2010 NHL Offseason chatter

[randyc]

Ryan Miller is your Vezina winner.

Don't look at the quote above if you don't want any spoilers.

[NEW.ERA]

Ryan Miller is your Vezina winner.

Don't look at the quote above if you don't want any spoilers.

:censored: totally forgot this thing isn't live.

[BrySmalls]

Ryan Miller is your Vezina winner.

Don't look at the quote above if you don't want any spoilers.

:censored: totally forgot this thing isn't live.

It was live for us Americans.

[randyc]

Ryan Miller is your Vezina winner.

Don't look at the quote above if you don't want any spoilers.

:censored: totally forgot this thing isn't live.

It was live for us Americans.

Or if you live on the east coast, I watched it on the CBC Halifax feed.

[oddball]

I'm shocked at the amount of Byfuglien love going on here. Holy Cow, the guys is just a nice 3rd line player and that's all he is, he's a dime a dozen. The guy hasn't even scored 20 goals in his pro career. I'm not saying he's bad, but I wonder if all the love for him isn't for his name and the color of his skin. That's great, but you don't pay 3rd line wingers top dollars, so if you have to worry about someone like Patrick Sharp or one of your other scorers, you ditch the third line winger and next year Chicago fans will find their next favorite 3rd line grinder who will replace Buffy at a considerably cheaper price. Buffy, is an expendable player, anyone with a semblance of hockey knowledge will tell you that. Don't get attached to 3rd and 4th line players, when the time comes to make money, they are gone. You can't keep everyone, and you really don't want to keep everyone. Turnover every year here and there is actually good and refreshing as you have to have those 3rd and 4th line guys and 5th and 6th defensemen fighting for their jobs and new guys bring energy and hunger.

[NEW.ERA]

Yeah I just got the results from TSN obviously they didn't bring into the fact that it's on tape delay out here in the west.

[The_Admiral]

I'm shocked at the amount of Byfuglien love going on here. Holy Cow, the guys is just a nice 3rd line player and that's all he is, he's a dime a dozen. The guy hasn't even scored 20 goals in his pro career. I'm not saying he's bad, but I wonder if all the love for him isn't for his name and the color of his skin. That's great, but you don't pay 3rd line wingers top dollars, so if you have to worry about someone like Patrick Sharp or one of your other scorers, you ditch the third line winger and next year Chicago fans will find their next favorite 3rd line grinder who will replace Buffy at a considerably cheaper price. Buffy, is an expendable player, anyone with a semblance of hockey knowledge will tell you that. Don't get attached to 3rd and 4th line players, when the time comes to make money, they are gone. You can't keep everyone, and you really don't want to keep everyone. Turnover every year here and there is actually good and refreshing as you have to have those 3rd and 4th line guys and 5th and 6th defensemen fighting for their jobs and new guys bring energy and hunger.

Fairly well-reasoned for an Oddball post. I don't think he's "just" an expendable third-liner, though. That isn't fair. However, if it's a matter of keeping a playmaker like Bolland or an all-around good guy like Sharp, then he has to be the one to go.

I worry about Byfuglien in Atlanta. One of the observations about him is that he struggles to get up for regular season games. If playing on a title contender at the United Center couldn't light a fire under his ass on a reliable basis, how is he ever going to give a damn on a rebuilding team in the NASCAR Division? Poor fella. Maybe he'll be so miserable that he comes back next summer.

[youcan'tseeme]

I'm shocked at the amount of Byfuglien love going on here. Holy Cow, the guys is just a nice 3rd line player and that's all he is, he's a dime a dozen. The guy hasn't even scored 20 goals in his pro career. I'm not saying he's bad, but I wonder if all the love for him isn't for his name and the color of his skin. That's great, but you don't pay 3rd line wingers top dollars, so if you have to worry about someone like Patrick Sharp or one of your other scorers, you ditch the third line winger and next year Chicago fans will find their next favorite 3rd line grinder who will replace Buffy at a considerably cheaper price. Buffy, is an expendable player, anyone with a semblance of hockey knowledge will tell you that. Don't get attached to 3rd and 4th line players, when the time comes to make money, they are gone. You can't keep everyone, and you really don't want to keep everyone. Turnover every year here and there is actually good and refreshing as you have to have those 3rd and 4th line guys and 5th and 6th defensemen fighting for their jobs and new guys bring energy and hunger.

Fairly well-reasoned for an Oddball post. I don't think he's "just" an expendable third-liner, though. That isn't fair. However, if it's a matter of keeping a playmaker like Bolland or an all-around good guy like Sharp, then he has to be the one to go.

I worry about Byfuglien in Atlanta. One of the observations about him is that he struggles to get up for regular season games. If playing on a title contender at the United Center couldn't light a fire under his ass on a reliable basis, how is he ever going to give a damn on a rebuilding team in the NASCAR Division? Poor fella. Maybe he'll be so miserable that he comes back next summer.

