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• Sean freaking Avery? really?

  Well I’ve tried to hold my tongue (keyboard) for 36 hours to let this all sink in. My gut reaction to the deal, coming an hour after the Wings claimed their repeat cup with Hossa, was “Wow, that’s stupid.” I saw some Ranger message boards that swayed me in a different direction, as they apparently all [...]

• So, was Murray right?

  Hello everyone, I’m Gerald Norton, and I’m going to do my best to present some interesting and topical takes on the Senators. I am a huge fan of hockey, some would even say obsessed, and I love exploring beyond the headlines, and looking at the numbers behind the arguments, to see if conventional wisdom [...]

• Rob Blake Swimming With Sharks

  In a surprise move, the Sharks have signed Rob Blake to a one year, 5M deal. Wow….I’m surprised. According to the SJ Merc, this has no effect on the Sharks confirmed pursuit of Dan Boyle. With Blake, the Sharks are at 50M and still need to sign Clowe and deal with Ehrhoff and Goc. Does [...]

• Free Agent Thoughts

  Here are some of my thoughts on the free agent signings so far. 1. I want to give the finger tor all those who are outraged at the Jeff Finger signing and who have seen him play fewer than two games. Yes, that is pretty much everyone. As a Leaf fan I am [...]

• Here Come The Hawks!

  I know it has been quite some time since I posted about the Hawks and I do apologize. It certainly isn’t because there was nothing going on. That being said, I’d like to comment on a few things that have been happening with my beloved hawks. First let’s start with the recent free agent [...]

• Garth Gives Isles Good Chance To Be Medicore

   I’m not going to go crazy about the Islanders’ draft or their free agent signings to this point because I’m somewhat encouraged by what’s gone down over the last few weeks. Garth Snow is nothing but honest. He said he’d do things to facilitate the rebuilding process and help the club wins some more games. [...]

• Theory of Relativity, Part 2

  I’m a Brian Burke guy. I think he has one of the brightest minds in hockey and has a very good understanding of market value (the guy has a law degree from Harvard), although his evaluation of talent leaves something else to be desired. He is very much a man of his word, and what [...]

• 2 Days In And Feeling A Bit Frustrated

  Well these past two days have been rather uneventful for Pens nation. Unless you count the mass exodus that is going on as eventful, but I don’t exactly find myself looking for my party hat as much as I am looking for the missing hair on my head and wondering why a bottle of tequila [...]

• Is Vorobiev On His Way?

  Cliff Fletcher had this to say recently in an interview with Howard Berger: “We’ll be signing a defenseman from Europe that hasn’t yet played in the NHL, and I’m still looking to hit a home run,” While I’m sure most Leafs fans are curious as to whether the “home run” is Mats Sundin, or another player as [...]

• Someone Get Me a Boyle

  More action today and the San Jose Sharks were out of it. Last night during our latest podcast (feed link here), I brought up Sean Avery and how I wouldn’t have minded seeing him in San Jose, but not for 4M. Well, that was the price and I’m glad Doug Wilson didn’t go there. As [...]

• Theory of Relativity, Part 1

  With the salary cap, it was meant to keep teams fiscally responsible, and to prevent inflated contracts from bankrupting teams or putting them in a poor financial position. However, since the cap was introduced in 2005 was $39m, it has grown a whopping $17m in four years. That’s a little less than two Sidney Crosbys. [...]

• 2008/2009 Season cancelled

  I wonder if the Red Wings + Hossa can just order two rings, and two banners at the same time? Might be able to save some money that way. They’re obviously good at saving money seeing as how they have enough cap space to sign Hossa plus room to spare.

• Our Take on the Start of Free Agency

  We broke a lot of it down in the latest podcast (feed link here), especially the stuff with Campbell.  Not a real great day for the Sharks, but the free agency season ain’t over yet.  Oh yeah, we got the podcast listed on iTunes as well, so if you search for Dudes on Hockey or [...]

• Panthers grab Stillman

  After indicating that they probably wouldn’t be too active in the free agent market, the Florida Panthers signed veteran free agent Cory Stillman to a 3 year deal on the first day of free agency. Stillman comes to the Panthers as a 34 year old (35 in December) left wing, who is thought of to be [...]

• Idiots

  I’m so pissed off at what’s happened today that I don’t even know where to begin. Let me just first get this out of my system: Darren Pang is an idiot. The biggest surprise, and I don’t mean that in a good way, is Cliff Fletcher throwing $3.5m/year for four years to Jeff Finger, who [...]

