To those of you ready to hand Lord Stanley over to the Rangers, think back to when a certain team landed Kariya and Selanne a few summers back. Cups are not won or lost in July, although the chance to hoist the cup can change drastically.

First off, I\'m not a big fan of any contract over five years. Dobber made a few good points on this a few years back, and I\'ll add one. Go back a few years ago and read your fantasy pool guide or the latest hockey magazine. Hell, even from 2003 you\'ll see names like Daze, Bure, Allison and Palffy dominating. You\'ll also see top prospects like Jani Rita, Brandon Reid, and so on. My point is that hockey can change over time, and likes to. Change is one constant in the NHL, especially in the cap world. These GM\'s like Paul Holmgren and so on are not worried about their cap situation in eight years. They just want to ice the best possible team for the immediate future so they can retain their jobs. When you get impatient ownership, these situations arise.

Well enough rambling.. here is my high and low five so far.

High:

1) Brad Stuart (LA, 1 year, 3.5 million) - smart contract for both sides. The Kings get a stopgap while Jack Johnson can develop, and one with considerable upside still. Stuart gets to prove himself for a big contract, and has a great young core in LA to continue to mature with. Very smart contract for both sides as it gives flexibility to each party.

2) Scott Hannan (Colorado, 4 years, 4.5 million) - finally have their Adam Foote replacement. Hannan is young, will fit well in the rugged Northwest division, and wears his heart on his sleeve. The Avs went after a glaring need and filled it perfectly.

3) Petr Sykora (Pittsburgh, 2 years, 2.5 million) - great contract term, solid top six talent. He is a terrific complementary player (great with Arnott and Elias in New Jersey). Steal of a price as well, especially considering guys like Fedotenko got more.

4) Michael Handzus (LA, 4 years, 4 million) - while he is coming off a knee injury, he has never had injury problems in the past. Handzus is the type of player you can\'t measure in points, he will provide some great stability and two-way presence for the maturing Kings. The exact type of player an up and coming team needs to play pressure minutes and play smart hockey.

5) Tom Poti (Washington, 4 years, 3.5 million) - Poti is not the same defensive liability he was a few years ago. Sure, he still has his gaffs, but put up very good numbers on the Islanders. He was top 15 in the league for defensive ice-time, and still put up good point totals. He will fit in perfectly on a team needing a puckmoving defenseman on the PP and five on five. Washington looks to be the perfect fit for him.

Low:

1) Daniel Briere (Philadelphia, 8 years, 6.5 million) - It is hard to give a 90+ point player the highest spot on my low five.. but this deal does it. Eight years is ludicrous, especially with a no movement clause. Think back to the NHL in 1999. Look at it now. That is how long Briere is going to be a Flyer. Sure these rich teams have exploited the cap somewhat with frontloading salaries, but this one stinks. I really like Briere and feel is a legitimate top talent in the league, but this contract is worse than warm beer.

2) Jason Blake (Toronto, 5 years, 4 million) - Blake has a bad reputation that has followed him throughout his career. Bad attitude, selfish, etc. He is a great skater, and has a great shot, but put up big numbers in a CONTRACT YEAR. I\'d like Jason Blake at 4 million for one or two years, but five? Ferguson doesn\'t give a crap about the Leafs in five years, he just wants to keep his job. Ugly contract all around, even if Blake does put up 35 goals next year.

3) Todd Bertuzzi (Anaheim, 2 years, 4 million) - Bertuzzi is forver going to carry the name factor that will earn him money. His steady decline since the beginning of the 03-04 season (yes, before he clobbered Moore) came right after he signed the big contract with the Canucks. He put up 17 goals that year, and the next season put up the worst 70+ point season I have seen in quite some time. There is a chance he rekindles some old fire playing in a rough system with his buddy Burke, but this is such a risk. It is hard to criticize Burke right now, as all his decisions seem to turn to gold. This one could be fools gold for the Ducks.

4) Robert Lang (Chicago, 2 years, 4 million) - One of the laziest players in the NHL on a team like Detroit. Imagine how bad he\'ll be on the Hawks. Should put up decent numbers if he can play with Havlat, though. I\'m surprised how far the Red Wings made it last year with Lang\'s poor play dragging them down. Chicago has the cap space and wants a bit of insurance in case Toews can\'t handle top minutes yet, so I can see their side of it, but I would have gone after basically anyone before Lang.

5) Bryan Smolinski/Roman Hamrlik (Montreal, 1 year 2 million, and 4 years 5.5 million) - Smolinski put up decent numbers last year, only because he played top line minutes on Chicago and banked a few passes in off Marty Havlat. He is a decent role player but doesn\'t really contribute much to a team besides 15 goals and 40 points. The Habs would have been better off keeping Bonk for the extra million, Smolinski is a clear downgrade. As for Hamrlik.. definitely a panic move. Souray rejected the same contract from the Habs so they went out to get a replacement. Hamrlik\'s play has been declining and this is on a strong team like Calgary. He has a good point shot and can move the puck well, but his mobility and overall game hasn\'t been very good. $5.5 million is a joke, especially for four years. If you are desperate for a top four guy, do what the Ducks did with Schneider. Overpay, but keep the terms short (two years in this case).

cheers.

