T1B

The draft is still a week away and free agency opens in less than 2 weeks. We saw a few retirements, some coaching jobs being filled and the awards were handed out...

A couple moves affected the newly-crowned champions. Hasek retired a couple days after winning his second cup and assistant Todd McClellan was snatched up by the Sharks to be their new head coach. Other recent coaching moves included Ron Wilson get the Toronto job, Craig Hartsburg is hired the Senators and Peter DeBoer is the new head man in Florida. I couldn't believe they waited this long to do it but the Kings fired Marc Crawford this week as well. The Lightning job is still vacant although it appears Barry Melrose was rumored to be the choice for the job and then the Kings job has just recently gone vacant. You have to believe those two jobs will be filled by next weekend for the draft.

The major NHL awards were handed out on Thursday night...the night was dominated by the Wings and Capitals. 6 of the 9 key awards were won by members of those two teams plus Ovechkin had already earned the Art Ross and Rocket Richard. No gripes on who won the awards. Zetterberg showed in the playoffs he's probably the better man-on-man defender and penalty killer than Datsyuk but he did have the better plus/minus rating and lead the league in takeaways. I thought Nabokov would win the Vezina but he and Brodeur had very similar numbers and either guy was deserving. Boudreau win the Jack Adams over Babcock was the right choice...not very often that a midseason replacement can make the big of an impact and I'd expect the Capitals to contend in the East next year.

Surprised that Florida didn't get Tortorella. I wouldn't be shocked if he gets the Kings job. The purchase of the Lightning to Koules is just becoming hilarious.

MuchoBulls wrote:Surprised that Florida didn't get Tortorella. I wouldn't be shocked if he gets the Kings job. The purchase of the Lightning to Koules is just becoming hilarious.

just chiming in to say, regarding crawford: what fucking took so long and it's always nice to hear the phrase "marc crawford: fired" in the same breath. RACK IT.

Lightning officially hire Melrose...
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3457480" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Shoalzie wrote:Lightning officially hire Melrose...
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3457480" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Going to be another long season for the Lightning.

If Mike Smith can be a true #1 and it doesn't take Melrose too long to get back into the swing of things...I don't think it will be all that bad for the Lightning. He's been away from coaching for a long time so I think once he gets used to his role again, he'll do fine. He's got a superstar to hitch his wagon to just like he had in L.A. with Gretzky. It's all a matter of what else is around him. Interesting to see how he and Stamkos interact and what kind of relationship they develop. They brought back Prospal so far so they'll have 4 quality forwards to build around...Lecavalier, St. Louis, Prospal and Stamkos. I think they'll improve from last year but probably won't make the playoffs because I think the East is going to be very balanced and the Southeast is going to be a tougher division as well.

Unless the Lightning vastly improve their D it won't matter who is in net. Mike Smith is a very good goalie, but he's going to face a ton of shots night in and night out.

Bold move by the Lightning...acquiring the rights to Malone and Roberts prior to Tuesday's opening of free agency.

http://lightning.nhl.com/team/app/?serv ... eid=367169" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After Hossa, Malone is probably in that second tier of best wingers on the open market. He really took a big step forward this year and showed what kind of guts and leadership he has. He'd be a very nice addition to the Lightning and give them rugid winger to score ugly goals while most of their best forwards are more finesse guys. Lecavalier has a bit of an edge but he's more of 'Mario Lemieux' big man than a 'Eric Lindros in his prime' big man.

As for Roberts, I thought he was one of the best forwards in the Cup Finals for the Penguins if he can stay healthy, he's still an effective player on the third or fourth line and play some on the second power play. The Lightning's top 6 would probably be Malone-Lecavalier-Jokinen with Prospal-Stamkos-St. Louis...assuming they sign Malone of course and then Roberts would be nice a role player for them.

Interesting....but why the hell are they shopping for forwards? Hoping to only let in 4 goals and score 5-6 yourself in no kind of game plan.

the blues have some talent in the pipeline

berg and oshie should make the team

eller,junland,and others around the bend


porter to make the team as the new Jammer. guy gives you everything on the ice.



and as much as everyone wants to sockle off doughty and bos picks, Pieterangelo could be the best of the 3, before he got mono, he was a top 3 pick. no spleen issues, he will be back to strength by next season. solid pick!

