Dustin Boyd and Dan Ellis are currently the top searched players on Hockeydb.com. Boyd scored 11 goals in 78 games last year split between Calgary and Nashville. Ellis had a really good year in 07-08, with a .924 SVPCT and a record of 23-10-3 as Nashville sneaked into the playoffs after having a good chunk of their team gutted the previous off-season (mostly due to ownership issues). Last year he went 15-13-1 with a .909 SVPCT, but clearly Nashville’s goalie of the present is Pekka Rinne.
Neither of these two players has a contract for this year, though. Boyd is an RFA, Ellis is a UFA.
So where will Kovalchuk end up? I’ve heard all the rumors. I guess if he stays in the NHL he will end up with the Kings. I’m thinking he might be leaning more towards the KHL though.
I guess it depends on how important money is to him. But I agree it’s either L.A. or Russia.
In other news, the Leafs have acquired Kris Versteeg and a prospect from Chicago in exchange for Viktor Stalberg, Chris DiDomenico and Phillippe Paradis.
Wow! Ottawa hasgiven Sergei Gonchar a three year deal with a cap hit of $5.5 million. This is a high-risk, high-reward deal for Ottawa. Gonchar is a superb player who made great strides in his defensive game in Pittsburgh while providing his customary offensive power. But he’s 36 and every year of that contract will count against the cap even if he retires. Ottawa has needed a boost to their power play and transition game and Gonchar provides it. But this contract may look terrible when he’s 38.
In other news, Toronto has overpaid for truculence once again, signing Colby Armstrong to a 3 year, $9 million contract. As a Sens fan I am not looking forward to six games per season of head shots, elbows and hits from behind, but at least he doesn’t do anything for the Leafs’ punchless offense.
ETA: I see I’ve been spending too much time in the World Cup thread. “Ottawa have given”?
Don’t feel too bad, Guin. The Penguins just signed Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek to long term deals. Both are very good players and really help to bolster a Pittsburgh blueline that badly needed it.
:smack:Okay. I’m not going to say that there seems to be large amounts of moron flakes being eaten at the breakfast tables of some Western conference GMs, but there might be some drooling idiot-o’s being consumed in the morning.
The western conference is a dogfight all the way to the end of the regular season. Why add more question marks? Yes the Hawks won the cup without a marquee goaltender, but they also had a large amount over the cap which is forcing them to dismantle the team that won the cup. Yes Detroit won the cup with Chris Osgood in net, but he’d already won the cup and actually does have some solid stats to back him up. Detroit also had GM’s smart enough to essentially break the salary cap through thoroughly obscene contract weaselling. Long story short, while having a high priced but talented goalie can be a drag in the cap era, it usually isn’t as long as the goalie isn’t your only way to win games (Hi Vancouver, New Jersey, Calgary, and Buffalo).
That’s the story at least. Modano wants to play for a Cali team so he doesn’t have to spend time away from his wife, actress Willa Ford. This is going to sound a bit mean, but calling her an actress is a bit of a stretch since her largest scale role to date was being a pair of tits before being killed by Jason in the new Friday the 13th. On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind being closer to her either if I had a say in the matter (stupid restraining order).
Speaking of hockey in heathen hot zones, I’ve also heard that the Kings are about the only team with the cap and the need to be able to sign Kovalchuk. Could L.A. bolster their young and talented team with Modano/Kovalchuk?
I wouldn’t mind trading Fedotenko (he was awful this season), but it looks like he’s sticking around. We did, however, resign Matt Cooke, and that’s definitely a plus.
(I’m wondering though who they’ll promote to alternate now that Gonch is gone. I’m guessing it’ll be Brooks Orpik, since he’s the “alternate-alternate”, along with Jordan Staal.)
He may not have been part of the most glorious part of hockey, and his personal life had problems. But This Red Wing fan remembers screaming my head off cheering for him, particularly in the Tie Domi fights.
Man I feel old when athletes who just retired die.