The OFFICIAL 2008-09 NHL Offseason Thread

[Pyser]

we sure are a bunch of hypocrites

when we steal all, ALL of the best russian prospects with no transfer agreement, no one complains.

when one guy leaves to go back to russia, we complain that they broke some kind of agreement.

if that russian league remains stable, and keeps throwing money around, i expect this to become a pretty big issue pretty soon.

maybe the all-star game will end up being nhl all stars vs russian league all stars. thatd be cool.

[Dr. Sak]

The Tampa Bay Lightning and general manager Jay Feaster have parted ways, as the club has negotiated a settlement on the remaining three years of his contract.

Maybe they'll go after Craig Patrick.

[Pyser]

montreal traded john locke for stringer bell, or something like that.

[MikeVic]

Isn't Stringer Bell from The Wire?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Isn't Stringer Bell from The Wire?

Yes, and John Locke is from Lost.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by bsak16

Maybe they'll go after Craig Patrick.

He was interviewed recently and said he'd love to get back into the NHL.
But the Tampa thing....WHAT THE FUCK?

How do you let a go go through the big part of free agency, spend tons of money, bring in about 12 new players...and then fire him. If you weren't happy with the job he was doing, don't you stop him from making more decisions??

Or, this Koules guy is the Jerry Jones of the NHL, thinking he knows better than the guys hired to do the jobs. Even Jay Feaster knows more than a team owner, doesn't he?

[Suburban Rhythm]

Dola

Sergei Brylin to Russia

Jason Krog, AHL scoring machine, to Vancouver

Craig MacDonald to Columbus

And Chris Gratton to Tampa Bay...cause they needed another foward.

Did Feaster do this on his way out the door?

[Pyser]

i dont think feaster had one thing to do with any of tb's moves this offseason.

[samifan24]

Hasn't Chris Gratton spent almost his entire career with either Tampa or Florida at this point? I know he was in Philly for a little bit but it seems like he's Mr. Hockey down in Florida at this point.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by samifan24

Hasn't Chris Gratton spent almost his entire career with either Tampa or Florida at this point? I know he was in Philly for a little bit but it seems like he's Mr. Hockey down in Florida at this point.

Buffalo and like 10 games in Colorado at a trade deadline somewhere. And probably another team I am missing.

Who is his competition as Mr. Hockey?

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

Buffalo and like 10 games in Colorado at a trade deadline somewhere. And probably another team I am missing.

Who is his competition as Mr. Hockey?

yep. we traded Derek Morris AND Keith Ballard for Gratton and Ossi Fucking Vaananen. It would be a completely awful trade if we hadn't also gotten a 2nd round pick that we would use to take Paul Stastny.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Phoenix...that's the team I was missing. Thanks!

[samifan24]

Because I am a dork, I actually looked up Chris Gratton's career numbers with Florida and Tampa Bay on the excellent hockey-reference.com. Here's the answer:

Gratton has played 464 games with Tampa Bay, which is 7th most in franchise history. The six players ahead of Gratton are Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis, Pavel Kubina, Corey Sarich and Rob Zamuner.

Gratton has played 157 games with Florida, which is 46th most in franchise history. The top five are Robert Svehla, Olli Jokinen, Scott Mellanby, Paul Laus and Rob Niedermayer.

Gratton has played a total of 621 career games with Tampa Bay and Florida in his career. I believe this is the highest career total for a player who has played for both teams in his career. It is also the second highest for a player who has played for at least one of the teams in his career. Vincent Lecavalier has played 710 games with Tampa Bay in his career.

[bbor]

Originally Posted by Pyser

montreal traded john locke for stringer bell, or something like that.

I wish the Leafs would pick up Omar.That would be some awesome shit.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Yes, and John Locke is from Lost.

Fucked up world when John Locke, the Lost character, gets first mention over John Locke, one of the more influential thinkers in human history.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Pyser

we sure are a bunch of hypocrites

when we steal all, ALL of the best russian prospects with no transfer agreement, no one complains.

when one guy leaves to go back to russia, we complain that they broke some kind of agreement.

if that russian league remains stable, and keeps throwing money around, i expect this to become a pretty big issue pretty soon.

maybe the all-star game will end up being nhl all stars vs russian league all stars. thatd be cool.

To be fair, I think if that whole press conference over an agreement didn't happen yesterday, I doubt nayone would raise too much of a stink. I wouldn't call people hypocrites for wondering just what the heck the NHL agreed to yesterday when a top player the very next day leaves for Russia without compensation--just like there would be questions today if a top Russian player were brought over here today--one day after.

