Gameday Thread: Pre-Season Game 2: Minnesota @ St. Louis
One game down for the Wild this pre-season and it would be safe to say that the game was an unmitigated disaster. After a quick goal, the Wild didn’t capitalize on any of their scoring chances and the game just went downhill from there.
Mental errors, defensive lapses, turnovers – you name it, the Wild did it.
So, in tonight’s game, they will attempt to rectify the mistakes that they made on Wednesday, but this time they will have a much more prospect-oriented roster.
The Skinny
| Minnesota Wild | St. Louis Blues | |
| 0-1-0 (0 pts.) | Record | 1-1-0 (2 pts.) |
| 1 | Goals For | 6 |
| 5 | Goals Against | 4 |
| 0/4 (0%) | PP% | 3/13 (23%) |
| 4/7 (57%) | PK% | 8/8 (100%) |
Okay. It’s been one game, and a very, very poor one at that.
It’s not panic time in Minnesota. We lost a single practice game, plain and simple. But, there were some troubling trends within that game.
Niklas Backstrom looked very rusty (as he has throughout camp thus far) and the team didn’t really do much of anything to protect him. The Blues got good look after good look, most of which came from blunders in our own zone.
If the Wild can get their own zone figured out, they should be just fine but, as with last season, the deficiencies in the Wild’s defensive zone are becoming very clear.
Lineup(s)
Per Mike Russo:
The first two lines tonight will be Guillaume Latendresse-Matt Cullen-Casey Wellman and Eric Nystrom-Kyle Brodziak and Antti Miettinen.
The other two forward lines will consist of Cody Almond, Brett Bulmer, Colton Gillies, Matt Kassian, Carson McMillan and Warren Peters.
The D pairs will be Greg Zanon-Marek Zidlicky; Cam Barker-Nate Prosser; Tyler Cuma-Clayton Stoner.
Josh Harding for 2 periods; Matt Hackett for 1.
Per J.P. Rutherford:
Forward
David Perron-David Backes-Brad Boyes
Alex Steen-Jay McClement-B.J. Crombeen
Chris Porter-T.J. Hensick-Nicholas Drazenovic
Anthony Nigro-Brett Sonne-Cody Beach
Defense
Carlo Coliacovo-Tyson Strachan
Ian Cole-Roman Polak
Eric Brewer-Mark Cundari
Goalie
Ty Conklin
Ben Bishop
Key(s) to the Game
The biggest key to tonight’s game is going to be how the defense responds to their poor performance on Wednesday.
Both Cam Barker and Clayton Stoner will be in the line up again to attempt to redeem themselves from their poor performance and we’ll get our first look this season at Greg Zanon, Marek Zidlicky, Nate Prosser and Tyler Cuma.
If the Wild can limit their mistakes, especially in their own zone, they’ll be much more competitive in this one. If they can’t, it’s going to be another rough night.
The puck drops tonight at 7 p.m. Central and the game will be broadcast on Ch. 45.
Gameday Thread – Pre Season Game 1: St. Louis @ Minnesota
Wow. It’s hard to believe it’s the pre-season already.
Game one starts tonight (technically, I’m up waaaaaay too late again) and this is the first of what will be many gameday threads this season, so here we go.
The Skinny
| St. Louis Blues | Minnesota Wild | |
|
40-32-10 (90 pts.) |
Record |
38-36-8 (84 pts.) |
|
225 |
Goals For |
219 |
|
223 |
Goals Against |
246 |
|
17.21% |
Powerplay Pct |
19.09% |
|
86.84% |
Penalty Kill Pct |
82.68% |
Okay, so these are last season’s stats, but that’s what we’re going to be looking at for the pre-season games.
There’s not much analysis to put in here, since this is the pre-season, but the bottom line is this. The Wild had a hard time scoring last season while they also had a hard time stopping other teams from scoring. All that boils down to the fact that it’s going to be very interesting to see how they come out this time.
Line-Up(s)
Per Mike Russo, here’s who the Wild will be skating out in the game:
Andrew Brunette/Mikko Koivu/Antti Miettinen
Guillaume Latendresse/Matt Cullen/Martin Havlat
Chuck Kobasew/John Madden/Cal Clutterbuck
Robbie Earl/Cody Almond/Brad Staubitz
Nick Schultz/Brent Burns
Clayton Stoner/Cam Barker
Marco Scandella/Justin Falk
Niklas Backstrom (2 periods)
Anton Khudobin (1 period)
And per Mike Russo, from Jeremy Rutherford, here are some of the ones heading to Minnesota from St. Louis:
David Backes, Brad Boyes, David Perron, Eric Brewer, Alex Steen, Ty Conklin, Ben Bishop and Philip McRae.
