Hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup this year remains a dream for 16 of the 30 NHL teams that are going to duke it out in the NHL playoffs in the following two months. For the 14 other squads, there are only three major dates that they need to be circled on their off-season calendars, besides all their various tee-time bookings of course. The first date is June 20th for the 2008 NHL entry draft, which will most likely see Stamkos go No. 1. The second is July 1, which is the first day of free agency signings, and the third has still not been determined yet – the first day of the 2008-2009 NHL season. Let's put a spin on what could potentially happen in the offseason with free agency. I’ll doze off now and start dreaming of ideal scenarios that could possibly play out this summer. Below is a list of the eligible unrestricted free agents taken from the website, www.nhlscap.com       
 

The first dream of the night moves me forward to the eve of the 2008-2009 NHL season, which is in Jose Theodore’s apartment. His cell phone rings, it’s his agent buzzing to tell him that he has a $2 million dollar one-year deal on the table from the Tampa Bay Lightning. He vehemently yells out, “What’s with this preposterous offer, it’s a slap in my face.” His agent responds by saying, “Well many teams thought that the $11.5 million that you made while riding the pine with the Avalanche should be taken into consideration.” Jose, finally realizing that he has no bargaining power, reluctantly accepts the $2 million one-year deal and helps the Lightning to a last place finish while warming up the bench once again, a day later Ty Conklin gets a $4 million one-year deal with the Kings…          

A few minutes later, I fall back into a deep sleep and I realized I’m dreaming again. As much as I want to see Sergei Fedorov finish his career mentoring two young Russians in Washington, this dream flashes back to July 4th with G.M. Ken Holland and Fedorov sitting on a podium announcing that Fedorov is signing on with the Red Wings for a one-year contract so that he can finish off his career in the NHL with the same team that he started it with. Fedorov manages to score 20 goals in the season and finishes his career with a goal just like this one. 

But the Red Wings fail to win a cup again…    

A slight buzzing sound disturbs my REM sleep, but not enough to disrupt my next dreaming sequence as the set of events beings with Mats Sundin resigning with the Leafs and a day later temporary G.M. Cliff Fletcher announces that they have signed free agent Markus Naslund to a one-year contract, which then concludes his tenure as the temporary G.M. of the Leafs. He then announces that he will hand the reigns over to someone who actually knows what they are doing, Brian Burke. Burke then cleans house and fires Paul Maurice as head coach and names Pat Burns the new head coach of the Leafs. Naslund develops some chemistry with his fellow Swede and returns back to 2005 form in which he finishes the season with 80 points in 82 games. Leafs finish 9th in the conference again and life goes on in Leafs nation…       

I am awoken by my girlfriend’s loud snoring, but eventually I fall back to sleep which leads me into a two part dream, it beings with Teemu Selanne announcing his tearful retirement for good after losing to the San Jose in the Western semi-finals in 5 games and then it suddenly cuts to a few weeks later where Peter Forsberg is sitting on a podium and finally announces that he is done with the NHL for good as well. Not much of a blissful dream, but more like a prevention of a nightmare fantasy season for owners who had to endure of pain of guessing every week whether or not Forsberg or Selanne were returning to the NHL… A coughing fit occurs and I duck out to the kitchen to grab a quick drink of water and promptly return to bed where…    

A dream meant for die hard Canadian hockey fans occur. This dream begins on July 28th when Joe Sakic announces that he will finish his Hall of Fame career by playing the final year with his hometown team the Vancouver Canucks. He states that he wants to give his hometown fans the most opportunities to see him play in person before he retires and wants to thank his Canadian fans for all their support throughout the years during the press conference. Sakic finishes the season with 80 points, but the Canucks miss the playoffs for a second straight season, which in the last game of the regular season Sakic is given a long-lasting tribute that he will never forget for the rest of his life…     

After a bit of tossing-and–turning, this next dream could have very well have happened at this season’s trade deadline but never ended up materializing.  It begins when Wild’s coach Jacque Lemaire has an epiphany when teeing up for the first time this summer, which is in about two weeks time after getting ousted by the Avalanche in six games, that you need more than Marian Gaborik to have success in the NHL. Fast forward to July 1st, when the Wild announce that they have signed both Marian Hossa and Pavol Demitra to 3-year contracts to finally complete the dreaded Slovakian line that everyone wants to see together. In the 2006 Torino Olympics, the line of Gaborik, Demitra and Hossa managed to pick up 17 points in 4 games when playing together.  If that is translated into a full 82-game NHL schedule, that would result in 349 point production between the three of them for the 2008-2009 season. They managed to click very well, but Gabby’s groin gives out again, and they each finish the season with 100 points. Lemaire is pleased and thinks he’s onto something with a new tactic called offense…     

The final dream that I had for the night which was a bit of a stretch but could very well happen in the offseason is the Washington Capitals announcing on July 1st that they have signed the 5-time Art Ross winner, Jaromir Jagr, to a one-year contract to play alongside Niklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin or on the second line with his good buddy Micheal Nylander and Alex Semin. Jagr finishes the season with 110 points, while Ovechkin pots 75 goals and 70 assists for a blistering 145 points thus finally settling the off-season’s most hotly debated topic of who should be drafted with the first overall fantasy pick, Ovechkin or Crosby. Alarm rings, I get up out of bed and hope into the shower and head off to work…

Boy that was one rough night, must have been something I ate before I went to bed.  Do you have any dreams of your own for the off-season.  Discuss them here .  Check in next time as the Maasquito buzzes around to find another hot topic to discuss.