So, it's $885,000 for Antti Miettinen. That's a few thousand over the range of what I thought was fair, so I have no problem with it. Didn't blink when I saw the number. My first thought was that he got $10,000 more than Todd Fedoruk will make this season and $85,000 more than Steve Ott's 2007-08 salary.
Where he fits in the lineup is big question. But I think you can ask the same question about a few other players looking at the roster as it stands now.
The Antti Miettinen arbitration decision is expected tomorrow and I am not sure I understand all the negativity towards the guy. Some of the things that have been said to me and some of the comments I have read on the message boards and elsewhere make me chuckle. You'd think Miettinen dragged down the Stars' offense all by himself and now his arbitration case threatens to sabotage the team's cap status and handcuff Doug Armstrong going forward.
Miettinen is a decent player who has been making the league minimum the past two seasons and he deserves a raise. He's got the right under the CBA to go to salary arbitration to get that raise. Good for him. Go Antti, if you ask me. In my opinion he deserves about $750,000 to $850,000. I wouldn't blink once at a ruling like that. Considering his qualifying offer was $495,000, that would be another $250,000 or $350,000 to the Stars' cap hit. Big deal. They've still got plenty of room. If he gets more then I might blink once, maybe twice.
I realize there was a lot of disappointment in his offensive production last season. The Stars built him up as someone who was going to step up offensively, he didn't and this team ultimately came up short because of a lack of offense. People need someone to blame, so Miettinen is an easy target.
The fact is that Miettinen puts up average offensive numbers, hits and plays well defensively. He deserves to get paid accordingly.
I know there's this speculation that he could get $1 million, which I just don't see. It is arbitration and there have been excessive awards, so anything is possible. I just find it unfortunate that seating it is standing room only now on the negativity bandwagon for a guy who deserves to making more than the league minimum and is using a tool available to accomplish it.
I spent a lot of time out at the development camp in Frisco this week and it was pretty much what I expected. The guys I thought would be at the top of the food chain proved to be just that, at least in my opinion. James Neal, Matt Niskanen and Mark Fistric were very impressive. I thought Fistric was the guy who stood out the most at the camp. Ivan Vishnevskiy is a lot of fun to watch too. He is highly skilled and can pick the corners with his shot.
Some of the 2007 draft picks were nice surprises. I thought Ondrej Roman and Jamie Benn showed some skill and Colton Sceviour looked good too. Nico Sacchetti, who was the youngest guy there at the tender age of 17, is going to be a very good player. As far as these guys go it will be interesting to see how they do over the course of next season, especially Sacchetti as he moves to the USHL. You get a sense of what kind of skills these kids have, but you really won't know how good they are until you see them in some games and over the course of a long season.
One more day of camp stuff with the skills competition on Saturday morning.
There will be some interesting news on the Stars front too. Antti Miettinen's arbitration ruling is due soon. I am not going to try to guess what he is going to get. I just know he is going to get a nice raise over last season's salary and a better deal than the $495,000 that was tossed his way in the form of a qualifying offer.
I like the fact that Vadim Khomitski is coming back to North America and will probably be in the hunt for a roster spot. He was impressive in Iowa early last season before returning to Russia to be with his pregnant wife.
The way things stand now, the Stars now have extra depth on both the blue line and at forward as camp approaches. And they still have some cap space. That will give Doug Armstrong a lot of flexibility if he decides to go the trade route to add some scoring to the lineup. If that doesn't materialize, then there will be some good competition for spots during camp and we'll see how things shake out heading into the season opener. Long way to go though. August may be a long, boring month.
The other bit of news has been the Los Angeles Times report that the Stars may end up bringing in Dave Taylor, the former Kings GM and a Kings legend. The guy has spent his entire NHL career with the Kings as either a player or in management. His number (18) was retired by the team back in 1995. After his playing days were over he went right to a front office job with the team. He was GM from 1997 to 2006. He got bounced down to director of player development last season and his contract expired June 30. It is the end of an era for Taylor and the Kings.
