NHL Free Agency Starts Today

[mugs]

I wasn't paying attention to anything that was happening while I was down the shore this weekend, but it looks like the Devils still have a chance with Kovalchuk:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/pu...t=ArbGAxpuZjiBfDR_esdwZHt7vLYF?urn=nhl,253806

If it's 7 years/$60 million, I really hope he can produce enough to deserve that.

 

[Blackjack200]

I wasn't paying attention to anything that was happening while I was down the shore this weekend, but it looks like the Devils still have a chance with Kovalchuk:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/pu...t=ArbGAxpuZjiBfDR_esdwZHt7vLYF?urn=nhl,253806

If it's 7 years/$60 million, I really hope he can produce enough to deserve that.

I agree, $8.5/year is a pretty big number. Heck, it's almost as much as the Rangers paid Bobby Holik

I don't think they can fit that under the cap without trading Brian Rolston, which would probably involve losing our 1st rounder next year. God what an awful signing.

 

[mugs]

I agree, $8.5/year is a pretty big number. Heck, it's almost as much as the Rangers paid Bobby Holik

I don't think they can fit that under the cap without trading Brian Rolston, which would probably involve losing our 1st rounder next year. God what an awful signing.

Dumping Rolston is the ideal way to get it done, and would be a big step up. Getting someone to take Rolston is of course the hard part.

Maybe they could offer Rolston a few million a year to drive the Zamboni if he retires now...

 

[mugs]

Apparently Kovalchuk is talking to the Kings again.

This is getting tiresome.

 

[Firsttime]

Apparently Kovalchuk is talking to the Kings again.

This is getting tiresome.

Seriously? The guy can score and the Kings have the space, but I admired the Kings decision to save cap space for their home grown character players. I don't really want him to sign with them.

He's playing this out waaay to much. He can go to Russia now for all I care. If NJ gets him though it will make the trade scene interesting because they will need to dump some serious cap, some decent players could become available for some pretty cheap prices.

 

[Firsttime]

Just saw Buffalo got Rob Niedermayer for $1mil for the season. That's a great signing for them. His level of depth doesn't come much cheaper then that. With what some of these players are getting I'm surprised a character guy like him isn't getting more.

 

[sjwaste]

I can't decide what I want more - Kovalchuk to rot in Russia or NJ to sign him into cap hell.

This guy isn't worth 8M per. He'll score plenty to get a big contract, but he has no drive to win. Look at him in the playoffs.

 

[Blackjack200]

Just saw Buffalo got Rob Niedermayer for $1mil for the season. That's a great signing for them. His level of depth doesn't come much cheaper then that. With what some of these players are getting I'm surprised a character guy like him isn't getting more.

The only reason to pay Rob Niedermayer $1 million is the outside chance you can convince his brother to sign up for a playoff run.

I can't decide what I want more - Kovalchuk to rot in Russia or NJ to sign him into cap hell.

This guy isn't worth 8M per. He'll score plenty to get a big contract, but he has no drive to win. Look at him in the playoffs.

Damn you posting this in two different threads. Here's my response from the other one:

Not sure where people get that idea. He's only been in once before, and he was NJ's best player in the playoffs this year. In fact, him and Zubrus are pretty much the only players that bothered to show up. Waddel was effusive in his praise of Kovalchuk after trading him.

IMO Kovalchuk at $8.5 is better than Briere or Rolston's contract.

 

[sjwaste]

The only reason to pay Rob Niedermayer $1 million is the outside chance you can convince his brother to sign up for a playoff run.


Damn you posting this in two different threads. Here's my response from the other one:

Ha yeah, I realized I was in the wrong thread and posted it here. Comparing Briere and Rolston is pretty harsh.

Briere demonstrated in this last SCF run that he is worth his contract. He hasn't been spectacular in the regular season, but over the course of his career he's a PPG player in the playoffs.

I don't care if a guy can score 40 a season if he doesn't show up when it counts. Philly already has a guy in that ballpark - Jeff Carter.

 

[Firsttime]

Simon Gagne should be in that range too if he could stay healthy. Rolston has been a career two way forward who happened to put up a few 30 goal seasons on teams where he was getting a lot of ice time. He was never going to put up those numbers in NJ, although his style of play fits their's to a tee. In that sense it was an excellent signing, just one where he ended up vastly overpaid. 3-3.5 is where he should have been.

 

[Blackjack200]

Ha yeah, I realized I was in the wrong thread and posted it here. Comparing Briere and Rolston is pretty harsh.

Briere demonstrated in this last SCF run that he is worth his contract. He hasn't been spectacular in the regular season, but over the course of his career he's a PPG player in the playoffs.

