I agree. I like the team Toronto has put together. It seems like a classic Toronto team. There will be some high drama, especially after Allison and Lindros collide during practice...

Semi-related point of note....Jason Allison has never had a concussion.

He missed most of the last two years with "concussion-like symptoms", but they were due to whiplash. NOT a concussion.

Just seems to be a popular misconception. :)

Thoughts on the last couple of days:

~ The deal with Comcast\OLN seems like a good one, and now it seems like they may get some games on ESPN as well. So now they have two cable deals in the US, I think they did pretty well for themselves.

~ Thorton signs deal with the Bruins. Good for the Bruins, although I'm really going to find in interesting to see if he stays in Beantown for the whole deal or what happens after the three years. I'm disapointed because I had hoped he'd sign as a FA with the Leafs next season... but that was a bit of wishfull thinking on my part.

~ Lindros to the Leafs. Finally. I'm glad this happened just so that the talking heads and Leaf fans would F*** off with all the speculation, and saying how it's destiny that he plays in Toronto. But I'm also pissed... I don't like Lindros, I think he's a baby... and I don't like the injury problems he's had, even if it's only for $1.55 Million. If he plays well, great... still doesn't change the fact I don't want him on my team, and I don't want him back after his contract runs out.

----

On another note... the Leafs are around the $30-31 Million mark as it stand now with 17 players under contract. They still have the follwoign RFA's to potentially sign: Nik Antropov, Pierre Hedin, Nathan Perrott, Karel Pilar, Clarke Wilm.

So they'll probably be about $4-6 Million short of the cap... there is talk Carter might sign another less money, hometown deal. I like him as a player, and I'd like him on the Leafs... but we need a LW not a RW. Can he play the left side?

Two of them being big injury question marks as well...

I dont think you can call Allison or Lindros a risk at all....1.5 +1.55 is nothing for these 2.......The rewards are far more then the risks....and i dont believe there isnt a team in the NHL that wouldnt take those 2 for just over 3 mil. It bugs me that Lindros and Allison can be considered risks, while Roberts and Niewy, older, just as likely to get hurt, and more expensive arent....

on a side note....ive been looking at Lindros career, and damn, he has been great!!!!...his only down season came 2 years ago with the Rangers when he had 50 points in 80 games.....If he can at least repeat his worst season as a professional, its a steal

as much as I hate Lindros, I have to yet again agree with Johnny here. Locker room stuff aside, he's going to be a great addition.

Dude...whats going on with this....
;)

I don't know, but I am SO not putting on my Leaf's jersey and getting turning on my webcam, so stop asking! ;)

(Please?)

If the Wings had signed Lindros and Allison to similar deals I would be going nuts. I would have loved it. I've always liked Lindros for some reason. Probably it was just to be contrary to everyone around me at first, but it stuck.

Eklund says that ESPN will not match Comcast's offer.

I loved this line Lindros said during the press conference:

"I've been working on skating with my head up."

w00t!!!! :D

The Flames have sold out season tickets.

Dallas is currently at 23% in renewals. Normally they're around 85%.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/hockey/12366538.htm

Dallas was always full so this is shocking to me. If Dallas is having problems, I can only imagine how other US teams are doing.

Oh, no, I won't be able to spend the equivalent of four or five lower-bowl junior tickets on a nosebleed seat.

The Dallas thing is worrying, though. Aside from empty seats in the early games, I think we'll get our first solid indication of what's happened to revenues when they hit the first escrow recalculation point a couple of months in. If things have gone to hell and the league's estimate was way off, they'll have to start holding back a bigger chunk of the players' salaries. We probably won't get an official announcement, but the complaining from Jagr and Yashin shouldn't be hard to miss.

Well, the Hitmen just don't compare IMO. I've got my name on a list for a game pack so I'm hoping I can squeeze somewhere into the second deck.

Calgary signs:

Kiprusoff - $10 million/3 years
Warrener - $9.4 million/4 years
Hamrlik - $7 million/2 years

Wow... :D

A touch disappointing to lose Hamrlik, but to be totally honest, I think I take the following trade straight-up:

-Aucoin and Hamrlik

for:

-Zhitnik, Sopel, and Lukowich

The city's newspaper and sports station have reported the Hamrlik signing but nothing official from elsewhere, nor have the Flames released a statement. But it would be the first PP QB we've had since MacInnis so everyone's hoping it's true.