Key(s) to the Game
The biggest key to this game is going to be chemistry.
The Wild are going to be skating as many of their regulars as they can to get ready for their trip to Finland, as well as auditioning a few players.
The biggest piece to the puzzle is going to be seeing if Cullen fits between Latendresse and Havlat. If this happens, it’s going to be a large step in the right direction for this franchise.
As far as the auditions, Scandella and Falk are going to be in competition for the seventh d-man job and Almond and Earl are gunning for roster spots as well. Both Falk and Earl have been having impressive thus far in camp and this is going to be a great chance for them to prove that they can shine in game situations.
The puck drops on this one in St. Paul at 7 pm Central.
Some Random Musings
The Minnesota Wild have many questions heading into their pre-season opener on Wednesday against the St. Louis Blues. They have depth questions up front and on the blue line, not to mention the questions surrounding their goaltenders.
That said, there is starting to be a trickle of Wild news heading from their first few days of camp.
- Players that have impressed thus far are Nate Prosser, Justin Falk and Brent Burns on the blue line and Eric Nystrom, Robbie Earl and John Madden. The latter of the blueliners (Burns) is great news for the Wild. After a couple injury-plagued seasons, Burns looks like he might be headed back to the track that saw him as an Olympic hopeful last season. Prosser and Falk, on the other hand, are hopefuls for this season’s team as the team’s seventh defenseman. From watching Prosser at the Sheehy Pro Camp, it’s plain to see that he could easily be ready for the big show, but you’ve got to wonder whether or not he’d be best served to get top pairing ice time down in Houston for the season. With the way that the teams’ development has stalled in the past, I’d be inclined to lean towards that option and give the more experienced Falk the nod to split time with Clayton Stoner.
- Great news on the Pierre-Marc Bouchard front. The shifty playmaker hopes that he’ll be given the green light for contact and will be ready for the beginning of the season. That is not only great news for Butch, but for the Wild as well. Bouchard’s last two seasons, like Burns’s, have been marred with injury. If he’s fully healthy, he’s a huge asset to the squad and possibly one of the better playmakers in the league. Having him back in the line up could go a long way towards making the Wild a contender this season.
- Much has been made about head coach Todd Richards being on the hot seat this season and I’d be inclined to agree. The team had a distinct lack of discipline last season, especially in their own zone, and Richards seemed to be at a loss for most of the season as to what to do with it. Now that’s not to say that he’s going to be on a shortened leash. It’s only his second season with the team and last season he was distinctly lacking in the personnel to run the type of system that he wanted to run. It’s that lack of adaptability, however, that may end up hurting Richards in the long run. He seemed either unwilling or unable to change strategies up on the fly and that is something that is going to need to change – especially given the fact that the Wild still don’t seem to have the full personnel to be the fully run-and-gun team that he would like them to be.
- I haven’t seen much of him, but so far Wild draft pick Mikael Granlund has been lighting the world on fire over in Finland. Granlund is, basically, the Wild’s next big hope. If he stays healthy, the Wild are going to have a very dynamic duo on their hands between he and Koivu.
- The team has still not decided how to approach the James Sheppard situation. I never addressed this but I, personally, feel somewhat bad for the kid. It sounded that Shep was working hard this off season and that the accident was one that was an unfortunate event during part of his pro training camp in Colorado. The Wild seem to be currently looking into the circumstances surrounding his injury and could be possibly considering suspension. For a team that was so giving to Kurtis Foster during his rehabilitation, I sincerely hope that they do not decide to suspend Sheppard for this unfortunate incident. If they do, they will likely have a good reason for it, but unless alcohol was involved I see no reason for him to be suspended.
- So, the Wild are having a televised pre-season game on Friday (which, incidentally coincides with my fantasy draft which you can all expect to hear about). Due to the accelerated nature of their pre-season, the Wild will be trying to form their roster as quickly as possible. That being said I would love to see some of the Wild’s younger players in the line up. Namely, Matthew Hackett, Marco Scandella and Brett Bulmer.
That’s all the random thoughts I’ve got right now, but I’ll be back more with the Pacific Division Preview later on in the week.
