SB Nation - Derian Hatcher

Sometimes, the Oilers Aren't Killing Me

Benjamin Massey — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:30:15 -0000

4 days ago: Edmonton Oilers goalie Jeff Deslauriers makes a save in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the St. Louis Blues, Friday, Dec. 11, 2009, in St. Louis. The Oilers overcame a 3-0 deficit to win 5-3. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

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Over my time at the Copper & Blue, I've developed a reputation as a bit of a ranting, negative lunatic. There's a very good reason I've acquired this reputation: it's accurate. That's pretty much exactly what I am. When the Oilers lose, I'll tear my face off with grief and when they win I'll settle for pulling my nose hairs out bemoaning how close they were to losing.

It's a stressful sort of fandom I live. One filled with black clouds of grim angst occasionally broken up by rays of bright sunshine which serve only to make the darkness seem all the more oppressive.

But in truth, I am not all despair all the time. Sometimes... just sometimes... the Oilers manage to surprise me in an astonishing little way. And so, for your viewing enjoyment and to give myself a break from a constant stream of negativity, gloom, and angst, I present to you six lovely little surprises for the holiday season that the Edmonton Oilers have provided me so far this year.

1) The goaltending isn't nearly as bad as I'd feared. Early in the season, I gave Nikolai Khabibulin the nickname "Maginot Line" because he was big, expensive, immobile, outdated, and largely useless. Jeff Deslauriers I didn't give a nickname but, then, I didn't have to because he was Jeff Deslauriers so obviously he was going to be terrible. It would have been like kicking a puppy into traffic to pick on him any more.

Well, neither Deslauriers nor Khabibulin have been terrific by any means, but they haven't been bad. Nikolai Khabibulin's contract was terrible but, a few foibles aside, his play wasn't. With a .909 save percentage and an almost tolerable 3.03 goals-against average while playing through the worst of Edmonton's defensive injuries, Khabibulin wasn't shooting the lights out but was pretty much middle of the pack for NHL starters. He's being paid like an All-Star, but I'm trying to look at his play, not his contract.

Of course, then he strained his back reaching too far for the remote or something and now we're putting up with Jeff Deslauriers. Who's... actually been a bit better than Khabibulin. A .916 save percentage, a 2.61 goals-against average, and his first career NHL shutout. The sample size is small, but Deslauriers is fifteenth in the NHL among goaltenders who've played at least ten games in save percentage. He's tied with Henrik Lundqvist, for God's sake. He's ahead of Roberto Luongo! And he's playing for the Edmonton Oilers!

That's not shabby. That's not shabby at all.

2) Ladislav Smid is quietly becoming brilliant. Obviously, playing with Lubomir Visnovsky helps (more on him later). But the book on Ladislav Smid used to be that he's was a crappy version of Tommy Albelin. Then, starting last season, we started to see more of a physical edge in his game. He got into guys' faces, he didn't take no guff, he started to "clear his neighbourhood" as the astronomers say. Then this year, his strides have been palpable. He's still not a Derian Hatcher sort, but he's getting there.

It is an axiom, at least to me, that defensive defensemen take forever to develop. Defending is hard, guys. You can't just work on a big slapshot or some fancy stickhandling moves and still put up results while learning the game. Until you figure out exactly how things work in the show you are going to get run over. For a long time, Smid was getting killed, but more and more he's figuring it out. We saw the same thing with former Oiler Matt Greene, only to trade him just as the light was starting to go on. Every player in that mold goes through the same thing and the trick is figuring out which kids will eventually get it. Smid is starting to get it.

3) Who the hell are our forwards, and why are they doing so okay? Ryan O'Marra, Colin McDonald, Ryan Potulny, Gilbert Brule, Liam Reddox, Ryan Stone oh god I could keep going. No, it's not the second and third lines of the Springfield Falcons, it's a list of guys we've called up, plugged into the starting lineup, and told "surprise! you're NHL players!"

Well, the results could have been a lot worse, couldn't they?

Colin McDonald, that big palooka, scored a goal. Ryan O'Marra, who I ragged on so much he was on the verge of becoming a running joke, looked better in the NHL than he ever has in the AHL. Liam Reddox slumped towards the end but looked so promising at the beginning of his callup I pronounced him the new Fernando Pisani. Gilbert Brule is this team's fourth-leading scorer (seriously), and no matter what Derek says that's pretty damned impressive in any context. He has nine goals and twelve assists for twenty-one points in twenty-nine games. His previous career highs were nine goals and ten assists for nineteen points in seventy-eight games with Columbus in 2006-07.

Ryan Stone, meanwhile, has been getting positive notices for everything but his scoring. He's banged, crashed, made life miserable for opposing players, looked after himself in his own zone, and chipped in five assists in thirteen games. His return from injury immediately made our fourth line into a credible opponent, and that's been vital to the Oilers' recent success.

Not one of these guys were being counted on to be any sort of positive at the beginning of the year, and yet they've all helped the team, some in big ways, others in small ones.

