Official NHL Off-Season 2014 Thread

[philou21]

Looks like the Rangers will buy out Brad Richards I've heard.

Draft is coming and I don't have a darn clue of what will happen there. I barely know the prospects.

[Peter_Doherty]

Florida is shopping the #1 pick, looks like there will be a bid war between Nucks, Flames and possibly Oilers.

[philou21]

Flames? What do they have to offer?

[philou21]

I've read that Buffalo is under the cap by 16 millions! darn that's alot! Problem with that is they're going to sign mediocre players for way too much. Like the Panthers did 3 years ago.

[Primis]

I've read that Buffalo is under the cap by 16 millions! darn that's alot! Problem with that is they're going to sign mediocre players for way too much. Like the Panthers did 3 years ago.

You mean the Floor, not the Cap I assume. DET for example is about that much under the prospective Cap. BUF has way, way less on the payroll.

BUF will likely sign some medium-priced vets that have fallen out of favor elsewhere, overpay a lot for one or two other UFA's that aren't the premium targets, hope that gets them around the Floor, and go from there. This is how a guy like say Brian Boyle is gonna' get paid, honestly, even though he totally won't deserve it (a team needing to get to the floor will overpay him because he's big, and hope for the best). The problem is teams like CGY and FLA will need to do that same thing, especially if the floor goes up to the $50m-52m range like some have stated. I think it's been around $44m this past season.

COL should be ok. If the re-sign O'Reilly that'll probably on its own get them over the floor.

The NYI however have 18 players signed and are only at about $46m. They swung and missed on signing Boyle it sounds like, so by the time they re-sign any RFA's they will have to overpay a middling UFA or two as well probably just to get to the new floor. And the Island still isn't any kind of UFA destination...

So BUF, EDM, and CGY won't be the only one in that situation. I seriously bet someone hands Dany Heatley a fat contract still, and just hopes, and if nothing else it gets them to the Floor. Legwand won't get 5m maybe, but maybe $4m, as an example.

One other guy that's forgotten on everyone's UFA lists is Joni Pitkanen. He was hurt, missed the season, so he basically accrued no stats and therefore isn't on everyone's tables sorted by points or goals or whatever. And it sounds like CAR might be cutting ties, needing to re-sign other guys while honestly not having a ton of room probably under their own budget. If he's healed and healthy enough, $4m might not be unreasonable for a team to take a flyer on him. I think his last cap hit was $4.5m. I know I've been advocating hard for DET to go after him for months here as opposed to overpaying for an Ehrhoff or Edler in trade... but at any rate Pitkanen's another example of say $4m maybe a Floor team could add to get there.

The Flames only real assets are guys like Hudler and Wideman, and I can't imagine that's enough to get much of anything in return. They'd have to part with Monahan or Gaudreau to get anything, and I doubt they will.

[philou21]

Gerard Gallant is the new Florida Panthers headcoach it seems. I think he did a good job in MTL.

[Manimal]

I think Buffalo will give Ryan Callahan the type of contract he wanted from the Rangers, unless he gets signed with TB. He is from nearby Rochester, where the Sabres have their affiliate.

[philou21]

Modano, Hasek, Rob Blake, Forsberg and Pat Burns will be introduced in the HoF.

It's about darn time for Burns IMO. They should have introduced him before he passed away.

I'm really happy for Peter as well. Too bad that because of his injuries his numbers are not higher. Still good looking at the games played though.

[Manimal]

With the draft coming up, this is a given story to watch:
http://www.tsn.ca/bardown/Story.aspx?TS ... &id=455500

The man who never was

[CJ]

With the draft coming up, this is a given story to watch:
http://www.tsn.ca/bardown/Story.aspx?TS ... &id=455500

The man who never was

I've heard of that awesome guy before.

[philou21]

So new head-coach in Vcr.

Hartnell traded to the Jackets for Hamburger.

Markov signed for 3 years in MTL.

[philou21]

Roy won the Jack Adams (Who was still having doubts about that?) Well deserved after this year. He completely transformed the Avs. That should shut the mouth of the people who highly criticized him even before the season was started.

O'Reilly won the Lady Bing. Another kid who did well and seem to have changed his attitude. At first I didn't want him to be back with the Avs but if he stays like that, he's welcome aboard IMO.

MacKinnon won the Calder. Not surprised either by that. He also became the younger player in NHL history to win that trophy, not that it matter much though.

Ovy got the Rocket. Murray got the best GM. Patrice Bergeron got the Selke. Norris to Keith. Masterton goes to Dominic Moore. Crosby won the Art-Ross and the Ted Lindsay.

[Kopi]

Can someone explain to me how the Selke award works? Dont know how lets say Bergeron won it and not Kopitar who was better in points in regular season, was top on points in playoffs, was best in +/- in playoffs and was just few points in +/- after Bergeron in regular season...is there something else that i should check. Just have a feeling that since Pat is Canadian and from Bruins he gets the Selke..

