Buppy

Point is, we don't need another mediocre scorer. We have enough guys to fill the top 6 for now. Aside from my 'maybes' (and probably Malhotra), the guys I listed should cost around half of what we spent on Bert, allowing to save an extra million for the trade deadline, where it would be worth ~$4 million and possibly allow us to add an elite player for the playoffs. Even with Comrie, Higgins, and Tanguay, since they're coming off poor years, they might be had for $500k+ less and still offer good offensive potential. As it is, we have the potential to save a little for later moves OR improve the 4th line/defense. Had we passed on Bert, we could have improved our 4th line, and then at the deadline added someone of impact for the top 6 or a high-end defenseman or smaller improvements to both. Why don't you tell us why we needed a third-rate has-been who will either play on the third line or push someone better down when we certainly could have added at least that much and most likely better at the trade deadline?

The lack of any real playmaker would or even a good puckhandler, would severely limit the offensive production of that line, and probably mean they'd spend most of the time chasing the puck in their own zone. They'd get a few goals by crashing the net for sure, but probably no more than you'd get by putting Miller in there instead of Bert. Maybe Abby will show some significant improvement by the time the season opens, but so far I haven't seen anything from him that makes me think he could make that line effective. Playing Bert in a Holmstrom role on a top line would mean much more production out of him, while having Filppula center the third line (or even Hudler) between Cleary and Eaves (who both have some upside offensively) or even Ritola, makes the line much more dangerous on offense, defense, and in transition. The gains you'd see from Bert, Cleary, and Eaves would be higher than what you'd likely lose from Filppula.

Eric Nystrom + an extra million to spend at the trade deadline >>>>>>>>>> Bert Winchester, Pyatt, Asham, Malhotra, Miller, maybe Comrie, Higgins, or Tanguay... Good chance all of them sign for less, some significantly less so we could save a good chunk for the deadline.

The quality of his linemates will affect Datsyuk's performance. And regardless of what Eaves did once, 5 years ago, he hasn't shown himself to be a particularly adept finisher. Huds-Hank-Franzen would be a nice line, no doubt, but we have few enough players who can both finish and create their own offense. We need to spread them around a bit. Huds would not be 'wasted' playing with Pav, and Hank is a better playmaker anyway, playing a more natural playmaking position. First two lines should each get one of: Pav/Hank, Hudler/Franzen, and Homer/Bert. That's far more balanced than your suggestion, and leaves a 3rd line of Cleary-Flip-Eaves which is IMO a better fit than plugging Bert's slow ass in there.

'02 was such a great year. That clip just makes me miss that line of Shanny-Sergei-Stevie even more.

Funny thing is, Drapes did better than Bert did.

He's not a 'brilliant' 3rd-liner either. He's a far better player with better linemates. This past season, and '08 where he spent a bunch of time with Datsyuk, and then a red-hot Franzen in the playoffs proves that. That's the worst part of the Bert signing. It will most likely push Flip down, and take whatever PP time he was going to get. Flip isn't going to break out of anything from the third line. He couldn't with Hudler and Sammy, he won't with whomever he gets this year. We'll likely end up spending $7.5 million on a third line that scores 35 goals. I kind of hope we trade him now. He deserves a better opportunity.

But given the rest of our personnel, it makes the most sense. We have 8 players would could fit in the top 6. Cleary-Flip-Eaves can play a role defensively and still be a decent threat on offense. They're even decently physical. All three have nice speed too. Pav and Hank center the top two lines, Homer and Bert play net presence, Happy and Mule play the snipers. I don't really like it, but with Bert it's the best we can do.

Not if he ends up on the third line. Someone will at any rate, and whoever it is will score fewer points than they otherwise would. And his points weren't good. Not for a top-liner at any rate. Most likely it will be Filppula, as he's the best option for a third line center. I almost expect him to be traded now, after another 40-ish point season. Hudler-Datsyuk-Homer Franzen-Zetterberg-Bert Cleary-Filppula-Eaves/Ritola Abdelkader-Helm-Eaves/Draper Makes the most sense.

Last summer, after a month and a half of free agency with no one offering him s***, he took a 1 year deal for $1.5. He had an even worse season this year, and you guys think he could have gotten more than we gave him? Lean FA year or not, he would have been lucky to get another job at all, much less a better deal.

It's not a terrible price, but it's still $2 million for 2 years for a player we didn't need, and who won't help much. I know I said I wouldn't hate it, but at that price and term it sucks. Once Helm, Abby, a 7th defenseman, and 13th forward are signed, we'll be lucky to have $500k left for deadline moves. Also, if we're lucky and Nick comes back again, this is our teams for two more years. We'll maybe lose Draper and Ozzie, replace them with nobodies, and spend the savings on raises for Howard and Ericsson. Hooray.

Hahaha. It was 3 games where he carried us on offense, even in those Jimmy was just as important or more in getting the wins. His 'slow parts' accounted for around 60 or so games. Regardless of value, 18 goals in a full season is not what you want out of your top 6.

IMO, Tarasenko seems like a big risk to stay in Russia. It doesn't sound like his dad (also his coach) wants him coming to NA. I like the comments from Kabanov, and think the whole situation was probably exaggerated quite a bit in the first place. He's also a better talent. I probably wouldn't take him in the first round either, depending on who else was available, but he would be the first Russian I'd take.

There's a lot of questions for next season, no matter what we do. How will Holmstrom hold up. Can Flip step up. Can Cleary get back to where he was. Can Hudler readjust to the NHL and perform up to expectations. Can Abby be better. Is Ritola ready for the NHL. Will Nick show more signs of his age. Will Rafalski. Which Stuart and Kronwall will we get. What about Ericsson and Kindl. Will Jimmy suffer a sophomore slump. Can Ozzie contribute. Optimism is one thing. Being so optimistic that we bring in another question mark (or two, like Comrie as someone suggested) doesn't seem like the best plan, especially if we're not careful to leave ourselves options. As it stands, assuming a $2M cap increase, we have about $6.5M left and need 4 forwards and 1 defenseman. Helm and Abby will take two of those spots. Eaves brings speed, some hitting, some offense, good defense, all for under a million. He should be a no-brainer. That leaves one or two forward spots. I would want a spot to go to someone 'tough to play against', someone in the $500k-1M range. A player from whom we'll know what we'll get. Not necessarily a fighter, but someone who plays physical and can agitate. If we do that, and bring in a steady defenseman for around $1-1.5M, we'd have around $2 million to save for the trade deadline. That would mean we could add around $8 million in annual salary. You could do an awful lot with that money. In fairness, we could add Bert instead of a tough 4th liner, and still have ~$6M for the deadline. I wouldn't hate it if he comes back for a good price. But I'd rather have the 4th liner, and add more at the deadline.

That was the 2009 final, the year we lost. In 2008 our third and fourth lines were: Drake-Draper-Cleary and Hudler-Helm-Maltby. McCarty and Mark Hartigan also got some time in. The guys we have or can get cheaply are capable of the scoring we need, it's just a matter of delivering. Helm and Abby have already shown they can be better in the playoffs than they were last year. So has Cleary if he ends up on the 3rd. Bert should come cheap, so I can't honestly say he'd be a terrible option. But he's a long, long way from an optimal top 6 winger. A couple good games to end the playoffs, and a couple OT winners in the regular season shouldn't cloud your judgement. He couldn't even manage to score 20 goals while playing on the top lines almost all season, and not missing a game. He won't be any better next year (more likely he'll be worse and/or injured at some point). And if he gets put on the third line with inferior linemates, he'll struggle to score any more than Eaves/Abby/Helm etc, just without the speed and defensive abilities.

Only the '02 team really had 3 scoring lines. Our last run, Hudler was the only real scorer in the bottom 6. Cleary, Draper, Drake, Helm, Maltby, and McCarty were the other players on our 3rd/4th lines. Even in the back to back years, when we weren't constrained by a salary cap, we had players like Doug Brown, Brent Gilchrist, Lapointe, McCarty, and Homer in his first playoff. Even Larionov at that stage of his career wasn't really a scorer, nor was he consistently in the bottom 6. What set us apart was getting big goals from players you wouldn't normally expect. Maltby in 97, Lapointe and Homer in 98. What we did have in all those years was a great top 6, excellent goaltending, and top-notch team defense. And you'll have to sacrifice at least one of those things if you try to load up a third line with 3rd-rate scorers.

Assuming a cap of $58.8M, once we sign Helm, Abdelkader and Bert, we'd have probably $2.5-3M left for your two wishlist forwards. It's possible, but unlikely, that we could get what you're looking for at that price. Even if we could, we'd still have a suspect 2nd line, 3rd pair on D, and no cap space to address either at the deadline. (And that's assuming no major injury issues, and no problems in goal.) A lot of people keep talking about having a 3rd scoring line, but it just isn't feasible in the cap era. More to the point, no one else has that either, so we don't need it. People say things like 'depth is what wins in the playoffs'. But that's only true if the rest of the team does it's job. A good 3rd line might put you over the edge, but it's not going to make up for a crappy 2nd line. We just need occasional scoring from the bottom 6. More importantly, we need timely scoring. Guys who will work their asses off and get that big goal in a tight game. We can get that easy, and still have cap space left for other improvements. Draper-Helm-Eaves put up 30 goals last year. Miller added another 10. Abby has some decent upside. At least one of Flip, Happy, or Cleary will play on the third line (at least with a healthy roster). Ritola may even be able to contribute. IMO, Cleary and Eaves are perfect 3rd line wingers, and Abby has the tools to become a perfect 3rd line center (but he'll probably need a couple years). All have some decent offensive upside, good speed, good defense, physical play, and for Eaves and Abby (at the moment at least) they're cheap. Helm doesn't have hands, but his speed makes up for it to some degree. He's good enough for the moment, and maybe he'll even surprise us. Adding someone like Nystrom would be ideal for the 4th line, even as a replacement for Miller. Adding two like him would be better if they came cheap enough. And that would leave a good amount of space for other uses. FORWARDS Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / * Darren Helm ($0.900m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.750m) * Eric Nystrom ($0.800m) / * Justin Abdelkader ($0.900m) / Kris Draper ($1.583m) Mattias Ritola ($0.517m) DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.200m) / Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (these totals are compiled using the bonus cushion) ROSTER: 21; CAP:$58.8m; PAYROLL: $55.605m; CAP ROOM: $3.195m BONUSES: $0.000m With that cap money we could add a decent defenseman, maybe Shaone Morrison for instance, or even someone like Lilja and another 4th line bruiser. Or save a decent chunk to pick up a $4M player at the deadline. Or trade someone like Flip or Happy and bring in an elite player. That to me is a much better plan than bringing back Bert and another third-rate scorer a la Willy, which is all we can afford.

