Opie

They will be screwed next year just not because of Perry alone, if you go to http://www.nhlnumbers.com/overview.php?team=ANA you will see in the next two years they have 12 and 14 free agents respectively, next year most are RFA 09/10 they are mostly UFA. (BTW don't be surprised to see some teams make a play at Perry with an offer sheet, there are a lot of teams, ATL, BOS, and especially CHI, they have a ton of room next year and have a good core of young talent.) Next year they are already at 49mil for a cap hit. For some reason that site still includes the full 3.33mil for MacDonald so you have to assume that will be off the books, they will have one goalie,12 forwards, 7 D under contract for 46 mil. I think the "self Imposed" cap was at about 42 mil but I can't see how they will field a competitive team at 42mil. The young talent they have is some serious blue chip talent, yeah they paid Getzlaf his money, Perry will get his, but that doesn't leave them a lot of wiggle room. Burke will almost have to have Neids decision almost immediately after the season, and if he doesn't come back, they will be alright as far as cap room goes, they have a D that they can afford to go after a 4-6 D man and put the 6 mil into a couple of forwards. That would mean they could sign Jonas Hiller for dirt, and be A-OK. BUT.... If Neids does come back they are looking at needing a top 6 forward, a lower teir forward, and a back up goalie, and all for 6-7 mil. I am sure next year we will see a lot of Bobby Ryan, as I believe he is their top prospect and has shown he deserves some time with the club and they will need forwards. That could solve one of the forward issues, but they are going to need some serious scoring. If not teams will be all over Perry, Getzlaf like it is their jobs, leading to not a lot of scoring. In a couple of years as those two approach thirty and their primes, they may be able to take on a top D pairing and a defensive forward line, but not in the near future. I also expected a lot from Kunitz this year, and unfortunately my fantasy team is suffering from it! Don't get me wrong 11-11-22 is nice but he just inked a 3.5mil deal and is putting up Sammy type numbers! One a side note after next season, they are in a position to be a major, major player in the Free agent market (hopefully Lowe doesn't have any good RFA's) they will be at 21 mil of a cap hit and will have a lot or positions to fill. 09/10 could be a really really good year for them, or they could make bad moves and suck ass. Burke has his hands tied right now with Neids retirement so uncertain, and with limited money, seeing as the ownership wants a 42 mil cap (again that is what I remember reading not 100% sure) Now back to the topic: Alexander Ovechkin 3.834m/Sidney Crosby 3.7m/Brian Rolston 2.432m Dany Heatley 4.5m/Henrik Zetterberg 2.65m/Tomas Holmstrom 2.25m Alexander Semin 1.2m/Ryan Getzlaf 740k/Corey Perry 621k Milan Michalek 628k/Phil Kessel 850k/Mike Richards 942k Brad Boyes 1.5m Paul Stastny 850k Nicklas Lidstrom 7.6m/Dion Phaneuf 785k Sergei Zubov 4m/Brian Campbell 1.75 Jaroslav Spacek 3.333/Andrej Meszaros 984k Tobias Enstrom 900k Chris Osgood 850k Ryan Miller 3.5m TOTAL 50.396m

Right knee, google is a wonderful thing. BTW your post made the first page of results when I typed in Steve Yzerman Knee Surgery!! Sweet you made the first page on google! Thought this was interesting, I mean we all knew the guy played through pain and injury and 22 season is a long time, but look at this laundry list of injuries: Injury history: Fractured collarbone, Jan. 31, 1986; right knee surgery, March 1, 1988; injured right knee in playoffs, April 8, 1991; herniated disc, Oct. 21, 1993 (26 games); sprained knee, May 28, 1995 (three); bruised ankle, April 9, 1997 (one); sprained knee, Jan. 28, 1998 (three); strained groin, April 11, 1998 (three); forehead and nose lacerations, Jan. 21, 1999 (one); sprained knee, March 29, 2000 (four); sprained knee, Sept. 28, 2000 (two); knee surgery, Oct. 13, 2000 (23); bruised ankle, Dec. 26, 2002 (three); right knee surgery, Jan. 27, 2002 (six); reinjured right knee Feb. 26, 2002 (19). Had offseason surgery by Dr. Peter Fowler in London to have knee rebuilt. He was near an injury-free season last year when he played 75 games before a playoff eye accident against the Calgary Flames. Obviously written a while ago but man that is still a major list of pains in the, err uhh mmm, knee!

Why do you all berate Sammy, listen the guy is not my favorite wing, but seriously the man plays a role, and does it for damn cheap. You cannot, in this day and age, win without guys like him. Just to make sure that you all know the player that you are bashing lets look at something: 3rd year in the D (team ranking) year 1:73gp 23g(5) 22a(10) 45pts (9) +27(4) ATOI: 13:31 (15) year 2: 53gp 14g(8) 20a(9) 34pts(8) +1(20) ATOI: 15:09 (16) this year: 29gp 3g(12) 11a(7) 14pts(8) +5(9 T-chelios) ATOI: 15:52 (10) But you know what you are right there are a ton of guys in the league putting up those kind of numbers for 1.2mil a year, and won't require the wings trading huds, flip, or a top shelf prospect! If you think you are going to be able to trade for Huselius and not mortgage the future you are on crack. BTW Sammy UFA 09/10 Hus 08/09 Do any of you watch the games, statements like make me think you have no clue what is going on. No one in that game last night just stood around, you know who made a living (a nice one until the divorce) just standing around, BRETT HULL!!!! At 1.2 sammy does what this team needs him to do, these pipe dream teams that involve Kovalchuk or Heatley or Lecavalier or whatever flavor of the month player you guys want doesn't work anymore! The salary cap has killed that, that was the point in the salary cap, to prevent teams like the '02 wings from happening again! You want some one who is more talented, you will need to pay that player, which also means that next year you can't afford Z and Lids, you then have to chose one of them. sarcasm/ But hey, I see your point I too would rather have a team with a more talented second line scorer than a wings team with Z on the first line and Sammy. Good posts though guys keep up the good work!! /sarcasm

You mean like Marc Savard? I think had they paid him to stay he and Kovalchuk would have been down right nasty. Dats makes some of the best passes in the game, but Savard is no slouch himself. I have seen him make blind passes out of the zone to a man streaking down the wing and put it tape to tape.

GS&T, Thank you for proving what I was saying, I agreed form the start that Neids is a better skater, just not as drastically as people were saying. Because like you said it is the difference between a 90 mph fastball and an 88, while yes there is a difference it is not like 95 compared to 88. I don't think he is right up there with Orr though, I don't think any defenseman will ever skate like that again, he was as graceful, shifty, explosive skater as any of the great forwards that play today. I can't think of one defenseman in the league, that could skate with the top 25 skating forwards (agility, control w/ the puck, body control (not leaning to create speed but lose control *I know wierd but that was the best way to word it)). To me there are only 3 types of skating, the players who set themselves above everyone else , the horrible skaters, and everyone else. Skating is one of those things that is almost pass or fail. Look at Grigs, he couldn't skate to save his ass in the NHL, it is a detriment to him, Luc R couldn't skate well either, however he had great hockey instincts that made up for that. In my opinion, being a good skater and being a fast skater are two different qualities. A guy could be able to skate 40mph but if he can't stop himself, or can't skate at any other speed he is a horrible skater yet he has tremendous speed. Saying some one is a much better skater is not like saying I am taller than you, it is not that simple and I think lots of times people confuse speed with skating ability. And again I will say, Neids is the #2 D-man in the league (or rather was, present tense is still to be decided), he is a better skater, but not by a large margin. Just like Lids is better positionally, but not by a whole lot. The two when added with Pronger and Zubov round out the elite D-men in the league, and imo Neids and Lids are at the top of that heap. I think Lids all around game is superior to Neids, but I am not prepared to say far superior, and that was my issue with the thread. The superlatives that are thrown around here like that make posts look ridiculous.

