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2012 NHL Offseason Thread


dlbalr

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Remember the 2009 summer when Gainey cleared house and signed several UFAs? Expect that next summer. Seven forwards will be UFA and I'm betting Burke will see that as a huge opportunity to make some big signings. He'll have room to get any one of Getzlaf, Staal, Perry, Horton, Ribeiro, Eriksson, Morrow, Filppula, Weiss, Zajac, Clarkson, Hartnell and Crosby (lol). The Leafs could have their Miami Heat moment and sign Getzlaf and Horton for example while talking about how they are going to change their entire team dynamic. Burke needs the Leafs in the playoffs for next season so teams will be more willing to sign with them. Having Luongo might bite a bit into their cap but trust me, he sees the UFAs and knows he could have the opportunity to pick the best possible UFA summer and turn the Leafs into a powerhouse like he has claimed he would.

This Luongo deal I see getting done. It's all about pushing Gillis to go lower on the cost and when Gillis stops budging, he'll pull the trigger on it.

There were lots of good players scheduled to be UFA at this time last year too... but magically once July 1st hit and extensions were allowed by the CBA, a ton of them re-signed with their teams.

you can't judge the UFA class when we are more than 1 year out, and the re-signings havent even started yet.

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Remember the 2009 summer when Gainey cleared house and signed several UFAs? Expect that next summer. Seven forwards will be UFA and I'm betting Burke will see that as a huge opportunity to make some big signings. He'll have room to get any one of Getzlaf, Staal, Perry, Horton, Ribeiro, Eriksson, Morrow, Filppula, Weiss, Zajac, Clarkson, Hartnell and Crosby (lol). The Leafs could have their Miami Heat moment and sign Getzlaf and Horton for example while talking about how they are going to change their entire team dynamic. Burke needs the Leafs in the playoffs for next season so teams will be more willing to sign with them. Having Luongo might bite a bit into their cap but trust me, he sees the UFAs and knows he could have the opportunity to pick the best possible UFA summer and turn the Leafs into a powerhouse like he has claimed he would.

This Luongo deal I see getting done. It's all about pushing Gillis to go lower on the cost and when Gillis stops budging, he'll pull the trigger on it.

Most of those UFAs will end up getting signed before July 1 of that year, I'll bet. The Gainey strategy was already crumbling by 2009, as more and more teams figured out the urgency of locking up top-end players under the cap system. The cupboard will probably be even more bare come 2013.

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As i understand it Bettman want the NHL to take over New-Jersey because of their 77 million debt to refinance.

So Mister Molson and his group are paying for another team that was good enough on the ice to compete to

the Stanley cup final but that are not able to bring money in from their market, no sponsors, not enought season

tickets holder, not enough people to buy merchandising and no corporative help.

No banks would finance them, no government would put more money into it, why NHL owners would have to

finance 2 teams that are gonna beat them on the ice regularly.

Phoenix and Devils should not be helped, Bettman should go and a new era should start.

If these team should be stay and reach the cap$ filled them of players that money making teams do not want anymore,

like a dump for the Gomez of the world.

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The Devils made the stupid mistake of building and financing their own arena, all on their own, with no second tenant, and no government funds.

This means their debt load is way, way too high.

They actually do well financially, if not for this dumb move. They should have shared an arena with the Nets when they had the chance.... or with the Isles.

The Devils get a huge local TV contract with MSG, so they are profitable outside of this huge debt load and the interest payments on it.

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Gilbert Brule will be unqualified by the Coyotes. I think his stint in Phoenix might be enough to get him a cheap deal somewhere else (perhaps Phoenix at a lower rate even), he wasn't half bad after joining them on re-entry waivers. Ex-Hab Alex Picard reportedly will also go unqualified.

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Sens re-sign Karlsson to a 7 year deal worth $6.5 million per year. That seems a bit high to me with only one above average year under his belt (even if it was an elite one).