We get some summer hockey with the development camp running in Frisco this week. It will be a nice change of pace considering it has been a slow offseason for the Stars and the debate over that has grown stale for now. We'll see if anything interesting comes out of this week's camp.
It's a chance to size up some of the prospects. How many are going to be regular NHL players? I don't know. I think there are a half dozen or so who have a shot. I think there are some guys who could turn out to be very good players. Matt Niskanen and James Neal are two of them.
I know a lot of people like to rip the team's development of prospects, but it has come a long way in the past few years. Doug Armstrong and company have made an effort to restock the pond and we should start seeing some dividends here soon.
I've seen a lot of these guys one way or another. Some of them were at last summer's camp and some were at training camp in September. Some I watched played junior or in Iowa via the internet. It can get kind of expensive, but it's worth it if you are interested in keeping up with these guys. I haven't seen much of the guys drafted last month. Maybe a highlight or two, but that's not going to tell you much. One thing I try to keep in mind when watching most of these guys is that they are still young and developing. They have a long ways to go. I don't expect to see a final, polished product here.
Anyway, it should be an interesting week and at least it is some hockey.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the NHL will be offering out of market games online for the 2007-08 season. Basically, it is NHL Center Ice online. The cost will be around $169 for a season subscription and around $15 for a daily pass, according to the Journal. The league is partnering with NeuLion, whose CEO is Nancy Li, the wife of Islanders owner Charles Wang.
There is more. Here's the press release, which says the price is TBA, announcing the partnership between the league an NeuLion:
The National Hockey League (NHL) and NeuLion Inc., today announced their partnership to bring a unique online experience to fans worldwide using NeuLion technology at the start of the 2007-08 season.
A new NHL Integrated Video Portal will be available via NHL.com and all of the 30 club sites to deliver high-quality video and other content. Fans will be able to navigate easily between live game content, video features, behind-the-scenes footage and game highlights that are viewable in multiple video windows or full screen.
NeuLion will power this NHL online video offering, which will include the following (pricing has yet to be determined):
Live hockey games from NHL Center Ice Online. Paying subscribers of NHL Center Ice Online will be able to watch up to 40 games per week, subject to local blackouts, with the option to view multiple games at one time, zoom into just one game and set their own viewing preferences. The multiple game feature is one of several exciting upgrades to last year’s NHL Center Ice Online product.
· League-wide videos, player information and fan input. Fans can monitor their favorite players or teams, monitor stats for fantasy league purposes and share videos with other fans around the world. Fans can organize and share their favorite specific NHL content through buddy lists, blogs, e-mail, and playlists.
· Team Channels for all 30 teams plus NHL.com. The team experience features footage only available through this new service such as the clips from morning skate, pre-game interviews and post-game commentary. Additional content may include off-season NHL highlights and team-specific video-on-demand such as locker room access and mascot features. In addition, fans can choose game highlights to watch their favorite team or players around the League. Premium content may be available for a pay-per-view or subscription fee.
“The popularity of viewing sports highlights and games online continues to grow, especially with hockey fans, who tend to be early adapters to new technology,” said John Collins, Senior Executive Vice President, Business and Media, NHL. “This new agreement with NeuLion is another addition to the NHL’s technical platform to deliver unique and exciting content online that is available anytime, anywhere, without geographic boundaries.”
“NeuLion networks continue to grow across our customer base, we are really excited about this new partnership with the NHL, as we worked hard this past year to create a new fan experience for Islanders and Rangers fans, that was truly unique,” said Nancy Li, Chief Executive Officer of NeuLion Inc. “We know hockey fans throughout the world will benefit from this service.”
This doesn't come as a surprise. Matthew Barnaby has told Buffalo TV station WGRZ that he has decided to retire. The concussions have taken a toll. Here's a quote from his interview.
"When you're younger, you're only responsible for yourself. Now I have a son and a daughter, and I want to enjoy them for the next 20 or 30 years. Given what happened to me, and the way I play, I think I had to make the decision that was best for me and my family."
