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Thanks to The King’s Ransom, Ryan Miller now knows what his UFA rights will be on the open market this summer. The NY Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist have finally agreed on the terms of his new contract, which will beep the 31 year old backstop on Broadway for the next 7 season. Lundqvist’s $8.5 AAV is breathtaking, isn’t it? The Rangers are paying Hank like he’s won a Stanley Cup or two. Lundqvist won Olympic gold for his native Sweden, however, has never advanced his club beyond the Eastern Conference Finals.
I have always said that you cannot tell a billionaire how to spend his money. I’m okay with the Rangers paying Lundqvist that the way that they plan to.
So, Ryan Miller and his agent, Mike Liut, now officially know that $8.5M is the going rate for thirty-something UFA NHL tenders. Miller will not be getting a 7 or 8 year contract from any NHL team as a free agent considering he’s 33 years of age, two years Hank’s senior. However, Miller will easily be a 5 year, $8 million man in the very near future.
How do Miller and Lundqvist compare statistically? They are not too far off actually.
Miller has the longer body of work in the NHL having played 11 seasons in Buffalo.
In 520 career NHL games, Miller has 274 wins and 179 losses. His regular season save % is .915 and his GAA is 2.60.
In 47 playoff games, Miller is 25-22 with a .917 save % and a 2.46 GAA.
Lundqvist has compressed a lot of winning into his 9- year Ranger career.
In 531 career NHL games, Lundqvist has won 284 games and lost 182. He's a career .920 save % and a 2.26 GAA.
Where the tipping point comes in between Miller and Lundqvist is that The King has led his team to the playoffs seven times in his nine year Rangers career. Miller has only led the Sabres to the postseason four times in his eleven Sabres seasons.
In post season play, Lundqvist has a 30-37 record with a .920 save % and a 2.28 GAA.
So, now that Miller's market is finally set, its time for the suitors to lineup. The Sabres may opt to offer Miller a long term extension at 5/$40M to stay and play the rest of his career in Buffalo. Pat LaFontaine and Ted Nolan are huge supporters of Miller and would love to keep him in Erie County for the rest of his NHL career. They may be trying like mad to re-sign Miller right now. He's a man with many options. Today, the price of poker just shot through the roof with Lundqvist signing his new $59.5 million deal. Miller may want to ask the Sabres if they are interested in similar deal for him to stay in Buffalo. Or, he may opt to be traded to another organization to pursue a Stanley Cup. Trading Miller will net the Sabres a veritable treasure chest of "currency"to be used to invest in their re-building program.
St. Louis, Anaheim, and the NY Islanders are at the head of the line because all three teams have UFA starting goalies. Don't poo-poo the idea of Miller moving to the Islanders this season. He'd look great in Brooklyn gear, battling Lundqvist for the back page of the NY Post headlines for the next 5+ years. The Islanders will receive a huge infusion of cash from the Barclay's Center as part of the deal to relocate the Islanders inside the borough of Brooklyn. Garth Snow needs a miracle to get his team out of the 14th seed in the eastern conference. Miller would go a long way to stabilizing an otherwise bad defensive team on Long Island.
Nashville, Minnesota, Los Angeles and Washington are in the conversation too as they may want to "rent" Miller for the duration of this season to help them to stay competitive and improve their respective conference playoff races.
Miller be UFA on July 1, 2014. He will be paid handsomely, like The King.
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The Washington Capitals are a team that is beggimg for an upgrade solution to their current goaltending issues. On Tuesday night, Caps starter Brayden Holtby was chased from his net after yielding 4 goals (3 EV, 1 PPG) on 23 shots, in 39:57 of action, to the struggling Carolina Hurricanes. Holtby was less than ordinary against a Carolina team that had lost 6 of its last 8 heading into Tuesday night’s game.
The Caps appear to me to be a team who continue to struggle in goal. Adam Oates cannot get any type of consistency from his goalies with Holtby playing like a yo-yo and Michal Neuvirth injured.
It seems to me that Holtby’s inconsistencies started when he was jumped and beat up by Philly’s Ray Emery on November 1.
Game Decision GA SA Sv Sv% SO PIM TOI Dec 03 '13 CAR @ WSH L 4 23 19 .826 0 0 39:57 Nov 30 '13 WSH @ NYI W 2 39 37 .949 0 0 62:07 Nov 29 '13 MTL @ WSH W 2 37 35 .946 0 0 65:00 Nov 27 '13 OTT @ WSH L 5 40 35 .875 0 0 58:19 Nov 23 '13 WSH @ TOR O 1 28 27 .964 0 0 65:00 Nov 20 '13 PIT @ WSH L 4 40 36 .900 0 0 59:39 Nov 17 '13 STL @ WSH W 1 47 46 .979 0 0 60:00 Nov 15 '13 WSH @ DET W 3 37 34 .919 0 0 64:23 Nov 12 '13 CBJ @ WSH W 3 27 24 .889 0 0 61:34 Nov 10 '13 WSH @ COL L 4 37 33 .892 0 0 60:00 Nov 07 '13 MIN @ WSH W 2 35 33 .943 0 0 65:00 Nov 05 '13 NYI @ WSH W 2 36 34 .944 0 0 59:58 Nov 01 '13 WSH @ PHI W 0 30 30 1.000 1 5 60:00
In my opinion, the Caps should be far and away better than their 14-12-2 record (30 points).The Metropolitan division should be a battle between Pittsburgh (39 points) and Washington for supremacy right now. Instead, the Rangers have 28 points, the Devils and Hurricanes have 27 points each, the Flyers have 26 points, the Blue Jax have 25 points, and the lowly Islanders have 21 points.
