The deadline for
Club-Elected Salary Arbitration notification is July 6, 2008 at 5 p.m.
ET. Hearings will be held in Toronto from
July 20 to August 4, 2008."
More significant is the fact that these players are now ineligible to receive offer sheets from rival teams.
After months of speculation over where Marian Hossa could
end up, he finally made his choice today and it was a surprising one.
The fact Hossa signed with the Detroit Red Wings wasn’t
surprising, it’s the deal he signed with them, spurning more lucrative offers
from other teams to sign a one-year, $7.4 million contract.
Hossa was fielding multi-year offers worth over $9 million
per season to opt for a one-year opportunity for less than market value to win
a Stanley Cup.
Signing with a Cup contender was Hossa’s long-stated intent
and with the defending Stanley Cup champions he stands a great chance of doing
so.
Among the teams vying for Hossa’s services was the
Pittsburgh Penguins, who reportedly offered him a multi-year contract believed
to be between $7.5 -$8 million per season.
Draw your own conclusions.
It certainly says a lot about the respect Hossa has for the
Red Wings organization that he’d agree to just a one-year deal for less money
to play for them when he could’ve earned a king’s ransom elsewhere. When you’re
the class of the league like the Red Wings, you can pretty much name your price
and most players will jump for it.
This move also gives Hossa some flexibility for if he wins a
championship next season with the Red Wings he can then jump into next summer’s
UFA pool where he’ll again likely attract big money offers.
It may be an opportunistic move by Hossa but obviously he and the Red Wings have no problem with it.
Having spent this season as a backup goalie for the
Pittsburgh Penguins, goalie Ty Conklin will now experience what it’s like to be
a backup for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Detroit Red Wings today signed Conklin to a one-year,
$750K contract, which in turn suggests Jimmy Howard, who was expected to be
Chris Osgood’s backup, could be headed back to the farm for another season, and
don’t be surprised if his name pops up in trade rumors in the coming weeks and
months.
Conklin’s career was believed dead in the water at the start
of last season, as he began last season with the Penguins minor league
affiliate but when Marc-Andre Fleury was sidelined with an ankle injury Conklin
stepped into the breach and played very well, keeping the Penguins near the top
of the Eastern Conference standings.
Defenseman Brad Stuart won’t be returning to the West Coast
after all.
The Detroit Red Wings re-signed Stuart to a four year
contract worth $3.75 million per season.
It was reported the Wings want to re-sign him for less than
$3.5 million, which was rumored to be his asking price, leading to speculation
he would hit the open market today.
Evidently nudging the price up by $250K per season was enough to seal the deal.
It’s a good signing for both clubs, as Stuart regained his
form playing for the Wings after they acquired him from the Kings at the trade
deadline and was a key factor in their Stanley Cup run this spring.
NHL general managers may be gearing up for the noon ET commencement of the annual unrestricted free agent spending frenzy but some are also taking care of a few re-signings.
-The Anaheim Ducks reportedly are close to re-signing restricted free agent Corey Perry to a multi-year deal similar to that signed by teammate Ryan Getzlaf last season (which was worth over $5 million per season) but due to salary cap issues apparently cannot officially announce the deal until after noon on July 1st.
No one should be surprised by this news. After losing Dustin Penner to an offer sheet from the Edmonton Oilers last summer there was no way Ducks GM Brian Burke would risk losing Perry to an offer sheet from another rival team this summer.
-The Buffalo Sabres have been busy, re-signing forward Paul Gaustad to a four-year contract worth $2.3 million per season against their cap, and opening contract talks with goaltender Ryan Miller, who’s eligible for UFA status next July.
After losing players to the UFA market over the last three seasons Sabres management have shifted gears and now hope to get Miller re-signed this summer (maybe on July 1st?) and intend on opening contract talks with Jason Pominville (another player eligible for UFA status next summer) very soon.
-The defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings are still trying to keep defenseman Brad Stuart off the UFA market with last-minute contract talks but they did successfully lock up blueliner Andreas Lilja to a two-year deal worth an affordable $1.25 million per season.
