The Official 2012-13 NHL Offseason Thread
 

Tom Renney is gone in Edmonton.

Tom Renney will not be back as Oilers coach - CBSSports.com

So nobody else is waiting for next season? There should be around 26 or 27 of you out there who's team isn't playing anymore.

Already hearing rumors of Alexandre Semin going to Detroit. Not sure how I feel about that; the last thing we need is another lazy player who only plays when he feels like it. Any caps fans here with any input? (sorry HiFi)

Despite the Jets not being in it, I'm still enjoying the playoffs. I just like watching hockey. Plus it's hard to get excited about an offseason that's going to extend due to a lockout. Even the draft is a bit boring to me this year as I just don't know much about anyone beyond the top 3-4 and the Jets don't pick till 9.

Justin Schultz files to leave Wisconsin, 30 days before FA starts. Has some people confused and wondering if the Ducks might be able to get things done after all. Word was he was might wait as long as possible to see how bad the lockout was before deciding whether to return for his senior season

The Wings are calling a press conference tomorrow morning, 11:00 am EST. Holland and Lidstrom are expected to speak.

Oh dear...

Yeah, that's really too bad, HB, Lidstrom is still capable of playing at a very, very high level. While I like to see players leaving on their own accord, I really hate seeing guys leave when they are still that good.

I wonder if Ryan Suter will be in attendance...

feels good to read this thread and not be in my teams off season yet...

...but then, who knows how long this offseason will actually be

Lidstrom officially retiring. Can't say this is good news as he is still probably a top-5 d-man in the NHL but it is not totally unexpected.

Thank you Lids for the last 20 years in a Wings uniform. :(

Sad day for Wings fans and hockey fans in general. He’s been one of the best players in this generation.

The few glimpses of the Lidstromless Wings we’ve seen over the recent years have been a bit terrifying. The two times that Lidstrom missed any significant time with injury - this year and 2008 - the Wings went into a huge tailspin. They looked lost out there on defense. Perhaps with his retirement, the psychology will change and it wont be so bad (then again the Wings looked “lost out there on defense” throughout much of the Pedators’ series and Lidstrom was on the ice, though likely still struggling with that bone bruise.)

That said, as depressing as it is to see him go and how there is no “replacing” Lidstrom, this will be by far the most interesting off-season for the Wings in some time. It will also make the season a bit more interesting given the potential new faces and all of the question marks that will be surrounding a team.

As the Chinese proverb goes… May we live in interesting times.

This also likely marks the last of the 1997-98 Cup winners. With Lidstrom retiring, the likelihood of Holmstrom returning shrinks dramatically. Once those two are gone, that's it from those teams and that great era of Red Wings hockey.

I hate people

Pittsburgh Penguins Fan Sues Team For Texting Him Too Frequently - The Consumerist

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=397266

GMs are discussing potential rule changes, among them implementing a carry-over provision for late-game, "sending a message"-type penalties in postseason series, and hybrid icing.

But the best part of the article was this sweeping quote:

Marian Gaborik has a torn rotator cuff and will be out 5-6 months. Appears he had played for 2.5 rounds with it.

This is pretty great

70 page PDF download - http://sites.google.com/site/hockeya...attredirects=2

Maps out player usage by team. I'll use Pens as an example



Vertical axis is quality of competition, horizontal measures zone starts.

Circle size relates to players TOI. Blue = team outshoots opponent while on the ice / White = team is outshoot by opponent while on the ice.

What I take from this for Pittsburgh: Staal, and to a lesser extent Pascal Dupuis, were beasts.

Malkin and Neal got used a ton in the offensive zone, although they are more valuable there than in their own end. Plus, it's skewed by Crosby playing in only 20 some games. If you use Staal in the defensive zone, your other options past Malkin for most of the year were Joe Vitale, Craig Adams, and Ricard Park.

Wow, 2m seems like a steal for Vokoun. Wouldn't he have been a free agent? Couldn't he have gotten almost twice that on the open market?

I think it's a great price...if they aren't already paying Fleury $5M a year for the next 6 years.

I guess it makes sense in terms of having a guy who can play 30+ games, and start for a long stretch if Fleury is injured. But that extra $1M+ might be the difference between a top six winger and another tweener.

He would have been a UFA. He actually had a No Move Clause he had to waive to allow the move to happen.

Wow great find.

Sad.

In Hockey Enforcer’s Descent, Easy Access to Prescriptions - NYTimes.com


Hope those doctors, the NHL, and as much as it pains me to say, the Rangers are held responsible in some way.

Welcome to Hockeytown Mr. Parise!

Zach Parise says 'no way' he'll join Rangers, could re-sign with Devils

:D

New Evander Kane rumors. Sigh.


Renaud P Lavoie
‏@RenLavoieRDS

What's going on with the Jets ? I hear from a player on Winnipeg that Kane doesn't want to negotiate a new deal ?

The Wings re-signed Darren Helm. 4 years and $2.125 million a year.

A decent deal for a 3rd line center who kills penalties and his tons of speed. If he can continue to improve on his offensive game, he could be quite a bargain in years 3-4 of the deal. His importance to the bottom six forwards was very apparent when he was out injured.

Red Wings are the proud new owners of a 2014 7th round pick, as the Sharks sign Brad Stuart for 3 years @3.6 million per, and I assume there's a NTC or NMC attached given how badly he wanted to go back home.