I don't care if a guy can score 40 a season if he doesn't show up when it counts. Philly already has a guy in that ballpark - Jeff Carter.

Okay, but you can't criticize Kovalchuk's playoff performance based on a 9 game sample, especially not when he's scored 8 points in those 9 games.

Kovalchuk is also 5 years younger than Briere.

 

[Blackjack200]

Simon Gagne should be in that range too if he could stay healthy. Rolston has been a career two way forward who happened to put up a few 30 goal seasons on teams where he was getting a lot of ice time. He was never going to put up those numbers in NJ, although his style of play fits their's to a tee. In that sense it was an excellent signing, just one where he ended up vastly overpaid. 3-3.5 is where he should have been.

He's really been terrible. I wouldn't even complain if he was scoring 20 goals and contributing in other areas, but he hasn't been.

 

[Firsttime]

He's really been terrible. I wouldn't even complain if he was scoring 20 goals and contributing in other areas, but he hasn't been.

I honestly haven't seen much of his play since he was with the Bruins, back when he was top tier two way, leading the league in shorthanded goals. He may have gone to shit since leaving Minnesota. It seems like he tended to do well in places where he was depended on, in NJ they are just so much deeper. He may not have even been on their first PK unit.

 

[slayer202]

wade and bosh agree to play in miami

durant signs extension with thunder

we all wait on lebron

 

[Blackjack200]

I honestly have seen much of his play since he was with the Bruins, back when he was top tier two way, leading the league in shorthanded goals. He may have gone to shit since leaving Minnesota. It seems like he tended to do well in places where he was depended on, in NJ they are just so much deeper. He may not have even been on their first PK unit.

I don't know, he got plenty of opportunity here, I just think his age caught up with him. I know he has a reputation as a very fast skater, but he was honestly one of the slowest players on the ice for us, never seemed to get in on the forecheck or generate speed through the neutral zone.

 

[Firsttime]

I meant to say haven't there, haven't seen much of his play. Amazing how one little typo can change the entire meaning of my post.

I really doubt there are many teams that would be interested in Rolston these days unless NJ was willing to eat a lot of his contract and that is what they are going to need to get rid of. If Kovy signs with NJ they are going to have to back load his contract and still probably get rid of either Zajac or Zubrus, ideally they would get rid of Rolston or Arnott but I somehow doubt they will be able too.

 

[Blackjack200]

I meant to say haven't there, haven't seen much of his play. Amazing how one little typo can change the entire meaning of my post.

I really doubt there are many teams that would be interested in Rolston these days unless NJ was willing to eat a lot of his contract and that is what they are going to need to get rid of. If Kovy signs with NJ they are going to have to back load his contract and still probably get rid of either Zajac or Zubrus, ideally they would get rid of Rolston or Arnott but I somehow doubt they will be able too.

I knew what you meant, I was just trying to give you a sense for how he's played in NJ.

You can't eat contracts in the NHL anymore per the CBA, so whoever takes him in a trade (if we're able to trade him) would have to pay the whole thing. Also, cap hits are averaged out for the entire length of the contract, so backloading Kovalchuk's deal wouldn't help.

I doubt they'd trade Arnott as they just traded for him. I think the most likely scenario is trading Rolston along with a prospect or 1st round draft pick for a late round draft pick. i.e. we'd use the 1st rounder to bribe the team to take his contract. That or you could see Zubrus traded, which would be a shame since he's played well for us and really worked well on a line with Kovalchuk.

 

[sjwaste]

Okay, but you can't criticize Kovalchuk's playoff performance based on a 9 game sample, especially not when he's scored 8 points in those 9 games.

Kovalchuk is also 5 years younger than Briere.

Last year - 2 goals, 4 assists, from a winger. A winger whose only job is to fill the net. Wasn't one of those goals on a 5 on 3 where one of the defenders fell down, and the 3 were Asham, Carcillo, and Powe or something like that? I would definitely criticize that in the context of 8M per. I don't think he's a bad player, but I do think he's unproven in the playoffs, and my personal opinion is that he won't prove to be a clutch playoff guy.

Watch him out there in the playoffs. He just doesn't have the drive to score. Pronger knocked him around a little and he was done for his next few shifts. It's not like he makes up for that with great defensive play.

Half the NHL goes to the playoffs. 82 games, then potentially another 20+ to win it all. You don't need an 8M/yr guy for those first 82, you need him for those last 20. It's a big gamble on Kovalchuk is all I'm saying. Certainly not a guy I'd gut my team to have.