Post edited by: angus, at: 2007/07/04 17:04

__________________
Follow me on Twitter: AngusCertified
Check my blog out: Angus Certified

Pick up the 2013-14 DobberHockey Keeper League Fantasy Pack today!

Thanks for the thoughts Angus. There seem to be some pretty prominent deals missing here though - Nylander, Smyth, Drury/Gomez, etc. Any thoughts on those? The first two probably speak for themselves, the latter pair perhaps not so much. Curious to hear your thoughts.

__________________
T.G.

Thieving Giraffe wrote:
sure thing. I wanted to limit my piece to a few signings, but if you have any specific questions this is the thread to do so!

Nylander - will fit on Washington well. Don\'t like four years for him, but the Capitals have a ton of cap room and needed to outbid a few other teams to secure him. He hates shooting the puck and has great vision. I personally think he will work better with Semin than Ovechkin, but it depends what happens there. Along with Poti, The Caps are going to have a deadly PP. Keep an eye on young defenseman Mike Green, he has HUGE offensive upside.

Smyth - love the deal. Fits Colorado very well, not going to decline for a few years (his wear and tear has been overhyped I find). He is a smart, cerebral hockey player, and will fit in great with the Avs deep and talented offense. Don\'t mind the contract terms either, because Smyth wasn\'t going for anything shorter.

Gomez - eugh. Great playmaker, youngest UFA, but there are a few problems. His attitude has been questioned before (benched in the playoffs in the past, lazy play at times), hopefully he can keep it together and stay motivated. I would have liked him on the Canucks at 5.5 per for a few years, but that contract is ugly. The Rangers really handicapped themselves giving out 15 million to two non allstar solid players. Gomez is an elite playmaker but is not even close to being a 7 million dollar player, but it only takes one team to set the market value now.

Drury - similar to Gomez. Good second liner. He isn\'t great offensively, isn\'t great defensively, but he oozes intangibles that winning teams need. For 7 million though? The Rangers had two holes at center and lots of cap space, and they definitely improved drastically short term. Come back to me in four years and lets see.. if the Rangers have won a cup by then, then all these complaints are moot.

__________________
Follow me on Twitter: AngusCertified
Check my blog out: Angus Certified

Pick up the 2013-14 DobberHockey Keeper League Fantasy Pack today!

i like the article, many good points, especially about Montreal.

I am just disgusted with all of the events of July 1. I was so pissed when we had the lockout. I just can\'t believe that 60/70 point guys are worth 10 million per in front loaded contracts. The fact that players are being signed for 6 years, 8 years, is ludicrous. Especially considering that some of these guys are in their 30\'s.

At the end of the day, the game is the loser. It is so annoying.

The part that really gets me is what do the players put back into the community? I don\'t mean from an entertainment point of view. I am not talking about the team charities. How many players really step up to the plate and put their money where their mouth is and help others. Don\'t get me wrong. Hockey players are great people. I see this ridiculous wealth and consider that there is so much more that they could do to help the unfortunate.

Sorry about the rant, it pisses me off!

A LOT of hockey players are very active in their local communities.

At least no one signed for 15 years.

hockeylifer wrote:
Great rant! B)

__________________
DobberHockey Rules
14 Team Keeper, points only, best 12 skaters 2 dman 2 G count. Playoffs count.
F - Crosby, C.Smith, Wheeler, Parenteau, Hudler, Clowe, Grabovski, Atkinson, Frolik, S. Kostitsyn, Marchand, Peverley, Tavares, Read, Brouwer, Bickell, Gionta, Setoguchi
G - Anderson, Hiller, Markstrom, Brodeur
D - Letang, Del Zotto, I. White, Kronwall, Brodin, Nikitin

i agree with you that the game is going to suffer and has been suffering with all these changes and the new changes that they are proposing(bigger nets etc.). what scares me most tho is the chance that we\'re all going to miss another year of hockey because these guys who are so smart with business and money but don\'t seem to know jack shat about hockey. that year was definitely one of the worst years EVER and to have to go thru another one will be devastating.

__________________
H2H Points
Protect- roster:18 + prospects:7
F- Tavares, M.Richards, Lecavalier, Kovalchuk, Horton, Hossa, Purcell, Hartnell, Pominville, Simmonds
D- Doughty, Hedman, Boyle, Meszaros, Wideman
G- Fleury, Halak, Vokoun


Prospects-
F- Bowman, Coyle, Adam, Zibenajad, Geoffrion
D- Savard, Wishart
G- Hackett, Jones