Agreed, I could always be wrong. But I see him struggle very much, and getting slack for it. The NHL is easy when your playing with Toews and Kane. It's a whole knew beast when your with Antropov and expected to be the Toews and Kane.

[BrySmalls]

Capital upheaval! Here is a list of soon to be ex-Capitals:

Jose Theodore, Scott Walker, Eric Belanger, Joe Corvo, Milan Jurcina, Shaone Morrisonn (likely), and Brendan Morrison.

The four players in bold were acquired (Jurcina was reacquired) leading up to and at the 2010 Trade Deadline. Here's hoping Pothier and Osala along with the draft picks sent to Carolina, Columbus, and Minnesota don't pan out to be future all-stars.

[HedleyLamarr]

ESPN reports the following trade:

To Chicago:

1st & 2nd Round Pick (Picks that were originally New Jersey's)

Marty Reasoner

Jeremy Morin

To Atlanta:

Dustin Byfuglien

Ben Eager

Brett Sopel

Who wins?

For the 2010-11 season, Atlanta does. The Thrashers gain 3 players that will play right away. Sopel becomes insurance in case Kubina isn't re-signed. Eager is essentially Reasoner, I believe. And of course, Byfuglien brings more to the table now than that 24th pick would do this season. His regular season scoring stats aren't the best, but he brings a physical presence to the team that wasn't there last year.

With Byfuglien here, now Atlanta becomes more attractive for the free agents. Certainly doesn't hurt. The team's got a lot of young talent that's only going to get better.

I know Byfuglien costs $3 million and does nothing that Troy Brouwer doesn't do better at a third of the price in the regular season, but man, I can't stress it enough: I listened to so much postgame radio where it was caller after caller saying "you know, I didn't grow up with hockey, but this is really awesome, what have I been missing" and stuff to that effect, and then you trade your--let's not mince words--token black guy who was fast becoming one of the most popular players on the team for cap space and a fourth-line journeyman center. That looks really really bad.

And they just threw in Akim Aliu too! Atlanta's gonna get every black guy on skates! They're gonna scrounge up the remnants of Fred Brathwaite!

The Thrashers had Brathwaite a couple years ago, but he never materialized.

And, the reality that it is, having two black players will likely be a marketing dream for Atlanta.

[The_Admiral]

Eager is essentially Reasoner, I believe.

Not quite. Eager is an interesting case: he was projected to have a pretty high upside when he came in at 22nd overall, but has wound up being more of a bruiser with a hint of scoring touch. Chicago picked him up for Jim Vandermeer, and that that idiot netted anything more than a non-arriving failed prospect from Denmark was a pleasant surprise. So far with Philly and Chicago, he's racked up a whole slew of penalty minutes, and they haven't been good ones: as an enforcer he doesn't strike enough fear in the hearts of men to make Toews/Kane untouchable, and the assorted minors and misconducts didn't really do anything to make the Hawks better, best I can tell.

The other problem with Eager, which is why I think the Hawks were so ready to part with him, is that he already has a pretty extensive history of concussions, which have caused him to miss significant time in recent years. I think he has at least three documented ones. You don't want to relive the Kim Johnsson experiment. There was a while there back in October when everyone was oddly vague and non-committal--by NHL standards!--about when Eager would join the team, and there were some murmurings that the last one finished him off. Obviously, he came back to score around 10 and 15 again on the fourth line, but I think it's been very much in the back of everyone's mind that one more concussion will knock him out of the game. I'm sure he'll bring all his scrapping and hitting with him to Atlanta, but if his linemates are a step down from Colin Fraser and Tomas Kopecky, which they probably will be, I wouldn't expect his point production to hold steady or increase.

Reasoner appears to be "a guy" and nothing more, certainly not at this stage of his thoroughly average career. Seems to have Eager's meager point production without the penalty minutes. If he can't replace John Madden's skill set (faceoffs, good defensive forward, useful on kills, Locker Room Leadership™), it's hard to be jazzed about him, and I'd rather have Fraser back at #4 center than this guy.

[HedleyLamarr]

That's all that Reasoner was decent at, was winning faceoffs. But by the end of the season, his minutes dropped significantly, if not being a healthy scratch altogether. On penalty kills, his lone role was wining the initial faceoff, then getting the hell off the ice as quick as possible so a more capable penalty-killer can get on the ice. He rarely got much 5-on-5 action in the second half of the year.

My comparison between Reasoner and Eager is that they're just boring dime-a-dozen parts. They're just...there. It's basically a junk-for-junk swap between the two players.

[Lee.]

ESPN reports the following trade:

To Chicago:

1st & 2nd Round Pick (Picks that were originally New Jersey's)

Marty Reasoner

Jeremy Morin

To Atlanta:

Dustin Byfuglien

Ben Eager

Brett Sopel

Who wins?

For the 2010-11 season, Atlanta does. The Thrashers gain 3 players that will play right away. Sopel becomes insurance in case Kubina isn't re-signed. Eager is essentially Reasoner, I believe. And of course, Byfuglien brings more to the table now than that 24th pick would do this season. His regular season scoring stats aren't the best, but he brings a physical presence to the team that wasn't there last year.

