NHL Free Agent Frenzy!

[Tingkai]

And CP says Carter is going to the Canucks. Damn, the Leafs should have picked him up.

[Ben Kenobi]

Canucks sign Anson Carter for 1-year, $1M contract.

Cool, that's a good deal.

[Asher]

Off the hook
Loyal Flames fans hold no grudge over lockout while dialling up their tickets
By ERIC FRANCIS, CALGARY SUN

Ken King refuses to use the s-word or the c-word these days. But the reality is sellouts and capacity crowds will provide the backdrop for each and every Flames game this season.

Long before the puck drops Oct. 5 to open a new era for the NHL, every seat in the Saddledome will be spoken for.

If you don't have tickets by month's end, you won't get any. The Calgary Flames will be sold out this year. It's that simple.

Harkening back to the franchise's glory days of the '80s, a sizeable waiting list for season tickets is growing, the possibility of buying game-day seats will be a pipe dream and scalpers will have a heyday hawking upper-loge seats in a city that has more reason than any other to be hyped up about the NHL's return.

"We have 600 game packs and 2,500 people who want them -- that's just a taste of it," admitted team president Ken King yesterday, cautious not to take anything for granted in a city on the verge of losing its team just five years ago.

"We have 713,000 seats to sell (17,400 tickets over 41 games) and, yes, there is a chance we may complete all those transactions."

Pay no attention to his soft-shoe -- it will happen.

Today at 2 p.m., the Flames website will unveil its Game Packs, which will boil down to being an exercise in public relations as the club tries to quench an insatiable desire for ducats. The team didn't even bother advertising the announcement.

"Our phones are ringing all day every day -- the response is literally overwhelming," said King.

"In the face of what appears to be incredible demand we want to exhibit fairness and be loyal to those loyal to us. What do you say to someone who cancelled season tickets, regrets it, wants them back and we've sold their seats? You try to get them back in the building."

That won't be easy in a city where the hundreds of thousands who walked the Red Mile fully expect to see their team hailed as a preseason Stanley Cup favourite.

Thanks largely to the Flames' 2004 playoff run, a returning core of the team and the recent free-agent signings, the hockey hysteria in Calgary is truly unique in a league where overall revenues and interest will fall considerably due to the lockout. Teams around the U.S. are begging fans to return with ticket discounts and other incentives. Even Leafs fans are having a hard time getting pumped.

"When I was asked during the lockout, 'what are you going to do to get your fans back?' -- I never answered that because for us it's a different question," said King without a hint of arrogance.

"Our question was, 'how are we going to ensure we meet the demand of the fans that are coming back because it may outstrip supply?' "

So how did it come to this?

"We performed the single greatest marketing act, which is creating a team around which people can gather and be attached to," said King, crediting the owners' dedication and Darryl Sutter's genius.

That act started in 2004 and has been added to significantly by way of a new CBA, which Sutter has used brilliantly to maximize resources.

The last time the Flames played hockey they did so in front of 12,700 season-ticket holders -- a number boosted during the playoffs and now dwarfed. Suites, club seats and lower-bowl tickets are long gone. It's a far cry from the days when, in the midst of seven years without playoffs, ownership had to beg for support during the Save Our Flames campaign of 2000. It was then you couldn't give Flames tickets away. Now, they're as hot a commodity as oil.

And almost as hard to find.

[Ninot]

Good for Calgary (and Edmonton too if that holds true for them). They've been deserving this for so long.

I'm gonna be in a rush to buy tickets for the Habs, but I have a feeling i'll still be able to walk up and get tickets till December. By January tho everything usually sells out.

[Hot Mustard]

Originally posted by Tingkai
And CP says Carter is going to the Canucks. Damn, the Leafs should have picked him up.

There's a theory that Ferguson has basically realized this season is a wash, so all he's willing to do is give has-beens and oft-injured guns one last, cheap, chance.

Next season's free agency pool will be even stronger than this year, and the Leafs will have much more room to play in it.

[Flubber]

Oh Asher

thanks for the heads up-- I'll be jumping online right at 2 to try to snare a gamepack

[Seeker]

Anyone else think this line will come back to haunt Tingkai?

"More importantly, the Leafs have players with links to Toronto, who understand the history and meaning of being a Leaf. These types of players always outperform for the Leafs."

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Seeker
Anyone else think this line will come back to haunt Tingkai?

"More importantly, the Leafs have players with links to Toronto, who understand the history and meaning of being a Leaf. These types of players always outperform for the Leafs."

That's a serious statement? . I assumed it was sarcasm or irony given their performance since the late 1960s .

[Asher]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=133790

Lecavalier deal the buzz of Olympic camp

Phillips and St. Louis

Canadian Press

8/17/2005 6:32:39 PM

KELOWNA, B.C. (CP) - On the ice, it was the same as always. Martin St. Louis spun around in the corner and fed a perfect pass to linemate Vincent Lecavalier, who one-timed a blast past Roberto Luongo to give Team Red a 1-0 lead Wednesday over Team White at Canada's Olympic hockey camp.