-It remains to be seen if the San Jose Sharks can retain impending UFA blueliner Brian Campbell but they did ensure that they’d a physical presence on the roster by re-signing enforcer Jody Shelley to a two-year contract.
-The Florida Panthers raised some eyebrows today by re-signing forward Rostislav Olesz to a six-year contract extension worth $3.15 million per season.
That’s a lot of coin to invest in an injury-prone young forward whose best season was a 30-point performance in 2006-07, but the Panthers are obviously investing in potential here, expecting Olesz to blossom into the scoring star he’s been projected to be.
For their sake that potential had better pan out, otherwise they’ll have an unmoveable contract on their hands.
For the second time in his sixteen year NHL career, goaltender Dominik
Hasek has announced his retirement.
Unlike his first retirement at the end of the 2001-02
season, which also came following a Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup championship
and last about a season and a half, expect this one to be permanent.
Hasek pretty much split the Red Wings goaltending duties
this past season with Chris Osgood due in part to injury, but while their
goals-against average this season was almost identical (his 2.14 to Osgood’s
2.09) and Hasek had one more shutout (5) than Osgood (4), Ozzie had the better
save percentage (.914 to Hasek’s .902).
It was in this year’s playoffs, however, that it was
apparent Hasek was now past his prime.
After an outstanding performance in last year’s post-season
(a 10-8 record, with a 1.79 GAA, a .923 SP and 2 shutouts), Hasek struggled in
the Wings opening round series against the Nashville Predators (2-2, 2.91 GAA
and a .888 SP) and was lifted midway through Game Four after a horrible outing,
replaced by Osgood, who was terrific in carrying the Wings to the Stanley Cup.
The 43-year-old Hasek rode the pine the rest of the way and was a model
teammate, not sulking or voicing his discontent, probably because warming the
bench for so long gave him enough time to think about his career and to realize
that this time, it was truly over.
And it was a tremendous career, as Hasek was unquestionably
one of the greatest goalies in NHL history as well as in international
competition, playing an unorthodox flopping style that looked out of place in
the era of the butterfly goaltender but due to Hasek’s amazing flexibility,
concentration and vision worked incredibly well.
He won 389 NHL regular season and 65 playoff games, with 81
regular season and 14 playoff shutouts. His regular season career GAA was 2.20
and SP was .922 and in the playoffs his career numbers were 2.02 and .925.
Hasek was also a six-time Vezina Trophy winner, including a
streak of five in six years from 1994 to 1999, and was the first goaltender
since Jacques Plante in 1962 to win the Hart Trophy, which he did twice in 1997
and 1998.
He won most of those awards as a member of the Buffalo
Sabres, when he had his greatest seasons, which included backstopping an
upstart Sabres team to the 1999 Stanley Cup final, which they lost to the
Dallas Stars due to a controversial OT winning goal in Game Six.
Those performances with the Sabres earned him the nickname
of “The Dominator” and in those days few would dispute that it was well-earned,
It was with the Detroit Red Wings where Hasek would twice have his name on the Stanley Cup, in 2002 where he played every game as their starting goalie and in 2008.
In his native Czech Republic he’s a hockey god, named the
country’s hockey player of the 20th century, and carried that nation’s
men’s hockey team to an upset gold medal victory at the 1998 Winter Olympics in
Nagano.
Hasek was definitely one of a kind, and he’s a certainty for
induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Check out this link for more on Hasek's incredible hockey career and life.
Gotta admit, my Stanley Cup Finals prediction is looking
pretty shaky right now.
Sure, it’s possible that the Pittsburgh Penguins could rally
and win four straight games to defeat the Detroit Red Wings four games to two
as I’d predicted, but that’s starting to look like a long shot after watching the
Wings dismantle the Penguins in the first two games.
The Penguins played well for the first period and about five
minutes of the second in Game One, then the patient Wings took over the game,
made it 1-0 after the second and 4-0 by the end of the third.
Game Two was an even more dominating performance by the Red
Wings, who controlled the play from the opening whistle until the siren sounded
to end Game Two, a 3-0 victory for Detroit.
