Comments on: July 2, Free Agency Column

By: FlamingHomer

FlamingHomer — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:02:36 +0000

I thought that was a great idea and rumor has it that Vancouver does too.

By: BruMagnus

BruMagnus — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:15:18 +0000

hmm interesting... both of you make interesting points.

Why one year? Does he really think the Wings can repeat right away? That hasn't happened in a while. Why not 2-3 years?

Agreed that playing with Zetterberg and Datsyuk all year and in the playoffs will bump him up.

Agree with AHLoldie that Hossa can command even more next year. Imagine, the Wings win the Cup and Hossa is a Conn Smythe contender or winner... AND the Cap rises to $60 million... he could make $12 a year for 7-8 years to finish off his career. Even if they don't win the Cup again but he has another solid playoffs (and regular season) someone will offer him $11 million WHEN the Cap goes up... very bold move.

By: habsrock99

habsrock99 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:57:24 +0000

I think you're the only one off. Hossa could of broke the bank if he wanted this year. Not all of his offers were in the 7-8 million dollar range. He turned down a 9 year/81 million dollar contract(9 mill per year but also front loaded) from Edmonton. And he could of signed wherever he wanted this year, look at his Play-Off performance, 12 goals and 26 points in 20 games.

By: AHLoldie

AHLoldie — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:35:04 +0000

Boy are you guys off base! Hossa is looking out for HOSSA! He didn't want a long term contract which would lock him into a 7+ MIL contract. He's gambling that by going to a cup contender, and signing only a one year contract, he can break the bank next year, and sign wherever he wants. He won't care where he plays then. It will be all aout the money. The Pens weren't about to fall for the one year scam. This contract is strictly a rental deal. 7 MIL is not what he is looking for.

By: mojo19

mojo19 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:16:49 +0000

Wow, ya I saw that on TSN, I have to say i gained a lot of respect for Hossa there. I know Bru you hate it cuz he bolted from your team but I have to say I respect his decision and if I was in his position i would want to become a Red Wing under whatever terms both sides could agree on. 1 year $7.4 mil? Sounds good.

By: habsrock99

habsrock99 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:22:49 +0000

They still downgraded majorly. Huselius is a 2nd line winger at best where as Zherdev has proven he's a Top Line winger. This move makes zero sense and Scott Howson should be fired because of it. They could of kept Zherdev and STILL signed Huselius to a 4 year deal. Like I said, they have 20 million in Cap Space. Before the trade they had around 25 million because they sent 2.5 mill to New York and took 5.144 in return.

Before the trade, the Jackets had Mike Commodore, Jan Hejda, Rostislav Klesla, Kris Russell and Ole-Kristian Tollefssen slated to be their Top 5 defencemen with Marc Methot and Aaron Rome fully capapable of being an NHL defenceman. Not to mention Joe DiPenta, Steve McCarthy, Alexei Zhitnik, Dmitri Kalinin, Andrei Zyuzin, Jeff Jillson, Steve Montador, Oleg Tverdovsky, Bryan Berard, Andrew Hutchinson, Marek Malik, Paul Mara, Jason Smith and Sandis Ozolinsh all available via Free Agency who would of been cheaper and could of filled the Jackets open D spot admirably. All of these guys would of cost less then 4 million easily with most costing in the 1-1.5 million range.

Prior to the trade, the Jackets needed 5.5 million to reach the Cap minimum. They sign one UFA defenceman(say Paul Mara) to a 4 year 14 million deal(3.5 per). All you need now is 2 million to reach the minimum. Not too hard when RJ Umberger and Pascal LeClaire are RFA's and coming off rather impressive seasons. Sign Umberger to a 5 year 23 million dollar deal(4.6 per) and LeClaire to a 6 year 32 million dollar deal(5.33 per, just below what Nash makes) and there you go, the Jackets are now 7.93 million above the Cap without giving Zherdev away. Thus leaving them looking like this going forward:

Nash-Umberger-Zherdev
Torres-Brassard-Huselius
Modin-Malhotra-Boll
Chimera-Novotny-Sestito/Murray/Pineault/Dorsett

Mara-Commodore
Klesla-Russell
Hejda-Tollefssen

LeClaire
Norrena

By: habsrock99

habsrock99 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:49:09 +0000

Actually, you have it a little mixed up. The Wings offered Hossa a 1 year 8 million deal originally and he said "OK" but Holland said that he couldn't finalize it until he ran it by Lidstrom because he promised Lidstrom a few years ago that he'd be the highest paid player on the team so Hossa in turn said "You know what, just give me what Lidstrom makes and it'll be fine"

By: BruMagnus

BruMagnus — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:02:29 +0000

That's very interesting and I will wait a year to find out the reasons why.

What is more interesting is that the Wings came out and said: "Marian, you're not as important as Lidstrom so if you really want to play with us you have to accept you're less important than Nik and sign for no more than he makes, despite any other offers and the fact that the Cap has risen." and his reply, you ask? "Umm.. Ok! That sounds great!"

By: BruMagnus

BruMagnus — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:59:38 +0000

So the Rangers can lose Jagr, Avery and a few defensmen (you didn't list but we know who they are), and the Pens can lose Hossa, Malone and a few 3rd-4th liners (you know who they are) and despite the fact we TOOLED the Rangers in the playoffs, they somehow are now the East's elite and the Pens are at risk of missing the playoffs??

I don't follow your logic.

By: BruMagnus

BruMagnus — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:57:40 +0000

Ryan Malone has grit now? And Ruutu?

I agree about losing Roberts (a trade you've always hated) and Hall (who we both agree is solid, and I cannot believe he only got 600K and the Pens didn't get him).

Question: When Malkin went cold in the last 2 rounds... did Ryan Malone step up at all?? I seem to recall him doing NOTHING without Malkin on fire, same for Sykora, sadly.

I said before that I envision Malone as a old-school Glen Murray or Mike Knuble, a guy that mooches points off of really talented players, but slumps when they do as they have no internal breakout game.

We lost Malone. Meh. You yourself said it was no big deal and he was the lowest on your priority.

Losing Hossa sucks as him and Crosby would have been magical all year and it leaves a void there.

Losing Christensen, meh.

Losing Armstrong.. hopefully he'll be back next season when he's UFA again. We could use his grit.

But at least we got Orpik signed as you really wanted.

The CORE of this team is still intact and the best in the NHL.

NO ONE, except maybe Detroit, sports the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Gonchar, Whitney, Fleury and Staal.

Heck, with the overabundance of NHL-ready D-men now, and the fact that you need a cheap plugger like Scuderi in there, Whitney may get traded for a winger..

how about Staal and Whitney for Rick Nash and Jakub Voracek or a 1st/2nd rounder?