I agree. What I'm curious to see here, is how Karlsson responds. Will he pull a Jose Theodore and suck for the rest of his contract? Will the pressure destroy him or will he rise to the challenge.

Whatever happens, he'll surely have a tough time pulling a repeat of last season's numbers!

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Wonder what this says for Pronger... or if it is more about Carle.

There has long been speculation that Carle has agreed to terms on an extension already. However, because of the tagging rules, it can't be announced until the new cap comes into place next Sunday.

In other news, Guillaume Latendresse will go unqualified by Minnesota. Let the speculation begin...

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Don't like that deal at all for Philly, great one for the Leafs.

Why not? Schenn isn't anywhere near as good as the Leafs overrated him but he's still a maturing blueliner. He got rushed to the NHL but he'll still develop into a body checking machine who blocks shots, sticks up for teammates and can put in 20 points.

I think it was a decent swap for needs.

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Why not? Schenn isn't anywhere near as good as the Leafs overrated him but he's still a maturing blueliner. He got rushed to the NHL but he'll still develop into a body checking machine who blocks shots, sticks up for teammates and can put in 20 points.

I think it was a decent swap for needs.

When I look at upside, I think JVR can be a solid 60 point player. Those shouldn't be dealt for players who will fill a 4th/5th D role as Schenn should be playing with the Flyers.

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When I look at upside, I think JVR can be a solid 60 point player. Those shouldn't be dealt for players who will fill a 4th/5th D role as Schenn should be playing with the Flyers.

JVR *can be* but Schenn *can be* a top pairing defensive blueliner. We're talking about two under achieving 22 year olds who were high draft picks. Neither has shown their potential though Schenn has been much closer to it with 20 point seasons and always being one of the league leaders in hits and blocked shots. People seem to have completely forgotten that van Riemsdyk is already a concussion issue player. Leafs are getting damaged goods.

That's why I think it's a decent swap. The players can go either way with their potential and both teams are filling a need.

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That would be a plot twist

It disappoints me he won't goto Chicago. That would have been amazing. "WIN US THE CUP OR DIE"

Florida sounds like an odd fit when you remember that they have Jacob Markstrom in their system and he has a very high ceiling. It might be a Schneider situation all over again. Even so, a Luongo/Theodore platoon even sounds a bit odd and I wonder if him going to Florida would mean Theodore being out. I still think Theo needs one more run in Montreal. Kind of like what happened with Brisebois. Wait until he's only good for 20-25 games. Maybe not now but after Budaj' contract is up.

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There are a handful of interesting names coming in as not qualified by their teams - Kevin Porter (COL), Peter Mueller (COL), Marc-Andre Gragnani (VAN), Benoit Pouliot (TB - odd since they just traded a draft pick for him)...I'm sure there will be more to follow in the next few hours.

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Sakic, Oates, Bure and Sundin are in the HHOF.

Sundin stands out as the guy who doesn't belong as much as Shanahan or Lindros.

Shanahan was passed over for Sundin... humph.

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Shanahan was passed over for Sundin... humph.

I've changed my stance on this since looking at the statistics.

Sundin was always the best player on his team, sometimes 20-30 points better year in and year out. There's one odd year with Mogilny leading. Otherwise, he was the defacto best player on a team that made the playoffs a few times.

Shanahan got tons of points on stacked teams like the Red Wings and the Blues. He was also not much of an international player while Sundin was one of the best Team Sweden players ever. International play counts in the HOCKEY, not NHL Hall of Fame.

Sundin was a game breaker by his own while Shanahan was always a compliment. Also, Sundin held a stronger PGP at 1.00 compared to Shanahan's 0.86.

I've changed my mind. Sundin deserves it more than Shanahan.

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Ralph Krueger will be named Edmonton's head coach tomorrow. This should be an interesting case to follow; aside from being an associate coach with the Oilers last year, all of his coaching experience has come from overseas (mostly with Switzerland and Austria). Hiring an 'international coach' is a rarity in the NHL right now, this should be an interesting case to follow.

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