Here is a list of all the signings that have happened since the beginning of free agency. Obviously there's tons of in-depth articles on NHL.com that are worth the read to get more details on the situations. Lots of moves have happened and many rosters are starting to truly take form. For example, Terry Pegula opened his wallet for the Buffalo Sabres and suddenly they seem like a team to watch out for. Dale Tallon had no choice but to start spending some dollars because his Florida Panthers were under the cap floor, and he's managed to add some pieces that could translate to some success for him. I hope. Lots of these guys signed for unreal numbers but that's what happens when the UFA class is weak. Less supply, same demand means someone is going to get a nice payday. Hey there Max Talbot, you got yourself a sweet payday. Its overpayment for sure but can't blame the man for cashing in. He's 27, this is probably his last chance a decent contract. Moving on....
The Capitals locked up Brooks Laich for 6 years and a cool $27 million for his services. He's a solid player and as we saw on 24/7 he is a true leader on that team. Even in an overpayment market for UFA's, he was going to get a solid deal for his leadership qualities. It was really a question of if he wanted to stay with the Capitals or leave.
The Caps traded goalie Semyon Varlamov to the Colorado Avalanche, where he is expected to be their number one guy. Colorado added Jean-Sebastien Giguere who is a former Conn Symthe winner to back up and mentor the young gun. This is a great move for them and if Varlamov can stay healthy, he should be able to have a decent career in the NHL. It seems that Washington is going to roll with the tandum of Michael Neuvirth as the starter and Braden Holtbly as the back up. For now. Anything goes in the D.C. so nothing can really be a shocker at this point. The fact that they acknowledged a rotation of 3 goalies won't win a Cup was the first step in acceptance. (Edit- The Capitals have signed Tomas Vokoun to a one year deal after I wrote this originally. I would guess that Neuvirth is the starter, Vokoun the back up and Holtby gets the start in Hershey. At least that's how I see it.)
The crown Prince of free agency 2011 was Brad Richards and he has taken his talents to Broadway. Not totally shocked to be honest. It's rumored he left some money on the table to play for John Tortorella again, but after the Rangers bought out former Captain Chris Drury's contract, this seemed like a move they would make. If they hadn't bought out Drury, I'm not sure this would have happened. For 9 years and $60 million, Richards should be set for quite some time. Good for the Rangers. Hopefully this one contract that won't bite them in the ass because they have a recent trend of some serious screw-ups in that department.
The Flyers continued to dismantle their team by sending Kris Versteeg to the Panthers for draft picks. The Panthers also picked up a former Predator, Flyer, Coyote, and Bluejacket in Scottie Upshall. He's 28 and hasn't stuck with one team for a decent amount of time which is kind of baffling. He's a good player with lots of upsides to him so hopefully the Panthers are the answer for him.
Raffi Torres came within a game of raising the Stanley Cup to heading to the desert dogs of Phoenix for a 2 year deal. Talk about a change in every possibly way. He went from the Stanley Cup to a team that could be moved to another city after this season. Guess the unknown is better in his world? At least he'll have nice weather for at least one season.
Steven Stamkos still hasn't gotten a deal done. I wonder what is it that's stopping this from getting done already. Money, years, combination of both? He's 21 and already considered a top 5 player in this league so get him signed already Tampa Bay.
Speaking of years and terms for contracts, few players are truly ever worthy of a long-term, high priced contract. The names of players you pay that type of cash to are the big boys. The ones that are expected to deliver and then go and above and beyond their expectations. Few players are ever really worth banking your entire future on and when you have them, you bow down and do it. Since the fallout of Jagr and Pittsburgh, and Jagr saying other teams had more on the table (really, who the KHL?), many people have realized Jagr's ego is still in tact and Philly fans seem to be having a hard deciding if this was a good or bad move. They seem to be expecting him to shoulder a serious work-load, but today Jagr said he has no expectations for what he can really bring. There's some confidence if I ever heard it. More and more I'm glad he isn't back in Pittsburgh.