The cap is more than a little confusing, no doubt. As you already seem to know, bonuses do count towards the cap in the year they could be earned, as they're factored into the averaged salary. (Side note: if a bonus becomes impossible to achieve during the season, teams are credited for that amount) But since they're bonuses, and may or may not be earned, there is a bonus cushion, allowing teams with potential bonus payouts to go over the cap by up to 7.5%. At the end of the season, once the actual bonuses are determined, if a team is over the cap, that overage is counted against the cap for the following season. According to capgeek, Chicago's cap payroll was $60,778,063. Just a shade less than $4M over cap. $5 million of that is bonuses paid to Kane and Toews. That's how they were able to spend that much. So if in fact both players earned their full bonuses, that $4M is applied against next season's cap. One thing I don't know is if, since that money was technically earned over the course of the season (including when Hossa was on IR), they will be allowed to use the LTIR expemption. If so, it would give them another ~$1.5 million to play with. Also worth noting that next year, since it could potentially be the final year of the CBA, will not have a bonus cushion. All potential bonuses need to fit under the cap. That could further limit Chicago's options in promoting some of their minor-leaguers. That might change if the NHLPA decides early enough to extend the CBA, but I'm not sure.

Plus, he also sucks WITH Pav or Hank. Well, 80% of the time at least. I would rather have just about anyone than Bert.

I don't why this is so hard for people to understand. We needed to clear some cap space, and Leino was the best option. We were fighting for a playoff spot. He wasn't producing, and there wasn't any indication that he would start. We couldn't afford to keep him on the bench, and we couldn't risk keeping him in the lineup. Unless any of you can show your perfect record in accurately predicting the future, you should quit whining.

You have to look at in the context of the trade. He was either getting traded or being waived. We weren't in any position to make demands. So from our perspective it was either get something or get nothing. In that context, it was a win-win trade.

Was Khabibulin ever actually sent down? I know he passed waivers, but he never played any AHL games, and played 42 in Chicago. If he was sent down, it wasn't for very long. And as stated, there's a world of difference between an aging player suffering a serious injury and losing his ability to be productive and a player like Campbell. Also, I doubt the Chicago owners would be so cavalier about spending almost $13M for two AHL players. Campbell is not going to be waived. Very unlikely that Huet would either. No doubt they'll try to trade Huet, but maybe not Campbell. If they can't trade Huet, they'll most likely try to make the roster work with a buyout. If that still doesn't work for them, then maybe they'd send him down. Don't get me wrong though, I hope they do send both of them down. If they do, they'd be lucky to get another FA to sign in the next 50 years.

Price is an RFA and his cap hit was $2.2 last year. I'd say any of the teams looking for goalies will be interested in him. Thomas and Huet not so much, though someone will probably take Thomas, being only 2-years removed from a Vezina. There aren't many teams looking for goalies though, and with Price, Turco, Theodore, and Nabokov, and a handful of cheaper options I wouldn't be shocked if Boston gets stuck with him. Hard to see anyone willing to trade for Huet. He'll probably be waived or bought-out, and end up in the KHL. Who's actually in the market for goalies? Sharks, Atlanta, Ottawa, maybe Philly and Edmonton? Washington, LA, Islanders, Boston, and Chicago may look for new backups, but only LA and NY have the space for someone expensive. Islanders will suck regardless, and are hemmorrhaging money, so they might not want anyone. LA is expected to go after Kovie, and have some other needs that could fill up their cap, so they might be out too. Not a good time to be a goalie that anyone's ever heard of. Everyone's going to be looking for cheap rookies.

It'd be nice, but considering Zherdev turned down $3.25M and got $3.9M from arbitration, getting him at $2.5 seems overly optimistic. I have to think if he doesn't get an offer over $3M he'll stay in the KHL. But who knows, maybe he really wants to come back to the NHL.

He does need to clear waivers, but I wouldn't expect anyone to claim him. The two-way deal (assuming AHL salary is under $110k) does make him exempt from recall waivers though. Teams are more likely to claim someone on recall, since the cap hit is split between the two teams.