The Official NHL Offseason (Cindy-free Zone) thread
 

As to not clutter up the playoff thread

Ovechkin - Hart
Crosby - Lindsay
Subban - Norris
Huberdeau - Calder
Bobrovsky - Vezina

Well done with the thread title, SB.

Wow...What's a Detroit fan doing posting in this Off-season thread before the finals are over??....oh wait.... :p

Look who's getting all fat and sassy after their first playoffs appearance in, what, a decade or so? Slow your roll, Chalupa! :)

Sadly,i'm sure the Wings will win 2 or 3 more cups before the Leafers do.

Chances are that Petr Klimas hair will likely come back into style again before the Leafs win a cup.

Interesting note on media voting for awards.

Pascal Dupuis finished 7th in Selke voting. He's pretty good defensively. Really good skater, solid on the PK.

But, Chris Kunitz finished 13th. And Crosby 15th!

How in the world did anyone score on a line that had 3 of the top 15 defensive forwards in the league!?!?! :p

Pavel Datsyuk, 3 year extension.

Bergy getting robbed in the Selke voting. Grrrrr

But he did get the King Clancy, that's gotta be worth something, right?

True. And I'm sure you ask him he'd rather have Lord Stanley's Cup than the Selke.

To further highlight why media people shouldn't be voting on these...

Toews had 167 total votes.
Bergeron, 164.

3 writers left him off their ballot entirely.

ETA: Most recent # I can find, 2011 there were 177 members of the PHWA. So some guys aren't even submitting ballots most likely.

$7.5m per

This news makes me happy.

LA signs Slava Voynov to 6 year, $25m extension ($4.167m)

SJ signs Logan Couture to 5 year, $30m extension ($6m)

Philly agrees* with Mark Streit to 4 year, $21m deal ($5.25m)

* Will not have cap space to complete deal until, as rumored, Bryzgalov and Briere bought out on July 1

Woot, got Voynov locked up long term!

I really like that deal. He's not a #1...but he's a top 3 on any team in the league.

Figures a Penguins fan would be whining just like Cindy.

The Pens didn't trade for enough captains or can't miss players this year to go along with having 2 of the top 5 players in the league and one of the top 10 defensemen in the league. They just needed one or two more players and they would've had it!

lol, they have the same viewpoint of the Finals as the Flyers do and the Flyers don't have the shame of being the "hands down favorites" to win it all and not even make the finals.

The thread title is just a Penguins fan's tantrum after being asked to take it to another thread because they were taking up space in the Playoff thread talking about their crappy team/players. It's the finals, talk Bruins and Blackhawks in that thread now (show their fans some respect, their teams earned it). Not who did what in the regular season from a team watching the finals on TV.

But not THE top player. Laviolette announced who that was last year.

Only somebody not really interested in the games would continually throw out "Cindy". It reeks of fanboy inferiority complex.

Never fear. Philly will win some year, if they keep signing a new goalie every two years, and defensemen to 35+ contracts, it's bound to work at some point.

Waaaaaaa waaaaaaaaa.... typical Penguin fan...

This thread is for talking about the offseason.

Maybe start an "Obsessed with players and teams other than my own" thread?

Okay, guys. 26 other teams are watching the Finals, too.

Congrats to the Grand Rapids Griffins winnings the Calder Cup!

Yeah, but Toronto doesn't count, they're used to it

Zing.....


Another upset PIT fan that we didn't beat the Bruins.:p

What you guys needed is a proven, Stanley Cup winning goaltender. Therefore, Marc-Andre Fleury is yours. We'll call it even.

Jets/Capitals get to square off in some place called Stirling-Rowden, last years Kraft Hockeyville, for a pre-season game in September.

Yay?

PING claphamsa

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=6...d=nhl:topheads

well, Ill have to put my faith in Joe, as I dont know shit :) that being said, Center isnt really a need... and D is a huge need.... so.....

If they truly believe Mackinnon is the best player, then so be it.

More shocking to me that saying anything like this seems so out of character for Joe.

yeah, maybe its a smoke screen to try to up the price to trade the pick.... maybe FLA really wants Mac....

