This week on the Puck Podcast we recap the start of the NHL free agency period with analysis of the big signings by Montreal, Toronto, NY Rangers, Calgary, Chicago, Minnesota and every other team. We also talk about Dany Heatley's decision to decline a possible trade that would have sent him to Edmonton and what the Senators should do next, we talk about a former NHL player looking to make a comeback and a whole lot more.
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I wouldn’t boo Hossa. I think he stuck to his plan. The guy got traded twice and probably didn’t want to go through it again. So he thought, why not try to win a Cup now before locking himself in to a long-term deal? Win or lose I think he was leaving Detroit for a career contract. If anything, it’s nice as a Detroit fan that he thought we could win. I don’t believe anyone that says he left Detroit thinking they couldn’t win. He wants to be part of a team on the cusp now, and that’s alright.
I spent part of my day watching the Bouwmeester presser.
That time spent watching Western Canadians is something that I would like back.
Hey guys, first off thanks for continuing the show through the summer. It’s great hearing new talk each week when the offseason gets here.
Second, a couple things on the Avs. I hate the loss of Lappy. Great, great guy and Philly fans are going to fall in love with him. However, I LOVE the signing of Anderson to be goalie next season. I think the league is going to see that this guy is a true #1 now that he has a chance to prove himself.
Finally the biggest reason for my writing. I am anxious to hear your comments on the Ryan Smyth to LA trade. Most Avs fans are livid and feel the team got shafted in it. I understand that it was a cap clearing move and more may be to follow from the Avs but it does seem like a minimal return. However I know Smyth is aging and has a LARGE contract which detracts from his appeal. So what do you guys think? What can Avs fans realistically expect from Quincey (who I’m excited about) and Preissing (who I haven’t heard much good about even from Kings fans).
Thanks guys and keep up the great work…
-Steve, an Av fan in Nebraska
Good show guys. But Doug, I don’t see how you can get away with a “Shame on you” for Eddie’s pun after he was so gracious to you for the Brewster’s Millions reference… fair is fair!
Steve- I like The Smythe trade, but I don’t love it. But, above all else I UNDERSTAND it. The new salary cap NHL forbids team to trade talent for talent. It’s really ALL numbers. Brian Burke said on TSN that it took him three weeks after trying to move up in the draft before any other GMs mentioned a NAME.
So, if the Avs wanted to move Smyth’s cap hit, they were going to take a talent loss. The Avs boards LIT up when the rumor that he had been traded to LA came up and the posters were adamant that they “knew” that some combination of Jack Johnson, Alexander Frolov and Jonathan Bernier were involved. Or all of them (gotta love those posters!!). And when it was revealed that it was Quincey, Tom “Teen Heartthrob” Preising and a 5th round pick?
KA-BOOM!!! “Avs suck!!” “I hate this GM!” “Thats it?!? They couldn’t get Kopitar?!?” (gotta love those posters!!)
Look, you’re NOT going to get Ryan Smyth for Ryan Smyth. The Avs got a good defender in Quincey and, more importantly, a power play player. “Teen Heartthrob” is just thrown in so the Kings can get some space on their roster. And it frees up cash for the Avs to sign someone next year after Sakic retires. Maybe a qualifying offer for a young RFA or something?
Big time free agents rarely pan out. Smyth was there for two years and played, what, sixty games? I was not too confident that he was gonna fill out that contract and, though I love The Smythe, I’m okay with freeing up that cash. If it makes it easier to pay Stastny and, though Ryan’s contract would have expired before Duchene was up, makes it easier to lock him up, I love the deal…
Glad I never got a jersey, though…
It looks like the Flyers may have misunderstood the CBA when signing the Pronger deal.
http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/darren_dreger/?id=284062
With the Ducks’ acquisition of Koivu, will we hear either of the Gomez-Gionta or national team criticisms offered last week? After all, he has previously played on a line with Selänne [and Jere Lehtinen] for the Finnish national team.
Good signing, though — hopefully he enhances the support behind Getzlaf-Perry. I’d have loved if the Devils signed Koivu to a similar deal.
NJ seems to be in a youth movement. And it seems playing cards for 2010. There is not much great talent out for the Devils to sign, so i am disappointed. But I keep trying to remind myself of 1999 when it seemed the team did a youth movement, and up came Gomez, Madden and trip to Europe brought Rafalski, and that summer we were celebrating. The one thing i can think is Lou did not do a snap reaction signing to replace someone he lost, trying to please the fans, and over paying (zubris, white and others) someone. Good job Lou there.
As for the other NY area teams, the islanders can dress 5 goalies now, and the Rangers being able to dump Gomez, and sign Gaborik, that is a feat.
As for me – torn tendons in my right shoulder out 3-4 weeks (not a good offseason)
My favorite player is set to announce he will retire today. This actually saddens me. I come to the realization that I will NEVER see my favorite player skate in an NHL game again. I will never scream his name from the stands again. At least, not for any good reason; I may just do it randomly, I dunno. I will never wear his jersey into an opposing arena without hearing, at least once, “hey, he doesn’t play anymore!” by someone with a beer in each hand and wearing a Red Wings jersey, even though they are not one of the two teams on the ice. I will never watch his exploits on my tv again, but for classic games and series highlights on the NHL Network. A tiny part of the reason I buy the Center Ice package is gone. I will still look for him on the ice, even though I know he will not be there, because I will always be upset that I didn’t really get to say “goodbye.” I will always know the last time I saw him play was a time was a time in which I thought I would see him play again, but now will be the last time I ever saw him skate. The number that I play in roulette, the number I try to use as an ID at work, the number I do a double take at whenever it comes up in my life shall never be seen on the back of anyone playing for my favorite team again. The reason I know that the “C” is so important and why will hang it up today.
Part of the reason I love this game so much and hold such a passion for it will walk away from it today…
Goodbye, Joe. I will always wear my #19 with pride.
I put this on the Pens Message Board but…
In the last three years we have witnessed on the Pens.
2 Art Ross Trophy Winners
1 Calder Memorial Trophy Winner
1 Con Smythe Winner
1 Hart Memorial Trophy Winner
1 Lester B. Pearson Award Winner
2 Prince of Wales Trophies
Crosby:
Youngest player in NHL history to record 100 points in a season
Youngest player in NHL history to record 200 career points (19 years and 207 days)
Youngest player in NHL history to have 2 consecutive 100 point seasons.
Youngest player to be voted to the NHL All-Star Game
Youngest player in NHL history to win the Art Ross Trophy
Youngest player in NHL history to win the Lester B. Pearson Award
Youngest player in NHL history to be named to the First All-Star Team
Youngest captain in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup (21 years, 10 months, and 5 days)
Malkin:
First player since 1917-1918 to score goals in each of his first six NHL games
Longest point streak by a Russian player in the NHL – 15 games (Yep Longer than AO)
First Russian player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy
1 Stanley Cup
Pretty damn good.
Good post, Matthew. You can’t help but be a bit spoiled as a Pens fan over the years. For a long time they were able to see Mario Lemieux and Jagr, and now they transition into Crosby and Malkin.
They’ve been fortunate to have so many great players for an organization that’s only 40 years old or so. A lot of great hockey.
Doug, is Huet in Chicago really a hole in net? They did get Madden and their d corps is still pretty good. He has such a good team in front of him..