Wild Nation’s No Longer Ridiculously Early Season Previews: The Northwest Division
It wasn’t long ago that the Northwest Division was one of the toughest divisions in the NHL.
The 2002-03 season saw four of its five teams qualify for the playoffs and, up until the 2008-09 season, the division qualified at least three of its teams for the playoffs every season.
The last two seasons, however, have seen an interesting disparity in the division begin to arise and it’s now become a matter of the haves versus the have-nots. Last season saw two teams pick in the top-10 and would have seen one more in the top-15 had Calgary not sold its soul to Phoenix for Olli Jokinen.
The season before saw both Minnesota and Edmonton starting out in the top-15 as well; needless to say, the division’s competitiveness is waning at the moment.
So how will they match up this season?
Calgary Flames – Flames General Manager Daryl Sutter is either going to be lauded as a genius or be burnt in effigy following this season.
Sutter has been largely ineffective at running the team in a salary cap world and has found himself forced up against the cap more often than not and has seen his team go from one that was one win away from winning the Stanley Cup to one that is struggling to keep their heads above water and is no longer a shoe-in to make the playoffs.
Sutter responded to missing the playoffs by bringing in two players that were largely ineffective in their previous stints in Calgary. First, there’s Olli Jokinen, who quickly feel out of favor after a solid stint with the team after being traded there but didn’t seem suited for the new system that Brent Sutter brought with him to the team. Then there’s Alex Tanguay who returns to the team after two seasons away. Tanguay was, again, effective in his first season with the Flames as a point-per-game player under Jim Playfair, but when Mike Keenan came in Tanguay just couldn’t find his stride.
IF these two players can find their form with the Flames and Jarome Iginla can prove that last season’s 69 point performance was an aberration, this could be an effective team. But these two players have been in decline over the past few seasons leaving many to question whether or not their best days are behind them.
On defense, the Flames are anchored by Jay Bouwmeester and Robyn Regher. Bouwmeester, last season, seemed to not be able to cope with the added pressure of being in a hockey-crazed town such as Calgary but will have a big opportunity to rebound with his first full season as Calgary’s top defenseman with Dion Phaneuf now in Toronto.
Regher, meanwhile, will provide the same thing that he always has – a hard-nosed, gritty defenseman. He’s not going to put up the gaudy numbers of Mike Green, but he’s the type of heart and soul guy that can really help a team out.
Past Bouwmeester and Regher, the Flames can turn to Mark Giordano and Ian White, both of whom had terrific seasons with the Flames last season and are looking to build on their solid seasons. Giordano put up career highs in nearly every statistical category and proved that he was capable of being the defenseman that the Flames thought he could be when they signed him in 2004. White, meanwhile, was probably the best cog that the Flames received in their trade for Phaneuf. White put up 12 points in 27 games en route to a career season split between the Leafs and the Flames. If he can continue that performance in 2010, there’s no doubt the Flames could have a formidable blueline.
In net, the Flames will again rest their hopes squarely on the shoulders of Miikka Kiprusoff.
Since coming over from San Jose, Kipper has been a mainstay in net for the Flames and seemed to return to form last season after two subpar years. While Kipper may have led the league in losses last season, it certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying as his goals against average and save percentage were the best they’d been since the ’06-’07 season.
What the Flames have to manage, though, is whether or not Kipper is able to handle the amount of games that he’ll be getting in net. Behind him will be Henrik Karlsson, who the team signed in the off season. Karlsson played marvelously for Farjestad last season and the hope is that he’ll provide a better back up option than Vesa Toskala.
The pieces are all ready for the Flames this season and the hope is that they will all fall into place. If they do, they could be contending for the Division crown once again. But, if they don’t as many fear that they won’t, they’ll be a bubble team for the playoffs once again.
Colorado Avalanche – There are a lot of questions surrounding the Colorado Avalanche this season.
First and foremost is whether or not last season’s run to the playoffs was a fluke or whether this team is the real deal.
The team returns every single one of their key players from their playoff run last year and, with $18 million in cap space, has a lot of wiggle room to improve their roster throughout the season.
The forward crew will again be quite young and inexperienced, though not as inexperienced as last season. The big question marks will be whether or not their key forwards can replicate their impressive seasons that they had last year.
Chris Stewart is freshly signed and looking to build on his breakout season, which is the first extremely impressive season of his pro career. The fact that 17 of his 28 goals came in the second half of the season, however, is very promising and he’s certainly going to get his share of ice time.
