Free Agent Food For Thought

I haven't posted in awhile, but I plan to start back up as we get closer and closer to the new NHL season.

Anyways, it was great to see the Maple Leafs name Dion Phaneuf as captain. I know some are saying he was the only choice and questioning the timing of the move, I think that it was a smart decision. When in Calgary, Dion was obviously being groomed to for a leadership role. He is a very passionate player on the ice, and I think he can set the tone for others to follow.

The Leafs also released their new jerseys. Not a complete overhaul, but the new jerseys are very nice. If you haven't had the chance to see them, here they are!

Now, onto the topic I came here to talk about. I was on Hockey Buzz reading that the Leafs are going to target both Marleau and Kovalchuk. Now, both are great players, but I have learned to take anything a certain rumour blogger writes with a grain of salt. Plus, I don't think getting either player is a great idea.

Hear me out. Yes, Kovalchuk is probably the best goal scorer in the NHL after Ovechkin. Yes, Patrick Marleau had an amazing regular season for the Sharks this year. Adding either player would certainly boost the offensive abilities of the Leafs.

However, both Kovalchuk and Marleau are expensive players. Kovalchuk is going to be looking for a long contract with $10 million per year, while Marleau will probably be looking for $7 to 8. The Maple Leafs do not have a lot of breathing room under that salary cap, and I believe we need to add more then one player to increase the quality of our top two lines.

Instead of looking for one player to fix our offensive woes, I think the Leafs should look for a 30 goal scorer and one or two 20 goal men. This might not be possible with just free agents - a trade may be needed. With all the rumours floating around about Kaberle, though, I think Brian Burke is already working on this.

So, who do I think the Leafs should be gunning for? One name I've heard is Nathan Horton. Horton is a proven producer who still has some upside. He is the big body we need to improve our powerplay, and 27 or more goals three times in his career. Last season, Horton put up great numbers and could have put up a career high in points if not for injuries. The rumours of Kaberle going to Florida continue to pop up, so maybe this move is already being discussed.

Who do you think the Leafs should look to bring in? Would you rather see them bring up players from the Marlies and their other prospects? Post below and let me know!

Congratulations Chicago Blackhawks

2010 Stanley Cup Champions

OVERTIME

Scott Hartnell ties it up late at 3-3. Who wins? Do the Flyers force a game 7 or does Chicago raise the Cup?

Will the Cup be raised tonight?

Chicago -105 +1.5 (-275)

Philadelphia-115 -1.5 (+235)

The Blackhawks will try to win the clinching game of the Stanley Cup tonight in Philadelphia. So far the home team has won every game at home in this series and the Hawks did in convincingly in game five by a score of 7-4. The Blackhawks looked like the dominant team for most of this game and took a 3-0 lead into the 2nd period. Three times the Flyers cut the lead to two goals but never got closer.

The Blackhawks proved to everyone and most importantly themselves how much better of a team they are then Philadelphia. Lets be honest, the Blackhawks were a lock to be a top seed in the West all season while the Flyers backed into the playoffs and squeaked in on a shootout in the final regular season game.

Expect the Blackhawks lines to be the same as game 5 and look for Pronger and the remainder of the Flyers to be more physical. The Flyers will need their forwards like Danny Briere and Simon Gagne to be better than game 5. The story of tonight's game will be Micheal Leighton. Leighton has been shaky most of the Stanley Cup Finals and will need to get hot tonight for the Flyers to force a game 7.

Prediction: Micheal Leighton will be poor at home tonight and the Blackhawks will find a way to win game 6. If the Hawks come out like they did in game 5, this game could be over early. Chicago wins the Stanley Cup.

Tuesday Timeout

Stanley Cup Update:

Both teams were given a rare day off on Monday due to the series not resuming until Wednesday night. All indications are that Chicago coach, Joel Quenneville is unlikely to shuffle his successful line combinations from Game 5. The Bolland-Versteeg-Byfuglien line that was so efficacious on Sunday night will stay in tact. Chicago seems to be saying all the right things and are approaching this game as if it were a game seven situation. As for Philadelphia, head coach Peter Laviolette is still not divulging who his starting goaltender will be in Game 6. In our opinion, although Michael Leighton struggled mightily in Game 5, he is the better choice to start Wednesday night. Leighton has been brilliant at Wachovia Center, and usually responds well after a poor outing. Plus, it's not as if Boucher looked stellar in goal after replacing Leighton the other night. However, we have all learned by now not to write the Flyers off, as they seem to thrive under adversity and when their backs are against the wall.

