Probably one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever seen.
Painting ice gone wrong. Hey kids, how would you like to skate on frozen pee? The Nashville Predators have dyed their ice yellow, or maybe gold (hell, I’m colorblind) , for an open house this weekend. Don’t worry though, hockey fans, they won’t be playing games on that.
After letting the dust settle on Ilya Kovalchuk’s “retirement” and reading different stories and opinions, I have made some conclusions.
First, both team and player are better off with Kovalchuk moving on. The Devils no longer have to deal with Kovy’s heavily front-loaded contract and cap hit, and Ilya can make huge dollars in the KHL and be with his family.
Secondly, although the Devils now find themselves with cap space, finding someone to replace the holes left by Kovalchuk and Zach Parise last summer is a whole new challenge on its own.
GM Lou Lamiorello has limited options in terms of what he can do to improve his hockey club. The free agent market has all but dried up unless you want to overpay for one of Jaromir Jagr or Brendan Morrow, or take a chance on guys like Damien Brunner, Mikhail Grabovski or Brad Boyes. All of these players would be nice additions, however none will bring nearly as much to the table offensively as Kovalchuk did.
Additionally, the trade market has lost some steam, as many teams have made their big moves and are now waiting for training camp to start before re-evaluating and tweaking their rosters. This makes life tough on Uncle Lou, since acquiring a high-scoring forward in a tapped out and idle market can be somewhat of a challenge. Obviously, by saying “somewhat of a challenge” I mean damn near impossible, especially with the prospect pool (or lack thereof) that the Devils have to dangle as trade bait. The only young players that will bring in any significant return are Adam Henrique, Andrei Loktionov and Adam Larsson. Loktionov might be movable if packaged, but Henrique and Larsson are the future in Newark and it would take a pretty penny to pry them fro Lamiorello’s fingers.
So, what do the Devils do? Amidst all this talk of Kovalchuk, people seemed to forget that New Jersey has 2 starting goaltenders. One has stopped more rubber than any goaltender in the last 5 years and one has stopped more than any goaltender of all time. This makes for a problem that any GM would love to have.
After crunching some numbers, I compared both goalies’ stats to those of other elite goalies of the last 5 years. The results are in order as follows:
GAA:
1. Cory Schneider, 2.20
2. Henrik Lundqvist, 2.24
3. Jonathan Quick, 2.31
4. Antti Niemi, 2.34
T4. Martin Brodeur, 2.34
6. Pekka Rinne, 2.36
7. Roberto Luongo, 2.38
8. *Corey Crawford, 2.39
9. Marc-Andre Fleury, 2.49
10. Ryan Miller, 2.51
11. Carey Price, 2.56
SV%:
1. Cory Schneider, 0.927
2. Henrik Lundqvist, 0.923
3. Pekka Rinne, 0.919
T3. Roberto Luongo, 0.919
T3. Ryan Miller, 0.919
6. Antti Niemi, 0.917
7. Jonathan Quick, 0.915
8. *Corey Crawford, 0.913
T8. Marc-Andre Fleury, 0.913
10. Martin Brodeur, 0.910
11. Carey Price, 0.908
*I put Crawford in here because he recently won the Stanley Cup and is comparable in age and style to Schneider; however, he has only played 4 seasons in the NHL.
Please note that these are not the top ranked goaltenders total, they are the top ranked goalies who are supposed to be elite and have all seen playoff action at least once in the past 5 seasons.
Obviously, Schneider tops these lists, and in GAA has distanced himself from the pack. The only netminder with numbers even close to his belong to Henrik Lundqvist, and we all know what Lundqvist brings to the Rangers.
What I’m trying to prove with all of this, is that the Devils really don’t need to hang on to Marty Brodeur if they can find someone who could use a veteran goalie and can spare some firepower.
There are a couple of teams who come to mind, but the highest bidders, should Marty become available, should be Edmonton, Florida and Philadelphia. It wouldn’t hurt for Colorado or the New York Islanders to get in on Brodeur as well. So now that we have a small number of possible teams, what could each of them send to New Jersey in order to acquire the legendary future hall-of-famer?
Before we start, it should be noted that Martin Brodeur carries a NTC and would have to be consulted before a trade could be approved.
