haroldsnepsts

I don't really follow baseball so I can't comment very knowledgeably on the Bonds situation. But I thought more than one person had come forward saying they had supplied him with/injected him with steroids. Also, how many years has baseball even had a testing policy? and isn't it still a joke (in terms of being "random" and ever having them in the off season). Armstrong was tested year round, in and out of competition. He had to register his wherabouts 365 days a year with the cycling organizations so they could administer a random drug test at any time. And didn't guys like he and McGuire grow through odd growth spurts well into their career? Where they suddenly became these muscular beasts, when they weren't early on? Hopefully some baseball fans can answer those questions. I don't really know. But as for cycling: Armstrong was nowhere near a middle of the pack racer. He was a Classics racer, which are the shorter one day or few-day stage races like Paris-Roubaix, which requires a different style and build of rider than the grueling grand tours like the Tour de France. The Tour de France wasn't his main objective in a season. Classic riders are usually heavier and more muscular for riding on flatter courses. Grand Tour riders have to excel in the mountains to have any shot at winning, which means they're typically very skinny. His last years of riding the Tour de France pre cancer when he was primarily a classics racer, he still finished something like 36, which is in the top third. Pre-cancer he had many big race wins, but dont' really mean anything if you don't follow cycling. In general, he was widely regarded as an extremely talented, cocky young rider who relied mostly on his physical gifts to win races. He wasn't a good tactician, but just tried to ride guys into the ground. In 1996 (the year he was diagnosed with cancer), he was ranked the number one rider in the world. After cancer he came back physically built as a completely different rider, at least 15 pounds lighter but with the same power output, and set about with ridiculous focus on peaking for and winning one single race every year, the Tour de France (whereas Classic racers target multiple races throughout the season). click on the link for "about lance" then "career" the ubiquitious wiki entry EDIT: Looks like there's a few errors in the wiki entry, so I'd just use the top link which is Lance's personal website (which I would hope has his career acheivements accurately listed)

Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France wins shouldn't be on there. There's been a few allegations, but by people on the periphery with something to gain. There's never been any credible evidence of him doping. During his seven wins, he was by far the most tested athlete on the planet. Year round. In competition and out of competition. He never failed one drug test. The only thing that indicates he might be doping is its prevalence in cycling, and his sheer dominance of that race.

yup. On TSN Selanne is listed at 6 ft and 205 lbs. He's as big as Cleary and Holmstrom. Of the forwards, only Samuelsson, Franzen and Kopeckey would be bigger.

6 ft. 200 lbs. On our current roster that makes him one of the bigger players. (he's as big as Holmstrom). When I say size, I dont' mean that he'll be out there crushing people with open ice hits. But even at 37 he's fast and relatively big and can score. That's what the Wings need.

As I said in another thread, Selanne would be exactly what Detroit is looking for. Speed, size and scoring on the wing. Imagine him on either Zetterberg or Datsyuk's wing.

Ahh how quickly Wings fans turn on their players. did anyone actually read the link or the quote?? All it says is a Russian team is courting him. And it also makes note that it's his home. I love how easy it is for people here to say crap about players giving up millions of dollars in salary, or how if they really cared they should play halfway around the world from their homeland, from their friends, their family. So easy to say when it's someone else's life. If he could make more money playing close to home, I could see how that would outweigh playing in the NHL. And as for the greedy Russian crap, you're either kidding, or you're an idiot. I'm not sure which. That greedy Russian garbage is so lame and unfounded. I'm tired of hearing it.

I'd love to have Selanne here for a year, maybe even two. But it seems extremely unlikely. He's old, but he's got the size, speed and scoring Detroit could use on the wing. Selanne with either Z or Dats would be a sight to behold.

How is that agreeing with Burke? Drury, Gomez and Briere were all UFAs. Paying $4 mill for Bertuzzi and $5.6 for Scheider, Burke is as guilty as anyone when it comes to UFAs.

I only think Burke was this overspending crazy guy when it came to Bertuzzi, and to a lesser degree Schneider because he was filling a large hole on his blueline. IMO, $4 mill for 2 years for a guy who played 15 games due to a herniated disk is ridiculous. His health is a major question mark and he was largely a non-factor during the playoffs with Detroit. It's not like he showed a lot of glimpses of the pre-Moore incident Bertuzzi out there.

I totally understand the Schneider move. It looked like Niedermayer was retiring and he wanted to fill that spot and Matheiu was available. But paying $4 mill for Bertuzzi for two years when you're unwilling to pay 3 to 3.5 for Penner is a big mistake in my book. It's not just the amount (though Bert is now his highest paid forward), it's also the two years. He could've locked Penner up and didn't. Had he done that, there's really no need for Bertuzzi. Plus practically his whole team are UFAs at the end of the '09 season. Burke was blinded by his man love for Bert, and now he's paying for it.

It's definitely inflated, but I haven't been able to find an answer to my question yet. Wasn't Penner's salary restricted by the cap because it was only his first full season in the league? He's not worth what Lowe's offering, but the $450,000 isn't fair market value of what he was worth either. Z is also a bad reference point, as he's been in a long term contract and is grossly underpaid. To me I find it funny that Burke was willing to throw $4 mill at Bertuzzi but nowhere near that for Penner. And it may have some increase on the RFA market, but unlike the UFAs, the RFA market has a built in regulator against inflation. The more you offer a player, the more picks you give up, so he better damn well be worth the gamble.

