It's BACK! The 2005-2006 NHL Season
 

Well, the Flyers moved first today buying out LeClair and Amonte... no big surprise. It will be interesting to see which teams take flyers (no pun intended) on these guys and more importantly, for how much.

I see this as housecleaning for Carter and Richards moving in. I also wouldn't be surprised to see more movement in buy-outs by the Flyers before the deadline.

From what I've read, the Coyotes might be interested in bringing Amonte back.


Posted this in the now deleted thread, Bertuzzi to see his suspension extended 10-20 games.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=131115

As a Canadiens fan, I have a lot of excitement for this coming season (like I mentioned late in the deleted thread). The #5 pick is disappointing having come so close (and having several heart attacks through the lottery) but I am very excited-- if used properly.

If the Canadiens could pick up Johnson, Pouliot or Ryan, I would be ecstatic. To me, Gilbert Brule is what the Habs already have too much of-- undersized skilled forwards.

I'm also happy with the prospect of having the entire 03-04 team back (save Dackell, Garon, Juneau and Perreault). I hope Gainey could pull in a free agent to replace Kovalev as well... maybe even Kovalev himself who showed great chemistry with Koivu and Zednik in the playoffs. Kovalev also said he'd like to come back, and with no teams willing to spend the 6 million he would have been looking for under the new system, it seems like a good chance he'll be back.

Having said all that, Montreal seems - to me - to be the favorite in the Northeast division (until we see what Boston does with their loads of cap room).

NHL has a new transfer deal with the IIHF.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=131221



Quoted the above because I remember in either the previous NHL thread (or was it the lottery thread) there was talk about Malkin staying in Russia.

Johnson HAS to go to Anaheim, I think -- not really much doubt about it in my mind. I don't see Carolina picking up Ryan, as they have enough in the way of workhorse forwards with Staal and Cole -- instead, Brule might be a good fit here, to play with those two bigger guys. Minnesota is hard to guess -- I could see them going with more of a wildcard type pick at #4 -- maybe Kopitar? That would leave Pouliot and Ryan to Montreal.

Personally I'm not sold on Ryan or Pouliot -- if the Isles were #5 would much rather see them take Kopitar.

Why did the old thread get deleted?

good quest.. no idea..

Well, since I was the one that deleted it, I'd say something, but I'll let others put their spin on it before I really chime in.

But I will say PEOPLE LOST POSTS!!!!

edit: see the PING: Easy Mac thread for one person's displeasure. But I'll end my participation here unless it is otherwise warranted.

For HB:

This article indicates that 66% of buyouts count against the cap, which wasn't the way I understood it.

hxxp://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-flyers-leclair&prov=ap&type=lgns

Are you as confused as I am???

~rpi-fan

I think that Eklund guy has it dead on. LeClair to Boston, Amonte to St. Louis/Chicago. LeClair seems more definite than Amonte, though.

I'm under the impression that (for the next ten days only) buyouts count $0 against the cap.

thats how they made it sound. still a decent deal for the teams, not quite 0 though. just so i understand as well, the players still get the money even if they sign with a new team, correct?

Right, although according to TSN they get paid over the balance of their contract, not one lump sum. So Yashin gets his money spread over six years.

Uh, I saw what your last post said. Something along the lines of "keep your fucking hands off MY thread or start your own." Get lost.

Pretty much, I don't like some wanna be mod going behind my back changing the name of a thread I started. You want a different name, ask me, or at least say, hey i'd like to rename the thread. Whats they point of making a post if a mod is just going to come behind me and change it? And calling me a pussy and a faggot is a quick way to get me to delete a thread. But there's a new thread, so who cares, everyone wins (and at least JeeberD wasn't posting there, or we'd have real controversy).

Cool -- do you have any response to that Yahoo! article?

I was initially thinking the same thing as you, but that article seems to indicate differently. I wonder why there is so much confusion.

This is from NHL.com, is this what you're talking about?

Will Clubs have an opportunity to make off-season adjustments to their rosters to come into compliance with the new CBA rules?

Yes. Clubs will have a one-time opportunity, during a six-day period, to exercise buy-outs of existing player contracts. Amounts paid to players pursuant to these compliance buy-outs will not be counted against a club's upper limit or the League-wide players' share. Clubs that choose to exercise compliance buy-outs must pay the buy-out amount over the remaining term of the contract.

Guess Yahoo! is just plain wrong, then. They indicated that LeClair and Amonte's contracts would count against the cap to some extent.

