Free Agency thoughts

Ellis NOT to Montreal but to Tampa

• I liked Dan Ellis to Montreal in terms of what his presence would do for Carey Price, but  I like Dan Ellis to Tampa Bay even more as a comfortable fit for Ellis himself. I think in MTL, he'd be saddled to some extent with "babysitting" Price and I can understand not wanting to do that. 
• In Tampa, he's reunited with Mike Smith, who is another former Dallas prospect. I very much like that tandem. Reminds me a lot of Schaef and Brusty back in the day. Smitty's a little edgier, Ellis is easy going. Both are probably fairly similar in terms of getting wins, so they'll push each other to earn ice time without being threatened by each other in a destructive way. Great job by Mr. Y down there.

Auld to Montreal

• On the other hand, Alex Auld to Montreal is a move I'm skeptical about, but the more I think about it, maybe it's not so bad. Auld has become a fairly serviceable goalie in the last couple of years and is probably good enough to push Price a little. We saw with Halak that Price didn't necessarily play better being pushed a LOT. 
• My initial reaction was, "Awful!" but now... I dunno. You have to hope the team has an understanding of what makes Price tick at this point and is doing what they can to get him ticking like the elite goalie they want him to be. Bottom line though, I wish he'd go somewhere else. He needs out of the fishbowl.

Boogaard to Rangers

• Glen Sather is just an awful GM.
• Boogie is great as a "figure" that fans like. He's freakishly huge and scary, he could pummel a grizzly bear to death, but that's just stupid money for that guy. It's not HIS fault he got that big a contract, but I hope his skin is thick because Rangers fans aren't going to give a shit whose fault it is. 

Scott to Chicago

• Really happy for Big John Scott. He was my original "soft spot" on the Aeros. For a guy who some more vocal Aeros fans were ready to hand-deliver to the ECHL a couple of season ago, and for a guy who, even as a college player, didn't really expect to turn pro, this contract strikes me as a pretty special one.

Cullen and Nystrom to Minnesota

• I was having Risebrough flash backs yesterday. Nothing but crickets from the Wild camp all day yesterday, and then in the early evening, Matt Cullen signs and then Erik Nystrom signs. I honestly don't know much about Cullen, but he sounds like a solid player.
• Nystrom, on the other hand, I'm pretty jacked about. I understand he's just a gritty, 4th line type of guy, but those guys are my favorites. My impression is that he's got some personality. I have no idea where I get that idea:

Hedberg to New Jersey

• So, I really like the Moose and I hope they're serious about managing Marty's playing time so he doesn't go back to being one of "those" back-ups who never plays. 
• Also, Twitter good guy and perennial dues-payer Mike McKenna was angling to challenge for the #2 spot in Jersey. His tweet on hearing the news, "Bummer." Aughhhh, I hate a sad goalie. Poor guy. I'm not sure I have it in me to wish for an injury to Brodeur or Moose, so Mike's on his own here, but we'll see. 

Climie to Phoenix

• Sounds like Matt Climie had his pick of 2-way contracts and chose the place with the most "break-in-able" NHL situation. I'm glad he's sticking it out in North America, even though I'm sure he could have gone to the KHL this year and made some coin.
• Plus, I think he's the first player to play for 3 Texas-based AHL teams in a 3 year span in the history of ever. So he's got that going for him. But I really hope he finds a way to stick in Phoenix because San Antonio doesn't strike me as a place where goalies get to showcase their stuff very well. 

-------------------------------
Several people have asked me about Brusty and where he's going. I don't know anything, honestly. There are still several quality free agent AHL goalies and Brusty's been under the radar for a while, so it might take some time.

I think his agent should hire me to sell him to teams. There aren't many things in life that I'm 100% aces at, but talking up Brusty is one of them.

I'll sit 'em down in my office by the big Brusty poster and the Brusty bobble head and explain what a rock star and beast he is on the ice, what a great guy he is in the room, how much fans love him, how he's good with the media, how many savegasms he'll induce, etc etc. They'll be ready to have his babies, much less make him their goalie, by the time I done with 'em. Bring it!

Read more...

Free Agency Live Blog

Hanging out with the Hockey Primetime boys for Free Agent Frenzy day. I've got a lot of Real Job work to do so I'll be popping in and out.

I suspect I'll generally only be good for:

1. Assessing the Hottness Quotient for teams as players move to and fro
2. Goalie stuff
3. Wild stuff

In that order. I'm so legit!

Read more...

DR plays hardball

So, it's been high drama in Wildville today as Russo informed us that Stephan Veilleux was put on waivers today. You could almost hear the collective *thunk* of jaws hitting the floor, as just yesterday, we were hearing that his contract negotiations were going fine.

But there are several factors at play:

1. Prospect camp just finished, so the front office has a better sense of who they have waiting in the wings. Hello, Cal Clutterbuck!
2. Steph fired his agent and opted to negotiate this contract himself. I suppose he thought the earnest way Risebrough dealt with Rolston would carry over to him. Not so much, champ.
3. Steph is asking for too much and the Wild are making no bones about the fact that this move is to prove that to him. They're wagering he won't get picked off waivers and he'll have to come back to the table with his hat in his hands. This is the part that I find to be a) very crafty on Riser's part but also b) humiliating on Steph's part. But really, he brought it on himself by overvaluing his services, and I think if they were anywhere close, the Wild wouldn't make this move.
   
4. My personal theory is that he will clear waivers because the GMs of the league are going to look at this situation and see it as an opportunity to get some semblance of control over the market after the frenzy of free agency ratcheted up salaries even for 3/4 line checkers like SV (see Aaron Voros' $3 Mil, 3 year deal in NY). So they're purposely not even going to consider SV for their teams and basically back Riser up by not picking him up. Hey, it's not collusion if they all make the decision individually.

So there's that. We'll see how it plays out. Someone would have to claim him by 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Personally, I like the energy SV brings, but he is entirely replaceable. However, I don't like the optics of this... it's hard for fans to see a player who consistently played with guts and heart basically take it up the ass from management. But he had a hand in the matter. There's a reason guys use agents and why the NHLPA expressed concern over his handling this on his own.

And apparently he was informed prior to being placed on waivers that this was coming. I guess he either thought he'd call their bluff or he really believes he'll be picked up. He's willing to gamble, either way, so I don't feel too sorry for him.

Read more...

Happy F'ing Canada Day

As predicted... Fridge is gone and I'm totes sad about it. Like tears sad. What a girl I am. So embarrassing but whatever. I must be PMSing.

Congrats to HipCheck for her Yotes picking him up. Honestly, you're gonna LOVE him if Gretz uses him properly. He really can play hockey. He's such a cool cat. Not much of a fighter anymore (though he will protect the stars) but still tough as nails and funny and lively and just a swell guy. He's the kind of spirit Minnesota needed to keep, IMO. You've won the lottery as far as I'm concerned.

But nooooo, we trade away a totally charming, leaderiffic prospect in Ryan Jones (who I was so excited to watch this year and apparently has spent the whole summer in St. Paul working out at the X) and a second rounder (which would have been a bust anyway) for a d-man from Nashville whose name I haven't quite learned yet. Zidlicky. Had to look it up. All I'm saying is this guy better knock my socks off. I'm very unhappy to lose Jonesy (though in all honesty, if I were only a Wild fan, I'd be pretty pleased).

More later, I'm sure.

UPDATE: While I was making a sandwich and fighting back tears, Aaron Voros signed a deal with the Rangers. My day is redeemed a bit. I'm delighted he's going to a team a watch a good bit. Though we'll see if he actually makes the big club. If they're thinking he's an Avery replacement, they're SORELY mistaken. But whatever. I'm smiling again.

Read more...

Offseason

Gotta say, the offseason sucks. Someone on the Wild board suggested that the trick is to wait until July 7 to panic, so I'm going that route, but I still can't help but feel like we're in "rebuilding" mode due to a rather weak free agency class this year and a GM who hates to over pay. While I actually appreciate that philosophy from a long term perspective, it makes the short term seem pretty depressing. Not to mention Russo projecting that my favorite Wild player, Todd Fedoruk, will not be re-signed. There WILL be tears. I love that guy.

Anyway, I went skating by myself last night. I swear, the Galleria rink has the most incompetent management. Last night, they cut the ice and then let the rink rats skate on their own for a couple of minutes immediately after cutting the ice. Of course, obnoxious skaters on wet, soft ice means big gouges in the ice. I finally got fed up and bailed after about 45 minutes. But I still got a good skate in and did some nice crossover work. My two-leg swizzles have gone to shit though. Coach Stalin is going to pull some very stern faces at me for that.

Spinning tonight. Which reminds me, I need to start guzzling water now.

ETA: Spinning was good. A Mikko clone was in the class. That didn't hurt my feelings at all.

Then he started to hit on the instructor after class in a rather meat-headed way. I wanted to tell him he's better looking with his mouth shut.

Read more...