 

[Blackjack200]

Last year - 2 goals, 4 assists, from a winger. A winger whose only job is to fill the net. Wasn't one of those goals on a 5 on 3 where one of the defenders fell down, and the 3 were Asham, Carcillo, and Powe or something like that? I would definitely criticize that in the context of 8M per. I don't think he's a bad player, but I do think he's unproven in the playoffs, and my personal opinion is that he won't prove to be a clutch playoff guy.

Timonen boarded Parise on the low boards and fell down doing so, in the process, Parise got the puck back to Kovalchuk. I don't remember who else was on the ice for Philly at that point, but Kovalchuk walked around one of them and put a nice shot low on the stick side past Boucher.

Either way, are you really going to get that granular? One of Briere's goals in that series came from a slapshot streaking down the wing that my grandmother could have stopped.

Watch him out there in the playoffs. He just doesn't have the drive to score. Pronger knocked him around a little and he was done for his next few shifts. It's not like he makes up for that with great defensive play.

I did watch him in the playoffs this year (not in Atlanta) and I think we just saw different things. Maybe as the result of being a Devils vs. a Flyers fan. To me he was our most dominant player. Zach Parise, who is usually very good in the playoffs, disappeared. Elias was nowhere to be found. Kovalchuk was all over the place.

Half the NHL goes to the playoffs. 82 games, then potentially another 20+ to win it all. You don't need an 8M/yr guy for those first 82, you need him for those last 20. It's a big gamble on Kovalchuk is all I'm saying.

I have a very different view than most hockey fans on the playoffs: I think they are mostly luck. For example, I thought our team this year was much better than our 2003 Cup team, I don't think Pittsburgh was the best team in the East last year or the year before, and I think San Jose is one of the best teams in the league. My philosophy as a GM would be to build the best team I could and hope for the best in the spring. Kovalchuk would certainly be part of that.

 

[Firsttime]

Yeah, you're right, don't know wtf I was thinking. It will be interesting to see how it ends up in Jersey. I think popular consensus is that they need to do something to keep things interesting for their rather fragile fan base, no offense haha. Signing Kovy could be their move to keep the seats full. It caught me off guard they were still in on things.

 

[Blackjack200]

Yeah, you're right, don't know wtf I was thinking. It will be interesting to see how it ends up in Jersey. I think popular consensus is that they need to do something to keep things interesting for their rather fragile fan base, no offense haha. Signing Kovy could be their move to keep the seats full. It caught me off guard they were still in on things.

One of my friends who is a season ticket holder told his agent to call him back after they re-signed Kovalchuk. I wouldn't be surprised if many other STH did the same. However you feel about his playoff performance, the guy is spectacular to watch live.

 

[oogabooga]

I heard something about Nabakov going to the KHL, but don't see any news one way or another about him. I guess he didn't get the payday he wanted.

I have a very different view than most hockey fans on the playoffs: I think they are mostly luck. For example, I thought our team this year was much better than our 2003 Cup team, I don't think Pittsburgh was the best team in the East last year or the year before, and I think San Jose is one of the best teams in the league. My philosophy as a GM would be to build the best team I could and hope for the best in the spring. Kovalchuk would certainly be part of that.

I think most Hockey fans do acknowledge the playoffs have a huge element of Luck in it. A good team or a desperate team seems to be able to generate more of it, but having a better team is no indication of how you'll do. Even regular season matchups aren't. That's what makes them so interesting.

Kovy is certainly interesting, not a log of playoff experience really, but then again - he's still one of the top talents in the league for a scorer. Everyteam WANTS him, it's just not every team can afford him (cap or money).

 

[Firsttime]

Yep, according to CBC Nabokov is off to St. Petersburg. A 4 year deal, so that would pretty much be the rest of his career unless he pulls a Hasek.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2010/07/07/sp-nhl-nabokov-khl.html

 

[sjwaste]

Well, the forums timed out when I was responding. But in the meantime, I'm now seeing rumors that the Flyers have signed Nikolai Zherdev. This debate about whether Kovalchuk is a lazy Russian come playoff time is totally moot. The Flyers may have just brought on the laziest of all the Russian players in the league. This guy is so lazy he was, in fact, out of the league and playing in the KHL.

 

[Blackjack200]

Well, the forums timed out when I was responding. But in the meantime, I'm now seeing rumors that the Flyers have signed Nikolai Zherdev. This debate about whether Kovalchuk is a lazy Russian come playoff time is totally moot. The Flyers may have just brought on the laziest of all the Russian players in the league. This guy is so lazy he was, in fact, out of the league and playing in the KHL.

I don't know, I like Zherdev. I didn't get to see him play much, but he led a completely hapless Ranger team in scoring. I think some players get labelled lazy because of their style of play.

How much did he sign for? If it's <$4 million I think you got a real bargain.