Havlat Dealt

[PDO]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=170991&hubname=nhl

.. for a bunch of prospects.

Believe it ends up being:

To SJ:

Mark Bell

To Ottawa:

Tom Priessing
Josh Hennessy
Michal Barinka
2nd rounder in '07

To Chicago:

Martin Havlat
Brian Smolinski

...

Peca to sign in Ottawa in 5, 4, 3...

[Madferret]

3 yrs 18 M....lol

[Newfie John]

Have a good time in that crap hole ya piece of dirt.

[Madferret]

Have a good time in that crap hole ya piece of dirt.

lol
Give em hell for us Johhny!:thumb:

[Man.Utd]

Great move by Muckler IMO! :D

People will say this makes us a weaker team. And it does. But from our team of last year which many were so to label all but unbeatable having not actually watched Ottawa often, we have really only lost one guy - Zdeno Chara. And it's a big loss no doubt. But we still have one of the better D's in the league. Havlat was hurt all season so he was basically already gone. And Gerber gives us an upgrade in nets too, since Hasek was on the sidelines with Marty for all the games that mattered (plus the 2nd half of the season).

A second rounder is great. Our scouts are among the best and Fisher, Vermette, and Kaigorodov were all taken in the 2nd round recently. Also on the future subject, Josh Hennessy and Michal Barinka give us some decent prospects. Both have top-six / top-four potential respectively. Barinka did play some time in Chicago last season, but I expect he'll be down in Binghamton on a stronger Sen side. He was a high pick in a very deep 2003 class. I'm intrigued by his potential.

Tom Preissing is NHL ready now and gives us some more depth on defense, along with another right handed shot. He had 40+ points in San Jose last season and makes our PP seem all but set. One thing that we really lacked in the post-season, and management acknowledged such, was mobility on defense. Adding Corvo and Preissing really helps address that need now.

Smoke was a vet. We need more of those but with all due respect to the man, he wasn't in the mold of veteran we were looking for exactly. Ottawa needs experienced winners who bring it when it matters. PDO mentioned Peca. He's a perfect example, dollars aside. Not Smolinski. It's just the way it is and good luck in Chicago. More importantly, nice job to get some $$$ off the books by Muckler aswell.

[Newfie John]

Great move by Muckler IMO! :D

People will say this makes us a weaker team. And it does. But from our team of last year which many were so to label all but unbeatable having not actually watched Ottawa often, we have really only lost one guy - Zdeno Chara. And it's a big loss no doubt. But we still have one of the better D's in the league. Havlat was hurt all season so he was basically already gone. And Gerber gives us an upgrade in nets too, since Hasek was on the sidelines with Marty for all the games that matters (plus the 2nd half of the season).

A second rounder is great. Our scouts are among the best and Fisher, Vermette, and Kaigorodov were all taken in the 2nd round recently. Also on the future subject, Josh Hennessy and Michal Barinka give us some decent prospects. Both have top-six / top-four potential rspectively. Barinka did play some time in Chicago last season, but I expect he'll be down in Binghamton on a stronger Sen side. He was a high pick in a very deep 2003 class. I'm intrigued by his potential.

Tom Preissing is NHL ready now and gives us some more depth on defense, along with another right handed shot. He had 40+ points in San Jose last season and makes our PP seem all but set. One thing that we really lacked in the post-season, and management acknowledged such, was mobility on defense. Adding Corvo and Preissing really helps address that need now.

Smoke was a vet. We need more of those but with all due respect to the man, he wasn't in the mold of veteran we were looking for exactly. Ottawa needs experienced winners who bring it when it matters. PDO mentioned Peca. He's a perfect example, dollars aside. Not Smolinski. It's just the way it is and good luck in Chicago. More importantly, nice job to get some $$$ off the books by Muckler aswell.

I agree with you completely. I think its a great deal.

[Man.Utd]

It should also be noted that Chicago's 2nd rounder should only be a few picks off of our 1st rounder, assuming that both clubs finish relative to their expectations for the coming season. This gives us a nice option to trade up in the upcoming draft if the scouts see a player they really like.

That is, assuming we keep the pick. It's always nice to have picks / prospects / expendable future assets in order to swing a deal at the deadline or something. This gives Mucker more flexibility in trying to get a Dou Weight version 2007, if that's the route he chooses to go. Have fun in the windy city, Marty. :nod:

[Amoroq]

Priessing will not replace Chara but he will put up a lot of points that I can guarantee. Good deal.

