I don’t usually engage in this much but since there’s been a
dire dearth of any real hockey news to comment on I suppose it’s as good a time
as any to shoot down some of the wacky trade and free agent rumors flying
around.
First off, the Florida Panthers are not shopping defenseman
Jay Bouwmeester. Sure, the fact that he signed a one-year contract taking him
up to UFA status next summer likely means this is his final season with the
Panthers, but as long as GM Jacques Martin believes there’s a chance to re-sign
Bouwmeester he won’t be dealt, at least not at this time of the year.
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Bryan McCabe may apparently
be willing to consider waiving his movement clause to accept a trade but that
doesn’t mean he’ll be dealt soon.
According to recent reports out of Toronto the Leafs are
believed waiting for a list from McCabe of teams he’d waive his clause to be
dealt to, and the odds are that list will likely be a short one containing Cup contenders or perennial playoff teams.
And no, I don’t see him accepting a trade to the NY
Islanders, because quite frankly I don’t think the Islanders, who now appear
committed to rebuilding with youth, would be interested in his fat contract.
The Minnesota Wild are not shopping Marian Gaborik. That
rumor is pure BS. They’re hoping to re-sign him and have no “contingency plans”
to trade him now. As of this writing GM Doug Risebrough will be meeting with
Gaborik in Slovakia this week to open contract talks.
Maybe later on in the season if Gaborik decides that he
wants to test next summer’s UFA market Risebrough will shop him. Not now.
Oh, and while I think
of it, Bouwmeester isn’t being shopped for McCabe or Gaborik.
How do I know this? Because most NHL general managers are
either on vacation, just back from vacation or soon to be heading out on
vacation. Most teams have committed their cap space and have their rosters
pretty much set. Heck, even a good number of player agents are taking this time
to get in a little R&R.
That’s why there’s been almost nothing to report in terms of
real hockey news. It’s the same thing every year.
Since the 2005-06 season ended, few significant trades have occured between the months of August and December, none of those involving players of the caliber of Gaborik, Bouwmeester and McCabe.
The reason for that is, quite simply, limited cap space, significantly limiting the market for players of that caliber during that time period.
Teams that will be busy in the coming weeks are those
currently over the salary cap, like Philadelphia, Anaheim, Calgary and Chicago,
who’ll have to dump some salary via trade or demotions to get under the cap by
the start of the season.
The Nashville Predators could be forced to make a move or
two via trade or free agency if Alexander Radulov remains in Russia for next
season, while the Tampa Bay Lightning are heavy on forwards but light on
defensive depth which suggests they might have a move or two remaining before
next season begins.
That’s where your focus should be, rumormongers, not on
dreaming up fantasy trades.
The good news for the Florida Panthers is they avoided
arbitration with defenseman Jay Bouwmeester by re-signing him to a new contract
on Monday.
The bad news is that it’s only a one-year contract (believed
worth $4.85 million), which will ensure his name remains in the rumor mill from
now until the February 2009 NHL trade deadline.
Bouwmeester is eligible for unrestricted free agency next
summer, where he’ll command top dollar as well as have his choice of
destinations.
Panthers management insists it won’t be shopping Bouwmeester
but if they fail to re-sign him to a long term deal but already speculation
abounds through the internet (though not yet in the media) that he’ll be dealt
by summer’s end to the Philadelphia Flyers.
It remains to be seen if the Flyers do “push hard” to land
Bouwmeester but there’s little doubt he’d attract considerable attention if the
Panthers do eventually decide to shop him, which would likely be by
late-January at the earliest if he decides to hit the open market next summer.
In the meantime the assumption out of Miami is the Panthers
will try to re-sign him while Bouwmeester will apparently base his future plans on how well the club performs next season.
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.
With the NHL trade deadline now past the next notable round of player movement won’t occur until June, 2008, and most of it will be free agents signing with new teams.
While the focus as always will be on unrestricted free agents, this summer the threat of offer sheets is now a very real one, thus hockey fans will be nervously watching the contract talks of their favorite restricted free agent players as July 1st approaches.
Many teams haven’t wasted time this season, locking up their best RFA players to lengthy, long-term contracts now rather than risk another club either setting the price or plucking them away.
As a result, the list of the top RFA players has shrunk considerably since the start of the season, but there still remains some quality talent who, if unsigned by July 1st, could be tempting targets for offer sheets. It’ll be interesting to see how many of the following are re-upped by the end of June:
Anaheim: Corey Perry.
Columbus: Pascal LeClaire.
Detroit: Valtteri Filppula
Edmonton: Tom Gilbert and Joni Pitkanen.
Florida: Jay Bouwmeester.
Minnesota: Pierre-Marc Bouchard.
Montreal: Andrei Kostitsyn.
Nashville: Martin Erat, Shea Weber and Ryan Suter.
The fear of the offer sheet has once again resulted in another potential restricted free agent being re-signed well before the summer of 2008.
This time it's center Mike Richards, who today has reportedly re-signed a contract extension with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Reportedly Richards' new contract is for twelve years and $69 million, breaking down to a cap hit of $5.75 million per season, with a "no-trade" clause that begins in the 2011-12 season. It's the second-longest contract in the NHL, behind the fifteen-year deal of the NY Islanders' Rick DiPietro.
It's not surprising that Holmgren made this move. Richards is enjoying a breakout season, leading the Flyers in goals, assists and points, but he's also perhaps their best defensive forward, with a+10 rating and is the only player on the team to score shorthanded this season, having done it three times.
Flyers GM Paul Holmgren had earlier stated his intent to re-sign his key RFAs like Richards, including forwards Jeff Carter and RJ Umberber, and we can likely expect more re-signing by Holmgren as the season progresses.
He obviously has no intention of allowing contract negotiations with his best RFAs to drag into next summer when those players could become potential offer sheet targets.
A number of talented young players are eligible for restricted free agent status next summer, including Washington's Alexander Ovechkin, Calgary's Dion Phaneuf, Florida's Jay Bouwmeester, Nashville's Shea Weber, Ottawa's Andrej Meszaros and St. Louis' Brad Boyes
But that list has been slowly but steadily shrinking, and most if not all of the aforementioned will likely re-sign with their current teams well before July 1, 2008.
**UPDATE** James Mirtle has a very interesting take on this signing on his blog, specifically the dangers lurking behind such lengthy contracts, citing Jose Theodore, Jim Carey and Sergei Samsonov to make the case. Even NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman privately doesn't believe they're a good idea under this CBA as it offers no opportunity for re-negotiation.
I concur with Mirtle and Bettman on this. While I understand the rationale behind these contracts, the length is fraught with peril, and if the player signed to that deal ends up a spent force midway through, it's a lot of precious cap space per season tied up in one player. Even demoting said player to the minors or buying them out is still a costly experienced for a team, even if it doesn't count against their cap space.
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.
