Monday, July 9, 2007

Better options

Surely there were better options to go with for the Edmonton Oilers than Thomas Vanek.

Signing a restricted free agent to an offer sheet is a risky proposal in that it very rarely works and draws the ire of other GM's around the league.

But the issue isn't that Oiler GM Kevin Lowe attempted the offer-sheet move. It's who he did it with - Thomas Vanek and the Buffalo Sabres.

Executives of the Buffalo Sabres got wind of the move days before it actually happened. They warned Lowe that no matter what the offer was that the Sabres were going to match it. And while you can't take everyone at their word, did Kevin Lowe really think the Sabres were going to let go ANOTHER star player this offseason, let alone last week?

Not even a week removed from losing co-captain centres Chris Drury and Daniel Briere to big-money free agent contracts and Dainius Zubrus on top of it, the Sabres were not going to let go of their 23-year old, leading goal scorer no matter what the price. No way.
4 first round draft picks is a nice way to build for your future, but the Sabres aren't going to let themselves rebuild this soon. They just came off two great seasons where they went to the Conference final both times, including winning the President's Trophy in '06-'07. If they had let Vanek walk, on top of their other free agency losses, they are already waving the white flags for '07-'08.
This years team will have some huge holes to fill, but could still be a playoff team, and the playoffs are where teams make money. Buffalo is small-market and doesn't want to miss out on any of that money. They couldn't allow themselves to go from league's top draw to obscurity in a week's time and Kevin Lowe should have known this.

Honestly, I don't think the Sabres will be all that upset in a couple of years when they have one of the leagues premier talents under contract, allowing them to avoid another scenario that took place with Drury and Briere. Yes, they're overpaying now, but it very could be a very nice deal down the road for Buffalo.

But, surely, there were better, more realistic, more attainable candidates for Kevin Lowe to sign to an offer sheet.
Buffalo GM Darcy Regier hit it right on the nose when he said,
"what this amounted to was an exercise in futility."

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Caps moving on up

Flying under the radar despite an active start to the summer, the Washington Capitals are looking to climb up the Southeast Division...finally.

Even the dynamic duo of Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin couldn't prevent the Caps from finishing in the basement for the 3rd straight season. Everyone knew that no matter how good Ovechkin was that he couldn't get the pitiful Caps to the playoffs on his own. Well, owner Ted Leonsis and GM George McPhee are finally ready to build a playoff team with #8 at its core.

Bringing in Viktor Kozlov was a solid move to add another skilled Russian forward, this time a veteran, to help out the kids. Could Kozlov be centred between Ovechkin and Semin? The Caps did change their jerseys to red this year - it would really be a shame not to have an all-Russian line, wouldn't it?
But when they bring in Michael Nylander the next day you start looking at the prospect of two bona fide scoring lines, not one, no matter what the combinations.

Nylander is a great signing for the Capitals, as it would have been by any team, really. He's coming off two great years. I didn't have to look at the numbers to verify this (23+56=79, 26+57=83), because every time I watched my team play the Rangers these years I would think the same thing every time he had the puck - which the same reaction I have to Jagr - that a goal was imminent.

Add to the mix Swedish phenom Nicklas Backstrom (who will be a rookie this coming season) and you've got a hell of a top-five. Pencil in anyone competent for the 6th spot and I'd say you've got one of the top 1-2 punches in the league.

Now, defense is still a big problem as the Caps have given up a TON of goals over the last few years, but signing Tom Poti isn't a bad move. While he's not the defensive-defenseman they could use, he's still an improvement. Anything would be at this point. But their defensive problems aren't going to be fixed by one player anyway, so adding Poti isn't anything to scoff at.

While I can't say whether or not the Capitals are trying to further improve their defense this offseason, I would bet that Olaf Kolzig is begging for it. He has been extremely loyal to the organization and wants to finish his career in Washington. Putting the defense they've had in front of the aging Kolzig for the past few years isn't exactly returning the favor.
But we are only a little over 48 hours into the Free Agency period and there are enough names still out there to get Kolzig some help.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Remember Game 5?

Chris Drury put the dagger in the heart of the New York Rangers not even 2 months ago. Now the Rangers have done the same to the Buffalo Sabres.

Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals between those two teams was so epic. So important. So exciting.
The series was 2-2 and Henrik Lundqvist looked like he was going to carry the New York Rangers on his back to the Stanley Cup Finals. He had only given up one goal in each of the two previous games, both Ranger wins, and was on the verge of shutting out the mighty Sabre offense for a 3-2 series lead.

But as John Buccigross would say: "Chris Drury is clutch and clutch is everything."
Drury changed the series for good with 8 seconds left.

You knew the Rangers didn't have a chance in overtime. Drury's goal was too dramatic for it to end in a Sabres loss. It was a dagger in the heart for the Rangers. While the Rangers kept battling back in the final game - #6, Chris Drury's goal hung over that game too and lifted the Sabres to the Conference Final.

Now the Sabres have lost both of their captains; while the Rangers land not only Scott Gomez, but one of the most clutch goal-scorers ever in Drury. Add to that the drafting of Alexei Cherepanov last week and I'd say that Rangers fans have a lot to be happy about.

Oilers get their man

I guess I should have dismissed Flyers' GM Paul Holmgren's constant dismissals of the Joni Pitkanen to Edmonton rumors.

He said, "not happening, not happening, not happening."
And he had to because the rumors kept resurfacing for months, and months, and months.

Kevin Lowe (maybe MacTavish too) really wanted Pitkanen. He obviously tried for a long time to acquire him and gave up his captain and a young phenom in Lupul who only got one (albeit disappointing) year with the team.

When a rumor stays around for that long they're is probably something to it.
Lesson learned.

I wonder who will be the Flyers' captain now? They have left 3 teams (or, 2½) without their captains in just 2 weeks:
Nashville (Timonen), Edmonton (Smith), and Buffalo (Briere - co-captain).

That's a lot of leadership for all the
players under the age of 25 the Flyers will have on their opening day roster.

Good sign for Philly

Daniel Briere was offered more money (average per year) than the deal he signed with the Flyers.

Briere revealed (on a TSN interview) that he was offered over $7mil/year average by other clubs. The fact that he chose to be locked up for 8 years at an average of $6.5mil with the Flyers was because he wanted to go there.

I'm sure the $10 million Briere will earn this season didn't hurt the Flyers' cause (modern-day signing bonus, anyone?), but when a guy turns down more money and chooses to sign somewhere for 8 years just as he is hitting the prime of his career says a lot.

Sure, he's not Chris Drury, but having Daniel Briere wanting to come play for your team is pretty damn good.

I'd say that between the Briere and Timmonen's long-term, front-heavy deals, Paul Holmgren in already in the running to be GM of the year.
 
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