I guess now that the Calder Cup is in the Calder City, all is right with the world.

not super surprised. MacKinnon just seems more and more like a guy that you don't want to let go.

if there was a guarantee that Jones would reach his potential, I think they'd take him. But top ranked D are no sure thing (which the Avs can see first hand in Erik Johnson)

edit - in the SBN mock draft, we took MacKinnon and Florida took Drouin with Jones falling to 3rd
http://www.sbnation.com/nhl-mock-draft

There are people who like Drouin as the BPA.

From things I've read the comparisons I've seen most often:

Mackinnon = Tavares w/ speed
Drouin = Kane/Giroux
Jones = Pietrangelo/Niedermayer

Right that's why I said two of the top five...not the Top player in the world and another top 5 player ;)

Rumor has it Lindy Ruff is going to sign on to coach the Stars....

Jonathan Bernier to Toronto.

I didn't think Reimer was too bad. Pushed Boston to 7 games, had them beaten until the team as a whole shit the bed.

Yeah, it's a strange deal. Reimer was top ten in every major category last year, yet going back to the weeks leading up to the deadline the Leafs have been focused on getting anyone they could find to replace him.

The price for Bernier wasn't exorbitant, but it just seems like an odd use of resources for a team with so many other glaring holes.

Edit: take a week to settle down. I know you have been dealing with some health issues and really hope you will return.

Wow...unravel your panties and take a chill pill. It's sports trash-talking banter.

Dude, seriously. SB only put the Flyers in the title as a joke because you kept complaining about off-season posts in the playoffs thread. It was all in good humor. Chill.

I prefer EF not chill and keep bringing the stereotypical Philly-fan posts that he's always complaining about!

You don't have to worry about it, he said on Facebook this morning he has some health issues and is done with FOFC.

Honestly had no idea there were health issues. Maybe that explains the obsessive nature...

I'll change the damn title. Sort of.

So the Jets have extended Claude Noel for 1 year. I'm not sure what to think of that. I don't really agree with the entire 'lame duck' concept for coaches (players aren't 'lame ducks' the year their contract expires, if anything people expect them to play harder). But if you do, does a 1-year extension really change anything? Isn't it basically a transparent "we don't want to hear the lame duck stuff anymore but we still don't really know if we like this coach" contract?

As for Noel himself, I really don't know what to make of him. He is trying to coach a pretty low-talent team, so it's hard to blame him for the teams record. At the same time, he hasn't really done anything obvious from a coaching perspective that has made me think "wow, this guy is good". He has battled with players (Burmi most famously), had terrible special teams, and done nothing novel in terms of any kind of systems. But at the same time, the Jets have come rather close to the playoffs both years and really do have a lot of Turd Fergusons filling the roster.

So....yay?

I pointed this out when Dan Bylsma just signed his 2 year extension.

July of 2008, Michel Therrien signed a 2 year extension. February 2009, he was out of a job.

If ownership is willing to eat a year of salary, he can be gone.

Congrats to the home team for first ever hockey championship. This will do wonders for the young Wings prospects. Tatar won the Butterfield trophy as best playoff performer with 16 goals in just 24 games. If he can perform half as well in the NHL for the Wings, we have a player.

Rumored that SKA St. Petersburg (KHL) has offered Bobrovsky $10M

Poor Columbus

The Flyers have announced they are buying out Bryzgalov.

I think the Flyers are using the Jump To Conclusions map from Office Space to make their decisions at this point.

Brian Boucher is still active, right?

DOLA

Connecting the dots...



Bobrovsky to KHL. Bryzgalov to Columbus. Bryzgalov wins Vezina.

TROLA

Found these at HF. Fantastic.

And now we see who overpays for Brian Bickell.

Alot of good stuff in here

Player Usage Charts

Trying to understand what I'm looking at, does this link tell me that Claude Noel basically screwed Scheifele by starting him in his own zone and playing him against top players the majority of the time?

Player Usage Charts

Yep

But I guess you can take out of that, while facing better opponents, and getting mainly defensive zone draws, he gave up less shots/60 than Jim Slater did against similar competition.

Slater, Miettinen, and Wright (and arguably Antropov) were worse. So he's not the worst on the team!

