The Stars didn't have a single free agent signing among all those signings that happened yesterday. I was annoyed at first, but then I looked at the deals these guys were signed to. Briere got an 8 year (!!!!), $52 million contract from the Flyers, Gomez got 7 years and $51.5 million from the Rangers, and Drury got 5 years and $35.25 million from the Rangers (how are they going to be able to pay for the rest of their team?). The one contract that I wouldn't have minded the Stars signing was the Avalanche's signing of Smyth for 5 years and $31.25 million (still steep, but Smyth would be worth it). The rest of those signings are just insane working under a salary cap. Jason Blake even got a 5 year, $20 million deal from the Maple Leafs. Kariya was also signed by the Blues for an undisclosed amount. The only FA left from my earlier posts is Yashin. Looks like other teams are as worried about him as I'd hoped. Now I'm just praying the Stars are at least in talks with him.
Doug Armstrong made a comment that free agent signings on the first day of free agency tended to be bad deals for the teams. Looks like he wasn't kidding.
Oh, we did sign Zubov to a one year, $5.35 million contract extension. It does seem kind of silly to be signing him to a one year extension through 2009 though. I wonder why we didn't give him more than a year. He's long said that he doesn't want to play anywhere other than Dallas, so I seriously doubt he's planning to leave the team after 2009. Maybe it's just in case he feels like retiring in two seasons? He is getting to that point in his career.
That reminds me, it seems that Scott Niedermeyer is leaning towards retirement this summer. The Ducks signed Schneider to replace him if that does happen. Schneider's good, but no one can replace Niedermeyer. He's probably the best defenseman in the game. The Ducks should be considerably easier to beat if that happens.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
Salary Cap Announced!
Right after I made that last post, the salary cap for 07-08 was announced. It's gonna be $50.3 million for next season, which is at the high end of previous estimates. That means the Stars have a little over $8 million to spend. With that figure, we could get pretty much any player we wanted. It also completely throws off my free agency post, since I was working under the assumption (and you know what happens when you assume) that we were going to have to worry about the cap. This gives us a lot of headroom to work with. Ryan Smyth is definitely not out of the equation now.
That makes Smyth, Drury, Briere, Gomez, and Yashin (in that order) my favorites in the FA pool. The idea of Kariya is also growing on me the more I think about it. I always liked him as a player, and he's got a couple years left in him.
Briere would be higher on that list, but he just turned down a 5-year, $25 million offer from Buffalo. The Stars probably wouldn't want to offer him that many years, so he would want more per year. That means upwards of $6 mil per year for him, which is a little steep. On the other hand, he would definitely give our team a top-tier scoring threat.
In any case, the Stars would almost certainly have a couple million in cap space if we felt a need somewhere or wanted to trade up somewhere. That might be worth saving for the trade deadline, as long as we address our scoring problems before the season starts.
Free agency starts Sunday. I haven't heard any rumors involving the Stars, but let's hope they get involved.
That makes Smyth, Drury, Briere, Gomez, and Yashin (in that order) my favorites in the FA pool. The idea of Kariya is also growing on me the more I think about it. I always liked him as a player, and he's got a couple years left in him.
Briere would be higher on that list, but he just turned down a 5-year, $25 million offer from Buffalo. The Stars probably wouldn't want to offer him that many years, so he would want more per year. That means upwards of $6 mil per year for him, which is a little steep. On the other hand, he would definitely give our team a top-tier scoring threat.
In any case, the Stars would almost certainly have a couple million in cap space if we felt a need somewhere or wanted to trade up somewhere. That might be worth saving for the trade deadline, as long as we address our scoring problems before the season starts.
Free agency starts Sunday. I haven't heard any rumors involving the Stars, but let's hope they get involved.
Kansas City Predators?
I had already planned to make a post about how the NHL should just give up on Nashville and let the team move to Canada, but after the latest news, I just couldn't wait to say something.
The current owner of the Predators is reportedly turning down a $238 million deal from a buyer who wants to move the team to Canada and is instead taking a $190 million deal from a buyer who wants to move the team to Kansas City. Rumor is that he's taking the lower deal under pressure from commissioner Bettman, who wants a team in KC.
There's so much wrong with this, I can't even begin to explain it. The team is failing in Nashville due to a lack of interest, and they think that moving it to Kansas will help? Granted, I don't think Hamilton, Ontario is the best place to put it (there are three teams within 200 miles of the city: Toronto (about 20 miles), Buffalo (about 70 miles), and Detroit (about 200 miles). But Canada would fully support any team moved up there. Kansas, on the other hand, would probably have no clue what hockey even is.
Ostensibly, the reason for moving a franchise to KC is to encourage hockey in places where there's otherwise no support for the game. The idea is that moving a team to a place where no one plays hockey will show them the wonders of the sport, and help garner popularity for the game among the American populace. Of course, the problem with this theory is that was the entire reason Nashville was given a team in the first place, and we see how well that worked out.
