xtrememachine1

I'm thinking that the Kings won't sign Doughty until Weber signs. Weber will probably sign for around $7 mil, I'm guessing and after that Doughty will sign for a little less.

I don't see Chicago's acquisitions making them better. I thought when they moved Campbell and Kopecky, they were planning on doing something good with that money like extend Patrick Sharp or get a good UFA or make a trade. All these moves are relatively minor. They'll be more physical than they have been with these players, but they had pretty good success a couple years ago with a team that wasn't all that physical.

"Average" is a nice way of putting it. Playing with Thornton and Marleau, one would think his numbers have dramatically increased, not declined. I can't believe how terrible he's become since leaving Ottawa and playing in the West. Is the West really much more difficult to play in or is it just Heatley?

This is the biggest BS excuse I've EVER heard. He said that he prefers a right handed center and Malkin and Crosby are not right handed centers. That's funny because his best season, 1996, he played with Ron Francis at center. Lemieux played the LW. When Lemieux retired, he played with Francis and won multiple scoring titles. In 2006, when he scored 54 goals and 69 assists, he played with Michael Nylander, another lefty. That may be the absolute lamest excuse I've ever heard in my life. He should just tell the truth, Pittsburgh pissed him off by retracting their offer and he wanted to get revenge by signing with their rivals.

He was bought out because he was a $7 mil cap hit. I think at $1 mil or less, he would be worth it.

I would take him in a heartbeat, but I don't know enough about what's going on with him health wise to say "we should definitely go after him". Does anybody know how bad his knee is? Would he miss the first few months of the season?

He was pretty good in SJ's system which is very similar to ours. This is a great signing especially at that price. His style of play fits our system.

As long as he's a 7th d-man and not a regular, this is a solid move.

What?? Why?? Is he a 7th defenseman?

Are you kidding? Penguins misery = happy

Welcome to the Penguins nightmare world

So in other words, the Caps get a very high first round pick next year for a player that could be in the KHL next year.

They just signed Voracek and Lilja too. So I guess this means, they're NOT going after Stamkos?

Pens fans are melting down LOL

Since the news about Jagr being interested in Detroit broke, I've been thinking they'll go up to $3 mil, but no more. They'll waive or trade Hudler and the cap hit will be virtually nothing and we have an upgrade at wing.

Trading for help is the best way to avoid overpaying for a defenseman.

There's other teams in the mix, so he's not a Red Wing yet.

That's about right for this market and I'm kind of surprised it wasn't $6 mil.

Good deal, good cap hit and I'm glad we have him signed for longer than a year.

Let me get this out of the way right now, this isn't one of Holland's best signings. I would have been more than happy to let him walk than give him almost triple what he was making before. However, I don't think its quite as bad as everyone is making it out to be and here's why: 1. The salary cap went up by $5 mil. Bob Mackenzie reported somewhere that he expects it to go up another $5 mil next off season too. Ericsson was probably reasonably going to get around $2 mil, so we basically overpaid by $1 mil. 2. When Ericsson makes a mistake it really sticks out, but he finished with a +8 on the season, so he must have been doing something right. At times, I noticed him in a good way, using his body to block shots, hit somebody or rip the puck away. He HAS potential to be something special. Right now he's battling with consistency. If he could play like that all the time or at least most of the time, he'll be well worth the contract he just received. 3. Overpaying by a $1 mil for a young player with potential at a position that needs to be strong isn't a bad move. With the cap continuing to rise combined with older players coming off the books, taking a $1 mil gamble isn't the worst idea ever. Take a look at Zdeno Chara's first three years in the NHL. Not exactly stellar numbers. We're getting a new defensive coach this year and maybe whoever this guy is can work with him and get some consistency to his game. 4. If things are disastrous and he gets "lazier" and "suckier", just trade him. If there's one thing we've learned this off season is that bottom feeders that don't spend a lot of money will take on bad contracts to get to the cap floor. 5. I don't see this signing affecting our ability to sign Kronwall and Stuart. Kronwall will get a big pay day next year regardless of what Ericsson is making. The same can be said for Stuart. Paying an extra $1 mil for Ericsson won't break the bank especially if Lidstrom, Holmstrom, Hudler and Bert are all gone next season. I'm NOT a fan of the signing and wouldn't have made it myself, however, I can see why Holland would make this move and I don't think he's panicking. I think he's gambling. He's gambling on Ericsson getting better. I don't think its a smart gamble, but only time will tell.

$3.25 mil cap hit? Yeesh. He has a higher cap hit than Kronwall. Not a great signing, but maybe he'll really improve under our new defensive coach.

I wonder how many of these "mega bucks up front that trail off at the end" contracts we'll see tomorrow. I'm assuming that's what Richards will sign with whomever.

I actually don't mind the drama. If he's scoring goals and helping us advance through the playoffs next spring, I won't care (or even remember) about any of this. He's taking his time to make the right decision and he officially couldn't sign till tomorrow anyways, so why not take your time?

Of this entire 36 page thread, that is my favorite post.

This would explain why Svoboda said they have "a lot to sort out".