The Official 2008-2009 NHL Thread

No kidding. No defense, a average at best goaltender.

Plus bonuses? does that mean he gets a cookie everytime he wins?

I guess the Sens tried to out do Tampa in sub par goalie stakes, Auld? wtf is going on here?

Oh what

Damn, Chicago gets Campbell for 56.8 for 8 years. that's some money.

Chicago gets Cristobal Huet?? WTF??

ZGF talks as if Conklin actually had an impact on the Penguins.

yea he didn't want to stay in caps.


blue jackets get the ginger boy, i guess lou passed on him after getting salvador.


without conklin they wouldn't have made it to the playoffs, that guy was clutch when fleury was out.

Is Theodore a decent replacement?
I'm not that familiar with him...

True, but he is a back up goalie and over the years, the Pens have had other back up goalies "come up big time" in the clutch. To state the loss of Conklin as game set and match is ludicrous to suggest.

Canucks tried to steal David Backes from the Blues, but our GM quickly matched and he accepted. I know he's not a big name, but he's growing, and is a Ryan Malone-type player. I'm really glad he stayed.

This first day of free agency has been pretty big though.

Theodore sucked for a few years but was pretty good last year, so he should be ok, it depends on your defense a bit I think.




Still no word on Shanahan though, I think he can really be a great player for the Devils, he's old but he claims that the leg injury slowed him last year, we'll see.

Devils sign Brian Rolston for 4 years, welcome back home kiddo.

Devils sign Rolston. 4 years, 20m.

EDIT: beat.

Shanahan seemed like a complete non-factor as soon as he got to New York.

our age average is sky rocketing, if we get shanahan, too we'll need some canes for away games. hehehe.


i think they are trying to round up all the devils picks so they can all retire devils then drive over to the hall of fame in one bus. gotta save on gas you know.

Didn't matter for Detroit. It'd be pretty hard to beat their....experience.

i sure hope so, any way the wings blow so do the devils.

Wash re-signed mike green. He's a great offensive defenseman.

yea he's good.

HOLY SHIT DEVILS SIGN HOLIK!!!!! hahahahaha i'm telling you this is a vintage team we got here, gotta get shanahan!!!!!

hahah wow, that i didn't see coming. good effort.


fucking dickface avery goes to dallas, good riddance.

Malkin gets 5 years.

lol

Wow, Hossa.... Even though it was slap in the face to the Penguin organization, I can't blame him. He wanted to go where he thought he would have the best chance to win the cup.

The Stars got jealous that the Cowboys had a player with a rule named after him and wanted one of their own.

What?!! Hossa to the Wings? Fuck that. I am bringing back my Wings = Yankees argument. Hossa is now a dick in my book. He's not even old enough to be on the wings! You need to be at least 35 and without a cup to sign with the wings.

The Penguins are still looking good. They have both Crosby and Malkin for at least the next 5 years. Also, they will sign Fluery soon.
They signed Orpik and Eaton - two excellent defense men, and DuPui who is a fast skater and excellent 2-way player.

Now, with the money they saved from not signing Hossa, I believe they will sign two decent wingers

Wings are still working within the salary cap, so the Yankees comparison is still moot.

Yeah, what an asshole, I can't believe he wants to play for a good team with a great organization behind it. WHAT WAS HE THINKING!?

Also as for another age joke, please tell that to Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Filppula, Franzen, Hudler, Cleary, Kronwall, Lilja, etc. (Unless you were strictly talking about free agent signings, in which case ignore this.)

wow islanders sign doug weight, that came out of left field.

How long does Sundin need to think about 10 million a year? I'm baffled by how dense this guy is, just go already.

weight and guerin started to play pretty well together for the blues 2 seasons ago, hopefully they will do that again next season, I liked both of them a lot when they were here.

I was referring to free agent signings. I can't name that many off the top of my head, as I don't know the Red Wings roster over the past 5-6 years very well, but the big one that comes to mind is Chelios.

Of course he has stayed way longer than anybody expected.

Oh well. I'm not trying to stir up shit so I'll stop.

Worst trade ever, Pitkanen hasn't been good in 3 years.


Anyway looks like the Flyers are mainly focusing on re-signing current players for now.

When I told my Mom that Hossa signed with the Wings she said "They're going to blow everyone off the fucking map."

Pretty much sums up the Red Wings.

Could be the system he was playing in. Edmonton hasn't exactly been the best place to be an offensive defenseman lately.

Plus Pitkanen is expected to get better, Cole isn't. And Carolina needs D a lot more than offense right now.

After making millions throughout his career, money is probably not the only factor he has to think about. Moving to the west coast could be a bit of a downer.

This is just a bad offer by the 'Nucks though. Like mystifyingly bad. Not only is 10M about 5M too much for Sundin, but it's two seasons so if Sundin retires after this season then Vancouver takes the 10M cap hit in 2009-2010 without even having a player to show for it. Fundamentally stupid.

Fuck Campbell. He bitches for months about wanting to be closer to home but 'still considering' San Jose, then bolts for the biggest contract he can find. Now, I have no problem with a player wanting to test the market and fish for the biggest possible contract, but it takes a real dick to string people along and use family as an excuse.

Chicago, enjoy the cap hit and turnovers.

Especially given that he didn't play in the finals...

7 year 35mil for fleury.

i think he got over paid.

5M a year makes him cheaper than a lot of goalies worse than him right now. Didn't Huet just get 5M a year from Chicago?

yea but fleury had one or two good seasons, that's a lot of risk to take on a young goalie, hope it works for you.

Your reply makes it seem like he has been around the league for quite some time with only a good season or two.

Well, I don't consider Fleury to be any more of a risk than, say, Lundqvist. The only real additional risk involved is the length of the contract. Other than that, Fleury could be considered a shoe-in to be a star in this league given that, so far, he's developed exactly like what would be expected of a goalie taken 1st overall.

On the flipside, of course, if he has injury problems or his game somehow goes to hell Pittsburgh has one hell of a buyout on their hands.


Keep in mind too that, with the NHL having a hard cap, teams are forced to use leverage other than money in these contracts. This includes things like No Trade Clauses and longer contracts, which offer security, in lieu of money. Unfortunately, even these come with a cost as teams like Toronto are beginning to figure out.

that's my point, he is not proven yet gets all this money, there is too much risk involved. The new trend in NHL seems to be find a star looking kid and just smother him with money so he stays for at least 4 years, it's a very risky and silly trend, but the stories of success make everyone want to go the route.