2006 NHL Offseason Thread

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

no, not the one behind the baby, that's a guy, what, are you blind?!?!




FM

Oh, OK...should have just said the one without the glasses from the beginning!

[Suburban Rhythm]

Mark Cuban, Dan Marino part of group bidding to buy Penguins--

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_459732.html

[Honolulu_Blue]

I'd like to see Cuban as an owner in the NHL.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I'd like to see Cuban as an owner in the NHL.

Listening to one of the local sports talk guys, Cuban would be a minority partner, and Marino pretty much a local face to make things look nice.

Big part is the group seems to be saying they are willing to work with local politicians, no matter how long it takes, to get a new building.

[Pyser]

Canes re-up Kaberle. $2.2 a yr for 4 years. He's 32.

[NoSkillz]

The worst kept secret in Buffalo is the fact that the team will finally be going back to the blue and gold next year.

Can't claim whether these are the real deal or not but fansites are claiming that the new logos have been leaked.

http://www.sabresreport.com/blogs/wp...ogo2006-07.jpg

I guess Buffalo wants to be the St. Louis Rams of the NHL...

[Wolfpack]

Originally Posted by NoSkillz

The worst kept secret in Buffalo is the fact that the team will finally be going back to the blue and gold next year.

Can't claim whether these are the real deal or not but fansites are claiming that the new logos have been leaked.

http://www.sabresreport.com/blogs/wp...ogo2006-07.jpg

I guess Buffalo wants to be the St. Louis Rams of the NHL...

Ugh. I'd rather they have gone with that slightly more stylized version of the old logo that you were using in your EHM dynasty. It's like they decided to cross the Rams and the Chargers there.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Karim

This is too funny...
http://www.my-nhl.com/

In case anyone missed it the first time...

The guys at the office have been rolling over this one for days now. Watch it with friends, you'll be quoting the lines to each other for weeks.

"Not... going back to Russia..."

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

Ugh. I'd rather they have gone with that slightly more stylized version of the old logo that you were using in your EHM dynasty. It's like they decided to cross the Rams and the Chargers there.

that logo sucks. If they want to go to blue and gold, they should have just used the red alternate jersey and swapped the colors around. That would've been good.

[chrisj]

Originally Posted by Travis

Honestly, at this point, if a player were to say verbatim what you had written, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Lowe hung up the phone. If a player is voicing that concern prior to signing any sort of contract, I don't see how you can then sign them for more than one year.

Completly agree with you. I don't see Lowe going hard after a player who "maybe, sorta" wants to play in the city, and I don't think you can blame him.

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

In case anyone missed it the first time...

The guys at the office have been rolling over this one for days now. Watch it with friends, you'll be quoting the lines to each other for weeks.

"Not... going back to Russia..."

The Ilya segment and the Ryan Smyth segments are pure gold!!!

[Honolulu_Blue]

DD, you may finally rest easy. The Avs have re-signed Ossi Vaananen.

[Draft Dodger]

excuse me while I go throw a chair through a window

[Draft Dodger]

those Sabres logos, if true (and from posts on Chris Creamer's board, seems like they might be) are NASTY.

Bruins fire Mike Sullivan

Peter Bondra contemplates retirement.

and Vaananen. yaaaay.

[Draft Dodger]

the greatest song ever (HNIC theme song) just came on my iPod.

is it October yet?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

Bruins fire Mike Sullivan

And apparently hire long time Wing Dave Lewis.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Sweet Sassy Molassy are there a ton of UFA defensemen.

Here's a list:

Nicklas Lidstrom, Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Rob Blake, Ed Jovanovski, Pavel Kubina, Willie Mitchell, Brendan Witt, Jay McKee, Hal Gill, Danny Markov, Kim Johnsson, Teppo Numminen, Francis Bouillon, Jaroslav Spacek, Niclas Wallin, Aaron Ward, Ruslan Salei, Brian Leetch, Brett Clark, Karlis Skrastins, Jason Woolley, Dick Tarnstrom, Joe Corvo, Filip Kuba, Daniel Tjarnqvist, Andrei Zyuzin, Ken Klee, Kenny Jonsson, Tom Poti, Jason Strudwick, Brian Pothier, Aki Berg, Alexander Khavanov, Mark Eaton, Luke Richardson, Nolan Baumgartner, Sean Brown, Keith Carney, Eric Weinrich.

A couple of names on there intrigue me for the Wings. Kenny Jonsson played well in the Olympics and Holland et al love Swedes. The Wings really need to add some sort of physical aspect to their defensive corps. They were pretty pathetic around and in front of their own goal against Edmonton. There are certainly a couple of guys that fit the bill there. I doubt the Wings will make any really big signing as they are (once again) pretty strapped for cash.