[Manimal]

Can someone explain to me how the Selke award works? Dont know how lets say Bergeron won it and not Kopitar who was better in points in regular season, was top on points in playoffs, was best in +/- in playoffs and was just few points in +/- after Bergeron in regular season...is there something else that i should check. Just have a feeling that since Pat is Canadian and from Bruins he gets the Selke..

The Selke is given to 'the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game'
Don't stare so much on stats, it is voten on by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, so it is their personal view.
I do think it is beneficial to play in the Eastern Conference as most reporters are from the east and sees those players more often.
Also, what he did in the playoffs does not matter at all, as the voting is done before the playoffs

[philou21]

So Callahan is staying in Tampa Bay. A six years deal around 5.8 millions I think. Better than the 7 he was asking!

[Peter_Doherty]

Ended up being an acceptable contract in the end, good for Rangers that he signed so we get a 2nd rounder next year That trade is looking better and better from the view of Rangers.

[philou21]

I still don't think that. St-Louis is old and will probably retire soon enough. Callahan still has alot to offer.

Edit: Gaborik stays with the Kings. 7 years contract. I'm sure they will regret it at some point.

[Peter_Doherty]

How can you say it's not looking better?:D St. Louis helped take us to the SC Finals and now we get a 2nd rounder next year, that's surely better then no SC Final and no 2nd rounder?:D

Gaboriks contract is amazing, super low cap hit for a player of his quality. This is how it is: Gaborik deal: $6.075M in the first three years, then $5.075M, $4.575M $3.175M and $3.075M. Cap hit: $4.875M

[Kopi]

Can someone explain to me how the Selke award works? Dont know how lets say Bergeron won it and not Kopitar who was better in points in regular season, was top on points in playoffs, was best in +/- in playoffs and was just few points in +/- after Bergeron in regular season...is there something else that i should check. Just have a feeling that since Pat is Canadian and from Bruins he gets the Selke..

The Selke is given to 'the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game'
Don't stare so much on stats, it is voten on by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, so it is their personal view.
I do think it is beneficial to play in the Eastern Conference as most reporters are from the east and sees those players more often.
Also, what he did in the playoffs does not matter at all, as the voting is done before the playoffs

thank you

[philou21]

Looks like the Flyers are already trying to trade Lecavalier. How pathetic is that.

[Kopi]

Looks like the Flyers are already trying to trade Lecavalier. How pathetic is that.

Whats the best site for rumors on trades for NHL?

[philou21]

I don't think there is a really good site at this. It might not be true but I wouldn't be surprised with the new GM in place. Still, they signed him 1 year ago.

[Primis]

Looks like the Flyers are already trying to trade Lecavalier. How pathetic is that.

Whats the best site for rumors on trades for NHL?

http://spectorshockey.net/blog/

Spector is a legit guy, with legit credentials and legit contacts/sources, and legit mainstream media respect. His rumors aren't always the most-sensational, but there always something behind them.

I wouldn't bother with anyone else.

Beyond that, get on Twitter and follow Bob McKenzie, James Mirtle, Corey Pronman, etc....

[Kopi]

Thank you

[Primis]

Also DON'T get on Twitter and follow guys like Aaron Ward or Nick Kypreos, as both have made several absurd reports/claims that have proven false in recent memory (like reporting things as done deals that aren't, and then never happen at all). Both are popular follows but, oy, they don't vet their sources very well apparently and I don't trust them.

Darren Dreger is also a very good follow for updates/rumors. There's also a French speaker from Quebec who works for Quebec's French-speaking equivalent of TSN -- RDS I think it is -- who does a pretty good job, though for the life of now me I cant remember his name. Especially when it comes to things relating to teams like MTL, TOR, and OTT for obvious reasons.

Never, ever pay any attention to Eklund. A guy one year broke down all his rumors statistically and found that a random rumor generator was quite literally more accurate than him. Never, ever pay any attention to HockeyInsiderr either, for pretty much the same reasons and he may or may not have been outed as a bored teenage kid just looking for attention.

Local team beat writers won't give you anything unless it's team-approved, and therefore very very seldom give you anything new or breaking. Only thing they are good for is news for the morning skates, soundbites from the dressing room, etc. I know witht he way it works with Detroit's beat writers, if anything interesting gets broken by them news-wise it's almost undoubtedly because the team leaked it to them *intentionally*.

A good place to start for Hockey Twitter anyhow is here: http://www.capgeek.com/twitter-rankings/?type=media

Twitter is really the way to go anymore. Stuff tends to hit Twitter first. Sometimes someone might have news for the web, but has to craft a post or story for it first, and the news might have been on Twitter a half hour before by the time they can get it posted.

I was a slower adopter of Twitter but man...