As much as I'd love to see Bouwmeester end up here, the only way it happens is if the Oilers deal two of Visnovsky, Souray and Gilbert. Personally I'm all for that. Souray being a big time sell high candidate and while I like Visnovsky's skill set, I'd rather see them keep Gilbert unless whatever deal they're looking to make requires them to throw in Gilbert rather than Souray or Lubo.

At this point I'm expecting at least 2 "big" moves out of the Oilers, possibly 3. One should be going after a top tier sniper (yes I'm looking at you Heatley) and my assumption is one D would be going back the other way. Second is for a goalie, though a lot of how that plays out will come down to how much Quinn likes Deslauriers and Dubnyk and whether the Oil are pursuing Gustavsson or not. This is probably where they'll look to free agency unless they want to make a huge splash, so I'm not assuming a D will get moved here (though obviously not out of the question). Last would be to move up in the draft from the #10 spot and that would be a prime chance to include a puck mover on the back end to sweeten the pot.

Oilers need to jettison some of their blue line salary in a big way. With Grebeshkov and Smid both due for raises, no way they can even think about Bouwmeester unless they have those other deals in place. If they do try to make it happen and only move one of the big three I'd have to assume that the trade for a sniper won't take place until during next season which could change a lot of player values a lot, so hard to guess who might go for what until much later.

It would be nice if the Oilers did something big. I don't follow very closely, but I still follow... I had a guy ask me who the Oilers' goalie was and I didn't even know. I thought it was still Rolosson.

Don't worry, nobody knows.

+1

In a few days it will be Vesa Toskala, but try to act surprised.

:eek: Toskala to Edmonton? :eek:

Hey, they said the Oilers wanted to do something big. This would be big.

Wait, did they mean "big" as in "positive"?

No please no Toskala. You can keep him. I'd rather sign... CuJo?

You missed out on some guy named Ray Emery...

If they meant "big" as in "large", shouldn't they just go for the whole enchilada and make a deal for Kyle Wellwood? (Assuming Kyle hadn't already eaten the enchilada, of course.)

We've already got a fat, lazy, overpaid, bum...Fred Penner...errrrr...I mean, Dustin.

Thanks.

I don't think NYR have the cap space. They'd need to move one of Redden Rozsival, Drury or Gomez....and that's not happening. At least not without the other team sending alot of cap clutter back, which still leaves them with no space.

Colorado...don't see that, only because they will struggle. If he is truthful in that he wants to win, and that's why he's leaving Florida, then Colorado is probably out.

Philly wants him badly, but until they move Randy Jones and Joffrey Lupul (a combine $7M in cap space) that's unlikely as well.

I could see Columbus make a big push for him. He'd fit there perfectly, and it's a team on the rise. Minnesota has space too. But, the Wild typically doesn't go after big names.

So that leaves...Detroit, who will sign him to a 16 year, $92M deal, $4.5M cap hit.

:lol:

Making fun of somebody for being overweight is hurtful and wrong.

First minor rumbling for Carolina on their players as Jim Rutherford all-but-officially said that Dennis Seidenberg is gone based on the salary expectations that Seidenberg and his agent were looking at. JR was semi-touting Frank Kaberle and his millstone no-trade contract as a viable replacement (though most Carolina fans are desperately hoping he'll play in the KHL or elsewhere overseas next year). If Kaberle is also gone, that leaves Carolina with five D's under contract, so they'll definitely be doing some shopping (even if he stays, they'd still go shopping, but at a pretty reduced budget).

One positive of Seidenberg leaving is that it increases the likelihood that Carolina has more room to re-sign LaRose, Ruutu, and Jokinen if they want (personally, I do want to keep those three for various reasons). I wouldn't mind Cole staying, either, but after that brief burst of great play after getting back to Raleigh, he pretty much disappeared statistically, especially in the playoffs. He'll have to take about a 50% pay cut or more for it to make sense for him to stay here again based on recent performance.

i know no one here cares about the devils, but seriously, what sutter just did is very fucked up. and the devils get screwed since the cba prevents teams from getting compensation from coaches. extremely dangerous precedent was just set. contracts mean nothing for coaches.

Let us not forget that the Isles were the first ones to pull this crap with long-term contracts. Detroit is just smarter about it. I would love to see Bouwmeester wearing the winged wheel, but that is highly unlikely.



nobody anywhere cares about the devils


I agree. He screwed them and left without even leaving a note on the nightstand. I hope that in the next CBA there is something added to include this kind of garbage from coaches, or there will be a lot more of it in the future.

I love these long contracts. I can't wait until 2014 when half the league has 1-2 players that have 6 or 7 years remaining on a contract that assumed they were going to maintain a level of production that they no longer can attain. Has no one in an NHL front office watched the NBA over the last decade? Signing someone to a deal over 5 years is an absolute crapshoot, it doesn't matter who the person is.

No they have not, or the NHL would have a better tv contract than the Vs. network and it would not lag behind other exciting sporting events such as WSOP and World's Strong Man Competition. Fucking Bettman.

ice cold

What is Seidenberg asking for?

He's a potential replacement for Rob Scuderi, who I am feeling more and more is gone. Seidenberg won't be as good as Scuds was in a PK and shutdown role, but he can do other things...like actually handle the puck.

I'd be curious about Jokinen in Pittsburgh if he wasn't asking alot. He'd be a (relatively) cheap option with Sid or Geno.

