June 29 2015
Dobber
2015-06-29
My thoughts on the draft, the weekend, Hall-of-Famer Eric Lindros; and much more…
***
Morning updates – Richards and Parenteau have indeed been bought out. And now Viktor Stalberg and Cody Hodgson are on waivers for the purpose of a buyout. Stalberg is what he is. On the right team, he can be a 20-goal, 45-point guy. Hodgson is boom or bust, and the right fit for him (maybe three or four teams out there) could see him reach that potential. The wrong fit (the other 26 teams) could see him Cheechoo his way over to Europe.
Breaking news – Pavel Datsyuk underwent surgery on torn ankle tendons and the Red Wings do not expect him back before November. With this news, the Wings are in need of a scoring-line center … which makes it unlikely they buy out or trade Stephen Weiss. And Weiss should see more ice time and better linemates.
Ian Cole signed a three-year, $6.3 million deal with the Penguins. Cole should be a No.6 defenseman. So this money strikes me as high. I’m still living in 2014 numbers I guess…
Vladimir Sobotka has agreed to stay in the KHL for another season.
***
There is so much to discuss this morning that I won’t be able to fit it all in. No way. And what a fun week ahead. Free Agent Frenzy is one of my favorite days. And we just had the most hockey news that I can remember on a Draft weekend – very exciting.
*
First I’ll touch upon the Hockey Hall of Fame, which has an announcement of this year’s entries coming at 4pm EST. I’ll get into it further on Wednesday when they are announced. Today I’ll just plead my annual case for Alex Mogilny (who won’t get in this year) and Eric Lindros (who probably won’t get in this year, but might). Mogilny changed hockey. And even if he played one career NHL game he should be in – because he rode in the trunk of a car to defect from his Russian team to get into the NHL. He broke down the barrier. Throw in the fact that he scored 76 goals one year, and for about three years he was probably a Top 4 player on the planet – and he should be in.
Lindros was the No.1 player on earth for about three years running. If you can’t get into a certain sport – any sport – Hall of Fame when you were the very best at that sport for a couple of years, than it shouldn’t be called a Hall of Fame. It should be called a Hall of Popularity. Or a Hall of Stats. Or a Hall of Longevity. Since it’s currently called the Hall of Fame, then Lindros should be in. Period. There is nothing you can say to me about it that disagrees.
Anyway, with so much to reflect on today, I’ll leave it at that. And save further ranting on the matter for Wednesday. Oh, and Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Pronger and Sergei Fedorov are shoe-ins. I just hope Lindros is the fourth guy. Next year we can look at Mogilny and Mark Recchi.
*
Mike Richards and PA Parenteau were placed on waivers by their respective teams for the purpose of being bought out. In the case of Richards, that’s a massive contract that is ending prematurely. Not Rick DiPietro crazy, but reasonably close. It was a 12-year contract worth $69 million! And $22 million of that is still left, so the buyout will cost the Kings about $14.5 million of that over the next 10 years. TSN ran an interesting article on that, and the decision GM Dean Lombardi had to make on him last summer – and again this summer.
Of the likely buyouts this week, there are three names of fantasy interest. And I’ll review my thoughts here.
Richards – will be fantasy useless. Yes, he’ll sign with another team and yes he’ll be a useful checker. Perhaps rebounding as well as Gomez did last year with the Devils. But his 50-point days are behind him and I wouldn’t count on much beyond 40. Plus a risk for far less. I wouldn’t even waste the roster spot, play it safe.
Parenteau – will also be fantasy useless, UNLESS. There is an “unless” with this one. He could work with an elite center like Tavares again. Or Crosby. Or Malkin. So pretty much unless the Penguins or Islanders signed him, I would have zero interest.
Sam Gagner – It’s looking like the Flyers will buy out his contract. I still think he can be a 55-point forward on most teams, though obviously not a center (given what Arizona GM Don Maloney said about him on the weekend). Where he signs and for how much, would determine my level of interest. He had 41 points last season, but 37 of those points came in the last 65 games (47 pace).