Slow and plodding, I am sorry but I must have seen the wrong #5 skating the puck up through the zone last night, it is not that Nick is slower or a worse skater, it is that he uses it differently. I like to compare his skating to how Larry Murphy played D, towards the end of his career everyone thought they could skate right by him, like he was a pylon, but his poke check was so deft and his position was so spot on that it was hard to beat him one on one. The difference being, that Larry could not body up a guy at the end of his career if he needed it, Nick can skate when he needs to. I guess I have a hard time watching two guys skate up the ice, and saying that Scott Is MUCH better. Like I said in my first post, better yes, but not that much. I have heard countless announcers say Nick skates as effortlessly as any of them out there and that he skates as well at the start as at the end of a game. I have heard hockey people talk about how is stride is amazing, to watch him skate you would think he is barely moving, but he moves from zone to zone or spot to spot very well, and with decent speed. Listen don't get me wrong I am not being a homer, Lids is the best D-man in the game and last year (before taking 35+ games off this season) Neids and Pronger were 2a and 2b. I can admit when a wings player is bested by some one else. I asked for a specific reason why Neids is a better skater and so far all I have heard is "because I say so". That doesn't convince me, I gave example of how Lids is a great skating D-man, yet none of you can lay out a situation and say Neids would do it better. If it is that hard to say he is better because of x,y, and z than how can you say he is MUCH better. BTW there is no way in hell Pronger is a better skater than Lids, more physical defenseman, harder shot, yeah I could see that, but he is not a great skater! If Neids makes Lids look slow and plodding what does he make Pronger look like.

I don't buy into the whole Neids is a god of defenseman bit so tell me why is he a better skater, what is it that he does that nick can't or doesn't? Or Am I just supposed to take your word for it that he is that much better.

I don't know about that, depends how you define skater. DO you mean faster, that doesn't mean he is a better skater, imo! Lids is a smooth effortless skater who (especially if you watched last night) brings the puck up ice, is very good at walking the puck across the blue line, he is very rarely ever in a bad position on the ice, which has a lot to do with the ability to control where you are on the ice, as in do you over skate or under skate the play putting yourself in a bad spot. Had you said a better skater I wouldn't have replied but to say a MUCH better skater I have to disagree with you there sir! Lids is the total package, last night in one play he: Poke the puck free on D, broke up ice to cover for the back checking forward who was still deep in the D zone, then he skated the puck around the net (he has been watching to much Lebda) and set up a play, all with plenty of time to get back to the D zone. The man does a lot of things very very well, yet because he is European, quiet, not arrogant, and does his job in a very blue collar workman way, he does not get the hype and the exposure he should be getting. Don't get me wrong people are starting to talk a lot about him now, but this is 5 Norris Trophies later!

Nice, that gives us some second line scoring, then they can trade Dats for Rob Blake and then Stanley cup here we come! /sarcasm!! Seriously though, I hope he signs a 3 year deal with a 4th as a player option @ 7.6mil this dude is a steal, much like Dats at his price. Watching him last night, he is still on top of his game, I know for some athletes it fades quicker than others, but he is not relying on skill alone like some players do. His game is very cerebral, and he is obviously still one of (I say the best) the best d-men in the league. I think he will play until 42, then call it quits to go hang with the wife and Fam.

Chris Simon's game is played on the edge, not that different from a guy like McCarty, but Simon's skill has started to decline a little and he appears to be reacting out of frustration a lot. When you live on that edge you have two ways to go, one is to keep playing hard nosed, like a Dallas Drake type player, and the other is not pretty and is illegal (in the NHL as well as the streets). I agree with Harold, he needs time away from the game at least the rest of the year, if not forever. Swinging a stick at another person's face as well as trying to stomp out their Achilles can not be tolerated, he is taking people's lives as well as their careers in his hands, or feet as the case may be. What if.... another for arguments sake, he tries one of these stunts again, and it turns into another Bert/Moore incident. The league would be heavily scrutinized if not sued for not preventing it. Especially when Simon is giving them so many signs that he is on the verge of out of control. And it is not that far fetched of a what if, I mean his stick swinging started out with more of a malicious intent than Bert's punch, just the outcome was far less severe, and it was not premeditated by the coach and team.

Notice the huge difference in the way this was handled and the way the Flyers and their players have handled things. Simon and the Isle are taking steps to help him in the future, they (he and the team) are showing true remorse and sorrow. Not that he hurt Ruutuu that badly but he shows an understanding for what he did, and his team is showing they want to help him. The Flyers on the other hand have pretty much left their guys standing in the rain to handle the back lash by themselves. They took a wait and see approach with the suspensions, had they stepped up and took some responsibility or showed that they gave a crap about something besides how this will effect W's or L's then maybe people wouldn't be bashing them. Kudos to the Islanders and Simon for the steps taken after the incident, but this is another act by him that should never happen. Both of his most recent acts were out of frustration and showed he has no control over his emotions.

Love this quote from the article: "Nick drives the bus here," Babcock simply states.

First off I agree he isn't a moron, but he does play the role pretty well. Also let me say I am not saying I could do better this is just my opinion of what he did. Buffalo arguably lost more than Ana, when you consider what Ana had on D already and what they were able to get off of the UFA tree. And that Buffalo up and matched an offer sheet for a player. I like what Buffalo did, instead of going out and signing a guy like Bert (by that I mean an injury ? and aging), they have decided to play with what they have and then next year they will have over 10mil in cap space. As for Neids being one of the most dynamic offensive weapons in the game (maybe for defenseman but not in the whole league), yeah when he had some one on offense to chip in. Last year his role was to set up Teemu, and help create ice for him or for another forward (MacDonald) when the lesser D from the other team was on the ice. Unfortunately for the duck, Neids will be needed in a scoring role, not a set up role. Assists is not what they will be looking for from him, he will need to put the biscuit in the basket, which I think he can do, just not at the rate ANA will need him to do it at. Who do they have that can score, before you say Getzlaf or Perry, I mean who is going to be the guy on that team that puts up 40 goals and 50 assists for the 90+ points that Teemu was. Taking away that much offense hurts any team especially a team that has a steep drop off from last years scoring leader to this years. The three losses Neids (temp obviously), Penner, and Selanne has got to be one of the tougher hits a team has taken in the offseason in a long, long time. But I think Burke could have handled it better, would the results have been the same, maybe, but it seems to me that he jumped the gun made a hurried decision to get Bert( I know he waited a bit, but he had wood for him from the start) and Schneids and should have looked for younger, more offensively talented forwards, He could have gotten a lot more than Bert for 4mil a year. And hell Ralf cost the wings barely more than Schneids, plus there were other forwards I would have looked to first. I don't think he is a moron, he just seems to have a knee jerk reaction to everything. Like the offer sheet, like it or not it is a part of the game, you can't ***** about it (as a gm not you), it is like the salary cap, he may not like that either but it is there. He seems to overreact to everything, whether that be the aforementioned Offer sheet, paying Bert, paying schneids. I think had he stepped back and looked over the market he might have found better more viable options. Same goes for his explosion over the offer sheet, he just made himself look like an ass by jumping aroudn screaming abouthow he now hates Kevin Lowe. What is even worse is that he set himself up to have 14 free agents by the start of the 09/10 season. Included in that is his entire D (except Pronger) He has also left himself no cap room for the next two years. Unless Neids hangs them up for good. Something I just thought of, how quickly will Burke replace Neids next year if he is contemplating retirement again? Does that cause him to miss out on a free agent, or does it cost him another player to an offer sheet because he has no room to sign them? But as you pointed out this is all speculation and the only one(s) who really know what went down are Burke, Neids, Penner, and Lowe.

For arguments sake, lets just say that he does this to Crosby. Does that change anything, and more importantly should it change anything?

I don't believe that Jersey's have the A or C on them by default. Maybe the C, but usually it is an added fee to have it sewn (or ironed on).

GS&T, It doesn't matter if their defense increases right now, even if they managed to get their GAA up to 4 least in the league scoring 2 goals a game will not win them anything. As I said long before and will continue to believe, replacing Neids with Schneid was unnecessary and should have been the second move he made, first should have been replacing Teemu. Teemu could have come back, but it would/will cost them money, Neids returning was basically free of charge. With the loss of Teemu and Penner they lost their numbers 1 and 3 offensive players, 2 being Neids. The Duck need a top line scorer like it is their job, they don't need D nearly as much, in order to be a contender they will need to make another trade Schneids or O'Donnell and a prospect (probably need to be Ryan) for a top line scorer. You would be surprised how much better the D would be if the O could score with some regularities, would give the D a nice boost of energy.

That is how I see it going as well, which would be a better part of the season. However with his last act be so egregious and heinous you have to wonder if the league will go harder on him.

Are you going to the wings game on Feb 2?

Rafalski has never been labeled a defensive defenseman, he is very reliable and responsible in the Defensive zone, but he is known more for his offensive zone presence. However, having said that I really can't complain about how he is playing. Mainly because I only see him on Nat'l TV. But remember he is trying to come to a new team, new linemate (s), new system, and we will always compare any wing d-man to the d-man (lids), and there is no way Ralfy was going to live up to that. Having said that, he is better than Schneider in his own end and is not that far behind him in the O-zone. I like this signing and if the wings can ink Z long term they will have Z-D and Ralfy for long term which is a good core to build around, and hopfully Lids will be around for 3 or so more years, then there is the ageless wonder Cheli, Draper, and Malts.

Not only did we get 10 inches of snow, it started falling at about 1:30 when everyone was at work, getting home in Boston traffic must have been ridiculous! On the broadcast they went over the NHL weather Delay policy, get this. It is all dependent on the road team. The Bruins got back in town late last night or early this morning. BUT... Had they been stuck in a snow storm and not made it to the arena, from what the reporters read during the broadcast, the game would have still been schedule to go on. Again according to what the announcers read: If the road team is in town before the storm has started and the team bus can make it from the Hotel to the arena, then the game is to be played. I wonder what they would do if the home team was stranded, seeing as it was the B's who were in the second of a back to back? I am sure the league would postpone a game if that happened but as written it is just concerned with the road team. Edit: Also I know you were kidding but hockey is Huge around here. Don't believe me, show up to the Garden for the Bean Pot Tourney, or the Hockey East Tourney. I used to go to the HE tourney every year, now you are lucky if you can get tickets. Usually you have to be an alumni or know someone. Bean Pot is a massive event here every year. And when the Frozen Four was played here it was ridiculous! Again I know you were just kidding but Hockey is really big around these parts!

Did you guys here John Kruk say he had no idea Lenny Dykstra was juiced. He said he believed Dykstra when Lenny said it was lifting weights and working out!

Athletes who played on the 1998-2000 World Series Championship teams: Jason Grimsley, Chuck Knoblauch, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, David Justice, Mike Stanton, Glenallen Hill. Tainted World Series championships. Interesting to hear what selig has to say

I think this will always be viewed as the chemical era of Baseball and will go down much like the Black Sox. People will remember it but not really give a s***. People don't care, Chicks dig the long ball!!

I could not agree more!! This is absurd, what if the B's had given Jim Carrey a 12 contract. 7 years is a long friggin contract, IMO. Think about baseball, a long contract (for those not named A-Rod) are 5 years -7. Pitchers get 3-4 years because of breakdown. A hockey player is a lot more likely to get hurt than a baseball player. I know things like Tommy John surgery and other things, but look at Bergeron, he really could never be the same player again. He could be the next Lindros, you hope that stuff doesn't happen, but it does. 10 years is a long ass time to sign some one. I thought about this in the Dats contract thread, I hope they don't offer Z a ten year contract because of this. Yes it will probably work out that in a couple of years it is a steal of a deal for Dats or Z, but it could turn out they fall off the shelf, it has happened before. It could very likely happen again. (knocks loudly on heavy wood).

It was a pretty impressive list, but most of it is hearsay or witness reports, only Clemens and Petite were injected by the guy. But I bet there are at least 3x as many players that used than were reported.