And the Devils have still done jack :(.

At today's press conference, Sutter made it quite clear that the Flames want to win the Cup NOW. It makes sense: Iginla, Kiprusoff, Regehr, Langkow... all in their prime. Most of the key pieces are on 3 year contracts. 2008 is going to be nasty in terms of UFAs so they might as well go for it.

Well, the Wings just signed Kent McDonell. Yes. THAT Kent McDonell.

ok, I got nothing...

This will make me sad. I get the OLN channel or whatever the hell it is, but it's crap. No one will watch it. The league will continue to get mocked. Oh well, screw 'em.

Gomez has re-signed a one year deal for $2.2 million.

according to the ny post:

Langenbrunner, at $1.655 million, Gionta at $627,000 and Kozlov at $1.748 million, are believed to have signed the qualifying offers tendered by the Devils to retain their rights as restricted free agents.

Those three signings lift the Devils' payroll to $30 million before the anticipated addition of their unsigned restricteds: Patrik Elias ($4.2 million qualifier), Scott Gomez ($2.2 million), Jeff Friesen ($2.3 million), Paul Martin (650G), David Hale (650G) and Colin White ($1.8 million), with unrestricted Scott Stevens another consideration.

Should all sign their qualifiers, the Devils' payroll would top $41 million, well above the season-opener NHL salary cap.

The Devils announced the signings of their second- and third-round draft picks from 2002. They inked 6-4 forward Barry Tallackson from the University of Minnesota, who played four games for Albany last season, and 6-3 winger Jason Ryznar from the University of Michigan.

They also signed free agents David Clarkson, a forward from Kitchener of the Ontario junior league, and goalie Frank Doyle.

Unless Barry learns to go to the net, he will not be a NHL type player. Not used by me, but, many Gopher fans refer to him as Mary Tallackson.

Sweet. He's a cousin of one of my good friends.

Shanahan gets it. I've been more impressed with his off-ice endeavours than I ever was with what he did on the ice. He has a future with the league if he wants one.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/sp...key/14nhl.html

He certainly does get it. Shanahan is awesome. Though don't discredit what he does on the ice. The trade that brought him to Detroit at the start of the '96-97 season was probably the key acquisition that put the Wings over the top.

I remember when Shanahan apologized to the nation when he missed the fifth penalty shot against Hasek in the Nagano Olympics. That impressed the heck out of me.

dola,

A couple articles:

Milbury changes up the team to remove the 'Yashin-bashers' and help out Alexei. It is now Yashin's team and there are no more excuses:
http://www.nynewsday.com/sports/hock...landers-bigpix

After unsuccessful contract negotiations, Iron Mike decides to take the face of the franchise, Luongo, to arbitration. Roberto is hurt and no doubt gone in three years:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/h....column?page=1

Good interview with Shanahan.

Stupid question: when does the season start, anyways?

SI

so, does Mike Keenan get his name on the Cup for that? :confused:

October 5, every team in action that night (possibly my favorite of all the new changes)

nice - you managed to get one post with articles on the 2 worst GMs in hockey!
:D

as for Keenan, certainly none of his antics should be even remotely surprising to anyone. He's been playing this asinine head games from the beginning. But, since the Rangers won that one year, he continues to get opportunities to just completely dismantle franchises at will to stroke his ego.

Milbury is just inept. They did make some decent moves this year...but Alexei Yashin is the 2nd highest paid player in the league. That just isn't right. He's a nice player to have on any team, but are they really going to build around a guy who, in 3 years with your team, has yet to crack the 75 point barrier (or register a positive +/- for that matter)?
And hey, speaking of Luongo...hey Mike, looks like DiPietro is ready to be an impact goalie in the NHL. Must be about time to trade him away and draft another goalie!!!

