stevkrause

The fact of the matter is, you can argue that they ALREADY will have a hard time icing a competitive team with all the changes they've already had to make and they should do the right thing and just buy him out, they still have to eat some cap space - but as the old saying goes, they made their bed, they have to lie in it. The long and the short of it is, that they are kidding themselves if they HONESTLY think they have a very good shot at making a deep playoff run (if even making the playoffs) with the lack of depth (all a team needs to do, is shut down that 1st line and they're dead in the water) They'll have a lot better chance of becoming relevant sooner rather than later, if they can land free-agents without having to sign everyone and their brother to no movement clauses, just to lure them there - and THAT is a business move.

Dead on! I still say there is ZERO chance Huet goes to the KHL (MAYBE SEL or FEL, but not KHL) and people need to stop acting like the AHL is a simple solution - there are ramifications for either move and Chicago will be affected with free agents due to either...

Radulov was under contract as well, but once again, is another Russian... as is Tverdosky... most French or English speaking players won't want to go to the KHL unless they are from the North Baltic regions, as the lifestyle is not optimal for non-Russian speaking players and the medical attention is ATROCIOUS and downright dangerous at times as well... Nylander is in the SEL, not the KHL by the way - much better relationship between the 2 leagues Please show me an article from him actually suggesting this as a solution, I am yet to find one. I never called anyone asinine, I merely said that the suggestion that the KHL was a realistic destination for a player making 5.6m US (which he would forfeit to jump over there) was asinine - not the person, nor the debate. That was my point of view on the whole topic as well... I never took anything you said to be disrespectful and never intended any of my points to be either... Any sources? If there are credible sources suggesting this, I would genuinely like to read them and I think it would add a LOT more validity to this argument in my mind...

I stand corrected - still not the best relationship between the French and Russians though, so I don't see how that makes it much more of a reasonable scenario... I still think KHL would never happen - too much bad blood between the NHL and KHL... as for waiving, it is possible and I already said that, but it'd be a very bad move on their part as an organization... thanks for the heads up, learn something new every day! I always thought he was French-Canadian...

First - Too bad the player will have to want to play there and I HIGHLY doubt he has ANY desire to play in any league other than the NHL. EDITED - Thought Huet was Canadian, although I still do not see him wanting to go to the KHL Second - All of your examples were "attempted" - It is yet to be executed and it will not be executed, there is too much bad blood between the leagues for it to ever work and Huet would have to reserve his career to ending in the KHL if this happened, as this would merely suspend his contract and it would have to honored upon his return to the NHL and that would not happen... Thirdly - Nylander is a broken down shell of what he was and they could rationalize waiving him... how are they going to rationalize waiving Huet and sending him to the AHL when his numbers are relatively consistent with what he has been his whole career and what he was when he was signed to that ridiculous deal... also, even though he's not his father - remember who Chicago's owner is - 5m is a lot to eat for a team that is already going to be a shell of what they were and not likely to make a deep playoff run this upcoming year ESPECIALLY if they get a key injury or 2. Your arguments are flawed and unreasonable... he could still end up in the AHL (even though there would be ramifications that I doubt Chicago wants) but to even suggest the KHL is asinine... Lets call a spade a spade, for what they were handed by Tallon, they've actually done a pretty good job at least receiving picks for assets to fix the mess they were dealt... it's just SUCH a huge mess, there's no way to fix it outright... it's going to take time, but they are definitely doing a good job with the hand they were dealt...

Agreed - and Hjalmarsson is 2 years younger than Kronwall was at the time... right on, sorry I mis-understood - we were basically arguing the same point!

Lebda isn't worth a half-eaten bag of Dorito's and a Crystal Lite...

Of course, that's always the question with prospects - the point is (where this whole debate started), is that there is still WAY too much potential to even suggest exposing him to waivers, where we would lose him for nothing for sure...

That would be funny, but I still think it's WAY too early to predict how next years draft class will look - a LOT can change in a 16, or 17 year olds game, not only in a year, but in 6 months, or even 3 months... a lot can change...

Also, why would he willingly just "go to the KHL" (even if it were an option, which it's not because he's under contract) when he's making 5m here? that's asinine to even suggest...

Hudler wasn't under contract... so, no EDIT - Hence why we had to "sign" him this year...

My point is, that if he even plays as he did this past season and continues to improve at his rate, he's already worth at least 2.5-3 and should easily be worth that, or more by next year and the following two... who knows, sky's the limit... these are HUGE IF's, I'm just saying... long and the short if it, is that we both agree - great move by SJ

haha, awesome!

It's all about paying for potential and if he continues improving at the pace he is at, this could be an absolute bargain by year 3 of the deal... even if he just plays at his current pace, it's on par with what comparable d-men are paid... That's why they dealt most of them to the East, so the bandwagon fans don't realize how good their former players are doing, as they probably won't watch the other conference games at all and will only have to see these guys once a year at most at home...

dead on - especially realizing Chicago's cap situation and the fact that they most likely will not be able to match... Very savvy move on their part.

The problem is, that if you want to add any toughness at all in a gritty 4th liner, you have to trade Ritola as well and will already have to deal Miller if Modano is signed, as there will simply not be enough roster spots... EDIT - just explaining by the way - I can see the positives and negatives to both sides.

no offense, but this question was directed towards uk_redwing, as he stated he has watched a lot of games and you, yourself, even stated that you haven't seen that many... It's not a coincidence that he was called up last year, or that his +/- has improved by more than a 50% jump (while playing in increased roles) each year in GR - from what I've seen - he does have "IT"

first, the can't "send him to the KHL", not even an option and if I need to explain this, then you need to educate yourself... second, you can't just "send someone to the AHL" there are ramifications there, even besides that whole, you know, an owner just eating 5 MILLION DOLLARS... the NHLPA could block the move for one, and ALSO, it sets a bad precedent for FA signings in the future...

That is definitely how it's looking... hell, with all the goalies on the market right now, they might be better off buying Huet out and trying to lure in Turco at about 2 or 2.5 million a year... it'd be about the same caphit combined, but would arguably be an upgrade... They'd actually save cap space as a matter of fact, as his buyout hit is actually only 1.875 - http://www.capgeek.com/buyout_calculator.php?Player=272&buyout_y=2010&buyout_m=07&buyout_d=20&Calculate=%C2%AB+CALCULATE+BUYOUT+%C2%BB

Even with Niemi and Hjalmarsson gone, they STILL will need to make another move, just to fill out a roster...

If he cleared waivers and went to the AHL, his salary would not count against the cap - KHL is not an option, as he would basically have to go awol and that brings up a whole extra transfer agreement issue, plus, they'd still be on the hook if he returned, as it basically just suspends the contract... but this is a VERY unrealistic option due to the repercussions involved with it... if they were smart, they'd trade Niemi and make him the starter or just buy him out and eat the 2.5 cap hit involved with it...

I think the only people that are getting bashed are the ones that are over the top - saying he's a shell, waste, etc...

What about his game didn't you like? His positioning and decision making were the only things that were cause for concern, but both of those have drastically improved over the last 2 years... if you've watched that many games, I'm genuinely interested to know what you saw that I didn't, because I've watched at least 25-30 games a year for the last 3 years and saw major improvements...

They have 4 - John Scott was signed about a week ago... there's no way they can afford that, they're already only like 3m below the cap and they only have 16 players under contract... If anything, this might be the best thing to happen to them, as they can rationalize it to fans as someone "stealing him" and it not just being another trade, and they get two picks in return (which don't take up cap space) - one of which is a 1st rounder...

No way at all... they're most likely going to lose Niemi as well...