Cool, thanks! My interpretation is not that Scheifele wasn't good, it is that Noel didn't do anything to help him build confidence or really have much chance for success in the traditional form (ie points) while trying to make the team.

I try not to use the numbers to base opinion on a player, but more to reconcile what I believe I saw.

I'd bet Noel would say his numbers are because he kept him out of the top 6 to avoid putting pressure on him to need to produce immediately. Playing bottom 6 minutes, not going to see as many offensive zone draws. And similarly, opponents will load up their stars with o-zone faceoffs.

Very much a chicken/egg argument.

What do people think Nathan Horton will get as a UFA? 28 y/o, 2 very good playoff runs, but a middling regular season, and 2 pretty severe concussions in 2011 and 2012.

I think some team will throw money on him. He's got size, can score 30 goals, though the concussions and other injuries are a concern. I could see him getting $5 million a year or so for a decent number of years. I guess it depends a bit on the shoulder as well.

It's a pretty thin crop and he's pretty close to the top of it given his skill set and age.

Randy Miller got destroyed on twitter for his outbursts against Bryz and rightfully so.

Sorry I wasn't here to support you earlier EF!

Despite being a Flyers fan I'm not really a trash talker (probably because I wasn't born in Philly...) - but I need a damn stanley cup.

I would be ok with an Emery/Mason tandem. I do not want Nabokov.

Very excited for Sunday to get here to see what happens. Please do not trade Couturier, Homer.

That's the feeling I get too, but the media (and Chiarelli/Horton) seem to be implying he'll take a discount and be back. He made $4m this year, and even with Tuukka's raise we can fit him back in at that cap figure - I'd probably go up to $5m/y, especially if the years were 3-4, but 5+ years or >$5m/y and I think he's gone.

Jagr and Ference have been told we won't be re-signing them (I'm guessing Khudobin will be joining them, but maybe he'll re-sign if there's no interest), Kelly and Peverly are probably on the trade block - both solid players, but too high a cap figure to be bottom 6 forwards.

Media's trying to float trade rumors about Lucic, Marchand, and Seguin. I actually wouldn't mind Lucic being traded - yeah he's a great net-front presence, but his backchecking and breakout passes are terrible. Krejci and Horton did 90% of the work on that line. Seguin is the crazy one in my eyes - he doesn't dig in hard enough in the corners, but he's still only 21 and imo there's a really good chance he makes the leap in the next 2 years. He easily led the team in shots in the regular season and tied with Bergeron for the playoff lead even while being dropped down to the 3rd line for much of it - the fact that he had only 1 playoff goal (and Jagr had 0) was just bad luck rather than any severe drop-off in play.

Trading Seguin would be pretty silly, what are they floating as what they'd be looking for in return?

I won't profess to know what's waiting down in Providence, but who would be the replacements be?

Penguins extend Kunitz for 3 years, $3.85m per, goes into effect 14-15 season. Slight bump from the $3.725m he is currently making.

Wonder if this spells the end for Dupuis. Shero and his agent have met a few times recently, but I think someone is offering him $4m+ for 4 years, and the Penguins can't match that.

I don't understand why any of the Philly media can get upset for what Bryz did to them. They are jerks that just stir up trouble. They whine when the players don't talk to them or give them good lines but when they do, the media twists and takes things out of context.

On a side note, I have spoken to Randy Miller and found out that he grew up on the same street that I did as a kid. No wonder he's always ripping the Flyers...he's a Pens fan...like his other beat writer buddy Panotch. :)

Still space available on the bandwagon for you!

I don't think you can fit me under the cap.

We'll trade Crosby and Malkin to fit you in.

Then buy you out in 2 years.

Tampa is buying out Vinny Lecavalier. Wow, that's a tough pill to swallow for Tampa. Huge money. He'd look great in red and white!

I imagine Toronto/Montreal will make a very strong push for Vinny.

Black and Gold baby!!

If only we didn't have Savard's dead-ass dragging our cap space down still (right?)

Savard's contract only hurts them in the offseason (Same for Philly with Pronger).

Teams can be over the cap ceiling by 10% in the offseason.So up to $70.7m this year.

But, they must be cap compliant on the opening day of training camp, $64.3m. And can not stash players on LTIR until the start of the season.

