And Gaborik is signed to the Rangers'. As the world turns.

Well we needed to replace Gaborik's IR salary with something.

So Gomez goes to Montreal. Gaborik goes to NY to replace him. Havlat goes to Minnesota to replace him. Hossa goes to Chicago to replace him.

It's like musical chairs.

Dissociater: So Gomez goes to Montreal. Gaborik goes to NY to replace him. Havlat goes to Minnesota to replace him. Hossa goes to Chicago to replace him.

It's like musical wheelchairs.

FTFY

Emperor_Tod: Dissociater: So Gomez goes to Montreal. Gaborik goes to NY to replace him. Havlat goes to Minnesota to replace him. Hossa goes to Chicago to replace him.

It's like musical wheelchairs.

FTFY

this.

Antropov to Atlanta, which is slowly building a respectable team.

Aucoin to the Coyotes, where he can suffer in peace. What happened to that guy, anyway?

And Recchi re-signs with Boston.

At least you guys are not in Edmonton right now....I hope someone hits Heatly with a beer bottle this season.

On the one hand, I hate that my team's GM (Darcy Regier) tends to be so inactive in free agency. I mean, Steve Montador is an OK signing, but nothing to get all excited about.

On the other hand, he does have a point that a lot of teams are overpaying for a lot of players (many of them overrated), to long-term deals that are really going to screw them over and handcuff them with cap issues in the next couple years.

I'm really curious to see how Chicago is going to manage to sign both Kane and Toews next summer, and stay under the cap, after the ridiculous Hossa deal yesterday.

Hossa's a great player, but I wouldn't give any player in the league a 12 year contract. That's just stupid.

Doc Daneeka: Hossa's a great player, but I wouldn't give any player in the league a 12 year contract. That's just stupid.

It's not a 12 year contract though, it's a 7 or 8 year contract. Hossa won't play for the cheapo salary that is there on the last years of the deal. It's like those NFL contracts that are 6 or 7 years but structured with some monster roster bonus after year 3. The length of the contract is purely for salary cap reasons.

A seven or eight year contract for Hossa is pretty ridiculous too if you ask me, but people need to think of it in those terms, not as a 12 year deal.

GQueue: Doc Daneeka: Hossa's a great player, but I wouldn't give any player in the league a 12 year contract. That's just stupid.

It's not a 12 year contract though, it's a 7 or 8 year contract. Hossa won't play for the cheapo salary that is there on the last years of the deal. It's like those NFL contracts that are 6 or 7 years but structured with some monster roster bonus after year 3. The length of the contract is purely for salary cap reasons.

A seven or eight year contract for Hossa is pretty ridiculous too if you ask me, but people need to think of it in those terms, not as a 12 year deal.

Well, yeah, he's not going to play in Chicago for 12 years, but the term of the contract is still going to come back to haunt them. The Hawks are going to have to pay one way or another. Either they're going to have to buy out the last years of the contract (and pay 2/3 of the salary for someone to not play on their team, which is an abject waste of money). Or else they are going to have to find a trading partner willing to take the remaining several years of Hossa's contract (in the declining years of his career) off of their hands. And the Hawks would be in a far inferior negotiating position in any such trade.

Doc Daneeka: GQueue: Doc Daneeka: Hossa's a great player, but I wouldn't give any player in the league a 12 year contract. That's just stupid.

It's not a 12 year contract though, it's a 7 or 8 year contract. Hossa won't play for the cheapo salary that is there on the last years of the deal. It's like those NFL contracts that are 6 or 7 years but structured with some monster roster bonus after year 3. The length of the contract is purely for salary cap reasons.

A seven or eight year contract for Hossa is pretty ridiculous too if you ask me, but people need to think of it in those terms, not as a 12 year deal.

Well, yeah, he's not going to play in Chicago for 12 years, but the term of the contract is still going to come back to haunt them. The Hawks are going to have to pay one way or another. Either they're going to have to buy out the last years of the contract (and pay 2/3 of the salary for someone to not play on their team, which is an abject waste of money). Or else they are going to have to find a trading partner willing to take the remaining several years of Hossa's contract (in the declining years of his career) off of their hands. And the Hawks would be in a far inferior negotiating position in any such trade.

I see yesterday's predicted fury is actually on slow boil.

momojoboo: At least you guys are not in Edmonton right now....I hope someone hits Heatly with a beer bottle this season.

I'm thinking he will. Plus a whole lot more....

The press is already bashing him left and right... He's Ottawa's new Alexi Yashin.