The Canadian Press has an article about Eric Lindros and what the future may hold for him. Things are still up in the air. He's focused on his work for the NHLPA and finding a new executive director to replace Ted Saskin. Here's an excerpt from the CP:
Eric Lindros is so concentrated on his work with the NHL Players' Association these days that his actual NHL playing career has been put on hold.
As in, will he play again next season?
"Right now my focus is the 'PA work," Lindros told The Canadian Press on Wednesday. "I'm not really concerned about the rest of it. But the last couple of years have been pretty frustrating in terms of not getting through without being injury-free. . It's just frustrating."
Stars president Jim Lites details the responses he got to his letter. He said 95 percent of the response supported the team's approach. Seems high to me. That's not surprising though. How many people are going to send a nasty email to the guy. Then again, maybe it was just a few in the media and a vocal minority raising all the fuss.
Anyway, my favorite part of the latest offering from Lites and the Stars was his response to criticism of Dave Tippett, his system and the team's style of play, which the writer said was "dull and allows for zero offensive creativity." Lites responded:
Here's something you may not realize. Did you know that our system is basically the same system implemented by the Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks? Of course when you have two horses on the back end controlling half of the ice and the plethora of talented forwards they had, it makes it look a lot easier. Detroit also runs a similar system. While we did not set the world on fire with the number of goals we scored this past season, Tippett's style has always emphasized puck-control and possession, and a dedication to the fore-check. To be fair, the team had to adjust to having both Modano and Morrow out for extended periods last season and did what it had to do to win hockey games. And they did a good job at it. At the end of the day, all everyone here with the Stars wants to do is win. We will continue that mindset -- do whatever it takes to win.
That said, we recognize that our biggest need is to add a goal-scorer or two. It's no secret that we'd love to add some scoring punch to our lineup. Doug Armstrong and his staff continue to look at every option in upgrading our roster and they take every possibility into consideration. He will make the right move when he sees the opportunity.
Lites is spot on about the system. If you were paying attention during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, especially the Finals, you would have noticed the Ducks looked an awful lot like the Stars in their style. And yeah, they scored more and the fact that they had a lot of talent helped. But they also had some of their grinders come up big time too. Travis Moen comes to mind.
This is not hockey related, but since you are here reading this you can probably relate. Thanks to Kukla's Korner, where I found this gem about the crash of the internet.
... Jason Botterill? He was the Stars' first round pick (20th overall) out of the University of Michigan in 1994. Well, he's landed with the Pittsburgh Penguins and it's a front office job as as director of hockey administration. Here's a blurb from the Penguins press release on Botterill, who had no points in 21 games with the Stars back in the late 90's.
Following his playing career, Botterill has worked with the NHL Offices and the NHL Central Registry and spent the past season as a scout for the Dallas Stars. In his new role with the Penguins, he will monitor the salary cap, including cap forecasting, contract research and negotiations, and work with salary arbitration and preparation and scouting.
Botterill had five goals and nine assists in 88 NHL games. He also played with Atlanta, Calgary and Buffalo. The Stars traded him to Atlanta for Jamie Pushor less than a month after winning the Stanley Cup in 1999.
As a restricted agent who was extended a qualifying offer, it was pretty much a given Junior Lessard was going to be under contract with the Stars this season. That was announced today. Where he fits into the grand scheme of things remains a mystery. Right now the Stars are a little heavy with forwards. A lot can happen between now and the beginning of season. There's the possibility of player movement, injuries or whatever. That means Lessard could be in the mix to battle for some time with the big club. He should be in the loop for call ups during the season too.
He was supposed to get a good look at training camp last season, and ended up going to the minors. When the Stars were calling up players left and right because of injuries, Lessard had his own injury issues down in Iowa. That was a tough break for him.
