Offseason Thread

[Shoalzie]

Free agency is fast approaching and teams are already positioning themselves for Wednesday...

Flyers add Chris Pronger...once again traded for Lupul...going back to Anaheim.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=431826

If there's another team that suits his style play other than Anaheim, it's Philadelphia. It's roster full of nasty SOBs and they add one of the meanest bastards on defense to their blueline. I don't know if they can win with Biron in net but they now have a #1 defenseman that they've been lacking probably since Desjardins.

The Flames acquire the rights for Bouwmeester
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=431947

If they sign him, they'll have a great defense anchored by him and Phaneuf along with one of the best workhorses in net but they lack scoring balance beyond Iginla and Cammalleri. It likely means that Jokinen is going to walk.

Hossa less and less likely to re-sign with the Wings
http://detnews.com/article/20090629/SPO ... t-in-talks

I can live with this happening since he was a luxury pickup last year and keeping him would mean letting some important depth players go. It would be one thing if he put up big numbers in the playoffs but he was came up very small for the time he was supposed to help this team win another title. Instead, I think he's back to where he was last summer and he'll probably get a big offer from a middle of the line team where he can score and fade back into obscurity. I'd actually like to see Holland trade his rights before Wednesday and nab another draft pick or two.

No real surprise with the top 5 of the draft...Tavares to the Islanders, Hedman to Tampa Bay, Duchesne to Colorado, Kane to Atlanta and Schenn to the Kings
http://www.nhl.com/draft/2009/round1.html

Curious to see if Landon plays like his old man...a smaller guy but very dependable and gritty. The Wings didn't draft very much size in the draft other than the Czech kid in the third round that played for Victoriaville. With the NHL draft, I don't dare to pretend I know what any of these guys are going to do. I've seen some of the top prospects from watching the WJC and some of the top college players throughout the year but I don't know who truly did well with their draft.

[MuchoBulls]

Guerin re-signed with Pittsburgh for 1 year, $2 million.

[MuchoBulls]

Carolina re-signs Jussi Jokinen for 2 years, $3.4 million

[Shoalzie]

TSN's Free Agent Tracker
http://tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=11850

Some additional re-signings:
Blake with the Sharks
Bolland with the Blackhawks
Budaj with the Avalanche

Latest Red Wings' news:
It sounds like the negotiations with Hossa will go up until the end or his rights may be dealt.
The futures of Samuelsson, Hudler, and Kopecky are unknown.
Howard will get the nod as the backup goalie to Osgood...Conklin will not be re-signed.
Chelios is not coming back...he's hoping to sign with an Eastern Conference team.

[MuchoBulls]

Why would they deal Hossa's rights this late? I can see why Florida did that with Bouwmeester, but Hossa has 11 hours and he's on the open market. There can't be many teams out there willing to spend $6 million plus on a long term deal.

[MuchoBulls]

Rangers trade Gomez and a couple of prospects to Montreal for Chris Higgins (Smithtown, NY native baby) and a couple of prospects, including Ryan McDonagh, who was a first round pick by the Habs in 2007. Obvious salary dump by the Rangers to either trade for Heatley, or go after Gaborik or Hossa.

Bouwmeester apparently signed a 5 year deal with Calgary.

[Shoalzie]

Great trade for the Rangers to get rid of that bad contract...they had to move either him or Drury. The Canadiens have a lot of cap room this summer and a lot of key free agents including Koivu, Kovalev, Lang, Tanguay, Komisarek and Schneider.

Lehtinen re-signs with the Stars and Oduya re-signs with the Devils.

Getting Bouwmeester signed is a good move but they'll have have a hard time re-signing Cammalleri. They've got a lot of money tied up in Phaneuf, Bouwmeester, Iginla, Jokinen, Langkow and Kiprusoff...$33.1 million to be exact. Sarich and Regehr are worth another $7.6 million. I'd imagine someone is going to get moved to make room for Cammalleri or he might just walk.

As for Hossa, he's probably not getting dealt at this point...he might just go on his own or he could take the Wings offer later if this is still the situation he was to be in.

Along with the Canadiens, I think an interesting team to watch this offseason will be Vancouver...a lot of cap room and plenty of options if they can't get the Sedins to return and if Sundin finally hangs 'em up. I can see this being the landing spot for a couple of the bigger name free agents...namely Hossa, Gaborik or Cammalleri. Luongo is going into the final year of his contract as well.

3 hours until the fun starts...

[MuchoBulls]

Drury has a no trade clause. Sather certainly blew it signing Gomez to that deal in the first place.

[Shoalzie]

Of their four highest paid players left on the roster...certainly King Henrik is worth every penny but you've got a lot of money tied up in Drury, Redden and Roszival. They've got room now to re-sign Antropov after the nice year he had after coming over at the deadline and they've got RFAs like Zherdev, Dubinsky, Callahan and now Higgins. Avery is a nice bargain at under $2 million a year if he can keep his shit together. With Gomez gone, they'll have around $22.5 million in cap space.

