NHL draft and offseason thread

The Game Room
1

Here is a thread to discuss the upcoming NHL draft and offseason activity up until the start of training camps and preseason action.

I live 3 miles away from downtown Chicago and I was awoken this morning from the noise from the Blackhawks parade. I really wish I could have gone this morning, but I work late hours and waking up at 9 AM is really too early for me. Still, it was an amazing site to see today on TV.

Roughly 2 million people turned out for the Hawks today, and the Hawks were classy enough to place a thank you Boston ad in the Boston Globe today.

A great day for hockey.

2

Grats to the Hawks…once they beat my Kings, I just had to root for them.

3

Devils beat writer Tom Gulitti reporting that a group headed by Andrew Barroway is in negotiations to purchase controlling interest in the team.

It’s been reported that the team was struggling and recently the current majority owner, Jeff Vanderbeek, bought out the minority partners and refinanced some debt, but none of the financials were ever released (though they were widely speculated upon) and it was believed that those actions solidified the team’s financial situation and we could put such talk to bed.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, it’s revealed that this attorney and his group, who once tried to purchase the Philadelphia 76ers but couldn’t come up with the cash, is not only trying to purchase a part of the team, but a controlling interest and a sale may be imminent (the article by Gulitti says it could be completed in as early as a week).

If this is the case, I’m sure the team would welcome the infusion of cash with some free agents still waving in the breeze and some holes to fill on the team, but it’s all a bit shocking.

4

Hmm Kaberle is a free agent now too. I wouldn’t mind his Power play point skills to help the anemic PP the Wings had last year. But once again I don’t see it happening, The Wings signed Kindl to an extension, so with Kronwall, Ericsen, Lashof and Dekeyser, Quincey and possibly Brenden Smith(and that’s assuming they can dump Colaviccio), they got look to have blue line set.

5

Not a lightning fan but Seth jones was still on the table and your defense is terrible…why not pass and take a forward. I hope you lose your team.

6

Cory Schneider traded from the Canucks to the Devils. Looks like the Canucks are going to have to stick with Luongo.

7

All they got was pick 9 for Schneider? They got freakin hosed.

8

They are beyond desperate with their cap,and everybody knows it.

9

[Gary Oldman]I… am… VERY DISAPPOINTED![/Gary Oldman]

10

Man I hope Mantha is there for the Wings, They got playmakers already, they need a sniper.

ETA …or they can trade it away.

11

Yay. :slight_smile:

12

That is very true.

13

Blackhawks with a couple of interesting moves. From the Chicago Sun-Times: The Blackhawks have signed Bryan Bickell to a 4-year deal … but they traded off the men who scored and got the assist on the goal that gave them the Stanley Cup - Dave Bolland and Michael Frolick - to give them the cap room.

Hope Bickell lives up to it. The Hawks need a decent backup goalie as well as I assume Emery is leaving.

14

What a horrible month for Pittsburgh fans. We spent the last 4 years trying to decide just WTF was wrong with the team in the playoffs - injuries? goalies? coaching? defense? - and we figured everything out in one playoff run. And when I say “we” I mean “the fans” because the office, apparently, saw no issues at all. Fleury is the franchise goaltender, Bylsma is the coach for life, and all the assistants can stay, too - admitting that they’re fine with the Washington model of selling out the regular season but couldn’t give two fuck shits about the Cup.

(Oh, and Shero’s bizarre interview where he stated he didn’t understand the first thing about coaching and left it up to the “feeling” he got from the players… um… ?)

Then he follows it up by inking Letang/Malkin long-term - no real complaints, except now we have 7 players with $43 million in cap space.

Which wouldn’t be bad, except we have no. wingers. in the pipeline. None. Not even the AHL team - they just lost the 2nd highest scorer last year to Sweden.

Plus, our bottom 6 is a hot mess of geriatrics and cast-offs that’s getting worse everyday.

And so this draft rolls around and is one of the best drafts in the last 20 years to build a bottom 6 out of - 50 picks of solid, utility guys of every skillset at every size that project as NHL capable. Plus wingers galore! We gave up a lot of the Iginla/Murray experiment, but we also had Orpik/Nisky/Etc as trade bait (and he did flip Tyler Kennedy for a 2nd which makes me keep faith in Shero’s dark arts atleast a little.) But other than a nice-skillset goalie, what did we get?

[ul]
[li]One player from a developmental league[/li][li]One player over 6’ (the goalie!)[/li][li]A mean high school defensemen[/li][li]A nice high school defensemen[/li][li]3 undersized NCAA centers with limited upsides[/li][/ul]

Just… what? What the fuck? I know draftees from Round 3 are basically “wouldn’t it be nice” prospects at best, and take years to develop in the very best case scenario, but you can get all those guys unsigned - I doubt any of them are any boards anywhere. I know Pittsburgh thinks they’re outsmarting everyone by scouting the NCAA and high schools but I’m starting to wonder if they actually hate Europe.

Makes no f’n sense, this team is turning into the Pirates while the Pirates are turning into the Penguins.