I had a chance to talk to him during camp last year and I know the defensive game and limiting the turnovers were things he was working on to improve his chances of getting to the NHL. I don't know if those are reasons the Stars don't turn to him when he is healthy. Who knows. Last season, the Stars insisted it was Lessard's injury situation that kept him down on the farm.
The few times he has been up in the NHL he's done OK. He seems to play pretty well in the AHL and is a 25-30 goal guy down there. I honestly have no idea what he would do during a long stay in the NHL. I think one thing people often overlook when it comes to Lessard is his age. He turned 27 in May. He's not really a developing prospect anymore. He is what he is. This will probably be his last chance with the Stars. He'll be unrestricted after 2007-08. If it wasn't for a transitional rule in the CBA, he would have been a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer.
I'd like to see what he could do in the NHL for an extended period of time, but I think time is running out on him.
I am not sure how I missed this but, I did. Must have been busy with life this weekend. This probably explains why I thought qualifying offers expired today when they actually expired yesterday. I am a day behind. Anyway, the Dallas Stars Ice Girls tryouts were this weekend. Fortunately, the Stars remembered and have whittled down the contestants to a group of finalists. Katy still rocks.
This letter from Stars president Jim Lites, addressed to Dallas Stars fans, just showed up in my mailbox. Here it is:
Dear Stars fan,
There have been a lot of things written and said over the last two weeks, many of which have painted a negative perception of the Dallas Stars as a hockey club and where we are headed in the future. We've been called everything from 'stupid' to 'asleep at the wheel' to 'out of touch,' simply because we did not make a big splash in the free agent market.
I'm here to tell you that these beliefs, columns, opinions and statements couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, it's downright unfair. Contrary to what some have written or said, we haven't gone stupid overnight and we do have a plan in place.
The Dallas Stars have been the second-most successful team in the entire NHL over the last 11 years. We're proud of that mark, and you should be too, for your support has been a big factor in our success. Do we wish we had more hardware? Absolutely, but the consistent success we've achieved over the years cannot be ignored.
We were one of the best teams in the league again last season. The Stars won 50 games and earned 107 points, finishing just three points behind Pacific Division and Stanley Cup champ Anaheim (who we beat four times). And we did this while having the fifth-most man-games lost due to injury, most of which were our best players (Modano and Morrow). And we played our best hockey against the best teams (going 23-15-4 vs. all other playoff teams).
That's the good news. But obviously a first round loss in the playoffs was disappointing for all of us, and that is what people remember and center their attention on. That's understandable. We all want to win in the playoffs.
But in the new NHL, there are no longer “upsets” in the first round. All eight playoff teams in the West could have easily won the conference. The “new NHL” includes first round match-ups that are much closer than in the old system. The playing field is more level than ever before.
Some believe that we should make wholesale changes to this club because we have struggled in the playoffs of late. We disagree. It would be irresponsible of us to trade some of our core players because we believe that won't make us better. At the end of the day we would punish the fans and ourselves.
Would we like to add scoring? Yes. But we have to operate under the salary cap and do the best we can with the chips we have to play with at the table. We want to give ourselves the best chance for success, both short and long term. What we can't do is take unreasonable risks on contracts, which was something we could do under the old system. We can't take an extra center on a long-term deal and see if we can make him change positions and make him fit into our system. We tried that with Pierre Turgeon and it didn't work. That was OK when it was just money. We can't take that risk now with the salary cap.
These might sound like excuses to some but it is the reality of the business model we are in.
Doug Armstrong has done an excellent job in firming up our roster. He was able to sign Brenden Morrow and Jere Lehtinen to extensions one year ago at money and term that are fair and make sense. Then Doug traded for Mattias Norstrom at the trade deadline. These moves basically spent a lot of the possible money that would have been available for this year's crop of free agents. Any team that would have added these three players to their roster on July 1 would have been very happy.
That said, we were very much interested in adding a player to bolster our scoring (and still are). In essence, we have about a $4 million slot available to try and sign someone and we held discussions with several key free agents on July 1. In the end, all of our targets ended up getting more money and/or more term than we were comfortable with.