Cbus made great move in umberger and getting filatov.

Cicatrix wrote:Interesting....but why the hell are they shopping for forwards? Hoping to only let in 4 goals and score 5-6 yourself in no kind of game plan.

Exactly. Something tells me they won't offer enough to Malone when they have big money invested in Boyle, Lecavalier and St. Louis. Prospal will be making good money too. They need to get some good D men in there because they haven't been the same since they lost Cullimore and Sarich.

Cicatrix wrote:Interesting....but why the hell are they shopping for forwards? Hoping to only let in 4 goals and score 5-6 yourself in no kind of game plan.

Ha... funny because that seemed to be the Oilers plan a couple years ago when they traded away Pronger and stock-piled a bunch of skilled forwards. Obviously history will repeat itself in Tampa this year.

Lightning have agreed to terms with Malone and are close to signing Roberts

http://sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/06/29/l ... _signings/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

7 years at $4.4 million per for a 25 goal/50 point guy? Malone is a good player but not quite $4.4 million good...at least not right now. Looks like the new ownership in Tampa are going to be spenders...

Lightning traded for the rights to Brian Rolston, which is a good move. They still need some D though.

Stoll and Greene to LA for Visnovsky

The Edmonton Oilers have acquired defenceman Lubomir Visnovsky from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for defenceman Matt Greene and forward Jarret Stoll.

Selected by the Kings in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft (4th choice, 118th overall), Visnovsky led the Kings in defencemen scoring for the third consecutive season in 2007-08, collecting eight goals and 33 assists for 41 points, while playing in a career-high 82 games.

Oilers’ General Manager Kevin Lowe says, “Although it is tough to see good players and good people move on, we feel we’ve made a step towards improving our overall offense. Lubomir is a world-class defencemen who has been one of the premier offensive defencemen over the past five years.”

Sucks to lose Greene who I think has come a long long way from his awful rookie play in the cup finals. Stoll I am not too sad about and knew he would be trade bait this year. (hopefully his pal Raffe wont be far behind)

And while Visnovsky is solid.....I just hate that guy. Whether or not he will work out in MacT's system is debatable. There hasnt been a real offensive D man in Edmonton since Coffey (I dont count Pronger anymore). Pitkanen was suppose to be our answer for that role. Look for him to leave next.

Visnovsky is pretty expensive too. With Souray already signed for big bucks, the Oilers have some serious cash tied up in their defense. Lowe has the right idea there, but I'm not sure he has the right guys signed for that much money.

Stoll will probably light it up in LA the way he did for Edmonton in 05-06. Or he'll have an even worse season than last year and fall off the map. It won't be anything in between.

As for Greene, I felt Oilerfans overrated his play a bit. I don't think the Oilers will miss his own-zone giveaways that much. Nor his inability to get anything at the net in the offensive zone... he always reminded me of a crappy Robyn Regehr.

MuchoBulls wrote:Lightning traded for the rights to Brian Rolston, which is a good move. They still need some D though.

You kind of wonder if ownership would've just have been as happy if Richards wasn't traded in the first place.

Like I said, it looks like these new owners aren't going to be afraid to spend some money. I wonder where Stamkos will fit in will all these moves. The Lightning will probably have one of the better forward corps in the Southeast Division...but as Mucho said, they need some help on defense. I wonder if Melrose can lure his old buddy Rob Blake over to Tampa.

Looking like Rolston is going to test the waters.

Kind of surprise they went for it with him the day before free agency started...can't say I'm that surprised he's going to test the waters. Who's to say that he would've wanted to go to Tampa in the first place.

A few signings out of the gate...
- Green re-signs with the Capitals for 4 years
- Roberts signs a one-year deal and Prospal officially signs his new deal with the Lightning
- Red Wings re-sign Lilja for 2 years
- Avalanche re-sign Liles and Foote
- Gaustad re-signs with Buffalo

The big name UFAs are now free to test the waters...Sundin, Hossa, Campbell, etc. My prediction is that Campbell signs either today or tomorrow, Hossa signs by the end of the week and I think Sundin takes at least a week or two to make his decision.

