The OFFICIAL 2007 NHL Offseason Thread

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by Logan

Poti is a god awful defenseman. He shouldn't have a job.

Poti was pretty damn good last year. I know he was bad for the Rags, but he stepped it up for us.

[Draft Dodger]

I wouldn't mind having Poti on my team

[Draft Dodger]

Zubrus to the Devils, btw

[Pyser]

6 yr, $20.4m for zubrus. i guess i can live with that. now the question is he our first line center, or 2nd line winger?

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Pyser

dola, rumors also say the devs signed rachunek on d, 1 yr, 1.5m

As in Karl? What the hell is going on here with the Devils signing Rangers castoffs?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Pyser

6 yr, $20.4m for zubrus. i guess i can live with that. now the question is he our first line center, or 2nd line winger?

That's not too bad. Zubrus belongs in the same category as Prospal, Fedotenko, and those guys. They just don't seem all that dependable. He's got some decent size and skill and should be good for around 20-25 goals.

[JSap]

Honolulu Blue - by the 'same category', do you mean guys the Flyers dumped and wished they had back, or was that just a coincidence?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by JSap

Honolulu Blue - by the 'same category', do you mean guys the Flyers dumped and wished they had back, or was that just a coincidence?

I agree it's odd that for the most part most of these guys did, at one point, play for the Flyers. I am not sure why that is, but it is.

[johnnyshaka]

Woohoo...the Oilers finally made a big splash in the free agent market...SWEET!!! We've got a new backup goalie...AWESOME!! Mathieu Garon was signed to a 2-year deal.

Looks like Kevin Lowe thought the Nylander deal was all but done only to hear that he had signed with the Caps. Hmmm...wonder if Lowe missed a call or something while he was waxing MacT's back or something??

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I agree it's odd that for the most part most of these guys did, at one point, play for the Flyers. I am not sure why that is, but it is.

Chalk that up to Bobby Clarke being an impatient bitch

[Pumpy Tudors]

I used to work with a young woman from Lithuania. She didn't know much about sports, but when Lithuanian athletes came over to North America to play, she paid attention. If I told her that Dainius Zubrus now plays for my favorite team, she'd probably tongue-kiss me.

[bbor]

Originally Posted by bsak16

Chalk that up to Bobby Clarke being an impatient bitch

or just a bitch.

[chrisj]

Originally Posted by bsak16

The cap number is the average of the entire deal not what the player makes per year. So if he gets 10 mil for the first and 2 mil for the second, his cap number is &6 mil even if he is traded.

But the team (lets say a small market team) only has to pay $2 million the second year, and since they're small market they likely don't have cap issues, so the $6 million cap hit doesn't matter to them.

[chrisj]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

Looks like Kevin Lowe thought the Nylander deal was all but done only to hear that he had signed with the Caps. Hmmm...wonder if Lowe missed a call or something while he was waxing MacT's back or something??

Per Edmontonoilers.com:

The Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club is compelled to clarify the unfortunate and unprecedented circumstances surrounding the Edmonton Oilers and Michael Nylander.

On Sunday, July 1, 2007, Kevin Lowe, Oilers General Manager, and Mr. Mike Gillis, Certified Agent for Michael Nylander, negotiated and agreed to a multi-year NHL Standard Players Contract, starting in 2007/08. Mr. Gillis confirmed same to the Oilers in writing.

The Oilers then proceeded with preparations to announce Mr. Nylander’s contract agreement on July 2, and concurrently continued with the process of negotiating with other free agents based upon Mr. Nylander being an important roster ingredient for the future.

However, while the Oilers were expecting the returned, signed agreements from Mr. Nylander and Mr. Gillis, the Oilers discovered through public announcements made mid-afternoon on July 2, that Mr. Nylander had subsequently entered into a long-term contract with the Capitals.

The Oilers can find no precedent for such conduct in our history. The Oilers are examining and pursuing every course of action available in the best interest of the team and our fans.

For legal reasons, the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club will not be discussing the details any further at this time.

It sounds like Nylander screwed his agent and the Oilers. Could be an interesting legal battle. Not sure if Edmonton would get anything out of it, but I'd be happy for a draft pick.

[Maple Leafs]

I'm back from the cottage... did I miss anything?

OK, quick thoughts: I really like the Blake signing. He may be the only UFA who actually signed for fair market value. Now let's see what the Leafs do with the $2-3M they saved by not going after a top tier guy.

The Sabres: Still not brining their A+ game.

The Devils: Karma's a bitch. Should have started Brodeur.

