Signing-Day “Liveblog”

I’ve not been around much of the day, but two big signings have already happened, and so I’d like to put those up and keep up to date on those that happen here on in.

Signing off for supper to go for supper with Brad and Shoshanna. Happy Canada Day!!!

***

Hossa’s on the move again. After having moved from Pittsburgh to Detroit in an attempt to find the next Cup winner, he’s decided to settle in with a team that looks primed to win the Cup in the next five years, let alone the 12 he’s there for:

Hoping to finally land on a Stanley Cup team, Marian Hossa has hooked up with his fourth club in three years.

Hossa, who played for the Detroit Red Wings this season, signed a 12-year, 62.4-million US contract with the Chicago Blackhawks during the NHL’s free-agent signing period, which began Wednesday at noon.

The veteran forward will average $5.2 million a season.

The Blackhawks also picked up another Red Wing, 27-year-old winger Tomas Kopecky, in a two-year, $2.4 million deal.

Neither player adds anything to the age of the Blackhawks, but Hossa will certainly add some talent to the mix. After flopping between Stanley Cup losers the last two years, it looks like he’s finally ready to commit to being on a team building towards a Cup, which is a good sign. Aside from that, we’ll see how good of a fit he is… it seems to me that he’s always had the biggest impact in places where he’s been the sole star (read: Atlanta). Hopefully he learns to play second fiddle, with guys like Kane and Toews around!

***

Speaking of second fiddle, the Sedins certainly aren’t. After it looked like we’d be down to the wire with the twins, the Canucks have nabbed them at $6-million apiece:

Brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin re-signed with the Canucks on Wednesday, right before the NHL free agency feeding frenzy was set to begin at noon.

The twins both signed five-year deals worth $30.5 million US each.

“We really like it in Vancouver, and that’s where we wanted to stay,” Henrik Sedin said Wednesday on a conference call.

“Coming down to the last few days, we’ve been in Stockholm with our agents and our families and we walked through our possible options.”

As I argued before, this eats a lot of cap space for two guys who have yet to convince against the big boys. But Gillis didn’t want to go beyond five years, so it’s not surprising to see it being upwards of $6 million apiece. Like it or not, the Sedins are Vancouver, and with a slew of young guys on the rise, the rest will have to come from within, since I find it hard to believe Vancouver will be shopping around much with $12 million tied up!

Of course, that’s a nice direction for a team that failed so royally in developing players for so many years!

Meanwhile, Canucks staple Mattias Ohlund has departed for Tampa Bay:

Veteran defenceman Mattias Ohlund left Vancouver for Tampa Bay and a US$26.25-million, seven-year contract with the Lightning.

Ohlund spent the first 11 years of his career with the Vancouver Canucks, who drafted him 13th overall in 1994. He has 325 points (93-232) in 770 career games.

As the article points out, this gives them a good mentor and partner for Viktor Hedman, the second-overall pick in this year’s draft.

***

Erik Cole is now off the market, having re-signed with Carolina. It makes sense… he had little impact when he left them last year, but is one of the better power forwards in the league around his companions.

Sometimes, players are just meant to be home, no matter how much you’d like to see them on your team!

***

Minor Movers

Alongside these bigger moves, a number of smaller moves happened.

Boucher (pictured above) is going back to his starting place, Philadelphia. That leaves them with two experimental goalies, with Emery presumably getting the chance to start first.

The Caps added Mike Knuble.

Dwayne Roloson will now be a mentor to DiPietro, leaving the Oilers goallieless. Here’s betting he gets the starter job, despite being old and washed-up.

Speaking of washed-up, the Oilers have decided to stick with the tested and true (and tired), by signing on Khabiboulin to replace Roloson. $3 million a year for the name and the shame of being backed by Nik…

Oh, and in case you missed it, the Flames managed to keep Bouwmeester around after risking a trade for him to have some exclusive access.

How I’d like to see the Canucks

It’s that time of year again! All of us hockey enthusiasts get to spend one last day trying to figure out, against all odds, just how the free agent signing spree will turn out. The exciting prospect of yor favorite team landing a big-time star is hard to resist, but, as this article points out, many of those major signings are busts faster than you can get your head around the double-digit salaries. I would argue that some on this list — like Briere — were fairly predictable failures. Others, like Marian Hossa (not on this list), are laughably ironic, but not really as terrible as they could have been. But most, like Brian Campbell or Scott Gomez, were very difficult calls, and at the time of signing one could not have said whether they would be poor decisions or not.

