The Edmonton Oilers were unable to land any of the big fish in this summer's UFA pool, but they're now hoping to land a big name restricted free agent via offer sheet.
Various sources report the Oilers signed Buffalo Sabres forward Thomas Vanek to a staggering seven-year, $50 million offer sheet.
The Sabres have called a press conference for 12:30 ET today to address the signing, at which time we'll know if they intend to match or allow the signing to go unchallenged.
If it's the latter, the Oilers will owe the Sabres four first-round draft picks as compensation, although that'll scarcely mollify a Sabres fanbase already shaken by the double-whammy of losing Daniel Briere and Chris Drury to unrestricted free agency several days ago.
The Buffalo Sabres announced they'd matched the Oilers offer. As per TSN:
"The deal will pay Vanek $5 million in the first
two seasons, and $6.4 million in each of the following five seasons.
The contract will also pay him a $5 million and $3 million signing
bonus in the first two years."
Recently in my Foxsports.com column, I suggested the possibility of teams "back-loading" contracts for younger players with more upside, and that's what the Sabres did with his base salary, although they've also kicked in significant bonuses as well in the first two seasons thus increasing what he'll receive in the first two years.
Still, the average salary will still count as just over $7 million per season against the Sabres cap, although Vanek will have the distinction of next season being tied with former teammate Daniel Briere as the highest paid players in the NHL, set to earn $10 million.
This hasn't been a good week for Oilers GM Kevin Lowe, as now he's been thwarted of signing a potential marquee RFA. He's entitled to make another offer to another RFA player, but having tried and failed to pry away Vanek with an eye-popping offer he could decide RFAs like New Jersey's Zach Parise or Anaheim's Dustin Penner aren't worth the effort.
It'll be interesting to see if other teams also try their luck with offer sheets to RFA players. If the Oilers successfully signed away Vanek, it might've opened the floodgate for more offer sheets, but having seen the Sabres match what appeared to be an unmatchable offer, that could put the brakes on other potential offers.
Wow, lowes job is on the line here.
The small market teams picking on each other.
Sabres have to match, if they don't man its going to
fun drive listening to the 550 fan tonight.
Sabres could stockpile the picks for the future. But will it put fans in the seats now.
Not sure who is crazier, Lowe for offering it, or Sabres for matching it, if that is what they do. It is a tougher decision than most people think, because think about it, who would trade Vanek for 4 1st round draft picks? Anyone? That is what essentially boils down to, and these are Edmonton's picks, so Buffalo would essentially have 2 1st rounders in the next 4 drafts, I almost have to say let him go, if they have the young talent they think they do, let him go for the 4 1sts. Give Stafford a bigger role, bring in a temporarly replacement in whoever is still out there, Josef Vasicek, Jeff Friesen, Michael Peca, Brendan Shanahan, Eric Lindros, hell sign Jason Allison to a 500K contract with bonuses, save the 7 million per season you would kill on Vanek, and double your talent base for the next 4 years, it's not like the Sabres haven't drafted well.
This is a completely stupid move. I know that Lowe is desperate but he's sacrificing the future of his team on the possibility of ONE Player. There is nothing that suggests that he's going to continue to get the numbers that he did last year. The chemistry of the Oilers is different and coule possibly slow him down.
What a gamble, one of these teams is going to end up with egg on their face one way or the other.
They better match it-or they`ll be a boycott-or worse next year-cant keep eveyone but this guy has the best set of hands around-best since mike bossy!!!and thats saying alot
brilliant move. I wish more GM's did this sort of thing. Vanek will look great with Hemsky dishing him the puck. That being said, if the Sabres do match, and knowing that they could have had Drury for less, how PO'd are Sabres fans going to be? Vanek has enormous potential, but he's no Drury who carries more that just potential...
This is a wild move for sure. Considering I don't see the Oilers being all that good in the near future those could be some very nice picks on top of it they will still have their own and that is one way to revamp their prospect pool.
It'll be hard to not match though. They have already taken some big hits this offseason and losing Vanek would just be another shot. But are they going to give Vanek that kind of deal when they let Briere and Drury walk?