Lecavalier added another goal and the Tampa duo was the most dangerous on the ice in the red team's 2-1 scrimmage win in front of soldout crowd of 4,000 at Prospera Place.

Off the ice, however, things have been a little awkward since Lecavalier agreed to a $27.5-million US, four-year deal Tuesday.

Lecavalier's $6.875-million annual pay has eaten a big chunk out of the Lightning salary cap. It means St. Louis, a restricted free agent who was the last NHLer to be named regular-season MVP, will probably have to sign for less than $5 million a year.
Related Info

* Lecavalier inks long-term deal with Tampa
* Players struggle to keep up with NHL moves

Welcome to the new NHL, where friends fight for a piece of the same pie.

Click here to find out more!


''Everybody's doing the math, it's not rocket science to see what it means,'' said fellow Tampa star Brad Richards. ''I'm very good friends with both guys, it's a tough, tough situation - it sucks. There's no other way to put it.

''We've already lost (goalie) Nikolai Khabibulin and now it's going to be a big challenge to get Marty signed.''

Lecavalier would have made $4.375 million during the wiped-out lockout season. St. Louis has been a free agent since Tampa won the Cup.

St. Louis was thrilled for his friend's new deal, but clearly steamed at how things are shaping up for him.

''I'm really happy for him, I have no problem with Vinny, I like Vinny,'' said St. Louis. ''It's not Vinny's fault. But does it affect me? Of course it does.''

It didn't on the ice Wednesday, where St. Louis dazzled. He's a good bet to go to Turin, as are Richards and Lecavalier.

St. Louis doesn't want his contract situation to affect his chances here this week. But it's on his mind.

''I'd be lying to you if I didn't say it affects me. Of course it does,'' said St. Louis, trying not to reveal his emotions. ''But you have to forget about it when you hit the ice. I'm here to try and make the Olympic team. When I get off the ice, I get on the phone with my agent and try to assess the situation. But when I come to the rink, I try to forget about it.''

Lecavalier had the unenviable position of answering questions about it after practice.

''Marty congratulated me right away,'' said a clearly uncomfortable Lecavalier. ''But with this new CBA, the GMs have a tough job.

''We talked this morning and everything was fine. Marty's a great guy and I hope we play together for a long time.''

The Lightning are at about $30 million right now, still needing to re-sign St. Louis as well as captain Dave Andreychuk and probably a defenceman to replace Brad Lukowich, who joined the Islanders last week. Given that few teams want to go over $37 million in order to leave room for injuries and call-ups, St. Louis is feeling the squeeze.

''Now we're in a cap world, you have to try and fit everybody. It's a tough situation,'' he said. ''I really don't know what I'm going to do.''

The cap has hit several teams hard - including Colorado, Detroit and Toronto - but the Lightning have been hammered after building a Cup champion on a tight budget.

''It sucks, there was a reason we didn't want a salary cap that low, especially for our team,'' said Richards. ''For some teams it's great, for some teams it sucks. But we're going to have live with it. We've already lost one of the best goalies in the world - which we could have signed without a cap - and now we don't know what's going to happen with our Hart Trophy winner.''

In the long run, the Lecavalier contract could also prevent Tampa from signing Richards, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 2004, to a long-term deal unless the Lightning find a way to accommodate a $7-million salary - the kind of money Richards would definitely fetch on the open market. He's a restricted free agent next year after earning $3.4 million this season, but can become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2007.

St. Louis, meanwhile, has to consider his options. He could ask for a trade, sign a one-year deal and leave via unrestricted free agency next summer, or suck it up and sign a long-term deal under $5 million a season.

''I think right now I'm in a pause mode,'' said St. Louis. ''I have to sit back and analyse the situation and see what's best for me and what's best for the team.''

Ottawa defenceman Wade Redden may soon find himself in a similar position. The Senators are a talented team with big decisions to make next year. Redden and fellow star blue-liner Zdeno Chara are due to become unrestricted free agents. And star winger Marian Hossa is already a restricted free agent.

It's doubtful the Sens can fit all three under long-term big-money deals and that's why Redden's name has been mentioned in trade rumours lately.

''Yes, guys are going to have tough decisions to make,'' Redden said Wednesday. ''I'd like to stick in Ottawa, and I think other guys there feel the same way, we've been together a long time and we haven't been able to accomplish our goal. But we feel we have a good chance there. To have to split that up would be a shame. We'll see what happens. I guess the window is closing on us in Ottawa.''

[Minute Mirage]

Hossa for Heatley?

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=134320&hubName=nhl

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well, Hossa + defenseman for Heatley actually . Big trade though. It seems that Heatley actually asked for the deal so he could have a fresh start somewhere else (after the whole accident thing, it's understandable).

[Sava]

who's the defenseman

Redden I hear?

[Kontiki]

Selanne back with Anaheim.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Sava
who's the defenseman

Redden I hear?

De Vries is the rumor.

[cinch]

De Vries it is.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=134320

Hm. Given the fact that he requested a trade, I think that's a pretty fair return for the Thrashers (although Redden would've been amazing).

I don't know if it's a move I would have pulled otherwise, but under the circumstances, I'd say it's pretty good.