I really like Larose as a player, but with Kennedy and Talbot, and lesser degree Cooke, we have too many guys that do what he does.

I found something cool while perusing some player profiles for the draft.

Victor Hedman is the top rated European (by CSB) and lists Football Manager as his favorite game.

NHL.com - NHL Entry Draft Prospect Profiles: Hedman, Victor

Video Game: FM '08 and FM '09

NHL.com - NHL Entry Draft Prospect Profiles: Erixon, Tim

Video Game: Eastside Hockey Manager

Nice finds Tekneek. It tells you a lot about a person if they identify their favorite game as FM or EHM.

fake Brian Burke was Puck Daddy's #2 hockey blog story of the season
The Year in Hockey Blogs: Top 10 stories, trends and scandals - Puck Daddy - NHL - Yahoo! Sports

I keep forgetting to read DGB. Quality stuff every time and I end up spending an hour or two catching up.

SI

Bruins and Flyers will be playing in Fenway on Jan 1st.

Because God forbid the Leafs ever win anything...

:)

Two recent statistical looks at drafting success, both of which come to the surprising conclusion that the Red Wings are bad at it.

Detroit isn't that great at Drafting (and other secrets): Draft Analysis*1994-2009 - Pension Plan Puppets

A New Approach to Which NHL Teams Draft Best? (1999-2005) - Bird Watchers Anonymous

I don't know what Seids's number is, but as JR put it, "Based on my conversation with his agent, and where they think he's at, he's a long way out of our reach." He made $1.2 mill last year. Also bear in mind that "out of our reach" in Carolina means something different than elsewhere as we aren't going to be spending up to the cap (probably at least $5-6 million under at best), so I'm guessing he went up to $2.5-3 mill or something in that range. Given that Carolina had $40 million on the books already, it was going to be hard to keep him, LaRose, Jokinen, Ruutu, Cole, et al, together anyway.

This won't really change anything in terms of whether Carolina becomes a serious buyer in free agency, though. I'm guessing they may try to make a run at someone, either at a wing position (if they don't take Cole back) or a d-man. Otherwise, they'll probably look to the AHL and the fairly good young talent in Albany to replenish things.

While I admit that I am a Red Wings homer, and I also admit that the spread sheets I looked at make very little sense to me, I am also wondering where some of the other players are that the Wings drafted? It appears that this article looks at Zetterberg and Datsyuk only. Jiri Fischer was a very good d-man before his career ended prematurely. What about Hudler? Filpulla? Franzen? I realize that most of these players have probably not reached the 200 game mark yet, but still...

I still believe that the Wings are a great drafting team. Focusing on one or two specific rounds is not going to change that fact.

Dola

Came across some things that I will put here that somewhat validates what I said earlier about the Wings drafting...



Perhaps they are lucky in the later rounds, but they still have to spot the talent in the first place. It is disappointing, however, to see all of the first round flame outs in the past decade (Wallin, Kusnetsov, etc.).

Yeah, the Red Wings seriously need to reexamine the way they've been running their franchise.

Sincerely,

4 Stanley Cups since 1997

I'd say scouting as a whole, Detroit takes the cake.

Just look at guys like Danny Cleary and Samuelsson. They were casted away and both were integral parts of the team. They always seem to find guys like that and put them in the best position to win which is why they're so successful.

I'm not sure if it's scouting so much as player development. It seems like Detroit just knows how to properly bring a player along from prospect to pro, giving them a better than average chance to be successful. If you put talented people in the right scenarios and support them in effective ways, they will often succeed.

This is it in a nutshell.

The experience a guy can get from 2-3 years as a featured guy in the AHL who gets 20 minutes a night is sometimes better then being a 4th line guy in the NHL playing 5-6 minutes a night in a checking role.

Detroit doesn't rush guys and let's them develop at their own pace. They however also have that luxury because they don't need their young kids to step in and be stars right away.

So the latest rumor was: Frolov, another player, 5th over all pick for Heatley.

Hrmmm....

I understand why teams would trade for Heatley. They are willing to take his offensive ability on, while having no heart or dedication. I wish they were willing to take a stand and force him to get over himself or retire, but that isn't the way they think.

Hey Blue, I think you should add "1st Ballot Hall of Fame Inductee" to your sig. :D

Thanks for reminding me. I started to do it the other day and then completely forgot what I was doing and why.

This is why the Kings will never be seriously competitive. Why take on a guy like Heatley, who is clearly a selfish player with a questionable work ethic?

Fedorov off to Russia, in case anyone didn't see this coming.

Sergei Fedorov, leaves Washington Capitals, signs two-year deal with Russian club Metallurg Magnitogorsk - ESPN

Knew this was coming, but it's still a shame. Sergei's always been one of my favorite offensive players to watch. He may have lost a step when it comes to pure speed, but he's still one of the strongest skaters in the game...Ovechkin's gonna miss him.

Is that the team his brother is playing for? If so, makes a lot of sense.

I find Feds amazing.......not many players can switch from Forward to defence at a drop of a hat and play at the high level he does.Defence to forward i can see as it is a lot easier...but F to D is really tough.

Crazy Leaf trade rumour that i heard...well crazy for the Leafs IMHO...Kaberle and Leafs 1st for Kessel.

Kessel is a good player,but really....An extremely affordable #2 D-man and a 1st rounder for him...i think not.

Yeah, that impressed me a lot. I thought I misunderstood when I saw him play D.

bbor, meet toronto maple leafs;

toronto maple leafs, meet bbor.