4) There's a lot of try in this team. Much as I hate to resort to crappy colour-man clichés, it's true. Remember the doldrums of the last couple of seasons where the Oilers were just going through the motions? Crappy players playing a crappy game and afterwards Craig MacTavish would say things at the press conference like "I don't know what else I can say to these guys. They need to figure things out for themselves."?

Yeah, that's not happening anymore. We've had a couple tremendous comebacks already this season, and we've had a couple pretty ugly losses where the team kept fighting until the conclusion anyway. Losing is a lot more bearable when you can see the team cares about it.

5) How incredible is Lubomir Visnovsky? Really damned incredible, that's how incredible. He's been healthy, for the most part, which was a pleasant treat in of itself. But it gets better. His seven goals is tied for third on the team, behind only Dustin Penner and Gilbert Brule. His twenty-three points is second, although he's only one up on Ales Hemsky, the human incarnation of how much the hockey gods hate us. He's +12, which on a team this crappy is hard to do. Among Oilers to play at least twenty games, he leads in time on ice per game. His .767 points per game pace is right back at the élite level he showed from 2005 to 2007 in Los Angeles.

He's sixth in the league in defensive scoring and he's delivering surprisingly excellent defensive results. He's sixth in the league in plus/minus among defensemen, which sounds like I'm making it up. There's nothing not to love about Lubomir Visnovsky's season so far. Some say that he needs to shoot more. Maybe, but I'm reluctant to mess with an All-Star season on a non-playoff team.

6) Special teams haven't been useless. Considering the dearth of offensive creativity and the mediocre lot of defensive forwards we've dealt ourselves, you'd expect both the powerplay and the penalty kill to be completely dire. And certainly the penalty kill has been pretty bad, if not awful, with a 78.8% kill rate plunking them 23rd on the table. To tell you the truth, I'd have put us a lot worse than 23rd at the beginning of the year and that was without considering all the injuries we've picked up, so even that ugly number carries a glittering gem of consolation. If you can throw out guys like Steve Staios, Zack Stortini, and Jason Strudwick on an NHL penalty kill and come up 23rd, things aren't so bad.

The powerplay, on the other hand! Just as devoid of personnel, just as wracked by injury, so ill-conceived that people were trying to talk themselves into Mike Comrie as a legitimate powerplay specialist, and yet they're hitting at a 19.5% rate! That's fourteenth in the league! That's average! I am delighted with average. Whenever any aspect of the Oilers is average, considering what a below-average team they are, that's something. Particularly when the powerplay has been such a history struggle for the Oilers over the last several seasons. It's nice to see results improving even when the team is not.

A Tribute to Reunion Arena

Brandon Bibb — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:00:24 -0000

Tuesday, the last few pillars holding up the roof on the first Texas home of the Stars came crashing down (for some reason, I'm not able to embed the video into this post).

Since 1980, it also hosted an NBA expansion franchise known as the Dallas Mavericks, an indoor soccer team known as the Dallas Sidekicks, the SWC Men's Basketball Tournament, a Republican National Convention in 1984, an NBA All Star Game in 1986, a Final Four in 1988, and the WCT Tennis Tournament (which forced Game 5 of the Mavericks' first ever playoff series against Seattle to be moved to Moody Coliseum back in the spring of 1984)

TheBigAndTheBrown has his favorite Reunion Arena-era memories posted over at our sister site, Mavs Moneyball. But the Stars were able to fill the barn with quite a few of their own memories in the eight years that they called the building their own.

After the jump, I'll post my Top 5 memories, which was hard to choose as you can imagine. Quite probable it'll spark a little debate as well.

5. The Hullennium - To say the Stars defense of their lone Cup was going shaky in the first couple of months in the 1999-00 season would be an understatement. They had actually sunk to last place in the Pacific about a month into the season and were treading water through the end of the calendar year in 1999.

The Ducks came to town for the annual New Year's Eve game. And IIRC, this was also Jere Lehtinen's first game of the year. His start to the 1999-00 campaign was derailed by injury. But he took his first shift of the night and moments later, opened the scoring in what would become a back and forth affair.

And oh by the way, Brett Hull was stuck on 599 goals coming into this contest. He was still stuck on that number, just 1shy of the 600 goal mark when he took a shift midway through the 3rd with the Stars down a goal. Hull, like he always had during his career, somehow found himself open in the slot, and whipped home the milestone goal just before midnight Eastern.

The timing on the goal was so perfect that when Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve panned a shot of Times Square right after the City of New York celebrated the birth of a new millennium, there was news of Hull's milestone goal scrolling across one of the electronic boards.

Hull decided his 600th goal of his career wasn't good enough for that night. So he went out and scored goal 601 shortly thereafter to lead the Stars to a win that night. A win I think jumpstarted the Stars to a very strong second half of the season en route to a return trip to the Stanley Cup Finals that year.

4. Opening Night of the 1999-2000 season - I think you all know why.

They had skated the Cup up in Buffalo in the wee hours of a Sunday morning. They brought the Cup back to Reunion a few days later for the victory parade and rally at Reunion.

But they never actually skated the Cup on their home ice. That is, until Derian Hatcher came out of the Zamboni entrance with the Cup held high to a thunderous applause from the sellout crowd.