Begin-Thornton-Bitz 4th line is going to put the hurt on a lot of people. I'm hoping the momentum continues and the Bruins return to the big bad days of old.

Havlet was fragile in Ottawa, but when he was healthy, he was great!

Everyone knew Gaborik was leaving; at least the Wild did something.

StoneG: Havlet was fragile in Ottawa, but when he was healthy, he was great!

Havlat is the best offensive player in the NHL for the 20 games he plays a year.

Doc Daneeka: GQueue: Doc Daneeka: Hossa's a great player, but I wouldn't give any player in the league a 12 year contract. That's just stupid.

It's not a 12 year contract though, it's a 7 or 8 year contract. Hossa won't play for the cheapo salary that is there on the last years of the deal. It's like those NFL contracts that are 6 or 7 years but structured with some monster roster bonus after year 3. The length of the contract is purely for salary cap reasons.

A seven or eight year contract for Hossa is pretty ridiculous too if you ask me, but people need to think of it in those terms, not as a 12 year deal.

Well, yeah, he's not going to play in Chicago for 12 years, but the term of the contract is still going to come back to haunt them. The Hawks are going to have to pay one way or another. Either they're going to have to buy out the last years of the contract (and pay 2/3 of the salary for someone to not play on their team, which is an abject waste of money). Or else they are going to have to find a trading partner willing to take the remaining several years of Hossa's contract (in the declining years of his career) off of their hands. And the Hawks would be in a far inferior negotiating position in any such trade.


Hossa will retire and the Hawks will be off the hook.

All these signings just prove the league has too many teams.

Look at all the money being paid to these mega-losers because teams feel they have to have some type of star player. If there was 20-21 teams like the good ol' days, nobody in their right mind would be paying so much for injury bugs like Gaborik or Havlat, if at all. And bums like Heatley would be told to go play in the IHL. after one year players getting 4.25 million for 6 years like for david booth? nothing against boothie, krejci and kessel are in the same boat, but these signings always reek of desperation to get people in the door.

montreal catching heat for having small centers for years, then they go out and get gomez because he's one of the 'top' centers available league-wide? simply for the sake of getting some type of top line center? almost 7 for bouwmeester because there's so many teams and not enough guys that can pass the puck and skate. shiat, if you can have a 30-40 point year playing on some team's powerplay, you're guarenteed a 7 million free agent contract for 8 years. retarded

I really hope we lose a bunch or worthless teams sometime, either that this is just an embarrasingly bad free agent year. more and more the nhl's salary cap setup looks foul, and the way teams overpay mediocre players with long contracts so as not to lose guys just looks stupid.

Heh. The Criers, always whining about being penalized, pick up Laps and Pronger.

Katalyst: Heh. The Criers, always whining about being penalized, pick up Laps and Pronger.

This will be funny to you until Crosby receives the kind of love from Pronger that was once only for Homer.

/Not a Philly, Red Wing, Ducks, or Pens fan.
//However will be cheering for Richards, Clearly, Gelzlaf, and Crosby at one point this Winter

Oshawa: Katalyst: Heh. The Criers, always whining about being penalized, pick up Laps and Pronger.

This will be funny to you until Crosby receives the kind of love from Pronger that was once only for Homer.

/Not a Philly, Red Wing, Ducks, or Pens fan.
//However will be cheering for Richards, Clearly, Gelzlaf, and Crosby at one point this Winter


The Criers are the Penguin's biatches. Now Pronger is too. Nothing will change that.

/LOL EMERY

Katalyst:
Hossa will retire go to the KHL and the Hawks will be off the hook.

FTFY.

As long as the Ducks don't steal Saku from us, the Wild are getting close to a decent roster for the first season w/ a new GM and HC...assuming we can get a couple of the youngsters to step up (and the scorers stay healthy, as headline says).

Oshawa: Doc Daneeka: GQueue: Doc Daneeka: Hossa's a great player, but I wouldn't give any player in the league a 12 year contract. That's just stupid.

It's not a 12 year contract though, it's a 7 or 8 year contract. Hossa won't play for the cheapo salary that is there on the last years of the deal. It's like those NFL contracts that are 6 or 7 years but structured with some monster roster bonus after year 3. The length of the contract is purely for salary cap reasons.

A seven or eight year contract for Hossa is pretty ridiculous too if you ask me, but people need to think of it in those terms, not as a 12 year deal.