Interesting trends going into tomorrow nights game:

Philadelphia Flyers record when facing elimination this postseason is 4-0. Head coach Peter Laviolette is in the same situation that faced him as coach of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 when they were down 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Finals and ultimately won the Stanley Cup.

Chicago Blackhawks this postseason have won twice in a Game six on the road. Winning at Nashville 5-3 to close out Round One, and also winning at Vancouver 5-1 to close out Round Two. Don't forget they also won both road games in San Jose.

The fact that Chicago has won big games on the road before is the reason why we think that the series ends on Wednesday night. We are expecting a very close game, perhaps even tied with five minutes left. But in the end the Blackhawks will ultimately prevail and hoist the Cup in Philadelphia. Chicago appears to be hitting their stride offensively, and the fact that the Flyers are having goaltending questions in a Game 6 of the Stanley Cup is alarming.

Chicago (even) over Philadelphia

Blackhawks know the time is now

The Chicago Blackhawks are one win away from winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961. They also know if they fall short this season, it might be a while until they have another shot. The Chicago Blackhawks are in salary cap hell and will need to move more then a couple of players before next season if they are to field a team and no one knows that more than the players themselves.

Dale Tallon will be taking over the GM role in Florida next season and spent this season as the Blackhawks Senior Adviser of Hockey Operations after being the team's General Manager since 2005. Tallon did such a good job bringing in talent to the Blackhawks that starting next year, they can't fit them under the salary cap. That will be the job of Stan Bowman. Bowman took over the GM duties last summer after Tallon was re-assigned when he didn't get qualifying offers to six Restricted Free Agents in time. The paperwork mix up could have made those six players, (Versteeg,Barker,Eager,Fraser,Aaron Johnson and Brouwer) Unrestricted Free Agents.

According to CapGeek.com, the Blackhawks are just under $800,000 OVER the cap for next year with only 14 players signed not including their starting goalie Antti Niemi. They have signed 9 forwards, 4 defensemen and 1 goalie, Cristobal Huet. The Blackhawks are currently 9 players away from a full team (NHL allows a 23 man roster with 20 players dressed for each game) for the 2010-2011 season and must move some of their current players to open up space for either younger players in their system, the resigning of their own free agents, or outside free agents. The Blackhawks have 6 Restricted Free Agents on the list below that they must give offers too or lose them to free agency, notice one is their current starting goalie. How much is a Stanley Cup winner worth?

Lets take a look at the Blackhawks players under contract for next season:

Forwards

Toews, Jonathan $6,300,000

Kane, Patrick $6,300,000

Hossa, Marian $5,275,000

Sharp, Patrick $3,900,000
Bolland, Dave $3,375,000
Versteeg, Kris $3,083,333
Byfuglien, Dustin $3,000,000
Kopecky, Tomas $1,200,000
Brouwer, Troy $1,025,000

Defensemen

Campbell, Brian $7,142,874
Kieth, Duncan $5,538,462
Seabrook, Brent $3,500,000
Sopel, Brent $2,333,333

Goalie

Huet, Cristobal $5,625,000

Free Agents

Madden, John
Ladd, Andrew RFA
Eager,Ben RFA
Burish,Adam
Fraser,Colin RFA
Johnsson,Kim
Hjalmarsson,Niklas RFA
Hendry,Jordan RFA
Boynton,Nick
Niemi,Antti RFA

Lets Play GM
Looking at their forwards first, it would be safe to say that Toews, Kane and Hossa aren't going anywhere. However,Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg might be the 2 most movable forwards. Both players have reasonable contracts and their asking prices, especially Versteeg's might be pretty low. Some GM's around the league might wait this out in hopes to force the hand of the Blackhawks and obtain one or both of these players at low cost.