Oh yeah, they did raise a banner that night and defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins to officially open defense of their title. But the lasting memory of that night will always be seeing Hatch skate the Cup on Reunion Arena ice.

3. Devils win Stanley Cup in double OT in Game 6, June 10th, 2000 - I never said this would be a list of my most favorite Stars' memories at Reunion.

But as a hockey fan, I'd be remiss if I didn't include this game because I think it encapsulated the entire series between the Stars and Devils. On one side, you had a very determined Devils' squad that was certainly better than the Stars on paper and had pushed Dallas to the brink after winning Games 3 and 4 at Reunion to take a 3-1 series lead.

But there's an axiom in playoff hockey that the hardest game to win in any series is the last one. And the Stars proved in the next few games just determined they were to make the Devils truly earn it in 2000. First, they staved off elimination in a scoreless Game 5 that lasted until Mike Modano tipped a Brett Hull shot from the point past Marty Brodeur in triple OT to force a Game 6. Then in Game 6 back in Dallas, they battled New Jersey to double OT before Patrick Elias' pass from the corner found Jason Arnott all alone in front of Ed Belfour to silence the crowd and finally wrest control of the Cup away from the Stars.

Dallas had lost the war. But they held their heads high through the handshake line and the crowd showed just how appreciative they were that their Stars didn't go quietly after falling into a 3-1 hole that year.

Besides, win or lose, it's cool to see the Stanley Cup presented on your ice. Not many buildings in the NHL can lay claim to that.

2. First Stars home game at Reunion, October 3rd, 1993 - I'm sure much of the crowd that night wasn't really sure what to expect when they set foot inside Reunion that night. Obviously, the visiting Red Wings were well represented as they are in every arena in the NHL it seems.

But when Neal Broten poked home the first goal in Dallas Stars' history at Reunion past Tim Cheveldae in a goal mouth scramble, it started a love affair between the team and it's fans that continues to this day.

The Stars went on to win that game by the score of 6-4.

1. Game 7 of the 1999 Western Conference Finals, June 4, 1999 - No, I didn't get to experience this game in person. Too bad, because I'd never heard Reunion Arena as loud as it was on this night when the crowd was into the game from the drop of the puck and gave the Stars momentum that they would never relinquish to the Avalanche in a 4-1 rout that sent the Stars to their first Stanley Cup Finals since moving down from Minnesota.

Summer Fill - A Conversation with The Copper & Blue - Part I

Ben Rothenberg — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 01:46:06 -0000

More photos » by Tom Mihalek - AP

Chris Pronger, current Flyer, former Oiler (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

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Let me tell you a secret: not a whole lot of hockey gets played in August.

But SBNation never sleeps. The hockey blogs on this grand network of ours got together and paired off across conferences. Broad Street Hockey drew The Copper & Blue, SBN's Edmonton Oilers community. The Flyers and Oilers have made more finals than any other teams since expansion, so this is a real powerhouse match-up

You remember the Oilers as the Flyers' opponent in the 1987 Stanley Cup finals, where the Flyers won an epic Game 6 at The Spectrum before returning to Edmonton for Game 7. I never heard how that Game 7 turned out--please don't tell me.

There are two parts of the conversation, the first in which Geoff and I answered their questions, and the second in which they answer ours.

Here comes the first part, after the jump.

Since the days shortly after Ron Hextall, it seems that the Flyers have always had a nagging goaltending issue. Given that Ray Emery wasn't even the best goaltender on his KHL team, do you foresee him as the answer or a cheap stopgap?

One of the things that's great (yet torturous) about the Flyers as a fan is that they are always in "win now" mode, seemingly. No rebuilding long term, no stockpiling draft picks, just getting the players they think are the best available to win the Cup this season. And it leads to the Flyers fielding (icing?) a lot of competitive teams, but ones that often fall just short of glory. I believe that since expansion, the Flyers have made it to more conference finals than any other team, 15. But they only have two Stanley Cups to show for that, and none in the last 30+ years (thanks so much for '85 and '87, by the way...). You may have seen Bob Clarke express some frustration at how this philosophy hasn't worked for the Flyers as well as he would have liked, while our in-state neighbors now have a cup thanks to a boatload of top draft picks that they got from being so bad that they faced bankruptcy.

So to get off of the soapbox and back to your question, no. I don't think Emery is a stopgap in the sense that he's filling in during a planned interregnum while the Flyers shop for a bigger fish.

With that in mind, it's also important to point out that the Flyers "win now, buy the best" philosophy has rarely if ever extended to goaltending. I think Ray Emery may have actually been the best goaltender on the market this summer, but he's also not exactly a stable commodity. It's a risk in what has otherwise been a very solid summer in my mind.

I'm also personally a huge Brian Boucher fan, and I remember that he took us within a win of the finals in 2000. If push comes to shove, I'm confident in his abilities to step up.

Will the expectations be too much?

As far as Emery goes, I think expectations are fairly under control. I don't think anybody expects a Vezina performance, nor do I think anyone would be too shocked if he gets out of control and mows down a teammate in the parking lot. He's a wild card, and so the expectations are wild.