Wow I cant believe the compensation is 4 1st rounders....it seems a little steep. I understand that the compensation is to keep the clubs with deeper pockets from turning low revenue tewams into minor league franchises, but still, thats a significant portion of Edmonton's future tied up there. I mean, it is Edmonton, so those 1st rounder are more than likely gonna be top 15 for the next 4 years
*question: does Vanek have to take the sheet or can he refuse and sign for less in Buffalo? Not that he would or anything...
boltsfan: the Oilers recent draft history ain't exactly the best when it comes to first rounders. Hence one reason why I'm sure they won't lose sleep about giving up four first rounders for a guaranteed blue chipper in Vanek.
You know, if it was any other club than the Oilers offering up four first round picks I'd be a little bit worried, but the way we draft... [*grin*]
The Oilers need a scoring left wing, and Mr. Vanek would certainly fit the bill. The term would be seven years of his prime -- ages 23 to 30 -- so we wouldn't be paying for "past best before date" talent.
But I'm going to hold off the celebration for a bit. Buffalo has just GOT to match this deal. I can't see them letting Vanek get away after all the other departures.
BoltsFan
The offer sheets work like contracts. It gets signed by the player (unless his wife says "no"), submitted to NHL Central Registry and the original team has a week to match the offer (provided they gave the player a qualifying offer).
UPDATE: And there you go -- the Sabres held their news conference and Larry Quinn announced they are going to match the offer. No surprise there.
So... The Sabres had roughly $18 million in cap space prior to the Thibault and other minor signings yesterday. Those deals and Vanek are going to drop them down to about $10 million left. Not too much money left for the three to four forwards and depth defenseman that they need.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on July 6th at 9:53 AM.
Vanek is unsigned which allows for the offer sheet. The difference due to age and years experience he is a restricted free agent, which is why compensation is involved. Vanek must of agreed to the offer otherwise this is a non issue.
Surprisingly Oilers offer more to vanek than they did Ryan Smyth, so the times are a changing.
Oilers have accumulated enough players through the Pronger and Smyth deals to offset the draft picks.
Will Sabres match????
Wait till the press conference to find out. ( I doubt it)
what bothers me the most about this move is that the oilers were the most vocal team complaining about competitive inbalance before the lockout and they come out and do their part to ruin the pay structure of the league 2 quick years later. Where is kevin lowe complaining about the cost of business in the nhl now that he has made every 2nd year player who has a breakout season worth over 7 million dollars per season? Especially considering jarome iginla just signs for 7, and he was too cheap to lock up ryan smyth for far less than this only a few months ago. This time the only reason he has failed to make his roster competitive is bad management as clearly he has the money to throw around.
Before the lockout the salary structure was destroyed by contracts signed by teams like the islanders (yashin), anaheim (kariya), florida (bure)and carolina (federovs offer sheet)... the league fights for economic stability back largely by the cries of kevin lowe himself... and right after the cap is instilled columbus (nash), islanders again (dipietro) and now the oilers here blow the pay scale out of the water by signing players who have very little negotiation rights to monster deals, huge term and now breaking the offer sheet silence that has been clouding over the league since the federov signing (i barely could the kesler move last year). These markets are the exact types that the lockout was inteded to protect and through either stupid ownership or management theyve put themselves on the same paths of destruction.
It is interesting to see this move, as it is really putting buffalo in an awkward situation. Just about all of the quality forwards have already signed. Thus, buffalo cant really let him go and expect to be able to pick up a couple players to fill the void of the 3 that left.
Additionally, for a franchise like buffalo, if they spend 7MM on a player, that leaves them nothing to round out their roster. I think that buffalo has no choice but to let Vanek walk. They cant cry wolf for briere, drury (who signed smaller deals) and then shell out the money for vanek. I think they let vanek walk and use the money to have a complete team, as that is what they have done in the past.