In addition to Stewart, both Paul Stastny and Matt Duchene should continue to improve, though Stastny will be looked upon to set up some of the team’s goal scorers more than he’ll be expected to score himself. Look for Duchene, however, to take his next step towards being one of the league’s top superstars heading into his sophomore season. He likely won’t be as explosive as Steve Stamkos was in his second year, but Duchene will certainly get the job done for the Avs.
Peter Mueller is likely not as productive as his 20 points in 15 games last season suggests, but it does show that he is as explosive as they come. If he can carry a hot streak through a good part of the season, he could have a productive season for the Avs and give them another scoring threat.
On defense, the team has two kinds of defensemen — either ones who are extremely mobile or ones who are barely able to take the ice without the use of a walker.
All kidding aside, the Avs have a couple defensemen that are certainly either starting or in the waning of their career in Scott Hannan and Adam Foote. The good news, though, is that these two are both character players and both able to impart good leadership and good knowledge on the younger players of the team.
Past them, they have John-Michael Liles, who is good for 30-plus points and also good for a headache for any fan of the team watching. Players like Kyle Quincey and Kyle Cumiskey are still growing and are looking like they could turn into top flight defensemen for the organization.
In net, it’s pretty safe to say that Craig Anderson has answered all questions about his ability to perform. Last season was really his coming out party, as he finally had success in a full time starter’s role. That success will likely continue on into this season as the team has had barely any turnover from last season.
If Anderson can stay healthy and their young players can continue their progression and don’t have any major steps backwards, it’s safe to say that the Avs could once again be in the thick of things in the playoff race.
Edmonton Oilers – Well, there’s good news on the horizon for Edmonton fans.
The Oilers can only get better, because they certainly can’t get much worse.
To say that last season was a disaster for Edmonton would be an understatement, to say the least. The franchise had their lowest point total since the 1992-93 season and their lowest point percentage total since the 1980-81 season.
Suffice it to say, it was a bad year.
I’m sorry to say that this season probably won’t be much better, but I can say that it will be better.
Young guns Taylor Hall, Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson and Jordan Eberle will be on the roster this season and will get plenty of time to show what they can do. Will any of the there be rookie sensations the like of Crosby or Ovechkin? Probably not. But they will be upgrades over what the Oilers had last season and that is something that fans should take heart in.
In addition to their big three, the Oilers will also get a full season from Ales Hemsky, which likely would have helped them tremendously last season. Hemsky, Sam Gagner and Gilbert Brule all missed time due to injuries last season which likely would have made a serious impact on the team. With Hemsky fully healthy and playing on Gagner’s wing, and likely across from Dustin Penner, the forward unit will be a much improved unit over last season’s.
On defense the team is still looking to move the albatross contract of Sheldon Souray, but the good news is that they have a serviceable defensive unit behind him.
Ryan Whitney and newcomer (and underrated free agency signing) Kurtis Foster will find themselves manning the point on the powerplay and players like Jim Vandermeer and Tom Gilbert add a bit of character to the blueline. Ladislav Smid and Jason Strudwick also provide a bit of oomph on the back end, but the unit will have to get better at limiting opponents scoring chances, on a whole, if the team is going to climb from the cellar.
One of the biggest questions will be in net.
Namely, will Nikolai Khabibulin be healthy enough (or free enough) to reclaim his duty as starting goaltender and give the team some stability in net.
If he is it gives the team somewhat of a luxury that they haven’t had in recent years – the ability to relax and know that their goaltender will be there and, at times, be able to bail them out.
If he’s not, however, the team is back to the uncertainty of a goalie tandem of Jeff Deslauriers and Devan Dubnyk – something that I don’t imagine any fan is looking forward to.
As I said previously, this season isn’t going to be great for the Oilers. They still have a way to go to get back to the level of an elite team. But it will be a great improvement over last season – and that’s a start.
Minnesota Wild – How much longer will the State of Hockey tolerate a sub-par team on the ice?
Well, if things don’t go well this season, owner Craig Leipold may very well find out.
Last season was an unbelievable disappointment for Wild fans and the fact that the team had a point percentage of above .500% for the eighth straight season was little consolation.
But, the good news is that the old regime’s players are beginning to cycle through and be replaced by players that are more conducive to the new style of play that the team is aspiring towards.
Added to the roster are Matt Cullen, Eric Nystrom and John Madden – three players that are both talented and gritty. Cullen will be expected to fill in the ever elusive second-line center role that the team has been searching for now for years and will likely be slotted in between Guillaume Latendresse and Martin Havlat.
