Free Agent Signings

[rezadue]

Dumb Dumb Dumb.
What re these GMs thinking?

[jonf]

I'm tyhinking that Rangers GM deserves a raise, being able to sign the two most coveted free agents. Holy crap, they will be a force to be reckoned with.

[sillywilly]

Wow, the rangers did a great job this offseason and in the draft. First, picking up Cherepanov with the 17th pick was a fantastic pick even if he doesn't play this year (which I'm sure he will). Gomez and drury at 7mil a piece is a about what I expected them to get in the free market. It is concerning that both these guys are making more than thorton but he wasn't a free agent signing and I suppose would have gotten more through FA. A lot of poeple think these GMs are crazy for offering this kind of money to these players but its really not that big a deal. You can still trade the player for a draft pick to dump salary. I wonder how much a guy like spezza and heatly will get on the open market now. Are either of them worth 6mil a year?? Finally, what is going to happen with Sid?? Even as an Unrestricted FA you would expect every team in the NHL to offer him a 10year, 10m/yr offer sheet when its time. Does he stay with PIT for 7mil so they can affort to pay everyone else (staal, malkin, armstrong, fleury, Angelo E... ect) or does he bolt giving pit 4 first round draft picks? Does PIT offer him a 10mil extension? I wouldn't. I would rather have 4 first round draft picks and 10m to pick up 2 or 3 players than have crosby on my team.

[Golfbum]

Wow, the rangers did a great job this offseason and in the draft. First, picking up Cherepanov with the 17th pick was a fantastic pick even if he doesn't play this year (which I'm sure he will). Gomez and drury at 7mil a piece is a about what I expected them to get in the free market. It is concerning that both these guys are making more than thorton but he wasn't a free agent signing and I suppose would have gotten more through FA. A lot of poeple think these GMs are crazy for offering this kind of money to these players but its really not that big a deal. You can still trade the player for a draft pick to dump salary. I wonder how much a guy like spezza and heatly will get on the open market now. Are either of them worth 6mil a year?? Finally, what is going to happen with Sid?? Even as an Unrestricted FA you would expect every team in the NHL to offer him a 10year, 10m/yr offer sheet when its time. Does he stay with PIT for 7mil so they can affort to pay everyone else (staal, malkin, armstrong, fleury, Angelo E... ect) or does he bolt giving pit 4 first round draft picks? Does PIT offer him a 10mil extension? I wouldn't. I would rather have 4 first round draft picks and 10m to pick up 2 or 3 players than have crosby on my team.

Yeah but Joe gets to be in sunny warm CA during the hockey season. Gomez and Drury are stuck in cold NYC! What's in your wallet?

[Hacker]

Is Murray planning on doing anything or is he content to just lose players from the roster?

[jonf]

his priority right now is emery. Then he will no doubt be trying to deal Gerber and Redden. Then he'll know what kind of cap room he has to pick up an extra d-man and (fingers crossed) a power forward.

[Hacker]

I can't see him trading Redden now - there are no top end free agents left

[jonf]

the offseason isn't a two day deal. He's got two months t figure out his roster. None of the big name free agents really filled Ottawa's needs. It's usually the mid-summer, lower profile signings that tend to fill those roster spots. As for Redden getting traded, it was always going to be a small iracle if they could pull it off. But I'm still holding out hope

[Indio]

I can't see him trading Redden now - there are no top end free agents left

Maybe the NYR or Philly will be looking to make a trade or two in the coming months when they come to their senses

[LBH]

I can't see him trading Redden now - there are no top end free agents left

Uhh.... What about Sheldon Souray from Montreal?

[Hacker]

Uhh.... What about Sheldon Souray from Montreal?

Good one

[larry]

Here we go again. The NHL is right back where it was before the lock out. The rich teams are getting richer and the small and mid sized market teams are screwed. This article from Sportsnet says it all. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/artic...02_100957_1192

[PEI Golfing]

Islanders sign Comerie to One-year deal.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=212877&hubname=

Going to miss his play. He was a great pickup for the Sens last year. Thanks Mucks !!

We still have Redden and his "No trade Clause". No thanks on this one Mucks............

Good luck in your interview tomorrow with the Leafs.............

[jeffc]

no way we were going to pay him anywhere near 3.4M to play on the 3rd line....

[davevandyk]

no way we were going to pay him anywhere near 3.4M to play on the 3rd line....

I agree, and i think Eaves can step into the line-up now that he will be healthy at the start of the year.

[Colby]

I'm not sure if it's true, but Comrie was willing to take less money to stay in Ottawa, but Ottawa had no room to sign him without making some space.

[davevandyk]

Is Murray planning on doing anything or is he content to just lose players from the roster?