The factors I listed in predicting the Penguins to win this
series – their offensive depth, speed, goaltending and aggressiveness around
the opposition net – have been effectively neutralized by the Red Wings
superior puck possession game.
The factors I thought could hurt the Wings – lack of
secondary scoring, low shot and scoring chances faced by goalie Chris Osgood,
uncertainty over Johan Franzen’s condition, difficulty in shutting down the
Pens offensive depth – haven’t been factors at all.
If you’d told me prior to this series that the Red Wings
would shut out the Penguins in the first two games, I wouldn’t have believed it
possible. Sure, I would’ve conceded the possibility of the Wings winning both
games, but not in such a dominating fashion.
Right now, its boys playing against men and the men have
been impressive thus far in this series, while the boys still have more learnin’
to do, and not much time in which to do it.
The only good thing the Penguins can point to in this series
is that they successfully killed off all but one Red Wings power-play, and in Game
Two they improved in the faceoff circle to where they were roughly even on the
draws with the Wings.
Other than that, it’s been a disaster for the Penguins, one
that will take more than playing the next two games on home ice to prevent from
worsening.
It’s a tribute to the Red Wings system, from their front
office who’ve built and maintained this current roster, to the coaching staff
for implementing the puck possession system, to the players themselves for
buying into this team concept.
It’s possible the Red Wings are the most ego-free team in
the NHL. Nobody is making waves about lack of playing time, or grumbling about
the coaching, or allowing their contract statuses to become a distractions.
Instead, it’s a team in the truest sense of the word, all on
the same page, all working toward the same goal.
It’s a lesson the Penguins, and the other 28 teams in the
NHL, should be taking notes on and learning.
This year’s Finals was touted as a dream matchup between two
of the NHL’s most skilled teams. Instead, it’s become a one-sided nightmare for
the Penguins and their fans, one that the Red Wings could end quickly by this
coming Saturday night.
Which leads me to make another prediction, one I feel very
confident of; if the Red Wings win Game Three, this series, for all intent and
purpose, will be over.
It was apparent watching Game One of the 2008 Stanley
Cup Finals that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin is not playing as
well as he did earlier in the playoffs.
In fact, Malkin hasn’t played well since Game One of
the Eastern Conference Finals, when he had a three-point night, including two
goals, but was also leveled into the boards by Philadelphia Flyers forward Mike
Richards.
Malkin was slow to get up from that hit and although he
would subsequently score seconds later he wouldn’t score again until Game Five
when the Penguins eliminated the Flyers.
The proof is in the statistics.In his first ten playoffs game this spring, Malkin had 8
goals and 17 points, was only held scoreless in two of those games, and was
tied for the playoff scoring lead.
Following Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals, Malkin
has had only 1 goal and 1 assist for 2 points his last five games.
It’s true the Flyers in the Conference Finals and the Red
Wings in Game One of the Cup Finals focused more attention on Malkin, not
allowing him the time and space to set up his scoring plays.
Still, Malkin proved capable against the Senators and
Rangers of shrugging off that tight-checking blanket to be an offensive factor.
The Senators were an injury-ravaged team in turmoil so it's not surprising they could only contain him for one game,
but the Rangers were a more defensively sound, tighter checking team and they too could only keep Malkin off the scoreboard in one game.
The Flyers and Red Wings checkers deserve full marks for
their efforts in neutralizing Malkin, but one has to wonder if there isn’t
another factor at play here, if he’s either wilting under the playoff heat or
possibly nursing an injury, perhaps incurred from that heavy hit from Richards
in the Conference Final.
If the problem is Malkin’s lack of experience handling the pressure
at this stage of the playoffs it’s something he’ll have to mentally work
through. If it’s an injury, that could be a more significant problem which he
might not be able to overcome.
His critics may be quick to suggest that he’s struggling
under the pressure, but I’ve learned over the years not to be so quick to
assume that's the reason a talented star struggles in the playoffs.
More often than not, they’re hiding an injury which seriously affects their
play.
Either way, something has knocked Malkin off his game, and
if he cannot recover over the course of the Final, it’ll prove a significant
blow to the Penguins offense, one that could prove costly to their Stanley Cup
hopes.