I'd like to see the Rangers get Campbell. I don't see Rozsival coming back.

Today's early action:

- Two trades involving the Oilers...pick-up Cole from Carolina for Pitkanen and add Brule from Columbus for Torres.
- After losing out on Rolston, the Lightning sign Vrbata
- Joseph returns to Toronto...I assume as Toskala's backup.
- The Ducks sign Perry to a 5-year deal.
- Blackhawks trade Bourque to Calgary for a draft pick.
- The Wings re-sign Stuart for 4 years.

A couple rumors:

- Shanahan could be heading back to the Devils where he started his NHL career.
- Hossa reportedly is getting huge offers from the Bruins and the Oilers...supposedly 12 years for $100 million from Boston.
- Malkin should be signing a new deal with the Penguins very soon.

A couple of nice moves for the Oilers. Hate seeing it but, but at the same time, it could revive the sagging Battle of Alberta some.

But if they end up giving all that money to Hossa, that would be strange. I would have thought they like their forwards as they are.

Rumor has it Katz wants to buy a franchise player. Maybe Hossa is that guy but I hope not. 100 mill for 12 years? I hope to God the Oil are not that stupid.

Glad to see Torres go. No consistency. Sorry to see Pitkanen go but knew it was coming after the Visnovsky trade.

Very glad that they are doing things instead of standing pat as they have so many times before.

A very busy day this is turning out to be...

- Chicago makes a huge splash by signing both Campbell and Huet...arguably the #1 defenseman and goalie on the open market
- After losing Huet, the Capitals sign Theodore
- The Avalanche sign former Leafs Tucker and Raycroft
- New Jersey brings back both Rolston and Holik
- Rangers re-sign Roszival for 4 years
- Kolzig signs with the Lightning
- The Wild sign Brunette and acquire Zidlicky from Nashville
- Leafs sign Hagman and Finger
- Florida inks Stillman
- Commodore signs with Columbus
- Wings sign Conklin to backup Osgood...the champs are reportedly not in the hunt for Hossa or Sundin

Another big move...the Rangers sign Redden to a 6-year deal.

TSN's free agent tracker...quite a long list for just the first day of free agency and you still have the likes of Hossa and Sundin still out there.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=11353" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Canadiens keep one but lose two...re-sign Andrei Kostitsyn while the Islanders sign Streit and the Bruins nab Ryder.

As a new Craps fan, I'm still reeling from the fact they picked up Theodore, who will totally sink the team's playoff aspirations next season. But I heard on the radio the other day the Craps have a young goalie who just made the Russian national team at 20 or 21, so that means he'll be up with the big club in a few years. I understand that's why they didn't want to sign Huet to a long-term deal, but come on. Let me say it again, though: Theodore sucks. I don't think there are very many Crap fans happy about the upcoming season as of right now.

As a old Hawks fan, the signing of Huet is a bold move, but the signing of Campbell is even bolder. As much as I like the new front office in Chicago, the Campbell signing just reeks of the Khabibulin debacle. Shoring up the defensive front is a positive step for the Hawks.

Just coming across on TSN...Hossa is a Red Wing!

1 year deal for $7.4 million

Kenny Holland is a witch...

LINK: http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242261&lid= ... Story_main" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Avery signs with Dallas

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242266&lid= ... pStory_nhl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MuchoBulls wrote:I don't see Rozsival coming back.

Didn't see that coming after they got Redden. It will be interesting to see who is going to score the goals after losing Straka, Avery and most likely Jagr.

Rangers acquired Zherdev and Fritsche from Columbus for Jackman and Tyutin...I guess that kind of answers your question.

Also, Atlanta signed Ron Hainsey.

A few more signings...

- Huselius signs a 4-year deal with Columbus
- Penguins re-sign Orpik and officially sign Malkin to an extension
- Weight signs a 1-year deal with the Islanders
- Ottawa re-signs Donovan and signs Ruutu away from Pittsburgh

Rumor out of Tampa, Boyle could be on the move...
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242326&lid= ... Story_main" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Today's action...

