Saturday, July 10, 2010

Long term NHL contracts are BS!!!

So apparently Lou Lamerello may be offering Kovalchuk a 17 year contract worth $100 million. That would be a cap hit of just under $6 mil per season. This is outright cheating, just like the Hossa contract.

This contract would take Kovalchuk up until he's 43 years old, he will almost certainly retire with 5 or more years remaining on this deal. What the hell? I would just offer him a huge contract: 50 years and $151 million. I'd pay him $132 million over the first 12 years of the deal ($11 million per season), then and then drop that to $500 thousand for the next 38 years. His cap hit would be just over $3 million! And we'd have him until he's 76! This is really no different from what New Jersey is proposing, and what Chicago is doing.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Leafs Rumours

Update on what's going on in Toronto. Here are a few blurbs:

- Burke is looking for a depth defensman.
This one doesn't make a ton of sense unless you figure Kaberle is on the way out for sure. So I think a signing like this might be done after Kaberle is dealt. Names that have been mentioned include Bret Lebda, MA Bergeron (played for Burke in Anaheim), Willie Mitchell, Paul Ranger (RFA would be via trade), Freddy Meyer, Shaone Morrison, Jay McKee, and Andy Sutton.

- Tomas Kaberle to LA for Wayne Simmonds and a prospect.
Interesting. Normally I don't read Eklund rumours but I did today and this one might have some legs because its something Bob MacKenzie has talked about before as well, although he said that the Kings were not interested in dealing Simmonds in a deal for Kaberle. Maybe now that the Kovalchuk thing seems to be slipping away and there are no other big names for LA to acquire this could be something they'd consider. If I'm the Leafs I'm not overwhealmed with Simmonds, but depending on who the prospect is (B.Schenn???) It could be worth a real look.

- Beauchemin or Grabovski for Mike Ribeiro.
This is an interesting $ saving move for Dallas, but I don't know if Beauchemin would be available if Kaberle is being dealt. I could see this being a possibility later in the summer if Kaberle is kept past August 15.

- Max Afinogenov to Toronto
I know that Zherdev was reported to not be of interest to Toronto, and I would have to think that this is a false rumour. Although if he hangs around long enough like last summer, I could see this guy being a late summer pick up for the Leafs at the right price.

That's all I could find for now.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Remaining UFA's

After the first two days of free agency there are still some interesting names out there. But before I get into that I just want to say that people are freaking out about Oli Jokinen going back to Calgary. Tanguay and Jokinen are great pick ups by Calgary, mark my words, Calgary makes the playoffs and has a big year next season.

Now here are the top remaining guys:

FORWARDS:
ILYA KOVALCHUK
RAFFI TORRES
ALEXANDER FROLOV
PAUL KARIYA
MAXIM AFINOGENOV
BILL GUERIN
BRENDAN MORRISON
ALEX PONIKAROVSKY
MIKE COMRIE
JAYSON WILLIAMS
EVGENY ARTYUKHIN
LEE STEMPNIAK
MIKE MODANO
SLAVA KOZLOV
FREDDY MODIN
PAVOL DEMITRA
MIROSLAV SATAN
JOHN MADDEN
RICHARD PARK
KIRK MALTBY
OWEN NOLAN


DEFENSE:
WILLIE MITCHELL
JOE CORVO
ANDREAS LILJA
ANDY SUTTON
BRETT CLARK
CARLO COLAIACOVO
AARON WARD
RUSLAN SALEI
KIM JONSSON


GOALIES:
EVGENY NABAKOV
MARTY TURCO
JOSE THEODORE
VESA TOSKALA

Handful of other guys on top of these guys. Raffi Torres is one guy who was talked about a lot leading up to the deadline and free agency as a big tough guy who can play 2nd-3rd line and was expected to get up around $3 million. I'm wondering now if he hasn't been getting those offers, especially after a not having a good playoff. Ditto for Alex Ponikarovsky. Now I'm thinking that Torres could be a guy who might be willing to sign a 1-year deal for around $1.5-2.5 range, and could be a good deal.