If the team moves to KC, it will fail, just as the Kansas City Scouts failed from 1974-76. The city isn't enough bigger than Nashville (2 million people versus 1.5 million) to warrant uprooting a franchise. If the NHL wants to promote the game in nontraditional US markets, they should stay in Nashville, where they at least have a fan base and a history of winning. Moving to a completely new city with almost no pre-existing hockey support after dropping your payroll into the $30 million range and letting all your big names go to free agency is not the way to do it. Canadians would put up with that just to have a hockey team, Kansas Cityites (Kansas Citians? Maybe Kansas Citizens? What's the real term here?) will not.
At the very least, couldn't they move the franchise west of Dallas so we could get into the Central Division? This whole Pacific Division, two timezone difference thing sucks.
The other thing I've been confused about is why would Leipold, who currently owns the team, care where the team gets moved to? I can see him taking a smaller deal to keep the team in Nashville, but why would he take $58 million less so the team gets moved to KC over Canada? Seems to me like if the team you used to own is gonna get moved, you may as well get as much as you can for it.
The current owner of the Predators is reportedly turning down a $238 million deal from a buyer who wants to move the team to Canada and is instead taking a $190 million deal from a buyer who wants to move the team to Kansas City. Rumor is that he's taking the lower deal under pressure from commissioner Bettman, who wants a team in KC.
There's so much wrong with this, I can't even begin to explain it. The team is failing in Nashville due to a lack of interest, and they think that moving it to Kansas will help? Granted, I don't think Hamilton, Ontario is the best place to put it (there are three teams within 200 miles of the city: Toronto (about 20 miles), Buffalo (about 70 miles), and Detroit (about 200 miles). But Canada would fully support any team moved up there. Kansas, on the other hand, would probably have no clue what hockey even is.
Ostensibly, the reason for moving a franchise to KC is to encourage hockey in places where there's otherwise no support for the game. The idea is that moving a team to a place where no one plays hockey will show them the wonders of the sport, and help garner popularity for the game among the American populace. Of course, the problem with this theory is that was the entire reason Nashville was given a team in the first place, and we see how well that worked out.
If the team moves to KC, it will fail, just as the Kansas City Scouts failed from 1974-76. The city isn't enough bigger than Nashville (2 million people versus 1.5 million) to warrant uprooting a franchise. If the NHL wants to promote the game in nontraditional US markets, they should stay in Nashville, where they at least have a fan base and a history of winning. Moving to a completely new city with almost no pre-existing hockey support after dropping your payroll into the $30 million range and letting all your big names go to free agency is not the way to do it. Canadians would put up with that just to have a hockey team, Kansas Cityites (Kansas Citians? Maybe Kansas Citizens? What's the real term here?) will not.
At the very least, couldn't they move the franchise west of Dallas so we could get into the Central Division? This whole Pacific Division, two timezone difference thing sucks.
The other thing I've been confused about is why would Leipold, who currently owns the team, care where the team gets moved to? I can see him taking a smaller deal to keep the team in Nashville, but why would he take $58 million less so the team gets moved to KC over Canada? Seems to me like if the team you used to own is gonna get moved, you may as well get as much as you can for it.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Eric Lindros
Not all of my posts are going to be as long and serious as that last one. In fact, expect many to be outright silly.
On that note, here's a sample of the weird things I think of when I'm trying to fall asleep and my sleep meds are starting to kick in (this is loosely to the tune of Jack and Diane):
An Ode to Lindros
Here's a little ditty about Eric Lindros
A good Canadian kid, growing up in the icy land
Eric wants to be an NHL player
The rest of his body, well, we'll get to that later
Got a good draft spot, got a good team
Had a good season, or two, or three
He's gonna be the next one, after Wayne Gretzky
His body had other plans, gonna make him hurt, gonna make him fall
Injury to the knee, to the ankle, to the groin, and he just wants to bawl
Hype dies, nicknames die, contracts die
But Eric lives on
On that note, do any other Stars fans out there still like Lindros? I personally think we ought to try to sign him for about $1 million. He'd be a steal at that price, if he can stay healthy. And if he gets hurt again, we've got other good players we could play in his place. It'd be stupid to base a team around him, but in a supporting role, he'd be great. I view him as similar to Yashin, a leadership role is too much for them, but on a team with other strong leaders, they could really be beneficial to the team.
Anyone else's thoughts?
Monday, June 25, 2007
Free Agents and the Salary Cap
Hello and welcome to my Dallas Stars blog. I'd been thinking about starting this for a while, and I figured a discussion of free agents and the salary cap would be as good a place as any to start.
On the matter of the Stars' potential free agents: we've signed Stu for $900,000, and now we're giving qualifying offers to Jokinen, Lundqvist, Miettinen, and, most importantly, Ribeiro (I left out players expected to play in the minors). That's $770,000, $594,000, $495,000 and $1.9 mil, respectively. Expect all of them to accept the qualifying offers, because the cost (draft picks + salary) is too high for other teams to bother with the Restricted Free Agents. Together, that's $3.759 million for the RFAs.
Then there's the $38.425 million signed into contracts before the end of the season. This brings the total to $42.184 million either already signed or soon to be so.
Just by what we already know, this is the roster for the 2007-2008 Stars:
Forwards:
Modano, Lehtinen, Morrow, Halpern, Ribeiro, Barnes, Ott, Jokinen, Hagman, Eriksson, Miettinen, Lundqvist, and Barch.
That's 13 forwards.
Defensemen:
Zubov, Boucher, Norstrom, Daley, Robidas, Baumgartner, and Grossman (from what's been said, Grossman's expected to get called up next season).
That's 7 Defensemen.
Then there's Turco and Smith, which brings the total to 22 players. A normal roster is 20 players active (12 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 2 goalies) with a couple of scratches for depth.
The salary cap for next season is expected to be as high as $48 million. That means we have somewhere around $5.816 million to spend. Since we already have a full roster, that means that entire chunk can go toward picking up one or two (one forward, one d-man) players.
Some people feel that we should hold onto that cap space until the trade deadline, so that we can pick up a big player to fill a hole that we identify during the season. I disagree with that for two reasons: 1) because we KNOW what the hole in our game is going to be next season. It'll be the same as last season. Scoring. 2) because trade deadlines tend to have minimal returns both because the player is struggling to adapt to a new system and because the deals are usually a lot more rushed than deals early on and thus aren't as well thought out. So I think we ought to use that cap space now, and help the team as early on as possible.
Here comes the fun part: the pure, unfounded speculation.
If it were my team, I would call the defensive corps good enough. Its a good mix of quality veterans and up and coming young guys. Any changes I made would be through trades, not FA signings. I would be spending that entire salary cap on a forward. And not just any forward, one who can really score while still being at least acceptable defensively.
Here are the players I would be looking at, divided by how likely they are to sign a contract for in a range the Stars could afford (last contract amount in parentheses):
Probable:
Alexi Yashin ($7.6 mil). This is my personal preference among the guys I know the Stars could get. Yashin scored 50 points in 58 games in what was considered a disappointing season. Part of the problem was an injury, part of the problem was the Captaincy and way too high expectations. He could easily be a point per game or more player on a team where he wasn't expected to lead and could just do his job, which is Yashin's strength. He's getting older, but still has a few good years left in him, plus he could be acquired for relatively little, since the Islanders are paying two thirds of his old salary (due to the buyout of his enormous contact) and other teams will likely be hesitant to pick him up because of his troubles in New York.
Jason Blake ($1.558 mil). He actually seems to be improving as he ages and with the new rules. Expect his peak to be in the next two years. He'll likely be looking at 60-70 point seasons for the next two or three years.
Paul Kariya ($4.5 mil). Good player, if on the declining side of his prime. Of course, that still translates to 70-80 points a season.
Possible:
Scott Gomez ($5 mil). Gomez, along with Drury, are the guys I think the Stars could manage to get with a little luck and some talks. Gomez had the second-worst season of his career (60 points), and so will likely sign for the same $5 mil figure or a little less. Otherwise, he's a player capable of scoring in the 80 point range.
Chris Drury ($3.154 mil). I'd prefer Drury over Gomez, but so would most teams, meaning he will likely get more than Gomez, and could therefore be signing a contract out of the Stars' price range. It will be close though, and the Stars could have a shot. He doesn't score quite as much as Gomez (in the 60-70 point range), but is a hardnosed player who can play D when he needs to. He would also fit pretty well into the Stars' system.
Less Likely:
Ryan Smyth ($3.5 mil). He will probably sign a contract for $6+ mil, but it wouldn't hurt to at least float him as good an offer as Dallas can manage and see what happens.
Daniel Briere ($5 mil). He won't get quite as much as Smyth, and could therefore be obtainable, but don't count on it. Could be getting close to $6 mil, but again, it couldn't hurt to send him an offer.
When I was putting this together, I was looking for proven scorers, and so I've passed up many prospects with potential to score high. The Stars have plenty of prospects already. We just need a guy who we know can score consistently and help ease the scoring load. I'm also not bringing into account any possible trades to free up cap space. There are just too many possibilities for me to cover everything. I'm sure I've missed plenty of guys who would be a good fit, so feel free to suggest players in the comments.
The actual salary cap is announced on June 30, plus trades/free agent signings begin on July 1, so another post once all that begins.
The actual salary cap is announced on June 30, plus trades/free agent signings begin on July 1, so another post once all that begins.
Salary figures came from http://www.nhlpa.com/ and http://www.nhlnumbers.com/, both of which are invaluable and wonderful to hockey nerds like me. Unrestricted Free Agent lists came from about.com, which has information on everything about everything.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)