Finally, it was pretty funny to come back after four days away, click the "all new posts" button, and see this:

Originally Posted by General Mike

Rangers won't get anyone

[Pumpy Tudors]

Soooo, has anyone signed Alexander Mogilny yet?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Nice player for us, hate to see him go elsewhere (although it was pretty much expected).

The Minnesota Wild added veteran center Eric Belanger, who had 17 goals and 35 points while playing for Carolina and Atlanta last season.

The 29-year-old Belanger scored nine goals and had 15 points in 24 games for Atlanta. He won 53.1 percent of his faceoffs last season.

And from separate notes & blogs elsewhere at ajc.com
The Thrashers signed Colorado defenseman Ken Klee on Monday. ... It’s a two-year deal, worth a total of $2.5 million.

[Pyser]

from the nj papers:

And in a potentially bigger pickup, the Devils were also pushing hard to sign unrestricted free-agent defenseman Sheldon Souray and were the front-runners to bring him back to New Jersey.

Souray, who earned $2.43 million with the Canadiens last season, scored 26 goals in 81 games. His signing could be imminent, which would take the sting out of losing Rafalski.

The cost-conscious Devils certainly got bigger.

"With both Zubrus and Rachunek, we have not sacrificed speed for size," Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said. "And we will get bigger."

That seemed to be a reference to pursuing the 6-4, 226-pound Souray, who began his NHL career with the Devils.






i dont want him if it's gonna be more than 4.5 a year. he'd help on the pp, obviously, but im not too familiar with how solid he is in his own end. im assuming not great, because with the O he provides, he's still not regarded as an elite d-man...

[Pyser]

while the ny post says almost the exact opposite:


Although it seems unlikely, sources are buzzing that defenseman Sheldon Souray might be going to the Rangers as an unrestricted from Montreal. Salary-cap space would be the first difficulty, style of play another, but the buzz continues.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Pyser

i dont want him if it's gonna be more than 4.5 a year.

The way the market is going, it will be closer to 7.

Bryan McCabe is looking downright reasonable right now... except for the no-trade.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Pyser

Salary-cap space would be the first difficulty, style of play another, but the buzz continues.

Keep in mind, there's a cap loophole that allows teams to go over by as much as 10% in the off-season as long as they're under by September. So teams can go as high as $55M right now.

[RPI-Fan]

Souray is AWFUL in his own end.

[Dr. Sak]

If Souray signs with the Rangers, I hope another team puts an offer sheet out on Lundquist.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Souray is AWFUL in his own end.

Agreed. I don't want him anywhere near my team, and I don't know one Ranger fan who disagrees.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Slava Kozlov is staying in Atlanta.

You know, I like John Tortortella. I think he's a decent coach and I find him very amusing, but I don't think I'd ever want him to coach my team.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/lightning/...has-no-fo.html

Looks like the NHL may get involved in the Edmonton/Nylander scandal. I don't anything will come of it, but it was very odd.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Slava Kozlov is staying in Atlanta.

That's really the biggest thing we wanted from FA (well, that & some addition by subtraction, as we've removed DeVries & hopefully Sutton will follow).

I can't believe it, this might be one of the few times where Waddell didn't
f' something up.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sp...704kozlov.html
The Thrashers have signed veteran forward Slava Kozlov to a three-year deal worth a total of $11 million, according to Thrashers general manager Don Waddell.

Kozlov was second on the team with 80 points in helping lead the Thrashers to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history last season.

"Very rarely are these decisions made on everything else besides money, but I think he left a little money on the table," Waddell said. "He deserves a lot of credit, I think Kozzie made a good decision based on a lot of things, not just money."[/i]

[Travis]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Looks like the NHL may get involved in the Edmonton/Nylander scandal. I don't anything will come of it, but it was very odd.

I think they pretty much have to. Given how quickly free agency goes at that point, the "contract" agreed to prevented the Oilers from pursuing any other big money guys for pretty much a 24 hour period. I'm curious to see how far this will go, but I could see there having to be compensation given in some form, though it's too bad that in the end it'll likely be the Capitals getting penalized more so than Nylander, but this is a pretty bizarre situation.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Fedotenko to the Islanders for $2.9 million a year. Not sure on the term.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

Nylander, and his agent for that matter, didn't sign anything. Edmonton stopped pursuing people without a signed contract in hand, much less sent to the league's central registry. Lowe screwed up royally, has no legal recourse, and is just whining to cover his own arse for such a terribly stupid move.

Basically Nylander thought about Edmonton, slept on it, and decided the next day to go back to Washington (where he's been before) for less money due to the comfort issue for his family.

Stupid, stupid move by Edmonton and absolutely nothing done wrong by the Caps or even Nylander here.