That takes away all credibility for these teams complaining about the big boys spending all the money. The 2 small market teams that complain the most were just involved in the craziest thing that happened this summer
The Oilers have a couple of nice goalies in their system: Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers and Devin Dubnyk. The problem is the team hasn't had a AHL farm team for two years and these guys have played as much as they should have. They are a bit behind on the development track. That said, one or both should be ready for prime time when Roloson's contract expires two years from now.
My money is on Dubnyk (and not just because his name will fit on his sweater unlike Drouin-Deslauriers which will run from elbow to elbow). Dubnyk is a 6 foot 5 monster who covers most of the net just through sheer size. He'll mature nicely with 40-plus games a season in Springfield the next two years.
Lowe really put Buffalo in a tight spot. You know they didn't want to commit more than $4-5M per year on a guy who has only 12 points in 26 career playoff games... now he's one of the highest paid players in the league and they're stuck with him if his development takes a step backward or he begins to have injury trouble.
As some sources have stated, this offer sheet could have had a strategic element to it. The Oilers could now tender substantial offers to Paetsch, Roy and/or Paille that the Sabres would have much more difficulty matching.
Also, this doesn't bode well for Buffalo being able to hang on to Hecht and Campbell come next off-season.
I guess this is one way for the Sabres to get a contract done, God knows they can't do it on their own. There's a chance this contact will be a steal for the Sabres, there's no telling where future contracts are headed.
Last night I was playing with Emery offer sheet scenarios to see if they could pencil them out.
The Oilers don't need another goaltender, but they've got lots of cap room. If they made a poison-pill offer for Emery that's going to be higher than the expected arbitration award -- let's say $6 million a year for four years -- which you'll have to give up four first round draft picks, could they swap Emery to a team that needs goaltending for a package?
The problem is Oilers wouldn't do such a deal within the Conference, and most of the teams out east are set in net. The only one where a goalie would make a difference would be Tampa Bay, and that's got possibilities.
Now, think Emery is a flash in the pan and not worth the risk? Then let's try the same trick with Henrik Lundqvist from the Rangers who might have an even higher trade value. Better yet, force the Rangers to match a high offer, then pry another player off their roster when they have to unload payroll.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on July 6th at 10:17 AM.
I don't think the big deals that have been offered/signed this year are a sign of the HNL reverting back to the pre-lockout, "big guys spend all the money" era. All the teams know that you can only spend up to "x" ammount of money. The small-market teams have to be willing to spend up to the cap. I know teams have self-imposed "caps" but the only way to have a good product is to spend some money on some star players! The Rangers will now have to get creative if they are going to re-sign Shanny and Avery. Same for Philly-they are tied down with the big deals they offered Hartnell, Timmonen and Briere. But the fact remains that Edmonton, Carolina, Buffalo, etc...could have and should have been willing to make similar offers, knowing full well that the NYs and Detroits weren't going to be able to "outspend" them.
I firmly believe that the small market teams hold the key to the health of the NHL. If these teams would re-think their self-imposed caps and promote some parity, the fan bases would grow and the teams would ultimately, albeit over time, become more profitable.
Oilers didn't lose a thing. Buffalo matched. Too bad. I don't think you can make an offer sheet with someone going the arbritation route so that removes Paetsch, Roy and Emery rom the equation. As mentioned does that deter you from Penner, Parise, or Lundquist. Why not go for it?
I can't see Lowe making a pitch for Lundquist and puting his buddy sather on the spot , but a similar offer to Parise why not???
Lowe has just announced to the world that he is a poor attractor of talent in the UFA market and that he is inept on draft day. I feel for all the Oilers fans out there. More importantly, I think it is pathetic that a small market team would attempt to poach from another. I have lost all respect for Kevin Lowe and feel tremendous shame for all Oilers fans.
So Lowe wouldn't pony up the dough for the Oilers' heart and soul and Canada's captain, but he'll throw a huge contract at someone else's player? Didn't Lowe complain about being a small market franchise trying to compete with the big boys? Why tackle another small market franchise? What's happening to Kevin Lowe's hairline? Now that Buffalo has matched the offer will Lowe draft the second coming of Jason Bonsignore or will he throw an offer sheet at a Blue Jackets player and alienate another GM from wanting to deal with him? Hmm...