A reporter from Pittsburgh actually pointed out some interesting money facts on twitter that I have to pass along on here about Crosby versus Jagr. The league max for a players' yearly salary is $10 million. Crosby in 2007 signed his first post entry-level contract (where he made less than a million a year) to a deal through the 2012-2013 season that pays him $8.7 million annually (not obsessed with the number 87 whatsoever). He left $1.3 million on the table to continue playing for the Penguins and to ensure that there was some room to surround him with talented players to win a Cup. The money he left on the table annually is the difference that Jagr took to sign with the Flyers. He claims there were other teams with more money offered but I doubt any where in the NHL. It's interesting to also note that the $1.3 million is about 1% of all the money Jagr has already made playing hockey in the NHL alone. He says it wasn't money but the numbers prove that money actually doesn't matter to Crosby, who wanted to be sure he had teammates to win with. I think for his next contract we can probably expect him to leave some money on the table again to stay with the Penguins. Funny how actions really do speak louder than words.
Showing posts with label Jagr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jagr. Show all posts
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Busy Times Were Had By All
So I decided to take a long weekend away from life and major changes have been going on in the hockey world. The first of which is.....
The Shiny New Toy has a name finally- The Winnipeg Jets (2.0). They are still logo-less and handed their draft picks a standard black jersey with the NHL shield on the front. Imagine waiting your entire life to hear your name picked by a team and all you get is a generic black jersey while everyone else gets a real team one. Takes some of the thrill away I'd think, but at least these guys knew what their team name was which was a step up from moments before the draft began. Winnipeg is taking baby steps obviously and by the time training camp opens, they will have hopefully leaked their colors to us. In the meantime....
The Flyers decided on Thursday that baby steps won't bring home a Stanley Cup and decided to speed up the process by trading Captain Mike Richard to LA and Jeff Carter to Columbus. The cap money saved by moving them allowed the team to sign goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a 9 year $51 million dollar deal. Bryzgalov is clearly who the Flyers are banking on instead of a tandum of young goalies, but the Western conference is different than the Eastern. He played less games because of more travel out West and the Flyers are going to be relying on him to need less rest due to an easier travel schedule and play more games. He was good goalie on a decent team in Phoenix, but I have a feeling Flyers nation is going to put the weight of the world on this guy. I hope he doesn't collapse under it because Philadelphia fans are some of the most brutal in the country, regardless of the sport. At least he will have his choice of parks to visit when he needs some quiet time.
I think the real winner in this trade were the Blue Jackets. They finally have a big name player with the stats to back it up to play with Rick Nash, even if it took Carter over 4 days to come out of his shell and announce he was happy about the future. Of course not without pointing fingers at Holmgren and beginning a war of words with his former GM. Wouldn't you love to see the Blue Jackets in the East to play against the Flyers more often. Carter has some serious fire in him now. Hopefully it's contagious to his new teammates at the very least.
Speaking of wondering which team would benefit coming East after this season, the NHL is forging ahead with the concept of changing up the alignment. It is actually a decent idea and definitely will have a positive impact on the travel schedule, especially for the Western Conference teams. There is no way to split the country evenly to make every team happy, but this be the first step in that direction. Since we are at least a season away from that and have other pressing matters at hand, like #jagrwatch, we are going to move on from this topic for now.
#jagrwatch is reaching epic proportions on twitter and should be crashing down sometime tomorrow. The Penguins made a one-year offer to Jagr today, days after the Red Wings gave him their offer. Since he waited for the Penguins to make an offer, this just reaffirms that idea of Jagr rejoining the team that drafted him. He was rumored to have spoken with Lemiuex and apparently still owns a house in the Pittsburgh area. He was too lazy to sell it he claims, yet he left the Peguins a decade ago. I really wonder if a man who was too lazy to sell his house in a city he hasn't lived in in 10 years has much desire to search for a place in Detroit for 1 year (the term of the contract he is seeking). If you can't figure out my guess on this, please click the x in the upper right corner of this page. Jagr playing on a team with Crosby and Malkin? Yes please. Shero signed Mike Comrie last year and I think we all forgot he existed and the Kovalev experiement at the trade deadline did just as well. Jagr can only be an improvement plus he's still playing at an NHL level. Yes, he will cost more than half a million dollars (Comrie) or a late round draft pick (Kovalev) and might inspire some fans to bring back some of the worst hair ever seen, but he's worth the experimental price Shero might have to dish out. Plus it's a cool side story for Crosby to say he played with both Lemieux and Jagr during his career, since they were both playing in the NHL before Crosby was on his first real team (unless 3year olds in Canada have hockey teams to join. I'd believe anything since they are nuts about hockey up there.)