Now the team’s lack of success isn’t to say that they don’t have talent up front, but there are far too many question marks to be able to concretely say that they are going to be a top team.
If Latendresse can continue to perform like he did last season (25 goals in 55 games for Minnesota) and if Havlat can find the form that caused Minnesota to sign him to a lucrative free agency contract, it’s certainly going to be a welcome addition.
On top of these two, the biggest question mark up front lies on the performance of Pierre-Marc Bouchard. When healthy, Bouchard can be one of the game’s elite playmakers, but he has struggled with injuries for the last season and a quarter and his production has not been up to par because of that. Last season, he missed the entire year with a concussion, but he has been scrimmaging at pro camps leading up to training camp and he will likely play at some point this season, though it is not known when.
If he can come back and play his game, he will certainly be a difference maker on the ice.
On defense, again, the team is faced with injury questions.
Brent Burns had a breakout season three seasons ago, but the last two years he has been mired with injury and inconsistency. If he can return to the player that he is capable of being, he will be a dangerous force on Minnesota’s blueline. If he doesn’t, though, he becomes little more than a defensive liability and a player that the team is reluctant to turn to when the going gets tough.
The Wild will also be hoping that defenseman Cam Barker can find his game again after a subpar performance last season. Barker is certainly better than his 21 point season indicated, but he will have to find that offensive mind frame and physical edge if he is to make an impact.
Also up in the air is the Wild’s sixth defensive spot.
Currently, it is thought that the spot will go to a younger defenseman – Clayton Stoner, Nate Prosser and Marco Scandella are all names that have been mentioned. The biggest concern, however, is that these three only have a handful of NHL games between them and, though they have performed well at times, none have the body of work that would lead one to think that they could handle a full season.
In net, the Wild are again looking at the familiar duo of Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding, but that is not to say that there are not questions there.
Harding started slow last season, but gained his legs late and helped steady the boat when Backstrom was underperforming. Backstrom, on the other hand, struggled much of last season and a lot of that is being attributed to the fact that the team’s system is no longer as goalie friendly as it once was.
I, for one, don’t believe that Backstrom is nearly as bad as he looked last season and, with a little help I believe he could be right back where he was in seasons past. He’s a good goaltender that was, unfortunately, not given much help last season and I would look for him to rebound with a better season this year.
Overall, I don’t see the Wild contending for a playoff spot this season. While they have talent, not all of the players are in place for them to make a playoff push. That being said, they do have talent and if everything falls into place I could easily be proved wrong.
Vancouver Canucks – It may be the pre season, but the hype machine is already in full swing for the ‘Nucks.
It started with Roberto Luongo stepping down as the team’s captain and, as training camps begin, the Canucks are again one of the front runners to make a move deep into the playoffs. But will they be able to shake the monkey off their backs and make it to the Stanley Cup Finals?
At forward, the mantra will likely be maintain.
The team returns most all of their key forwards from last season, but the biggest question will be whether or not their top three can keep it going. Henrik Sedin is one year removed from a remarkable career season, and his brother Daniel would have been right there with him were it not for injury. Ryan Kesler put up career numbers last season. Now, the question that needs to be answered is was that their ceiling or are they capable of repeating.
With the Sedins, I’d be tempted to say that they are very capable of repeating. The two have long been one of the most potent duos in the league and that isn’t likely to change. Will it be another 100-plus point season for one, or both of them? Probably not. But I don’t think that another very strong performance by the two is out of the question.
Kesler, however, may have hit his peak at 75 points – a respectable number, to be sure. The team is deep in scoring, but will need Mikael Samuelsson to continue his scoring ways, as he scored more than 20 goals for just the second time in his career. On top of that, they will look at Mason Raymond to take on an increased role and continue his development.
The addition of Manny Malhotra will help the team’s checking line and their penalty kill, but won’t be much more than that. But that’s also why he was brought in. He’s a reliable checker and a solid penalty killer, which will only help the Canucks this season.
On defense, the team addressed their significant lack of grit the last couple years by bringing in Keith Ballard and Dan Hamhuis. Along with Bieksa, Salo, Edler and Ehrhoff, the ‘Nucks top-six defensemen all make over $3 million and, with the team $3 million over the cap heading into the season, will likely need to move one of them.