Here goes:
Edmonton:
It’s no secret that the Oilers have serious forward depth, since they’ve used multiple recent first overall picks to select only elite scorers. This year, they’ve changed their ways a bit and drafted Darnell Nurse and signed former Bruin Andrew Ference to solidify the back end. The biggest question mark? Goaltending. Oil brass has believed in Devan Dubnyk and see him as the future in goal. However, He has struggled to find his game with a lack of defensive support and a revolving door of backup goaltenders, none of whom have been able to steer him in the right direction. This is where Marty comes in. I don’t need to sit here and list Brodeur’s accomplishments to convince anyone he would be a good choice, but Edmonton seems like a perfect fit. He would be considered a 1b, similar to his current status and would be able to help a young team make the playoffs. So, what do the Oilers send to Jersey?
Edmonton gets:
G Martin Brodeur
New Jersey gets:
C Sam Gagner
G Olivier Roy
2014 2nd round pick
This trade gives Edmonton a legendary goalie to win some games and increase Devan Dubnyk’s development, while New Jersey provides Sam Gagner a place to be the go-to guy.
Florida:
It is no secret that the Panthers are desperate to upgrade in goal, after spending the last 2 years in and out of negotiations to bring in Roberto Luongo. Jacob Markstrom is the future, but just isn’t quite there yet and Jose Theodore is not only over the hill, but he’s made it to the bottom on the other side. With the free agent market tapped of goaltenders, the Panthers will need to explore trade options if they intend to put someone in front of Markstrom. Here is my hypothetical deal:
Florida gets:
G Martin Brodeur
New Jersey gets:
C Drew Shore
LW Sean Bergenheim
2014 1st round pick
Brodeur in a Panthers uniform makes them a playoff team again. Shore is expendable with the recent drafting of Alexsander Barkov and Bergenheim provides some secondary scoring, while the first round pick provides some insurance should Bergenheim go down or Shore not amount to his potential.
Philadelphia:
Another team who has been trying to upgrade the goaltender position for quite a while is the Philadelphia Flyers. GM Paul Holmgren went out and signed Ray Emery to fill the hole, but many question Emery’s ability to play a whole season as a starter. If he gets off to a rocky start, Brodeur could be on Broad St before too long. It is well known around the league that Philly would be a serious contender if their net wasn’t a black hole for pucks, and Brodeur could help fix that problem. The Flyers are deep at centre and could give up a prospect and a pick without sacrificing their future. This is the exchange I would propose:
Philadelphia gets:
G Martin Brodeur
New Jersey gets:
C Brayden Schenn
2014 1st round pick.
Schenn is a player that Lou Lamiorello could build his team around and would immediately boost the team’s offense. Bringing Brodeur in takes the pressure and workload off Emery and give Flyers fans peace of mind knowing they have a goalie who can and will stop pucks for them, whether there are bears or not.
As for the other 2 teams, Colorado is expected to start shopping Ryan O’Reilly now that they have drafted Nathan Mackinnon. There could be a deal swung there. Additionally, the Islanders have a talented young core that could give up one or two of Ryan Strome, Casey Cizikas or Kirill Kabanov without putting the future of the franchise is danger.
Obviously, Brodeur is a monster in goal and the thought of trading him probably makes Devils fans throw up in their mouth a little, but with Cory Schneider in town, free from drama or distraction, the Devils should explore moving him to bring in some much-needed firepower. All of this, of course, is hypothetical and purely made up, but I would like to see how people react to the thought of Brodeur playing somewhere besides New Jersey.
This is an interesting look at how the AHL season is going to look this year in terms of divisions. Gone are The Whale which are replaced by the Hartford Wolf Pack and the brand new Utica Comets will make their debut. The AHL is constantly changing to adapt to the NHL. Give this a look through folks, its a good read.
AHL – Always re-aligning
The American Hockey League is a place of change on a season by season basis.
From testing new rules and regulations to be possibly used in NHL, to players moving up, down and around.
Heading into the 2013/2014 season we have yet more league re-alignment, saying goodbye to some old friends and welcoming some new teams to the AHL.
In the Eastern Conference there is only one change to note and that is a name change. Three years after re-branding themselves as the Connecticut Whale, the New York Rangers affiliate will be known once more as the Hartford Wolf Pack, which had been their name since 1997.
It’s the Western Conference where we have significant changes and re-alignment.
The South Division experiment didn’t last long and we are back to the old West Division.
The Abbotsford Heat, formerly in the North will make the move across…
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Check out my first post of my bi-monthly segment of the Legends Of Long Island that I have over at Eyes On Isles.
The first installment features the epicness that was Mike Bossy! Click on him to head there.
It’s safe to say that Ilya Kolvachucks’ decision to retire from the NHL was something more premeditated that many thought.
In fact March gave me a heads up via a text message and was like – KOVY IS RETIRING! and the first thing I said was –
(had to add a Queenie reference there!)
