What to watch on the Wild’s day off: Rangers v. Kings

So, the NHL season is started and it’s going to see us make a bit of a change to our schedule. We’ll obviously be keeping you appraised of all the goings on in the State of Hockey and the NHL, but one of the big changes you’ll see is that, on off days, we’ll be highlighting a NHL game that we think you should pay attention to because we think it’s going to be pretty fun to watch.

Before we get started, though, some cheap plugging (you should know by now I’m not above that):

Our Staff Predictions at HPT (Note: Mine are at the top because my opinions are most important, obviously, not because it’s alphabetical)
Building off of that, here are my East and West predictions for this season
Also, I simmed the playoffs in NHL ’12 based on my predictions.
And finally, my Three Stars from last night’s action.

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Now that I’m done with my shameless self-promotion, it’s on to the game tonight that I think you all should be watching.

And that game is….. *drumroll*

New York Rangers vs. Los Angeles Kings

Why: Apart from the fact that it’s the lone televised game if you don’t have Center Ice (which I know all of you do), it’s because both the Rangers and the Kings have brought in some big new blood this off season, and this is your first chance to see them each in full action (we all know the preseason doesn’t really count).

When: The puck drops at 12pm CST on Versus

What to Watch For: How will elite playmaker Brad Richards fit with enigmatic sniper (and favorite Wild Nation punching bag) Marian Gaborik? My guess is that it will be a pretty good fit, as Gaborik has never had a number one center the likes of Richards to work with and he’s not necessarily one that can create his own offense.

What Else: Henrik Lundqvist started at a turtle’s pace last season, but ended up being the hare at the end of the season with yet another spectacular year. Can King Henrik start out a bit quicker this season in front of his countrymen?

State of Hockey Connections: Apart from the obvious (you know, that guy that kept the number 10 warm for Devin Setoguchi), the Rangers feature three Minnesota natives – Derek Stepan (Hastings), Ryan McDonagh (St. Paul), and Michael Sauer (St. Cloud). Over in LA’s locker room, the Kings don’t have a single Minnesotan on their roster (one Wisconsinite, but we won’t hold that against them), and feature former Wild captain and fan favorite defenseman Willie Mitchell on their blue line.

Fun Fact: Teams that have opened in Europe have gone on to win the Stanley Cup in three consecutive seasons. So, you know, they’ve got that going for them.

Live Blog?: Alas, not this time. There will be plenty of time for that, my friends.

Around the NHL: 8/23/11

Sorry about the lack of posts the last few days. It was a bit of an extended weekend in preparation for a season where there won’t likely be many extended weekends.

Before we get into taking a trip around the NHL, we’ve got some housekeeping to take care of. First, starting around mid-September, the mailbag on Monday will be interspersed with a fantasy hockey blog (namely, one following the Wild Nation Hockey League). There will be some advice in there along the way, but a lot of it will be a chronicle of my quest for the Cup.

Second, there haven’t yet been any responses for the Wild Nation contest we’re having here. If you’re interested, make sure you get your submissions in soon, as the deadline is September 1.

And now, on to the NHL.

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Top Free Agents Remain
The feeding frenzy that typically occurs over the first handful of days in free agency is long gone. For the most part, teams are happy with their rosters and are now looking ahead towards training camp, their rosters in place with maybe one or two spots open for roster battles amongst their youngsters.

So where does that leave players like Chris Campoli or Sergei Samsonov?

Unfortunately, it might mean a tryout contract or a stint in the KHL.

It’s strange that Campoli, a big ticket player at last season’s trade deadline, now finds himself on the outside looking in. Same with Samsonov, a skilled but highly streaky player, and veterans like Bryan McCabe of John Madden, but it’s starting to look like that’s the cost of doing business in the NHL these days.

{Authors Note: I’m leaving Teemu Selanne off this list because we all know that, if he plays again, it’s going to be for Anaheim.}

Fans of the other 29 teams shouldn't get their hopes up. He'll be a Duck.

Teams just simply aren’t looking for bargain bin veterans anymore. They’re not looking for a 36 or 37 year old who can come in and be a leader in their locker room and provide some experienced minutes as a third-pairing defenseman or a fourth-line forward.

By this point in the season, if they wanted that type of player, they’ve gotten them.

What teams are now looking for is youth and they’re looking within their own organizations to do it, because that’s how the NHL is trending these days.

Just look at this year’s free agency market and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

The big spenders went after Brad Richards.

Don’t get me wrong. Brad Richards is a good player and he’ll undoubtedly be an invaluable one for both the Rangers and Marian Gaborik. But most looked at the free agent crop this season and decided that it just wasn’t worth the money.

That’s the view a lot of teams are taking these days.

Sure, the big ticket free agents are going to get theirs but, in these hard economic times, teams aren’t as willing to overpay for third-liners or for second and third-pairing defensemen as they once were.

Instead, they’re looking within their own organization to fill their holes and that’s become both a great thing and a bad thing for the NHL.

It’s great, in that it energizes the fans. Speaking as a fan, I can tell you that nothing is more excited than undiscovered potential.

When you get a free agent, you already have an idea of what they’re going to do with the team. In terms of the Wild, when they signed Matt Cullen, we knew he would get around 40 points, play on the point on the power play and play in a third-line role. When they signed Greg Zanon, we knew he would block shots and play great defense.

What we Wild fans didn’t know, last season, was that Clayton Stoner would emerge to be a terrific shut-down defenseman, or that Jared Spurgeon would get a call up to the big squad and just not let go of the role.

When you’ve got spots open for a roster battle, it’s electric and it makes for a great pre-season. The team showcases those players and you get to see a lot of players that you wouldn’t otherwise see a lot of. It’s just plain fun to watch.

On the downside, though, you’ve got players who still have some tread left on the tires relegated to the AHL or the KHL or other European leagues.

These established veterans are forced to search for tryout contracts where they have to impress ten times more than the rookies that they are competing with for these jobs because, let’s be honest, the rookies contracts are going to be cheaper.

That shift in culture is going to leave a lot of useful players like McCabe and Madden out in the cold. It’s even starting to take its toll on mid-range players like Samsonov and Campoli (the problem with those being that they may not be adjusting their contract demands to meet the stark reality that they might not be as valued as they think they are).

On the business side and the fan side, it’s a great thing. You don’t have to say to yourself quite as often, “Why the hell did we just spend $3 million on so and so.”

But there’s a human side to the equation too, and it’s leaving a lot of players who still have a lot left in them without jobs and that’s a hard pill to swallow.

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Just one for today. I’ll be profiling Mikael Granlund tomorrow in our prospect profile (which will probably be up either tonight or later tomorrow night) and I’ll have some more pictures from the Octagon Camp for you tomorrow as well.

Also, starting next week, we’re going to start profiling our current roster, reacquainting you with the ones you know, familiarizing you with the ones you don’t and getting you amped for what’s looking to be an exciting season this year.

The Rise and Fall of the Lifetime Contract?

The NHL needs to institute “Term Limits.”

No…I’m not talking about for its long lamented commissioner.  I’m not talking about for the coaches or general managers.  I’m talking about for the players.

Okay.  So maybe term limit isn’t exactly the right turn of phrase.  But the concept remains.  These “lifetime contracts” are getting absolutely ridiculous.  Sure…They’re a great way to fit your superstar players under the cap.  But, honestly, do they seem a bit shortsighted to anyone else?

Consider Chris Pronger and his $6.25M cap hit.

Not a bad deal for a superstar defenseman, right?  And look at this!  You’re going to have him for $525K per for the last two years of the contract.  Talk about a bargain!

But wait…Hold on.  If he decides to play those last two years…You’ll be paying him $525K…But be on the hook for $6.25M?  Well that doesn’t sound very good.  But, that’s Chris Pronger.  It’s a unique situation.

Okay…So Henrik Zetterberg.  There’s a good contract.  $6.083M cap hit.  That’s a great deal for a player of Hank’s caliber.  But what about when you’re paying him $1M per year in the twilight of his career, yet still on the hook for just over $6M?

Sure, these contracts look great now.  But how about when a player doesn’t have enough tread on the tires to live up to the contract?

Take Brendan Shanahan, for example.  Give him one of those front loaded contracts back in the 2000-01 season.  It looks fantastic when he’s averaging 60-70 points a season and 30-40 goals.  But after a 73 game, 46 point performance?  What about a 34 game, 14 point performance?  It begins to look a lot worse.

Or what about Sergei Fedorov?  Give him one of those contracts back in the same season and it’s looking great when he’s putting up 30-goal, 60-point seasons.  Then he dips down to average 15-goal, 40-point seasons.  Great for the beginning, pretty poor for the end.

The bottom line is that these long-term contracts will only benefit these teams for so long.  Eventually, however, the production of the majority of these players will begin to fall off.  Sure, there will be the odd player that has a career like Joe Sakic has had, whose production stays consistent right up until the end of his career, but the majority of these players?  By the end of their careers, they won’t be worth the cap hit — most of them nowhere near.  Sure…In 2013, Pavel Datsyuk will likely be as productive as he is now.  But will Henrik Zetterberg in 2020?  What about Vincent Lecavalier in 2019?  I highly doubt it.

Don’t get me wrong.  These contracts are great for the players…But they’re horrible for the NHL.  What’s more…They’re horrible for the fans.

Why?

Take a look at this.  The top free agents for 2010?  Nicklas Lidstrom, Roberto Luongo and Ilya Kovalchuk.  If you think that any of these three won’t be locked up (or in Lidstrom’s case, retired) by then, you’re crazy.  After that?  The crop is still decent…Patrick Marleau, Evgeni Nabokov, Olli Jokinen…All good players, all potential game changers…But bona fide 100% pure superstars, they aren’t.

In 2011?  You’ve got Brad Richards, Zdeno Chara and Joe Thornton…But there isn’t a UFA under the age of 31 until you get to Patrice Bergeron and, no offense to him, but I hardly think that teams will be knocking down his door.

2012?  A class headlined by Chris Drury, Ryan Smyth and Brian Rafalski.

Finally, in 2013, you get Sidney Crosby, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Nathan Horton, all under 30…But does anyone really think that four out of the five of them will be available?

Talk about nothing for fans to get excited about.  Let me tell you that, if in 2012 I’m getting excited about the possibilities of the Minnesota Wild signing a 35 year old Chris Drury or a 36 year old Ryan Smyth, I should be committed.

The bottom line is that these long-term contracts are a plague on the NHL.  The more long-term contracts get signed, the more teams will, not only handcuff themselves, but handcuff the league’s ability to spread parity throughout.  Not only that, but it harms the fans as well.  A lack of marquee free agents during the off season can kill any momentum that the league has with the fans.

The CBA is expiring soon and it’s looking more and more like there could be another labor dispute looming.  But one thing is for certain.  In the new CBA, the NHL needs to impose some sort of limitation on the length of contracts…Not only for the entertainment of the fans, but for the long term health of the league as well.