Well, yeah, he's not going to play in Chicago for 12 years, but the term of the contract is still going to come back to haunt them. The Hawks are going to have to pay one way or another. Either they're going to have to buy out the last years of the contract (and pay 2/3 of the salary for someone to not play on their team, which is an abject waste of money). Or else they are going to have to find a trading partner willing to take the remaining several years of Hossa's contract (in the declining years of his career) off of their hands. And the Hawks would be in a far inferior negotiating position in any such trade.

I see yesterday's predicted fury is actually on slow boil.

I'm not furious and I don't hate the Hawks. Actually I was rooting for them in the playoffs. I'm a fan of Kane and Toews.

I just think that all the super long-term contracts as a means of evading the cap are stupid. If this becomes more prevalent, the league may have to re-evaluate how it calculates a player's cap hit for a given year (something other than a simple average over the length of the whole contract).

Doc Daneeka: If this becomes more prevalent, the league may have to re-evaluate how it calculates a player's cap hit for a given year (something other than a simple average over the length of the whole contract).

But then the GMs will need to be as good at math as Nickolas Cage.

I ment your fury about the Sabre's moves yesterday.

Oshawa: Doc Daneeka: If this becomes more prevalent, the league may have to re-evaluate how it calculates a player's cap hit for a given year (something other than a simple average over the length of the whole contract).

But then the GMs will need to be as good at math as Nickolas Cage.

I ment your fury about the Sabre's moves yesterday.

Spacek leaving? Meh. It's hard to be too angry about it when I saw it coming from miles away. And to be honest, Spacek was only really great in the last year of his contract (this past year). I wouldn't at all be surprised to see him have another down year now that he's just signed a big money contract with Montreal.

The Montador signing wasn't thrilling, but wasn't a terrible move either. Obviously won't replace Spacek's offense, but he could bring some much-needed toughness to the blueline. If he can regain the form he had in Anaheim, it will be a nice move. And honestly, it's more than I was expecting the Sabres to do yesterday. I was expecting them to do nothing.

They badly need to do something about the forward ranks though. Way to many speedy, small, soft players, not enough size. And the only prospect forward that may be good enough to come up this year is Nate Gerbe, who's another pipsqueek. Hopefully this can be addressed through trades before the summer is over.

Doc Daneeka: If this becomes more prevalent, the league may have to re-evaluate how it calculates a player's cap hit for a given year (something other than a simple average over the length of the whole contract).

I think we've already hit the point where it's become too prevalent.

As far as calculating the cap hit...why not just use the amount the player will actually be paid in that season?

Doc Daneeka: I'm really curious to see how Chicago is going to manage to sign both Kane and Toews next summer, and stay under the cap, after the ridiculous Hossa deal yesterday.

If I were the GM guy in Chicago...
Keep Toews, keep Pat Kane's sisters, don't care about Pat Kane.

/wasn't impressed at all by Kane in that series against the Wings

I must say I like how the Canes have just made sure to keep their team intact.

S.A.S.Q.U.A.T.C.H.: All these signings just prove the league has too many teams.

Look at all the money being paid to these mega-losers because teams feel they have to have some type of star player. If there was 20-21 teams like the good ol' days, nobody in their right mind would be paying so much for injury bugs like Gaborik or Havlat, if at all. And bums like Heatley would be told to go play in the IHL. after one year players getting 4.25 million for 6 years like for david booth? nothing against boothie, krejci and kessel are in the same boat, but these signings always reek of desperation to get people in the door.

montreal catching heat for having small centers for years, then they go out and get gomez because he's one of the 'top' centers available league-wide? simply for the sake of getting some type of top line center? almost 7 for bouwmeester because there's so many teams and not enough guys that can pass the puck and skate. shiat, if you can have a 30-40 point year playing on some team's powerplay, you're guarenteed a 7 million free agent contract for 8 years. retarded

I really hope we lose a bunch or worthless teams sometime, either that this is just an embarrasingly bad free agent year. more and more the nhl's salary cap setup looks foul, and the way teams overpay mediocre players with long contracts so as not to lose guys just looks stupid.

maybe the owners can lock out the players for another season. this is the deal the owners wanted. this is what they got. TEAMS make these deals. GMs' make these deals. players do not. no one is holding a gun to anyones' head saying sign hossa to 12 years. sign zetterberg for 12 years. sign dipietro for 15. richards for 12? etc etc.

bring the hate to the billionaires who told us they couldn't afford those ridiculous salaries. yet the average salary per team has risen dramatically post lock out.

/don't hate the player, hate the game