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).
That being said, White shook Bettman’s hand on the way up. And when he saw him the second time he probably thought “oops, already did you”. But still, the above video is just so funny…
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