i know i know. the oilers were the 8th seed.

but really, we should be trying to rebuild a long-term future.

“Kilger will earn $1.2 million next season, $800,000 in 2007-08 and $700,000 in 2008-09. He earned $475,000 this season”

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-mapleleafs-kilger&prov=ap&type=lgns

Ken Campbell say the leafs are roughly at 37.5 including the RFAs who got qualifiers.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1151791810901&call_pageid=968867503640&col=970081593064&t=TS_Home

i think the winner for the northeast division teams so far is Boston.

they got quicker with Donovan and Savard to add to Bergeron and Boyes. they got Chara on D now and have a solid tandem in net (not to mention Rask as a solid goaltending prospect and Phil Kessel).

if i am Bruins fan, things are loolking up and the future is bright.

the Sens lost Pothier and Chara but the Corvo and Gerber signings keep them the best team in the division. they resigned Redden to a sensible deal (JFJ, are you listening?) and there’s still the Havlat situation to consider.

i put toronto about 3rd out of the 5 teams in terms of their offseason moves (behind ottawa and boston but ahead of montreal and buffalo). and by offseason moves i mean buyouts, drafting, resignings, UFA signings, letting guys go, everything.

JFJ has made all the right decisions in terms of resigning guys and buyouts but the choices he’s made concerning the D and goaltending are very risky (and unnecessarily risky in my opinion). risk is always involved, but there are degrees of risk.

my hope resides in Maurice and what he can do with a slightly better Leaf team from last year (along with some more unrealistic hopes for incredible, earth shattering trades).

Boullion and Huet and that’s about it?

and why oh why are people not coming out of the woodwork laughing and taunting hab fans over their team’s inactivity like leaf fans were in the last UFA period (and were justifiably inactive considering how much payroll had to be trimmed)???

could it be that some HTR members are finally growing up and realizing that making UFA signings or being active in the UFA market isn’t always a good thing?

no, i actually think that the Candaiens just dont rile up the kind of animosity that the Leafs do.

however, there are some free agents left out there and i wonder if they are at all active in the chris pronger sweepstakes. tsn.ca is reporting that they think the deal will go down in the next 24 hours and that the Ducks appear to be the frontrunners.

ouch for the western conference teams if niedermeyer and pronger team up.

would you rather sign Shanahan or trade for Roberts?

Roberts: 14 goals, 40 points in 58 games. 40 years old … salary of 2.25 million in the final year of his contract.

Shanahan: 40 goals, 81 points in 82 games. 37 years old … will probably sign for a salary between 2.5 and 4 million and will probably want a mult-year deal.

shanahan’s asking price will be higher considering he is coming off a good year. keep in mind that Roberts is probably just as fit as Shanny, played fewer games than Shanahan and for a worse team. Roberts brings intangibles to the game but so does Brendan.

i am surprised he hasnt resigned with Detroit. if the leafs sign Shanny they dont give up anything other than cap space. but Roberts will be in the final year of his deal.

thoughts?

i say if the leafs can sign Shanahan for less than 3.5 million and for no more than 2 years, i would do the deal.

i know gill is a defencemen, but the fact that he’s making 2.1 and McCauley 2 million, seems pretty ludicrous.