The Penguins have also been busy shaping the rest of the roster. Shero decided to not qualify Tyler Kennedy who is looking for a payday after a season that allowed him more playing time and therefore better stats than usual. Shero still wants him back, but he won't overpay. Whatever Shero says goes because he has made few missteps since being named GM of the Pens. Max Talbot wants to test the market (not really shocking) but I can't say I'll be surprised whether he leaves or not. Unless another team gives him something drastically better than the Penguins offer, it really is a crap shoot. A Jagr signing could really help shape the loose ends of the roster. Pascal Dupuis inked his new deal today for 2 years at $1.5 a season. He took the hometown discount to stay which I had a feeling would happen. Crosby most likely wanted him back and Dupuis has 4 kids that are young and I'd guess 3 of them only know Pittsburgh since they are so young. Most guys with a family like that tend to stick around, especially when they have a solid team around them. Few guys will walk away from a team that's a contender every year later in their career unless they are clashing with players and management. Plus how can you let him walk after he made 24/7 history with his "f**k you Geno" greeting out of the blue. There's a quote we need the back story too!
Mike Rupp and Aaron Asham are also UFA's and we haven't heard much on that front. I'll take Rupp and let Asham walk. Other than Rupp's hockey grinding ability, he has a physical size we need since the overall team stature seems to be shrinking rapidly. Dustin Jeffery should be getting his shot with the big club come training camp, as should Eric Tangradi which would be good because they are bigger guys. Sadly I believe Tangradi will be once again be in WBS. There just seems to be something off with him when he gets called up. Maybe a summer of non-stop coffee will help him (per his twitter, he's a coffee addict).
Back to #jagrwatch and hopefully when the dust settles, he will be in a Pens uniform again. Friday is July 1. Free agency begins then. Monday is 4th of July. This is shaping up to be a busy long weekend. October will be here soon(ish). I have also given up on wondering about the NFL and it's status. At this point a football season will be a bonus. Sort of like the Black Friday game NBC is giving us. Till next time..
The Shiny New Toy has a name finally- The Winnipeg Jets (2.0). They are still logo-less and handed their draft picks a standard black jersey with the NHL shield on the front. Imagine waiting your entire life to hear your name picked by a team and all you get is a generic black jersey while everyone else gets a real team one. Takes some of the thrill away I'd think, but at least these guys knew what their team name was which was a step up from moments before the draft began. Winnipeg is taking baby steps obviously and by the time training camp opens, they will have hopefully leaked their colors to us. In the meantime....
The Flyers decided on Thursday that baby steps won't bring home a Stanley Cup and decided to speed up the process by trading Captain Mike Richard to LA and Jeff Carter to Columbus. The cap money saved by moving them allowed the team to sign goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a 9 year $51 million dollar deal. Bryzgalov is clearly who the Flyers are banking on instead of a tandum of young goalies, but the Western conference is different than the Eastern. He played less games because of more travel out West and the Flyers are going to be relying on him to need less rest due to an easier travel schedule and play more games. He was good goalie on a decent team in Phoenix, but I have a feeling Flyers nation is going to put the weight of the world on this guy. I hope he doesn't collapse under it because Philadelphia fans are some of the most brutal in the country, regardless of the sport. At least he will have his choice of parks to visit when he needs some quiet time.