I for one believe that this is the best pool of players we’ve seen on the market post-lockout, despite the fact that it’s still not “flush”. There are some potential gems out there, and I’d be glad to see Vancouver build on their success last year. According to Mirtle’s cheat sheet, the Canucks have $23 million to spend. They’ve made a qualifying offer to Wellwood and are letting Pyatt slide, Sundin may or may not be coming back, and Ohlund is going to walk, but of course the biggest question mark is the Sedin Situation. Assuming the Sedins walk, which is looking more likely with each passing minute despite an apparent offer, one has to figure that our current depth chart looks like this:

? – ? – ?

Burrows – Kesler – Demitra

Raymond – Wellwood* – Hansen*

Rypien – Johnson – Bernier

Mitchell – Bieksa

Edler – Salo

O’Brien* – ?

Luongo

Schneider

* = RFAs likely to be re-signed.

If Sundin returns, centre-wise we’re actually in pretty good shape, with or without the Sedins. But there are a lot of doubtful performers on the wings. If the Sedins return, guys like Kesler and Wellwood can shift to the wing, which seemed to be the case last year. But as it stands, with no Pyatt and no Sedins, the Canucks are basically at a loss for a top line, even if Sundin returns. Defense-wise, I’m not worrying, even with the last two basically unspoken for. I’m certain that the Canucks can bring some guys up from within the system if they can’t get someone for cheap on the market.

Now, as I’ve maintained in the past, signing the Sedins is not really the equivalent of signing a top line. They’re solid 5-on-5 performers, but when they’re under pressure from big physical defensemen, they aren’t capable of carrying the offense. Personally, I’m in favour of the line 1 A and line 1 B approach which has been developing in Vancouver, with the Sedins sharing the offensive burden with a second line which is slightly better than average. Say what you will about letting the Sedins walk, but paying $12 million for the two players does not set us up to pay for a line 1 B. By putting that much of our cap space into the twins, Gillis would be essentially stating that the Sedins are expected to carry the team offensively, because we wouldn’t be in much of a position to re-sign Sundin or fight for any other top free agent.

Considering RFAs, let’s give ~$18-million to spend on UFAs, with perhaps a bit more if Hansen or O’Brien is allowed to walk and is replaced by one of our growing number of talented youngsters.

I say let the Sedins slide, unless they can be gotten for closer to $10-million total. Also, let Sundin slide, as I’m figuring he’ll be asking more than $6-million too, and he’s not worth anything near that.

My preferred replacement for top pivot is Mike Cammalleri. He’s young and dependable, and a point-per-game producer. Getting him signed on for the next 5 years would be something to build around as Hogsden develops. He’s young enough that a long-term deal could bring his hit down to $6-million a year.

Erik Cole is one of my favorites on the list. He can produce at a comparable pace to Bertuzzi at this point, and although he has yet to post any stellar numbers, if he were alongside a decent centre and given a few more minutes every night I believe he could be a point-per-game kind of guy.

Here’s where it gets hard, though. Constructing the perfect line 1 A is difficult, since it requires cashing in on a sniper, something the Canucks haven’t had since pre-lockout Naslund. Something the Sedins managed to do was generate goals by energy, and make other players better than they should be (Carter, Pyatt). That won’t happen here. Say we get Cammalleri at $6-million a year, and Cole at $4-million. That leaves $8-million to turn this line into a real top line, or to grab up two players, one to compliment these two and one to make a line 1 B.

At $8-million, it’s possible to make a dash for a guy like Gaborik. But that’s a lot of money for a guy whose health is doubtful. Marian Hossa, who should perform well points-wise, would eat up the entire $8-million, and I’m always skeptical on his ability to carry a team in the post-season. Havlat is likely to go for $6-million at least (his current salary), and he’s another health concern although I would take him over Gaborik. That’s about it for really high-end forwards.

What about the second option then? Kovalev, who should stick around his $4.5-million, is hard to rely on. Lehtinen has been quiet in Dallas the last couple of years, although he used to be one of the best two-way guys in the league. Steve Sullivan didn’t play much last season, but is one of the most underrated players in the game when he’s on. Koivu, who is not likely worth $5-million after a very mediocre season, is still an excellent line 1 B type of guy. Gionta is pretty good, too, at around $4-million.

Given a choice, I would go for Gionta and Sullivan, both at around $4-million. Neither will hurt defensively, but both can contribute offensively, and Gionta is fast enough that I think he and Kesler would make a neat combo. Thus, here’s how I would have the forwards look:

Cole – Cammalleri – Sullivan

Burrows – Kesler – Gionta

Raymond – Wellwood – Demitra

Rypien – Johnson – Bernier

To me, this would maintain the defensive responsibility that we’ve seen in Vancouver to this point, while adding some grit in Cole, a good pivot in Cammalleri, and an excellent secondary scoring/energy line to help take the pressure off of the top guys.