On defense, the most obvious contract Chicago would want to move is Brian Campbell. Campbell cashed in after solid seasons with the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres who were in a bit of salary cap hell themselves a few years back, traded Campbell to the San Jose Sharks at the trade deadline during the last year of his contract knowing they wouldn't be able to resign the puck moving defensemen. Chicago gave Campbell an 8 year deal worth over $7 million a season. While Campbell has been solid for the Blackhawks, he still only has 14 goals in his first two years and his defensive game is not among the leagues elite, it's safe to say his contract is not a very good one.

Cristobal Huet's contract was never a good one at 4 years and $5.625 million a season. It's even worse now that he is sitting on the bench as Antti Niemi backbones the team towards a Stanley Cup. This contract might be impossible to move as Huet has never been overly impressive and only a team with an injury or desperate for depth might take a shot at him. No team in the offseason will give up much of anything for Huet unless a major injury occurs at training camp. The Blackhawks I'm sure would love to sign Antti Niemi and his price might be high if they win the Stanley Cup. Niemi has proven many people wrong and been strong in net during the playoffs.

Possible Locations

Only a handful of teams are capable of taking on large salary this offseason so we will start with them. The New York Islanders are a team that currently sits about $15 million under the cap floor and about $30 million under the salary cap. The Islanders could be a perfect fit for Kris Versteeg as he played for Isles coach Scott Gordon in Providence and credits Gordon for turning his career around. Patrick Sharp's speed and veteran presence would be a great fit to a team that plays an uptempo pressure style that tries to create offense off of turnovers. The Islanders have a nice group of prospects and picks that could make a trade between these teams a cinch.

The Los Angeles Kings come off their first trip to the playoffs in 8 years and management has promised fans that they will go after some more talent this offseason. The Kings have just under $15 million in cap space and a trade for Patrick Sharp might be exactly what the Kings need. A solid, speedy second tier scorer to compliment or play with Anze Kopitar. The Kings aren't the fastest team in the league and an addition of Sharp would help them immensely and make the loss of Alex Frolov easier as HockeySureShot doesn't believe he will re-sign in Los Angeles.

The Sharks are a team that will look extremely different next year as they will lose several players to Free Agency if they don't resign them. San Jose could be a team looking to change things up after failing to get to the Stanley Cup Finals with their current group of players.

The Maple Leafs and Brian Burke are always a lock to try to do something nutty via trade and they might be a team that takes a chance on Brian Campbell. The Leafs are in need of a puck moving defensemen and he would fit in nicely in their system.

The Avs, Thrashers, Coyotes and Blues are all teams with cap room but will probably go the free agent route, rather than the trade route to field their teams this offseason.

What the Hawks must do or..

The Hawks must move at least 3 major contracts so they can resign some of their Restricted Free Agents, Free Agents or move up some of their prospects. The four players the Hawks will most likely attempt to move as we discussed are Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg, Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet. If the Hawks are successful in moving those players that would cut over $19 million dollars in salary giving the Blackhawks plenty of room moving forward. Problem is, will the Hawks get the interest they hope to get in moving these players? Will Chicago be willing to make trades receiving less in return then their market value? Or finally, will they have to buy out a few contracts just in order to be under the cap for next season. All of these questions will be answered in the next few months. For Blackhawks fans and their players and their management, they better win the Cup or it might make for the toughest offseason we have seen a team go through in the history of the sport.

Offseason Profile: New York Rangers

It could of been the fact that Mark Messier was on Versus last night, or perhaps that I read an article last night from the NY Daily news remembering the day ten years ago when Glen Sather was named GM in New York. Whatever the reason, I felt the need to start our off-season profiles with the team that was a shootout win away from making the playoffs, and eliminating the eventual Eastern Conference Champions from playoff contention.

As is always the case with the NY Rangers, they will be active on July 1st. It's just their nature as they will be unable to contain themselves from squandering MSG money on big name players. Last season it was Marian Gaborik, who when healthy, is one of the best snipers in the game. Who will it be this year? Marleau, Whitney, Kovalchuk?