With Byfuglien here, now Atlanta becomes more attractive for the free agents. Certainly doesn't hurt. The team's got a lot of young talent that's only going to get better.

I know Byfuglien costs $3 million and does nothing that Troy Brouwer doesn't do better at a third of the price in the regular season, but man, I can't stress it enough: I listened to so much postgame radio where it was caller after caller saying "you know, I didn't grow up with hockey, but this is really awesome, what have I been missing" and stuff to that effect, and then you trade your--let's not mince words--token black guy who was fast becoming one of the most popular players on the team for cap space and a fourth-line journeyman center. That looks really really bad.

And they just threw in Akim Aliu too! Atlanta's gonna get every black guy on skates! They're gonna scrounge up the remnants of Fred Brathwaite!

The Thrashers had Brathwaite a couple years ago, but he never materialized.

And, the reality that it is, having two black players will likely be a marketing dream for Atlanta.

Are you counting Evander "The Other" Kane, or just Buttfugly and Aliu?

Who wins?

The Canucks next post-season.

[Lee.]

Which seems to be changing with the team saying that Schneider will play 20 or more games, and hiring a new full time goalie coach (Roliie Melanson) instead of keeping the guy Luongo liked, Ian Clarke, who can only be part time due to Alain Vigneault hating him with a fiery passion reminiscent of the ancient Vulcan furnaces.

FYP

edit: So the two big rumors making the rounds on Vancouver Radio are the Canucks sending Louongo to Montreal for Price straight up, and trying to get Andrew Ladd out of the Blackhawks. Anyone in Montreal or Chicago hearing these as well, or is this just wishful thinking on Dave Pratt's part?

[HedleyLamarr]

Are you counting Evander "The Other" Kane, or just Buttfugly and Aliu?

Kane and Byfuglien.

Kane was starting to appear in the Thrashers marketing campaign in the latter stages of the season, especially once Kovalchuk was traded. It would only make sense for the Thrashers to highlight Byfuglien, seeing as how he was oft-mentioned in the 2010 playoffs.

[Sodboy13]

If Aliu gets a roster spot at the start of the season, then we'll know for certain that Thrashers ownership is really trying to make a shameful grab for the African-American market. I don't care if he is still only 21, getting bumped down from Rockford to Toledo mid-season would not seem to bode particularly well. And if they put Aliu, Evander Kane, and Byfuglien together on a line... well, that'll be one day of very nice press for them, so if that's all they're aiming for, have at it, and pick up Laraque and Brashear for a defensive pairing while you're at it.

And as a Wolves fan, I can say I thoroughly enjoyed the Fred Brathwaite era for the Thrashers. Great veteran presence in net, and always came across as a really good guy.

By the way, final version of the trade also sends Joey Crabb to the Hawks, which really means he's going from the Wolves to the IceHogs. And I just saw that the Blackhawks play the Thrashers in Atlanta on Saturday, November 6th. Good seats, I have no doubt, are still available. Might actually want to go see that one.

EDIT: Thrashers deal off two of their 4-A guys, Mike Vernace and Brett Sterling (who's a point-a-game guy, but unfortunately for him, only in the AHL) to the Sharks for the always-mysterious future considerations. Perhaps Atlanta's clearing a bit of clutter.

[The_Admiral]

Crabb is a UFA, so there's no telling if he actually figures into any Rockford plans and it doesn't really matter to me anyway. They had to throw him in the deal because adding all three Blackhawks pushed the Thrashers over the 50-man roster limit and the trade couldn't be consummated until there was space. Haha.

Between Dudley and Tallon, we're one Hurricanes mole away from turning the NASCAR Division into our Kansas City A's. staal for rob klinkhammer make it happen

[HedleyLamarr]

Yeah, the deal with San Jose was essentially a contract dump to free up room for the impending Chicago deal. I hope this Future Considerations kid the Thrashers got in the Sharks deal is a keeper.

Bust day for the Thrashers. They apparently couldn't decide between Craig Ramsay and John Torchetti, so the team has hired both. Ramsay is the new head coach, and Torchetti the associate head coach.

I wonder how they'll work together, seeing as how they were allegedly competing for the same job.

[Lee.]

Yeah, the deal with San Jose was essentially a contract dump to free up room for the impending Chicago deal. I hope this Future Considerations kid the Thrashers got in the Sharks deal is a keeper.

Bust day for the Thrashers. They apparently couldn't decide between Craig Ramsay and John Torchetti, so the team has hired both. Ramsay is the new head coach, and Torchetti the associate head coach.

I wonder how they'll work together, seeing as how they were allegedly competing for the same job.

Well if it's half as successful as the Pat Quinn/Tom Renney collaboration, they'll get a number one pick in 2011.

[charger77]

Anybody else see the horrible job Guy Lafleur did in presenting the Hart Trophy last night?