And then there were two as the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins square off for the most famous trophy in professional sports.
My analysis and prediction of the series can be found here.
The short version: Penguins in Six.
As always, I encourage reader comments, and I have no problem with differing viewpoints as long as it's done respectfully. Insulting and profane responses will be deleted and ignored as I have no patience for trolls.
The NHL recently announced the finalists for their
individual awards, which will be presented to the winners in a ceremony in
Toronto next month following the Stanley Cup Finals.
Here’s the list of nominees in each category and my picks
for the winners. As always I’ll be interested in reading your comments, folks,
just keep it clean.
VEZINA TROPHY (Top goaltender): Martin Brodeur, New Jersey
Devils; Henrik Lundqvist, NY Rangers; Evgeny Nabokov, San Jose Sharks.
My Pick: Brodeur. Tied for most games played with Nabokov
with 77, was second in wins behind Nabokov with 44 and was fifth behind Nabokov
in GAA with a 2.17 average. However, what clinches it for me was his .920 save
percentage, superior to Nabokov’s .910 and Lundqvist’s .912. He faced the
fourth highest shots of all goalies this season and made the second-most saves.
NORRIS TROPHY (Top Defenseman): Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins;
Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings; Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames.
My Pick: Lidstrom. Not only did he lead all defensemen in
assists and points but also in plus-minus with +40, well above Chara’s +14 and
Phaneuf’s +12. Lidstrom is the best all-round defenseman playing today.
CALDER TROPHY (Top Rookie):
Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals; Patrick Kane, Chicago
Blackhawks; Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks.
My Pick: Kane, who led all rookies in assists and points
after making the jump from Junior A despite his small size (5-9,160). Kane not
only rose to meet lofty expectations, he excelled and led the Blackhawks in
scoring.
LADY BYNG(Sportsmanship): Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings;
Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres;Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning.
My Pick: Datsyuk. He finished fourth in overall points,
second in overall assists, led the league in plus-minus with +41 and led the
Wings in scoring, all while only racking up a mere 20 minutes in penalties.
Proof that you can excel at both ends of the rink and still play a clean game.
SELKE TROPHY (Top Defensive Forward): Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit
Red Wings; John Madden, New Jersey Devils; Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red
Wings.
My pick: Datsyuk. Madden is more of a pure defensive forward
but Datsyuk’s defensive game is every bit as strong as his offensive game,
putting him in the same class as former Red Wing Sergei Fedorov in 1994.
HART TROPHY (League MVP): Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames;
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins; Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals.
My Pick: Ovechkin. Not only did he lead the NHL in points
and become the first player in 11 years to score over 60 goals in a season but
he also carried the Capitals to their first playoff berth in five years.
ADAMS TROPHY (Best Coach): Mike Babcock, Detroit Red Wings;
Bruce Boudreau, Washington Capitals; Guy Carbonneau, Montreal Canadiens
My Pick: Boudreau. Babcock and Carbonneau did a tremendous
job with their teams but both had far more to work with than Boudreau, who took
over a team in disarray early in the season and turned them into a playoff
club.
Oh, and just a coupla points regarding predictions:
1. I don't mind folks disagreeing with me, but please, spare me the profanity-laced tirades if I didn't pick your team. I'm not disrespecting the Flyers and Stars, their fans or respective cities, ok, and if you feel otherwise you really, REALLY need to lighten up.
2. Like most commentators - media, blogger or fan - I do predictions for fun, not as a life and death scenario where the value of my "cred" is based on how they pan out. The late, great Canadiens coach Toe Blake dismissed predictions as "for gypsies" which is an opinion I share. The fact TSN employs a #### to spin a wheel to make predictions after their hockey minds sagely make theirs tells you all you need to know about how seriously they take them. In other words, they make them for fun!
3. I do appreciate hearing from hockey fans but disparaging my predictions doesn't hold much weight if you wait to do it midway or 3/4 of the way through a series when the outcome is pretty much a foregone conclusion. That only makes you a troll and no one likes trolls. Have the guts to make your calls before the series start or don't waste my time or those of other commentators.
