August 28, 2010
Jeff Angus
2010-08-28
Goldie here. A sneak peek at my newest feature – NHL Depth Charts. I think you will like this. If you have comments or suggestions just drop them in the School of Block forums! More to come on Monday. Oh, and Matt Zaba has signed to play in Europe, I believe in Italy.
How do you see Toronto’s top two lines shaking out with MacArthur now in the fold?
I have almost finished my Top 10 Defensive Prospects column. The top five is set, but can you guess the order? Subban, McBain, Carlson, Pietrangelo, and Ekman-Larsson.
Some hints as to the final five of the list. Two defensemen who played in college last season. Any guesses?
Pick up DobberHockey's 2010-11 Pool Guide.
Kovalchuk has signed with the Devils for the second time. Both sides dropped two years off of the rejected 17-year contract. The NHL has five days to review the new deal before handing down a judgement.
Assuming the contract is deemed valid, the Devils have to get under the salary cap. They have had discussions with Dallas about moving defenseman Bryce Salvador ($2.9 million per season, signed through 2011-12).
Right now the Devils have about $3.7 million in cap space. Take away Salvador’s $2.9 million, and that leaves them with $6.6 million (the exact annual cap hit amount of Kovalchuk’s new deal…).
Part IV of the Business of Fantasy Hockey series should be released at some point over the next 7-10 days.
Tricky situation in Dallas right now. The Stars are about $2.5 million below their self-impsoed $45 million budget. GM Joe Nieuwendyk is hopeful that new ownership will up the amount of money he is allowed to spend, as the team still has to sign RFA’s James Neal and Matt Niskanen.
Read more about Dallas’ cap constraints here.
For example, Steve Ott's contract average's $2.95 million over four years but his salary this season is $2.1 million. Kari Lehtonen's contract averages $3.55 million over three years and he gets $2.7 million this season. Loui Erikssonaverages almost $4.3 million over six years but he takes in $3.2 million in 2010-11.
In the case of Neal, it wouldn't be a surprise that if he gets a two-year deal that the money would be distributed in the same way – less money in the first year and more in the second.
I’m surprised Mike Mottau is still available. He is hardly a game-breaker on the back end, but he can log 20+ minutes and chip in with 15-20 points each season.
It was announced yesterday that Paul Kariya will miss the upcoming season as he battles post-concussion issues. Kariya spent so much time over the past few years correcting his hip injuries. If this is the end of the road for him, it’s too bad.
Is Kariya a Hall-of-Famer in your eyes?
Nikolai Khabibulin was found guilty of all charges pertaining to the extreme DUI he obtained in Phoenix earlier this year. He will be serving time in jail and probably faces additional punishment from the NHL.
Edmonton’s goalie situation isn’t pretty at the moment. I know Justin Goldman really likes Deslauriers, but to me he is much too raw to be a starting goalie at this point (inconsistency and poor rebounds). Probably one of the few times I’ll disagree with Goldie regarding a goalie!
Paul Kariya back when he was a standout at Maine: