BostonBruinsDan1924

If Nashville matches, or doesn't, then they are in serious trouble. Nashville hasn't been turning a profite on their investment(s) and continue to lose money. I guess when do you say enough is enough and get the train back on track and start turning a profite. Wasn't it back in May 2007 that Jim Balsillie that wanted to buy the Preds, then a local financial group came in with $75M to purchase the team?

NHL teams values according to Forbes.com. Funny how the oldest teams in the NHL, the original 6, are still around turning a profite. http://www.forbes.com/nhl-valuations/list/?tw_p=twt Then there is Nashville... http://www.forbes.com/teams/nashville-predators/

Cybulski & Co‏@Cybulskishow Here is our interview with Shea Weber's agent Jarrett Bousquet - http://bit.ly/MocI6a

The Preds don't have the CASH to match an offer nor can they structure an offer the way the Flyers have done. http://capgeek.com/charts_floor.php The Preds would have to dump a ton of salary to even come close to making an offer. Weber isn't going to go through another "rebuilding" year...his rep and agent both said that today. Nashville has a week to match it or erject it...eithert way he's a Flyer in 7 days and Nashville becomes another expansion team all over again. Even with the (8) 1st round picks they are nothing more than an expansion team starting all over from ground zero. As for Polie not wanting him to trade him w/ in the Western Conference...that's a no brainer. I just might order myself a Weber jersey and wear it to a Preds game just to piss them off.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1265179-nhl-free-agents-2012-how-shea-weber-offer-sheet-could-affect-new-nhl-cba

I don't see Nashville making an offer sheet structured like the one the Flyers have done...a $4M salary and $52M in guaranteed bonus money that will never be rolled back nor be touched. There is NO WAY Nashville can match this structure it unless they liquidate a whole lot of contracts on the team...I just don't see them matching. Polie and the ownership have put themselves in a HUGE bind over not dealing with Weber awhile back. Nashville has 7 days to be as creative as the Flyers...question is...can they out fox them.

I don't see Nashville matching a front loaded deal and I don't see ownership going against their word on long term deals. Just saying... http://deadspin.com/5927347/shea-webers-massive-flyers-offer-sheet-is-a-cba+beating-masterpiece

If Weber walks and the oweners don't do a front loaded deal, which I'm sure they wont, then I would fire the GM and ownership.

Oh ya...I see Bettman bitching about these 3 VERY front loaded contracts, however, I have to give Weber credit for playing the system before these huge contratcs are gone in 3 months. Be interesting to see what happends the next 7 days. Nashville...you're on the clock.

by George Malik on 08/18/11 at 06:10 AM ET Updated at 6:26 AM: As the Free Press's Helene St. James continues penning what is now an epic ten-player slate of pre-season assessments regarding Red Wings players (we talked about the first, um, nine [wow] on Wednesday), we've had our share of disagreements as to certain players' roles and futures with the team, but today…We come to a prospect whose role with the team in both the immediate and relatively distant (by Wings fans' standards) future invokes debate as a matter of course. Especially given the progress he's made over the past four years as a Red Wings prospect at three seasons' worth of NCAA and one season's worth of AHL levels of hockey, it's not an overstatement to suggest that Brendan Smith is indeed Detroit's top prospect in terms of natural talent and "upside," and at 6'2" and a very liberally-listed 190 pounds (he was at or around a still lanky 180 at the summer development camp), with some filling out to do, he may not be the team's next Nicklas Lidstrom, but at least my viewings of him lead me to suggest with a high level of certainty that he's going to be the team's next Niklas Kronwall. Smith could very well post 40-50 points at the NHL level while displaying a Kronwall-like level of physical play, and after an injury-shortened rookie season in the AHL still produced 32 points over the course of 62 games while Smith plied his trade for the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Wings have talked Smith up as being NHL-ready right now, and despite the fact that the team's signings of Ian White and Mike Commodore and Jakub Kindl's value as a non-waiver-exempt prospect, the Wings are still suggesting that Smith will be given every opportunity to make the team during training camp And St. James believes that Smith could very well be best-served by making the team: Management considers Smith to be knocking at the door, and will give him plenty of looks during the exhibition season. The Wings have, essentially, 14 forwards slated for Detroit (Cory Emmerton can't be sent down without being exposed on waivers) and, including Smith, eight defensemen, which along with two goaltenders adds up to one over the 23-man roster limit. It's rare that at least one player doesn't suffer an injury during camp, however, so that situation may resolve itself. If not, Smith may be sent down because he'd be the easiest one to ship out, but he won't spend the entire season in the minors. He made way too favorable of an impression on management last season. Smith, a 2010 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, is a future top-four defenseman in the mold of Niklas Kronwall: He can skate, handle the puck, run the power play and has a physical edge. Smith isn't imposing—he's 6-foot-1, 170 pounds—but like Kronwall, and like Chris Chelios, Smith has a knack for knowing when to run guys. The Wings want Smith to learn from watching Nicklas Lidstrom. Like many young players, Smith's enthusiasm sometimes gets the better of him. He needs to figure out when to pick his spots and when to play it safe. If he has a great camp, Smith could emerge from the exhibition season too high on the depth chart to be sent to the minors. He's got more skill than Jakub Kindl and Mike Commodore. The Wings could opt to send down Commodore; he cleared waivers in January when Columbus exposed him. While his salary now is a lot less, he's not irreplaceable should another team grab him. The fact that Smith seems ready for the NHL is a great problem for the Wings to have. Smith will have to compete to be on the squad, but he also should raise the competitiveness of Kindl, Commodore and even Jonathan Ericsson. I dig the theory that Smith should soak up as much of Lidstrom (and Kronwall and Stuart and White and even Kindl and Ericsson and Commodore's) example(s) over training camp, the exhibition season, and hell, given that we're talking about Nicklas Lidstrom, the Wings could either send Lidstrom over to Grand Rapids to practice with the Griffins for the sake of making the Wings' defensive prospects' jaws drop both on the ice and in the weight room or they could send the prospects on field trips or I'm getting carried away, aren't I? Anyway, I do not dig the theory of the Wings bringing Smith onto the team unless he earns a top-six role outright and is going to be playing every night. He may be nearly NHL-ready, but I just don't see how playing 25+ minutes as the Grand Rapids Griffins' top defenseman isn't as beneficial as playing ten minutes for the Wings every second or third or fifth game as the team's #7 or #8 defenseman. I'd also suggest that for maturity's sake, attempting to earn an "A" on his jersey on a Griffins team stacked with leadership (see: Brian Lashoff, Garnet Exelby, Greg Amadio, Chris Minard, Chris Conner, Travis Ehrhardt, Tomas Tatar, Doug Janik, Joey MacDonald) might be better for him in the long run as well. Smith's come a long way from the cocky hot dog that couldn't do a drill without attempting to show off or snicker three or four summers ago to reining in his enthusiastic personality while increasing his attention span, but another year's worth of seasoning in the AHL Unless he plays the kind of hockey that convinces Mike Babcock that Smith's ready to join a rotation of three defensive pairings that plays nearly 20 minutes a night (which Babcock digs doing early in the season) as of October, I just don't see the point of bringing Smith to the NHL simply to plant his butt on the bench. The rest of this morning's Red Wings-related news fits the term "scattershot" pretty well, or in plain English, it's all over the place. • Let's start with charitable hockey news, per the Orangeville Citizen, which reports that Grand Rapids Griffins strength and conditioning coach Aaron Downey's House9 charity will hold its annual hockey game in Shellburne, ON this Friday. Smith,Cory Emmerton, Jakub Kindl, Tomas Tatar, former Griffin Jamie Tardif, former Wings Kyle Quincey and Brad May and even Daniel Carcillo(!) will take part in the game; • According to Carbonnear, Newfoundland's VOCM, Danny Cleary also took some time out of his schedule to take part in the "Bridges to Hope marathon," which benefits low-income family child care; Shifting focus slightly to alumni news, and this is in the "extended family" category, the Grand Rapids Press's Michael Zuidema notes that former Griffin Michael Nylander, who actually spent last season rehabbing from a serious neck injury incurred on an accidental hit from Derek Meech while Nylander was playing for the Rochester Americans, will get a try-out with the Philadelphia Flyers; • In the, Alumni We Didn't Know About department, the Victoria Times-Columnist's Mario Annicchiarico and Cleve Dheensaw report that one of Mike Babcock's former assistant coaches when he both coached the University of Lethbridge and the WHL's Spokane Chiefs, one Parry Shockey, will coach the WHL's Victoria Royals (and you get a bonus cookie if you said, "Huh, Victoria, that's where the Red Wings came from back in 1926 when Bruce Norris brought the Victoria Cougars); • If you're interested in reading a little Russian, Sergei Fedorov's still going strong with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL, and he told Sovetsky Sport's Sergei Ivanov that he's considering unretiring from international hockey to help Team Russia, and that aside from a minor back injury that's bothering him at present, he's healthy and expects to have an excellent season while wearing the captain's "K". He also reveals that he knew that Ruslan Salei would sign with a KHL team (he signed with Brad McCrimmon's Lokomotiv Yaroslavl) if the Red Wings didn't re-sign him; • And sticking with both alumni and overseas news, kinda-sorta Wings prospect Daniel Larsson and HV71 Jonkoping of the Swedish Eliteserien will play an outdoor game against Mattias Backman and Linkopings HC in Jonkoping on December 10th. The rink they'll play at will have a capacity of 20,000 fans; Heading back over to this side of the pond and talking about a member of the House9 game (potentially, anyway), the Toledo Blade's Mark Monroe noted that the Red Wings' decision to re-up their affiliation with the ECHL's Toledo Walleye means that coach Nick Vitucci can expect to receive either McCollum or Jordan Pearce on assignment from the Grand Rapids Griffins: "It's a first class organization," Walleye coach Nick Vitucci said. "They take great pride in building from within through the draft and developing through their [minor league] system. It's a great opportunity for us to be a part of a Stanley Cup contender." The current agreement likely means that Detroit, which has five goalies in its system, will assign one of its netminders to Toledo. "If you do the simple math it looks like we would get one," Vitucci said. "They haven't said at all who we would get. There will be a great battle throughout the Grand Rapid camp. It's certainly in their hands. Whoever we are going to get is going to be a good, quality netminder." Either Jordan Pearce or Thomas McCollum will likely filter down and end up being the No. 1 goalie for the Walleye. Both have spent time in Toledo the past two seasons. McCollum, a first round draft choice of the Wings in 2008, has spent parts of the first two seasons of his pro career with the Walleye. Pearce, who started his career in Toledo in 2009, spent most of last season in Grand Rapids. Pearce had a 2.89 goals against average for the Griffins. • And my French is nonexistent, but Wings prospect Xavier Ouellet spoke to Sports Juniors Magazine's Pierre-Luc Chenel about the fact that he's been named the captain of the former Montreal Juniors, who've moved to the Montreal suburb of Blainville-Boisbriand, and will be called the Armada. Here's a rough translation of the part of Chenel's article where Ouellet addresses his captaincy Despite two seasons' worth of [QMJHL] experience, Ouellet hasn't worn a letter on his jersey. "It's a great honor and I was surprised. I'd done so when I was younger, with Team Quebec when I was 17. I want to bring leadership and continue to work hard," said the 18-year-old player who plans to keep playing the same way. Over the last two seasons, when the team was in Montreal, Xavier Ouellet had veteran Nicolas Chouinard as his captain. The defender from Terrebonne isn't ashamed to admit that he's learned a lot from Chouinard. "He was always there for the players on the team. He had a great work ethic," [Ouellet] said. "I want to bring the team together." And here's what he said about being drafted by the Wings and attending their summer development camp: A second-round pick of Detroit in June, Xavier Ouellet attended the team's development camp a few days later. "It was good. I was overwhelmed at first, but ultimately, it's still hockey. It was a dream come true and it's another step toward [making] the NHL."With the other Red Wings' prospects, Ouellet will be in Traverse City in early September to take part in its prospect tournament, which includes several other NHL teams. He was disappointed that he was ignored by Hockey Canada's World Junior Evaluation Camp, but the 6'1" defenseman was able to find a positive spin on the situation. "It allowed me to work harder and prepare better [for the season]. I want to prove that I belong there," said Ouellet, philisophically, who participated in the Ivan Hlinka tournament (under-18's) a year ago.

With the NHL Research and Development Camp under way, I thought this would be a good time to chime in regarding the proposed rule changes. Let's start with line changes occurring only on the fly. While from the outside, this would seem to be a good idea, there are a lot of coaching implications involved. Firstly, last change for the home team would be eliminated, an advantage many coaches use to their fullest advantage. Would you be more inclined to allowing both teams to change when stoppages occur in the neutral zone, like an offside call, but restricting changes when a defending team forces a face-off in their own zone, like when a goalie freezes the puck, or a defenseman sits on it. This would oblige goalie and defenseman to keep the puck alive, or deal with the prospect of taking a defensive zone face-off with the centre who was last on the ice. Speaking of offside calls, another rule is being mulled over that would have the offending team backed into their defensive zone for a face-off, as is the rule now when taking a penalty. In my opinion, that's a little excessive. I can understand giving a team an advantage to start a powerplay, but for something as small as an offside? It would give the advantage to the defending team, in the sense that they would be able to trap at their defensive blue line and reduce the flow of the game, something the NHL is looking to avoid. The last part of the face-off debacle is the linesmen. Over the past couple of seasons, it's become apparent that the officials have become a bigger part of the outcome of games through their inconsistency at the dot. If anything, should the NHL mandate their linesmen to make corrections to a player's position prior to assuming their crouch to drop the puck, after which they would have 3 seconds to drop the biscuit? This way they wouldn't mess with the centres' timing so much, and reduce the number of players being tossed from the face-off. In the same sense, it would allow wingers and defensemen the ability to time the drop of the puck, and get into position without slowing down the game. Next let's look at the icing rule. It has been discussed that either no-touch icing be implemented or a hybrid of it, where races for the puck can still occur when players are in proximity to each other. Both situations would reduce the amount of serious injuries that occur when the puck iced. My choice would be the hybrid system. While it would leave the call at the discretion of the officials, it would keep the possibility of a puck chase in the game. Only 10% of icing plays generate puck chases behind the goal line. My only issue with this is the officials should also be made aware that teams use icing as an offensive play when a winger is breaking hard into the offensive zone. If in an attempt to protect the players the league takes strategic advantages away from teams, the particular rule in question would be scrutinized forever. It's also being discussed that teams playing short-handed would have to play the puck beyond their own blue line before they could ice the puck. While this would increase to offensive chances from the team on the power play, the long term effects on players would be too much of a disadvantage. For example, if a team was hemmed in because they could not icing the puck and change players, those players stuck on the ice would become too fatigued for too long a period of time. The only time they would be able to catch a break would be during the intermissions. Now, since we're behind the net, why not discuss the removal of the trapezoid and the shortening of the depth of the net. From where I stand, do both, but with restrictions. For example, if both rules are in place, let the goalie play the puck anywhere, but restrict them to playing the puck in their zone only from behind the goal line. If they can skate it in front the line, then they could attempt a stretch pass. This way, the forechecking team could still attempt to get possession of the puck from the opposing goaltender with compromising their defensive posture. Otherwise, leave the trapezoid in. Either way, shortening the depth of the nets would increase the space behind them for players to make offensive plays. If only Gretzky were still playing, he'd be frothing at the mouth. Finally, the NHL is discussing changes to the overtime format. While the shootout was a novel idea when it was introduced, it's starting to bore some more traditional fans. It's also been discussed that overtime start with 5 minutes of 4-on-4, followed by 5 minutes of 3-on-3, and then the shootout. There is no point of a game more exciting then when a team scores an overtime goal in the play-offs. Fans become euphoric while they watch their heroes celebrate a hard-earned victory. I think it would be best to play 5 minutes of 4-on-4, then continue to play at 3-on-3 until a winner is determined. Since hockey is a team oriented sport, why would you want to see a player and goalie go Mano e Mano, when you could see a tic-tac-toe passing play to win a game instead. Some of these proposed rules make sense, from certain perspectives, but when you're talking about changing the makeup of the game as a whole, then forget it. It was hard enough to swallow the first set of changes after the lockout. When you add too many ingredients to an already good recipe, you may end up serving something that wouldn't be digestible. Just some food for thought.

I have no problem seeing the media showcase a player over and over. They did that with Messier in the late 90's and I liked him as a player. I know he was no Gretzky for talent but he didn't ***** and whine either.

RULE 84 - OVERTIME AS IT STANDS TODAY Rule 84 - Overtime 84.1 Overtime – Regular-season - During regular-season games, if at the end of the three (3) regular twenty (20) minute periods, the score shall be tied, each team shall be awarded one point in the League standings. The teams will thenplay an additional overtime period of not more than five (5) minutes with the team scoring first declared the winner and being awarded an additional point. The overtime period shall be played with each team at a numerical strength of four (4) skaters and one (1) goalkeeper. Additional penalties to be assessed consistent with the rules in regulation time. The overtime period will be commenced immediately following a one (1) minute rest period during which the players will remain on the ice. The teams will not change ends for the overtime period. Goalkeepers may go to their respective players' benches during this rest period, however, penalized players must remain on the penalty bench. Should a penalized player exit the penalty bench during this rest period, he shall be returned immediately by the officials with no additional penalty being assessed, unless he commits an infraction of any other rule. 84.2 Overtime – Regular-season – Extra Attacker - A team shall be allowed to pull its goalkeeper in favor of an additional skater in the overtime period. However, should that team lose the game during the time in which the goalkeeper has been removed, it would forfeit the automatic point gained in the tie at the end of regulation play, except if the goalkeeper has been removed at the call of a delayed penalty against the other team. Should the goalkeeper proceed to his bench for an extra attacker due to a delayed penalty call against the opposing team, and should the non-offending team shoot the puck directly into their own goal, the game shall be over and the team that was to be penalized declared the winner. Once the goalkeeper has been removed for an extra attacker in overtime during the regular-season, he must wait for the next stoppage of play before returning to his position. He cannot change "on the fly." If he does, a bench minor penalty shall be assessed for having an ineligible player. 84.3 Overtime – Regular-season – Penalties – When regulation time ends and the teams are 5 on 3, teams will start overtime 5 on 3. Once player strength reaches 5 on 4 or 5 on 5, at the next stoppage of play, player strength is adjusted to 4 on 3 or 4 on 4, as appropriate. When regulation ends and teams are 4 on 4 teams will start overtime 3 on 3. If at the end of regulation time teams are three (3) skaters on three (3) skaters, overtime starts three (3) skaters on three (3) skaters. Once player strength reaches five (5) skaters on four (4) skaters or five (5) skaters on five (5) skaters, at the next stoppage player strength is adjusted to four (4) skaters on three (3) skaters or four (4) skaters on four (4) skaters, as appropriate. At no time will a team have less than three players on the ice. This may require a fifth skater to be added if a two-man advantage occurs. Refer to Reference Tables – Table 19 – Penalties In Effect Prior to the Start of Overtime – Regular Season. If a team is penalized in overtime, teams play four (4) skaters against three (3) skaters. If both teams are penalized with minor penalties at the same stoppage of play (with no other penalties in effect), teams will play three (3) skaters against three (3) skaters. In overtime, if a team is penalized such that a two-man advantage is called for, then the offending team will remain at three (3) skaters while the non-offending team will be permitted a fifth skater. At the first stoppage of play after the two-man advantage is no longer in effect, the numerical strength of the team will revert back to either four (4) skaters on four (4) skaters or a four (4) skaters on three (3) skaters situation, as appropriate. Refer to Reference Tables – Table 20 – Penalties Assessed in Overtime – Regular Season. 84.4 Shootout - During regular-season games, if the game remains tied at the end of the five (5) minute overtime period, the teams will proceed to a shootout. The rules governing the shootout shall be the same as those listed under Rule 24 - Penalty Shot. The teams will not change ends for the shootout. The home team shall have the choice of shooting first or second. The teams shall alternate shots. Three (3) players from each team shall participate in the shootout and they shall proceed in such order as the Coach selects. All players are eligible to participate in the shootout unless they are serving a ten-minute misconduct or have been assessed a game misconduct or match penalty. Guidelines related to stick measurement requests during the shootout are outlined in 10.7 – Stick Measurements – Prior to Shootout Attempt. Once the shootout begins, the goalkeeper cannot be replaced unless he is injured. No warm up shall be permitted for a substitute goalkeeper. Each team will be given three shots, unless the outcome is determined earlier in the shootout. After each team has taken three shots, if the score remains tied, the shootout will proceed to a "sudden death" format. No player may shoot twice until everyone who is eligible has shot. If, however, because of injury or penalty, one team has fewer players eligible for the shootout than its opponent, both teams may select from among the players who have already shot. This procedure would continue until the team with fewer players has again used all eligible shooters. Regardless of the number of goals scored during the shootout portion of overtime, the final score recorded for the game will give the winning team one more goal than its opponent, based on the score at the end of overtime. The losing goalkeeper will not be charged with the extra goal against. The player scoring the game-winning goal in the shootout will not be credited with a goal scored in his personal statistics. If a team declines to participate in the shootout procedure, the game will be declared as a shootout loss for that Team. If a team declines to take a shot it will be declared as "no goal." 84.5 Overtime – Playoffs – In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, when a game is tied after three (3) twenty (20) minute regular periods of play, the teams shall take a normal intermission (fifteen (15) minutes) and resume playing twenty (20) minute periods, changing ends for the start of each overtime period. The team scoring the first goal in overtime shall be declared the winner of the game.

The realignment with the Wings coming back east isn't going to happen. Schmuckman isn't going to disrupt the rivalries that the Wings have with the Blackhawks, Preds, Sharks and so on. I know schmuckman promised Kenny that the Wings would come east, however, I just don't see that going down. Then again schmuckman can make me look like a liar...weirder things have gone down.

I think he will get a $6.5M or $6.75M deal...just not with Nashville.

As Predators blog On The Forecheck notes, an NHL rule prohibits teams with only one salary arbitration hearing from buying out players outside of a June 15-30 window; the Predators, given recent events, appear to fall in that category. If that's the case, a Lebda buyout may not be possible

It's funny how everyone who doesn't understand how arbitration works throws that out...team ALWAYS goes low and the players ALWAYS goes high.

Did you know that Gary Bettman, the shamed Commissioner of the NHL, made $7.23 Million in 2008-2009?!! What the hell is going on?? If we compare that to the latest 2010/2011 salaries of the highest paid NHL Players, that would put him at #20 on the list, just edging out Joe Thornton! Now, granted it's not as high as MLB Commissioner Bud Selig ($18.35 million) or NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell ($10.9 million), but damn, I'm realistic and we're talking about hockey here. You know, still to this day I wonder how Bettman continues to keep his job... he truly is the definition of douchebag. Just ask Ron MacLean or Don Cherry, or any Winnipeger, Quebecer, or Ontarian, or Canadian overall for that matter. Here's the article from the Toronto Sun, it has more details on Bettman and the other NHL Executives' Salaries: Bettman tops $7M in pay Commissioner Gary Bettman's pay package increased to $7.23 million US in 2008-09, the SportsBusiness Journal reported Monday. While his pay rose just 1.7% from the previous season, Bettman's compensation has almost doubled since his pre-lockout total of $3.77 million. Following are NHL executives' salaries for 2008-09 as reported by SportsBusiness Journal based on tax filings: Commissioner Gary Bettman $7,230,783 Deputy commissioner Bill Daly $1,910,402 Director of hockey operations Colin Campbell $1,389,142 Chief financial officer Craig Harnett $938,367 Chief operating officer John Collins $878,226 Strategist Ed Horne, who is no longer with the league, $794,238 General counsel David Zimmerman $577,394 EVP, finance, Joseph DeSousa $520,299 Director of officiating Stephen Walkom, who is no longer with the league, $488,736 SVP, hockey operations, Mike Murphy, $440,317 In tribute to those NHL Players who fell just behind Bettman in Salary, here is the list of the Top 20 players after him on this list and their salaries: Joe Thornton - $7.2 Million Brian Campbell - $7 Million Daniel Alfredsson - $7 Million (Up yours, Alfredsson!!!) Daniel Briere - $7 Million Jean-Sebastien Giguere - $7 Million (Are you serious?!!) Jarome Iginla - $7 Million Mikka Kiprusoff - $7 Million Dion Phaneuf - $7 Million Mark Savard - $7 Million Kimmo Timonem - $7 Million Patrick Marleau - $6.9 Million Pavel Datsyuk - $6.7 Million Dan Boyle - $6.67 Million Jay Bouwmeester - $6.6 Million Paul Stastny - $6.6 Million Shawn Horcoff - $6.5 Million Patrick Kane - $6.5 Million Wade Redden - $6.5 Million Jonathan Toews - $6.5 Million Mike Richards - $6.4 Million Thomas Vanek - $6.4 Million Is it just me, or don't you wish that Ron MacLean would just body check Gary Bettman head first into the camera every time he grabs his arm when Ron asks a tough question?!!

Bettman looking to overhaul the salary cap

I'm just saying...we have the $ and we have the prospects and we can give up 4 1st round picks since we'll be drafting at the bottom. You also have too remember that the "bonus" isn't part of the base salary so we can pay X number of $ over X number of years...something along the lines of the Brad Richards deal with the Rangers.

I say our GM and President work out a deal in the dark of night while we're asleep. We have the cash, $8.7M cap space, then we wait and see if Savard retires (free's up another $7.0M), then throw in a few prospects/4 #1 draft choices (which is fine with me since we'll be at the bottom of the pile for that) and the deal is done. Once again Tampa doesn't have the cash to match an offer sheet from anybody....Stamkos is leaving Tampa. As for Vinny's contract buy out...that isn't happening. They don't have the money to buy Vinny's contract out and they don't have the money to match any offer sheet that comes Stamko's way...front loading a contract is out the window as well. Either way Tampa is f***ed by their old GM and how he managed their money on contracts.

There isn't going to be a buyout...it hasn't even been a thought in Stevie Y's head. Besides that is a BIG "if" and I don't see it happening.

This thread is about Stamkos...am I correct on this? Why are you talking about Lecavalier again?

I say we go after Stamkos, offer him $7.835M, and give Tampa our 4 first round picks since we'll be at the bottom of the draft pool and be done with it. We have the 7th deepest prospect pool in the league, so it wouldn't hurt us any. Tampa doesn't have the cash to match any offer nor do they have any kind of assets. Hockey Prospectus ranks Bruins' prospect pool seventh in NHL

NHL Free Agency 2011: Boston Bruins Should Spend Big or Not Spend at All Funny how Stamkos keeps coming up with the Bruins.