Speaking of defensemen... I f*cking hate Andreas f*cking Lilja. It's rare that I hate a current Wings player, but Lilja drives me nuts. He's a big, (appranetly) strong man but he plays pathetically soft and appears to be always out of position. He serves no purpose other than to anger me and be praised for playing great D while, in reality, he's just riding the coattails of Lidstrom.

Speaking of former defensemen who fans hated, Larry Murphy works out at the gym I belong to. He's shorter than I thought, but quite stocky.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Nicklas Lidstrom, Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Rob Blake, Ed Jovanovski, Pavel Kubina, Willie Mitchell, Brendan Witt, Jay McKee, Hal Gill, Danny Markov, Kim Johnsson, Teppo Numminen, Francis Bouillon, Jaroslav Spacek, Niclas Wallin, Aaron Ward, Ruslan Salei, Brian Leetch, Brett Clark, Karlis Skrastins, Jason Woolley, Dick Tarnstrom, Joe Corvo, Filip Kuba, Daniel Tjarnqvist, Andrei Zyuzin, Ken Klee, Kenny Jonsson, Tom Poti, Jason Strudwick, Brian Pothier, Aki Berg, Alexander Khavanov, Mark Eaton, Luke Richardson, Nolan Baumgartner, Sean Brown, Keith Carney, Eric Weinrich.

I am a big fan of Mark Eaton. For teams that don't get a premier guy (Lidstrom, Chara, Redden), you could do alot worse than Eaton, and I imagine he'll be much cheaper than the other guys on that 2nd/3rd tier.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

and Vaananen. yaaaay.

If it makes you feel any better, DD, I once traded for Vaananen in EHM and he really, really sucked. I did not re-sign him.

[Pyser]

heres something cool. the nhl is talking to the rangers and isles about playing a game on january 1st in yankee stadium.

its a stunt, but im all for it. hell, i hate both teams, but if i was in ny, id go.

[Logan]

If I was on the Islanders, I'd rather play all my games outside in freezing temperature than play one game in Nassau Coliseum.

[Joe Canadian]

Eklund is saying St. Louis could be headed to the Avs for Aebesher and picks...

... and the AHL haved decided to make visors mandatory for everyone...

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Joe Canadian

Eklund is saying St. Louis could be headed to the Avs for Aebesher and picks...

Hrmm... Now I know Eklund is a quesitonable source, but this trade doesn't make any sense. Aebischer was traded to Montreal last season for Theodore, no? St. Louis? Martin St. Louis?

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Joe Canadian

Eklund is saying St. Louis could be headed to the Avs for Aebesher and picks...

... and the AHL haved decided to make visors mandatory for everyone...

Avs don't have Aebicher any longer...oh wait, it's Eklund, so those types of details don't matter!

Edit: Damn HB, beat me to it!

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Hrmm... Now I know Eklund is a quesitonable source, but this trade doesn't make any sense. Aebischer was traded to Montreal last season for Theodore, no? St. Louis? Martin St. Louis?

Maybe it's Abischer headed to St. Louis for Pelle Eklund?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

Maybe it's Abischer headed to St. Louis for Pelle Eklund?

Sounds good to me. I am sure Pelle Eklund still has some value as a 4rd/4th line guy.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Sounds good to me. I am sure Pelle Eklund still has some value as a 4rd/4th line guy.

he's good at passing, according to NHL 95.

[Booj]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Hrmm... Now I know Eklund is a quesitonable source, but this trade doesn't make any sense. Aebischer was traded to Montreal last season for Theodore, no? St. Louis? Martin St. Louis?

The deal does actually make a lot of sense... Montreal has made it very clear that they want French-Canadian players, and they just resigned Huet to a 2-year deal meaning Aebischer is not needed... TB needs a goalie and has major cap problems... this deal helps both

Personally, I'd rather Montreal trade Ribeiro along with Aebischer and then sign a guy like Arnott or Arnason to take over as the #2 center, and then have St Louis, Koivu and Kovalev on the first line with Ryder, Higgins and one of those two guys on the second..

I can only dream...

[bronconick]

That trade sounds like some Montreal fan-boi made it up and leaked it to Eklund. If they included Ribeiro and Zednik, I'd be convinced it came from one of the 10,000 clowns over at HockeysFuture.

To quote someone else over there responding to a Montreal fan about why Aebeschir's trade value is down-

1. Every other proposal involves Montreal.

2. Every Montreal proposal has him in it. Along w/ Zednick and Ribiero

[Maple Leafs]

So explain this to me again... Kaberle + Steen for Pronger = stupid, delusional Leaf fans, but Aebischer for St. Louis = plausible?

