09/10 NHL Off-Season Thread

[Lee.]

Habs trade Higgins for Scott Gomez.

TSN Link

Paul likes this move?

Cory's never cared for Gomez, though he's on record as having a bias against short people, for what it's worth.

You know, I don't know what to think of that move.

Habs have had small centers for as long as I can remember, and Gomez is similar to all of them in terms of size. Plus his $7.35M cap hit is a lot of money for a player who has not performed well last year.

I'm hoping that this is just a setup for what can happen next, but Gainey has never been easy to follow. Just take a look at his current offers on the table (Komisarek, Kovalev). Why hasn't Tanguay been offered anything yet? That boggles the mind.

I'm more frustrated to see Higgins go than happy to see Gomez come in Montreal. I guess we'll have to wait a bit with some free agents signings to see if this is a good move or not.

With the Gomez move, can the Habs still afford the twins if it comes down to it?

[Linus]

Bob McKenzie from TSN is saying that the Habs likely dont have enough to sign the twins now that they've got Gomez.

I dont know what to say about this trade except for the fact that its a bad trade. NYR used this as a salary dump and got a solid prospect in McDonaugh (spelling?) and Chris Higgins is overrated. Gomez is clearly the best player in the deal but he's wayyyyyyyyy overpaid and he doesnt produce enough. The Habs dont really have a solid top line winger to go with Gomez now.

[Lee.]

So if the Sedins don't resign in Vancouver, it's down to Toronto, LA, or Minnesota (for all intents and purposes).

Interesting.

[pollux]

Habs trade Higgins for Scott Gomez.

TSN Link

Paul likes this move?

Cory's never cared for Gomez, though he's on record as having a bias against short people, for what it's worth.

You know, I don't know what to think of that move.

Habs have had small centers for as long as I can remember, and Gomez is similar to all of them in terms of size. Plus his $7.35M cap hit is a lot of money for a player who has not performed well last year.

I'm hoping that this is just a setup for what can happen next, but Gainey has never been easy to follow. Just take a look at his current offers on the table (Komisarek, Kovalev). Why hasn't Tanguay been offered anything yet? That boggles the mind.

I'm more frustrated to see Higgins go than happy to see Gomez come in Montreal. I guess we'll have to wait a bit with some free agents signings to see if this is a good move or not.

With the Gomez move, can the Habs still afford the twins if it comes down to it?

Yes.

IIRC, for 2009-10, there are 11 players signed for close to $25M. Let's add $5.5M for Gomez (less Higgins' salary) so you're just over $30M.

Plenty of room for the twins. Plus I'm thinking that they didn't sign Jacques Martin for nothing; he's very good for developing young talent. So I'd like to think Gainey will try to get the Sedins, and resign Kovalev and hopefully Tanguay. That would be much better for the first two lines in Montreal. After that young guns from Hamilton will finally get their chance to prove something in Montreal, which is what plenty of fans have been waiting for. Suck for a year or two, but develop the young talents. Although if we were to have the twins, Gomez, Kovy and Tanguay, it would be a pretty good offense.

Also, hiring Guy Boucher as Hamilton's head coach is a great move. He will be in the NHL pretty soon.

[Lee.]

BUT

Adding the twins means adding about $13M per season, so now you're up to $43M. Can you sign the remaining 8 or 9 players you need for another $7M, allowing for injuries etc throughout the course of the season?

The Canucks are assuming they can get the twins back under contract for about 11-12 M per year, but that's the hometown discount talking. On the open market, I figure they command at least 13, maybe up to 15 per, depending on how silly some of the GMs may want to be.

[Linus]

Some Free Agent signing predictions here:

The Sedins stay in Vancouver.

Marian Gaborik to the Rangers.

Saki Koivu to the Wild.

Marian Hossa stays in Detroit.

Alex Tanguay to the Oilers.

Mike Komisarek goes unsigned because he sucks and is extremely overrated....seriously, he'll get overpaid big time and the team will regret it in the long run.

Mike Cammalleri, Francois Beauchemin, Chris Neil to the Leafs.

Note: Some of the predictions are random and the Leaf predictions are bias (I love Cammalleri as a player and I feel the other 2 can help out the Leafs) but I can see Neil and Beauchemin happening due to Burkes liking for size and grit.

[NEW.ERA]

If and when Bouwmeester doesn't sign I expect the Flames to go hard after

Brian Gionta

Mikael Samuelsson

Francois Beauchemin

Hal Gill

Christian Backman

And maybe even Tyler Pyatt?

There all within the Flames range.