Many of the contracts that were signed by free agents in the first 24 hours of free agency were for what we like to call “stupid money.” In our opinion, several teams drastically overpaid to sign these free agents and they are now tied to contracts for many years that they may regret in the future because of the way it will hinder their roster movement.
We refuse to mortgage our future simply to sign a free agent in July and appease the media. We're not going to sign a player to win a PR battle; we'll sign free agents to contracts that will help us win hockey games. We're going to do whatever it takes to get better but you have to make good smart decisions, because mistakes in this system can kill you.
There are still options available to add players to our roster. One possibility is making a trade to add that scorer. But the bottom line is that we will not make a move unless we feel it is the right one. And we don't need to make that move in July.
Some have asked me what kind of a team we're going to have this season. I think it's going to be a good one. Take last year's 50-win team and put it up against our roster right now. The main differences are Mattias Norstrom replacing Darryl Sydor, Joel Lundqvist replacing Eric Lindros, and Todd Fedoruk replacing Matthew Barnaby. Then look around our division and our conference and ask yourself has anyone gotten better? None of the playoff teams have. And our roster that you see today is probably not the final roster you will see on opening night. We will continue to look for a way to add scoring punch to this lineup.
There are three main things that a team needs to have to be successful in the NHL -- a quality goaltender, a productive offensive defenseman, and talented center-ice men. We feel we are in very good shape in all three of these areas for 2007-08.
Marty Turco is one of the best goaltenders in the league and is under contract for the next three years. We also feel very good about Mike Smith in his role as Marty's back-up. We just extended Sergei Zubov's contract through 2009. We expect him to again anchor our blue-liners and be an important player for us. And we think we're in good shape at the center position with Mike Modano, Mike Ribeiro and Jeff Halpern. We're talented and can compete.
Every decision we make is done to win hockey games. We've always spent to the cap and always will, thanks to a great owner in Tom Hicks. Money is not an issue. The Dallas Stars are about winning. We've won in the past, we're going to win this season, and we're going to win in the future.
Thank you for your support of the Dallas Stars. Have a great summer!
The schedule is out and to me it is just another schedule, except for a few things. It will be nice to see teams like the Bruins, Leafs, Habs, Senators and Sabres come to town. That will help soften the blow of eight games against the Phoenix Coyotes (including one of every ten home games) and those late starts when the team is on the West Coast. Speaking of the West Coast, the Ducks and Kings opening the season in London should be interesting.
Call it Prudence the sequel. Or maybe it is Prudence III. The original Prudence was when the Stars posted that article on the official site. Mike Heika did a follow up on that in the Morning News. A week later Chuck Carlton of the Morning News gives us another version, in which Jim Lites assures the faithful: "We're not dumb, we're not cheap and we've not fallen asleep."
And there was this: "Are we likely to make a trade? Yes, but not in the next week. ... Are we preparing to do something? Absolutely. But we're not going to do anything stupid."
As I explained in an earlier post, I don't have a problem with the Stars approach so far. A lot of Stars fans don't agree, and some in local media don't agree either. The national media is starting to kick in as well. Scott Burnside of ESPN has done some early offseason analysis and has the Stars "trending down." Burnside writes:
"Hmm. GM Doug Armstrong's pre-playoff rearmament plan didn't work out quite as he'd planned as the Stars were bounced in the first round by Vancouver and then he saw Ladislav Nagy and Darryl Sydor leave town leaving the Stars short on offense and growing older by the minute. Defensively sound and well-coached the Stars look to be slipping inexorably beneath the playoff line."
Do a Todd Fedoruk search on YouTube and you get a lot of hits. No pun intended. There are a lot of fight videos. He had a rough year in that department. He missed extensive time after getting tagged by Derek Boogaard. He got taken off the ice on a stretcher after being nailed by Colton Orr.
