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Jakub Vrana’s name was the first real surprise I’d tripped over. It doesn’t make sense to send someone with a 20%+ shooting average at times packing unless the trade is really good (and the buyout makes no sense at all).
We’ll, add Bertuzzi to the list of players “rumored… to be on the way out. The only reason this one hits me a bit harder is that Ansar Khan released the info. Whenever we were at camps or events, Khan seemed to have access beyond the rest of the media. Almost like a staff member. He’s worked for a long time to garner trust enough that his source material is very reliable.
Most of you know this, but I’ll flat out say it. In the “hockey world…, I’m a certified “nobody…. I observe essentially the same things you do. I have a couple of sources (no I won’t name them) but that’s it. If I got hit by a truck, FedStammer91 would probably step in and take over. It takes a long time to gain trust, and people even feed you bad information to see if you leak it. I’ve never seen Khan go forward with anything unless he’d had a conversation with someone in the room. Apparently, Bert’s camp isn’t talking extension.
So, if Bert and Vrana are gone (big huge IF from a low level blogger) that’s about 9 million in cap space (assuming no buyout for Vrana). Detroit is in the bottom 5 of cap space teams right now, with projections as high as 16m come trade deadline. Seider, Raymond and Berggren all have 1 more year on their deals. Seider and Raymond could be the biggest “bumps… in the modern era for non arb UFAs.
Please, please, take all this with the normal grain of salt. Until it’s done, nothing has been done. Unless negotiations are at a point where it’s either Larkin or Bert, Yzerman finds a way more often than not.
Last, and just the tip of the ice berg. I’ve been talking a lot about Disney lately. 7k job cuts were just announced. There are other numbers that I’m more interested in: $lost on streaming - estimated at over 8 billion (3.5 billion in 3rd quarter alone) Total lost revenue - the highest “estimate… I’ve heard is 123 billion for the park and all of it’s IPs (Intellectual properties, but everyone probably knows that). Those include: Disney, Disney Plus, ESPN, ESPN Plus, 70% of Hulu, Fox Entertainment, part of Nat Geo as well as a gigantic piece of swampland where the company’s debt was transferred to as a “land development… that was never developed.
We won’t know for a month or so, but the ESPN property is the most interesting. It was losing money before being picked up and hasn’t seen the type of paid subscription (a third or more of subs are free from promotions) that would support all the TV rights deals in place. Keep your eyes and ears peeled.