I've read in a couple of places where Daigle would have had a nice career if he weren't the first pick of the draft way back when. Sometimes expectations kill you. He may be serviceable.
He'll revert back to his near goon status under Keenan. I also read on ESPN.com that Fleury's bascially Chicago.
Re: Re: NHL Off-Season Thread.. LOL. The few times he got in fights as a Shark (one or two a year), it seemed he'd whale away with one arm and try to protect his face with the other. We'll miss him, but he's a casualty of the fact we have to keep grooming our young guys, and building for the future's always a good thing.
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Daigle signs with Pittsburgh Penguins. His agent said Pittsburgh was just a better fit because of the depth out here in SJ. Sunday paper also reported Gary Suter is probably retiring.
Berard! Bryan Berard signs with the Bruins. Cool, and I hope he does well there. I believe he grew up a big Bruins fan. He's from the same general area as my wife (Woonsocket/N. Smithfield, RI), so we've been following his career.
Well, I wish both former Rangers Berard and Fleury luck. Especially Fleury. Hope he can bounce back and help out the Hawks without making too much of an ass of himself. As for Berard, it's great that he got back after that nasty eye injury. I won't miss him too much since he wasn't that great for the Blueshirts. Good luck to both.
I'm a little wondering about Cassels signing in Columbus. He's no bad player IMO; what's the reason for leaving Vancouver? Money? Arguments?
My guess it's money, since Vancouver's a hell of a lot closer to being decent than Columbus is. Even with the Lachance (decent) and Richardson (overrated) signings, Columbus will still struggle to do much of anything. Vancouver's young, talented, if not deep.
Cassels wanted about 2-3 mil more from what his last contract was offering and Vancouver just didnt want to waste that money..so they let him go... Cassels would have been great with the St. Louis Blues if they would just waste 2 mil over their budget..but nope...we stay with two legit centers..its all good weight is training real hard and promises a GREAT season with the blues so..ill wait and see oh also if cassels were to have signed...i say they should have put demitra back on the wing for more force on the wing and be able to have two good scoring lines MF2K
Supposedly, Messier is not the Ranger captain as of yet because of a little disagreement with Slats about his contract. Somehow, Mess, thinks he deserves 4.5 mil or around there. Slats is offering 3 mil and only one year. As much as I cherish my Captain, he definitely has to realize he ain't gettin any younger, faster, stronger, or better. I'd love to see him wearing that "C" he was born to wear but there are guys like Sandy McCarthy who'd put more into the team for 4.5 mil. Ahhh, the season is months away and here we are with some more Rangers dysfunction! Damn the sports life that is mine.
NHL complained about the Rangers' contracts with Bobby Holik and Darius Kasparaitis. They don't like the signing bonus (Holik 10.7 M and Kasparaitis 6M devided over the contract length) which in this variation [=not paying in one sum immediately] is nothing but a second salary to avoid the salary cap.
Well, until they put some sort of salary cap or other restriction, I say to the Rangers: spend on! It hasn't worked since Fleury but they can't keep being bad, can they?
Sorry to ask again: some (ex-) NHLers signed in Germany for the next season. Can someone give me info on the following players: - Greg Adams; no real info needed, but did he really take the last season off? - Ted Drury - Shawn Carter - Maxim Galanov - Ricard Persson
Was lucky enough to talk with Andrew a few weeks back when him and Jovo were on a golf outing in Fla. Andrew is a classy guy and was bummed about not going back to Vancouver. From what I could get out of him it seems that Phoenix and Tampa were pretty interested in him. He's a great centerman and I don't think there is a better second line centerman in the league. AC has always played for the underdog and has never had the chance to shine. Although his days with the Whalers were classic, that CVS line was something else. I'd like to see him go to Tampa and groom LaCavierre ( big time mispell ). Andrew would slide into the second line and give Tampa some good depth in the middle. His addition would slide them into contention for the 8th spot in the east.
I am surprised Greg Adams knees are still holding up after all of these years. He was a threat back in the day with the Canucks but after his knee operation in '90 his style of play changed where you could tell he was a bit too aware of his knee. Gred did play last year for the Canadian national team ... he played failry well for them , although I think he was dropped from the roster for the world championships. Ted Drury is still playing, last time I checked he was in the AHL but without a contract. No idea on Carter's where abouts.
Slats is out in Banff, Alberta right now on a fishing trip with Messier. Right now it seems like Mark is going to sign a two year deal for somewhere around 2.5 a season plus incentives that could push the contract up a touch higher. If Mess didn't sustain that elbow injury , he would been signed sealed and delivered by now. I think as it stands Slats and the MSG brass don't want to toss his salary down the drain if he gets hurt again, especially if it's career ending....then they might be paying him for 03-04 and he wouldn't even be playing anymore. The main problem at MSG headquaters is finding another mobile defenseman. Thanks to Lou across the river who picked up Oleg , whom the Rangers were pretty interested in, the search continues on.
Ted Drury played in the AHL last season for the most part. Last I knew, Ricard Persson was a sizth defenseman for St. Louis.
Thank you and Jeff for the infos. Adams signed with Frankfurt Lions - they didn't reach the playoffs in the last two seasons, so basically he can only win. Drury signed with Hamburg Freezers - a franchise that moved from Munich where they were quite successful, but had no attendance. In two months they'll play in a NHL-capable arena (Colorline Arena, situated directly next to the AOL-Arena of Hamburger SV). An attempt to get hockey to the north of Germany. Persson was playing for the Senators I think. One of just a few players who are leaving NHL to a smaller league despite being a regular starter. He signed with Eisbären Berlin - a team that usually either plays at the bottom or the top, just last season they finished in the middle (7th). They should make the playoffs easily this time.
While picking up a veteran backup or two wouldn't hurt, I thought the Rangers were pretty set with their starting six. The lone returning tandem of Lefevre and Malakhov played well last season. Kasparaitus will likely pair with Leetch, and for the final defensive pair, there is Thomas Kloucek and Tom Poti. Who are they looking to replace? JMac
No back up veterans. That's what hurts the Rangers. Over paying for a blueliner who doesn't do crap. Igor Ulanov last year, perfect example. Didn't even last the whole season. Dave Karpa, didn't do squat either, but he managed to last. They got quite a log jam actually. It'd be nice if they could pick up a capable defender. If not, then no big loss in my opinion. Lefebvre got called up from Hartford in the middle of the season. After he got called up, I'd say he was the steadiest defenseman the Rangers had. Berard was slow to regain form which was expected. But he didn't do much to impress. Him going to the B's is fine with me. Malakhov was Norris worthy the first couple of months. But then, the Rangers were playoff bound the first couple of months as well. I guess he went down with the team. Kloucek, our young, strong defender had a rough sophmore season with the Rangers. He recovered from his knee injury but he just didn't seem the same. He delivered his punishing blows but almost seemed like a liability out there. Purinton got into fights. I guess that's all you except from Dale Purinton. Of course, the Rangers picked up another puck moving defenseman in Tom Poti for Mike York at the deadline. Sad to see Yorkie go. Especially for another puck mover, but we'll give Poti a full season to see how he does. Ron Low went with 7 d-men most of the season, rotating during the game. Of course, Rangers finished the season having allowed a staggering 258 goals. Only last place Atlanta was worse. So with Kasparaitis, is the Rangers defensive corps any better? I doubt it. I think it'll be up to the locker room chemistry and first year, I stress first year, head coach Bryan Trottier's strategy. Ahh, it's gonna be another exciting (ulcer creating) season on Broadway.