How long will Caps GM George McPhee sit idle and wait for Holtby to snap out of his funk?
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Nick Foligno is a pick-pocket!
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Last week, Buffalo Sabres star D prospect Rasmus Ristolainen was looking like a lead pipe lock to play for his native Team Finland at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships which will begin on Boxing Day in Malmo, Sweden. Finland's U20 team scout/coach Karri Kivi was in Rochester the weekend before last to chart the progress of Ristolainen. A sure sign that the Finns are serious about adding the 19 year old to its WJC roster.
On Tuesday, Ristoalinen was ruled out of the Amerks lineup for the rest of this week with a suspected concussion.
Ristolainen started the season with the Buffalo Sabre and made a very nice first impression. Two weeks ago, Sabres head coach Ted Nolan sent Nikita Zadorov back to OHL London Knights. He also sent Ristolainen, Johan Larsson, and Kevin Porter to the Amerks for more seasoning. The demotion to Rochester was designed to get Ristolainen first pairing minutes as well as to give him more responsibilities on the powerplay and penalty kill units. Ristoalinen was playing exceptionally well at the time of his untimely injury.
Today, Ristolainen's health became a concern when the Amerks announced that Ristolainen will not be allowed to participate in their games for the rest of this week.
Last Friday, Ristolainen was sucker-punched in by Lake Erie Monster center Mitch Heard. The cheap-shot was delivered to Ristolainen's head not long after Patrick Kaleta suffered a torn ACL when he collided with the Lake Erie goalie after he smashed his right leg on the crossbar while in mid air. The Amerks win the game, however, they lost Ristolainen and Kaleta to injury.
The Amerks play Utica at home on Wednesday, then travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Friday and Saturday games against the defending Calder Cup champion Griffins.
Amerks head coach Chadd Cassidy voiced his displeasure regarding the Heard sucker-shot on the defenseless Ristolainen. Cassidy wants Heard suspended and rightly so.
Kevin Oklobzija of the Rochester D and C reports that the Sabres asked Ristolainen if he wants to play for Finland. Ristoalinen said "yes".
Ristolainen isn't sure if he will be allowed to represent Finland at the World Junior Championships, but he is hoping he can.Ristolainen, 19, would be a major asset for Finland in the tournament, which runs Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Malmo, Sweden.
He said the Sabres have asked him if he wants to play, "and I said yes." Who wouldn't want to play for their country, especially when you're spending your first season away from home on a foreign continent.
Allowing Ristolainen to play in the WJC likely would mean he will miss two Amerks AHL games (plus the Spengler Cup).
But granting permission will be beneficial in the long run:
1) the team makes it clear that they understand the importance of national pride; and
2) the player realizes that, from the team perspective, he's not just an asset but also a person.
Loyalty is built when teams show they care about their players.
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Not a great day if you are a fan of the Vancouver Canucks or Detroit Red Wings.
Each team learned earlier today that a significant contributor to its lineup will be missed for a long period of time. How long, you ask? Its a wait and see time.
The Canucks have lost agitator Alex Burrows for the next month or so with a broken jaw that he suffered on Sunday night. Canucks D Chris Tanev tried to clear a puck and it hit Burrows in the moosh.
In his nine year NHL career career (586 games), Burrows has scored 152 goals and added 145 assist for 297 points. Guys like him are hard to replace. he play sa 200 foot game, can score and create and he drives opponent's bananas with his yapping and his truculence.
The Canucks do not have another player like Burrows in their system right now. They may have to pursue a trade to replace him in the short term. Burrows will earn $4.5 million this season. The Canucks have $2.3 million in cap space to make a deal if they so choose.
Bad enough that the Wings have been playing without the brilliance that is Pavel Datsyuk in their lineup for the past 10 days, now comes word that Henrik Zetterberg must shut it down immediately as he deals with the pain and discomfort associated with the herniated disc in his back. Wings GM Ken Holland said earlier today that he expects Zetterberg to be evaluated. Its a two week minimum injury. may likely take longer to heal. Those of you who live with chronic back pain will surely empathize with Zetterberg. Two weeks off may give him relieve, however, its going to take rest and recovery time to get him back in tip-top shape.
Zetterberg out minimum 2 weeks with small herniated disc per Ken Holland.
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) December 3, 2013Zetterberg is a HUGE loss for the Red Wings. He's been their MVP this season scoring 30 points in 28 game (11 goals, 19 assists). He's averaging nearly 20 minutes TOI per game and ignited for 18 points in 14 games in Movember. Talk about clutch performers of all time! Zetterberg held the fort while Datsyuk, Alfresson, and Weiss dealt with their individual injuries. Who will carry the load now that Zetterberg is injured?
Zetterberg has accumulated 702 points in his 742 game NHL regular season career. He has generated 114 points in 123 playoff games.
You don't buy Hall Of Famers like Zetterberg on Amazon.com. The guy is the heart and soul of his club. Losing him for two weeks or more may not look like much on its surface, however, his back ailment may linger and cause his further issues to deal with as the season progresses. Its best the Wings to allow him ho fully heal (or as best he can) to prevent another long layoff from playing.
The Wings only have $31,000 in cap space as of today.
They will have to patch their lineup from within their organization, unless they can find a trade partner to swap contracts with.
The Canucks and Red Wings are in playoff contention. Neither team can afford to take slide in the standings in the next 2-6 weeks.
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