Story we're getting here is that there was a written agreement between Lowe and the agent, hence the fallout. I do not understand the process well enough to get too deep into it, but obviously the players signature is the final word, but Lowe is not an idiot at these things, so if it was at the point that they thought the funds they had were going to be tied up on Nylander, then he's not going to continue negotiating with that money.

Personally, my biggest beef with this is that it sounds like Nylander's agent more than made it sound like they had an agreement, and I'd be very curious to hear if Washington (or anything as vague as "another team") was even mentioned in contract talks with Lowe during that time or if he was led to believe that not only did they have a contract but that all talks with other teams had broken off.

At this point you certainly don't want Nylander in the dressing room as part of a league decision as he obviously chose not to be there, and while the Caps really aren't at fault, the Oilers, if things are as screwy as they're saying they are, have to go after some sort of recourse, not just for themselves, but to prevent this from happening to other teams in the future. Nylander's agent may have prevented the Oilers from making a serious run at a guy like Kariya, so yeah, he's going to flip out.

Question now is who ends up looking like an ass, Lowe, Nylander and/or his agent and what the NHL is going to do about it.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

Stupid, stupid move by Edmonton and absolutely nothing done wrong by the Caps or even Nylander here.

Absolutely nothing done wrong? Spoken like a true Caps fan. As a guy who doesn't have a horse in this race, I say that's pretty fucked, Nylander. No, the Caps didn't do anything (agree with you there, they're fine). And the Oilers probably shouldn't have just shut down thei negotiations over one player.

All that said, Nylander owed it to the Oilers and the Oielrs' fans to be up front with them, and let them know what is going on. It's okay to have second thoughts. Much less okay to leave the groom at the altar without any warning, after he's already bought the big damn wedding cake and rented the chapel.

Nylander didn't break any legal laws or covenants, no. But he did show he's less than a great human being. He pretty much dicked over a team and its fans on a whim. Screw him. I hope there's on ice justice for shit moves in the offseason, too.

And this is coming from someone who despises Lowe to this day for the two-handed way he handled the Comrie deal four years ago with the Ducks.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Travis

Story we're getting here is that there was a written agreement between Lowe and the agent, hence the fallout. I do not understand the process well enough to get too deep into it, but obviously the players signature is the final word, but Lowe is not an idiot at these things, so if it was at the point that they thought the funds they had were going to be tied up on Nylander, then he's not going to continue negotiating with that money.

Personally, my biggest beef with this is that it sounds like Nylander's agent more than made it sound like they had an agreement, and I'd be very curious to hear if Washington (or anything as vague as "another team") was even mentioned in contract talks with Lowe during that time or if he was led to believe that not only did they have a contract but that all talks with other teams had broken off.

At this point you certainly don't want Nylander in the dressing room as part of a league decision as he obviously chose not to be there, and while the Caps really aren't at fault, the Oilers, if things are as screwy as they're saying they are, have to go after some sort of recourse, not just for themselves, but to prevent this from happening to other teams in the future. Nylander's agent may have prevented the Oilers from making a serious run at a guy like Kariya, so yeah, he's going to flip out.

Question now is who ends up looking like an ass, Lowe, Nylander and/or his agent and what the NHL is going to do about it.

I have been thinking of how the punishment can be applied to Nylander and his agent himself, without hurting the Caps (who I don't think did anything wrong).

I say instead of having the Caps pay Nylander in Year One of his contract, they pay the Oilers that money. Never gonna happen, but that would be a neat puinishment.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

The rules aren't ambiguous on this issue. It is very cut and dry and Lowe screwed up tremendously. I know Bettman is inept, and a complete tool, but I can't imagine even he would be able to screw up something this easy.

Keep in mind that there is precedent in the NHL for enforcing a "handshake" agreement between teams. Yes, they want the signed contract, but if you agree to the deal then you can't necessarily change your mind when you get a better offer while you're preparing the paperwork.

[johnnyshaka]

hxxp://www.canada.com/topics/sports/hockey/story.html?id=338cec5f-29ad-4a55-ab79-e44f2bb1c5b4

There have been reports that Nylander initially spoke to the Capitals without his agent’s knowledge, after Gillis had agreed — verbally and in writing — to the offer the Oilers had made for Nylander.

That sounds like "more than a feeling" (why couldn't this debacle be with the Bruins...LOL!) but whether it's true is probably the root of the entire investigation.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

hxxp://www.canada.com/topics/sports/hockey/story.html?id=338cec5f-29ad-4a55-ab79-e44f2bb1c5b4


That sounds like "more than a feeling" (why couldn't this debacle be with the Bruins...LOL!) but whether it's true is probably the root of the entire investigation.