• Leafs Sign A Trio

  In signing Curtis Joseph to a 1 year, $700,000 deal, the Leafs get an upgrade in the backup netminding department, they improve the locker room with the affable and polite goalie, and they get some cache with the fans for bringing back a favourite. The price is actually relatively reasonable, especially when you consider [...]

• Sundin could Captain Canucks

  Sportsnet Pacific is reporting that Leafs’ Captain Mats Sundin has been offered a 2 year, $20M deal by GM Mike Gillis and company.

• Gaustad signs 4-year $9.2 million

  Yup, you heard that right…at least according to TSN. The Sabres 3rd line center and occasional power play guy just signed a deal for an average of $2.3 million per season. All I can say is….EEK! There’s a lot of money out there right now, and the salaries are going crazy. I was thinking [...]

• More CBA

  Bob McKenzie at TSN has written an interesting article about the CBA. You can read it here. It’s a long article, so I’ll just sum it up in short. The current CBA is in its fourth and final year. When the NHLPA and NHL agreed to this, it was only a 4-year agreement, and after [...]

• Prospects climb

  On Draft Day, the Vancouver Canucks used their picks to draft all positions, with a slight emphasis on forwards. I will address all five picks, give opinion and add some insight to the drafting of the player. First, I’d like to comment on the rookie/prospect camp held recently at 8 Rinks in Burnaby, B.C. - [...]

• fandom on the edge

  Vancouver fandom is busy (in late June….) speculating about the lineup for October with the acquisition of Kyle Wellwood, dreaming up trade possibilities, ‘trying-on’ potential UFAs and projecting how and when draft picks will enter the system. Refer to my previous articles on my thoughts on the waiver pickup of Wellwood. With the [...]

• Sharks ?08-?09? Same as Sharks ?07-?08

  Pollak’s latest article in the Merc states that Marleau is likely to stay on the Sharks- that is, he won’t be traded today.  His no-trade clause kicks in with free agency tomorrow.  Also, all restricted free agents have been tendered offers, so it looks like we will have another year of Ehrhoff, Goc, and Clowe.  [...]

• Malone, Roberts Bid Farewell To Pittsburgh

  Well this was a mild surprise at best. Ray Shero sent the rights to Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a 2009 4th round pick. Should Malone sign, this would become a 3rd rounder in 2009. I am a little sad to see Malone go and a little angry from a [...]

• Keeping Things In Perspective

  Marian Hossa is not going to sign with the Leafs. I know this. He will receive far more lucrative and logical offers with clubs far closer to contention for the Stanley Cup. What the Leafs need, and what the Leafs are likely to get, will bear little resemblance to each other as the free [...]

• Campbell Has a Legit Family Reason, Unfortunately

  There’s been a lot of talk about Brian Campbell around Sharksland the last few days, with these posts from David Pollak of the Merc, this one from Mike Chen, and probably many others around the blogosphere. Of course we’re all up in a lather about the premier free agent defenseman leaving San Jose, probably [...]

• Does Signing Marian Hossa Make Any Sense?

  No, I’m not crazy. Marian Hossa is going to make more than $7 million a year for the foreseeable future. He is going to basically get a max money contract. He’s 29 years old. He’s fresh of a 26 point run in 20 playoff games for the Stanley Cup Finalist Pens. He [...]

• Dallas wants Michael Ryder

  Loui Eriksson has signed, 2 years 3.2 million dollars. He’s 22 (I thought he was a little older than that) apparently. I like that signing. Maybe a little much, but he’s getting better all the time, and late last season became a much more dependable player than Miettinen, and even Hagman at times. What about Hagman? [...]

• Big Fish

  It looks as if the shallow free agent market this year will actually be quite a big one. With buyouts pouring in from all teams, including surprises like Todd Bertuzzi, the market just seems to get bigger and bigger. More are rumoured to follow, including Bryan McCabe, whose relationship with the Leafs has presumably turned [...]

• Orpik Declines, Straka Heads Home

  I’m a firm believer that things happen in groups of threes, for better or worse. I’m probably even tempting fate by writing this, but as far as I’m concerned we just got dealt two blows today. Brooks Orpik has declined the Penguins first offer and former Penguin Martin Straka is heading home to play for his [...]

• Salary Cap and ?mood? both UP in VanCity

  The Vancouver Canucks’ woeful end of the year has started to turn up new members in the staff, new draft picks (that I will outline in Sunday night/Monday morning’s BLOG comprehensively) and now, new players. With the available prospects in town to practice at the Canucks’ practice facility in Burnaby and show the brass and media [...]