going with Gonchar, but adding in the defensive aspect, I'll take Timonen.

Horcoff is a #1 center in Edmonton but does that mean he's really a #1 center?

Well said.

He would be in Toronto :D

I would take Gonchar as my #1 pp guy.....but i would take Timmo to play a regular shift.

IMHO Gonchar is a 3-5 guy where Timmo is a 2/3

One team's got Gonchar, one team's got Timonen, and these teams' fans are arguing. At least you're not throwing one-eyed Colin "Bundle Dick" White out there every night. Get a grip.

:(

Sak, you can argue now that they got nothing for Jagr, but at that time, it was looked upon as the Pens getting plenty of young talent. The fact that Kris "the next Ron Francis" never panned out doesn't prove they tanked. Are you saying they purposely took lesser talent for Jagr in order to get higher picks?

You missed the 3rd point of spending $ after the lockout-- they were out of bankruptcy. Complain all you want, but what kind of sense does it make to spend money you don't have?

As far as Gonchar, he's not a shut down guy, but until missing most of this season, and then getting injured in the playoffs, he and Orpik were regularly matched up against the opponent's top line, not Scuderi/Gill.

People saying he plays no D are proving they just go by what they hear and not the on ice product. Gonchar was worse than Andy Delmore when he started out in Washington, but he's an above average defender now.

I'll give Timonen the edge defensively, but Gonchar is vastly superior offensively. Timonen finished with like 40 points on a team that had one of the top 2 or 3 PP this season.

Plenty of young talent? Yikes man. Sorry can't agree with you there. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this issue.

I don't understand why you keep talking about after the lockout. Sak has been pretty clear he's talking about the years leading up to the lockout.

Patrick Kane's punishment for beating up a cabbie is to write an apology letter? Seriously?

Some money changed hands behind the scenes. That much is certain.

Yeah, the cabbie finally handed over the two dimes.

:D

SI

Prior to the lockout, they were in bankruptcy. He'll contend they should have spent money still. I'll contend they shouldn't that will never change.

I'll never understand the thinking of "spend every cent today, no matter what happens to us tomorrow" thinking. Sure, they'll could have held onto Jagr, Kovy and Straka for another season...and then folded.

Prospects don't pan out (see next next quote below)

Look back at what the consensus was on these guys when the trade was made. It's not like Craig Patrick said "we don't care what you send back, as long as you include that $10M"

If that was the case, why not ask for mid range draft picks?

Just caught this part...



I'll give you a solid player in Kim Johnson, but what was the rest? Picks and Pavel Brendl? Who was worse, if that is possible, than Beech by a mile.

A couple of Vancouver moves.

They sign Matthieu Schneider.

They also traded center Patrick White and defenseman Daniel Rahimi to San Jose in exchange for defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich.

White and Rahimi are younger players/prospect types. San Jose was up against the cap, so this move helps them there.

This also helps Vancouver blue-line. Schneider was pretty impressive offensively for Montreal last year before getting hurt. That said, he's old and has had a number of injuries of late. Lukowich seems servicable, but, from what I can recall, either was injured or entirely invisible on San Jose. Ehrhoff is decent enough, but always seemed to be more potential than anything else. Vancouver's blue-line will be pretty crowded with: Bieska, Mitchell, Salo, Elder, O'Brien and these three additions.

That's big cap relief. 4.95 million off the books for two prospects that aren't going to make the roster (presumably)? Looks like they still want Heatley or Kessel.

So it sounds like the Oilers will be making an announcement on Monday morning about their new arena that is expected to be built in downtown Edmonton (right next to my office - I should have a good view of it going up! :))

NHLPA fires Paul Kelly.

In other news, the NHL will now have another lengthy and disastrous lockout at the end of this CBA.

JR for NHLPA Pres!

I'm not sure what was so disastrous about the last lockout. The league is in FAR better shape than it was pre-lockout, both in financial terms and in the quality of the product on the ice. That lockout was the best thing that could have happened to the NHL.

Now, another lockout? I'm not so sure; I don't think it's a good idea. But the last one was goodness.

Too soon. The NHL has just recently re-acquired a good portion of the fan-base they lost during the lockout. Another one so soon could really kill the league.

Ask a casual American hockey fan about that.

Oh right, there aren't any left.

The league isn't in better shape from a financial and quality product position?

Now, if we can just get some better management in the NHL offices. Going to a crappy, unseen network like VS (with a lower pay day), pushing to make failing markets work regardless, ect. aren't going to get the NHL back.

