Heatley is a done deal, apparently.

Everyone focus on this one fact: We're going to get to hear Bryan Murray say "Ladislav Smid".

Penner (fine, don't care), Cogs (may not make it to his potential), Smid (really hate this part), for Heatley (great goal scoring, black hole where his heart should be).

GOLD!!!

Now some reporters on twitter are saying Heatley may not have waived yet. Keep in mind, he has until 12:01 tonight.

If he backs out now, it will be the worst thing he has ever done to anybody.

Ummm...no. :)

Might be doing the Oilers a favor by not agreeing to it. Not sure he would fit in well with that bunch in Edmonton.

Well, TSN is now saying Heatley didn't waive his NTC in time. Hmmm.

Good. I hope he retires.

Looks like the deal doesn't have to be done by tonight, if the deal is still on...tomorrow by midnight is the deadline the NHL says the Sens have to transfer the roster bonus to which ever team.

TSN is reporting that the deadline is actually midnight on July 1st. If the trade occurs prior to midnight then, the $4 million payment can be transferred to the new team.

I am reading on HF that Heatley rejected the deal.

I don't think he did yet - he hasn't waived it yet. Sounds like he wants to go to New York, but in the end might accept a trade to Edmonton if they can't get one done tomorrow.

Yeah, this deal is dead. Heatley did not waive the NTC for a move to Edmonton. The door may be open for other teams, but he is giving the finger to Edmonton.

I'd rather not have him on the Oilers, myself, so this works for me.

You know, I dislike the Oilers as much as Flames fans do, but if Heatley doesn't waive his NTC after making such a big fuss about wanting out, that makes him a piece of crap, IMO. I guess this is par for the course for a guy who, IIRC, dodged his civic responsibilties in Atlanta following his conviction, and in general doesn't show up when his team needs it. Edmonton might be better with Heatley the player, but they are without a doubt better without Heatley the man.

Not sure that Heatley = man...

While Heatley has come across like a jerk, you really can't blame him for exercising his contractual rights. The Senators agreeed to including a "no movement" clause in his contract, so they really have no one to blame but themselves.

Still, I feel bad for the Oilers.

The main reason to be pissed at Heatley is because he's depriving us of this:

I do find it quite odd that players can put in a trade demand, but then get to pick and choose which teams they will go to. An absurdity within sports. If you put in a trade demand, that should be an immediate waiver of any no-trade/no-movement clauses.

+1

While demanding to be traded and then nixing a potential deal because you don't like where you'd end up isn't at all flattering to the player, I don't see any reason why asking to be moved should nullify a contractual right, unless, of course, that's written into the contract.

GM's throw these "no trade" or "no movement" clauses into deals all the time without ever really thinking about the eventual consequences (see, e.g., Toronto at the 2008 trade deadline).

What's the best site to keep refreshing today...tsn.ca?

Yeah probably TSN. I have XM Home Ice on and I'll post anything I hear.

I tend to go to Kuklaskorner.com. It acts as a pretty good clearing house for information.

Sendins resign with Vancouver. 5 years, 6.1 mil per. Per TSN

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283415

that's a lot more reasonable than 12 years.

That whole saga has just been cool to see and glad to see it continue at a fairly reasonable rate. I was trying to explain this to one of the guys in the office that doesn't follow hockey about how it would be like the Clippers somehow finding a way to trade up to #2 in this year's draft to get Taylor Griffin and then both playing well for the team for quite a while.

SI

and for Griggin to be a twin and after several years in the league they'd have EXACTLY the same number of points.

Ohlund signed with the Lightning

7 years....3.5 mil per.

TSN is reporting Hossa has been in talks with the Blackhawks. Maybe he can negotiate for the nut that Patrick Sharp took from Lidstrom.

Kovy back to Montreal.

On HF guys are saying some station in Montreal is saying Hossa gets 60 mil over 6 years which obviously cannot be right. I bet it's 60 mil over 10 years if nothing else, but how do they do that with Kane and Toews both becoming RFA? That is going to be bad, bad news for the Hawks because if those two are not locked up before they test FA someone will sign them to massive sheets.

Colton Orr to the Leafs...Maple Leafs is in love.

DGB might crash!

The Chicago media will tear the Hawks front office to shreds if they let Kane or Toews leave. They absolutely love both of those guys.

I don't get this...i mean...i understand Burke want to get tougher....but the Leafs had a perfectly good goon that could play 3-5 minutes a game in the minors and they did'nt qualify him.So why spend 4/1M on Orr?Can he play more than 3-5 min a game without hurting you?

This is why:


Apparently that goon in the minors does not give the Leafs a proper level of one of those four things.

I am sure the Blackhawks feels that they can sign Hossa to a $6 million type deal and still keep those two. Assuming the cap doesn't drop drastically, I think they could pull it off. Both Toews and Kane are young enough that they could sign them to ridiculously long, front-loaded deals that give them a ton of money but spread it over a long period of time to make it more cap friendly, like the Zetterberg and Franzen deals.