The Bullies on Broad Street

John Tavares went first overall, but the big news last night seems to be that the Philadelphia Flyers came away with Chris Pronger, in exchange for Lupul, a prospect defenseman, and a couple of draft picks. This, on top of the signing of Ray Emery earlier during the break, inevitably has the question being asked: Are they now Cup contenders?

I’ll be straight up and say that the Flyers have always been close to my heart. I used to cheer for them as a kid. The heart-breaker moment for me was in the 1999 Eastern Finals, when Lindros was clobberated. Brian Boucher’s amazing run at the time is a fond memory (”Booooooosssh!”)

From the following season onward, with both Boucher and Lindros getting some poor handling by the Flyers, I turned my attention to the Canucks, not long before the Morrison-Naslund-Bertuzzi line really hit their stride. Since then, I’ve been disappointed to see the Flyers mishandle other situations, and especially immediately prior to and after the lockout, they seemed like a team destined to be left in the dust.

Then things started to change. Clarke was no longer the helmsman. Briere was the new marquee player alongside Gagné. Richards began to develop into a leadership figure. And the Flyers slowly snuck back into my heart.

Ironically, the most exciting development is the sudden addition of two players that seem to fit into the Flyers’ past perfectly — a move which stands in contrast with those other developments (Briere is a very abnormal Flyer, in both skill and stature!)

With that admission of love, I will state that I hope that this turns them into a Cup contender. Emery is a rough and tumble goaltender and fits into the Bully mentality perfectly. Pronger is not very likeable by me, but his big size and dirty tricks are suitable again to the Flyers scene. But, despite this, the most I think can honestly be stated about the Flyers thus far is that they are now a wild card.

At best: The Flyers are now the third member in a rapidly-developing Eastern Trinity, along with Pittsburgh and Washington. If Emery has matured some, he has the potential to be the mainstay goaltender the Flyers have been lacking for… well, forever! He’s not brilliant, but he will hold the fort very competently if he can keep out of trouble off of the ice. Pronger is a force to be reckoned with, and adds to their roster that big presence that they’ve been lacking, but without slowing the team up any. He’ll be a good match for Timonen. With their developing core of forwards, it’s entirely feasible to say that they could match the Penguins stride-for-stride, although their style of play would be different, and much more physical, than either the Pens or the Caps.

At worst: The Flyers are going to miss the playoffs. They’ve put their goaltending eggs in one very wonky basket, and if Emery proves to be a basket case the team is going to suffer a drop even considering Biron’s inconsistency. Also, with Lupul gone, they’re going to have to count on some guys to step up their game in order to provide secondary scoring, especially since Briere has yet to prove he’s worth his $10-million contract. And of course, Gagné’s health is always a huge question mark! Hartnell, Carter, and Kapanen could be fantastically mediocre behind fantastically mediocre front-line players. Really, the only player I place money on is Richards, who is, in my opinion, turning into one of the best all-round players in the league, when taking into account leadership and defensive play.

How long before we know which Flyer team will show up? I’d give them until January. If, at that point in time, they are playing gritty, lippy hockey but keeping it clean away from the rink, I’d be willing to pick them as challengers for the Eastern Conference, especially with Sid the Kid’s team needing a rest!

Sedins Worth the Money?

The guys at Nucks Misconduct have been going over and over the question: Sedins or No Sedins? The twins are supposedly after 5-6 million each, and a long-term contract. The question is, just how much are the two of them worth?

One of the points that has been made repeatedly is that the Sedins are among the best even-strength performers in the league. The were among some pretty amazing names for their +/- at even strength play, and as such can be regarded not just as decent offensive players, but solid two-way performers, largely thanks to their puck control game.

With that in mind, one would think that a cap-hit of 5.25 million over a 12-year span would be pretty good, right?

Yes, but there are two questions which come to mind for me.

The first is, even with all of these numbers about their even-strength performance, how many of these points come in pairs? It’s one thing to say that your players are both among the top performers on the ice. With each of them posting around a point a game, $5-6 million apiece isn’t bad at all. That’s 160 points generated for $12 million, which is surely cost-comparable to guys like Iginla, and a much better deal than someone like Briere. But, say 80% of their points are united. In that case, the total number of extra goals contributed by the Sedins is really only around 100, since Henrik’s assist is likely stacked alongside Daniel’s goal, or Daniel’s assist is likely stacked alongside Henrik’s assist. If the two of them are only contributing to 100 unique goals every season, then you’re likely overpaying at $12 million combined. Most stars that are generating 100 points are doing it relatively solo. Consider Crosby and Malkin as a point.