[KB in Kelowna]

Ottawa unloads a headache and an expednible veteran, San Jose gets a top 6 forward and Chicago spins its wheels again.

[Madferret]

Our blue line looks fantastic for next year...

Redden / Mez
Phillips / Volch
Corvo / Priessing / Schubert / Lee

..all In front of Gerber. I love it.

[Madferret]

SN is still waiting for the fax..

[KB in Kelowna]

SN is still waiting for the fax..:razz: :rollover: :rollover: :rollover:

[Man.Utd]

Our blue line looks fantastic for next year...

Redden / Mez
Phillips / Volch
Corvo / Priessing / Schubert / Lee

..all In front of Gerber. I love it.

If anything, it's very balanced blueline in terms of both quality and playing style. And finally, also in terms of shooting left vs. right. Outside of the top-end quality last year with Redden and Chara, I like this group just as much as last season's. They may not be quite as strong on paper, but I feel they will compliment each other quite well which as seen time and time again come April, is just as important to get the win. And our new found mobility on defense - a big problem last season - is great for the 'new' NHL. We'll also get alot more offense out of these pairing. It should be fun to see how it all plays out in terms of who plays wth who.

But adding Priessing into the mix now now, I don't think there's any chance we see Lee in Ottawa and burn a year towards his UFA eligibility when guys like Schubert and Barinka can fill the depth positions. I have a feeling we'll see something like this:

Redden - Meszaros
Phillips - Corvo
Volchenkov - Preissing -----> Volchenkov is much more comfortable on the left side. He looked better out of the top 4 last season if it meant getting to play there.

Depth: Schubert (assuming they don't play him as a forward), Barinka

[Max Power]

There has been rumble about a trade with Chicago all last week and the name I was hoping to hear coming the other way was Bell. You can understand my excitement when I overheard the word trade with Havlat and Bell in it on the radio this morning.
Other then that disappointment I like this deal. Clearly a salary dump by Mukler and I can?t see any other splashy signing as when all our RFA?s are signed Ottawa will most likely only have a few million to spare.
This deal gives Ottawa better depth in D but man I would have loved to see Spezza, Bell and Fisher down the middle for Ottawa

[butterfly_style]

3 yrs 18 M....lol
Havlat has the potential to win the Art Ross and/or the Maurice Richard Trophy . . .but that's all it is right now, potential.

I will miss Marty's hi-light real goals, but I won't miss his annual contract antics.

Hey Mach 9, Enjoy your 6 mil. in Chicago.
As for your disappearing act in the post season. . .well you shouldn't have to worry, as the Hawks most likely won't make the playoffs

[charlio lemieux]

Havlat has the potential to win the Art Ross and/or the Maurice Richard Trophy . . .but that's all it is right now, potential.

I will miss Marty's hi-light real goals, but I won't miss his annual contract antics.

Hey Mach 9, Enjoy your 6 mil. in Chicago.
As for your disappearing act in the post season. . .well you shouldn't have to worry, as the Hawks most likely won't make the playoffs


Disappearing act? They traded Havlat not Alfredsson. :wicked:

[swflyers25]

No more of the Rat in the East. Ottawa is slowly going downhill. I love it.

[Darsehole Tucker]

No more of the Rat in the East. Ottawa is slowly going downhill. I love it.

* grabs popcorn *

http://www.sparkimg.com/emoticons/popcorn.gif

[charlio lemieux]

No more of the Rat in the East. Ottawa is slowly going downhill. I love it.

Still going too slowly if you ask this Leafer. :D :wicked:

[butterfly_style]

Disappearing act? They traded Havlat not Alfredsson. :wicked:
I know some people are down on Alfie for his playoff perfomance
But, over 9 seasons Daniel has played 79 playoff games.
During that time he has 29G & 28A for 58 Pts.(0.73 Pts per game)
Of those 29G, 7 were game winners.
His best years were 01/02 with 13 Pts in 12 games
And surprisingly(to some) 05/06 with 10 Pts in 10 games

Let's do a comparison.
We'll take soup-boy as an example.
In 8 years, he has played 83 playoff games. . . 35G, 39A for 74pts.(0.89 Pts per game)
Of his 35G, 7 were game winners

So now let's look at salary.
I don't have average salary figures for the time so I took today's dollar figure.
Alfie - 4.6 mil or 1.2 Playoff Pts/million
Mats - 7.6 mil or .94 Playoff Pts/million

Sure I wish Alfie would play better in the playoffs. . .but that can be said about a lot of players.

