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| Toronto at Ottawa 4/20/2013 |
It's going to be one of those times where the excitement is going to be there but not boiling over and TSN will have some lame show to follow the action that wasn't. Maybe, just maybe, this time though they may have something...
It's been less than a week since the Blackhawks stunning 17 second comeback against Boston to win the Stanley Cup... Teams are itching to make improvements. There is a certain buzz about this offseason that hasn't been present since the pre-lockout era when teams like the New York Rangers spent lavishly trying to buy cups... Oh wait... They still do... see: Brad Richards, Bobby Holik, Scott Gomez, Wade Redden, Dariusz Kasparitis and Chris Drury to name a few.
The new CBA(Collective Bargaining Agreement) has put many teams in a frenzied position heading into this offseason as the salary cap drops to 64.3 million. Many teams are sitting on their buy outs while others are being forced already to make cuts to prepare for next season.
Several buyouts have already been announced. Today it was revealed by Lightning GM Steve Yzerman that career Lightning player and former captain Vincent Lecavalier would have his contract which was paying a whopping 7 million+ per season bought out and he will join the likes of Daniel Briere and Ilya Bryzgalov as free agency is on the horizon.
Vancouver is looking for a suitor for Roberto Luongo still and suggested today they will pursue a trade more aggressively in the coming weeks. Luongo is a compliance buy out candidate and any team interested is fully aware of the akward situation in Vancouver with 9 million in salary between the pipes. While unlikely it remains to be seen whether new Vancouver coach John Tortorella is comfortable going from King Henrik to Cory Schneider so this may be an interesting story as Torts looks at his current roster situation more closely and maybe just maybe Cory Schneider gets traded instead.
I believe any team interested in Luongo will wait to see if Vancouver cracks and uses a buy out before making any further pitches. If Luongo hits the open market he is likely to get a shorter but similar value contract although with Ray Emery, Mike Smith and the aforementioned Ilya Bryzgalov also available the market for the veteran netminder may dry up quickly as teams choose not to give up assets to fill the void between the pipes.
The GM's of the league will truly be tested in the coming weeks. Many more will falter than thrive as some will be gun shy while others will be throwing out big contracts on risky players. Trades will be coming and free agent bidding wars may get nasty as teams see a rare chance to sign pivots. The market for centers is a little deeper than usual with Lecavalier, Ribeiro, Elias, Bozak, Zubrus, Malhotra and a host of others still without contract presently
All this lunacy and we still haven't even touched on the draft... Do they take Mackinnon? or do they sucker someone just below them into trading up and then take the Denver kid Seth Jones? Last year Garth Snow GM of the Islanders wanted Ryan Murray so bad he offered all of the Islanders picks to get the first overall and was rejected. This year Calgary offered all three of their first round picks for the 1st overall and that to was also rejected. In my opinion this year will be a record for Gary Bettman approaching the podium to announce trades. Ridiculous out of the blue trades coming... I think so.
Final thoughts: There are some interesting minor stories to watch out for in the coming weeks as well. Where does Jagr land next? Does Tim Thomas attempt a comeback? Does Selanne continue schooling players half his age and how about Alfredsson? Does Jarome Iginla take his talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat? Stay tuned
