NHL Off-season Thread

[Asher]

1) Flames hire Keenan as coach. Playfair is now the whipping boy assistant coach.
2) Muckler fired as Ottawa's GM. Lispy/Murray the new GM.

[Ninot]

3) Philly trades a first round pick to Nashville for the rights to sign Timonen and Hartnell
4) Philly signs Timonen and Hartnell

[notyoueither]

****!

Good move!

[Asher]

It'll make me happy to see Philly good again.

Philly > Nashville!

[Ninot]

I only like Philly for how regularly they used to beat the Leafs.

Timonen's production better not suffer cuz of this. I have him in a keeper league.

[notyoueither]

Very good move for Philly. It boils down to trading Forsberg for 2 quality players under contract, rather than trading him for players with short contracts or prospects.

OTOH, according to reports they paid big for the contracts. 4.2 and 6.3 per year and both for 6 years.

[Ninot]

That's overpaying for Hartnell, IMO.

[Kontiki]

I guess the Nashville fire sale has begun. Bets on who gets Kariya, Arnott, Sullivan and Vokoun?

[notyoueither]

It's a bit high or long for both of them, I think. Timonen will be 38 when the contract is done, and while his stats are good, they are from playing on one of the top teams in the NHL.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Kontiki
I guess the Nashville fire sale has begun. Bets on who gets Kariya, Arnott, Sullivan and Vokoun?

If all it costs is a low 1st/high 2nd to get the right to talk to them, then they won't make it to July 1 (assuming it is a pick only if they sign).

This is also very good business for Nashville.

[Kontiki]

Nashville will be like St. Louis all over again. Ugly situation right now.

[Ninot]

I don't think Vokoun is going anywhere. He's under contract long term, and the franchise needs to keep something valuable.

[Kontiki]

There's not much incentive for them to keep much of value. The current owner has publicly admitted hockey doesn't work in Nashville and is bleeding money. Balsillie has made it clear he intends to move the team to Canada, which Bettman doesn't like (he just can't let go of the idea of making hockey work in the southern US). If Balsillie's purchase goes through, he's stuck with the team in Nashville for at least a year, and maybe more. I'm not sure he wants to bleed the cash, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the whole deal still falls through leaving the team totally rudderless.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Ninot
I don't think Vokoun is going anywhere. He's under contract long term, and the franchise needs to keep something valuable.

But does a house-keeping team need both he and Mason?

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Kontiki
There's not much incentive for them to keep much of value. The current owner has publicly admitted hockey doesn't work in Nashville and is bleeding money. Balsillie has made it clear he intends to move the team to Canada, which Bettman doesn't like (he just can't let go of the idea of making hockey work in the southern US). If Balsillie's purchase goes through, he's stuck with the team in Nashville for at least a year, and maybe more. I'm not sure he wants to bleed the cash, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the whole deal still falls through leaving the team totally rudderless.

Which makes draft picks and prospects a good thing to stockpile.

The other funny thing is that after years of not showing up to support a good team, many local movers and shakers are going to be forced to pay for crap, possibly at jacked up rates, for the sake of civic pride.