Anyway I said – No way, and if he is, he will be playing in the KHL and sooner rather then later.
So, are players just going to be able to ‘Retire’ instead of honouring their contracts? (Although lets face it – his contract was awful..in so many ways!) But retiring and making it official takes you off your employers books. you are essentially free of whatever contractual obligations you had. What if Roberto Luongo, who is in a very similar contractual position, said he was going to retire? (Doubtful as he has no other credible options, as Kolvachuk does in the KHL) but you get what I mean.
From the Devils stand point I think they possibly see it as a blessing in disguise. They no longer have to honour is huge ridiculous contract and get out of it pretty much scott free.
I may add that it’s debatable that due to honouring his deal they lost out on a lot of space to accommodate other much needed talent or go after Paraise and others of his quality.
But I digress back to my last point. My concern here is what kind of precedence this sets for contracts in the future. Lets face it here, clubs and players are one in the same – they are savvy and will be looking for loop holes out of their own stupid decision making and discontent if needed. After the lockout this year and all the meetings, and discussions that came along with it, it really surprises me they overlooked incidents such as this.
I just hope this doesn’t become a regular occurrence in the NHL for players and teams to void their stupidity!
With the recent release of the list of players going to salary arbitration, I’ve noticed lately that a few people are having trouble grasping the concept of it. I know it sounds confusing, but it really is quite simple.
Basically, a player or team opting to go to arbitration is like 2 young siblings arguing over who should get the last cookie.
When a player becomes a restricted free agent, that player has finished his entry level contract and is still property of his NHL team. Under the new collective bargaining agreement, a player cannot become an unrestricted free agent until he is 27 years of age or has been in the NHL for 7 years. Therefore, players who finish their entry-level contracts are without a contract but cannot sign with whichever team they like.
Everyone who follows player movement and contracts knows that negotiating is not simple and quite often can be a lengthy process. Occasionally, somewhere in these negotiations, the player or team says, “Alright, we’re clearly not in the same page whatsoever, so this needs to be resolved.” In the case of unrestricted free agency, the team or player would simply walk away from the negotiations and that would be it. However, restricted free agents still belong to the team and take up a spot on the roster, so if a deal cannot be reached, the player sits out and cannot be replaced externally. A couple recent examples of this are Montreal Canadiens defenseman PK Subban, and Colorado Avalanche forward Ryan O’Reilly. In these cases, both players eventually re-signed with their teams and had good seasons (especially Subban, who would go on to win the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman).
If a deal cannot be agreed upon, however, there are 2 options available. The team can seek out a trade and both parties can go their separate ways, or one can opt to file for arbitration. Arbitration has to be filed by a certain date (July 5th this year), but teams and players can still negotiate up until their hearing date.
If a team chooses to take a player to arbitration, that player cannot be taken to arbitration again in his career and he cannot receive less than 85% of his previous year’s salary.
After arbitration has been filed, team and player each compile their respective arguments and make their case to a neutral party: the arbitrator. After reviewing each party’s case, the arbitrator then makes an informed decision about how much salary the player is entitled to.
At this point, one of 2 things can happen:
1. Both parties accept, the contract is signed and it’s off to the rink.
2. The team can choose to walk away from the deal, resulting in the player becoming an unrestricted free agent and being allowed to sign with whichever team has a mutual interest in him.
Another possible scenario is an RFA being proposed to by another team with an offer sheet. What this means, is that the player can sign with that team, but his current team first has the opportunity to match the offer. If the team decides to match, the player remains with his current team and the contract is signed. If, however, the team believes the contract is too much and does not want to pay, they can decline to match and receive draft pick compensation in return for the
player leaving. The draft pick(s) the team receives depends on the size of the salary the player signs with his new team. The limits are as follows:
$1,110,249 or below – No Compensation
Over $1,110,249 to $1,682,194 – 3rd round pick
Over $1,682,194 to $3,364,391 – 2nd round pick
Over $3,364,391 to $5,046,585 – 1st round pick, 3rd
Over $5,046,585 to $6,728,781 – 1st round pick, 2nd, 3rd
Over $6,728,781 To $8,410,976 – Two 1st Round Picks, 2nd, 3rd
Over $8,410,976 – Four 1st Round Picks
It’s not often you see teams present a player with an offer sheet, but it does happen every now and then. Its even more rare that a team decides to walk away from that player, but when it does happen, it generally creates animosity between people. Whether it’s between the player and former team or former team and new team, GMs generally feel robbed when they lose a player to an offer sheet. Just look at the case of Kevin Lowe/Brian Burke/Dustin Penner. We all know how much Burke and Lowe now love each other.
