2014 NHL Offseason

[Lee.]

Bettman clearly loved the boos. He knew he was going to get the ever-loving crap booed out of him, so he embraced it, and even milked it at times. It was a genuine heel turn, and my favorite Gary Bettman performance.

I so want him to strike a 1976 Robert Plant pose and ask the crowd, "does anybody here remember laughter?" as the love rains down upon him.

[IceCap]

*Bettman takes podium to lusty boos*

"I'd like to thank the city of Philadelphia for all they do for the world of sports! There is no sports city on earth like it!"

*boos continue, but there is a slight confusion*

"In what other city do fans vomit on children? Or sign an ex-con who drowned dogs? Hurl batteries at opposing teams? Or cheer injured players?"

*boos intensify to nuclear heat, fans brazenly reveal crude clubs and weapons*

"Yes, it is my honor to hold our draft here in the city of piss, sadness, and failure! The Phillies can bite my ass, too!"

*fans begin to spill over one another in their rage to rush the podium*

"The Panthers are on the clock, you bunch of hacks. Haven't had a goalie since Hextall, you repugnant bitches!"

*drops mic as volley of trash and batteries cascade around him*

"IT WAS ME BALSILLIE! IT WAS ME ALL ALONG!"

[The_Admiral]

Spezza turns down the chance to play with Neal in Nashville, smells like All Star....

hyeah not gonna play in :censored:in' Nashville, look like a :censored:in' banana out there. hyeah. go wherever I wanna go. make the senators retain my salary too. hyeah.

[TorinK92]

Spezza turns down the chance to play with Neal in Nashville, smells like All Star....

hyeah not gonna play in :censored:in' Nashville, look like a :censored:in' banana out there. hyeah. go wherever I wanna go. make the senators retain my salary too. hyeah.

If he rides out the off-season without being traded, I can tell you for sure that he'll be booed off the ice everytime the fans see him until he's inevitably traded to St. Louis for Chris Porter and a 7th round pick in 2016.

But I can really see GMBM making a similar event out of free agency day this year like he did last year with the Silfver for Silver trade.

But in seriousness: Any Blues fan's opinion on Ty Rattie / Dmitirj Jaskin and how upset you would be to see them leave in a deal for Spezza?

[The_Admiral]

Not a Blues fan, but if they trade Rattie and/or Jaskin, they're looking at a severe deficit in prospects.

[The_Admiral]

Oh by the way, did anyone else notice during the draft that TSN, in what I believe will be its final presentation of the draft, was displaying tweets from Count Bettman?

Count Bettman @CountBettman · Jun 27

Im standing next to Garth Snow and Charles Wang... so much hockey knowledge on one stage

I saw this on the bottom of the screen and burst out laughing, but didn't realize until just now whose account it was.

[HedleyLamarr]

Thinking it was an intentional swipe at the NHL by the folks that soon won't have any television relationship with the league?

[The_Admiral]

They also ran a tweet from Down Goes Brown about there being a draft deal between that one guy and that one other guy, and I was like "hmm, that kind of underscores the silliness of this production," but figured Canadians are just into self-deprecation. I mean, do you think the NBA Draft would have that?

[RyanMcD29]

They also ran a tweet from Down Goes Brown about there being a draft deal between that one guy and that one other guy, and I was like "hmm, that kind of underscores the silliness of this production," but figured Canadians are just into self-deprecation. I mean, do you think the NBA Draft would have that?

/drops mic

[BigBubba]

Can anyone give me a briefing on Polak? From what I hear he's a decent #4/5 guy who plays with grit. UZI Gunnarsson was alright, but he was kinda soft and the D needs a shakeup, so I'm fine with this deal.

Now, Nonis said he'd be ok not making any more moves on the blueline. Does he seriously think that adding a depth d-man will seriously fix what was one of the worst defences is the league last year? At least Burke would've recognized that there was a problem!

Speaking of Burke, surprised Admiral hasn't posted this:

http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/451336816-brian-burke-president-of-hockey-operations-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QT8edo2dUgberrnYyKM31%2BtABZHJbKkBK8GUNqsXN8qRBJBjYucYD9AR%2F9Ai3XRmtQ%3D%3D

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

Flyers fans boo every NHL team, and commissioner during draft:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2112498-philly-fans-boo-every-nhl-team-and-commissioner-during-2014-nhl-draft

The Bettman clip is pretty good.

Also, they gave it hard to Rick Tocchet

1) Bettman gets better heel heat than most heels on the WWE roster gets. He gets booed roundly everywhere he goes not named Arizona. Cena vs. Bettman in a steel cage. Tell me that wouldn't put buts in seats.

2)That's weird seeing Sami Kapanen's kid get drafted when I remember him when he was drafted and playing all those years. Now his kid is being drafted to the NHL. wow.

[charger77]

Ehrhoff has been bought out.

[Cosmic]

Ehrhoff has been bought out.

That's a bit of a head-scratcher. His cap hit was $4M for the next seven years, and his actual salary averaged out to only $2.6M per year over those seven years. He's a decent defenseman still; I would have thought that even if the Sabres didn't want him, a contract like that would have trade value. You would think some team somewhere would give up a seventh-round pick to get a guy like that, and then the Sabres wouldn't be paying him for the next fourteen years.

And in a related development, the Sabres just got $4M further below from the salary cap floor. Tim Murray must have some really grand plans.

[charger77]

Jovanovski to be bought out in Florida.

[Kramerica Industries]

Buffalo probably couldn't find substantial value in trading Ehrhoff, given how many years are left on that contract. Vancouver got chump change for Garrison who, while being an inferior D, obviously, was sitting on a $4.6M cap hit for the next four seasons. Buffalo might also be worried about recapture possibilities with Ehrhoff. I can rationalize the buyout, as surprising as it was to see come out (and, really, would've been nicer if this were prior to the Draft).

[The_Admiral]

I just want to once again pat myself on the back for predicting that Mike Ribeiro would snort his way out of Phoenix and possibly the league. Like, how bad of a cocaine problem do you have to have for it to be a problem as a professional hockey player? Like, does Mike Richards just walk into a bar like he came off the set of the Milton Berle show?

[charger77]

Edmonton sends Sam Gagne to Tampa for Teddy Purcell.

[SuperLeafsFan]

Edmonton sends Sam Gagne to Tampa for Teddy Purcell.

Hmm... I like the trade for both sides. Gagne serves a nice need down the middle, and Purcell is a nice Power-forward pickup the Oilers need.

[Kramerica Industries]

There has to be something more to this. As it is, it makes no sense for Tampa Bay. They already have Stamkos, Filppula, and Johnson at center, Namestnikov banging on the door, and Drouin also gained C experience at Halifax this past season. The center position is about the last thing they need to bolster.

And for cap hit purposes, it's also basically a straight swap. $4.5M over two years on Purcell's contract, and $4.8M over two years for Gagner.

[twi]

There has to be something more to this. As it is, it makes no sense for Tampa Bay. They already have Stamkos, Filppula, and Johnson at center, Namestnikov banging on the door, and Drouin also gained C experience at Halifax this past season. The center position is about the last thing they need to bolster.

And for cap hit purposes, it's also basically a straight swap. $4.5M over two years on Purcell's contract, and $4.8M over two years for Gagner.

It may be a buyout of Gagner. Would make sense as his buyout amount is about half of Purcell's, because Gagner is under the age (25 or 26) where buyouts are 1/3 rather than 2/3 of the remaining contract.