[Max Power]

I know some people are down on Alfie for his playoff perfomance
But, over 9 seasons Daniel has played 79 playoff games.
During that time he has 29G & 28A for 58 Pts.(0.73 Pts per game)
Of those 29G, 7 were game winners.
His best years were 01/02 with 13 Pts in 12 games
And surprisingly(to some) 05/06 with 10 Pts in 10 games

Let's do a comparison.
We'll take soup-boy as an example.
In 8 years, he has played 83 playoff games. . . 35G, 39A for 74pts.(0.89 Pts per game)
Of his 35G, 7 were game winners

So now let's look at salary.
I don't have average salary figures for the time so I took today's dollar figure.
Alfie - 4.6 mil or 1.2 Playoff Pts/million
Mats - 7.6 mil or .94 Playoff Pts/million

Sure I wish Alfie would play better in the playoffs. . .but that can be said about a lot of players.

Good enough for a 4th round pick
Ottawa does need playoff leadership that Alfi is obviously not providing but not at the expense of him. He's still a great player.

[THE HACK]

Good salary dump by the Sens and now we'll wait and see what they do with this money.Priessing and Corvo on the blueline gives the Sens an even more offensive punch.The team though that got the best is the Sharks in getting Mark Bell,great move by Wilson!

Cheers

[Max Power]

Good salary dump by the Sens and now we'll wait and see what they do with this money.Priessing and Corvo on the blueline gives the Sens an even more offensive punch.The team though that got the best is the Sharks in getting Mark Bell,great move by Wilson!

Cheers

Yeah and I think Mucks must of not been able to afford his salary either. I've also read from Hawk fans he can be pretty lazy player and inconsistent. Maybe he just needs a change in scenery though

[THE HACK]

Yeah and I think Mucks must of not been able to afford his salary either. I've also read from Hawk fans he can be pretty lazy player and inconsistent. Maybe he just needs a change in scenery though

I can see the Sens signing Mike Peca now with this cash they have!

I wanted the Leafs to get Mark Bell and we had him on draft day but we traded the 8th pick when it was our turn to draft to Chicago and moved down 2 spots and got Antropov,what a bad move that was by the Leafs!

Cheers

[butterfly_style]

Yeah and I think Mucks must of not been able to afford his salary either. I've also read from Hawk fans he can be pretty lazy player and inconsistent. Maybe he just needs a change in scenery though
Hopefully, for the Sharks, that Arnason and Bell were NOT buds.

[charlio lemieux]

I know some people are down on Alfie for his playoff perfomance
But, over 9 seasons Daniel has played 79 playoff games.
During that time he has 29G & 28A for 58 Pts.(0.73 Pts per game)
Of those 29G, 7 were game winners.
His best years were 01/02 with 13 Pts in 12 games
And surprisingly(to some) 05/06 with 10 Pts in 10 games

Let's do a comparison.
We'll take soup-boy as an example.
In 8 years, he has played 83 playoff games. . . 35G, 39A for 74pts.(0.89 Pts per game)
Of his 35G, 7 were game winners

So now let's look at salary.
I don't have average salary figures for the time so I took today's dollar figure.
Alfie - 4.6 mil or 1.2 Playoff Pts/million
Mats - 7.6 mil or .94 Playoff Pts/million

Sure I wish Alfie would play better in the playoffs. . .but that can be said about a lot of players.

Are you trying to say Alfie the Disappearing Captain is better than Sundin?
:rollover:
LMAO
I'll take Sundin any day in a hearttbeat.

Alfie has been sheltered for his carreer in Ottawa. First he played behind the likes of Hossa and Yashin. He has had Havlat, who is more dangerous offensively imo, behind him. Now he has two of the best young stars in the game either on his line or again playing infront of him. The ONLY times Sundin had anything close to that is when he first came to Toronto and Gilmour was #1 center and not again until he had Roberts and Mogilny on his line. Now not to take anything away from Gary and Alex but at the point in their carreers when they came to Toronto they simply weren't as good as a healthy Hossa, Yashin, Heatley, Spezza or Havlat. The point being Alfie often doesn't have to face the other teams top checkers, who have had to worry about the other star Sens, whereas Sundin is almost always the main focus of the opposition.

