joshy207

$1.25M per GAME. What a bargain...

This is pretty much what I envision too, other than maybe flipping Helm and Andersson. Helm, Miller, and Eaves always played well together, and Andersson, Nyquist, and Tatar just won a Calder Cup together. Tootoo and Emmerton would have to be moved out depending on what could be done with Bertuzzi and Samuelsson, but 2 of those 4 would be the 13th and 14th forwards.

This year AND next? Combined? Yeah, probably.

Hmm... not good.....

Not much to the story yet... http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=426972

He has played an enormous role, for sure. But it hasn't been just Andersson...

Teams that are built/building to win might acquire one of those players as a "final piece", not as a centerpiece. Cleary, Samuelsson, Bertuzzi, Tootoo, and Gustavsson are more liability than asset. Ken Holland has always "hung on to assets", the last regular roster player he traded away was Slava Kozlov in 2001.

I also agree with you on Lecavalier (length of contract) and Clarkson (value of contract), but disagree on the rest. The buyouts are all about roster space for younger players and (hopefully) an incoming free agent or two. Tatar, Nyquist, Andersson, Smith, DeKeyser, and Lashoff need to have regular roles on this team. Tatar and Nyquist should probably start the season on the top 2 lines, see how they do with Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Franzen. If it isn't working, then make a change. DeKeyser, if he plays the way he did in his short stint last year, will be the #2 defenseman by Thanksgiving. Lashoff is a capable, defense-first guy, something this team lacks. He should rotate in and out of the 3rd pairing. Talent and hard work are two completely different things. Some players have talent, some work hard, and some do both. Same with teams. Detroit got a 3-1 lead over Chicago by playing hard and getting under Chicago's skin. Toews was completely neutralized for the first half of that series, and was actually a detriment to his team because of the way the Wings played against him. That was hard work, not talent, on the Wings' part. Based on talent, this team has 3 top-6 forwards and 1 top-3 defenseman right now. The rest are bottom-6 and bottom-3 guys. The same thing was said last year about this year's FA class. And the year before about last year's class. And so on and so on. Most of the good ones will re-sign with their current teams. Holland has exposed himself over the last few years. This team has not gotten better. Some of its draft picks and undrafted free agents are working out, some will be very good in the near future. But he has not added significant pieces in forever. He also has not gotten rid of enough "dead weight" either. He hangs on to guys for too long. He overvalues his own players and undervalues everyone else's. He seems reluctant, if not downright afraid, to make a move. One thing he does very well is work with the guys on his staff, listens to them and trusts their opinions. But how much of Holland's "magic" really was Scotty Bowman, Jim Nill, his scouts, and Mike Ilitch's wallet? The more time goes on, I think it's becoming evident that it's at least a big part of it.

Interesting... http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=426513 Some Russians have purchased Hartwall Arena and have the option to buy a share of the club. They plan on moving from the SM-Liiga to the KHL for the 2014-15 season. KHL expansion into Europe continues...

+/- is a flawed stat. This is more money than I would have liked to see, but I'm not too upset. Kindl had a big year, took a huge step forward, and is *finally* starting to show some of the potential that made him a first-round pick. I don't know that he'll ever get any higher than a #4 defenseman, but he's a solid third-pair guy. Probably could have had him for about $2M per year, but by the end of the deal, this could work out to be a bargain.

With native-born players leaving for North America and the KHL already, I wonder if they feel the quality of their league is dropping and a move to the KHL would give their fans better hockey to watch. A move like this could work if other clubs follow suit and help transform the KHL from a mostly-Russian league to a full European/Asian league with teams all over the map.

Good stuff. It sounds like they want to sign Glendening, that's cool. If they have more room under the 50-contract list, I wonder if Chad Billins is an option as well, he put up good numbers in GR, but is smaller at 5'10"... Kindl has earned a raise. I wouldn't go giving him $2.5M or anything, but I'd be fine with something under $1.5M. He's a third-pair guy, but solidified his place as an NHL defenseman this season. If Pavel does actually want to finish playing in Russia, I don't know that he'll want to do it at 42. I like the 4 more years, but we'll have to wait and see beyond that... If by "cup contenders are a thing of the past" he meant year-in, year-out, then yeah. But for one year, two, maybe three? I have to disagree. You can put a team together with the right mix of vets, youth, and prime-time guys, if enough guys are on ELCs or second contracts and not breaking the bank, if your goaltending is solid, if you've drafted and developed well and have 20-22 year olds contributing... you can contend for a couple-few years. Every team that does this will run into cap trouble (a la Chicago 2010), but can be rebuilt (a la Chicago 2013). I'm excited for Mrazek, hoping he's ready in 2014. Howard can't play every game, every season...

