NHL Offseason Thread -- Vancouver Edition (NHL Offseason / NHL Golf Tourney)

[Asher]

I wonder if anyone bidding this much for Hossa even noticed he's under a point a game the past two seasons. He's a great player, but come on.

[notyoueither]

Well, thank God. Rumour is that the total bid for Hossa was over $90 million.

If that is so, Katz is either nuts or a very good poker player.

[Asher]

It's more telling that Hossa took $7.4 and not $90M just so he wouldn't have to play in Edmonton.

And from MacTavish's comments after the Katz presser, apparently Pitkanen informed the team he would not re-sign with them...thus Visnovsky and trading Pitkanen. There's an interesting pattern here.

[-Jrabbit]

Looks like the Hawks are upgrading the backline.

[Asher]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
Looks like the Hawks are upgrading the backline.

Who knows what they're doing.

$12M on goalies is absurd.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Mr Snuggles
It's more telling that Hossa took $7.4 and not $90M just so he wouldn't have to play in Edmonton.

And from MacTavish's comments after the Katz presser, apparently Pitkanen informed the team he would not re-sign with them...thus Visnovsky and trading Pitkanen. There's an interesting pattern here.

Hundred-nil.

You're very predictable.

Hossa also turned down large dollars from Montreal, and similar dollars, longer term from Pittsburgh. If all this really hurts like a kick in the balls, it would to a Pens fan.

Pitkanen is interesting. Lowe gambled on turning a player around. He lost. It's too bad. Joni could be an awesome hockey player. Hopefully he'll find a team that he can fit with.

The trade makes me think that Cole might not have many games left in him.

[Asher]

Originally posted by notyoueither


Hundred-nil.

You're very predictable.

Hossa also turned down large dollars from Montreal, and similar dollars, longer term from Pittsburgh. If all this really hurts like a kick in the balls, it would to a Pens fan.

Why? He was on the Pens for all of 4 months.

The Oilers offered to make him the highest paid player in the league and $90M in his pocket and he just was not interested. Given the Oilers recent history in attracting and retaining top-end talent (well, the lack thereof) I don't see how this wouldn't smart a lot. I know the general feeling in the Oilers blogosphere isn't that thrilled with this. The Oilers offered the moon to Hossa and it still wasn't enough. Pitkanen wanted out. Pronger wanted out. Nylander almost came to Edmonton reneged at the last possible moment and signed for less money elsewhere. Lowe himself said one of the reasons he signed Souray was to show big-name players would and could come to Edmonton, and he's been a bit of a disaster so far himself.

Just look at how Edmonton treats its core players compared to Calgary. Iginla, Phaneuf, Regehr...they signed "hometown discount" deals for a long-term to stay in Calgary. Edmonton traded away Ryan Smyth and Jason Smith, two core players well-loved by the fans. I think a lot of players around the league take notice of this kind of thing -- Smyth and Pronger took the team to the cup finals and then were promptly thrown under the bus. There's something weird going on with the "administration" in Edmonton and their reputation in the league, I don't know of any other city that's ever had such a hard problem attracting and retaining talent in a major league sports team.

The trade makes me think that Cole might not have many games left in him.

He's a 1 year rental, he'll demand a raise next year that the Oilers can't afford.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Mr Snuggles

Why? He was on the Pens for all of 4 months.

He turned down a $49 million deal to play for the Pens, to take $7.5 to play for a 'winner.'

If you were a Pens fan, with the players they have, what would that make you think?

[Asher]

Originally posted by notyoueither


He turned down a $49 million deal to play for the Pens, to take $7.5 to play for a 'winner.'

If you were a Pens fan, with the players they have, what would that make you think?

That he was a prima donna European player. Something we already knew from his experience in Ottawa and Atlanta. I've no idea why anyone bid for high-priced long-term contracts on him, he's not that good and his attitude has always been suspect. I'd suggest the people making such large, long-term offers were extremely desperate.

If Hossa got $90M/9 years, what would Iginla get as a free agent? The mind boggles.

[Asher]

Speaking of European players...it's looking very likely that Kiprusoff will be the only European on the Flames next year. We also only have one guy from Quebec now, who is actually an anglophone (Lombardi).

The vast majority of this team is Western Canadian.

[Asher]

Huselius just signed with Columbus: four-year, $19-million deal.

[Sparrowhawk]

Before the lockout, I had almost given up watching hockey as the salaries were absurd, and I didn't know whether to blame the players for taking advantage, or the owners for signing stupid deals (or the GM's for signing them) .

We had a couple of years of relative normalcy, and now it seems we have returned to the idiocy of the past, where players are overpaid and subject to a bidding war. I am already not looking forward to next year

/me

[Asher]

You have to admit the lunacy with Lowe on Vanek and Penner RFAs. That single action alone has inflated the RFA salaries for everyone and, arguably, UFA salaries as a result.