*
I’m very curious as to how Dallas GM Jim Nill plans to sign Antti Niemi. He can’t promise him 60 starts. Or 50. Or 40. He can’t even promise him 30 starts (“I can’t say I’ll try. But I’ll try to try”). Just a bizarre move.
*
Strangely quiet on the goalie front – San Jose. They can’t be looking at riding Alex Stalock, much as I like him. They must have their sights set on Karri Ramo, as he’s the only good UFA goalie left (assuming Niemi signs with Dallas – but the Sharks have moved on from him anyway).
*
Boston fans and media sure don’t like what Don Sweeney did. But he had to trade Dougie Hamilton. No choice. The cap position he was in forced it. Hamilton was going to require at least $6 million. And an offer sheet would have been even more. The Lucic move I didn’t understand. I thought it would be Marchand who was traded. But with Milan Lucic, they got an excellent return. Colin Miller is a top D prospect and very draftable in most fantasy leagues this fall. He’s no Hamilton, not even close. But offensively he can hold his own.
*
I love Kyle Palmieri as a Devil. The team is in rebuild mode, though they have excellent goaltending and promising defensemen. But they lack scoring forwards and Palmieri could be a 30-goal guy. Just pro-rate that. Because he’s a Band-Aid Boy, you have to pro-rate that. Palmieri’s missed 25, 11, seven and 11 in his last four seasons (NHL and AHL). So he’s a 70-game player, which means he could actually be a 25-goal guy, not 30.
*
The team that improved the most on the weekend: Edmonton. Connor McDavid alone saw to that. But they also added Reinhart, Talbot and Gryba while losing Marincin. Defense is starting to shape up, while still remaining young…
*
The next team in terms of improvement: Buffalo. Of course! They added Jack Eichel and Ryan O’Reilly. Losing Zadorov was tough, but you have to give to get. Grigorenko had a questionable role (and future) so removing him from the equation doesn’t hurt at all.
*
Other teams I thought did well – Colorado, Toronto and the Islanders.
Colorado did great to rid themselves of the greedy whiner Ryan O’Reilly. Every time we turn around we see something about him and his contract. He got too big a contract coming out of his ELC thanks to Calgary’s offer sheet. Then he felt he got shafted thanks to arbitration (which still overpaid him…just not in his eyes). And it’s something his team is going to be facing each time his contract runs out – unreasonable demands that drag on throughout the summer and into camp. To get Zadorov, Grigorenko and solid prospect Compher – plus a pick that was just shy of being a first rounder – is awesome.
I like what Toronto did as a whole. I like their acquisition of Zach Hyman. I like Mitch Marner at No.4. I like that they acquired Martin Marincin. And I think they got a steal at 61 with Jeremy Bracco. And they are wise to hang onto Phil Kessel. Patience is a virtue.
I like what the Isles did because they went in with no first rounders and ended up trading Reinhart (who they don’t need, thanks to fellow prospect Ryan Pulock) for 16th and 33rd. And at 16 they got Mathew Barzal, who we had ranked sixth in the Fantasy Prospects Report. Sixth! Later, they moved up again and drafted Anthony Beauvillier in the first round.
*
And of course, the Flames were big winners because they acquired Hamilton. Will that be enough to get them back into the playoffs? Fancy stats indicate a decline, much like with Colorado a year ago. The Avs went out and got Iginla in an effort to soften the blow, but it didn't work. The Flames got Hamilton – will that work?
*
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few busts from the first round, come 2019. It seemed like the GM’s bumped bigger players up in their rankings and drafted accordingly. That pushed the smaller players down the draft list. And I’m betting those smaller players make bigger splashes. Nick Merkley and Jeremy Bracco both dropped quite a bit from their ranking. You’d think GM’s would learn.
*
Hilarious. Can’t stop watching Colin White snub Bettman over and over.