The $3M+ buyout requirement was only for the early buyouts last summer (Gomez and Redden). There are no dollar requirements this summer or next.

I agree with that for next year and probably the year after, but Mrazek will probably be NHL-ready within the next 3 years (he's probably already better than Gustavsson) and Howard can't play every game, every season. Gustavsson can spell Howard for a game here and there next year, they'll have to find a veteran to battle with Mrazek for the backup spot the next year, but by the 15-16 season, I expect him to be in Detroit full-time and the slow transition from Howard to Mrazek will begin. Also, if at any time during the next couple years, Howard goes down with an injury (knock on wood!!!), Mrazek should be called up to play regularly.

It sounds like there will be some moves, even if it's just buyouts, letting UFAs walk, and trading away extra players. I like the Miller signing, the cap hit might be just a hair over what I expected, but I have no problem with it. He's a much better value than Tootoo at $1.9M...

True, but Franzen wasn't putting up those numbers at that time. I think they locked him up long-term thinking he might be able to produce at that level for 2-3 years. Either way, his cap hit is fine for his numbers, even a bit of a bargain. The tradeoff comes in a couple-few years when he is no longer producing like this, but is still taking up almost $4M of cap space.

I think they would expect some uptick from those numbers, considering he was 29 when he signed the big contract, and after a career (in Sweden and 2 NHL seasons) of being primarily a defensive-minded center/winger, he found his scoring touch at age 27, scoring 27 and 34 goals, in addition to 13 and 12 goals in the playoff runs of '08 and '09. I figure they were hoping for an improvement over 34-25--59 in his contract year. They have gotten steady (overall) production at just below those numbers. The frustrating part is that he shows flashes of dominance, 40-goal capability, then he vanishes to the Swedish backwoods for a month or so before showing up again. And the cap hit is under $4M strictly because of the length of the contract. Had he signed a 5- or 6-year deal, we would have been looking at possibly $5-6M per year. I also would not buy him out this summer, Holland's reasoning is all valid. Should they have a buyout still available next summer and should Franzen's production tail off significantly, I would consider it then, but only if he had a brutal season. But to say they're "happy" with his play might be a bit of a stretch. The numbers aren't bad, but the consistency and interest often don't seem to be there.

Based on the term of the deal, I think everyone (management and fans) expected more like 35-40 goals and 75-80 points, at least for a few years. That hasn't happened, and what production has come has been feast-or-famine to the extreme. Plus, with Bickell, there's no guarantee he won't stay in the 10-15 goal, 25-35 point range. It's a total crapshoot, for sure.

$5.5M per for 7+ years? Enjoy the KHL, Val.

The guys Holland seems to want to make available (Emmerton, Tootoo) won't get much in return, maybe a late-round pick, but would clear valuable roster space for guys who need to be here. Both would probably end up being extra forwards next year anyway. As for free agents, Bryan Bickell (not Bickel... Stu is a Rangers' defenseman) has one good playoff run, that's IT. Plenty of guys have had one hot playoff and then disappeared. John Druce, Chris Kontos, Fernando Pisani. How about Johan Franzen? Do we want to risk having another guy like that on a big contract? I want to keep him here too. I really like what he brings to the table, especially his drive. I think he's even more motivated after being sent down to GR again, despite being one of the Wings' best forwards when he was here. IMO he has more value in a Wings' uniform than in a trade.

The $3M floor was only for the "accelerated" buyouts last summer, created specifically for Redden and Gomez so they wouldn't be just sent home by their old clubs. Compliance buyouts this summer and next can be used on players with any cap hit. This per capgeek... http://www.capgeek.com/new-cba/

I actually have no problem with that approach. I'd like to see him retain all the RFAs and bring back Brunner. Filppula and Cleary should not be back. Also, I would like to see Samuelsson and either Bertuzzi or Colaiacovo bought out (or Colaiacovo traded). This opens up spots for Tatar, who is ready for NHL duty, and Lashoff, who, despite some columnists trashing his play, is a steady defense-first guy, something this team needs. Start off that way, make adjustments when/if needed.

The AHL is live-streaming, for free, all Calder Cup final games at www.ahllive.com, code CALDER2013. This per Ansar Khan's tweet, among others.

CBC crew is better. Pittsburgh looks done.

Yeah, you and every other GM but Boston's. The Bruins were looking for pieces to make a Cup run (like Iginla). We would have gotten picks and prospects, NOT Lucic. I would love to know what they were offering...