I would think Murray is doin what other GM's are not really doing, worrying about the future. Next year the team will have Heatley, Redden and Fisher as UFA's and Spezza will be a RFA, along with Vermette and Meszaros. You know that to keep these guys, they will all likely get raises, with Fisher/Heater/Spezza/Meszaros getting large raises i would think. I mean Fisher is a 1.5million player, i would think if he was a UFA right now, he would be a 4million/year player that teams would be killing eachother for.

I think Murray should be more than content with his team, assume they re-sign Emery and Kelly and he's probably more concerned with locking up some of the above players to long-term contracts this summer to avoid the mess next summer.

[larry]

I would think Murray is doin what other GM's are not really doing, worrying about the future. Next year the team will have Heatley, Redden and Fisher as UFA's and Spezza will be a RFA, along with Vermette and Meszaros. You know that to keep these guys, they will all likely get raises, with Fisher/Heater/Spezza/Meszaros getting large raises i would think. I mean Fisher is a 1.5million player, i would think if he was a UFA right now, he would be a 4million/year player that teams would be killing eachother for.

I think Murray should be more than content with his team, assume they re-sign Emery and Kelly and he's probably more concerned with locking up some of the above players to long-term contracts this summer to avoid the mess next summer.

I think you hit the nail square on the head. The Sens have to think about next year and there is no way they can spend a lot of money signing 3rd and 4th line players to expensive multi year contracts. The money some teams are throwing at players I consider very average is nuts. Murray will probably try and pick up a couple of rent a players after Christmas but they will start the season with what they have.

[jeffc]

Comrie might have taken a bit less, but not half of that which is about the max you can pay a 3rd liner....

[jeffc]

I think you hit the nail square on the head. The Sens have to think about next year and there is no way they can spend a lot of money signing 3rd and 4th line players to expensive multi year contracts. The money some teams are throwing at players I consider very average is nuts. Murray will probably try and pick up a couple of rent a players after Christmas but they will start the season with what they have.

agreed. Teams that overspend on free agents rarely end up in a good position at the end of the year. It can also hurt them over several years if they are stuck with big long term contracts if these guys don't produce. It takes more than 1-2 guys to make a good team. Ottawa will be fine next year but expect a couple of depth guys to add to the mix. Imagine if they hadn't have signed Philips and Volchenkov before all this lunacy started?

[jeffc]

the lunacy continues....

Oilers throw $50M at Vanek

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL...318734-cp.html

I just can't see why they would give up 4 first round draft picks to do this....

[Hacker]

This is just getting CRAZY!!!! How much do you think a guy like Heatley or Spezza would get offered??

[jeffc]

looks like Buffalo will match it as reported on TSN. I can see Spezza and Heatley being offered upwards of $8M each. I guess we'll see if there is any hometown love there.

[Hacker]

They are both making over 5M now so let Reds walk at the end of the year and give Heater and Spezz a 3M raise each

[jonf]

I would think Murray is doin what other GM's are not really doing, worrying about the future. Next year the team will have Heatley, Redden and Fisher as UFA's and Spezza will be a RFA, along with Vermette and Meszaros. You know that to keep these guys, they will all likely get raises, with Fisher/Heater/Spezza/Meszaros getting large raises i would think. I mean Fisher is a 1.5million player, i would think if he was a UFA right now, he would be a 4million/year player that teams would be killing eachother for.

I think Murray should be more than content with his team, assume they re-sign Emery and Kelly and he's probably more concerned with locking up some of the above players to long-term contracts this summer to avoid the mess next summer.

I agree with most of what you have said. But I certainly hope that Murray is not content with his team. If he is, then we need a new GM. That's why Muckler was flushed out....because in every interview he gave during the last two years he was "happy the way things were". Well, we just saw that the way things are is not good enough to win the cup. So, though I don't think massive changes are needed, there is no way that anybody should be content with a distant second place (and it was distant).

[Txxxxxxx]

the lunacy continues....

Oilers throw $50M at Vanek

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL...318734-cp.html

I just can't see why they would give up 4 first round draft picks to do this....

Lowe is grasping for strings now. He know he made a moronic trade and didn't re-sign Sykora, so the team is basically left with Hemsky, not to mention the blue line is in shambles to say the least.

He made offers to Kariya, Gomez, Drury, and one other player, three of which never returned his call and one, being Kariya, rejected his offer.

We did get hosed on the Nylander deal though, but I feel he is concentrating on making one blockbuster move instead of signing 4 or 5 different 4 million dollar players. He can afford to do that because they had 17 million this year under the 45 million dollar cap before they moved it to 50 million, so that leaves him 22 million to deal with.

Don't be surprised if the floodgates open now that our team is basically dismantled.

[Indio]

For what its worth, I understand that Ottawa had discussions with Edmonton for Smith and Lupul but Edmonton wanted Redden and Vermette and Murry said that Vermette was untouchable, thus they made the Philly deal.