2010 NHL Offseason chatter

[Sodboy13]

Blackhawks have just announced they've matched San Jose's offer sheet on Hjalmarsson. Okay, cap-savvy folks, if Meatball decides to stay in Chicago, now who becomes expendable?

[OMMF]

Blackhawks have just announced they've matched San Jose's offer sheet on Hjalmarsson. Okay, cap-savvy folks, if Meatball decides to stay in Chicago, now who becomes expendable?

Capgeek has them at 15 players signed with $113,000+ in cap space. I would say more than a few have to become expendable.

http://www.capgeek.c...rts.php?Team=11

ETA: Of course, that includes Huet's 5.625 and we all know that ain't sticking around.

[DDR]

Another query for the cap-savvy, CBA-savvy among us. Is there any talk of (or any chance of) the NHL going to a soft-cap/luxury tax situation? Or is the hard cap pretty much it.

[charger77]

The Hard Cap is pretty much it.

[charger77]

The Sharks have 6,100,000 in cap space.

Are they going to look at Modano, Turco, Kariya or thrown an offer sheet and Niemi?

[The_Admiral]

Another query for the cap-savvy, CBA-savvy among us. Is there any talk of (or any chance of) the NHL going to a soft-cap/luxury tax situation? Or is the hard cap pretty much it.

It should be something to consider. It's really not doing any favors for the teams that are the engines of what little success this league can claim. Once the current broken system and various other maladies kill off the Coyotes, Thrashers, Panthers, and Blue Jackets, maybe it'll get done. Scratching my head on why the Blackhawks deserve to be penalized for Toews winning the Conn Smythe. Seems like it really puts the team at cross-purposes to tell its best player and team captain to go out there and win a championship, but not to try too hard at it because his bonus would count against their salary cap because he's on his first contract, so if he could take his foot off the gas a little here and there so Patrick Sharp would be the MVP, that'd help a bunch. "Punitive incentives" can be another chapter in Only the Goddamned NHL.

[charger77]

One of my personal favorites Daryl Sydor retires.

[Don]

Caps sign Alex Ovechkin's first North American roommate in Brian Willsie. Funny enough thats all hes known for!

[DDR]

Jack Skille has been mentioned multiple times by Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman as having a chance to play a bigger role in 2010-11.

Skille, a restricted free agent, just needed to be signed. Now, that appears to be done. The Hawks and Skille's camp have agreed upon a one-year deal, a source said.

Update: The deal is worth $600,000. That's a big difference than his cap hit of more than $1 million the past few years. That inflated cap hit was a reason why Skille didn't see much time with the Hawks.

Posted mostly for The Admiral, but some others might find this interesting. I had heard Skille's cap hit was a reason he didn't see more time in CHI, but I could never find any quotable print source to back it up.

[The_Admiral]

Skille could possibly work on a line with Dave Bolland as a big-bodied energy/shutdown guy while never living up to his draft position. That basically described Andrew Ladd, so.

[BrySmalls]

Wild have signed their captain, Mikko Koivu, to a seven-year, $47.25 million contract extension.

[Don]

Wild have signed their captain, Mikko Koivu, to a seven-year, $47.25 million contract extension.

That, is insane. Helluva player, only gonna get better, but theres tons of players that are better that are getting less than him.

[wildwing64]

The Ducks have parted ways with the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors, and are now looking for a team that's nearer to the Syracuse Crunch.

I can see why they're doing this, but considering that they were trying to move everything west and have all their prospects closer to Anaheim before, this is rather ironic.

[Sodboy13]

The Ducks have parted ways with the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors, and are now looking for a team that's nearer to the Syracuse Crunch.

I can see why they're doing this, but considering that they were trying to move everything west and have all their prospects closer to Anaheim before, this is rather ironic.

It also bodes very poorly for the Abbotsford Heat, because if anyone was going to put an AHL affiliate anywhere remotely close to them, it was going to be the Ducks, who were purportedly lobbying to build a West Coast contingent in the "A". It appears that Anaheim has now come to their senses on the matter.

[wheateater]

Rumblings that the Kovalchuk Missile Crisis may finally be nearing an end. While I've heard that about four or five times already, this one is picking up steam.

LA Kings Insider Rich Hammond says it's starting to feel like Kovy and the Kings could settle a deal at any time. He adds people are getting more cryptic with their denials.

Elsewhere, Nick Kyrpeos tweets that a source tells him a deal between the Kings and Kovy is close, but not done. And Helene Elliot says Kings and Kovy are close, but a few kinks to work out.

As a Kings fan, I'll be happy if it's a good deal. But I'm sure everyone else will just be glad to not hear about it anymore.

[LMU]

Rumblings that the Kovalchuk Missile Crisis may finally be nearing an end. While I've heard that about four or five times already, this one is picking up steam.

LA Kings Insider Rich Hammond says it's starting to feel like Kovy and the Kings could settle a deal at any time. He adds people are getting more cryptic with their denials.

Elsewhere, Nick Kyrpeos tweets that a source tells him a deal between the Kings and Kovy is close, but not done. And Helene Elliot says Kings and Kovy are close, but a few kinks to work out.

As a Kings fan, I'll be happy if it's a good deal. But I'm sure everyone else will just be glad to not hear about it anymore.

Petros and Money in the local "fake hour" were saying that the current rumor was a 15 yr/$80 million deal being worked on.

[NEW.ERA]

Still wouldn't touch Kovalchuk with a 90 foot stick.

Even if he would "Help" my offensively starved Flames.

[wheateater]

Still wouldn't touch Kovalchuk with a 90 foot stick.

Even if he would "Help" my offensively starved Flames.

Instead, you'd rather have Tanguay and Jokinen. 'Cause, you know, it worked so well the first time.

And I wouldn't put too much stock in the 15-yr $80M contract. That's only a $5.33M cap hit. Having said that, if it's true, holy steal, Batman!

[LMU]

Assuming Kolvy goes to the Kings, I absolutely love the move. I think his issues in Atlanta were more based on the Thrashers having no chance to compete for the foreseeable future, and the main lack that the Kings really had was a dedicated scorer. They have good all-around forwards in Brown, Kopitar, Frolov, and I'll even say Simmonds. They have young, talented defenders in Doughty and Johnson. They have a great young goalie in Quick, with Bernier waiting in the wings. Heck, they also have veteran leadership in Smyth and Scuderi. So, add Kovalchuk to the mix, and you have one scary team on your hands.

[wheateater]

Assuming Kolvy goes to the Kings, I absolutely love the move. I think his issues in Atlanta were more based on the Thrashers having no chance to compete for the foreseeable future, and the main lack that the Kings really had was a dedicated scorer. They have good all-around forwards in Brown, Kopitar, Frolov, and I'll even say Simmonds. They have young, talented defenders in Doughty and Johnson. They have a great young goalie in Quick, with Bernier waiting in the wings. Heck, they also have veteran leadership in Smyth and Scuderi. So, add Kovalchuk to the mix, and you have one scary team on your hands.

Absolutely. If DL can keep the cap hit down (and $5.33M is waaaaay down, IMO), it'll be a great deal.

It's worth noting that Fro won't be back this year. At least his agent says it's 99% certain he'll be moving on.