Sometimes you need to thin the herd to make it stronger.

Fair enough, you are probably right. Another impasse would likey be bad news at this point.

I stand by my overall point, though, that the last lockout was very beneficial to the league as a whole, and was sorely needed. The worst thing the NHL could have done back then was to simply carry on with the status quo.

I'd like to see Balsillie as NHLPA prez.That fuck Bettman good.

Nothing about Tanguay in here?

Seeing 1 year/ $2.5M to Tampa. That is a pretty steep drop from last year's $5M+ salary. He still put up 41 pts in 50 games for Montreal before injuries ended his year.

fun fact - the two players from the 1998 draft with the most career points? Vinny Lecavalier (669) and Alex Tanguay (580).

Brad Richards is 4th.

Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks agree on 12-year, $64 million contract extension - ESPN

Looks like Luongo is gonna be a Canuck for a long time. And here I thought he didn't like Vancouver. Interesting that they'd include a no-trade clause in there as well on such a long-term deal.

I wonder if the NHL will begin an investigation into this contract.

Ok, now I love the guy.

He'll do it too. Just watch him.

The best part about Brashear is watching him try to skate up the ice. He has to be the worst skater in NHL history. Paul Kariya after a concussion looked more graceful.

I dunno, Stu Grimson was a terrible skater.

Anyone hearing anything about the debacle that has become Direct TV vs. Comcast over the status of the Versus Network? Last night I noticed that my Direct TV channel 603 was broadcasting a message about Comcast's ridiculous negotiating demands and that Versus was essentially blocked because of Comcast's stubbornness. The end result is that until this dispute is settled, Direct TV subscribers no longer have Versus and therefore only have the NHL Network for hockey. I can only hope this gets settled well before the playoffs start.

Last I heard both sides had stopped talking. I am sure they will come to a resolution at some point. I do hope it's before the playoffs for certain. These types of disputes are incredibly annoying. Comcast and the Big Ten Network had similar row a year or two ago.

DirecTV, Comcast fight over Versus distribution -- latimes.com

The wonderful irony here is that Comcast just got done with a very similar dispute with the NFL Network, except that time they were on the "receiving" end. Comcast even went so far as to place a banner on the NFL network channels indicating that their carrying of the network would be going away, similar to what DirecTV is doing now. I wonder if any of the braintrust over at Comcast even realize how ridiculous this is making them look. Before, they could at least pretend to be the victim...now, not so much.

If it wasn't for Bettman's stupidity, the Versus network would not even be relevant. Comcast and Bettman make strange bedfellows methinks.

it's not like Joe Sakic's jersey retirement ceremony is going to be exclusively on Vs or anything.

oh wait.

A certain team's owner is the Chairman of Comcast....

I thought Comcast owned the Flyers, not Roberts personally.

Ed Snider owns the Flyers.

Rob Ray was the worst NHL skater EVER.

Peter Worrell begs to differ. He could not skate backwards while playing in the AHL.

Good choices, however I stand by my previous statement.

Enough Stu Grimson bashing. He actually became a much better skater than Worrell and Ray towards the end of his career IMO, but I will concede that his first few years in the league were painfully bad. Still by far my favorite player ever though.

The Grim Reaper rocked.

Loved him when he was on the Whale.

How is it bashing by mentioning that he was a terrible skater? With that being said, I enjoyed watching him fight.

bhlloy is saying that tongue in cheek, I am sure, although it's indubitable that we both thought he was a great enforcer while he was here (I know I did).

Don't be so sensitive. Who are you, Jiri Hudler?

Nah, I don't skate with my head down. :)

Bruins give Julien new deal.

Bruins give Claude Julien a new deal - BostonHerald.com

A well deserved extension at that.

For the past couple seasons, the Penguins have had players hand deliver season tickets.

Two seasons ago, this lady had her tix delivered by Crosby. During the time, Crosby mentions he'd do his best to win the Cup and she said "Not this year...maybe next year."

Now she looks pretty damn smart.

Crosby delivered her tickets again today.

A surprise visit for a longtime Penguins fan

The video is even better-
Video: Stanley Cup surprise

fucking. awesome.

very cool

Like father, like son. Douchebags.

Son of NHL great Patrick Roy to stand trial for assault - ESPN

Sabres start camp today with rookies reporting. Veterans report Saturday.

Is the NHL playing in Europe this year?

Yes. I know the Wings are opening the season in Sweden. I think they may be playing the Blues? Maybe not, but someone like that. I think two other teams are playing somewhere else in Europe as well to start the season.