As for the rest of the team, expectations are always high for the Flyers, and are again this year as always. Losing to the Penguins two years in a row has stung, but this year's series was so close (within a three-goal lead of Game 7) that I think the organization believes it is close.

Will the addition of Pronger and the strength of Mike Richards as captain help with expectations?

The addition of Chris Pronger is huge. Not only does he make our defense better, he adds size, experience, leadership, and respect. Last year, we finished the season with Kimmo Timonen as the captain of the D, with promising young defensemen Braydon Coburn, Ryan Parent, and Matt Carle rounding out the top 4. While those three look to be strong going forward, Chris Pronger makes the team much better. Not only on the ice, but our defense now has two of the best in the game to learn from and to set the tone of the team.

The expectation game is different. After the run to the Conference Finals in 2008, the expectations were high going into 2008-2009. Now, the expectations are even higher with the addition of Pronger. Mike Richards has taken some criticism for his leadership last year, but he was labeled Captain material since the day he was drafted. There were definitely moments last season that did not go as smoothly as they should have, as even Richards has admitted. Learning from Jason Smith and Derian Hatcher helped, but now he has Pronger to lead alongside him, as well as respected veterans Timonen and Gagne as the alternates. With four strong veterans leading the team (plus the addition of Ian Laperriere), the leadership issues from last year should be handled much better this year, making the high expectations a little easier to cope with.

Given the cap issues the team has, where do the Flyers turn if Emery goes south?

Ben already dealt with how the salary cap issues affect the team in goal, but the problem extends throughout the roster, and even started last year. Scottie Upshall was traded at the deadline because they couldn't afford to have both Danny Briere and Claude Giroux on the roster. This year, the team couldn't afford to re-sign Mike Knuble and had to shop in the clearance aisle during free agency. In addition to Knuble, Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki were the main salaries allowed to walk this off-season and Joffrey Lupul was traded in order to bring in Pronger.

Going forward, if the team needs to lose even more salary, Matt Carle and Randy Jones appear the likely options. As it stands now, CapGeek.com estimates only $372,085 in cap space available. That total, however, includes Andreas Nodl, Lukas Kaspar, and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, none of whom are guaranteed to make the team. In addition, the numbers include bonuses that could be paid to Nodl and Ryan Parent. Alternatively, nhlnumbers.com estimates $2.157 million available, but that only includes 19 players.

So, it is definitely possible that the team uses their AHL players to fill the holes, including Nodl, Kaspar, Jonathan Matsumoto, Jared Ross (when/if the RFA re-signs), Patrick Maroon, and less likely James vanRiemsdyk. As evidenced by the injuries last year, the team would like to keep some cap money free; so would your free-wheeling owner with a track record of poor management decisions be interested in a Briere and Jones for Andrew Cogliano and Ladislav Smid deal?

Time Of Our Lives?

SamFels — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:58:38 -0000

More photos » by Paul Sancya - AP

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So, now that most of the silliness is over, and with August approaching, maybe it's time to start getting excited for this season. I say that, because, for some unknown reason, it dawned on me today that this very well could be the best Hawks team of my lifetime. I know that's a big statement, but it's a small window (for those who need to know, I'm in my late 20's, though have a maturity level of a 13 year old, as you've probably noticed by now).

The contenders, for those of my age, would be the 1991 President's Trophy winning team, and probably the '95 lockout year team that eventually bit it in the Conference Final to an absolutely loaded Scum (sounds eerily familiar). I can't include some of the '80s teams, as I was a bit young, and also that was a 21-team NHL and loading up talent wasn't quite as hard. Clearly, now is a different era as well (the late 90's was a totally different era than the early 90's, for you Boers and Bernstein fans), but it's easier to compare with those two teams.

Although I'd like to make the argument that the '95 team was better, they still eventually were only on pace for 90 points over a full season, though a lot of that is due to Roenick having an unfortunate encounter with Derian Hatcher's knee, so we'll try and compare them to both if we can here.

The 1991 team lined up like this, for the most part:

Goulet-Roenick-Larmer

Steve Thomas-Adam Creighton (Judd Sirott just had a stroke)- Wayne Presley

Greg Gilbert-Troy Murray-Dirk Graham

Peluso/Grim Reaper-Mike Hudson-Jocelyn Lemieux

D-pairings

Chelios-Wilson

Manson-Konroyd

Bob McGill-Keith Brown

With Belfour in net. Now, I don't know that these were the exact lines or not, but this is who played the majority of games. Looking at that forward crop, it's a wonder that this team racked up 106 points. There's one line of scoring, with Stumpy to boot. Lots of toughness for sure, but the Hawks forward line with Eager, Burish, Madden, and Ladd now is not short on grit, at least for these days. Decidedly, the 09-10 Hawks match up at forward. On the blue line, well, the Hawks don't have anything close to Chelios and Wilson at the top, but on the lower pairings, I remember watching Bob McGill and Keith Brown, and it usually caused brain bubbles. 1-6, the current Hawks are just as solid, without having the peak at the top. The big difference is obviously between the pipes, because Belfour was stellar on this season, and there are big questions around Huet. Still, I think the current crop matches up quite well with this one.

