FLYERS deal Niskala to Tampa for a 6th (e5) That was quick...
stay tuned. Next RumourCast at 5pm ET, Chat at 6pm. From earlier...
Auld or Kolzig to Tampa (e4)
Flyers put Gauthier on waivers
Adam Foote signed contract extension with COL:
08-09 2.75
09-10 3.25
Liles has a NTC that allows him to select around half of the teams in the NHL to which he won't accept a trade.
Good morning to what will be a fun week around here. We are thrilled to have you joining us.
You can follow me on twitter by going Here..Ek's Twitter
To start with today, we are thrilled, and I mean thrilled, to be introducing a new section and feature to Hockeybuzz.com. One of the most important factors to trying to decipher what player could go to what team is the salary cap implications...Therefore, for a long time now I have had as one of my key bookmarks a great salary cap website www.nhlscap.com. And I am definitely not alone in the industry when it comes to using nhlscap.com as a HUGE reference tool. I have talked to players, GMs, coaches and owners who are always regular visitors to the site.
I even recall doing the Trade Deadline Show at Sportsnet and had printed out the team pages from nhlscap.com to use as a resource.
So when we looked to add a salary cap feature to this site we decided to go to the best and were so excited when nhlscap.com founder Chip McCleary was interested in bringing nhlscap.com to Hockeybuzz.com.
To see how this works you can click on "Cap Central" in the Nav Bar or Click Here to Go To the Cap Central Page
Once you are there you will see a list of teams and available cap space or you can click on any of the team logos to see your team's detailed info including what individual players cap hits or salary is and when every player's contract ends and when that player will become either an RFA or a UFA.
for example go Here to see the Montreal Canadiens Page
You can also see a completely sortable list of UFAs and RFAs available HERE
Or read Cap Master Chip's blog HERE where you can read Chip's thoughts and ask questions.
We will be adding features to Cap Central as we go along, but we wanted to make sure we got it up for this summer and all the fun that hits in full tilt tomorrow and will continue through the summer...
So speaking of the summer...
Last year there were close to 100 players who signed as a UFA or RFA between July 1 and the opening of camp, so what should we expect tomorrow and in the following days? Last summer 24 players signed in the first 48 hours of the UFA period...So there is reason to expect a very busy week ahead.
Long ago I termed this period the "Free Agent Frenzy" coming out of the lockout, and I appreciate all those royalty checks that TSN, Sportsnet, The Hockey News and others send me every July 1. (yeh right)
The other term I should have coined in regards to this is the "Domino Effect" because that is really the best way to describe what is about to occur. The Domino game is definitely a nerve wracking one if you are a GM, which is why we are seeing more and more teams jumping out front by acquiring rights to players.
On Mats...
A great example is what Montreal is doing by trying to tie up Mats Sundin. I have long been hearing that the Canadiens were the front runners for Marion Hossa. A team can't start July 1 with two players like Hossa and Sundin on their plate. There is too big of a risk that you could get neither by going after both. So what the Habs are doing is forcing the issue and feeling out Sundin now. If Mats decides he isn't playing, I fully expect the Habs to shift their focus to Hossa tomorrow.
From a source, "Mats walks to his own drum, but he does feel a sense of loyalty to the Leaf fans. To the organization...not so much. He is not thrilled with the constant pressure that has been placed on him. The multiple trade requests last year, etc...Mats stayed in Toronto for less money on several occasions. Yet Mats did let the Leafs know he wouldn't waive his NTC a few days before the deadline last year because he does care about the fans. He will most likely do the same today."
On Hossa...
I am hearing the Canucks are among three teams trying to acquire Hossa's rights today. Those rights are extremely expensive I am told...Some may ask, "why would you still try to acquire rights with less than 30 hours to go?" The fact is, if you can acquire rights and talk to a player an hour before anyone else can you do it. You do it to avoid getting crushed by a domino.
On the Sabres...
The Sabres I am told are trying to acquire the negotiation rights to Vrbata and/or Huselius. According to a source, "The Sabres really are silently hoping against hope that The Lightning can't sign Rolston." By the way...I love what the Lightning are doing.
On Columbus...
We have seen this year again that the UFA period is absolutely ruled by the need for positive publicity. You can always trace the most active teams to the teams who need to not only fill holes but fire up the fanbase. "Usually the difference between a team getting a player and not is how much the team needs to sell tickets and motivate the fanbase."
The Blue Jackets have the most money to spend... To See Columbus' Cap Situation and Roster Needs Click Here.
And they also are the only team in the NHL that has never been to the post season. I am hearing the Blue Jackets are closing in on Neg Rights to Brendan Morrison, and have serious interest in Rozsival and perhaps Bertuzzi. Another possibility is Paul Mara (who is a UFA D-man who has flown under the radar until this morning. I have heard his name mentioned with NJ as well today.
On the Oilers situation...
The Oilers are far from done, but they will likely have to wait until the cap hits tomorrow and they get another 6 million to play with. (more on how that all works later) . I do believe the Oilers have a deal in place that will either send Pitkanen to Ottawa for Vermette PLUS or Carolina for Cole PLUS.
The Oilers are also still a player in the Hossa sweeps I am told...
On Stillman
Ottawa, Calgary, and Vancouver have interest.
On Streit
San Jose is very interested as is Atlanta (who may throw the most money at Streit and/or Rozsival)
On Recchi
I am told that Rex is most likely back to Atlanta, but a few more teams than expected are interested including Chicago and Montreal.
On the schedule for today....(all times subject to change as news breaks)
I will be doing SEASON TICKET HOLDER CHAT at 11 am in the PRIVATE CHAT ROOM. I will also do one tonight around 7 or so.
I will be doing 2 RUMOURCAST PODCAST and taking you calls around 1 pm and again at 4pm. (There will be no Buzzcast today or tomorrow)
I could also add another Chat or Rumourcast late tonight depending on what is going down.
Again, we thank you for joining us a appreciate your support of the site. Your Twenty Bucks goes a long way towards helping keep the website alive at times like this. It also gets you plenty of bonuses. Access to the Rumour Chart, Free Fantasy Games, The Chat Room, and it also gets rid of all Auto-play Video Ads...There have been over 6 million unique visitors to our site in less than two years. The only way we can afford this is with support from you...Nuff said.
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