Still - it hurts them. Couldn't the dude just fucking retire already - we all know he's never coming back, it's a fucking joke at this point.

Note: My anger shouldn't be taken as disrespect for his medical condition - we all know it's real. But I mean it's just patently obvious he'll never play another shift, so why not just frigging retire already?

Because he keeps getting paid?

You are allowed to ride that high horse once you turn down over ten million dollars for no reason at all.

Being rumored Letang turned down a deal from Pittsburgh, 8 years in the range of $55m.

So, if that's the case...he's traded by Sunday at the draft.

I just read on twitter from one of the TSN guys that the Pens offered Letang a deal worth over $7 mil per.

Rumor was he wanted $7m+ and a NMC.

Guessing they didn't give him that. I understand from a Pens perspective. If 1/2 the prospects they have on D pan out, they'll have a top 4 that will cost a combined $7m for a few seasons, and would want to move him then.

How could he turn that down? That's cray.

Because if he makes it to UFA after next season, he'll be getting $8m probably

Assuming he has another strong year and the playoffs were an aberration. That's quite the gamble. Maybe he just hates Cindy! Yeah, I'll go with that for now.

Haven't even heard anything concrete, likely because it's so far-fetched. Even a trade like the Kessel one (which got us 2 top 10 picks used for Seguin and Dougie Hamilton) wouldn't be a good thing imo because Chara only has a couple more years left at an elite level.Defense is fine from the farm... Hamilton, Bartkowski, Krug all got varying degrees of playoff time, and Maxim Chudinov is still out there in Russia. Up front, Soderberg finally came over and I liked what I saw when he played, Ryan Spooner looks very good, and Jared Knight has potential but was banged up most of the season. Khoklachev is likely a couple years away, and same with the other guys who might break out. (Again, I think it's unlikely based on Chiarelli's track record), but trading any one of those 3 (Marchand, Lucic, Seguin) would likely be to free up the cap room to sign Horton and another top 6 winger. I was surprised Chiarelli told Jagr we wouldn't be pursuing him - I had no illusions he would take $1 less to sign here, but if he wanted a fairly cheap 1 or 2 year deal I thought he fit in well here. If we trade Kelly or Peverly, we'd probably sign a veteran PK guy - both seem over-priced at $3m+ for their role, but what's the going rate for players like that now?Agree with SR here - Savard only costs $4m, so he fits in the difference there. If it was really hamstringing our moves I assume we would just use our amnesty/buy-out on him (unless there's a rule against using it on an injured player?)

Yep, can't buy out an injured guy. Main reason why MIN is stuck with Heatley. Same for SJ with Havlat.

Damned Swedish thugs

Winnipeg Jets defenseman Tobias Enstrom assaulted, robbed in Sweden - ESPN

MacKinnon or Jones? Which do you take with the #1?

MacKinnon.

Seguin rumor is we're looking for a top 10 pick and an all-star forward. I guess is some team wants to give us all that, go for it, but it makes no sense. Chiarelli's basically banking on some team trading for Seguin based on him making the leap to franchise player in the next two years while showing no confidence in him actually doing so.

Yeah - no way they're going to get that for him.

For Pittsburgh...Drouin. ;)

Although would be nice to corner the market on Cole Harbour boys.

Letang deal done.

$58m over 8 years, $7.25m per. A little above what I was hoping for.

Limited NTC - 15 teams. Still leaves enough wiggle room, if, in a handful of years, all the D drafted in the past 3 seasons are pushing him, with much cheaper contracts.

Overall solid though. Still only at $3.5m next year when the cap dips, this won't kick in until 14-15, when Orpik and a few other contracts expire.

Really surprised the Rangers are keeping Richards. That's showing a lot of faith in the new coach.

He's only a year away from putting up good stats, and wouldn't be the first small, skilled player whose production Torts hurt. Plus they can always buy him out next year I believe.

Mild surprise with Barkov going 2nd there. Nashville just had their Suter replacement fall into their laps.

Mike Smith 6 year, $5.7m AAV. Not a fan of that, as Tuuka should get at least $1m more. There's at least a one in 3 chance Smith's contract looks terrible within 2 seasons - he had one great year and an average one last year.