I got some Tom Waits on the Stereo (Blue Valentine), it's a nice day, but I was actually hoping it would rain so I wouldn't feel so bad about wasting it inside watching movies and writing about hockey.

Well, it's seems sad to waste a sunny day,so here's some thoughts about the NHL before I hit the park with the kids:

Brandon Dubinsky

Brandon Dubinsky, if he isn't indicted on blackmailing charges, will be playing the next seven years in Columbus. This week, for reasons incomprehensible to me, the Blue Jackets signed him to a six year contract extension with a nearly $6 Million dollar cap hit.

Dubinsky, while a useful player, has a career high of 24 goals, which when the season starts in October, he will be four seasons removed from. He is 28, and still has another season to go before this new contract kicks in.

Six Million for Dubinsky? I could see it - or at least understand - it if he was UFA, because teams tend to get crazy in that situation, but he wasn't. Columbus had no reason to sign him to this contract - this isn't a situation where they save money by getting it done before he goes out and has a career season, since there is simply no scenario in which Dubinsky gets more money than what they gave him.

Since they don't even have the justification of overpaying to lure him to their city - he was already there - this looks to me worse than the Bolland contract Florida just handed out.

To make matters worse, the Jackets - who finally have a decent team, after years of struggle - are playing hardball with potential franchise player Ryan Johansen.

To me, even if you over pay Johansen, at least you are getting a guy who could lead your team for the next 8-10 years, and who will get better. Dubinsky, with the way he plays, is unlikely to ever be worth even a fraction of his contract by the time it's two years old and he's 31.

It continues to confuse me why NHL GMs are willing to tie up their salary cap with players who don't score, especially when, several years into the Cap System, it's quite clear that cap flexibility is worth more than second tier players, of which Brandon Dubinsky is no doubt one.

Steve Stamkos

So Steve Stamkos favorited a Lebron James Tweet and everyone went loco.

This is really more amusing than anything. Obviously, like most people, he just thought it was cool that Lebron was going back to the Cavs. I highly doubt he was making a wink-wink indication that he wants to play in his hometown, which is Toronto.

He wouldn't do that because it would be crazy unprofessional and I think we can all agree Stamkos is one of the most professional - i.e boring - guys around. I don't recall him ever making any waves, about anything, ever, and I would suggest this is nothing more than wishful thinking for the people of Toronto.

And can you blame them? The team has not had a player win a major individual award (unless you count Gilmour's Selke), has not had a scoring leader, a Cup,or even a Finals appearance - basically anything - since the league went beyond 6 teams.

Part of this is because of mismanagement, but it's also partly bad luck. Still, the team has had Sundin, Salming, Gilmor and now Kessel- all great players, but none of them are of the "best in the league" "generational talent" level of a Stamkos.

So, you can't blame the world's biggest hockey market for going a little insane about even the fantasy of landing a Stamkos.

It's not gonna happen though.


Ten Minutes Later Update: My esteemed colleague Dan Marino Michael Stuart has informed me the article Stamkos favorited was actually about him returning to Toronto. This definitely makes it more interesting, but I still have a hard time believing he meant it as it was taken. I don't know him, maybe he has a great sense of humour or something, but I just can't see any situation where he would knowingly imply he means to change teams in two years.

Kane and Toews

As you probably heard, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews signed twin 8 years contracts worth a $10.5 million dollar cap hit.

This might seem like a lot, but in the pre-cap days of 1999, Jarimor Jagr made the same annual salary and, accounting for inflation, that was worth a hell of a lot more money then than it is today. So, it's weird that despite record attendance, TV numbers and revenue in today's NHL, players make significantly less today than they did fifteen years ago.

Actually, I think that's a shame because all that means is that the extra money goes to owners and other fat-cats who don't play the game and are already rich.

But back to Kane and Toews: Even when the Cap goes up to $100 million, the team is going to have 2 players accounting for 20% of their cap. Before then, it's going to be a lot more and may make it hard to keep guys like Keith and Seabrooke in the fold.

Despite that, I think it's more of a "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" situation because the fact is, Toews and Kane are two of the best players in the NHL, and it's worth it to keep them. Overall, I gotta say, this is a great move. The aforementioned 90's saw the decline of players who could play their entire careers for one team, and that the Hawks are poised to do that is great news for hockey fans of every team.

Cap problems or not, these are fair contracts and I don't think things could work out better for the Hawks - hell, they've already won enough Cups that the two stars are surely Hall of Fame bound anyways, as long as they avoid injury.

This is great move.

Thanks for reading.

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