Alfie is a very good player, I will give him that, but I don't see Ottawa winning the cup with him as the Captain. The play, where he turned away from what would have been a 2-on-1 pass and skated to the bench, to me it will forever epitomize his playoff performance, and his lack of desire and heart. Stevie Y would never have done that. Burnaby Joe would never have done that either. Smyth and Iginla would die before they gave up on a play like that in the playoffs.

[butterfly_style]

Are you trying to say Alfie the Disappearing Captain is better than Sundin? .
Nope, never said that.
Just doing a comparison.

The play, where he turned away from what would have been a 2-on-1 pass and skated to the bench, to me it will forever epitomize his playoff performance, and his lack of desire and heart.

I too, remember that play.
Alfie was heading to the bench before what would have been a 2-on-1 pass.
He did not, as you say, turn away from it.
Player's are taught, if you are heading to the bench . . .ignore the play around you . . .in order to avoid "Too many men on the ice"
Alfie's replacement was aleady on his way over the boards . . .if Alfie touches the puck, the Sens get a bench minor.
Then, I suppose Alfie haters would get on him for taking a penalty.

[Max Power]

I can see the Sens signing Mike Peca now with this cash they have!

I wanted the Leafs to get Mark Bell and we had him on draft day but we traded the 8th pick when it was our turn to draft to Chicago and moved down 2 spots and got Antropov,what a bad move that was by the Leafs!

Cheers

I don't think they can afford him. Sens have a good 6 RFA players in need of a contract and 9 million in cap space. Best case scenario they have 3 - 3.5 million left but i doubt it. Mucks would need to make another move to dump salary if he want?s Peca

[Man.Utd]

No more of the Rat in the East. Ottawa is slowly going downhill. I love it.

If this team stays healthy I'd argue that is is just as good - maybe even a bit better - than last year's edition which although strong on paper was missing a few key kogs for extended periods of time. Not to mention at key positions like in net.

Ottawa won't be big favorites like in past years but they will still be solid contenders. That's probably a good thing not only given our past history of being the favorite vs. the underdog, but the teams that keep making the SCF are usually not the ones everyone predicts.

We've really only lost one guy in Chara. A huge loss, but if there is one team that can take a hit on defense it's Ottawa. Besides, as soon as a cap was put in place the writting was on the wall - no team would be able to keep countless stars on their roster and fit into the league's salary structure at the same time. Teams like the Sens who were loaded with elite players were logically going to be hit the hardest (at least in the short-term).

If Ottawa went downhill, and I'm not convinced we have on actual ice where hockey is played as opposed to paper, this could very well be a step back to take a step forward. Havlat was a cancer who was inconsistant, particularily in April even if he was immensely skilled. Considering the return we got, good riddance. I am actually quite impressed by Muckler on this one. Considering Havlat all but killed his trade value by saying he would only sign a one-year deal and then test free agency (barring being offered a big money contract, like that the Hawks gave him), that's a very nice package to get back.

=============

How are things Philly looking ? Gagne just rejected a contract offer and seems to be out for some nice cash. The two pylons in Hatcher and Rathje are still in town with their big money deals making sure the defense can only be average at best for years to come. Nedved is like your Arnason, only he's still around wasting space on a scoring line. Forsberg is coming off yet another surgery, as fragile as, ever and is out until January. Philly is a much different team without Foppa as seen last year, and not in a good way. And then there's Pitkanen; him and his agent seem to be wanting some fair $$$ in contract negotiations. See you in 2007. :wicked:

[swflyers25]

How are things Philly looking ? Gagne just rejected a contract offer and seems to be out for some nice cash.

Gagne should be signed in the next couple of days, thanks for asking. ;)

The two pylons in Hatcher and Rathje are still in town with their big money deals making sure the defense can only be average at best for years to come.

Well, when these two were healthy, they were good players. Rathje shouldn't have been playing at the end of the season because of his hip. Something had to be wrong with Hatcher because his play went from good to worse. He may be back, he may not. NAS seems to be looking for physical d-men and wouldn't you know that is what Hatcher is. Defense is average? Maybe. But I think the past couple of Cup winners haven't had a great defense lineup. CAR hardly had any defensemen that made you go wow. Same with TB. NJ you can argue did. I think if you have guys that know what to do with the puck (which we do have) and some mobile guys which we have in Pitkanen, Jonsson, Meyer and Baumgartner, we should be ok. Lately, you don't need the star-studded defense anymore. You need players to buy into the coaching methods and I think we can do that with the guys we have. We match speed with strength on defense.