And what's this stuff about Lowe being classless? Bitter Ducks fans? What he did was perfectly legal. Burke overpaying for UFAs like Schneider and Bertuzzi is classy, but Lowe's isn't? If Holland got Penner this way, most people here would be rejoicing.

Especially when Burke didn't blink at spending $4 million on a broke-down Bertuzzi.

Blame definitely falls on the player too, because ultimately it was his choice. Mainly I think that RFA deals like this will still be rare enough occurences that they wont' have the impact you're afraid they will. A lot of factors have to be involved. A GM like Lowe who's bold enough and has cap room to overpay and give up the picks. A GM like Burke who has been unable to sign his RFAs, but spent so much on UFAs that he's limited his cap room. And a player worth taking the risk of overpaying and giving up picks for. It may drive the price up for RFAs some. But as someone said in an earlier post, a decent arguement could be made that it would have the opposite effect of what you're suggesting. RFAs will get more in negotiations, but GMs may start allocating more of the cap to signing those players, essentially treating them more like UFAs now, and keeping them on the team. Currently many GM's seem to take signing RFAs for granted and therefore blow ridiculous money on UFAs. I see more cap money to RFAs and less left for UFAs as a good thing, as it should lead to less player turnover. EDIT: And honestly, if I were Penner I'd be pissed that Burke spent $4 million bringing in Bertuzzi, who has similar qualities. But is being cheap ass in negotiations in re-signing his young RFA.

If that happens, I'd mostly be disappointed that Holland couldn't get a deal done and didn't see this coming. People on this forum were talking about this exact move for chrissakes. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to Burke. We all saw he put himself against the cap on his spending spree. He did this to himself. Burke is in no position to comment on ridiculous overpayment. Because Penner is an RFA, Lowe has to overpay for at least two reasons. First is to make it worth Penner's while to sign the offer and leave Anaheim (who's pretty well positioned to repeat for the Cup) for Edmonton. Second is he has to pay him enough that it really puts the hurt on Burke. If he offered Penner $3 mill a year, then it's a no-brainer for Burke to match. He had to make it painful to match if he really wants a chance at getting Penner. Then hopefully in a season or two, Penner will be worth the money. It's a gamble on a young player. To me this is just a lesson in locking up your RFAs earlier and not overpaying for the UFAs. I have to give Holland props for this one. At the time I thought it was a bad idea for him to lock up Dats when he did and for so long, but it was the right move. And he didn't get involved in the spending spree that went on a few weeks back.

oh sweet poetic justice. Not so fun when you're on the other side of overpaying to bring a player to your team. Maybe if he hadn't overpaid to take Bertuzzi and Schneider from the Wings, he would've had more money to throw at Penner. Hmm, Bert at $4 mill or Penner at $4.25? Of the two, Penner has the greater chance at actually becoming the power forward Bertuzzi once was than Bertuzzi himself does. Where Penner has potential, Bertuzzi has a back injury and baggage. Previously I didn't have an opinion on the RFA offers, but because this is giving Burke a helping of his own medicine and punishing him for his overpayment on UFAs, I'm loving it. EDIT: And everyone keeps referencing Penners massive raise based on his salary last season. Wasn't that his first full season in the NHL and therefore limited under the cap? If so, then the $450,00 isn't a reflection of his true market value any more than Lowe's offer is.

I guess Hartigan and Datsyuk will have to go fight whoever this Pasha guy is that apparently won't give up the number.

Actually Houston is the largest city in Texas, and fourth largest in the country. EDIT: After looking it up, I see Dallas is considered larger if you're going by "metropolitan area" which would include the DFW and Arlington population, which may have been what you meant. I'm not sure how well a team would do there, but just by sheer number of northern transplants to the area, it seems like it would have a better shot at success than Nashville. Plus there is a ton of money in Houston. Vegas is always interesting to me, because as someone mentioned, why haven't any other pro teams gone there? I think there's probably a reason.

I know you're kidding about the Lilja trade, but if Niedermayer is seriously considering retiring, I can't see him wanting to play anywhere else if traded. It's most likely the Ducks or nothing. And because of the cap position the Ducks put themselves in, it's looking more like he's retiring.

Step away from the playstation...

Burke is getting whats coming to him for paying $4 mill for Bertuzzi and 5.6 for Schneider before he locked up his RFAs.

That can't happen. Scott still has two years left on his contract at 6.75 mill and he can't just turn down money to help his team under the cap. It still counts against it.

For you baseball junkies, here's another pretty good article on the physics of a homerun. As for cheating in sport, the Tour de France just had the race leader withdraw and get fired by his team, and there have been at least three other doping scandals. And this was the year it was supposed to be a "clean" Tour. By comparison, hockey has little to worry about.

I hope this goes through. Then Burke basically lost a 24 yr old player with Bertuzzi-like potential (the good parts - size, scoring) because he overpaid for the real deal Bertuzzi, which comes with a chronic back injury and a lot of baggage. I'd be amazed if it actually happened, but it'd be great to have Teemu on the Wings for a season or two. He's a lot of what they need right now.

What's the cap again for next year? If Niedermayer were to come back, aren't they right up against it? I also find it funny in the comments section of that link how outraged people are at Lowe. He's made a couple bold offers, but if he can steal a quality player from a team who overpaid on UFA's, I see that as good for the league. Hopefully these idiot GM's and owners will show a little more restraint next season on the market.