EHM The Blue Line

Brendan Morrison, who can't seem to play anywhere other than Vancouver has joined Washington, and Jay McKee is now a Penguin.

I expect Montreal to fail epically next year when all these free agent signings fail to gel.

Ducks loading up on 1 year defenseman, signing Boynton first and now Steve McCarthy from Russia.

Niittymäki stays in NHL. Cool! Tampa have two goalies which can play 40-50 games per season.

Jypfan92 wrote:Niittymäki stays in NHL. Cool! Tampa have two goalies which can play 40-50 games per season.

Yeah, but too bad for Niittymäki that he is going to be the backup goalie...

And after the actions of Montreal this summer, I can't wait to see them failing next season... They have made very many changes, but I'm quite confident that those changes haven't taken Canadiens to the better direction... (at least that's what I'm hoping)

Czxwh wrote:

Jypfan92 wrote:Niittymäki stays in NHL. Cool! Tampa have two goalies which can play 40-50 games per season.

Yeah, but too bad for Niittymäki that he is going to be the backup goalie...

I disagree, i think he can really challenge Smith for the number 1 job. Could be great for the team if both goalies play their best as they try to take that No.1 job.

How good is Gainey's job security in Montreal?

One would think after taking over the coaching reigns himself and then completely remaking the team he has to be on the hot seat if it doesn't work out.

As far as the chemistry on the habs, it will be interestinmg to see if Gomez and Gionta can recapture the past.

wildiowafan wrote:How good is Gainey's job security in Montreal?

One would think after taking over the coaching reigns himself and then completely remaking the team he has to be on the hot seat if it doesn't work out.

As far as the chemistry on the habs, it will be interestinmg to see if Gomez and Gionta can recapture the past.

Yeah me too, i'm curious to see them together again. I'm not a fan of the Habs, but i will definitely watch some games to see those guys playing.

Tallon is out as GM in Chicago and Scotty Bowman's kid is the new GM.

bruins72 wrote:Tallon is out as GM in Chicago and Scotty Bowman's kid is the new GM.

Do you think that is mistake with the RFA have cost him is job? I don't know but i thought he was doing a ''decent'' job.

I think that was a factor. They had to scramble to sign those players so they wouldn't have to risk losing them. I'm sure they paid them more than they wanted to because of that. Plus, some might question the Hossa deal.

I think a little bit about the Hossa deal too. Maybe if it was only a 8 years deal, it wouldn't be so bad. But sorry Tallon you're out anyway.

I think the Hossa deal is rather good actually as they will stop paying his wages as soon as he retires, which he'll probably end up doing after about 5 seasons.
The final 4 years of the deal are only there to push his cap hit down, and to be fair, a cap hit of $5.2m is very low for a player of his quality.

They've probably wanted to get rid of Tallon for some time, although it does seem strange that he got the sack after the draft and free agency.

Franck wrote:The final 4 years of the deal are only there to push his cap hit down...

I never even thought of this. Pretty smart exploitation of a CBA loophole. It makes more sense out of some of these contracts. Anybody try this in EHM?

Hypnotist wrote:

Franck wrote:The final 4 years of the deal are only there to push his cap hit down...

I never even thought of this. Pretty smart exploitation of a CBA loophole. It makes more sense out of some of these contracts. Anybody try this in EHM?

I always try to... hasnt worked so far though

Can anyone tell mewhat are the Islanders upto... They've already got DiPietro as their starting goalie for the next 20 years, or whatever it is. And they now splash out on Roloson ($2.5million a year) and now they've signed Biron (1.4million).

Does this mean DiPi's injury is still lingering. Or are they going to trade him and his stupid contract?

getzlaf15 wrote:Does this mean DiPi's injury is still lingering. Or are they going to trade him and his stupid contract?

I would think that the combination of chronic injuries and the albatross contract would be lethal to any trade hopes. It would appear the only out for the Isles would be an early retirement, letting them off the hook for the cap hit. But that wouldn't make any sense from DiPi's standpoint, if he retires, he gets his pension but not the 4+mill/year the contract guarantees him.

getzlaf15 wrote:Can anyone tell mewhat are the Islanders upto... They've already got DiPietro as their starting goalie for the next 20 years, or whatever it is. And they now splash out on Roloson ($2.5million a year) and now they've signed Biron (1.4million).

Does this mean DiPi's injury is still lingering. Or are they going to trade him and his stupid contract?

Honestly, I am shocked, Islanders now have a darn good goaltending tandem. If DiPi will be healthy, they have 3 starters, and I am really courious how that's gonna turn out.

Typical Isles. They take a huge leap forward drafting Tavares, then they clog up their depth chart between the pipes.

Isles need to reach the salary floor. There are other players than Biron to do that for sure, but the goalies situation wasn't that stable so far.

Sure, they've got DiPi and his 12 remaining years of contract. But we all know he is injury prone. Sure, they've signed Roloson, who's been tremendous last year in Edmonton. But he is already 40 years old and may be on the decline at any time. Now they have Biron. Solid although not extraordinary, not injury prone, not 40+ years old. So they can have 3 starters, but can also gave only 1 in Biron.

I wouldn't be surprised to see one of those goalies traded at some point though. It's highly unlikely that Snow could find a dance partner for DiPi. On the other hand, if Roloson performs well, he could have a solid trade value. Goalies generally have a high trade value, but goalies with that much experience and with a cap friendly cost (still if he performs well) have an even higher value. Or... Biron could be dealt as a rental player at the deadline, as he signed for just one year. Lot of incertitudes and lot of options. But i'd be shocked if all 3 of them stay all year long on Long Island. Unless DiPi gets a season-ending injury very fast, obviouly, which would leave the Isles with just 2 goalies.

Anyway, although he looks untradable, it seems that DiPi's days in Long Island are close to an end... The Isles drafted a goalie in the 2nd round of the draft, and another goalie in the 3rd round... Now they add two proven starters... Not what a GM would do if he planned to keep a guy who has 12 more years on his contract. But who would want DiPi? Few teams, if any. The only thing that can save him is that he costs "only" 4M$ a year, which is cheap when he's healthy (compared to the stupid 7.5M$ of another injury prone in Gaborik, for example). But even at such relatively cheap price, i doubt anyone would be interested. So what? Waivers + buyout? Just like what Snow did of Yashin's contract a few years ago...

Would be fun. Snow invented those horrible 10+ years deals. He already fired the first guy he gave such contract, and now things don't look that bright for the second guy who signed such contract with the Isles. Maybe Snow is finally starting to learn something...

Snow didn't give Yashin the 10 year deal, Mike Millbury did. Most believe that the Isle's owner, Charles Wang, is the driving force behind the Isles habit of albatross contracts.

Hypnotist wrote:Snow didn't give Yashin the 10 year deal, Mike Millbury did. Most believe that the Isle's owner, Charles Wang, is the driving force behind the Isles habit of albatross contracts.

Probably but I did like the players they drafted this year their going to be great players. So some props have to be given to Wang since Snow is probably just there for show. Also the sooner Wang is out the better but seeing how it's the NHL Bettman will probably sell the team to another Boots Delbiagio(?).

I do like the goaltenders the Isle's picked up though seeing that DiPietro will never be healthy for a full season in the rest of his career. So it's great they picked up 2 players who can be #1 so at the very least DiPietro and Roloson can split the majority of the season. And when DiPietro is injured share duty with Roloson and Biron in that order Biron shouldn't really be a #1.

Also are the Capitals going to release that bum Jose Theodore? And they if they did they would be off the hook for four mill or so right under the cap?

The Bruins have traded Aaron Ward back to the Carolina Hurricanes for Patrick Eaves and a 4th round pick.

I'm a bit disappointed. I really liked Ward's veteran presence on the team and he was a real character off the ice. He did a weekly call-in to the radio morning show I listen to and he was always a lot of fun. Sure, Ward is no spring chicken but it's still a shame to see him go.

As for Eaves... he played his College hockey in Boston, so he's got a connection to the area. I thought the Bruins were pretty set at forward though. I don't really know where he's going to fit in.

Well this doesn't make sense. The Bruins immediately put Eaves on waivers and supposedly play to buy out his contract if he isn't claimed.

bruins72 wrote:Well this doesn't make sense. The Bruins immediately put Eaves on waivers and supposedly play to buy out his contract if he isn't claimed.

The only thing i can think of, is that the Bruins were dumping the salary of Ward, but the Canes couldn't afford it without Eaves leaving. And now the Bruins are going to buy out Eaves just to give themselves more cap room? To resign Kessel?