Personally, I think the Wings will struggle a bit this season as compared to the last 3 for the following reasons:

1. The start in Europe combined with the compressed schedule (because of the Olympics) and the fact that so many Wings are playing in the Olypmics.

2. The loss of Hossa, Hulder and Samuelsson will hurt the offense more than expected and Williams, Bertuzzi, and Eaves will do less.

3. The division is a lot tougher, especially Chicago, but both Columbus and St. Louis are coming on strong.

Panthers and Blackhawks in Helsinki. Last year the games were before the rest of the season started. This year, it's the weekend after everything kicks off, which makes a lot more sense.

Some talk recently about Toronto offering Kessel a contract. With that looming, I hear that Chiarelli may be looking at trading Phil. I'll just be happy when this whole thing is over with, re-sign the guy or trade him for a decent young D-Man.

Yeah, I read that as well. I guess the Leafs swaped some draft picks around that appeared to give them the ability to offer Kessel a contract. I'd be surprised if Burke did it, especially after his on-going hissy-fit with Kevin Lowe over the whole Dustin Penner thing.

The Leafs made an interesting deal with the Hawks, swapping a 2nd and 3rd (both from 2011) for a 2nd in 2010.

But it's not just any 2nd. It's the Leafs pick, which had been dealt to Chicago via Montreal last year. So the Leafs now have each of their own first three picks, which means they can now sign an RFA. Which means Phil Kessel is probably talking to Brian Burke right now.

A few things that make this interesting:
- The Bruins say they'll match any offer, but they don't have cap room. How high will they go?

- The second the Leafs sign Kessel to an offer sheet, the Bruins can no longer trade him to anyone but Toronto. So the other teams that bidding now have some extra pressure to put on the Bruins.

- If the Bruins do trade Kessel's rights to another team, the Leafs could still sign Kessel and then force his new team to match.

- And of course, Burke will be accused of hyprocisy after he was so angry at Lowe for signing RFAs two years ago. Back then he said that signing RFAs was fine as long as it wasn't to ridiculous Vanek/Penner type offers, but that won't matter. The media will kill him over this. And, of course, he won't care.

Burke makes things interesting, that's for sure.

Too bad Kessel is pretty overrated and I suspect will crumble under the media scrutiny in Toronto.

Plus the kid is a dick most of his teammates don't like.

Brian Burke is the yin to Gary Bettman's yang.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=290397

Apparently now, Burke is totally fine with signing RFAs so long as there is "no blindside or backdoor like what Kevin Lowe did." So, as long as the "entire process has involved dialogue with [opposing GM]" it's all totally legit and no one can be angry about it.

That said, I do recall him getting all pissed off, not only because of Kevin Lowe's "blindside or backdoor" shennagins, but because he felt that the offer sheet to Penner threw salaries all out of whack and forced him (and other teams) to pay younger players (e.g., Getzlaf and Perry) more.

Yeah, here are his quotes on the Penner signing:

Angry Burke blasts fellow GM Lowe

"Edmonton has offered a mostly inflated salary for a player, and I think it's an act of desperation for a general manager who is fighting to keep his job," he said.

The comments came a day after Lowe signed Penner — a 24-year-old restricted free agent who scored 29 goals last season — to a five-year, $21.25-million US offer sheet.

Burke said he wasn't upset that the Oilers made a play for Penner, but rather took exception to the potential inflationary effects of offering a $4.25-million annual salary to a player who made the league minimum of $450,000 last season.

"I have no problem with offer sheets," Burke said, noting they are part of the NHL's collective bargaining agreement.
"If you can identify a player and pay him appropriately and make him an offer, that's fine. At some point, the deals you make, the offers you extend, whether the team matches it or not, impacts all 30 teams, including your own."

Brian Burke needs to get over it already.

Burke needs to find his happy place.

As a Bruins fan I'd rather have Toronto deal for Kessel and give up NHL talent than get draft picks as signing compensation. This Bruins team can complete for the Cup now and I think they should do as much as possible to keep that window open. Obviously dealing a top line winger hurts their chances so if they're going to let him go I'd rather get NHL talent back right now.

Does anyone else see this as a bribe? WTF is going on with the NHL these days?

James Balsillie offers $50M to Glendale in Phoenix Coyotes sale - ESPN

Oh, and this one is fun too:

Nashville Predators owner sentenced to more than 8 years in prison - ESPN

Add the dismissal of Paul Kelly and the resignation of Glenn Healy, and you have one helluva an NHL offseason. :eek:

I've seen these documents first hand.