But, that being said, Hamhuis and Ballard are a huge upgrade over their previous defensive unit and the team certainly is looking better on the blueline than they have in previous seasons. With that being a huge concern for the Canucks, their fans should no longer be worried. This is a defensive unit, regardless of whether or not a move is made, that can handle the physical play of clubs bigger and stronger than them and will help protect Roberto Luongo much better.
Speaking of Luongo, he’s once again in net for the Cancucks in potentially the most uninteresting portion of the team to talk about.
Luongo’s in net, Schnieder’s behind him. There’s no question about the performance of either of the two and there’s no uncertainty about anything that is going on here. The only thing that could derail them in net is injuries, but that isn’t typically a concern of Bobby Lou.
Overall, this is the easiest to call. The Canucks will be back in the playoffs, just like they will win the division again. There aren’t any questions about any of these things.
Predictions
Alright. Here we go. This is how I think the Northwest will shape up:
1) Vancouver Canucks
2) Calgary Flames
3) Colorado Avalanche
4) Minnesota Wild
5) Edmonton Oilers
To be honest, the only for sure playoff team in this division is the Canucks. Both the Flames and Avs are bubble teams, though I could see both making the playoffs if everything aligns.
Up Next: The Pacific Division
Thank the Hockey Gods It’s Over; My Thoughts on Kovalchuk and the CBA
It’s finally happened! Pigs are flying! Hell has frozen over!
Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract with the New Jersey Devils has FINALLY been approved by the NHL. (Did anyone really think that it wouldn’t be after he started dropping hints that the KHL was becoming an option?)
The final details for the contract is 15-years for $100 million as opposed to 17-years for $102 million. It’s now a cap hit of $6.67 million per year as opposed to $6 million per year and, well, yeah. If you’re thinking that the difference is pretty absurd, you’d probably be right.
When you compare the two deals, it looks like this.
Old Deal
2010-11: $6 million
2011-12: $6 million
2012-13: $11.5 million
2013-14: $11.5 million
2014-15: $11.5 million
2015-16: $11.5 million
2016-17: $11.5 million
2017-18: $10.5 million
2018-19: $8.5 million
2019-20: $6.5 million
2020-21: $3.5 million
2021-22: $750,000
2022-23: $550,000
2023-24: $550,000
2024-25: $550,000
2025-26: $550,000
2026-27: $550,000
New Deal
2010-11: $6 million
2011-12: $6 million
2012-13: $11 million
2013-14: $11.3 million
2014-15: $11.3 million
2015-16: $11.6 million
2016-17: $11.8 million
2017-18: $10 million
2018-19: $7 million
2019-20: $4 million
2020-21: $1 million
2021-22: $1 million
2022-23: $1 million
2023-24: $3 million
2024-25: $4 million
So, when you compare the two, there really isn’t that much difference other than a higher high salary ($11.8M in the 2016-17 season as opposed to $11.5M in the 2012-2017 season), a higher low salary ($1M as opposed to $550k) and two years at the tail end of the contract that really make you go, “Huh?”
So the league accepted this, grandfathering it in before the new CBA amendment (don’t worry, that discussion is coming) and the Devils now find themselves in a Chicago-style pickle – they need to shed salary before the season starts.
Without Kovalchuk’s contract, Cap Geek had the Devils sitting exactly $3,698,334 under the salary cap of $59.4 million. With the Kovie Kontrakt, the Devils cap number goes up to $63,108,333 or $3,708,333 over the salary cap.
Now, it’s important to realize that the Devils’ cap number prior to the Kovalchuk signing was also with just 20 roster players. 11 forwards, 7 defensemen and 2 goalies. A typical “full” roster is 23. So, basically they need to shed enough salary to both fit Kovalchuk under the cap and field a full roster.
Soooooooo…Who do you drop?
Jamie Langenbrunner, likely won’t be a casualty. In addition to being the team’s captain and a heart and soul type player, he only has one year left on his contract with a no-trade clause.
The player that most Devils fans would LOVE to see on the chopping block, Brian Rolston, likely won’t be either. Rolston’s stats have declined in a large way since he left Minnesota and, while his talent may not have, he’s certainly not the same player that scored 30-plus goals in 3 seasons with the Wild. On top of that, he has two seasons left on a $5.06M contract AND is over-37. Oh yeah. He’s got that pesky no-trade clause as well.
The candidates most likely to be traded are Dainius Zubrus, who is coming off of a solid playoff performance and a solid performance in a season filled with injuries (27 points in 51 games). He’s got some value, but the question would be would the team be willing to trade him? If I’m making the decision, I’m not so sure unless there’s no other way.
You’ve also got defensemen Colin White and Bryce Salvador. While White has a no-trade clause, both players make either $3 million or just under and there is no shortage of teams looking for defense. With young players like Matt Corrente and Tyler Eckford waiting in the wings, it may make sense for the Devils to make a move that involves one or both of these two d-men.
Finally, you’ve got the player that I’m sure no one in Newark really wants to admit could be on the block – Patrik Elias. Of every single player on their roster, Elias probably has the most value other than Travis Zajac and Zach Parise (and rest assured, they’re not going anywhere). At 34, he’s still got some tread left on the tires and he’s still a productive player. Again, there’s a no-trade clause much like the rest of their likely tradable players, but Elias is the player that would likely bring the most interest.
Either way, Lamoriello has a lot of thinking ahead of him to figure out how he’s going to shape his roster and he’s going to have to make some hard decisions in order to do so. Do you ask a player to wave his NTC? Do you part with your captain? Do you trade a recently signed player?
There are a lot of questions and the team is going to need answers very soon.
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Now, onto the CBA.
I’ll admit, this is probably one of the things I understand the least about the NHL. Here is the text from the press release:
NEW YORK/TORONTO (September 4, 2010) – The National Hockey League Players’ Association and National Hockey League today announced an agreement that will implement new rules governing the parameters of long-term contracts and how they are valued within the NHL Salary Cap System.
As part of the agreement, the NHL will register the contract between the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk that was filed with the League on August 27, 2010. The NHL also will terminate its circumvention investigations into the contracts signed in 2009 by Marian Hossa of the Chicago Blackhawks, Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins and Chris Pronger of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Under the terms of the agreement, the new rules will apply only to long-term contracts, defined as those with terms of five years or longer, and only to contracts executed after September 4, 2010. The new rules apply to contracts signed between now and the end of the CBA, as well as all contracts signed that begin in the 2012-13 season. The parties have agreed that the new rules do not automatically carry over into a new CBA.
For the purpose of Salary Cap calculations, any long-term contract that extends past a player’s 41st birthday will be valued and accounted for in two ways: The compensation for all seasons that do not include or succeed the player’s 41st birthday will be totaled and divided by the number of those seasons to determine the annual average value (AAV) charged against the team’s Cap for those seasons. In all subsequent seasons, the team’s Cap charge will be the actual compensation paid to the player in that season (or seasons, as appropriate).
Additionally, in any long-term contract that averages more than $5.75 million for the three highest-compensation seasons, the following rule shall apply: Solely to determine its value for purposes of the Salary Cap, a player’s compensation for any season in which he is age 36, 37, 38, 39 and/or 40 shall be valued at a minimum of $1 million.
“We’re pleased to be able to establish clearly-defined rules for these types of contracts going forward and just as happy we can turn the page on uncertainties relating to several other existing contracts,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. “From start to finish of this multi-week process we were able to work closely and cooperatively with representatives of the Players’ Association, who shared our belief that the creation of definitive rules and guidelines in this area would be beneficial to everyone – Clubs and players alike.”
“We are pleased to finalize an agreement which ends the League’s circumvention investigations and also establishes rules on long-term contracts that will provide players, their certified agents and general managers clarity for the negotiation of new contracts,” said Roland Lee, Director of Salary Cap/Marketplace & Associate Counsel for the NHLPA. “Turning the page on this process is something that will benefit all parties involved.”
So, basically it boils down to the fact that the cap hit will be divided into two parts. The Pre-41 and post-41 hits. In addition, the minimum salary for a player over 35 in these long-term contracts is $1 million, but only in the purposes of calculating the cap hit.
So, what this would do to these new “lifetime” contracts is small, but still interesting. Roberto Luongo’s cap hit would be raised from $5.33M to about $6.2M while Marian Hossa’s would be raised from $5.275M to $6.13M.
In the end, this is not necessarily going to stop these contracts altogether (which I believe would be in the best interest of the league), but this will help stop the circumvention to an extent.
General Managers are going to find ways to work the cap in their favor. As long as the cap hit is an average and not what the player is getting paid that particular season, GMs are still going to find ways to bring their cap hit down. But this could be at least a step in the right direction.
As Greg Wyshynski posted on Puck Daddy, it’s a little hard for me to accept that the NHL put up a fight over these type of contracts only to “grandfather” these contracts in, but I guess you take what you can get and it does, effectively, take these types of contracts away going forward.