That'd be awesome (if with the Boston Bruins) hahaha.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

The order of events is simple. Lowe has no recourse as a verbal agreement is invalid when it is for multiple years and for more than $500. Instead of continuing to work, Lowe quit, without anything actually signed and with no contact with the player himself. Just a stupid, stupid move. Oilers fans should want him lynched for this.

There was (at least being reported) a written agreement. This is where I admitted that I don't know the whole procedure, but if there was written documentation to the agreement of a contract (likely just needing the players signature so they could send it to the office) then this is much more on Nylander's camp than the Oilers.

I do like the idea of paying his first year's salary to the Oilers, but in the end, Nylander won't get punished at all past what hit his reputation will take. The Oilers (assuming the details are correct) thought they had a first line type guy on tap and couldn't use those funds elsewhere, and in the end, maybe they wouldn't have signed any of the other guys available at the time, but it would have been nice to at least have that option.

As it is, this sends Lowe back to the trade boards where he's had a lot more success than with UFA's anyways, so here's hoping he can pull something off at a lot better salary rate than what Nylander would have been paid. The person I feel for right now is Hemsky. Poor guy is probably going prematurely bald at the prospect of having to play with Horcoff and Pisani as our first line this season.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

So now we punish people for doing absolutely nothing wrong? Did Nylander sign a contract with Edmonton? Did his agent sign a contract with Edmonton? Did Edmonton have anything other than a feeling that Nylander would sign with them?

Nothing got signed, they didn't pursue the issue, and Nylander accepted less money for a situation he was more comfortable with. If doing the right thing for your family, not breaking any laws/rules, and taking less money to do so is deserving of on ice punishment, then NHL fans are even dumber than the players.

I didn't say going to the Caps in the end was the wrong thing for Nylander to do. I said not keeping the Oilers in the know was wrong. When his agent agreed to a deal with them, he (both Nylander and/or his agent) was obligated to keep them in the loop if situations changed before a legal arrangement could be made. He failed miserably in this. So I think he is one of the lowest pieces of shit in the league now. Any decent human being would at the very least have had the balls to tell the Oilers he was reconsidering. Nylander was apparently born without them. I highly recommend endless end-to-end runs on him all next year.

[MikeVic]

I hate players like this.

It reminds me of a recent NBA situation, something like a player said they would sign an extension, but had to be given a release first? Or an extension couldn't be offered unless the player was considered a "free agent?" Anyway, the team could have kept him on the lower-paying contract for another year or two, but agreed to the release because they wanted to re-sign him right away to a long-term deal.

The player ended up signing with another team immediately, and is now a good all-star calibre player. Meanwhile the team that released him could really use him now.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I hate players like this.

It reminds me of a recent NBA situation, something like a player said they would sign an extension, but had to be given a release first? Or an extension couldn't be offered unless the player was considered a "free agent?" Anyway, the team could have kept him on the lower-paying contract for another year or two, but agreed to the release because they wanted to re-sign him right away to a long-term deal.

The player ended up signing with another team immediately, and is now a good all-star calibre player. Meanwhile the team that released him could really use him now.

I believe that was Carlos Boozer

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I hate players like this.

It reminds me of a recent NBA situation, something like a player said they would sign an extension, but had to be given a release first? Or an extension couldn't be offered unless the player was considered a "free agent?" Anyway, the team could have kept him on the lower-paying contract for another year or two, but agreed to the release because they wanted to re-sign him right away to a long-term deal.

The player ended up signing with another team immediately, and is now a good all-star calibre player. Meanwhile the team that released him could really use him now.

Wasn't that Carlos Boozer?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

I believe that was Carlos Boozer

Yes.

[MikeVic]

Yup, Carlos Boozer. I didn't want to use names in an NHL thread, in case someone didn't know who they were.

The idea was the important part. I really don't like players like this.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

BS. It's the teams job to make sure things get done. By noon, the day after the supposed agreement, they had made no attempt to contact Nylander or his agent. Just a stupid move by a bad GM.

So did Kevin Lowe piss in your cereal as a kid or what? I can understand your viewpoint on this particular situation (may not agree with you, but that's a different discussion), but all things considered, for the *most* part, Lowe has done pretty well as a GM. Definitely higher grades when it's come to trades than picking up UFA's, but not all of that can be pinned on him (shared blame going to a few ex players and the atmosphere that the local fans establish as they seem to have to find a new whipping boy every time they manage to run one out of town).

It's just getting a bit tiring when all your posts pretty much read, "I'm right and Kevin Lowe is an asshat who should be fired."

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

Considering the situations are absolutely nothing alike, maybe the broad brush should be put away for Nylander.

I see it as two players going back on their word. Nylander didn't get released by the Oilers or anything like that, but he still went back on his word to sign with them.