[Joe Canadian]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Hrmm... Now I know Eklund is a quesitonable source, but this trade doesn't make any sense. Aebischer was traded to Montreal last season for Theodore, no? St. Louis? Martin St. Louis?

I meant to type Habs... opps.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

So explain this to me again... Kaberle + Steen for Pronger = stupid, delusional Leaf fans, but Aebischer for St. Louis = plausible?

As an objective, outside obeserver I'd say both = delusional.

[Joe Canadian]

The Leafs have apparently given McCabe until 6 PM EST Thursday to accept the deal or they will pull it off the table. If the deal is pulled and McCabe goes to New York... what do the Leafs do then? Redden is most likly staying in Ottawa, JovoCop seems destined for Florida... do they go after Chara? Has anyone heard anything on where he may end up? Or do they just stay away from the top 1-6 D guys out there now, and go after the lower profile players.

As much as I want Pronger on the Leafs... I really don't understand the reports saying that they are the front runners for him???

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Joe Canadian

The Leafs have apparently given McCabe until 6 PM EST Thursday to accept the deal or they will pull it off the table. If the deal is pulled and McCabe goes to New York... what do the Leafs do then? Redden is most likly staying in Ottawa, JovoCop seems destined for Florida... do they go after Chara? Has anyone heard anything on where he may end up? Or do they just stay away from the top 1-6 D guys out there now, and go after the lower profile players.

I don't think Redden in Ottawa is a sure thing anymore. It should be, it makes too much sense, but why the delay? I really think there's a slim chance that Redden is actually unhappy with Muckler and wants out. He may also be stalling to see if Edmonton wants him (he's a hometown boy). If that doesn't work out he'd be a great signing for Toronto but I'd rate that as unlikely. If he leaves Ottawa it's because he doesn't think they can win the Cup, and the Maple Leafs haven't exactly proven that they're any better in that regard.

Chara will probably just follow the money. That could be Ottawa if they lose Redden and go into panic mode, but I think New York is more likely. Toronto is an option there too but not for $8M or whatever he's expecting to get. Jovo sounds like a lock for Florida. Lidstrom would be a nice short-term signing but unlikely.

Another possibility: keep Kaberle as your #1, and spend McCabe's money and a bit more on a couple of solid #2's like McKee/Witt/Mitchell, etc. That would be a solid group when you add in some of the younger guys. Granted there's no big shot for the PP but you could put a forward there. Kaberle runs that PP anyway, all McCabe does is fire the cannon at the end.

[Booj]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

So explain this to me again... Kaberle + Steen for Pronger = stupid, delusional Leaf fans, but Aebischer for St. Louis = plausible?

As a Habs fan, it is not plausible at all.. just wishful thinking.

I don't expect this trade to happen at all..

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Another possibility: keep Kaberle as your #1, and spend McCabe's money and a bit more on a couple of solid #2's like McKee/Witt/Mitchell, etc. That would be a solid group when you add in some of the younger guys. Granted there's no big shot for the PP but you could put a forward there. Kaberle runs that PP anyway, all McCabe does is fire the cannon at the end.

I would expect alot more teams looking at this route, especially after Carolina's Cup win. #1 D men cost top dollar, and true #1's are rare.

More teams will look to have a deep top 4, and solid 3rd pair rather than spending top money on a premier guy, and filling other pairings with weak links.

[Karim]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

I would expect alot more teams looking at this route, especially after Carolina's Cup win. #1 D men cost top dollar, and true #1's are rare.

More teams will look to have a deep top 4, and solid 3rd pair rather than spending top money on a premier guy, and filling other pairings with weak links.

Exactly. Who was the legitimate 'star' or 'elite' player on the 'Canes? And they really had a no-name defence. Solid depth is the way to go IMO. Two $4 million defencemen >>>>>>>> Chara for $8 million.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

I would expect alot more teams looking at this route, especially after Carolina's Cup win. #1 D men cost top dollar, and true #1's are rare.

More teams will look to have a deep top 4, and solid 3rd pair rather than spending top money on a premier guy, and filling other pairings with weak links.

I think you'll see a lot of teams (Toronto included) fill their 5th and 6th defense slots with young players, preferably on cheap contracts. Same with the fourth forward line. It's the best way to stock a team in the salary cap era, assuming you have the young guys who can handle the role.

