NHL Offseason 2013

[Loppan Torkel]

My understanding is that NJ COULD Have blocked him getting out of the contract, but they chose not to.

I think they could've blocked him juridically, but only to the point that if he one day he decides to come back to the NHL, both parties will still be bound to the earlier agreement. Having such a long term and expensive contract on an older Kovalchuk would've been even crappier than a bad alternative. NJ is in a pretty shape now..

I like Detroit, even though they aren't what they used to be. Signing Samuelsson for two years was a mistake.

 

[El Justo]

philly has a penchant for quick fixes and its come back to bite them on many occasions. they aren't good at drafting and developing defenseman. and goalies in philly are, well, scrutinized, to say the least. that cup run was more mirage than reality imo. I mean, they were a stinkin' shootout away from being eliminated from the playoff race on the final day of the season. oh, and that 0-3 comeback versus boston. us flyers fans knew that as it was unfolding. but we were pretty close and it stung. no doubt.

flyers missed jagr last season. Giroux missed him, really. he opened up space for him and his passing was just superb compared to the other top-6 forward options. voracek was good but does not offer the same on-ice dimensions that jagr did. not to say that they need to sign the 41 year old gray beard but the flyers really struggled last year on the top line because of that void.

 

[El Justo]

realignment is now official. happy to have another team to hate on the penguins with in columbus. welcome to party get to beat down the caps again. we missed you, nice to have you back again as our punching bag. will think of dgfred every time the flyers play the hurricanes...still think it's unfair that there's 2 more teams in the east vying for the 8 playoff spots where the teams in the west have 2 less teams vying for the 8 playoff spots. does this mean that down the road the nhl will add 2 to the western conference ?

 

[dgfred]

Wonder why they did the Fla teams that way ?

 

[tonberry]

Wonder why they did the Fla teams that way ?

There is a cluster of teams around the current Atlantic division : Washington is close with Raleigh not too far in the south and Columbus is close to Pittsburgh. That bring the count to 8 so no room for the 2 Florida teams that has to be grouped with the others eastern team. Plus, I know that there is alot of Quebecois on vacation during winter in Florida (Montreal essentially play for a home crowd when they are in Miami).

 

[dgfred]

Thanks t .

 

[Synobun]

So, who wants Franson? Ranked 8th in defencemen points last season. Right-handed shot. High hits. Can play decent numbers. Us Leafs certainly can't use a man like him, no sir.

He's our only right-handed shot.

 

[Evie]

Rumor has it that putting Florida in the (former) North East was basically a big fat bribe to get them to support the change. "Okay, we'll give you more Montreal and Toronto games per year".

Add in that Detroit wants to be with Toronto, that you don't want to break up any of the natural rivalries...well, this was pretty much the only option.

If not for Detroit wanting to be with toronto, I'd have gone:
MTL-BOS-TOR-OTT-BUF-NYR-NYI-NJD
DET-CBJ-PIT-PHI-WAS-CAR-FLO-TBL

 

[El Justo]

no way ed snider would allow the flyers not having their traditional atlantic/patrick division rivals rangers, islanders, devils in another division. i think they got it right, for the most part, outside of the weird florida combo.

 

[Synobun]

I'm curious. If an expansion hockey team comes to Seattle, where do they get their players from?

 

[El Justo]

they'll probably hold an expansion draft like they did for all the other teams that have come on board over the last few decades. each team has to 'expose' players to the draft and then they can 'pull' players back if they get one selected from their roster.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

I'm curious. If an expansion hockey team comes to Seattle, where do they get their players from?

They set up road blocks around town and grab any Canadians they find.

 

[Synobun]

Kadri wants $5mil for 5 years.

Franson presumably wants more than $4mil.

Leafs only have $4mil.

Arghhhh.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

Sidney Crosby oppose the Russian gay laws. So does Zetterberg. Datsyuk says he's a conservative

 

[El Justo]

perhaps putin will have his thugs abduct crosby in sochi. or maybe peter lavoilette will beat them off and save him from the gulag.

 

[schlaufuchs]

perhaps putin will have his thugs abduct crosby in sochi. or maybe peter lavoilette will beat them off and save him from the gulag.

What does Ovechkin think?


Link to video.

 

[El Justo]

haha better yet, what does bryzgalov think ?