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I'm not sure I've ever seen an off-season build up to what we might see towards the draft and UFA day- an unprecedented amount of trade activity. Almost daily there are reports/rumours of new players being possibly available to suitors. While no one is actively being 'shopped' (yeah right) the idea of moving players is much akin to the current real estate market in Canada: throw it on the market and see if some one outbids and grossly overpays.
It's eerily similar to real estate in Canada's largest markets and perhaps just as sleazy except this time agents have nothing to do with the transactions other than being intermediaries which means in some cases it's still sleazy.
Let's take a look at who might be 'available' for the right price.
Ryan Kesler Dion Phaneuf Evander Kane Dustin Byfuglien Jason Spezza An Oilers forward (but that happens every year) Florida's first overall pick Evgeni Malkin Alex Edler A Flyer (there has to be one right?)
These are the most recent rumoured and openly speculated players/picks, are there more not listed?
Find me an offseason in the last 10 years that had this much talent being openly discussed by national and local media across the NHL. Go beyond 10 years- I can't recall it.
What I find interesting is the 'why' as to how this is happening. I'm not sure anyone knows definitively why this is the case but here are some theories.
1. Revenue sharing is stronger than ever for the NHL. It means more teams can add salary with less financial risk and even more so once the new Rogers TV dollars start rolling in.
2. Teams that believe they are under-performing are trying to make moves to improve. This would be true of the Leafs, Senators, Canucks, Penguins. For the Jets change might be a simple adjustment of what is a stale roster that can't progress further. But that does not change them possibly dangling one or two names into the market.
3. Cap space is back. Teams in the last off-season before the lockout did some goofy things such as a Shea Weber offer sheet and the Wild but last year it was tame by comparison. This year with the cap rising as much as almost 7 million from the current 64.3 million there is a Phaneuf contract in cap space for every team to sign. With expiring contracts and some bigger revenue sharing money it makes for a wide open market for teams to make changes.
The opportunity to see some major change is almost 'mouth-watering' for hockey hungry fans, especially those of playoff starved Canadian teams. It's an unusual situation and with this many names already hitting the market via whisper and speculation there has to be more that could come out if you shake the tree a little harder. Fun times indeed and we still have two more rounds of hockey before the real action starts.
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