But OMGZ, we can't let this nasty man Balsillie buy a team. He's just too shady. Somebody think of the children.

Now, welcome to the league Mr. Hitler. Please tell me more about your plan to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix. :)

Get over what? Those quotes are from two years ago.

So if he offers Kessel something in the range of $4.25 or $4.5M, where's the hypocrisy?

Not getting into the Burke-Lowe thing again except to note that Penner has proven exactly what Burke said at the time--he was massively overpaid for his talent.

Arguable, but besides that point, it's not like that clarification is unique only to RFA's. There are plenty of overpaid players in this league coughHorcoffcough.

I mean the Vanek offer certainly isn't looking all that crazy at this point. There's always going to be stupid contracts handed out across the league, the more RFA offer sheets there are, the more those bad contracts will just be spread across a wider age range.

Not arguable from the way you Oilers fans speak about Penner in the season threads. :D

I think an argument can be made that Burke was right, in that Lowe's offer to Vanek and signing of Penner were bad for hockey in general (even if the CBA gave Lowe every right to do what he did), and I think it has been proven over time that Lowe is every bit as much of an ass as Burke (so the lack of contact that set Burke off seems to have some traction).

Regardless, Pandora's Box, what's done is done, blah, blah. Burke's where he wants to be, Lowe's where he deserves to be (unemployed), and we're all happier (even Oil fans). ;)

The first set of quotes about the backdoor/blindsiding were from yesterday. He still hasn't gotten over it. That's not too surprising, he seems like the kind of guy to hold a grudge.

I don't think it will so much be hysprocrisy if Burke makes an offer to Kessel in that range. It perfectly fits within his narrow definition of how an RFA offer should be made:

1. You must discuss the offer with the other team's GM first.

2. You must make him an offer that pays him appropriately.

If you follow the Burke Guidelines, it's all good and honorable. If not, your're a backdoor, blindsiding son of a bitch.

Well played sir, well played.

My buddy texted me this rumor, anyone hear this? I have no idea where it's from:

Heatley to the Rangers for Staal, Dubinsky and Rosival.

Ugh, that would be terrible for the Rangers. Please no, Glen.

Dubinsky, Del Zotto, and Roszival was a rumor that was shot down by the Rangers camp really quickly when the Heatley talk first started. To think they'd put Staal in that deal is nuts.

We'll see though, but I'd be amazed.

Looks like it came from the Ottawa Citizen, worded as speculation or "what Ottawa would hope to get."

Good news for the Wings, maybe Lilja will play again.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index....andreas_l.html

That's certainly good news for the Lilja. But, as far as the Wings are concerned, I'd just call it "news".

This. Well hey if's healthy he becomes tradeable.

Comrie and Lowe are re-united...is Burke the next to reconcile with Lowe?

Actually, he played pretty well for us last season. If he can come back and replicate that performance, I would indeed say it is good news for the Wings. We need a big body on the blue line, with the loss of some of our scoring from last year we need to play better defense this time around.

The salary cap issue, however, remains a problem.

Just found out that the NHL Network is now part of my basic cable package. The HD channel will be coming soon.

Very nice...

On The Fly is a great show!

The Sabres have RFA Drew Stafford still unsigned. Interesting tatics this year.

Rookie Tyler Myers is trying to push for a D position with the Sabres. At 6'8'' and a physical game, he could really make an impact if he gets the chance.

Blair Betts and Mike Bell are at the Flyers camp trying to make the team.

Mark Bell?

Scrolling on ESPN earlier was Heatley to the Sharks in a 3-team deal, Marleau to LA.

Just check TSN .. saw this:

Here we go again.

Amid reports that the Ottawa Senators have traded Dany Heatley to the San Jose Sharks as part of a three-way deal with the Los Angeles Kings, sources tell TSN nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, sources tell TSN that not only is the report of a three-way deal being done not true, but the Senators are no closer to trading Heatley now than they have been for most of the summer.

It's eerily similar to earlier this summer when there were reports the Senators had traded Heatley to the Edmonton Oilers. The difference then, though, was the Sens and Oilers actually had a deal worked out, but Heatley refused to waive his no-movement clause. This time around, it doesn't appear there's been any agreement.

Yeah, I missed a piece of the scroll, but saw also at the end something like "...and Murray deny such a deal." Thought it was interesting that it wasn't reported from a source or anything like that, but a definite deal.

Same story on NHL.com too. Could be some truth to it, while I don't trust ESPN that much, NHL.com is usually pretty reliable.

It is but they have an absolutely terrible set.