The Stars sign Todd Fedoruk. They signed Brad Winchester. It doesn't do much for the goal scoring, but the Stars are trying to get bigger in the forward department. Somebody among the forward group has to go now. I would assume it would be someone who isn't big and burly. If the Stars are trying to be a bigger team like the Ducks, perhaps they'll try to be like the Ducks and load up on Canadians and North Americans.
While you're still waiting for Doug Armstrong to make his big move here's a good read about the frenzy of free agent season compliments of NHL.com's Larry Wigge. It opens this way:
There have been plenty of comings and goings around the NHL at a fever pitch in the first week of free agency. But what does it all mean, except for 30 or so players getting a lot richer?
Not much.
What I guess I really mean is not that much. Hey, it’s still a team game. And if we believed that money can buy you happiness in hockey, well, then, wouldn’t the Boston Bruins have been in the playoffs and fighting for the Stanley Cup last season after they went out and signed hulking defenseman Zdeno Chara and slick center Marc Savard? Or how about the Phoenix Coyotes spending millions on defenseman Ed Jovanovski and right winger Owen Nolan? Or ...
Sometimes you have the turn the story upside down and look to see what is happening on the other side of the spectrum -- let’s use the Ottawa Senators as our example.
The Sens lose Chara to Boston, have to trade potential 2007 unrestricted free agent Martin Havlat, plus Bryan Smolinski, to Chicago, let go journeyman center Tyler Arnason and veteran goaltender Dominik Hasek.
And, in case you were on a world tour and out of reach of the hockey world, there was a little series with the Stanley Cup on the line -- with these same Ottawa Senators playing the Anaheim Ducks for the NHL title.
Stars GM Doug Armstrong finally made some signings, inking left wing Brad Winchester, center Toby Petersen and defenseman Trevor Byrne to one-year contracts. I think Winchester and Petersen are decent adds, but I know they are not what a lot of people were looking for the Stars to nab in the free agent market. I also don't think anyone should think that Armstrong has wrapped it up for the summer either.
It's been a rough week for the Stars from a PR standpoint. They were getting bashed on message boards. Bob Sturm questioned what was going over on The Ticket. Columnists in both local newspapers took shots at them this week.
The frustration is understandable. Three straight first round playoff exits and the team is basically standing pat based on the moves made so far. Fans are looking for a little hope and the Stars are selling the status quo and prudence. A lot of folks aren't buying.
At the same time, I don't see this week as some kind of disaster. Armstrong missed out on some guys who ended up getting way too much money, too much term or both. Paul Kariya at $6 million per season? I don't think so. Jason Blake is a nice player, but for five years? Slava Kozlov was a little more palatable at three years and a little less than $4 million per season, but my heart didn't sink when he decided to stay in Atlanta.
The Stars were going to have a hard time fitting in a player like Ryan Smyth under the cap. They didn't have enough room. It's not because, as some have that suggested, that all of sudden Tom Hicks has gone cheap. The Stars have not gone cheap.
I liked Dainius Zubrus. He came in at $20.4 million over 6 years. The money was about what I thought, but the term was surprising.
The money and term stuff might be boring, but is the reality of working under the cap. The moves Armstrong makes affect this team now and down the road.
Armstrong keeps bring up the signings of Brenden Morrow and Jere Lehtinen to extensions last September. People seem to want to ignore that. They also tend to ignore that when Armstrong made those signings that he said they weren't going to be big players in the free agent market this summer. He clued in everyone back then.
If you want to argue how the Stars have tied up some of their cap money, that's an entirely different matter. If you wonder what the plan is after guys like Modano, Zubov and Lehtinen hang it up, that's a good question too. But for now their cap situation is what it is. You just don't add to what you have in many cases anymore in many cases. You can, but you better have some low cap cost guys ready to come in and produce. See last year's Ducks for an example.
It's easy to say move some salary, but you've got to make sure you've got the players to fill the hole you've left in that respect, you need a partner to trade and the deal has to work for both teams. I don't think San Jose is taking on cap space this summer to help out teams with upper limit issues. I don't think they'd do it for the Stars if they were in that game this summer.