I do think it will be interesting to see how this gets, but I wish I knew more about the Russian League finances. They seem to be throwing around crazy money, and I am wondering if things are really so favorable over there to allow this, or if some overspending is going on to try to compete with the NHL right now, and it could come crashing down on them at some point.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Fucked up world when John Locke, the Lost character, gets first mention over John Locke, one of the more influential thinkers in human history.

No, not really. Read the relevant posts again.

It was TV character (Stringer Bell) for TV character (John Locke from Lost) reference, hence I referred to the John Locke tht was being referred to (the TV Character), not John Locke the philosopher.

That said, it wouldn't surprise me that more people than not don't know that there was a John Locke other than on "Lost."

The joker really only works if it was the way I interpreted it. If the joke was TV Character for "great philosopher in human history" it'd be a bit... odd.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

No, not really. Read the relevant posts again.

It was TV character (Stringer Bell) for TV character (John Locke from Lost) reference, hence I referred to the John Locke tht was being referred to (the TV Character), not John Locke the philosopher.

That said, it wouldn't surprise me that more people than not don't know that there was a John Locke other than on "Lost."

The joker really only works if it was the way I interpreted it. If the joke was TV Character for "great philosopher in human history" it'd be a bit... odd.

True enough. And you're probably right about more people knowing Locke the Lost rather than Locke the Philosopher. Sad, really.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Vinny Lecavalier signs extension with T, 11 years $85M

Most of you are probably in the same boat as me, thinking this is old news. I guess the prior deal (9 years $77M) was never signed/official.

The structure on this is pretty wild:

Years 1 - 7 : $10M
Year 8: $8M
Year 9: $4.5M
Year 10: $1.5M
Year 11: $1M

Cap hit will remain the same, $7.27, over the length of the deal.

So some team needing to reach the cap floor would be able to get a cap hit of $7+M while only paying $1M.

I am going to bring this thread back up in 2019-2020 season when that happens.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

The structure on this is pretty wild:

Years 1 - 7 : $10M
Year 8: $8M
Year 9: $4.5M
Year 10: $1.5M
Year 11: $1M

Basically this is the retirement loophole. If he retires towards the end of the deal, his cap hit comes off the books completely, so the Lightning will end up paying far less in cap hit than in actual salary.

[Logan]

Get on with it Mothafu-

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by bsak16

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...cBBtj1fckF9hNA

Hmm...seems this one's going to get interesting...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_yl...v=st&type=lgns

As an American hockey fan, I would prefer Radulov play here. That said, the most interesting thing I got from this article had nothing to do with Radulov.

THERE'S GOING TO BE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HOCKEY?!?

Dude, I am SO all over that.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Basically this is the retirement loophole. If he retires towards the end of the deal, his cap hit comes off the books completely, so the Lightning will end up paying far less in cap hit than in actual salary.

If he retires, I think they'd be off the hook entirely, no?

The only deals that I think are still counted are multi-year deals after the age of 35 (Mogilny, Malakhov). Vinny would be 35 (assuming) or older at retirement, but the deal was signed before.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Jason Williams to Atlanta 1 year $2.2M

I think they only need about $10M to reach the cap floor now

[Dr. Sak]

Maybe the Flyers can trade Hatcher for their equivalent of Colburn again.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by bsak16

Maybe the Flyers can trade Hatcher for their equivalent of Colburn again.

You had your turn, we are sending Sydor for future considerations.

Then the future considerations turn out to be the right to swap 2009 1st round picks.

The Pens haven't tanked for 2 seasons now, we need to replenish our farm system.

[Honolulu_Blue]

The Islanders have let Ted Nolan go. I really didn't see the one coming, but apparently he had a falling out with Garth Snow.

What an odd organization that is...

[ice4277]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

The Islanders have let Ted Nolan go. I really didn't see the one coming, but apparently he had a falling out with Garth Snow.

What an odd organization that is...

The Lions of the NHL.

[Dr. Sak]

Maybe he'll catch on in LA.

[Logan]

Everyone hates Garth Snow.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

The Islanders have let Ted Nolan go. I really didn't see the one coming, but apparently he had a falling out with Garth Snow.

What an odd organization that is...

Maybe the Wings can bring him in as an assistant or something - not that he would take an assistant coach position. Too bad though. I always thought he was a good coach. The Isles are a very poorly run organization.