In any case, salary arbitration is not usually a good thing for anyone, but unfortunately, is a necessary evil. Hopefully that clears up any confusion, and if there are any questions, comments or if i’ve missed something, please don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments section below! As always, thank you for reading and keep checking back!
Cheers!
Doesn’t this mask bring back memories? For some reason it makes me think of the old school Leafs and Felix Potvin. Maybe because it’s a bit similar in style.
It’s just plain enough to make every stand and pop out. Scrivens actually wanted to go old school in this 2012 mask and Gunnarsson gave him just that. The way the main Leaf morphs into larger ones around the top of the head give it the old school look. I actually am quite fond of this little to no artwork on it. It makes the viewer focus right in on the main point; the Maple Leaf. Sadly, we will never see this mask again.
So I’m working on my Western Conference offseason recap, but I wanted to take a break from that to touch on a controversial topic that has surfaced in the sports world recently. That topic is the respect of the team logo on the dressing room floor.
I read an article by Justin Bourne on The Score that said (rough summation) the members of the media are slightly outraged at the flak that Canadian pop star Justin Bieber has received for planting his dirty boots on the sacred Indian head of the Chicago Blackhawks whilst photographing the Stanley Cup. (View the disgrace for yourself here.) All I could think of when I first read that was, “Are you kidding me?”
First off, I wouldn’t be letting the Biebs anywhere near an Original Six dressing room, let alone the most beautiful trophy in all of sports. There really is no excuse for stepping on the logo; either you’re too ignorant to know you can’t or you just don’t care, and quite frankly, if either are true, you don’t deserve to be in the dressing room in the first place.
Secondly, where do these media members get off thinking they can complain and get to do what they want? Did these people seriously put all that time and effort into becoming a sports writer so they could take a sh*t on teams’ rules and traditions? The reason these people even have something to write about is because this league and its teams exist. The last thing they should be doing is irking the people who essentially make them their earnings.
Hockey, and the sporting world in general, is full of superstition, tradition and strange routine. Take a look at one of the greatest goaltenders to ever play the game and my personal childhood hero, Patrick Roy. The guy was a hot-head and nearly nuts with superstition, but nobody gave him any grief about tapping each post 3 times before every play, not skating over any lines on the ice and writing his kids’ names on his sticks.
Watch every goalie in the league after they get scored on. Every single one of them has their own unique way of shaking it off. Some skate to the side boards and back, others go straight for their water bottles. Some guys shake their heads around like 12 year old girls listening to, well, Justin Bieber. So why are the media making such a big deal out of having to take 3 steps sideways/frontwards/backwards? I have never been in a dressing room full of media and players/staff, but I fully understand that it gets very crowded and difficult to maneuver around; however, the logo is what, 5 feet by 5 feet? How hard can it be to stay away from that 25 square feet of dressing room floor.
The point I’m trying to make is this: Myself, I am a huge fan of this game and being allowed into the dressing room to conduct interviews and get material for articles sounds a lot like a privilege to me. The trust that these NHL organizations is instilling in people should be responded to with respect for their rules and regulations, whether one guy thinks they’re ridiculous or not.
That’s my rant, so thanks for reading and please, let me know what you think in the comment section below and don’t forget to check back soon for the Western Conference Offseason Recap!
Cheers!
Arguably the worst #1 Draft pick in NHL history, Patrick Stefan went first overall to the Atlanta Thrashers who also was in their first pick in franchise history. Pick 2 and 3 were Hendrik and Daniel Sedin. Despite knowing that Stefan had a history of concussions and was playing for the Long Beach Ice Dogs in the IHL, Stefan was touted to become one of their biggest players. Stefan played six seasons before being traded to the Dallas Stars for 2 guys and a draft pick and most likely a bag of hockey pucks. Stefan played one year with Dallas and they chose not to re-sign him. This is probably why:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Z9UspUHqg
Yeesh. His numbers were always terrible and he finished out his career with SC Bern in Switzerland. You can now find him as an agent in Laguna Beach.
Carey Price’s 2012 playoff mask is nothing short of a masterpiece. Price wanted a recreation of the famed playoff torch that signifies the passing of the old players to the new.
The hot road chrome flames look amazing over the Habs crest and almost make it look 3D like. The colours that were chosen, especially the cobalt like blue, accent the bottom of the mask just perfectly.
Once again this mask was created by Sweden’s David Gunnarsson, a man who has quite an eye for a well designed goalie mask. You will notice that I’ve been regularly featuring his work. It is a true work of art and I’m proud to show off this man’s talent.
marchhockey.com 
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