The 1995 Hawks:

Amonte-Roenick-Joe Murphy

Craven-Nicholls-Daze

Poulin-Sutter-Krivokrasov

Shantz-Savard-Graham

D pairings:

Chelios-Suter

Steve Smith-Eric Weinrich

Keith Carney-Cam Russel

With Belfour in net again. God, this team looks pretty good, though old. Two very solid scoring lines here, in fact Nicholls was amongst the season scoring leaders for a while. Savard also played out of his mind when he was reacquired, and single-handedly destroyed the Leafs in the first round. The Top-4 on the backend was pretty solid as well, Weinrich was very underrated. Again, this team has a decided edge in goal, but elsewhere? Hard to say. This version comes close to matching the scoring depth this year's Hawks will trot out, but I don't see where there's someone like Versteeg on this third line (though the EA sports version of Patrck Poulin would have been. For some reason, in video game form he was ridiculous). As for the d-men, well, the top two pairs trump the curren top two pair. so there's a decided advantage there. Carney was very solid, so he's probably a push with Barker, though two totally different players.

So, to conclude, well, I don't know. But I don't see why this team can't become the best my generation has ever seen. Anyway, a stupid debate to fill your summer day.

2009 NHL Free Agency: A Look at Defensemen and Goaltenders with Updated News About Bouwmeester

Brandon Bibb — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:18 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - ASSOCIATED PRESS

5 months ago: Florida Panthers' Jay Bouwmeester (4) in action against the Pittsburgh Penguins during a NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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Before we delve into the crop of free agent defensemen and goaltenders, let me throw some accolades towards the people at NHL Numbers.

From a capology and free agent standpoint, I think they're the best website. They're the source for all the lists of free agent defensemen and goaltenders you'll see below the jump. However, they are not complete lists as they do not include any free agents who did not spend any time this past season on any club's active roster.

From a Stars perspective, these are now the two most glaring needs now that they've locked up Jere Lehtinen for another year.

Now onto the free agents...

Defensemen

First off, Rob Blake, Johnny Oduya, and Tyler Sloan have each signed extensions with their current teams, Niclas Havelid of New Jersey signed on to play in Europe, and Derian Hatcher retired after being told he'll need knee replacement surgery.

And of course, TSN is now reporting that the Calgary Flames have agreed to a five year deal with defenseman Jay Bouwmeester.

So that leaves a group of about 70 unrestricted free agents that have played more than 80 NHL games in their career. As a side note, there are about 16 UFA's that aren't listed with the designation of UFA VI. Players that are over 25 years of age, have played 3 pro seasons (NHL minors), but have not amassed at least 80 NHL games played over their career:

Player	Age	Team	Pos	Status	08-09 Cap Hit	08-09 Salary	Status
Niedermayer, Scott	35	ANA	D	UFA	6.75	6.75	Signed 5-year deal with Calgary
Schneider, Mathieu	40	MTL	D	UFA	5.625	5.75
Zubov, Sergei	38	DAL	D	UFA	5.35	5.35
Blake, Rob	39	SJS	D	UFA	5	5	Signed extension
Bouwmeester, Jay	25	FLA	D	UFA	4.875	4.875	Rights traded to CGY
Aucoin, Adrian	35	CGY	D	UFA	4	4
Morris, Derek	30	NYR	D	UFA	3.917	3.95
Hatcher, Derian	37	PHI	D	UFA	3.5	3.5	Retired
Ohlund, Mattias	32	VAN	D	UFA	3.5	3.5
Spacek, Jaroslav	35	BUF	D	UFA	3.333	3.3
Boynton, Nick	30	FLA	D	UFA	2.95	2.95
Havelid, Niclas	36	NJD	D	UFA	2.7	2.9	Signed in Europe
Boucher, Philippe	36	PIT	D	UFA	2.5	2.5
De Vries, Greg	36	NAS	D	UFA	2.5	2.75
Sydor, Darryl	37	DAL	D	UFA	2.5	2.5
Skrastins, Karlis	34	FLA	D	UFA	2.4	2.4
Warrener, Rhett	33	CGY	D	UFA	2.35	2.5
Backman, Christian	29	CLB	D	UFA	2.3	3.4
Gauthier, Denis	32	LAK	D	UFA	2.1	2.2
Kalinin, Dmitri	28	PHX	D	UFA	2.1	2.1
Gill, Hal	34	PIT	D	UFA	2.075	2.1
Mara, Paul	29	NYR	D	UFA	1.95	1.95
Bouillon, Francis	33	MTL	D	UFA	1.875	1.875
Skoula, Martin	29	MIN	D	UFA	1.8	1.9
Dandenault, Mathieu	33	MTL	D	UFA	1.725	1.75
Komisarek, Mike	27	MTL	D	UFA	1.7	1.9
Beauchemin, Francois	29	ANA	D	UFA	1.65	1.65
Brisebois, Patrice	38	MTL	D	UFA	1.5	0.75
Leopold, Jordan	28	CGY	D	UFA	1.5	1.5	Rights traded to FLA
Alberts, Andrew	28	PHI	D	UFA	1.25	1.4
Malik, Marek	34	TBL	D	UFA	1.25	1.25
Seidenberg, Dennis	27	CAR	D	UFA	1.2	1.2
Bergeron, Marc-Andre	28	MIN	D	UFA	1.116	1.691
Numminen, Teppo	40	BUF	D	UFA	1.1	1.1
Foster, Kurtis	27	MIN	D	UFA	1.025	1.025
Melichar, Josef	30	TBL	D	UFA	1	1
Vaananen, Ossi	28	VAN	D	UFA	1	1
Kukkonen, Lasse	27	PHI	D	UFA	0.875	0.9
Hedican, Bret	38	ANA	D	UFA	0.871	0.871
Cullimore, Jassen	36	FLA	D	UFA	0.83	0.83
Montador, Steve	29	BOS	D	UFA	0.8	0.8
Hnidy, Shane	33	BOS	D	UFA	0.757	0.76
Chelios, Chris	47	DET	D	UFA	0.75	0.75
Tanabe, David	28	CAR	D	UFA	0.75	0.9
Tjarnqvist, Daniel	32	COL	D	UFA	0.75	0.75
Zanon, Greg	29	NAS	D	UFA	0.725	0.75
Scuderi, Rob	30	PIT	D	UFA	0.713	0.725
Koistinen, Ville	27	NAS	D	UFA	0.7	0.7
Weaver, Mike	31	STL	D	UFA	0.7	0.7	Signed extension
Pock, Thomas	27	NYI	D	UFA	0.667	0.685
Semenov, Alexei	28	SJS	D	UFA	0.65	0.65
Strudwick, Jason	33	EDM	D	UFA	0.65	0.65
Huskins, Kent	30	SJS	D	UFA	0.625	0.65
Klee, Ken	38	PHX	D	UFA	0.625	1.25
Niskala, Janne	27	TBL	D	UFA	0.6	0.6
Oduya, Johnny	27	NJD	D	UFA	0.6	0.6	Signed extension
Walker, Matt	29	CHI	D	UFA	0.6	0.6
Davison, Rob	29	VAN	D	UFA	0.56	0.56
Baumgartner, Nolan	33	VAN	D	UFA	0.55	0.55
Nycholat, Lawrence	30	COL	D	UFA	0.55	0.6
Johnson, Aaron	26	CHI	D	UFA	0.525	0.525
Henry, Alex	29	MTL	D	UFA	0.5	0.5
Janik, Doug	29	MTL	D	UFA	0.5	0.5
Lee, Chris	28	NYI	D	UFA	0.5	0.5
Mojzis, Tomas	27	MIN	D	UFA	0.5	0.5
Richardson, Luke	40	OTT	D	UFA	0.5	0.5
Helmer, Bryan	36	WAS	D	UFA	0.475	0.475
Heward, Jamie	38	TOR	D	UFA	0.475	0.475
MacKenzie, Aaron	28	COL	D	UFA	0.475	0.475
Sloan, Tyler	28	WAS	D	UFA	0.475	0.475	Signed extension
Murphy, Cory	31	TBL	D	UFA	0.412	0.875

Now I hate to be the bearer of bad news. Especially as it pertains to J-Bo.

But I doubt any connection Joe Nieuwendyk had to Jay Bouwmeester will be enough for the kid from Edmonton to sign with the Stars. Let alone, give them any kind of a discount. You have to figure he'll command somewhere in the neighborhood of $7 million per year.

The Stars have $41.734 million already tied up in salary next year. Last I checked, NHL Numbers had not updated the Stars numbers to include Lehtinen's deal. And although they have 14.568 in cap space, we already know Tom Hicks won't authorize Nieuwendyk to spend to the cap. So unless something surprising on the financial front happens, like Hicks accepting a midnight bid to buy the Rangers or a shocking decision to sell his 50% stake in Liverpool FC (I'm hoping for this for reasons not related to the Stars, BTW), that won't change.

Of course, what the Stars' budget this offseason is is anybody's guess. But Mike Heika did write Sunday that:

Stars owner Tom Hicks wouldn't reveal the budget for next season, saying it is still up in the air, but all indications are that it will be much closer to the $40.8 million salary cap floor than the $56.8 million ceiling.

The midpoint between the floor and the ceiling is $48.8 million. So for the sake of this exercise, I'm going to assume the budget is somewhere around $47 million. With that in mind, the most I think you'll see the Stars spend on a defenseman when free agency opens is going to be $2.5 million tops.

So which blue liners would be likely candidates to come here?

Well, even thought Darryl Sydor was a shadow of his self even two years ago, let alone 10 years ago during the Stars Stanley Cup run, I still think he's going to be on the Stars' radar because of the familiarity that both sides have with each other. And because of the financial restrictions involved.

It also wouldn't surprise me if Philippe Boucher makes a return. Both he and Sydor made $2.5 million. And if anything, both players' values have fallen. You could get either player in here for about $2 million a year I would think.