- Rangers sign Naslund and Kalinin...Sather also announced he will not pursue re-signing Jagr.
- Penguins sign Satan and Fedotenko
- Another Penguin defectee, Laraque signs with Montreal
- Rob Blake signs a one year deal with the Sharks
- Wild sign Miettinen

The offseason doesn't take a day off on America's birthday...

- Jagr signs a 2-year deal with Avangard Omsk in Russia.
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242465&lid= ... pStory_nhl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Boyle waived his NTC is has been dealt to San Jose along with Lukowich for Matt Carle, a prospect and 2 draft picks...which includes a first round pick.
- Steve Bernier is on the move again after being traded to Vancouver for 2 draft picks.
- Mara re-signs with the Rangers for 1 year.
- (Fedor) Fedorov signs with the Devils.

Biggest news of the offseason:

http://ducks.freedomblogging.com/2008/0 ... -at-burke/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Burke on Saturday declined to respond to Lowe’s comments.

Burke with nothing to say!!! Wow


PS- I was looking at the weather network and their forcasting that the shit-storm over Edmonoton is finally moving west towards Vancouver.

Glad Sather got rid of Jackman. I liked Tyutin, but he was odd man out with Redden coming aboard. Getting Naslund was about the best the Rangers could have done.

The new Lightning management really dicked Boyle over. I never really thought he was that good of a d-man and definitely not worth the contract he signed, but the new ownership group could have handled the situation better.

Joey Moss wrote:PS- I was looking at the weather network and their forcasting that the shit-storm over Edmonoton is finally moving west towards Vancouver.

haha... so true. Lowe has made some solid moves this off-season. All you mulleted perogie and sausage eaters should be looking forward to the season. Still don't understand Katz and Lowe's obsession with bringing in an expensive star on top of everything else that they've done this year though.

As for the Canucks, I welcome anything that brings misfortune upon those tree-hugging, oilsand-hating, tofu eaters. In hockey terms, of course. They actually have a pretty decent city going on over there.

Per TSN, Bertuzzi signs a 1 year deal with Calgary.

MuchoBulls wrote:Per TSN, Bertuzzi signs a 1 year deal with Calgary.

Now this one is just bizarre. There is probably no NHL city other than Denver that gave Bertuzzi a rougher ride than Calgary. This signing is certainly the talk of the town; Oiler fans are pointing and laughing and Flames fans are universally disgusted. I think most knowledgeable fans here realize, however, that hockeywise this is a very good signing. There is no question Bertuzzi fills the Flames' need for a top-6 forward and at the price he was signed at ($1.95M) the risk is extremely low. We just have to deal with having an ultra-douchebag on our favourite hockey team.

I was at the Stampede chuckwagon races last night, and they made a mention of the signing at one point, which was responded to by a chorus of booing. It will definitely take FlameFan a bit of time to warm up to Bertuzzi wearing our jersey.

Horcoff Signs Multiyear deal

The Edmonton Oilers have agreed to terms with forward Shawn Horcoff on a six-year contract extension. The extension will keep Horcoff under contract through the 2014-15 season.

The 6’1”, 204 pound native of Trail, British Columbia, is entering his ninth National Hockey League season in 2008-09 and will be in the final year of his current three-year contract.

In 53 games last season, Horcoff recorded almost a point per game, collecting 21 goals and 29 assists for 50 points. His solid play led him to being named to the Western Conference All-Stars for the 2008 NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta, Georgia.

Oilers General Manager Kevin Lowe says, “Shawn has proven himself as one of the premier players in the National Hockey League and has been and will continue to be an integral part of our organization moving forward. By being proactive with this deal, we avoid being in a situation where Shawn could become an unrestricted free agent after next season and the unknown free agency can bring to the organization. Having him under contract long-term is something that has been on our radar for a long time and we are extremely pleased to finalize this deal.”

Horcoff says, “This is a great day for myself and my family. Edmonton is a great city and one that has embraced us in every way possible. I’ve spent my entire career with the Oilers and I’m thrilled about the direction we are heading in, led by our new owner Daryl Katz and General Manager Kevin Lowe. I’d like to thank the Edmonton Oilers and our great fans for making this possible.”




Very good move by the Oil. While still not what most consider a true number one center he is an excellent #2.