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CAN'T BLAME REGIER FOR NOT THROWING MONEY AT UFA DMEN |
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The sun just set on Day 2 of the Free Agent signing period.
The market is as inflated at the end of Day 2 as it was on Day 1.
Quietly, Darcy Regier and the Sabres sit and wait for the right trades to materialize.
Passionate Sabre fans should be ecstatic that your GM didn't have to pan for fool's gold.
Sather, Waddell, Rutherford, Tallon, Snow, and Fletcher could not resist the temptation to overpay for UFA Dmen.
If all your buddies were jumping off the Peace Bridge, would you do it to?
So much for this being an exceptionally thin UFA class.
Good deal or bad deal?
* The Hawks pay $56.8 million / 8 years for Brian Campbell.
* Penguins sign Orpik to a 6 year, $22.5 million contract.
* Thrashers sign Hainsey to a 5 year, $22.5 million contract
* CBUS signs Commodore for $18.75 million
* Hurricanes sign RFA defenceman Pitkanen to a 3 year contract worth $12 million
* Islanders sign Streit to a 5 year contract worth $20.5 million
* Rangers sign Redden to a 6 year contract worth $39 million
* Rangers re-sign Rozsival to a 4 year deal worth $20 million
* Leafs sign Finger to a 4 year deal worth $3.5-million a season
Campbell's deal, on the surface does not make sense to me. However, I understand the reasons for it. Rocky Wirtz is the antithesis of his father, the late Bill Wirtz. Under the reign of the elder Wirtz, the Hawks had deteriorated from a proud Original 6 contender into a perennial cellar dwellar.
Rocky Wirtz loves his Hawks and he wants to restore them to their glory days.
He wants to fast track his team back to the lofty heights it once soared at. Good on Rocky, Dale Tallon, Rick Dudley, and Stan Bowman for drafting Toews, Kane, Barker, Keith, Beach. The NHL is a better place when the city of Chicago has a contending NHL team. The Winter Classic game will showacase the city of Chicago and its fans and the love affair will translate to higher NHL ratings and increased hockey relate d revenues. Cool for Soupy that he'll have played in two consecutive Ice Bowls (he scored Buffalo's only goal vs. Ty Conklin in Buffalo on 1/1/08). Midwest America, and Canada for that matter, will grow to love these Hawks and its good to see their owner and management working hard to atone for their previous sins.
Orpik's term and dollars seem fair to me. I was told by a source yesterday that Brooks wanted no part of playing in front of his family and friends. He'd rather concentrate more on playing his game with no distactions. The Sabres reached out to Orpik but quickly learned that it would be pointless to pursue him. Smart move on Darcy's part.
The Hainsey signing is laughable, in my opinion. He, like Jeff Finger, has a body of work that consists of decent play in a season and a half in the NHL. I remember Hainsey as a Montreal farm hand who was touted to be as good, or better than, Mike Komisarek. Hainsey cannot hold Komi's jock, in my opinion. So why the fat jack? Hainsey could not live up to the hype and was exiled to CBUS where he hung decent numbers on the board. Is he worth $22.5 million? Absolutely not!
Bathrobe, stats suggest his best days are behind him in Carolina. Decent player, grossly over paid. He couldn't outplay the 40 year old Luke Richardson in Ottawa last season.
Pitkanen is an enigma who is blessed with talent. However, he lacks focus and drive. for that he deserves $4 Large per season?
Slats and the Rangers should know better than to fall in love with aging players, Redden is hardly a $39 million guy. He'll be much less effective in year 6 of his deal. Can you say Bryan McCabe?
Roszival is nice, however, I would not pay him a penny over $4 million. Slats overpaid Redden and Rosy so much so that he had to trade Tyutin, a bonafide young star in the league.
Finger will not be a top 4 Dman in Toronto, however, he'll be paid like one.
I just don't get it.
Darcy Regier does.
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Trade winds are brewing.
Buffalo still need a Dman and they won't find their man in the schmozzle that is the UFA market.
I'm hearing Anaheim, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver as potential trade partners.
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