Outside of those two, the only free agent in the $2 million per year price range that's shown any hint of offensive production is Paul Mara of the New York Rangers. He posted six goals and 36 assists in the 2003-04 season, then followed that up with a career high 15 goals and 32 assists in the 2005-06 season.

But since moving to the hockey hotbeds of Boston and New York the past two seasons, his production dropped dramatically down to 11 goals combined the last three seasons. Perhaps a change of scenery back out West could re-ignite that offensive production.

Goaltenders

Curtis McElhinney signed an extension with Calgary and Peter Budaj re-upped with Colorado. Mikael Tellqvist of Bufflo signed in Europe as did Karri Ramo.

Which leaves...

Player	Age	Team	Pos	Status	08-09 Cap Hit	08-09 Salary	Status
Khabibulin, Nikolai	36	CHI	G	UFA	6.75	6.75
Fernandez, Manny	34	BOS	G	UFA	4.333	4.75
Roloson, Dwayne	39	EDM	G	UFA	3.667	3
Biron, Martin	31	PHI	G	UFA	3.5	3.5
Kolzig, Olaf	39	TOR	G	UFA	2.5	1.5
Legace, Manny	36	STL	G	UFA	2.15	2.5
Gerber, Martin	34	TOR	G	UFA	1.85	3.7
Niittymaki, Antero	29	PHI	G	UFA	1.225	1.375
Garon, Mathieu	31	PIT	G	UFA	1.1	1
Norrena, Fredrik	35	CLB	G	UFA	0.85	0.9
Labarbera, Jason	29	VAN	G	UFA	0.825	0.85
Johnson, Brent	32	WAS	G	UFA	0.812	0.825
Raycroft, Andrew	29	COL	G	UFA	0.8	0.8
Tellqvist, Mikael	29	BUF	G	UFA	0.8	0.8	Signed in Europe
Conklin, Ty	33	DET	G	UFA	0.75	0.75
Joseph, Curtis	42	TOR	G	UFA	0.7	0.7
Weekes, Kevin	34	NJD	G	UFA	0.688	0.7
Boucher, Brian	32	SJS	G	UFA	0.65	0.65
Sanford, Curtis	29	VAN	G	UFA	0.65	0.65
Denis, Marc	31	MTL	G	UFA	0.6	0.6
Schaefer, Nolan	29	MIN	G	UFA	0.575	0.6
Anderson, Craig	28	FLA	G	UFA	0.55	0.575
Danis, Yann	28	NYI	G	UFA	0.55	0.55
Sabourin, Dany	28	EDM	G	UFA	0.512	0.525
Clemmensen, Scott	31	NJD	G	UFA	0.5	0.5
Dubielewicz, Wade	30	CLB	G	UFA	0.5	0.5
MacDonald, Joey	29	NYI	G	UFA	0.487	0.5
Munroe, Scott	27	PHI	G	UFA	0.475	0.475

Yeah, you remember Brent KRAHN!, right? His Dallas Stars career thus far has consisted of playing mop up duty in the third period of a 6-2 loss to the Blackhawks in which Dave Tippett decided since the Stars' defense wasn't going to help Marty Turco out in the first two periods, he'd just go ahead and give Turks a rest. Good news is, we might get another chance to yell KRAHN! at some next season as both he and Matt Climie signed one-year, two way deals for the upcoming season.

Out of his list, the biggest name is Nikolai Khabibulin. Chicago was forced to keep him and newly signed free agent Cristobal Huet after they placed the veteran Russian goaltender on waivers last September but found no takers. On July 1, 2008, general manager Dale Tallon signed Huet to a four year, $22.5 million deal on July 1, 2008 and represents a cap hit of 5.625 million for the next three years. As a result, the Hawks were forced to eat over $12 million in salary at the goaltender position.

Despite the fact Khabibulin led the Hawks to their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 1995, the financial constraints they put themselves in last summer will force them to let Khabi walk.

As for the Stars, financial constraints of their own will force them to look in the backup goaltender bargain bin if Jonas Gustavsson elects not to sign with them. If he doesn't sign, fear not because there are several appealing options, including Jason LaBarbera, Brent Johnson, Andrew Raycroft, Kevin Weekes, Curtis Sanford, Brian Boucher, Dany Sabourin, Wade Dubielewicz and as BW mentioned, Scott Clemmensen, who filled in admirably for New Jersey last winter when Marty Brodeur went out with a torn biceps.

In 39 starts, Clemmensen posted a 2.39 GAA and went 25-13-1. He made $500,000 last year and should see a nice pay raise. Whether that raise is enough to put him out of the Stars' grasp remains to be seen.

The Pronger Trade -- 5 Talking Points

Ben Rothenberg — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:52:18 -0000

More photos » by Ryan Remiorz - AP

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Ryan Remiorz)

Browse more photos »

The Flyers' blockbuster trade with the Anaheim Ducks (Chris Pronger and Ryan Dingle for Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, and a slew of draft picks) quickly became the biggest league-wide storyline at the 2009 NHL Draft. Though the sun has not yet risen on this deal, the buzz among the media, fans, and BSH readers is already deafening. The trade was the lead story on ESPN.com last night, especially impressive given the scarcity of NHL headlines on the site during the off-season (not to mention during the regular season and the playoffs).