I'll admit that the Oilers going after Thomas Vanek from Buffalo is like kicking a man when he's down, and I personally find offer sheets distasteful seeing that the Oilers themselves have been on the wrong end of them a couple of times over the years.
But I don't think you can blame the Oilers too much for their small contribution to salary inflation with the Vanek offer. The $50.3 million salary cap did that trick. Overnight the market increased 14 percent, and the teams are responding to that reality.
Remember, when Kevin Lowe was negotiating with Ryan Smyth in March, the assumption for 2007-08 was a salary cap of $47 million with 5 to 7 percent growth per season thereafter. The new cap wasn't announced until June 30. I think if Kevin Lowe had known that the market would expand by another $6 million per team, he likely would have signed Smyth at the $5.5 million (even with the risks on the plus-35 parts of the deal).
I still say $5.5 million is an enormous amount of money for Ryan Smyth -- let alone the $6.5 million Colorado gave him -- particular over a 5 year term. But when the cap grew so much on June 30, the market changed. Teams we thought would be up against it now had room to play, and the price of talent got more expensive.
If you're a GM and you want to compete, you've got no choice but to accept the new price structure reality.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on July 6th at 11:04 AM.
Hey Matt,
What's your take on Lowe's recent moves? Do you like the Pitkanen trade? Do you think Lowe is making wise trades or trades out of desperation?
Lowe certainly does look bad, bad, bad. I think Edmonton's fan base has to give him credit for attempting to land a guy with skills like Vanek. I agree with Spector that I'd gladly dump whatever picks I needed to in that situation to get a good player. That said, it's interesting to wonder just what would have happened had Buffalo not matched. It also becomes clear why the Sabres felt they could not offer to keep their big two. I honestly felt like the offer sheet chances had kind of passed the point of no return by now, with a lot of reports saying it was going to happen but nothing actually occurring. I failed to calculate in the reek of desperation coming from the Oil.
I know they may have potentially gotten hosed in the Nylander situation (and lol to Matt for the wife comment above, nicely done), but this wasn't going to be a panacea either. Moral principles go right out the window when your job is on the line, let's face it. Oh, I'm irritated that Washington stole Nylander away by offering him the irresistible package of less money and no loonies, but I'm totally cool with giving Vanek a couple million dollars for each year he's walked this earth. Lowe doesn't survive the season, and he'll be lucky to avoid being fired before midseason in my view. He's got too much work to do, and not enough skill to do it. He may have gotten some bad breaks, but look at the results.
Does this open the floodgates for offer sheets? Doubtful. I don't know that the lack of success has as much to do with it as the picks. Few teams draft well enough that they can afford to lose four f
Continued..four first-round picks in exchange for a player who may or may not be the missing piece. If you are going to take the risk, make sure you do it on a player like Vanek who's got huge upside and his whole career to get better. This is the official end of the Lowe regime.
As is the case in any business: "It takes money to make money",and "you can't save your way to profitability." You have to improve your product and keep up with your competition, ESPECIALLY when your competition can't outspend you!
I don't think that these small-market teams need to "stick together". They achieved their goal of having a cap to help them compete. Now they have to COMPETE for the best players. If the offer sheets are criticized when they are utilized, then they should have been amended during the CBA negotiations. I don't think Kevin Lowe is a capable GM, but I like the fact that he is using all the resources he has to try and better his team. If revenues are up and the cap is up, then it is up to the GMs, small market or not, to spend the money to give their customers the best possible product.
Thanks for asking! I'll admit to mixed feelings on the Pitkanen trade.
I've liked Joni Pitkanen since the 2002 draft, and I'm happy the Oilers were able to get him. He's the type of play that will fit in well with the Oilers system and greatly help move the puck out of the zone. (Last year, the Oilers breakout was horrific, and much of the decline in offensive production was due to the Oilers inability to effectively get the puck out of their own zone.)