You're bang on about a deep top four. The Leafs had arguably one of the top five defense pairings in the league with McCabe/Kaberle. But their 3/4 pairing was a combination of Khavanov/Berg/Klee. That killed them. You can't play guys like that 20 minutes a game including PK time and expect to win.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Karim

Exactly. Who was the legitimate 'star' or 'elite' player on the 'Canes? And they really had a no-name defence. Solid depth is the way to go IMO. Two $4 million defencemen >>>>>>>> Chara for $8 million.

I guess Eric Staal would be considered a legit 'star/elite' player. He was 7th overall in scoring. Not sure if Weight still qualifies... Probably not.

[Booj]

J.R. wants to play in Canada and is willing to play for cheap... This could be an upgrade at centre for the Habs who desperately need a second line center, especially if he is back in shape...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=169956&hubname=

[Joe Canadian]

Originally Posted by Booj

J.R. wants to play in Canada and is willing to play for cheap... This could be an upgrade at centre for the Habs who desperately need a second line center, especially if he is back in shape...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=169956&hubname=

I dunno, I saw this... and thought... old player, wants to play in Canada... welcome to Toronto.

[Maple Leafs]

Apparently McCabe is going to take the deal with Toronto.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

You're bang on about a deep top four. The Leafs had arguably one of the top five defense pairings in the league with McCabe/Kaberle. But their 3/4 pairing was a combination of Khavanov/Berg/Klee. That killed them. You can't play guys like that 20 minutes a game including PK time and expect to win.

Pens were that much worse...Rob Scuderi and Joe Melichar playing important minutes explains giving up 300+ goals!

The kid they have coming up this season, Noah Welch, is a keeper. Plus Ryan Whitney played alot of minute this year. If Gonchar can not suck the first 2 months of the season, and Brooks Orpik can remember he needs to skate, I think they'll be better.

They aren't getting the elite guys, and I don't even think they'll look at the 2nd tier--Mitchell, Kubina, Witt, etc, who will probably get $3.5-4 mil a year.
But if they can get 2 guys like Mark Eaton and Aaron Ward, they'll be miles ahead of where they were last year.

Sort of unrelated...Pavel Kubina scares the crap out of me. I dread the idea of the Pens going after him. He seems the most likely candidate to pull a Gonchar!

[Wolfpack]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I guess Eric Staal would be considered a legit 'star/elite' player. He was 7th overall in scoring. Not sure if Weight still qualifies... Probably not.

I think the point was being made about the defensemen for Carolina. Commodore, Hedican, Ward, and Wesley were the top four and only Hedican achieved a lot of notoriety by making the Olympic team this year. Otherwise, they were pretty low-key.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Apparently McCabe is going to take the deal with Toronto.

Not sure if the details were listed earlier, but they've apparently confirmed that McCabe signed for 5 years, $5.75 million per season while Luongo is apparently close on a 4 year deal for $7 million per season with the Canucks.

I'm not sure why being a professional player is so many kids dreams, just become an agent and ride the gravy train as these salaries continue to escalate.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Apparently Mrs. McCabe has allowed Bryan to take the deal with Toronto.

Tweaked.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

I think the point was being made about the defensemen for Carolina. Commodore, Hedican, Ward, and Wesley were the top four and only Hedican achieved a lot of notoriety by making the Olympic team this year. Otherwise, they were pretty low-key.

I think Frankie Kaberle would be considered top 4 over Commodore, but the point remains the same. Any of those guys is probably considered 3rd pairing in Ottawa, but as unit, they get the job done.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I heard a rumor on the radio today (citing some internet rumor) that one of the reasons Lauren Pronger wants them out of Edmonton was because Chris had developed a bit of a relationship with some Edmonton (TV, I think) reporter. The plot thickens. . .

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I heard a rumor on the radio today (citing some internet rumor) that one of the reasons Lauren Pronger wants them out of Edmonton was because Chris had developed a bit of a relationship with some Edmonton (TV, I think) reporter. The plot thickens. . .

This was mentioned on another board, along with speculation that there may be a little Pronger Jr on the way as a result.

Edit: This was it...

another apparent rumour is that he slept with a city tv woman and she is expecting a kid (his). If that is true my guess is Chrisie Chorley who covers sports for A channel/ City TV. hxxp://www.christiechorley.com/

[ice4277]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Speaking of defensemen... I f*cking hate Andreas f*cking Lilja. It's rare that I hate a current Wings player, but Lilja drives me nuts. He's a big, (appranetly) strong man but he plays pathetically soft and appears to be always out of position. He serves no purpose other than to anger me and be praised for playing great D while, in reality, he's just riding the coattails of Lidstrom.

One of the most useless players on a team full of useless players in the playoffs.