After a short-lived tenure with an Eastern Conference team, Ryan Smyth is heading back to the Western Conference.
Smyth signed a front-loaded five-year contract worth $31.25 million with the Colorado Avalanche, the second significant UFA signing by the Avs, who earlier signed defenseman Scott Hannan.
GM Francois Giguere had plenty of cap space to work with this summer and he’s used it wisely, first with Hannan and now with Smyth, who’ll bring a measure of gritty offensive depth that the Avs have lacked since Peter Forsberg left town two years ago.
He plays an aggressive physical style, never shying away from the corners or the front of the net and works his tail off with every shift. Smyth will likely become as popular in Denver as he was in Edmonton.
Smyth, the heart and soul of the Oilers for years, was dealt to the NY Islanders at the February trade deadline. The Isles tried hard to retain him and were believed still in the bidding right up until the last minute. Losing Smyth to the Avs is a major blow and will have GM Garth Snow scrambling to find a replacement.
The Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs were also in the bidding.
While the New York Rangers made the biggest splash on the opening day of free agency, the Avs are a close second with today’s signings of Smyth and Hannan. GM Giguere may not be done, although by now he’ll probably use his cap space to put toward more affordable second-tier talent.
cant wait to see smyth play with the avs. It will also be interesting to see which defenders stay on the roster along with pairings. I think hannan and liles would be a good fit together so liles can join the rush and have someone cover his butt
thats the burning question. I think budaj can be a decent goalie in the league but I dont think he can steal a game like some of the top notch goalies. If jose could ever pull his head out we could be dangerous
during regular season we will be a great team but the playoffs is a diff pict. you need a goalie to take your team on their backs and that will be tough for budaj to do
i would like to get rid of jose and free up some cap room. He will be the highest pd backup goalie in the league. then maybe we could get guerin or forsberg?? I wish lol
Is it me or do the Isles now have DiPietro and a minor league team? Look who they lost today Smyth, Blake, Poti, Kozlov, Zednik. That franchise is in shambles!!!!
the wings got themselves a great d man in rafalski. Can score and play d. I think the wings came out ahead a little on the schnieder/rafalski swap. whats going to happen to that big fat disgrace bertuzzi though.
ilses are rebuilding and that hurts to watch as a fan when that many of your top players are gone. How i felt when tanguay forsberg foote blake all went within 2 seasons.
This was something you could see coming months back. It just makes sense for both sides. Smyth is small town guy who likes a good hockey environment and that is exactly what Colorado provides. For Colorado it is obvious they needed some skilled grit for top lines and Smyth fits the bill. I have always thought the trade of Adam Deadmarsh hurt Colorado. Smyth is the second coming of Adam Deadmarsh.
I know everyone will say the Rangers had the biggest day.
Colorado all they way. The Rangers were already a good team. The Aves had a lousey season and just jumped back up in to the top 4 in the west with these moves.
they filled there needs, If there goaltending holds look out
Sakic, Heduk, and Smyth. That sounds like a pretty sweet first line. I don't blame Smyth for signing with them, but this means I can never cheer for him again.
These lines are looking good for the Avs this year:
1 Wolski-Sakic-Brunette
2 Hejduk-Stastny-Smyth
3 Richardson-Arnason-Svatos
4 Guite-Rycroft-Laperriere
D1 Liles-Hannan
D2 Skrastins-Clark
D3 Leopold-Vannanen/Klee
Goal Budaj/ Theodore
Add in one more UFA (maybe a cheap forsberg) and that's a top four team in the west
I'm confident in Budaj. It's gonna be a fun season to watch!
True Kings fan: Just a MAJOR correction that the Avs DID NOT have a lousy season. In a rebuilding/restructuring year, they came together bigtime at crunchtime, getting points in 24 of their last 25 games to make up major ground in the playoff chase, missing out by only one point!
They were going to be good anyway this coming season. Now they might just be GREAT!
While I'm not going to agree with True_Kings_Fan (thanks for the credit at the top by the way), I am SO excited that the Avs "down/rebuilding" year saw them get 95 points (most ever by a team to not make the playoffs) and just miss out due to a shootout loss to edmonton. This year is going to be great and the western conference playoffs will be tremendous!
Stastny and Sakic will each have 100 points this year.
Let's see how long it'll take other franchises such as the Islanders and Oilers, yes Smith's previous two teams, to orchestrate a successful transition such as the one the Avs will have made in just one season.
More cap space next year. The math. If the Avs buy out theo he would count for 2 mil this year 2 mill next. they then sign a back up for 2 mill and pray. Better to kepp theo pay him 6.5 mill this year and then have all the cash next year.
Foppa back in denver? be nice but about 4 mill. I rather have another defen. player and a hungry young winger
Maybe wishful thinking here, but I think Foppa would take a contract for 1-2 years around 2 mil per season with performance bonuses. I feel he wants to retire as an Av and he'd be willing to take less money to help the youth movement. Also, I'd love to see Vannanen come back provided he doesn't demand some outrageous amount. He's been a steady consistent force for our blueline since he came over. I bet he could be had for about 1-1.5 mil per season.
Yes Scarface, from my perspective the Avs came up one point short because of an awful 2-man disadvantage call in 0 - 0 game against Vancouver at Pepsi Center down the stretch, a game they lost 2 - 0 after an empty net goal at the end. I flew back to Denver from St Lake just for the game. That one hurt bad!