I hate giving up on Lupul after only one season, and you just KNOW he's going to bounce back with a better year. But he was also one of the more tradeable assets, and you've got to give up quality to get quality.
I also hated parting with Jason Smith, a solid player and a good quality guy. Smith would have looked great on the otherside of Pitkanen to mentor the kid. Alas, it's not to be.
With the Oilers holding training camp in the NWT, the Hay River born Sanderson seems like a bit of a throw in (as a treat to the northern fans), and the third round pick might turn into something.
On balance, I think this can turn out to be a good deal for both teams when we look at it a couple of years out.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on July 6th at 11:22 AM.
"The official the end of the Lowe regime." Wow, you make it sound like the fall of Stalin or something!
I don't know if things are quite that dire in Edmonton. The natives are certainly restless, and Lowe finds himself in the uncomfortable position to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING, JUST DO IT which is not a good way to have to respond to events.
The Oilers have drafted better during Lowe's tenure (compared to the last decade when Barry Fraser was calling the shots). They've traded well under Lowe. There's no point listing all the draft picks and deals here -- perhaps some time on my blog? -- but he's done a good job finding talent and filling needs.
The last year has been hell. Pronger and Nylander were unfortunate bits of business beyond his control. Lowe couldn't find the right deal to fill the season-long wound on the blueline. The Smyth negotiation was a tough judgment call, which at the time based on what we knew and expected about the salary cap seemed a practical course of action.
I think Lowe did fail in the Comrie situation, allowing it to become personal. And I think he's done a poor job of managing expectations this summer.
Oilers fans should calm down, recognize that the team has assembled a good crop of young talent, and let's play the kids. It might mean a couple of lean years now, but three years down the road I like the look of this team.
This really wasn't a surprise. The Oilers essentially gained five extra first round picks over the course of the year (Nilsson, O'Marra, Grebeshkov, Plante and Nash) and they have two first rounders next year. They can give up four first rounders without jeopardising their organisational depth.
They will make at least one more offer sheet, probably to Penner. The second highest compensation level is first, second and third round picks. They have to be your own picks, not another team's, and the Oilers recovered their third round pick from the Islanders in the trade for Rourke yesterday. Rourke is a journeyman and borderline NHLer, so there was no reason to make this trade other than to position themselves for an offer sheet at the second highest compensation level.
Penner is the guy who makes the most sense. He's a scoring winger who wouldn't be grossly overpaid $3.5 to $4 million a year. More importantly, Anaheim is close to the cap and would struggle to match. Parise and Stempniak are the only other RFA forwards talented enough to warrant an offer sheet, but both their teams have plenty of cap space and would almost certainly match.
There are some similarities, but I didn't mean to imply the collapse of statues throughout the province. There would actually have to be statues for that to occur.
I agree with you on the drafting for the most part. I don't think he's done any worse than a comparable GM. The issue is the big moves, the ones we as fans tend to remember, have too often not gone his way. This is not to say that there aren't very good points and mitigating circumstances for any and all of those moves, but the fact is you could look five ways at anything and come up with five different answers. It's too early to say this offseason has been a failure, but unless he's got some cards up his sleeve I've been missing, it's not going to go over well. I admire your optimism, and I tend to agree with you that I don't think the situation is dire, but I also feel it's a hot hockey market, the populous on your rational side of the coin is waning, and now it's toss money at whoever would please do us the honor of coming here time. That's a far cry from the dynasty years for a proud franchise.
Edmonton is not that far removed from a Finals appearance (!) but it seems like that was a different decade. Lowe is unfortunately the figurehead of that steep dropoff and he's going to pay the price. It's fairly inevitable. I like that he's attempting to do whatever he can to avoid that fate, but I just don't see it. Today screamed desperation junction to me, and I think it's all catching up with Lowe. New management brings a new direction. You're clearly more attuned to the situation there than I am, b
Isn't this what the owners went to strike over???? Player salaries are getting out of control. I think Vanek is EXTREMELY talented, but $50 mil??? For what? 1 good season?
Spec- Do you think the Oilers will make an offer to another restricted guy? (Parise maybe) Also any word on whether Todd Fodoruk is staying in Philly?