[Dr. Sak]

As per AM 640 in Toronto, Cliff Fletcher has obtained LW Ryan Hollweg from the Rangers for the 5th round pick obtained from the Pens in the Hall Gill trade.

[Logan]

Sweet!

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by bsak16

As per AM 640 in Toronto, Cliff Fletcher has obtained LW Ryan Hollweg from the Rangers for the 5th round pick obtained from the Pens in the Hall Gill trade.

Now no matter what the player selected with the 2nd round pick in that trade turns into, the Pens win that trade!

[RomaGoth]

Dallas Drake retires after 16 seasons. Thus goes one of the few remaining Wings from the early 90's....

[RomaGoth]

Dola

I don't usually think much of Scott Burnside, but his article on the Ted Nolan/NY Islanders debacle is right on the mark:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/column...ott&id=3487345

[Dr. Sak]

Nolan is a guy the Flyers will take a shot at if Stevens falters early.

He'll become coach and fight with the GM/Owner and make Philly become another spectacle ala the Lindros/Clarke feud. Or when Checkmanic told reporters that his defense stunk and the team quit in front of him.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by bsak16

Nolan is a guy the Flyers will take a shot at if Stevens falters early.

He'll become coach and fight with the GM/Owner and make Philly become another spectacle ala the Lindros/Clarke feud. Or when Checkmanic told reporters that his defense stunk and the team quit in front of him.

NOTHING could be as good as the Lindros/Clarke feud. Those were the days.

[Suburban Rhythm]

All sorts of odds and ends

Oilers sign Horcoff to extension. Saw 5 years, no dollar amount.

Lots of RFAs re-signed:

Woywitka - Blues
Dawes - Rangers
O'Byrne - Habs
McCormick - Avs
Paille & MacArthur - Sabres

And...Flames sign Jamie Lundmark!

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

All sorts of odds and ends

Oilers sign Horcoff to extension. Saw 5 years, no dollar amount.

Lots of RFAs re-signed:

Woywitka - Blues
Dawes - Rangers
O'Byrne - Habs
McCormick - Avs
Paille & MacArthur - Sabres

And...Flames sign Jamie Lundmark!

The NEXT big thing....errr....ten years ago.

[NoSkillz]

Very, very pleased with the Paille signing in Buffalo at bargain-basement price.

How Regier got him signed for two years at 2.5 million total is beyond me considering the crazy marketplace. I figured he'd get Brooks Laich type money at the very least.

[samifan24]

I read that the NHL schedule was supposed to be released today but I haven't found the schedule online anywhere. Does anyone know when the season schedule will be released?

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by samifan24

I read that the NHL schedule was supposed to be released today but I haven't found the schedule online anywhere. Does anyone know when the season schedule will be released?

tomorrow

[bbor]

Originally Posted by samifan24

I read that the NHL schedule was supposed to be released today but I haven't found the schedule online anywhere. Does anyone know when the season schedule will be released?

Seasons cancelled.Owners want to get rid of the salary cap,it's costing them too much money

[Travis]

So not happy with the Horcoff signing.

So not happy.

[Chief Rum]

Kings reported to be hiring Terry Murray as coach.

Also, Spector is reporting three-way trade blockbuster that, frankly, I ain't buying. But here it is:

To Chicago

Kopitar

To Ottawa

The Bulin Wall
Seabrook

To LA

Gerber
Meszaros

If that's true, Lombardi should be fired, but apparently one day too late.

[bhlloy]

uh wow. A real NHL GM can't make that deal, can they? Gerber and Meszaros for one of the best young players in the game?

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Travis

So not happy with the Horcoff signing.

So not happy.

Yeah, I don't get it. It's Shawn Horcoff. He's not that good.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

uh wow. A real NHL GM can't make that deal, can they? Gerber and Meszaros for one of the best young players in the game?

I know, huh? As Ducks fans, we should be ecstatic if the Kings make such a bonehead deal, but I want a good rivalry and competition from up that way. Plus, my brother would be seriously in the dumps over this. We probably wouldn't even be able to talk hockey for weeks; he would just get upset/despondent. As a Clippers fan, I gotta tell ya, that's a sucky place to be as a fan of any professional sports team.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by samifan24

Yeah, I don't get it. It's Shawn Horcoff. He's not that good.

Rumors here are 6 years for $33 million.

I can't even articulate at this point how bad I feel that kind of contract is even if the cap goes up again the next couple of years (and I fully believe the cap will level out quite soon as the Canadian dollar flattens out).