Kings fan Sorry Blake didnt work out in LA. One of the nicest people I ever met. Worked hard and a team player. Maybe he has a better year. as for theo coming your way, I guess at least he could hook up with paris hilton again. NHAAAA you dont want him
I hope you would be right about Foppa but the health of the ankles are not good. Rumors for year about him retiring. Vanny will be back, but for about 750. gritty player but slow. Speed kills on defen.
If they manage to sign Forsberg things will be ####ked. If they signed him for 3 million for a season and played him for 55-60 games he'd do great for the avs.
Very hard not to like this signing. Targeting Smyth would be a good move for any club, as mentioned, but especially one struggling to find its identity. I think he's far better than Adam Deadmarsh, although I do get the comparison. There was no way this guy would be on the market after the first day. And as for the Islanders, ouch..the situation just gets worse and worse there. They badly needed to do whatever it took to prevent Smyth from leaving because they are now left with major egg on their faces.
Isles fans here are left wondering what their team is going to look like. Last year their top 6 forwards were: Yashin, Blake, Satan, Kozlov, Smyth, Hunter.
The trade for Smyth looked great at the time; they didnt give up anyone on their current roster and got a top forward in return. Now.........
Heres your proof that the Isles were 29th out of 30 teams that players want to play for. Smyth signed for less money than the Isles offered !
would someone please tell me what the strike was about. Payrolls are back where they were. small market teams cant compete (Nashville). Im an avs fan works good for us. Give it another year and all the free spending will be back. I agree with the comment about Foppa. would love to see him back at less then 3 mil. but we still need another blue liner with speed.
Don't ever mention the name Ossi Vaanenen ever again. He is the worst and if the Avs resign him I will crack. We have enough d depth now with Sauer, finger, boychuk etc...we don't need Ossi.
Worst trade ever was Morris and Ballard for Ossi and Chris Gratton. The horror.
It was only a couple of months ago when he was ripping Ryan Smyth as "overrated" and a "third line player". Reading his posts above, it seems like TKF's now vying for President of the Ryan Smyth fan club!
Good for Colorado in signing Ryan Smyth. (I still think it's an obscene amount, but I can remember when you paid 15 cents for a comic book, so my sense of value must be out of whack.) I wish both Ryan and his new club every success 74 nights of the year -- particularly those eight dates against Calgary! -- and in any playoff rounds where they don't face Edmonton.
If Ryan can stay healthy, net another 150 goals or so and win a couple of Stanley Cups with the Avs, he's got an outside chance at the Hall of Fame. It will be fun to see if he can make the grade.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on July 2nd at 10:52 AM.
Don't knock Ossi. It was a bad trade that brought him here, which was made more out of PL's obsession with Gratton, but he's been a consistent physical force for us. I'd like to see him back, but I don't think he will be. I think that Finger could be a nice replacement for him. And NBAR we'll get another speedy d-man in Leo (if he's healthy). I also liked what I saw of Cumisky in the few games he played. That siad, I'd like to see one more move to give us depth. Maybe an affordable 3-4 line center. I heared that there was an offer out to Preissing, but he's now going to LA.
ScarfacedAvsFan I gotta agree with other comments. Ossi needs to be tougher and i think the coaching staff told him that down the stretch last year to which he somewhat responded. With his size he could be a very tough defender but we havent seen that.
Hypathetical maybe but the numbers are real. Theo counts for 5.5 mil this year. The avs still have 9.5 mil this year. depending on what Joey does next year and if the cap goes up 3 mil the Avs could have as much as 23 mil of cap space in 2008. qestion is do you mortgage the future or wait till next yers trade deadline to move. I think the AVS are better now but a ways off from a cup contender. We had a good draft but we are still young. As for Leo he is with us two years and you are right if healthy he could be one of the best. Cuminski is real young we will have to see. Ozzie is a question mark but for the price he fits. a good team mate but not a full timer. Then there is lappy. can we find another one please. Great team mate good player.
Just read a article from the AVS GM. He agrees with us agout leo. states he believes he has three new player with leo healthy. also states that he is going to let things cool down. wont mess with the teams cemistry.
In the press conference today where Smyth and Hannan were introduced, Giguere also spoke highly of this Hilinka that we signed out of Europe. I guess he's been a pretty consistent scorer over there and could be a lesser Hejduk. If that's true, he may well prove to be a huge signing. Here's to hoping the scouts can find another Hejduk, Drury, or Stastny. Plus, I think Wolski, Stastny, and Svatos have huge years due to the attention Smyth will draw.
i agree scarface i think they will all have good years. i think hejduk and stastny will benefit the most from smyth cause i think he may end up on line two with them so as not to mess up the chemistry of teh first unit. i also think that we have one dark horse right now, richardson. i think he could be a very good player, we just need to let him show what hes got, he started to produce down teh strech last year when he started to get some good ice time, i think that he is another one of our young players we should keep an eye on.
#94 used to be heart and soul of Edmonton and exactly what he TRue kings fan said(kings suck #### by the way) he could be the heart and soul of colorado. theres no way joes gonna be around for 5 more years so i think colorado found their next captain (GO AVS!)
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