If you want to see someone do something just do something, I guess Armstrong hasn't gotten the job done. I just don't see it that way. We're not even a week into July. It's a little early to hit the panic button over all this. He's still got options.
I don't want him to just a make a move. I want him to make a good move, not a stupid one. Not one that handcuffs the organization going forward. Not one where he overpays some guy over the next few years to score maybe 20-25 goals next season.
To be honest, I give him some credit for sticking to his guns.
Do I think the Stars have magically improved? No, but I don't think they are falling off a cliff either. It's not like this team, which is still pretty good, has lost a bunch of players. They just need to add some offensive punch.
Do I buy the theory that a healthy Brenden Morrow and Mike Modano will help the offense? Yeah, a little.
Do I think they can get enough of it internally from players already on the roster? Yeah, a little.
Do I think they need still need a shot in the arm offensively? Yeah.
Am I worried that it hasn't happened here in the first week of July? No.
Do I think they are a good team? Yeah. And one that still has plenty to time and options to address their needs.
The Edmonton Oilers have dipped into the restricted free agent pool, signing Buffalo's Thomas Vanek to a seven-year, $50 million offer sheet. According to TSN:
The deal would pay Vanek $5 million in the first two seasons, and $6.4 million in each of the following five seasons. The contract will also pay him a $5 million signing bonus in each of the first two years.
Bill Guerin has signed a two-year, $9 million deal with the New York Islanders. That's 4.5 million per year. He still gets $2.25 million from the Stars this season. He's doing OK in the money department.
It looks like Slava Kozlov was in town for a visit with the Stars, according to Mike Heika's blog over at the Morning News site. Stars made an offer. Not sure what it is. Mike speculated three years at $12 million. I have doubts about Kozlov at the money and term. Time will tell.
TSN is reporting that Ladislav Nagy has signed with Kings. So has Michal Handzus. The Ottawa Sun reported earlier today that Tom Preissing was heading to the Kings, but TSN hasn't put its stamp of approval on that one yet.
I guess the Stars sense some uneasiness among the certain segments of faithful concerning the lack of moves on Sunday. The Stars have put together a explanation of the strategy on the official site. This is why PR staffs exist.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed Darryl Sydor to a two-year, $5 million contract. That's $2.5 million a season for Sydor. Good deal for him. He's a good guy for a young team like the Penguins.
It was almost like old times as free agency opened today. Big market teams like the Rangers and Flyers make a big splash. A smaller team like Buffalo loses a couple players.
I found one of the interesting aspects was the front loading of the first year of Briere's contract. He gets $10 million. I believe there are limits as to what you can do under the CBA, but a team that has cash still has an advantage by being able to do something like that to perhaps outmaneuver a team that may be cash challenged. A lot of money up front is a nice incentive.
Look what the Flyers have done with the contracts of Timonen and Briere. The actual payroll hit for those two guys will be $18 million next season, but the cap cost for the two is $12.8 million. You can have a high payroll, but still fall within the upper limit of the cap. It's not something a lot of teams would be able to do. The higher the cap goes, the more the cash rich teams can gain an advantage. This is one way.
So, where were the Stars? Right where Doug Armstrong said he would be. He exercised some restraint. No way he was going to be involved in these seven or eight-year deals at $6.5 million or $7 million-plus figures. It was not going to happen. Let's not forget Armstrong committed $8 million to this season's payroll last year when he signed Morrow and Lehtinen to extensions before the season started. He added another $4.25 million when acquired Norstrom at the trade deadline. In a cap system when you make deals like that you are thinking ahead. Armstrong knew that. He said back in September after the Morrow and Lehtinen deals that he wouldn't be doing any blockbuster free agent signings this summer. That doesn't mean he still can't do a deal for some scoring help and bring in a player. There are still trade options. I am still not that worried about it.
Oh, and one more thing. When next summer rolls around remember today's contract extension to Sergei Zubov. There's $5.35 million committed to next season and some free agent money spent.
