July 30, 2010
Jeff Angus
2010-07-30
Aaaand…. Wisniewski is now on the move to Long Island (3rd round pick in 2011). Does this mean Anaheim is trading for a defenseman?
Anaheim has signed defenseman James Wisniewski – one year, $3.25 million. Seems a bit pricey but $3 million and above seems to be the going rate for a top four defenseman. Wisniewski is a scrappy two-way defender with injury issues.
The Ducks still will probably add another defenseman. Their current group as of today – Visnovsky, Lydman, Wisniewski, Sbisa, Brookbank, and Mikkelson.
Calgary has re-signed Ian White to a one-year contract worth $2.9 million, and are now over the cap by about $2.3 million. White had a breakout season with Toronto and Calgary in 2009-10. He moves the puck well and is always an offensive threat on the ice.
38 points in 83 games (yes, 83, he played an additional one because of the trade) was his total last season – expect something similar in 2010-11.
Two days and counting…. 2010-11 DobberHockey Pool Guide. Plan your Sunday accordingly!
The next 12-24 hours would be a really good time to try and throw a sneaky offer in for Marty Turco. I know Dobber isn’t a huge fan of his, but he has value on a contending team (and Chicago/Philly/SJS are really the only three teams looking for goalies at this point).
I’ll be on the TEAM 1040 this weekend to chat hockey and promote the guide a bit – I’ll post the details when I get them.
Antti Niemi's arbitration award will be released at some point before tomorrow afternoon. There really isn't any Chicago can retain him unless the arbitrator makes a very surprising decision. Look for San Jose or Philadelphia to go after Niemi if Chicago is forced to walk away.
A very solid breakdown of the cap situation in Atlanta. The Thrashers still have a lot of room under their internal budget to add another forward. If they can find a way to score enough in 2010-11, I like their chances as a playoff team.
Boston received some good news with Blake Wheeler's $2.2 million arbitration award (many were expecting the number to be closer to $2.5). For the cap-strapped Bruins, $300,000 will go a long way.
Buffalo re-signed Tim Kennedy for one year. His arbitration award was higher than they had hoped – $1 million. However, Buffalo had no walk-away option as it was below the set amount (it changes each year in relation to salary amounts, this year it was slightly over $1.5 million).
Kennedy is a two-way speedster with some offensive upside. He could earn a spot on the second line, but look for him to start off playing more in more of an energy/depth role for the Sabres.
For those of you with stats like Hits, Blocked Shots, Giveaways, and Takeaways in your fantasy pool, you will want to read this. It breaks down the numbers for each of the four stats for every NHL club and averages them over the past fives years to see if there are any trends/inequalities, and to see how the stats impact winning.
Mason is a huge upgrade in goal, and the defense is very solid from top to bottom.
My unofficial sleeper pick of the 2010-11 season, Peter Regin, re-signed with the Sens for two years yesterday. The cap hit is a very manageable $1 million for each of the next two seasons.
Regin is going to be the LW on the top line with Spezza and Alfredsson, and he is only another Michalek injury away from taking a stranglehold on the top line LW spot.
I found a very cool 2009-10 NHL compilation video while checking out the Hockey's Future message boards – check it out: