2013-2014 NHL Thread

[GhostofPotvin29]

@TSNBobMcKenzie

Rumors abound of a potential shakeup in the executive suite of Buffalo Sabres. I've asked the principals for comment. No response thus far.

@TSNBobMcKenzie

The BUF rumors I tweeted about earlier focus primarily but not exclusively on Pat LaFontaine. Still no comment from anyone in BUF.

@FriedgeHNIC

Something is up with Pat LaFontaine and the Buffalo Sabres.

If true...that sure didn't last long.

 

[bustaheims]

@TSNBobMcKenzie

Rumors abound of a potential shakeup in the executive suite of Buffalo Sabres. I've asked the principals for comment. No response thus far.

@TSNBobMcKenzie

The BUF rumors I tweeted about earlier focus primarily but not exclusively on Pat LaFontaine. Still no comment from anyone in BUF.

@FriedgeHNIC

Something is up with Pat LaFontaine and the Buffalo Sabres.

If true...that sure didn't last long.

FriedgeHNIC: Sabres make it official -- LaFontaine resigns

Buffalo is a mess? Colour me shocked.

 

[L K]

@TSNBobMcKenzie

Rumors abound of a potential shakeup in the executive suite of Buffalo Sabres. I've asked the principals for comment. No response thus far.

@TSNBobMcKenzie

The BUF rumors I tweeted about earlier focus primarily but not exclusively on Pat LaFontaine. Still no comment from anyone in BUF.

@FriedgeHNIC

Something is up with Pat LaFontaine and the Buffalo Sabres.

If true...that sure didn't last long.

FriedgeHNIC: Sabres make it official -- LaFontaine resigns

Buffalo is a mess? Colour me shocked.

Ted Nolan whispering in the ear of Pegula?  Wouldn't be the first time he stepped over his GM/Team President's head.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Ted Nolan whispering in the ear of Pegula?  Wouldn't be the first time he stepped over his GM/Team President's head.

Nolan was Lafontaine's hire, and one piece of speculation is that Murray wants to bring in his own guy and Lafontaine wasn't happy about that.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

@TSNBobMcKenzie

Rumors abound of a potential shakeup in the executive suite of Buffalo Sabres. I've asked the principals for comment. No response thus far.

@TSNBobMcKenzie

The BUF rumors I tweeted about earlier focus primarily but not exclusively on Pat LaFontaine. Still no comment from anyone in BUF.

@FriedgeHNIC

Something is up with Pat LaFontaine and the Buffalo Sabres.

If true...that sure didn't last long.

FriedgeHNIC: Sabres make it official -- LaFontaine resigns

Buffalo is a mess? Colour me shocked.

Ted Nolan whispering in the ear of Pegula?  Wouldn't be the first time he stepped over his GM/Team President's head.

Why would he do that about the guy who hired him?  Especially after it was rumoured they wanted to take off the interim tag?

People blame that guy for everything.

 

[Kin]

These games are for teams who spend the whole year talking about themselves as it is.

I agree. There's nothing more tiresome than how the Maple Leafs and Canadiens are always claiming credit for the Stanley Cups they won a long time ago. They really should take a page from the Senators book and start claiming credit for Stanley Cups other teams won a long time ago.

 

[ZBBM]

These games are for teams who spend the whole year talking about themselves as it is.

I agree. There's nothing more tiresome than how the Maple Leafs and Canadiens are always claiming credit for the Stanley Cups they won a long time ago. They really should take a page from the Senators book and start claiming credit for Stanley Cups other teams won a long time ago.

Didn't the Ottawa Silver Seven Senator Millionaires win 29 Stanley Cups between 1832 and 1911?  I'd find those banners and hang them up at ScotiaTire Place.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

They're actually honouring the last living member of an Ottawa championship: Link

 

[brothert]

They're actually honouring the last living member of an Ottawa championship: Link

This is funny because I've always pictured the leafs doing that around 2075. I'll be long dead by then though. That '67 cup was so great that they really don't need another. Its too bad I wasn't alive then so that I at least could have a memory of one

 

[L K]

Vancouver lost 4-2 in the Heritage Classic.  Several chants on behalf of Luongo during the game.

 

[Zee]

Vancouver lost 4-2 in the Heritage Classic.  Several chants on behalf of Luongo during the game.

Why is he not playing?  I haven't followed that entire situation but it seems strange they're running with Lack.

 

[L K]

Vancouver lost 4-2 in the Heritage Classic.  Several chants on behalf of Luongo during the game.

Why is he not playing?  I haven't followed that entire situation but it seems strange they're running with Lack.

Lack - .926 SV%
Luongo - .917 SV%

Obviously there is a slightly better performance from Lack but the notion of giving a "big" game to a guy with 21 career starts over a guy who has played 42.

Lack started the first game out of the break and got a shutout, he only gave up 1 goal in the next game.  To me, it is just Tortorella poorly managing his team, but I can understand the logic behind playing the hot goalie.  It's just that with the circus show that went on last year, to recreate that turmoil just seems stupid and unnecessary.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie  2m
Callahan demands to NYR have decreased from 7 x $7M+ he was asking. Now open to 6 years at less than $7M per, maybe in $6.5-6.75M range?

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie  1m
In any case, Callahan still looking for more than what NYR offered -- 6 years at $6M per. So gap has shrunk some but still exists.

Wow, the Rangers offered Callahan 6x6 and he didn't sign immediately? Every 40-50 point winger with intangibles owes Clarkson a gift basket.

 

[L K]

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie  2m
Callahan demands to NYR have decreased from 7 x $7M+ he was asking. Now open to 6 years at less than $7M per, maybe in $6.5-6.75M range?

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie  1m
In any case, Callahan still looking for more than what NYR offered -- 6 years at $6M per. So gap has shrunk some but still exists.

Wow, the Rangers offered Callahan 6x6 and he didn't sign immediately? Every 40-50 point winger with intangibles owes Clarkson a gift basket.

Bottom line, the cap going up is pretty much meaningless to me because marginal players cost so much anymore that it doesn't mean anything.  The Leafs will have 20 or so million to improve the team this offseason and in doing so they likely will have pretty much the same lineup but subtract at least one of Kulemin, Raymond or McClement.

 

[Zee]

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie  2m
Callahan demands to NYR have decreased from 7 x $7M+ he was asking. Now open to 6 years at less than $7M per, maybe in $6.5-6.75M range?

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie  1m
In any case, Callahan still looking for more than what NYR offered -- 6 years at $6M per. So gap has shrunk some but still exists.

Wow, the Rangers offered Callahan 6x6 and he didn't sign immediately? Every 40-50 point winger with intangibles owes Clarkson a gift basket.

Bottom line, the cap going up is pretty much meaningless to me because marginal players cost so much anymore that it doesn't mean anything.  The Leafs will have 20 or so million to improve the team this offseason and in doing so they likely will have pretty much the same lineup but subtract at least one of Kulemin, Raymond or McClement.

Yeah, it'll be funny to see how much 3rd and 4th line guys are making by the time Clarkson is at the end of his deal.  If the cap keeps going up like they expect, we'll see some crazy money for guys that don't produce much.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Bottom line, the cap going up is pretty much meaningless to me because marginal players cost so much anymore that it doesn't mean anything.  The Leafs will have 20 or so million to improve the team this offseason and in doing so they likely will have pretty much the same lineup but subtract at least one of Kulemin, Raymond or McClement.

I wonder who the first actual star player is going to be to take advantage of the cap going up. Toews and Kane are both UFAs in 2015, will they ask for $10mil+?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Pierre LeBrun chimes in on Callahan too:

Recently, the Rangers captain dropped his term request from seven years, which had been a major sticking point, to six years, sources confirmed.

But the money he's asking, somewhere just south of $6.5 million a source said, remains too much money for the Rangers, whom I believe would do a 6-year, $6 million per contract.

Doesn't seem like they're that far apart at this point. But if that remaining gap doesn't close further over the next couple of days, the Rangers seem intent to trade him.

I always find it odd that a team would split with a guy they really want to sign over $500k/season.

 

[L K]

Pierre LeBrun chimes in on Callahan too:

Recently, the Rangers captain dropped his term request from seven years, which had been a major sticking point, to six years, sources confirmed.

But the money he's asking, somewhere just south of $6.5 million a source said, remains too much money for the Rangers, whom I believe would do a 6-year, $6 million per contract.

Doesn't seem like they're that far apart at this point. But if that remaining gap doesn't close further over the next couple of days, the Rangers seem intent to trade him.

I always find it odd that a team would split with a guy they really want to sign over $500k/season.

There has to be a limit somewhere?  If the Rangers valuation was we will pay Callahan ideally 5 million a year, but in a last resort we would go to 6M, why should they accept 6.25 or 6.5?  They already have him at well over their desired 5M.  Eventually that number is just too far off the price-point for their team.

 

[Jalili]

I'd be pretty concerned about signing a guy like Callahan for that much.

It's not even the cap amount that's particularly bad, it's the term you're giving to an undersized forward who's accumulated that much wear and tear from playing the style that makes him effective.

Guys like that are great to have while their young and most effective, but as they reach their 30s you notice that age is usually not too kind to them.

You'd think the Rangers would have learned their lesson with Chris Drury.

 

[Kin]

I'm sure people have become inured to some extent by articles about what a scam public money is for private arenas but what's going on in Detroit, a city where they can't even afford to buy proper equipment for their firefighters, really borders on the criminal.

http://deadspin.com/detroit-scam-city-how-the-red-wings-took-hockeytown-fo-1534228789