[NHL] Offseason Talk

[Ishad]

The preds kill any idea they that they are going to stay in Nashville.

Give philly exclusive rights to talk to Hartnel and Timonen before free agency begins in exchange for the first round pick they gave philly for forsberg back.

In other news philly signs Hartnel and Timonen to six year deals each. 25.2 million for Hartnel and 37.8 million for Timonen

Unless Samsanov turns out to be the missing piece for the Hawks, Detroit will get to coast to a top 3 seed.

[Eomer]

You know, even if Nashville was going to stay, I think that's a smart move. The salary cap is irrelevant for that team since they're losing so much money anyway, they're more concerned about the salary cellar (how low can we go!). When your building is half empty and you've been one of the top teams in the league for 2 years, why bother trying to be good? It's time to go Major League.

That said, it seems like it's a new GM in Philly, but the same old bullshit. I guess Clarke's still around technically, maybe he's also calling the shots in some ways. Because it makes no fucking sense to me to sign a player to a 6 year contract for 4.2 million a year, when said player has never scored more than 25 goals nor 50 points in a season (and possibly has a wonky head). That's a pretty long term gamble, and one that I wouldn't take. I still don't like the contracts Edmonton gave to Horcoff and Pisani, but those are genius compared to Hartnell's. All that said, it could turn out to be genius, he's still quite young and could turn in to a solid 30 goal 70 point player. But I doubt it.

I have similar problems with Timmonen's contract. Again, 6 years at 6.3 million? That's Pronger money (admittedly Pronger is way underpriced, that motherfucker). Timmonen may well be great offensively and decent defensively, but he's a fairly small defenseman who WILL get hurt in the playoffs. And he'll be 38 by the time the contract's up, god knows if he'll even keep up his current level of play for the next 3 years, let alone 6.

It seems like Philly just can't learn that you have to develop from within, stay young, and stay flexible in regards to the cap. Just watch, when the season starts they're going to be tight up against the cap, they'll have a couple injuries, their best players will be ones from their own system and not their signings, and they'll be scrambling to dump salary in a couple seasons when Carter and Richards are looking for their first non-entry deals.

*crosses fingers the Oil get Pitkannen for a song*

On to Muckler, can't say it's very surprising. Ottawa kind of been successful in the regular season in spite of his moves as GM. Most of the moves he's made have been at best neutral, and at worst horrendous. He's really done nothing to improve the team in the past few years, even bringing in Heatley cost them Hossa. I'm just going to miss Donald Duck's post-game interviews. I mean Murray's.

Samsonov will probably never live up to his potential, but who knows. He looked great for the Oil at the end of the 2005-6 season and in the first two rounds, but he disapeared after that. Maybe in the right situation he can be a good scoring winger, but it'll take the right coach to keep him motivated.

[Ishad]

Oh it makes great sense for Nashville, sell off everything deemed over price, snag a bunch of draft picks, start over in a better market. Basically telling the fans "Fuck you, we're out"

It's too bad though, I liked Nashville's arena and it makes you wonder if they had won a couple playoff rounds if they would still be looking to stay.

But attendance was fucking awful, I remember one year they had one of the best home records in the league and they took a one page add out in the paper that basically touted "Look at our home record, tickets cost next to nothing and if you come there's a great chance you'll see us win!" and still attendence sucked.

But like I said, unless Chicago makes a dramatic turn around, Samsanov will do better if he's on a line with Havalt, the Red Wings get to coast to another division title. Fuck I hate the Central, did god declare that never shall there be more than two teams that are worth dick in the central?

[Cascow]

So when the Oilers try and re-sign Ryan Smith, send him south. I'm sure Calgary can scrounge a good sandwitch and a bag of pucks for him.

edit: And yes, it's a shame about Nashville. I've heard nothing but positive things about the level of fan support (I mean from the fans that actually show up), and from the corporate sponsors that they actually have. However they pretty much teabagged future sponsors and fans by doing nothing but complain about the level of support. Seriously, I wouldn't sink a nickle into them if all I heard was how bad the sponsorship was. The team was run completely backwards since day 1.

[Eomer]

Yeah, the Central division is a joke, when compared to the Pacific last year and the Northwest the year before it. It's really no big surprise that Detroit and Nashville have ended up in the top of the standings the past couple years. When you're playing 24 games against cellar dwelling teams, it makes things a lot easier. Yet another reason to despise the hyper-divisional schedule the NHL has. Interdisivional play should be 6 games, max. But then that makes it difficult to spread out the rest of the games evenly without adding or reducing games.

4 teams x 6 games (Divisional)
10 teams x 4 games (Conference)

That's 64 games. How do you split the remaining 18 up amongst 15 teams in the other conference? It's kind of fucked having 30 teams, it messes with everything. I don't like having this rotating schedule bullshit where Toronto comes to town every three years, you go to TO every three years, and one out of three you don't play at all. That's retarded. There's talk of reducing it to 7 games for divisional play, but that's stupid too, because then one team has a home advantage for one season, and you have to rotate that too.

Personally I think the season's too long as it is, why not just cut 3 games, and then take the above and add in 15 interconference games? Yeah unfortunately you have to rotate home/away with those teams, but at least you play each other every year, TO fans can see their shitty team every second year, and the teams aren't competing for playoff spots with each other. There's certainly not enough room in the schedule to play every team in the league twice, without seriously undercutting divisional and conference play.

The best solution, of course, is a 32 team league, with two conferences and eight divisions of four teams. It would work nicely:

3 teams x 6 games (division)
12 teams x 4 games (conference)
16 teams x 1 game (interconference)

Bang, balanced schedule with divisional emphasis, interconference play without much need for rotations, other than home/away on the interconference. Getting home/away series with every team is virtually impossible without fucking up the entire schedule.

I liked Nashville's arena

The Gaylord Entertainment Center? lol. No wonder attendance was so low.

"Hey man, what are you up to tonight?"

"Going to the Gaylord center."

"What? What the hell?"

"No no, I'm going to the hockey game, hockey game!"

"I thought I knew you!"

[Eomer]

So when the Oilers try and re-sign Ryan Smith, send him south. I'm sure Calgary can scrounge a good sandwitch and a bag of pucks for him.

I dunno, it's really hard to say what'll happen. On the one hand, I think there's a lot of bad blood on both sides over the whole thing, and the re-signing is remote. On the other hand, Edmonton and Alberta are his home, he's lived there his whole life, he's got a family here, and he's far too simple minded to handle big city living. So maybe there is a chance.

As a Calgary fan, I'd be more worried about keeping Iggy after this year, if I were you.

[Bottle]

I read that Nashville post and thought you guys were joking. Hartnell is waaay overpaid and Timmonen money is about right but waaaay too long.

Philly sucks.

And Nashville just made the comedy central that much more comedic.

[Cascow]

Originally Posted by Eomer

As a Calgary fan, I'd be more worried about keeping Iggy after this year, if I were you.

Trust me, I am. It's even worse now that they've brought Keenan on.

Like I said earlier, it's going to go really well, or really bad...no middle ground at all. And it wouldn't surprise me to see Keenan chase off most of the major talent on this team before he gets shit-canned. I really hope it doesn't happen, but it's a distinct probability.

[EmpireF4i]

Son of a bitch!

TSN : NHL - Canada's Sports Leader

The night the cup was won, Scott and his wife spent alot of time at center ice after the game talking. After that, Rob and Scott spent alot of time talking laying on the ice and then on the bench, 4 hours after the game ended. Thats when I knew he was considering retiring.

[Eomer]

Read that last night, as well. I think it's kind of strange, personally. The guy's only 33, fairly healthy as far as I know, and still at the top of the game. Why he'd want to retire now is just beyond me.

I mean, I think someone like Steve Yzerman was crazy to keep playing due to his health, he'll probably be in a wheel chair by the time he's 50. But if your body is holding up, why would you not want to keep going? Yeah he's won everything worth winning, but why not win them some more?

[Ishad]

I don't get it either. Not only win some more but bank another 30-40 million in the process. Maybe he's considering it because he doesn't want to end up like Yzerman or any other player that played to long and has all kinds of health problems later. Maybe after this the desire to play is gone. Maybe he just wants to spend more time with his family.

Fucked if I know. I'm sure he'll decide soon though, if he's going to retire he'll do it before free agency starts, would free up a shit ton of cap space for the ducks.

[Eomer]

I think it will, since he's under 35. If he was over 35, his contract would still count and fuck them over pretty bad, which is what was really hurting New Jersey before last season, but they got some reprieve because they appealed. It's an obscure cap thing to prevent a team from say, signing a 35 year old to a 5 year contract worth 25 million, but the first two years of the contract are worth say 16 million of it, while the last three are worth 9 million. That way they'd actually be paying the guy 8 million a year, but the average over the term of the contract is 5, and that's what would count against the cap. And then the guy just retires after the first two years, voiding the cap hit altogether. They have a specific clause to prevent that, but I'm almost positive it's for 35 and older only.

[Moontayle]

Well if anyone has the right to retire, he does. Only person to ever win every single major hockey award available at the professional level? I'd say that's he's done enough. Also, guaranteed first ballot Hall of Fame inductee. It's too bad Lemieux was the last one they allowed instant access, because Scott deserves it just as much.

Draft is this weekend and 10 days to Free Agency. Hope my Sabres do the right thing and attempt to keep at least Briere or Drury. I know it can't be both but at least one would make Sabres fans very happy.

[Ishad]

And in a move that comes as a suprise to no one, Ken Holland states publically that the Red Wings will not be offering Robert Lang a contract.

NHL ROUNDUP: GM: Wings won't bring back Lang

[Eomer]

Scott Walker passed on free agency and will return to the Hurricanes after agreeing to a three-year, $7.5-million contract. Walker, a rugged right wing, could have become an unrestricted free agent July 1. He had 21 goals, 30 assists and 45 penalty minutes last season, adding toughness to a roster built primarily around speed.

Basically a very direct comparable to Scott Hartnell. Older with no upside, true. But Philly is paying Hartnell nearly twice as much. Just fucking stupid.

TSN : NHL - Canada's Sports Leader

Less money, for a better, younger player with more upside. God Philly is dumb.