15

Still in a little bit of shock at the master stroke Lou pulled off at the draft, but I’m liking it more and more, with a few caveats of course.

It’s no secret that the Devils need some guys who can score in the system, especially with the most recent news that Clarkson (unsurprisingly) is going to be testing free agency and someone will almost certainly overpay him. So when Shinkaruk and Nichushkin were both there for the taking when it came time for the Devils to pick, the only thing more surprising than seeing Bettman heading up to the mic to announce a trade was the news he gave when he got there.

In classic Lou fashion, in one fell swoop he answered the age-old question of who will take over in goal when Brodeur retires, and simultaneously stuck it to the Flyers and Islanders, two divisional opponents who were both reportedly eying Schneider as possible answers to their own goalie issues. In one move he made his team better and hurt them, taking Schneider and Luongo off the board and leaving them with Mason and Nabakov, respectively, as their current starters and a few mostly undesirable free agent scraps to choose from and fight over.

The caveats are, of course, that Schneider may not be as good as the hype. He’s certainly more proven than anyone the Devils have in the system and was clearly the best option remaining, but signs are good that he’ll be at least an above average goal tender for years to come and that’s all you can really ask for. And secondly that he’s only under contract for two more seasons before becoming an UFA and the team needs to get him extended if they truly believe he is the long-term answer in goal (which they can’t until next year), which can be problematic if they can’t get him to drink the kool-aid.

Then, to top it off, the organization makes a really classy move and provides one of the most memorable draft day moments by trading for a 7th round pick so Brodeur can announce that the team that he’s been so loyal to for his entire career is drafting his son.

If you had told me a week ago that the Devils draft would begin and end with goalies, I’d have said you were crazy, but I couldn’t have scripted a better draft day.

Now Lou needs to get active in free agency and bring in some scorers or there are going to be a lot of 1-0, 2-1 games in the team’s near future.

16

Someday there’s going to be entire college programs built around the situation in Glendale. It’s got everything, at every level - local politics, major sports interests, shadow corporations, international financiers, kickbacks, etc.

Right now there’s a city council meeting that might (or, might not, since it’s Glendale) determine the future of the 'Yotes. Bettman is even in attendance.

The deal they’re voting on is a race to see who can lose $50 million first. The RSE group - who want to “manage” Jobing.com arena - are bank-rolled by Fortress, a group of Canadian investors. They are almost guaranteeing the failure of the Coyotes in 5 years - by loading all the risk onto the city of Glendale with a horrible contract (and 9% interest on some loans) - so when Glendale goes bankrupt they’ll be able to move the team and make up their loses (and then some) off the relocation fee.

Glendale, meanwhile, is going to lose $50 million… and get nothing out of it. Besides bankruptcy. The most they can afford is $6 mil a year for an arena manager and RSE is asking for $15 mil and, so far, nobody knows where that extra money is coming from. The best guess is that they are going to “pawn” the City Hall or close some fire stations… because when are there ever fires in Arizona?

Oh, right…

And Glendale managed to slip in some amendments to the proposal to make it slightly more palatable for them - including an out-clause, which would mean they could pull the plug if the loses got too catastrophic - but this was a non-starter for RSE/Fortress, as there’s no way to guarantee their revenue stream from Glendale if they have a way to say “mercy.”

Oh, and even though Glendale will still own the arena, any insurance claims - natural disasters, fires, that kind of thing - will be paid out to RSE. Seriously.

Oh, when Glendale files for bankruptcy, it’s considered a breach of contract and they’ll be on the hook for the $225 million contract plus some penalties.

What the fuck could possibly go wrong?

Not to mention that one of the largest arena managing corporations in the world offered Glendale 100 guaranteed events for $6 mil a year, compared to RSE’s 41 events for $15 mil. Everyone that’s concerned that Westgate would dry up without the Coyotes don’t realize that they’re worse off (less events a year = less revenue generated at the shopping center).

…

So this culminates in one of the most epic city council meetings ever. Some of the council members have obviously been paid off and anyone with any facts/common sense are not being appreciated. And idiot Coyotes fans in attendance who probably don’t even live in Glendale are showing their love for Bettman, while some are even wearing knock-off jerseys - way to support the team!

And as of now it looks like they’re about to pass it and be on the hook for $15 million a year for $15 years when they literally can’t go over $6 million without dipping into the essential services like police, firefighters, trash pickup, water utilities…

This is one of the greatest worst examples of a sports team destroying a town ever. Ever ever ever.

Well done Bettman!

17

How did the Flyers manage to sign Lecavalier before the start of the free agent signing period?

18

Players who are bought out become free agents immediately. It’s the same as what happened with Redden and Gomez during the season. As soon as the buyout had completed they were free to sign with other teams.

Player contracts technically don’t expire until tomorrow, which is why pending free agents can’t be signed by other teams yet

19

Well, the real fun starts today. But as always it is very unlikely the Wings will do anything big.

20

Sound like the Wings just signed Daniel Alfredsson. Not huge, but he’s still producing well as a 40 year old and brings a lot of leadership.