Nedved is like your Arnason, only he's still around wasting space on a scoring line.

I can see him being moved, who knows.

Forsberg is coming off yet another surgery, as fragile as, ever and is out until January. Philly is a much different team without Foppa as seen last year, and not in a good way

Let's see what centers we do have: Primeau, Handzus, Nedved, Carter, Richards, Robitialle, Cullen and Umberger. However RJ plays the wing now. I can see Carter or Richards centering the top line, Richards seemed to do well when he got a shot with them. I can also forsee good things with the Carter-Umberger-Dimitrakos line who was the best line after the OLY break. A lot of defensive guys like Murray, Robitaille and god even Tapper will help our PK which was dead last year pretty much. Our young guys will get more time this year, there will be no way around it which is great to hear.

And then there's Pitkanen; him and his agent seem to be wanting some fair $$$ in contract negotiations. See you in 2007.

Again, he'll be signed as well.

Sure, I look forward to playing the Sens this year and winning the season series. :cool:

[butterfly_style]

Sure, I look forward to playing the Sens this year and winning the season series. :cool:
And I look forward to knocking those Filthy Flyers out of the playoffs . . .yet again:coffee:

[Madferret]

I hope the Flyers make the playoffs next year.
I really do.
:no:

[KB in Kelowna]

Gagne should be signed in the next couple of days, thanks for asking. ;)



Well, when these two were healthy, they were good players. Rathje shouldn't have been playing at the end of the season because of his hip. Something had to be wrong with Hatcher because his play went from good to worse. He may be back, he may not. NAS seems to be looking for physical d-men and wouldn't you know that is what Hatcher is. Defense is average? Maybe. But I think the past couple of Cup winners haven't had a great defense lineup. CAR hardly had any defensemen that made you go wow. Same with TB. NJ you can argue did. I think if you have guys that know what to do with the puck (which we do have) and some mobile guys which we have in Pitkanen, Jonsson, Meyer and Baumgartner, we should be ok. Lately, you don't need the star-studded defense anymore. You need players to buy into the coaching methods and I think we can do that with the guys we have. We match speed with strength on defense.



I can see him being moved, who knows.



Let's see what centers we do have: Primeau, Handzus, Nedved, Carter, Richards, Robitialle, Cullen and Umberger. However RJ plays the wing now. I can see Carter or Richards centering the top line, Richards seemed to do well when he got a shot with them. I can also forsee good things with the Carter-Umberger-Dimitrakos line who was the best line after the OLY break. A lot of defensive guys like Murray, Robitaille and god even Tapper will help our PK which was dead last year pretty much. Our young guys will get more time this year, there will be no way around it which is great to hear.



Again, he'll be signed as well.

Sure, I look forward to playing the Sens this year and winning the season series. :cool:

You remind me of the character Kevin Bacon played in Animal House, especially during the parade/riot scene "Remain Calm. all is well, remain calm!"
:laughing:

[charlio lemieux]

Nope, never said that.
Just doing a comparison.



I too, remember that play.
Alfie was heading to the bench before what would have been a 2-on-1 pass.
He did not, as you say, turn away from it.
Player's are taught, if you are heading to the bench . . .ignore the play around you . . .in order to avoid "Too many men on the ice"
Alfie's replacement was aleady on his way over the boards . . .if Alfie touches the puck, the Sens get a bench minor.
Then, I suppose Alfie haters would get on him for taking a penalty.

Hold on. Alfie was on the opposite side of the ice. If his guy is already coming out there should have been a penalty.

[Newfie John]

I know some people are down on Alfie for his playoff perfomance
But, over 9 seasons Daniel has played 79 playoff games.
During that time he has 29G & 28A for 58 Pts.(0.73 Pts per game)
Of those 29G, 7 were game winners.
His best years were 01/02 with 13 Pts in 12 games
And surprisingly(to some) 05/06 with 10 Pts in 10 games

Let's do a comparison.
We'll take soup-boy as an example.
In 8 years, he has played 83 playoff games. . . 35G, 39A for 74pts.(0.89 Pts per game)
Of his 35G, 7 were game winners

So now let's look at salary.
I don't have average salary figures for the time so I took today's dollar figure.
Alfie - 4.6 mil or 1.2 Playoff Pts/million
Mats - 7.6 mil or .94 Playoff Pts/million

Sure I wish Alfie would play better in the playoffs. . .but that can be said about a lot of players.

