Nev

Just like to point out that if Sammy is on IR, then he can't be bought out. Holland said that he's doesn't need surgery now and he is re-habbing the injury. How long he stays on IR though... Get better soon Sammy!

Why? To get under the cap? To avoid crippling cap hits if they retire early? Those lifetime contracts were great under the old rules, not so good now. You either get a 41 year old player with a $6M cap hit, or a retired player, who still has a cap hit on your books. In Malkin's case, the pens have a choice - do they sacrifice Malkin to keep some of their depth, or keep Malkin, have $19M tied up in 2 players, and lose some depth.

Even more reason not to boo Hossa! It was always likely that he would only be here for 1 season. The better comparison for Shanny is Feds. Shanahan turned down the same amount of money from the wings to move to NY to build his post-playing career (and he was quite honest about that) but Wings fans give him a free pass.

And I remember what Yzerman, Fedorov, Shanny et al did when we choked against the Kings. I remember what Yzerman, Shanny, Fedorov, Robitaill, Hull et al did when we got swept by the Ducks. Does that mean they suck too? Yep, the much maligned Valterri Filpulla shut him down. And the next season, Malkin was the difference when they won.

They can't play all 3 goalies at once you know Anyway, the Olympics is a real crap-shoot. So many single-elimination games in such a short space of time. Look at that loaded roster Canada had last time, and they won on a scuffed shot along the ice. With no horse in this race, I guess I'll be cheering for Pav and Russia

All aboard the Bruins bandwagon!

*IF* it were to happen, whoever traded for him would have a agreed a contract extension with Malkin beforehand, like we did with Hasek in 2001.

For most players I would agree with you. But this is Evgeni frikken Malkin. How often do players of that calibre become (potentially) available? Especialy in the cap world were star players get locked up on long contracts? If we could get him for picks and prospects I say go for it, especially because of our deep pool of prospects. Fact is, we've almost got too many - they can't all play. I honestly expect KH to do something this off season, whether its trading up in the 1st round, or picking off a juicy RFA, just to de-clog the pipeline. Dats is 34, Hank is 32, Malkin is 26. If we do a trade + sign, we get 7-8 prime years of one of the top-3 players in the game.

I can give you 43.5 million reasons why.

I'm guessing that's for a normal buyout, not one of the two amnesty buyouts?

I voted no for this summer, but for next summer? It has to be seriously, seriously considered. He'll be 34 next summer, and we've still got another 6 years of that $4M cap hit after that. Buying him out next summer means we get the best out of the contract - cheap cap hit whilst he's at his peak, no declining production from an overpaid vet. It also means we don't get brutalised later on if he retires or we have to buy him out. The money we'll still have to pay him is irrelevant. Ilitch has always been prepared to pay to win, buying him out like this is just another way for Detroit to leverage their financial power.

Such a shame we're out the playoffs, this is photoshop gold!

That's Hossa's cap hit. He's actually being paid $7.9M this year, its only the fact that his contract runs till he's a hundred and two that brings the hit down. Flips $5M asking price almost certainly comes from the Jordan Staal contract. Similar players - 2nd/3rd line two-way centres - putting up similar points. OK Staal is younger and bigger, but when he signed that 10 year $60M contract I said that Flip's agent would be rubbing his hands with glee. I like Flip, but Holland mantra is "pay to keep your core players, don't over-pay for your role players", and sorry Valterri, but UFA's like you are as over-paid as ELCs and RFA's are underpaid.

What would I give up? Emmerton, Mursak and a 4th. What would it take? I don't think the Pens would be interested in picks and prospects, they want to keep a contending roster around Crosby, but they lack defense and goaltending. Any trade for Malkin would would have to include Malking signing an extension as part of the trade - but the price would start with Howard and Ericsson/Dekeyser, and I don't think anyone here is prepared to pay that, even for a top 3 player in his prime.

I'm getting it off Capgeek, but I just realised I was looking at Salary Payroll and not Cap Payroll, so they're actually ~$1.5M under the cap with a 21 man roster if they let all the FAs go and replace them with kids/scrubs. So they can keep Hossa, but they'll lose their depth (again) But of course, the other reason to buy out Hossa is his $5.25M cap hit till he's in his 40s.

The Hawks are $4M over the cap for next year, and that's if they let go Handzus, Leddy, Rosival, Emery, Kruger, Stallberg, Meyers and Bickell and replace them with kids on ELCs. And that's with only 21 players signed including no backup goalie.

Why are Syracuse so dominant? Have they got an even better pile of prospects than us?

No, I believe that was a one-off thing before the start of this season. Summers 2013 and 2014 any compliance buyouts go straight to UFA. And for the record, Marian Hossa's highest goal total in the last 7 seasons was 40 goals in 2008-09.....when he played with Pavel Datsyuk.

^ Exactly

The San Jose Stars? Seriously, aren't the Sharks one of the Stars biggest rivals? And now they're playing in their colours? And teal is so mid-90s Logo is OK, but the colours? The really dark green, almost black, were the best Stars colours.

Nope, still terrible. Them and Phoenix are just ugh

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

I wonder if Tampa will buy out Lecavalier. Chicago might buy out Hossa too.

LA and their comedy coach.