The second question that comes to mind is still performance against top teams. It seems to me that thus far, the Sedins have a proven track record against the Edmontons of the league. But put them up against Detroit, Anaheim, or even Chicago, and the offense suddenly dries up. Every year come clinch time, it seems that the offense is brought into question again. If the Sedins are really the go-to guys for this team, should they not shoulder the responsibility for the weak offense? The fact that Mats Sundin looked like the only player skating for the Canucks in the last two games against the Blackhawks suggests to me that the Sedins aren’t pulling their weight against the elite teams.

Both of those questions are hard to answer. You’d have to do some serious stat mining to get to something substantially proven. But in my mind, the two present nagging doubts that I cannot overlook. If we’re to commit that much time and money to these players, I need to know that they’re cost-comparable per point, and that they are able to perform against the league’s best. And I’m not sure I see that yet.

Re-thinking “the Blog”

Two-part story; one conclusion.

First part is this: My blog. I haven’t bothered blogging in a while on this site. This is largely a result of the tension between blogging and my regular routine, which is cram-packed.

Second part: My twitter account. Started it today, and was pleased with the cleanliness of the interface. By which I mean, the simplicity and elegance, not the dust-freeness (although I also noticed no dust, for those who are worried! )

The result is me re-thinking the role of the blog.

I don’t want another big commitment, time-wise. Although I’m always skeptical of social media, this whole twitter thing is appealing because of the restrictions it places on you: 140 characters, or less. As a writer who enjoys going in-depth, the limitation is sure to stagger me at times, but at the same time it’s freeing to know I can’t go on a pages-long report on such-and-such.

But I don’t want to lose the ability to write longer content. It’s a talent, and a love.

The result: I’m thinking that I want to combine the two. The twitter feed, to the right, will be updated more frequently with personal details and thoughts on hockey, among other things.

This blog, on the other hand, will allow for those times when I think a real story is present. A la “real” journalism.

Maybe, just maybe, this time the blogging will endure beyond the summer.

We shall see.

Burke Moving On

From CBC.ca:

Brian Burke is out as the general manager of the Anaheim Ducks.

Bob Murray, the NHL team’s senior vice-president of hockey operations, will take over GM duties, the Ducks announced Wednesday.

Burke’s departure stems from his reluctance to sign a contract extension beyond this season due to family issues.

“Late last week, Brian respectfully declined our contract extension and we decided to move forward on our previously discussed plan,” said Ducks CEO Michael Schulman.

“Brian and I have been discussing his future with the Ducks for some time. Once he decided last week not to extend his contract, I decided Bob was the obvious successor and Brian agreed.”

Brian Burke has established himself as an intelligent GM. Some people call him the best in the league. With only one Cup to his name, it’s hard to justify that entirely, but he certainly has shown pizazz in putting together first a firey Canucks offense, and then a stingy Ducks defense. He’s a big public figure, which most GMs can’t say, and he is willing to say the things most people don’t want to hear.

Still, in the last couple years he’s mostly been in damage control mode. The Hockey News is crediting Niedermayer with his recent struggles, stating that his decision to delay his return last year is the cause of many woes for the Ducks, salary cap-wise. And indeed, it’s certainly easy to identify the losses of MacDonald and then Schneider to the Niedermayer conundrum.

Now, there are still some dubious marks on his record. Signing Bertuzzi to a $4-million a year deal was clearly rash. So, too, were his big bonuses to Getzlaf and Perry, some would argue. But then, that’s part of what makes Burke one of the best: He’s willing to do what he thinks needs doing, regardless of public relations or conventional wisdom!

If he ends up in Toronto, he’ll revamp the team even more thoroughly than Fletcher has been. If he ends up elsewhere, you can bet he’ll come with a vision. Because Burke isn’t one to dilly dally when it comes to establishing a winning record.

It’ll hurt the Ducks to lose him.

Habs blank Sens

The Montreal Canadiens were in the midst of their season-worst losing streak, but they turned things around tonight. CBC.ca reports:

The Montreal Canadiens entered Tuesday’s showdown with the Ottawa Senators on a modest two-game losing streak, prompting criticism from their own head coach.

Guy Carbonneau chastised his players for their “lack of effort, lack of concentration, lack of focus, lack of everything” in this past Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But the players responded with a spirited performance in Tuesday’s 4-0 victory over the visiting Senators in front of 21,273 raucous fans at the Bell Centre.

28 saves were made in Price’s shutout, out-dueling Alex Auld, who has taken over the starting role for the Sens.