[MVP]

BOUWMEESTER AGREES TO FIVE YEAR DEAL WITH FLAMES

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283345

[philly97flyer]

So if the Sedins don't resign in Vancouver, it's down to Toronto, LA, or Minnesota (for all intents and purposes).

Interesting.

According to TSN, the Leafs are in the running for every over priced big name free agent every year.

[NEW.ERA]

BOUWMEESTER AGREES TO FIVE YEAR DEAL WITH FLAMES

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283345

He's making more then Phaneuf wrong again Mr. Bob McKenzie, well this makes the Flames easily have one of the best four defensively in the Game J-BO goes along with Regehr, Phaneuf and Sarich.

This deal will obviously grow one me.

[Neon_Matrix]

BOUWMEESTER AGREES TO FIVE YEAR DEAL WITH FLAMES

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283345

He's making more then Phaneuf wrong again Mr. Bob McKenzie, well this makes the Flames easily have one of the best four defensively in the Game J-BO goes along with Regehr, Phaneuf and Sarich.

This deal will obviously grow one me.

One of those three not named J-Bo will be gone. I can't see how else they can afford a team with that much cap space taken up by a few players.

[NEW.ERA]

BOUWMEESTER AGREES TO FIVE YEAR DEAL WITH FLAMES

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283345

He's making more then Phaneuf wrong again Mr. Bob McKenzie, well this makes the Flames easily have one of the best four defensively in the Game J-BO goes along with Regehr, Phaneuf and Sarich.

This deal will obviously grow one me.

One of those three not named J-Bo will be gone. I can't see how else they can afford a team with that much cap space taken up by a few players.

I'm leaning towards Jokinen going but if any of those D-Men go it will be Sarich seeing he has a no-trade clause and has more years left on his deal.

As of right now the Flames have 5.08 under the cap and I believe there will be more suitors for Sarich then Jokinen.

[habsfan1]

I just heard about the Gomez/Higgins trade. I would have liked this acquisition alot more if Gainey didn't over pay him. I mean, who in the right mind would give a slumping player close to 8 million?? There's bickering on every site where people are commenting about this trade. It's too bad because Gomez deserves a better welcome here.

[Shane Does Art]

I just heard about the Gomez/Higgins trade. I would have liked this acquisition alot more if Gainey didn't over pay him. I mean, who in the right mind would give a slumping player close to 8 million?? There's bickering on every site where people are commenting about this trade. It's too bad because Gomez deserves a better welcome here.

Gainey isn't the one who overpaid. Glen Sather did.

[njmeadowlanders]

I just heard about the Gomez/Higgins trade. I would have liked this acquisition alot more if Gainey didn't over pay him. I mean, who in the right mind would give a slumping player close to 8 million?? There's bickering on every site where people are commenting about this trade. It's too bad because Gomez deserves a better welcome here.

Gainey isn't the one who overpaid. Glen Sather did.

Um, Gomez leaving at that salary is addition by subtraction the way I see it. It opens the door for Gaborik or a Heatley trade if that is in fact the route they want to take.

He just wasn't the same after crossing the Hudson...

So I'll go on the record as a fan of this deal as a Ranger fan.

[Shane Does Art]

I just heard about the Gomez/Higgins trade. I would have liked this acquisition alot more if Gainey didn't over pay him. I mean, who in the right mind would give a slumping player close to 8 million?? There's bickering on every site where people are commenting about this trade. It's too bad because Gomez deserves a better welcome here.

Gainey isn't the one who overpaid. Glen Sather did.

Um, Gomez leaving at that salary is addition by subtraction the way I see it. It opens the door for Gaborik or a Heatley trade if that is in fact the route they want to take.

He just wasn't the same after crossing the Hudson...

So I'll go on the record as a fan of this deal as a Ranger fan.

I meant in terms of Gomez's Salary.

[njmeadowlanders]

Heatley'll be an Oiler if he waives his no-trade clause:

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283356

[Linus]

If the Heatly deal goes down, hands down Edmonton wins. They wont miss Cogliano, Penner or Smid. At this point in time, Penner and Cogliano are 2nd liners at best.

[josh_cat_eyes]

According to CapGeek.com Florida has just bought out Brett McLean and Boston has just bought out Peter Schaefer.

http://www.capgeek.com/latest.php

[NEW.ERA]

If the Heatly deal goes down, hands down Edmonton wins. They wont miss Cogliano, Penner or Smid. At this point in time, Penner and Cogliano are 2nd liners at best.

They'll miss Cogliano in the long run, Penner was a waste of skin.