There were at least a half dozen people over the span of 3-4 pages who asked for a change to the thread title. I take great pains to avoid *using*, let alone abusing the limited administrative powers I have here, but I have the trust of the moderators, and this seemed like a relevant, timely, and ultimately harmless place to use them. I apologize if that conclusion offended you.

Great, now I have to buy 2 Boston jerseys. :eek:

Why do you have admin powers?

Because he's a vBulletin hax0r.

What he said.

Ben and Ryan occasionally consult with me on software, hosting, and technical issues. I have access so I can get in and fix shit if nobody else is around.

Mark my words...Undersized NHL'ers will be the norm soon....3-5 years max.

In that case, the Canadiens really are the favorites :p

I agree Johnson won't fall to #5, if anything Minnesota will take him at 4 but I can't help but dream about a pairing of Johnson and Komisarek-- a duo that might very well lead the US defense for years to come.

I pretty much agree with everything you've said. I'm not sold on Pouliot or Ryan-- especially Ryan since I know very little about him and heard even less (even with all the hype with Crosby names like Johnson, Pouliot and Brule have been talked about, Ryan I pretty much first saw his name when I was looking at THN and TSN's top-10 prospects. I would love Kopitar as well. Pretty much, I'll trust Gainey and co's judgement... they are (part of) the group that took Iginla in the 20's with Dallas and all the diamonds in the rough in Ottawa. I just see this as a great opportunity to get a power forward they have been lacking... pretty much forever but in 10 years I do want something to show for the pick-- not a Matt Higgins or Terry Ryan or Eric Chouinard or Brent Bilodeau or David Wilkie or.... you get the point.

So the real NHL thread was deleted because someone changed the title? Sheesh.

so that officially ends our chances of making it, eh?

:confused: Yes. I am.

I think Yahoo is getting it wrong. The way I understand it is that teams who buy out a player's contract within this initial "one time only" period, which ends Friday, I think, are free from thay player's contract for good. No cap consequences.

In the future, however, the 2/3 buy out /will/ count against the cap. I think that's where Yahoo is getting confused.

Again, I think...

LMAO :D :D :D

TSN is once again doing a superb job. Who gets their hockey information from Yahoo? ;)

Here's a list of all the teams, players under contract, salary committed after rollback, along with free agent and buyout tracking:
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature.asp?fid=7006

agreed - TSN is where it's at for hockey news

Here's another good article by TSN concerning each team's potential buyouts, top newcomers (players coming from juniors), needs, etc...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature.asp?fid=10414

should be a VERY interesting (and probably gut-wrenching) off season for the Avs. Not that any of you will care :)

Actually, I care a great deal. I'm probably just a lot more happy about it than you are

The last time I cared about the Avs they were called the Quebec Nordiques. And even then I didn't care that much. ;)

Does anyone know if teams are allowed to have contact with other teams free agents? What about UFAs?

Seems like an important detail, but I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere. For example, if a team like the Leafs is trying to figure out whether or not to cut Belfour it could make a major difference if they were allowed to find out whether a guy like Cujo would be willing to take a paycut to come replace him.

I do not think they can. The following

Makes sense.

So this non-sense about the Leafs secretly talking to Forgsberg is just a bunch of BS... good to hear.

I really hope that, wether or not they can have contact with other UFA's, the Leafs to buy out Beflour's contract...

Well, there are probably ways around that. It depends on what the NHL defines as contact.

you don't want Forsberg?

No, but I'm not convinced it's in the Leafs' best interest to sign only one FA (assuming he wants the max), and if they did decide to that route they probably need a guy like Neidermayer more.

Now if he wants to take a discount to play with Sundin, that's a different story...

I'm actually not convinced he even wants to play in the NHL anymore, but I gues that's an even more different story

Yeah, I too question Forsbergs desire to play in the NHL, though he may benefit more then anyone with the new rules. He was ALWAYS mugged. Maybe this will ease his decesion.

I can't wait. Sabres all the way! Finally got a rich, good-guy, non-crock owner in Tommy, and a first in sports ticketing (I think) in ticket prices. A four-level pricing system for the level of opponents (the better and bigger rivals cost more, with bad teams being cheaper) across the board. Season Tickets are very affordable.

If they can get Neidermayer, Kariya, and Khabby... I'll be a happy camper.

Yeah, that's a sweet deal the Saber fans are getting. I hope it spreads through the rest of the NHL.

I think it may happen with teams that struggle to fill their arenas most nights. However, in cities like Detroit, Toronto, etc, where the seats are always filled, it wouldn't make much sense from a business perspective for owners to lower prices, at least not much more than a token amount.

Haha, Leafs fans are hilarious. If you sign those guys, you'll have $10mil in cap space, to get 16 guys locked up.