If they were really hard pressed, they could try to trade or waive Brian Campbell.

No, they didn't.

The Leafs have lots of guys who will fight (Ondrus, Deveaux, Newbury). But none of them are very good at it. There's not a single guy in the Leafs system who can look sideways at a legit heavyweight, let alone claim to be one.

(Until now.)

Damien Cox on twitter just said the Leafs have dealt Kubina, but gave no details.

I heard that Kubina will be delta and Beauchemin will be signed.

I disagree about Deveaux....


Umm...you read Coxs' twitter? :eek: :eek: :eek:

Kovy's agent says he's still on the market.

TSN Reporting Hossa to Chicago.

The Hawks actually have more cap room to work with than I realized. They were paying Havlat 6m. They'll miss him, but he's not worth 6m. If they can turn that same 6m into a Hossa signing, that would be worth it. Campbell and Huet are both overpaid, both other than that I don't see anything truly cap-threatening on their books.

Heard Brashear is headed to the Rangers. Gross, especially after what happened with Betts in the playoffs.

On other board I am hearing the Hawks are close to dealing Huet.

Hossa is a 12 year deal with a 5.2 cap hit.

Here's a rumor that makes no sense ..

Havlat: 8 years, 8 mil per to LA. Apparently some radio station reporting it.

oh good. hockeys gone crazy. 12 years. nice.

Crap..Ty Conklin to the Blues.

That's a very reasonable cap hit for a guy like Hossa. Very reasonable. Probably just a little bit outside of what Detroit could offer.

It will be really interesting to see what all these teams with players with 10+ year contracts look in the next 6-8 years.

Sign a 30 year old to a 12 year guaranteed contract? Hmmm...

I'm not 100% sure on how the buyout system works, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some push from owners/GMs who have these decade long deals to make it so that a buyout's cap space is equal to the actual amount of money being paid out then, thus allowing these guys to get out with only a $1 million hit or something.

Hell, they've got 1, probably 2 CBA's to work on to get it.

Roloson signed with NYI

The Hawks also signed Marian Hossa's Slovakian BFF Tomas Kopecky. I bet that was part of the arrangement.

Sports radio in Chicago should be entertaining the next couple of days.

Toskala to the Oilers?:D

HaHa...

Can't say I will miss Hossa all that much. He notoriously did what he does best; disappears in the playoffs. I do believe that his playoff performance with the Pens was an aberration, not the norm.

I also do not believe this makes Chicago all that much better. During the regular season? Possibly. During the playoffs? Not so much. They are an up and coming team and will be a serious contender. However, I don't see them challenging the Wings yet.

Knuble to Washington for 2.8 per year for 2 yrs.

Nieds signs with the ducks...1/6M

Good article about Holland and the Wings

Around the Rink – NHL Free Agency Edition « Official Blog for the Detroit Red Wings

Buhlin-Wall to the Oilers. 4 years/$15 million in total. You do the math.

who?

Nikolai Khabibulin

Oh, never heard that nickname before. Wow, bad move for Edmonton IMHO. Did they give up on Toskala? :p

Hal Gill is a Canadien: 2 years at $2.5 m per

Mike Rupp is a Penguin: 2 years at $825K per

Ian Laperriere is a Flyer: 3 yerars at $1.17 m (I'm surprised by this. Isn't this pretty close to what Colorado offered him?)

Burnside is underestimating the effect on the Caps of losing Federov.

Pretty pumped about the Hawks getting Hossa. I liked Havlat but he just got injured way too much. Not sure how you guys can think that's not an improvement considering they make the same amount. It also takes away a 40 goal scorer from their biggest conference rival.

I think it's a huge improvement. I'd much rather have Hossa than Havlat and he's cheaper (cap-wise) to boot. I think the Blackhawks will be good enough to challenge for the Central Division title for sure (for whatever that's worth). They certain closed the (already narrow) gap with the Wings.

I don't disagree with the Havlat/Hossa comparison, but who is going to play goalie? I also think the Hawks defense core is sub-par. Just my opinion though.

I really felt like Seabrook stepped up come playoff time, and helped to compensate for Campbell's disappearance (relative to his 7m cap number at least). But I agree that goaltender needs to be addressed. The book is wide open on Huet, and the Wings picked him apart.

I love Khabibulin to the Oilers. Jets goalie to my current fav NHL team.

Despite struggling in Game 4, Huet was great in Game 5.

I think the Hawks are set up quite nicely for many years to come (assumign the cap remains relatively static).

Pavel Kubina to the Thrashers for Garnet Exelby.

There's more to the deal apparently, but those are the main parts.

I see Huet as another along the lines of Jose Theodore. Did pretty well in Montreal but when he left, the flaws in his game seemed to become apparent in a hurry. I am not sold on him.


Kubina really has fallen hasn't he?

Komisarek to the Leafs: 4 years at $4.5 million per.

With Orr, Exelby and Komisarek, I think Brian Burke is finally getting the type of team he wants.

Jackets join the fray, by signing Sami Pahlsson to a 3 yr deal at 2.7 per.