Ranger Forwards:
Gaborik $7.5M till 2014
Dubinsky $1.8M RFA next season
Drury $7.05M till 2012
Callahan $2.3M RFA next season
Avery $1.9M till 2012
Voros $1M UFA next season
Anisimov $822k RFA next season
Boyle $525k RFA next season
Brashear $1.4M UFA next season

Unsigned: Jokinen,Prospal,Shelley,Prust,Cristensen

At first glance the Rangers really only have one first line forward(Gaborik) as it stands right now. Dubinsky and Callahan are solid players, that most teams would want in a trade if the Rangers were going to acquire another front line player, specifically a center. If they wanted to dump a bad salary, ex. Redden, Drury, Rozsival, they would have to include one of the two.

Sean Avery seems to be somewhat of a spark plug for the Rangers, but do they really need him and Donald Brashear eating up all that money? In all likelihood the Rangers will re-sign restricted free agents Prust and Christensen. I think Anisimov could be a pleasant surprise for them next year and add more offense.

The Rangers also are slowly building a stable full of promising prospects. According to the Hockey News Future Watch, the NY Rangers have three of the Top 25 prospects in the league. Ironically enough, all three of them have played center, with Evgeny Grachev moving to wing. Derek Stepan is a 19 year old center that scouts describe as a playmaker in the Craig Janney mold. Chris Kreider was their #1 pick last season, and is considered the fastest player from that draft.

Rangers Defense:
Redden $6.5M till 2014
Rozsival $5M till 2012
Gilroy $1.7M RFA next season
Del Zotto $1.08M RFA 2012

Unsigned: RFA Marc Staal, RFA Dan Girardi

This is where Ranger fans go crazy. I don't know a player in the league more vilified than Wade Redden(2 goals, 12 assists). Whats wrong with spending $2.5 million per goal? Of the Rangers top six defensemen, Redden registered the fewest amount of points with only 14. The drop-off in production for Redden since he has been on Broadway is astounding. At one point, the guy was a top offensive defensemen in the league. For the most positive of all Ranger fans, he did post a plus-8 rating this season.

Michal Rozsival is probably not too far behind on the Ranger fans most renounced list. Three goals and 20 assists is not enough production for that kind of cap hit. Unfortunately, for the Rangers contracts like these are what is handcuffing them. As we mentioned earlier, if they want to unload one of these guys, Dubinsky, Callahan, or one of their many prospects will have to go the other way. Will the Rangers bury Redden in Hartford and have him stay in the AHL? Could happen.

The rest of the Ranger defense is very young, and very talented. Other teams rave about Marc Staal, who will be re-signed by Sather this summer. At age 23, he will only improve of his solid numbers last year (8 goals,19 assists). Michael Del Zotto stepped in as a rookie this season and showed the enormous potential that he has. The minus-20 is indicative of the learning curve for a rookie defensemen. Gilroy and Girardi, who will probably be re-signed as well, which round out a solid core of blueliners. However, the Rangers still need a veteran presence to run the point on the power play and log plenty of minutes.

Rangers Goaltending:
Lundqvist $6.8M till 2014

Unsigned: Auld, Valiquette

One of the best goalies in the game, Henrik Lundqvist posted a .921 save percentage and a 2.38 GAA. As he goes, so do the Rangers. He has the ability to steal a game outright and gives the Rangers a chance to win every night. The workload has been heavy the last four seasons, and it may be a good idea to acquire a serviceable backup that could play around 15-20 games effectively.

It appears the Rangers have lots of money tied into a few key players. The fact that they are not getting the production from a few of their big salary players, makes it difficult for the organization to improve the club via trade or free agency. On the bright side, they do have promising prospects coming up through the system and one would expect the Del Zotto's, Staal's, Gilroy's, Anisimov's, and Girardi's all to improve. Having an elite goalie, and an elite sniper is also a plus. For the tenth straight year, Ranger fans will be counting on Glen Sather to fill the necessary holes on the New York roster this summer. Unfortunately, Ranger fans will have to hold the "Fire Sather" chants till opening night.