As for the today's transactions, there were some good players out there, but no one worth breaking the bank over. I think the Flyers, who are coming off a disaster of a season, have done a nice job trying to get some pieces in place. Daniel Briere will help. Eight years? I don't think so. Getting Drury and Gomez is quite the coup for the Rangers, but is it going to take them over the top? I don't know. If they win it all over the next five to seven years and those guys play a part you can look back at it and say it was a great summer for Glen Sather.
There were some moves I liked. Colorado made a couple of nice adds with Ryan Smyth and Scott Hannan and the money wasn't bad ($6.25 million for Smyth and $4.5 for Hannan). Anaheim is about to lose Scott Niedermayer, who will probably retire, and they did the best they could to plug the hole by signing Mathieu Schneider. Detroit, which lost Schneider, picked up Brian Rafalski. Good moves by both teams.
There were some guys who I thought got overpaid, but that's the free agent market. When people compete for your services like that the money being handed out will rise. Yeah, a lot of guys are getting big money but at the same time some other guys are getting squeezed out because of the cap.
Etar Jon Sim has signed with the Islanders. Three-year deal.
"Jon Sim is an aggressive, hard-working veteran forward with good offensive skills who fits in perfectly with Ted Nolan's system," said Islanders general manager Garth Snow. "We're extremely pleased Jon chose to become an Islander."
The Oilers have traded captain Jason Smith and forward Joffrey Lupul to the Philadelphia Flyers for defenceman Joni Pitkanen, forward Geoff Sanderson and a third round draft pick in 2009.
A couple signings in the Southeast Division. According to TSN, Carolina signed Jeff Hamilton, who scored 18 goals with Chicago last season, to a two-year deal worth $800,000 per year. Tampa Bay has signed Michel Ouellet (Pittsburgh) to a two-year contract. It's $2.5 million on that deal (Updated).
Radek Dvorak, who played with St. Louis last season, has signed a two-year deal with Florida, according to the Miami Herald. No terms yet. Also, TSN reports Shawn Thornton of the Ducks is now Shawn Thornton of the Bruins. It's a muti-year deal, but no money disclosed.
In their press release on the Mathieu Schneider signing the Ducks also provided some news on Scott Niedermayer.
“Scott Niedermayer has informed me that he is leaning toward retirement,” Ducks GM Brian Burke said in the release. “Typical of his character and leadership, he made the call this morning in order to allow us to make alternative plans in the event he does not return. Although he has not retired and would be welcomed back, we felt adding another top NHL defenseman was critical to defending our championship. Mathieu Schneider fits into that category and will be a great addition to our team.”
Briere's contract with the Flyers will be eight years for $6.5 million per year. That's $52 million over the life of the contract. He gets $10 million in the first year, according to TSN.
TSN is reporting the Anaheim Ducks have signed defenseman Mathieu Schneider to a two-year deal that will pay him $5.5 million and $5.75 million. Makes you wonder if they are expecting Scott Niedermayer to retire.
The Capitals have signed defenseman Tom Poti (NY Islanders) to a four-year, $14 million deal. Source on that is TSN. The Miami Herald reports the Panthers have signed Brett McLean (Colorado) to a three-year deal worth $1.7 million per year and Richard Zednik (NY Islanders) to a two-year contract worth $1.625 per year.
TSN' is reporting five teams are in the hunt for Daniel Briere. Three of them are believed to be Montreal, Los Angeles and Philly. Montreal offered a six-year/$42 million deal according to be TSN's Bob McKenzie. Nine teams apparently made pitches on Smyth once the bidding started at 11 am Central Time.
Free agent season is opening now and I'll be hanging out most of the day providing any updates via the blog. A couple of tidbits from last night. As expected Keith Tkachuk signed with Blues. It was a two-year deal worth $8 million. Boston acquired goalie Manny Fernandez from Minnesota for Petr Kalus and a fourth-round pick in the 2009 NHL entry draft.
tar Jon Sim has signed with the Islanders. Three-year deal. 