Not directed at me, but as to Fedoruk..it's my understanding that the Flyers are still negotiating with Fridge but find him pretty replaceable. The Inquirer recently had an article suggesting that if this dragging continues, Philly may possibly look to bring in a "Chris Simon" type. Because the Flyers just wouldn't be the Flyers without an enforcer. Fedoruk, unfortunately, as lost a big step since getting KO'd twice in as many seasons. He'll either sign on the cheap or Philly will replace him.
I wouldn't call it optimism as much as pragmatism (or maybe fatalism). The Oilers face certain market conditions that make getting UFA talent there a challenge. You'd be a fool to suggest otherwise. But there are geogrpahic realities and then there are hockey realities.
Calgary and Edmonton are essentially the same city and players in each place enjoy the same weather, travel, local amenities, etc. But the perception of the hockey clubs is worlds apart. The Calgary franchise -- despite two first round playoff flameouts and dropping in the standings since their last Cup run -- appears stable and building back toward Cup contender status. Edmonton appears in free fall.
If you're a player with options, you're either going to go to a winning program, or to a place that's going to pay you an obscene amount of money. (If you're lucky, you'll find both at the same stop!)
I don't blame Nylander for going to Washington for less money. It's a better fit for him talentwise, and with a rising star in Ovechkin, they've got a better chance at a Cup in the next half decade than does Edmonton. The issue I have is it sure looks like Nylander's camp handled the negotiation unethically.
Despite everything, the situation in Oilerville isn't dire. It's when we get turned down by Alexei Yashin and he goes elsewhere to play for less money, oy, THEN it's dire!
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on July 6th at 12:37 PM.
How can anyone justify Kevin Lowe??? The guy is an ####....seriously....its not that you have to pay so much for a player right now, but pay for someone who wants to play in edmonton! Giving Vanek 7 mill a season is soooooooo funny....Iggy, Thorton, Sakic and Lecavalier...thats who your comparing this guy to. Sure, he could turn out to be an amazing player who will chage the game....like that other kid who cam out of ottawa a few years ago, what his name??? Yashin or something I think.....Now I'm not comparing Vanek to any of the formentioned guys for one simple reason....HE ISN'T THEM!!! I don't see him as a 7 mill a season player, let a lone 10 for this year. The oilers are a joke, no one wants to be there, and Lowe and the rest of the oilers brass should be strung up for crying all the time then trying to screw people over.
If he hasn't already, Lowe may as well make an offer to Souray. I know he'd rather be in California, but desperation is desperation, you know? They've needed a good power play guy since Pronger left.
Lowe may have made an enemy out of this. If I were him, I'd start offering my best players headed for free agency next year some contracts in a hurry.
Not defending the offer sheet -- because I think $7 million for Vanek is obscene -- but you've got to consider the new fiscal reality that arrived when the NHL salary cap went to $50.3 million. That's a 14 percent increase over the previous season, and a 29 percent increase since the lockout ended.
In 2005-06, your maximum cap player (20 percent) had a salary of $7.8 million, and you built your salary structure accordingly. Now, two years later, your maximum cap player can have a salary of $10.1 million.
With that high-end number, Kaberle doesn't seem all that overpaid anymore, and Chris Pronger at $6.5 million is an absolute bargain.
In the case of Vanek you're paying for promise, on how good he might become, and gambling that he didn't just have one good year on a good team.
The Oilers are awash in salary dollars, with over $20 million dollars in cap room available and seemingly no one to spend it on. They can afford to make that kind o####amble on Vanek. I'm not certain I'd throw those dice myself, but the Oilers can afford it.