4. I don't mind if my picks are wrong because I really do enjoy upsets. OK, not if my favorite team is at the receiving end but hey, that's playoff hockey for you. If every series went as predicted it would be boring as hell. Upsets add ####e and make things interesting.
Fresh from NHL headquarters: 2008 EASTERN CONFERENCE
FINAL
SERIES M
#2 Pittsburgh vs. #6 Philadelphia Friday, May 9, 2008
Philadelphia at Pittsburgh Sunday,
May 11, 2008 Philadelphia at Pittsburgh
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Pittsburgh at Philadelphia Thursday, May 15, 2008 Pittsburgh at
Philadelphia *Sunday, May 18, 2008
Philadelphia at Pittsburgh *Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Pittsburgh at
Philadelphia *Thursday, May
22, 2008 Philadelphia at Pittsburgh
2008 WESTERN CONFERENCE
FINAL
SERIES N
#1 Detroit vs. #5 Dallas Thursday, May 8, 2008 Dallas at Detroit
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Dallas at Detroit Monday, May 12, 2008 Detroit at
Dallas Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Detroit at Dallas *Saturday, May 17,
2008 Dallas at Detroit *Monday, May 19, 2008 Detroit at Dallas
*Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Dallas at Detroit
He’s the great mystery man of the NHL who’s yet to play a game on pro hockey’s biggest stage yet he’s apparently had the general managers of 20 NHL team panting for his services.
He’s Fabian Brunnstrom and he’s apparently close to signing with an NHL team for next season.
Brunnstrom, 23, is considered a late bloomer by the standard of NHL prospects. By that age most have paid their dues in juniors or the minor leagues to make the NHL, or face a life-long career playing in the minors or in Europe, or the stark reality that a pro hockey career isn’t attainable.
And he’s not content just to sign a entry-level contract with an NHL team. No, Brunnstrom wants to sign with a team that’ll give him the best opportunity to break into the league immediately.
Until the Vancouver Canucks fired Dave Nonis as general manager they were believed not only the front-runners but also close to having him under contract, but now he and his agent are considering other clubs.
The Detroit Red Wings are believed among those on the short list for his services but they apparently won’t guarantee anything beyond the opening month of the season to evaluate his performance before committing a full-time roster spot for him.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators are also believed on the list and it’s rumored the Leafs may now be the front-runners.
But is Brunnstrom worth the hype?
Most of it has appeared over the last couple of months, a period when player movement is non-existent and the start of the annual unrestricted free agent spending frenzy is still over two months away.
It’s tempting to dismiss it therefore as just so much overwrought media babbling by bored hockey writers in cities where the local NHL club is on the golf course rather than chasing the Stanley Cup, but then there’s that reported number of NHL teams interested in Brunnstrom: 20.
If that number is accurate it means two thirds of the league’s general managers, based on reports from their scouts, believe Brunnstrom has the goods to become a top-six forward in the NHL, maybe with time a scoring star.
That many general managers along with their respective scouting staffs aren't suffering from collective insanity. They've obviously heard and seen enough of Brunnstrom to believe he has the potential to become a quality NHL player.
Given the shallow depth in star talent in this summer’s UFA pool and of course the high prices that would be paid to sign them, the opportunity to land a reasonably mature 23-year-old prospective top-six forward at an affordable three-year entry level contract appears too good to pass up.
But is he worth promising a roster spot to?
Apparently that depends on how desperate a general manager is to bolster his offensive depth, hence the reason the Canucks, Maple Leafs and Senators are among those interested in landing him.
The Red Wings don’t lack offensive punch, but since they’re also on the short list of suitors for Brunnstrom -and were rumored a couple of months ago close to signing him -one has to assume it’s because Brunnstrom really wants to play for them if they’d only give him a chance.
And the Wings do want to give him a chance, but as they aren’t hurting for scoring depth they can insist that he either prove himself worthy of a roster spot or spend time in the minors developing his skills. The other front-runners might not have that option.
Brunnstrom is expected to make a decision shortly as to which NHL team we’ll sign with. By this fall, hockey fans will discover if he was worth the speculation, and his new NHL team will discover if he was worth guaranteeing a roster spot.
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.