Higgins was the big story, with a hat-trick in the victory.

The Habs may not have many longer losing streaks than that this season. As the CBC announcers were noting Saturday, they’ve been winning games despite the fact that they aren’t playing very well, simply because they’re so talented. If they rank so high in the league whiel playing poorly, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with once the full 60-minute game starts emerging!

3rd time’s the charm

Going to bed after a satisfactory evening spent reading a book alongside my girlfriend. But that doesn’t mean I missed out on hockey action!

No, I kept tabs on the game the entire way through, and got home in time to catch the ending of what may be the high point of the season for the Canucks!

After a slow start, they’ve moved into top in the Northwest, with a notable third straight shutout for Luongo. He set a record for the longest streak without a goal against in Canucks’ history last year. He’s approaching that mark, and would surpass it if he managed to get a fourth straight in their next match.

The scoring’s still going strong, with people chipping in across the board. The Sedins have looked solid the last handful of games, which means that the Canucks are no longer relying on only Alexandre Burrows for the goals. But better yet is the fact that the goals are still coming from the lower lines, which has given the Canucks a rather high goal differential.

Yes, I can retire happily tonight.

I’ll see you next month, when we’re in the depths of despair!

The Year So Far: October In Numbers

The Teams:

Number of goals scored: 955.

Number of games played: 161.

Goals per game: 5.93.

Best team: New York Rangers (21 pts).

Best in West: San Jose Sharks (18 pts).

Highest Winning Percentage: San Jose Sharks (81%).

Most goals scored: Detroit Red Wings (41 goals).

Least goals against: Minnesota Wild (22 goals against).

Worth Mentioning: Montreal Canadiens (80% winning, 1 loss, 37 GF, 24 GA).

Worst Team: New York Islanders (5 points).

Worst in West: Los Angeles Kings (7 points).

Lowest Winning Percentage: Atlanta Thrashers (18%).

Least goals scored: Edmonton Oilers (21).

Most goals against: Dallas Stars (50).

Most games played: New York Rangers (14).

Least games played: Phoenix (9).

The Players:

Most points: Malkin (18).

Most goals: Vanek (11).

Best points per game average: Semin (1.6).

Best SV%: Thomas (.944).

Best GAA: Miller (1.82).

Most Wins: Lundqvist (9).

Most Shutouts: Brodeur, Luongo, and Thomas (2).

Best +/-: Koivu and Zherdev (+9).

Would you have picked…

…Toronto and New Jersey to have one of the highest-scoring contests yet this year?

Didn’t think so. That’s why last night was a surprise:

Toskala was raked for five goals on 31 shots through regulation and overtime, but he outduelled Brodeur in the shootout as the Maple Leafs prevailed 6-5 over the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center.

It marked Toskala’s first career victory over the Devils in four starts.

[...]

Brodeur faced a whopping 48 shots in defeat.

“We came in as a tired team and had 48 shots on goal,” Wilson said. “I thought we did an unbelievable job all night long.”

[...]

Kaberle beat Brodeur between the pads on a forehand deke, but Hagman’s winner was a beauty to behold as he applied the brakes in time to backhand the puck by the future Hall of Famer and shower him with snow.

“I decided I was going to try something else and I felt pretty confident with it,” Hagman said. “I didn’t want to put snow in his face.

The two big stories, Hagman’s goal and the porousness of both goalies, are going to be interesting to follow. I don’t imagine there’ll be much to-do over the shootout spraying, mostly because Hagman was so quick to say he didn’t mean to do it. If someone else were to use it as a way to shake up the goalie in the middle of the shoot-out, they may start enforcing some sort of penalty in the shootout, but that’s something that I can only see being considered down the road, in the case of repeat offenses.

The goalies, however, are another issue. Brodeur, in particular, has not looked great this season, and New Jersey has not looked too solid on the back end. Brodeur has allowed 5 goals twice this week already, during a year where he was supposed to take the mantle of “best goalie” away from Patrick Roy.

Let’s face it: Brodeur looks tired. If there’s one thing that can be said of Roy, it’s that he outlasted almost every goalie going in regards to length spent carrying teams deep into the playoffs. Brodeur may have had a brilliant career with New Jersey so far, but the amount of pressure that’s been put on him in recent years to carry a sub-par defense is clearly wearing down on him.

It still divides Roy from the rest of the pack, IMO. He took poor teams to the Cup a number of times, and never was on a defensive juggernaught. If Brodeur can pick it up, he may be deserving of a name alongside Roy’s. But this is the third consecutive year where he has been appearing more and more mortal, and we’ll see what kind of impact that has in the long-term!