To call the Isles moves "decent" is unfair... we've had one of the two or three best offseasons in the league, I think.

oh come on now. I'm not knocking the moves they made, but let's be honest. Two teams in your own division had stronger offseasons (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia). And neither of those teams are building around Alexei Yashin. :p

The Flyers have potentially bigger upside on their offseason, but it could also go horribly wrong. The Isles added quality depth up front and on the blueline. The Pens were one of the teams that I'd put ahead of the Isles in terms of offseason success -- aside from that, there aren't many teams who did as well as Milbury.

I agree totally. The Flyers could have gone the wrong way.

As much as it pains me to say it, the Flames have had a pretty good offseason, as too have the Oilers (some homerism there, but I think we're one more quality forward away from being a very, very strong team). Another that could be thrown into the mix because of their moves just prior to the lockout could be Phoenix. They've been pretty quiet since the CBA was signed, mostly because they had really addressed a lot of issues already.

The following 6 teams have all done far better than the Islanders:

Philly
Pittsburgh
Boston
Calgary
Chicago
Edmonton

There are other teams that I feel have done comparably well to the Islanders. Milbury hasn't stunk up the joint (surprisingly), but he hasn't hit a home run either.

Agree to disagree, I guess. We murdered Edmonton in a head-to-head trade, Boston's moves I don't like at all, I have a friend who is a diehard Philly fan who HATES the team's moves. Chicago did alright, but didn't add a lot of spark.

'Burgh I'd rate stronger than us, and Calgary equal.

yeah, i guess i could understand adding the best player in the world as a negative :rolleyes:

im a die hard devils fan, and the flyers terrify me this year. the best move on their part with forsberg? even if he gets horribly injured, its only a 2 year deal, if i recall correctly. he is totally worth the risk of costing a couple mil next year, even if he doesnt play.

I am not sure how anyone could view the Forsberg signing as a negative, unless they are convinced he's too injured to be effective or just too fragile to be worth the coin. I guess an argument could be made there.

The other moves are more questionable. They threw a lot of money at Hatcher and Rathje. This could put the Flyers in a pinch in a few years when they are shelling $4.5 million a year to a 38 year old Derian Hatcher.

As far as this year goes, the Flyers have to be one of the favorites to win the Cup, especially in the east.

Okay, call me naive, but what trade the Isles murdered the Oilers in? I know you can't be referring to Mike York...

Here's the thing with the Flyers...generally, I like what they've done. And I think they'll be one of the better teams in the East this year -- almost certainly better than Toronto, even assuming all injury risks hold up on both sides. Forsberg is tremendous, and Rathje's nice. Hatcher I don't quite get, but I can at least understand the potential upside.

BUT...they also lost Amonte, Roenick, and LeClair who, while admittedly far from their former selves, were *big* parts of that team, at the very least emotionally. For all the hype about what the Flyers added, I'm not sure I'm convinced that it's *that* much better than what they lost. And Robert Esche is still their #1 goalie, and I'm not sure anybody's ready to catapault him into the "elite" category just yet.

1st off...John Leclair has signed with Pittsburgh.....nice signing, hopefully 20 goal potential out of him....

2nd.....the winners this offseason are the small market teams who had very low payrolls coming into the offseason.....if we all though about it before, it wouldnt be so surprising to us now....

3rd...The Isles addditions....Satan and Zhitnik were good on a bad team for years, I dont see how they make the Isles any better.....Mike York for Mike Peca is a downgrade imo.....and Brent Sopel and Brad Lukowich are depth players, and as long as their cheap, are good additions.....overall, nothing special, 7-10th place is my prediction....certainly not a big winner this offseason

LeClair, btw, signs with those freaking Penguins. I would assume this one didn't break the bank, and the Penguins, for all their moves, still seem to have a lot of cap room.

Pittsburgh has about 20 mil to spend with 11 restriced fa's left, and a handful of ufa's left from their orginization

and I don't see to many RFAs on the list who are going to break the bank. Tarnstram is the most notable, I think. Lemieux is unsigned, but I imagine he'll be back :D

although their cap number doesn't include Crosby, Fleury or Malkin, but still it looks like they are in solid shape for all the signings they've made

Free-spending Penguins add LeClair to roster

So I go to ESPN, see this title, and think I'm in bizarro world. Free-spending Penguins?!!?

SI