Looking at the list of players available on the RFA list (http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?servic e=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=3268 42) not updated, there are some funny situations that could play out. Lets say a team like Tamap, Colombus, Boston, Atlanta....well you get the idea, a team without a bonafied goalie, sends an offer sheet to Lundquist off the rangers. Now on most nights, he's the one keeping them in the game. So lets say they send him a pretty decent offer sheet of around 4 mill (I'd take him over toskala any day). The rangers have to either match it, or find another #1 goalie (not too many out there like him), so they do match it...with their cap already up there, can they afford to keep Hossa, Avery or even Jarkko Immonen!!?!??!? (had to through that in since the first 2 are the only others worth mentioning) Now is the time when teams are built, adding whats needed without giving up something you have, I mean trades at the deadline are good, but if you can get that player for nothing, isn't that better?
Someone on this thread asked who was crazier, Lowe for offering, or Buffalo for matching, but to me it seems more like the questions should be "Who's more desperate?"
Most importantly, enjoy the moment, my friend. You meet the same people on the way up as you do on the way down.
Calgary wasn't all that great a team before Kiprusoff arrived, and I would hate to see what would happen to the Flames if you had to rely on Leland Irving as the number one guy in net because Kipper bolted on the UFA market to somewhere like Detroit. (The Red Wings might be looking for a good goalie a year from now, after all...)
And I have faith that Mike Keenan shall continue to sow discontent as he has done so many times before. Shall we set up an over/under on how many games into the season before Keenan drives one of the better Flames out of Calgary with his mind games?
I can afford to buy a solid gold tooth brush, but it doesnt mean I should. The team knew the cap was going up, weather or not they say so. As a GM Lowe had to know players weren't fighting eachother to go to edmonton, they were trying to leave! I'm not saying Smyth was the best player in the league, but he was their best player. When your best player is due a contract, and you know your going to be #### without him, give him the contract, it might hurt, but it might not. Its a gamble that an already proven player will at least play the way he has been playing, not giving 7 mill to a kid who might be great. Lowe is just a bad GM and the whole franchise has a long few years ahead of them.
I think since I didn't take the head coach job in boston, edmonton is going to either offer me a job as their head coach, GM, or first line winger...
I'm thinking Huselius by december....Maybe we'll trade him to edmonton for 5 first rounders and Pitkanen.....
As for the whole Kipper situation, we'll ink him before the season starts. and it just goes to show how good o####M Daryl (hockey god) Sutter is. He got Mikka for a bag of peanuts...with the shell still on! He saw greatness and took it. Lowe is looking for....warm bodies right now. I guess we're dealing from a position of strength, where the oilers are trying to look at everyone eleses hand
I don't think your comment about the salary cap is quite correct. We were all expecting it to go up to around $47 million, but the $50 to $53 million projections didn't break until well after the trade deadline. And the actual $50.3 million figure didn't get settled until June 30.
Suddenly all those teams that we thought were going to be up against it had $6 million more to play with and the discussions of "How is Team x going to keep Player y?" became moot.
Kiprusoff was a great pick up for the Flames, and a superb deal by Sutter. Having seen him up close in San Jose helped, and he's a key ingredient for the Flames climb to respectability after seven years in the wilderness. With the bigger cap, there is no reason why Calgary should not be able to get him re-signed to a contract. I wish you guys success on that front.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on July 6th at 1:59 PM.
I'm not sure where you're pulling the Sabres needs list from. All seven Dmen from last year are returning unless the Sabres walk away from Paetsch's arbitration award. Not to mention Sekera waiting on the farm. Of course, I wish they would shake things up on the back end, but they're not going to. Also, I would love them to bring in a forward, but I wouldn't count on that either. While they are clearly not in the same class as Drury or Briere, you're going to see Ryan and Paille, with an occasional sprinkle of perhaps MacArthur or Mancari.
I was working off who the Sabres have under contract versus who they need to sign from the data at nhlnumbers.com/buffalo.
Buffalo had $18.5 million in cap room, not counting Thibault, Peters and Ryan (who signed yesterday) and of course Vanek. I don't have cap numbers on the first three players, so let's assume $10 million for the whole lot.
With the remaining $8 million (assuming they go to the maximum), the Sabres need to sign Paille and Roy (giving them 12 forwards) plus another two forwards for depth, and Paetsch on defense (giving them seven rearguards) plus maybe another blueliner for depth.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on July 6th at 1:57 PM.
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.