Expensive, but I think the Jackets still have to overpay to get anyone to play for them.

CR or Hawks fans, how's he looked the past season? He seems like the perfect 3rd line center in a Hitchcock system.

:( on the Kubina - XLB (and Colin Stuart) trade.

There's little reason to think the Thrashers won't suck again next year as we prepare to watch Kovy depart, but at least Exelby was popular. At worst he was probably the second most popular guy on the team with the fans, despite frequently being out of position, he was at least entertaining to watch at times.

This trade could revolutionize the way people struggle to find any reason to go to Phillips Arena as long as DW is the GM.

Gaborik to the Rangers, 5 years, $5.75 million.

Think he regrets turning down 10 / 78 million from the Wild last fall?

EDIT: neverming, TSN had it wrong. it's $7.5 per.

Cammy to the Habs...5 years/6mil a year.

wow...Cammy got more than Gaborik???

More I didn't see yet (i scrolled thu quickly)

Cammalieri to MTL $30M over 5 years = $6M per

Komisarek to Toronto $22.5M over 5 = $4.5M per (is that not what they gave Finger!? Komisarek worth as much as Finger? WTF)

Gaborik to Rangers $37.5M over 5 = $7.5M per

Spacek to MTL $11.5 over 3 = $3.83M per

Cole stays in Carolina $5.8M over 2 = $2.9M per

Greg Zanon to Minnesota $5.2M over 3 = $1.73 per

David Booth (RFA) stays in Florida $25.5 over 6 = $4.25M per

Bunch of other minor junk: Garon to CBUS, Strudwick to EDM etc

SR i think Finger was 3.5...i may be wrong though.

Spacek to the Habs hurts the Sabres IMHO.

Dola

Just reading now Gionta to Montreal

So, when the Habs win the Cup, Gionta will sit on Gomez's shoulders, and Gomez on Cammalieri's shoulders...so that someone can hand the Cup to Hal Gill.

Jon....what's a Colin Stuart?

Is the Kovalev staying in Montreal thing false? I saw it earlier at work as $8.8 over 2, but was that simply rumor?

His agent came out saying that it wasnt true.

I don't understand the Rupp move at all for Pittsburgh-

Right now we have about 80 bottom 6 forwards, still need (at least) 1 top 6 wing and another D.

Adams, Dupuis, Staal, Kennedy, Cooke, Godard, Rupp, Talbot, Dustin Jeffrey ready in the AHL, plus about 5 other guys in the AHL who got 3rd and 4th line minutes last year.

My hope is Pascal Dupuis is being moved. He's a team guy, but he's on the 4th line and making $1.4M for the next two seasons. We can't afford that.

I really wanted Zanon, as I think Scuderi's gone, and the $1.7M price tag makes it even harder to take. Scuderi is getting probably $1M+ more than that a year.

EDIT - Zanon's deal is $5.8/3, not $5.2. So cap is $1.93 a year. Still could have fit under the Pens cap.

Gionta $25 over 5.

Habs add over $17M per year against the cap today.

Sabres got Steve Montador $3.1 over 2 years. Not going to replace Spacek's minutes, but I like Montador. Another guy I was holding out hope for in Pittsburgh if Scuderi can't be kept.

John Madden to Chicago 1 year $2.75M

Steve Sullivan stay in Nashville (how did Montreal miss this short dude?) 2 years $3.75M per

Chris Neil stays in Ottawa $8M over 4 years

Have the Rangers had a good free agent signing in the last 15 years?

It's a journeyman (at best I guess) forward that finally made it to the NHL for 33 games last year after being drafted in 2001 (and finishing 4 years at Colorado College before turning pro in 2004). A speedy 6'2", 205 lefty, hasn't broken the 30 point barrier since 1999 in the USHL. Has a knack for scoring short-handed, all three of his five goals last year came that way. One of three pro hockey playing brothers (and a sister playing at BC) including Mark Stuart of the Bruins.

edit to amend: I guess I should say "roleplaying forward" instead of "journeyman forward"

Ah, the Rangers... They just never, ever learn, do they?

If Hossa can be had for $5.2 million, how can they justify Gaborik at $7.5?

Rangers...one step forward...two back.

I can't say Gaborik is worth the money, but keep in mind that Hossa's deal is for 12 years rather than the more reasonable 5 that they gave Gaborik.

That said, what a crap signing. Damn you Sather.

So the Devils lose three forwards today... do they plan to bring any in at all? Or do you get past the top line and then it's just the Dainius Zubrus show? Can somebody just punch me in the mouth now and get it over with?

Stop over I'll do it for you. I'm not going to work tomorrow so anytime tonight is fine with me. Wear your Crosby mask and jersey.

TSN is reporting that Havlat has a verbal agreement with Minny.

So who complete's the sniper shuffle?

Hossa went to Chicago. Havlat is going to Minny. Gaborik went to the Rangers. Gomez went to Montreal, so maybe Kovalev signs on the cheap with Detroit to close the loop?