That writing has been on the wall for a while now. Because of his family situation with his ex-wife, it was either play in San Jose - where she lives - or place someplace away from his kids. He's done that for the last several years and wasn't up for it anymore.

Good on the Wings for shipping him to San Jose early to give them time to work something. It's a pretty good deal for San Jose. Stuart's game slipped a bit this last year, but that could be in part because he was distracted by his family situation.

Still, the departure of 2 of the Wings top 4 defensemen leaves quite a large hole.

Decent deal for the Sharks and I am sure Stuart is ecstatic. Meanwhile, San Jose will rue the day they traded that coveted 7th rounder to us when it turns into a franchise player from somewhere in Europe. ;)

dola

Really like the Helm deal, he is a very important piece of the Wings present and future. $2 mil/year is not bad at all for a guy with his speed, work ethic, and potential. I still believe he can score 20 goals/year with more playing time.

An article on TSN indicates that Bobby Ryan may be on the trade block.

Bobby Ryan for Evander Kane + 'something' seems like a good start to some trade discussions...

There are much worse things to trade Bobby Ryan for. I wouldn't hate that too much

I would love to see Bobby Ryan in a Red Wings uniform. Not sure if that is a move Kenny Holland would make but he is the type of player we really need going forward.

The Rangers would kill for Ryan.

Would have only turned into Joe Pavelski, Ryane Clowe or Jason Demers for us. *shrug* ;)

Wonder if that was the longest part of the negotiations between Holland and Wilson because they inexplicably pull solid roster players or better out of their butts with late rounders.

The impression I get from hearing bits and pieces is that the Rangers aren't very realistic in talking about value for their young defensemen and what it would take to get Ryan and that's why it wasn't done last season. Whether that will change or if Murray takes a lesser deal we'll see.

If Kane is really that serious about wanting out of Winnipeg then Bobby Ryan would be one heck of a get. I wonder just how much more it would take though, Kanes a good asset too.

I think something like Kane + a second would probably be enough for me. It would depend on how affordable and amenable Kane is to playing in Anaheim and whether Ryan wanted to be the man on a smaller market team

What about Kane + Enstrom for Ryan, I wonder who says 'no' to that?

I would think Winnipeg. Unless Enstroms stock has seriously fallen since Atlanta.

I like Toby, but he's a UFA at the end of this year, and we have some replacement parts around on 'D'. Maybe Anaheim has to throw a pick or a prospect back?

Rumors swirling about Jordan Staal 1) wanting a top 6 role and 2) looking for $6M once his contract expires in 2013.

Kane for Staal? Kane with Crosby would be disgusting...and Matt Cooke would feel safer with Kane on his team.

Holy Balls is that Karlsson deal bad business for the Sens.

It MIGHT be worth it if he can manage 70 points per season...

Just saw this deal. I guess OTT thinks he will break 70 a season. I'm not sold on him as a #1 guy. Offensively, yes. Defensively, he's still young, but he's a little guy. While there have been guys who can play top pairing minutes at that size - Enstrom, Rafalski, Timonen - there are plenty more who get broken down.

I guess the idea is you have to be able to catch him to wear him down, but I just don't see him as physical enough.

At $6.5M, I at least know the range for Letang's deal in two years.

From an on-ice standpoint I think the Jets would make that trade and be willing to slot Staal onto the #1 line, but I don't know how willing they'd be to fork over $6M/yr.

I think we had a previous J Staal discussion going in one of these threads.

He's not a #1. Maybe if you are a non-playoff team. He's not really a great playmaker. Pretty good shot, with top 6 ice time he'd be around 30 goals a year. This year's playoff showing aside, one of the premier defensive centers in the league, excellent PKer, and decent faceoff guy now.

If you have a 75+ point guy on line 1, and he's your 2nd center (like he'd be in Carolina with his brother), you're gold.

For the Jets, I would see Staal being the #1 while they bring along guys like Scheifele and Burmistrov, with one of them ideally growing into that 75+ point guy that pushes Staal into the golden spot at #2 :)

But in the short term, the Jets have no one that I would put ahead of Staal. Little? I don't think so. Burmistrov? A ways off, if ever. Antropov? He'll be lucky to get more than 10 minutes a game this year, I suspect (unless management tries to boost his numbers for a possible sell-off at the deadline). And Slater is Slater.

The way I see it, Staal moves in between Wheeler and Ladd. Little plays with Burmistrov and Player X on the second line, ?ST form the checking line (I'd just move Miettinen into Glass's spot and let Glass go), and then Antropov plays with whoever else is leftover.

So it's done then, Kane for Staal and Letang. Deal! :P

I love hockey players.

NHL Players Mock LeBron James’ Leg Cramps Via Twitter During Game 4 Of NBA Finals « CBS Boston

As crazy as this sounds....Letang might be less movable than Crosby or Malkin. In theory, you move one of those 2 guys, you have the other. Pens have nobody who can replace what he does.

But, to be fair, I'll replace him in that deal with Paul Martin and a 7th round pick.

Best article I've read in awhile. Would read again.

I see what you did here.

I like that we're bargaining here. If you are willing to part with Malkin or Crosby rather than Letang, we would be amenable to that. So Staal and Malkin for Kane. Deal!