Sundin makes 6.8 million, not 7.6. Not trying to split hairs or anything. Also, another thing to keep in mind, while Alfredsson is playing with the Heatleys, or Havlats or Hossa's of the world, Sundin is playing with the Roberts', Thomas', and Renberg's of the world.

[Man.Utd]

Gagne should be signed in the next couple of days, thanks for asking. ;)



Well, when these two were healthy, they were good players. Rathje shouldn't have been playing at the end of the season because of his hip. Something had to be wrong with Hatcher because his play went from good to worse. He may be back, he may not. NAS seems to be looking for physical d-men and wouldn't you know that is what Hatcher is. Defense is average? Maybe. But I think the past couple of Cup winners haven't had a great defense lineup. CAR hardly had any defensemen that made you go wow. Same with TB. NJ you can argue did. I think if you have guys that know what to do with the puck (which we do have) and some mobile guys which we have in Pitkanen, Jonsson, Meyer and Baumgartner, we should be ok. Lately, you don't need the star-studded defense anymore. You need players to buy into the coaching methods and I think we can do that with the guys we have. We match speed with strength on defense.



I can see him being moved, who knows.



Let's see what centers we do have: Primeau, Handzus, Nedved, Carter, Richards, Robitialle, Cullen and Umberger. However RJ plays the wing now. I can see Carter or Richards centering the top line, Richards seemed to do well when he got a shot with them. I can also forsee good things with the Carter-Umberger-Dimitrakos line who was the best line after the OLY break. A lot of defensive guys like Murray, Robitaille and god even Tapper will help our PK which was dead last year pretty much. Our young guys will get more time this year, there will be no way around it which is great to hear.



Again, he'll be signed as well.

Sure, I look forward to playing the Sens this year and winning the season series. :cool:

In regards to Gagne and Pitkanen, I never doubted they'd re-sign but rather for what amount. And how much cap room Philadelphia would have left afterwards. Barring a trade of course. And it's have to be a Havlat-esque trade, in all likelyhood (although maybe not on as big of a scale). And then we Sens fans can all rejoice about how the Flyers are slowly going downhill. ;)

That defense still looks very undesireable to me as far as being a Cup contender goes. Injuries or not, I don't think the Flyers would have gotten past Buffalo's speed last playoffs. If they did, it wouldn't be thanks to the blueline IMO. I still think team speed can ware those guys down and if not that, simply exploit them. They'll get another kick at the can this season. If they fail again, the experiment has to be coscidered a failure. A rather expensive one too which is hard (impossible?) to fully correct since the problem is with a skill that some players will just never learn. Maybe they can rebound. We'll see. I doubt it however,

Fair enough on the young guys. Ottawa will be hoping for young players to improve aswell in Meszaros, Volchenkov, Eaves, Vermette, to name a few. But at least young and inexperienced skaters aren't the "go to guys" while a key star - the player that makes the team run at 100% - is going to be waiting on the sidelines like Forsberg. If our young guys don't quite progress as hoped we'll still have the talent to compensate a bit. I don't know what Philadelphia will do. There are relatively young players like Spezza and Heatley in key roles, but they are already established stars who we hope will simply reach that 'next level'. Very much like Pitkanen, but he's a bit behind IMO simply because he's a defenseman. They take longer to develop and it'll be a couple more seasons yet before he becomes a league leader statisitcally.

The season series should be fun. It will be interesting to see when these clubs meet aswell. Prior to the Forsberg return I don't see Philly matching up that well at least on paper. Foppa makes any team much, much better. We saw last year how much of a difference maker he is on the Flyer squad. And due to another unfortunate injury to the Swede, he'll be out until around January.

[Madferret]

I heard a rumour that the Habs gave Gagne an offer sheet today.

[Man.Utd]

Well the Habs did just lose out on Shanahan after reportedly being ready to offer some serious $$$.......