I think the real winner in this trade were the Blue Jackets. They finally have a big name player with the stats to back it up to play with Rick Nash, even if it took Carter over 4 days to come out of his shell and announce he was happy about the future. Of course not without pointing fingers at Holmgren and beginning a war of words with his former GM. Wouldn't you love to see the Blue Jackets in the East to play against the Flyers more often. Carter has some serious fire in him now. Hopefully it's contagious to his new teammates at the very least.
Speaking of wondering which team would benefit coming East after this season, the NHL is forging ahead with the concept of changing up the alignment. It is actually a decent idea and definitely will have a positive impact on the travel schedule, especially for the Western Conference teams. There is no way to split the country evenly to make every team happy, but this be the first step in that direction. Since we are at least a season away from that and have other pressing matters at hand, like #jagrwatch, we are going to move on from this topic for now.
#jagrwatch is reaching epic proportions on twitter and should be crashing down sometime tomorrow. The Penguins made a one-year offer to Jagr today, days after the Red Wings gave him their offer. Since he waited for the Penguins to make an offer, this just reaffirms that idea of Jagr rejoining the team that drafted him. He was rumored to have spoken with Lemiuex and apparently still owns a house in the Pittsburgh area. He was too lazy to sell it he claims, yet he left the Peguins a decade ago. I really wonder if a man who was too lazy to sell his house in a city he hasn't lived in in 10 years has much desire to search for a place in Detroit for 1 year (the term of the contract he is seeking). If you can't figure out my guess on this, please click the x in the upper right corner of this page. Jagr playing on a team with Crosby and Malkin? Yes please. Shero signed Mike Comrie last year and I think we all forgot he existed and the Kovalev experiement at the trade deadline did just as well. Jagr can only be an improvement plus he's still playing at an NHL level. Yes, he will cost more than half a million dollars (Comrie) or a late round draft pick (Kovalev) and might inspire some fans to bring back some of the worst hair ever seen, but he's worth the experimental price Shero might have to dish out. Plus it's a cool side story for Crosby to say he played with both Lemieux and Jagr during his career, since they were both playing in the NHL before Crosby was on his first real team (unless 3year olds in Canada have hockey teams to join. I'd believe anything since they are nuts about hockey up there.)
The Penguins have also been busy shaping the rest of the roster. Shero decided to not qualify Tyler Kennedy who is looking for a payday after a season that allowed him more playing time and therefore better stats than usual. Shero still wants him back, but he won't overpay. Whatever Shero says goes because he has made few missteps since being named GM of the Pens. Max Talbot wants to test the market (not really shocking) but I can't say I'll be surprised whether he leaves or not. Unless another team gives him something drastically better than the Penguins offer, it really is a crap shoot. A Jagr signing could really help shape the loose ends of the roster. Pascal Dupuis inked his new deal today for 2 years at $1.5 a season. He took the hometown discount to stay which I had a feeling would happen. Crosby most likely wanted him back and Dupuis has 4 kids that are young and I'd guess 3 of them only know Pittsburgh since they are so young. Most guys with a family like that tend to stick around, especially when they have a solid team around them. Few guys will walk away from a team that's a contender every year later in their career unless they are clashing with players and management. Plus how can you let him walk after he made 24/7 history with his "f**k you Geno" greeting out of the blue. There's a quote we need the back story too!
Mike Rupp and Aaron Asham are also UFA's and we haven't heard much on that front. I'll take Rupp and let Asham walk. Other than Rupp's hockey grinding ability, he has a physical size we need since the overall team stature seems to be shrinking rapidly. Dustin Jeffery should be getting his shot with the big club come training camp, as should Eric Tangradi which would be good because they are bigger guys. Sadly I believe Tangradi will be once again be in WBS. There just seems to be something off with him when he gets called up. Maybe a summer of non-stop coffee will help him (per his twitter, he's a coffee addict).
Back to #jagrwatch and hopefully when the dust settles, he will be in a Pens uniform again. Friday is July 1. Free agency begins then. Monday is 4th of July. This is shaping up to be a busy long weekend. October will be here soon(ish). I have also given up on wondering about the NFL and it's status. At this point a football season will be a bonus. Sort of like the Black Friday game NBC is giving us. Till next time..
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