[MuchoBulls]

Sather would love to dump Redden if he could find a taker. Drury is clutch in the playoff. He'd played hurt during the latter portion of the season and into the playoffs. Zherdev was a freaking ghost in the playoffs and was very hesitant. Not sure Tortorella would stand for that very much.

[Shoalzie]

5 minutes to midnight...

Heatley to Edmonton?
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283356

Helluva deal for the Oilers if they can unload Penner's bad contract.

[MuchoBulls]

Looks like Heatley said no

[Shoalzie]

Looks like Heatley said no

Yeah, the Oilers weren't on his list. The Sens would owe him $4 million if he's still on the roster by midnight tonight. One team I heard mentioned on XM this morning was the Rangers but I'd imagine Murray would prefer to move him to the West if at all possible.

[MuchoBulls]

And the Rangers have allegedly offered Dubinsky, Callahan, and Del Zotto. I would be totally against that. Giving up too much there.

[MuchoBulls]

Vancouver just re signed the sisters for 5 years at $6.1 million a piece.

[Shoalzie]

Vancouver just re signed the sisters for 5 years at $6.1 million a piece.

Beat me to it...aren't those two just the cutest thing? Matching deals and all. Those two have around the same cap hit as Zetterberg...I like my guy in Detroit a lot better than those two. What the hell have the ever done in the playoffs?

[MuchoBulls]

Definitely overpaid for both of them.

[Shoalzie]

Ohlund signs with Tampa Bay...7-year deal, front-ended

Dreger is mentioning that the Blackhawks could be swooping in to sign Hossa...spicy! Could mean that they're done with Havlat.

[Shoalzie]

Booth and Dvorak back to Florida

[Shoalzie]

Colton Orr signs with the Leafs...4 year deal

[Shoalzie]

Hossa to Chicago is a done deal...supposedly 12 years, $5 million cap hit

Also, Conklin to St. Louis...2 year deal

[Shoalzie]

Lightning also add Matt Walker

Islanders sign Roloson to a 2-year deal

[Shoalzie]

Rangers sign Brashear
Capitals sign Knuble

[MuchoBulls]

Rangers sign Brashear

Good freaking grief Sather

[Shoalzie]

Khabibulin to Edmonton (reportedly per TSN)
Montador to Buffalo
Spacek to Montreal
Boucher back to Philadelphia
Kopecky to Chicago (joins his buddy Hossa)

Re-signings:
Cole to Carolina
Joel Ward to Nashville
Krajicek to Tampa Bay

[MuchoBulls]

Clemmensen to Florida

[MuchoBulls]

Laperriere to Philadelphia

[Shoalzie]

Some pretty big names being snatched up this evening...
Hal Gill to Montreal (2 years, $4.5 million)
Cammalleri to Montreal (5 years, $30 million)
Komisarek to Toronto (5 years, $22.5 million)
Gaborik to Rangers (5 years, $37.5 million)
Gionta to Montreal (5 years, $25 million)

Other notables:
Neil re-signs with Ottawa
Pahlsson to Columbus
Zanon to Minnesota
Sullivan re-signs with Nashville

[MuchoBulls]

Montreal made a nice run today.

[MuchoBulls]

John Madden to Chicago - 1 year, $2.75 million

Martin Havlat to Minnesota - 6 years, $30 million

[Shoalzie]

Not a huge surprise given his brother plays there, Minnesota has offered a contract to Saku Koivu. It's been pretty much assumed he's destined to end up either with the Wild to play with Mikko or to Anaheim to play with Selanne.

With all the activity yesterday, here's the best remaining free agents based on The Hockey News' Top 50:
12. Kovalev
14. Kessel (restricted)
16. Versteeg (restricted)
17. Saku Koivu
18. LaRose
20. Beauchemin
22. Antropov
23. Scuderi
25. Jason Williams
26. Mikael Samuelsson
30. Tanguay
34. Morris
36. Sykora
38. Kotalik
39. Fernandez
41. Leopold
42. Biron
43. Lang
45. Moen
48. Pyatt
49. Marc-Andre Bergeron
50. Seidenberg

[Shoalzie]

Scratch off Antropov...he signs a 4-year deal with the Thrashers

[Shoalzie]

Coyotes sign Adrian Aucoin
Boston re-signs Mark Recchi

[MuchoBulls]

Boston re-signs Mark Recchi

Is Recchi trying to go Chelios? I remember him being in the league when I was in middle school and I have been out of college for 13 years. Damn!

[Shoalzie]

Leopold signs one year deal with the Panthers
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283549

Kings sign Scuderi
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283537

Skrastins signs with the Stars
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283545

[Shoalzie]

Clowe signs a 4-year deal with the Sharks
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/stor ... LHeadlines

Another Wings defection...Samuelsson signs with Vancouver
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283610

Fedotenko re-signs with Pittsburgh
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283616

Selanne announces this will be his final season
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283609

Rangers sign three guys including Tyler Arnason (2-way deal)
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283607

Wild sign Shane Hnidy

[Shoalzie]

Nash signs an 8-year extension with Columbus
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283635

Ryan Smyth traded to the Kings for Quincey, Preissing and a pick
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283667