Philly has fairly good scouts and Gagne isn't nearly as good without Forsberg as he is with him. Foppa will be gone for a good while. Past Christmas for sure. I'd let him walk on that offer sheet depending on the compensation. What are the rules for how many 1st/2nd rounders a team gets?

Of course, maybe Gagne turns the offer sheet down. That's a possibility people don't often consider, but if a player thinks he can get good money where he is and likes the city he may be inclined to say 'thanks but not thanks'. With Gagne being French though, I don't think that'd be the case.

[PDO]

Well the Habs did just lose out on Shanahan after reportedly being ready to offer some serious $$$.......

Philly has fairly good scouts and Gagne isn't nearly as good without Forsberg as he is with him. Foppa will be gone for a good while. Past Christmas for sure. I'd let him walk on that offer sheet depending on the compensation. What are the rules for how many 1st/2nd rounders a team gets?

Of course, maybe Gagne turns the offer sheet down. That's a possibility people don't often consider, but if a player thinks he can get good money where he is and likes the city he may be inclined to say 'thanks but not thanks'. With Gagne being French though, I don't think that'd be the case.

2-3M = 1st, 3rd
3-4M = 1st, 2nd, 3rd
4-5M = 2 1sts, 2nd, 3rd
5.01M = 4 1sts

That's off memory, positive on the last 2 though.

[Man.Utd]

Thanks, B. I had a feeling you'd know. Prompt aswell, good show! :)

If it's true, I wonder how much the Habs offered Gagne. I'd imagine just under 5M as there is a big gap between those last two. 4 first rounders is well worth it for Philly IMO given their situation and ability to make good on those selections. But you'd have to think any of those others compensations would leave the Flyers feeling a little hard done by.

There's a reason GMs don't give offer sheets very often even if it seems so easy. It's a cheap tactic and most NHL GMs have long, long memories. Look at our man Mucker here in Ottawa, for one example! Sending out an offer sheet will make any future trade talks much, much harder for the franchise in question.

[PDO]

Couple things on offer sheets..

It includes 5.00M, 4.00M, etc now. Makes enough sense. So you offer 5.00M, it's 2 1sts a 2nd and a 3rd, etc.

I think any team you target should at the very least be in your conference, if not division. Having said that, everyone remember Philly making the offer to Gratton? I don't recall any problems with a Fedetenko/Pitkanen trade that took place shortly after ;).

Finally, any player that you target should be 24 at the absolute oldest. He should be a player you could eventually/already throw the franchise tag on, and the team (obviously) has to be in serious cap trouble.

The only exception I see currently is Paul Martin - I think he'd be a very good target given NJ's cap problems. Any player that has filed for arbitration can NOT be offered a sheet.

The guys who I think would be worth a $5MM offer sheet...

1) BERGERON
2) Pitkanen
3) Lehtonen
4) Bouwmeester

If Peca signed in Ottawa, I think Vermette could be a decent target for a team like Montreal as well.

Anyway, there goes my favourite topic again ;)

[PDO]

Just to add, my nightmare right now is that Calgary flips Hamrlik for some picks, and then offers Bergeron 5MM.

Calgary would only add 1.5M in salary in doing that, and would (in one offseason) go from having arguably the worst T6 in the league to the best T6 in the league, at the cost of what would likely end up being 2 1st rounders and Leopold.

Tanguay - Bergeron - Iginla
Friesen - Lombardi - Kobasew

.. ouch.

[Man.Utd]

I think any team you target should at the very least be in your conference, if not division. Having said that, everyone remember Philly making the offer to Gratton? I don't recall any problems with a Fedetenko/Pitkanen trade that took place shortly after ;).

True, but I was talking more about the Crosby's of the world. "Jacking" a player of that calibre via an offer sheet wouldn't win you many friends around the league.

And it's interesting you mention that Pitkanen trade. Many people claim it was a steal for Philadelphia. Well Tampa fans don't think so. They won the Cup shortly after too and Fedetenko contributed his fair share to the cause. That Cup was worth it to them and it would be to me too. I'd much rather a banner in the rafters saying "Stanley Cup Champs" than a young, stud defenseman on my blueline with nothing to show for it.

That's not to say the Lightning wouldn't have won the Cup without making that trade, but you never know. The "what if" game can have so many other hypothetical spin-offs that it can be played for years and year. And it is, as any frequent sports forum user would know. :)

[PDO]

I'm expecting Crosby and Ovechkin to be signed for the max.

Seriously.