I'm so thankful that Sutter locked up the core of the Flames before the salaries became REALLY absurd.

[notyoueither]

The players will end up with 50 some odd percent of revenues, no matter what the contracts say. Nothing has changed over year one of the CBA other than fans are getting a chance to be offended over the amounts since the league is bringing in more money and the max salary and min payroll have increased.

[Asher]

There's a fantastic Oilers blogger named Lowetide who wrote this post on Mike Gillis and the job he's doing in Vancouver.

http://lowetide.blogspot.com/2008/07/mike-gillis-human-rain-delay.html

Mike Gillis: The Human Rain Delay
This is Mike Gillis as a Boston Bruin, maybe 25 years ago. Gillis is the new Vancouver Canucks General Manager and he offers us a rare opportunity to see what someone outside the "old boys network" will do when given the chance.

I'm rooting for him even though Gillis is the man behind the big desk in Vancouver. Reason? He's unique, it's evident in all kinds of ways.

Before this week, I was impressed with his measured approach to things. His first move was to hire a capologist (excellent plan when your 23 employees make $57M) and then he hired Scott Mellanby as an assistant. Good idea too, since Mellanby isn't that far removed from the game and would have the kind of "local knowledge" that gives every golfer a three stroke edge over someone who just stopped in because it was on the way to Grandma's house.

He then fired the assistant coaches from last season, but retained the head coach through 2009-10. This gives him a chance to search out his real coach and also an opportunity to give the appearance of fairness in regard to Alain Vigneault's job. I don't mind the coach personally, but most of my Canuck fans friends think he'd be better off letting the skill players loose a little more. Gillis will give him his 18 months and then probably fire him in time for Christmas 2009.

Gillis then hired Ryan Walter (who may be the next coach) as an assistant coach. This feels like a "Craig Simpson" hire, as in a local ex-player with knowledge, a reputation and let's face it a bit of an egghead outlook on the game. For a team that has spent much of the last 40 years just sending people over the boards in numbers, an egghead outlook might be a refreshing change of pace.

He then hired Stan Smyl as director of collegiate scouting, which I think is probably the first stroke of pure genius in his GM career. The Canucks should be able to procure a couple of players a year if the steamer still has his eyesight and depending on signing amount these fellows might be able to go straight to the show as $600k depth players. Brilliant idea, and lots of college free agents are NHL players now, plus he can be another set of eyes for the draft eligibles.

He then hired Dave Gagner as director of player development. I don't know much about Sam's dad (except he has excellent taste in women) but he has spent the last couple of seasons evaluating and working with talent and that's a nice foundation for his current job.

At the draft on the June 20th weekend, I felt Gillis' group did very well. Cody Hodgson is the new Mike Richards, selected a quality D prospect in Yann Sauve and then a very interesting fellow by the name of Prab Rai whose skating alone makes him a quality prospect. The Canucks traditionally draft players who play exactly like their scouting director (Ron Delorme) did back when the Canucks had those awful "V" uniforms.

The he hired a sports psychologist and claimed Kyle Wellwood off waivers in the same week, which I think is comedy worthy of the recently departed George Carlin.

But I think he's getting schooled this week. By other GM's, by agents, by Mats Sundin. Here are his moves since UFA week began:

1. Offered Mats Sundin 2 year contract worth 20 million
2. Signed David Backes to a offer sheet of 3 years woth 7.5 million, Blues matched
3. Signed Darcy Hordichuk to a 3 year contract
4. Signed Ryan Johnson to a 2 year contract worth 2.4 million
5. Signed Nolan Baumgartner
6. Signed Alexandre Bolduc
7. Signed goaltender Curtis Sanford.

The Canucks need skill players and I applaud their efforts in attempting to acquire Mats Sundin. However, at some point they'll need to move on here because if Mats decides to play for Toronto in August the Canucks aren't going to have enough NHL players to compete even with Jesus Luongo.

The David Backes offer sheet was solid, although I don't think it was dear enough to make the Blues seriously consider declining it. A better team for them to pursue would be the Red Wings (Filpulla) with Patrick O'Sullivan, Steve Bernier, Matt Stajan and Jarret Stoll all interesting candidates.

Gillis has made depth moves, the kinds of moves other teams will make a week or two from now, and he hasn't done much of anything to improve the club's top 2lines. Soon to be gone are Naslund and Morrison, and that outcome will leave these players as the current top 6:

1. Daniel Sedin
2. Henrik Sedin
3. Taylor Pyatt
4. Ryan Kesler
5. Kyle Wellwood
6. Alex Burrows

To borrow 2 lines from the classic film "Planes, Trains and Automobiles":

1. You're going the wrong way
2. You're going to kill somebody