Cleaning out the Brain
Don’t fret. The Northwest Division Preview should be coming this weekend. Until then, however, I’m going to give you a little bit of the random junk that falls off the top of my head as something to tide you over.
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A week or so ago, there was a debate raging over the seemingly never ending battle between bloggers and the mainstream media.
Now, I’m a little late to the party mostly because I didn’t have the time to weigh in on the issue, but here are my thoughts nonetheless.
I am, above all else, a blogger. I don’t have a journalism degree, nor do I write for any traditional news source. I blog for Wild Nation and I also write more traditional articles for Hockey Primetime.
That’s it. No newspapers, no print journalism. Just those two.
Now, as a blogger, I don’t answer to anyone but myself. There is no editorial staff on Wild Nation that reads every single thing I write and fact checks it or even checks it for grammar. That is my responsibility, whether or not I choose to do so.
If I so chose, I could write that Brent Burns wears a pink thong instead of a jock strap when he plays and post it because there’s nobody to check the veracity of my claims – the facts of what I write are taken as truth or not based solely on my own integrity.
Are there bloggers out there that hold themselves to a higher standard? Absolutely. There are bloggers around the interweb that genuinely put in the work. They do the digging and they find good, newsworthy material for their blogs and manage to do so in a fairly objective manner (if a little skewed towards their own viewpoint).
But the problem remains that most bloggers aren’t subject to an editorial staff, nor do they have anyone that holds them accountable for what they write and this accountability is key.
On a whole, there are blogs that are either a) part of a larger network or b) part of a media outlet that are held to these higher standards. Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog and the blog platform SB Nation are examples of each of these. Both have earned a reputation for bringing on people that will legitimately do the legwork to make sure that what they are writing, no matter how inflammatory, is based in fact.
Meanwhile, there are independent blogs and some other networks that don’t have this reputation.
One of these larger networks is the Bleacher Report. {Author’s Note: In the spirit of full disclosure, I used to write for the Bleacher Report.}
While the Bleacher Report has an extensive editorial staff, this staff does not check for facts (or, at least they didn’t in my experience there). Their sole duty is to check for stylistic and grammatical errors.
That’s it.
So why, oh why, would the league credential writers who are not accountable to anyone? Why in the world would a team want to credential someone who would be free to make any outrageous claim he or she wished, which would then hold the weight of coming from a credentialed writer?
The bottom line is that, truthfully, they shouldn’t.
Yes, it sucks for those of us that genuinely try to do a good job and genuinely try to put in the legwork and do the research to get the facts. Does it frustrate me to no end that I likely wouldn’t be able to be credentialed through Wild Nation?
Absolutely, because that access would allow me to give my readers an even more in depth look into the team and not have to rely on media outlets to get snippets of behind-the-scenes news.
But I understand completely why teams are weary about giving this access out to every Tom, Dick and Harry out there.
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I’ll be honest here. I’m really getting sick of this whole Ilya Kovalchuk fiasco.
I love Kovie. I think he’s one of the more exciting players in the game to watch. But this has seriously gone on long enough.
I like that the NHL rejected his first contract because, quite honestly, it was ridiculous along with all of the other long-term contracts that are getting signed these days. But, from what I understand, the Devils were in close contact with the league on this second contract that they submitted.
Sooooooo…
Shouldn’t that mean that the league shouldn’t have had to extend the deadline to approve it?
I mean, really…WTF mate?? Just get it done already or let him go to the KHL – one or the other, because we’re all getting sick of hearing about it.
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There was some pretty awesome stuff going down on Twitter today in the shape of a #80shiphopfantasyteamname meme. Check out some of the highlights.
@gonebeancountin: Vanilla Yzerman
@Sean_Leahy: Straight Outta Comrie
@Steve_Dangle: Public Eberle
@BanginPanger: Salt n Peca
@mserven: Doughty by Nature
@DownGoesBrown: Hip Hop Souray
And, a couple of mine:
Me, Myself and Iafrate
Fight For Your Right to Pardy
Kurtis Foster Blow
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And finally, am I the only one that really, really hopes that the offer sheet to Niklas Hjalmarsson was some diabolical plot by Doug Wilson to steal Antti Niemi from the Blackhawks?
I just have the image of Wilson sitting at his desk saying a Mr. Burns-esque “Excellent” at the news that the ‘Hawks matched the offer sheet.
Hopefully this brings some sort of blood feud between the two teams because, let’s be honest here…That’s something the NHL needs infinitely more of.