Generalizing substantially, these seem to be the five main talking points when it comes to evaluating the trade from the Flyers perspective:

Pronger Has Experience Leading a Team to the Cup - Before adding Chris Pronger, the Flyers boasted only one player with a Stanley Cup ring, approximately nineteen fewer cup winners than currently play for the Penguins (ugh). That player is Mike Knuble, who won his Cup eleven years ago for a Detroit team to which he only contributed seven goals. So it can be pretty safely said that experience had been lacking. However, with experience, of course, comes age. Pronger has had injury problems in the past, and is without a doubt past his peak playing days. The obvious precedent in this part of the debate is Derian Hatcher, who also was brought to the Flyers in recent years for his physical defense and leadership experience in winning a Cup. Hatcher didn't bring the Flyers a Cup in his three years of playing "old NHL" style defense for the Orange and Black. Pronger has won a Stanley Cup in the "new NHL" era, so the comparison isn't perfect, but it's still one worth considering.
Pronger Plays "Flyers Hockey" - He said it himself. Pronger plays so-called "Flyers Hockey," which would theoretically make him a good fit for the Flyers. "Flyers Hockey," while naturally my favorite kind of hockey, often serves as a euphemism for "Dirty Hockey." Remember also that Daniel Carcillo too was lauded for playing "Flyers Hockey," though playing his style of Flyers Hockey for the actual Flyers resulted in his not scoring a goal in his first twenty-four games with the club. One more hard-hitter with a reputation for the occasional cheap shot could lead to even more penalties and suspensions for the Broad Street Bullies, especially considering that in Lupul and Sbisa the Flyers dealt away two of their least physical players.
Letting Lupul Leave - In losing Joffrey Lupul, the Flyers' lost their only player whose last name is a palindrome. They also lost without a player who tallied twenty-five goals and twenty-five assists last season, his fifty total points putting him at fifth-best on the team. He was also a very popular guy in the locker room who brought with him a surprising amount of modeling experience. But with all those pluses came some definite disappointments. Lupul had always been considered something of an underachiever with the Flyers, despite a goal-production that stayed near his linemates'. At best he was labeled as streaky, at worst a player who didn't bring any energy or commitment far too often. He tallied only one goal and one assist in the playoffs last season, though when it comes to Lupul's playoff goal scoring his Game 7 OT winner vs. the Caps forever gets him a pass. That one goal likely was the reason for his enormous new contract in the summer of 2008, a contract which made him too pricy to keep around through the summer of 2009.
Selling the Future - Luca Sbisa's departure isn't all that surprising, considering that management never seemed to forgive him for oversleeping back in December. The 19-year old Sbisa generally impressed with his play over 39 games during the regular season, but also appeared to be a raw talent in need of a lengthy polishing period. Sbisa scored zero goals for the Flyers, and was a -6 on the season. He was also quietly one of the team's least disciplined players, averaging one minor penalty for every 38 minutes of playing time, a rate that compares especially unfavorably with his fellow defensemen (Matt Carle, for example, averaged one minor penalty for every 154 minutes of playing time). While Sbisa is largely a known quantity at this early stage of his career, what would have emerged from the draft picks the Flyers ditched yesterday is a complete unknown. Draft picks late in the first round may seem like abstract, amorphous assets, but in more concrete terms they can turn into players like Simon Gagne (#22, 1998), Mike Richards (#24, 2003), and Claude Giroux (#22, 2006). Or they can turn into Steve Downie (#29, 2005). We'll never know who the Flyers would have been able to get with the 21st pick in the first round they traded, nor with the other two picks they sent to Anaheim. Paired with the second round pick that got sent to Phoenix at the trade deadline, the wholesale dumping of draft picks is a trend that could cause some concern.
Action Over Inaction - In 2008, the Flyers were knocked out of the playoffs by the Penguins in five games and made relatively few off-season moves. In 2009, the Flyers were knocked out of the playoffs by the Penguins in six games and have already made huge waves by before free agency even begins by acquiring Chris Pronger and Ray Emery. Whether you agree with the trade or not, the lack of complacency is apparent. The dissatisfaction Paul Holmgren and the rest of the Flyers staff have with last season's result is obvious, despite the fact that the team was a three goal cushion away from pushing the eventual champions to a Game 7. Some may call the reaction it reassuring urgency and commitment to improving, while others may see it as hasty scrambling that reeks of desperation. Or perhaps both.

There's a lot to digest, so chew thoroughly. Once you've done that, only one question remains: Do you like this trade?

(Joffrey Lupul, for his part, is now much closer to his friends on the cast of Sober House, so I'm expecting his vote to go emphatically in the "Yes" column.)

Poll

Do you like the the Pronger (and Dingle) for Lupul and Sbisa (and draft picks) trade?

Yes, I Like The Deal

593 votes

No, The Flyers Should Not Have Made This Trade

270 votes

863 votes | Poll has closed

Stargazing: Countdown to the 2009 NHL Draft continues

Brad G — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:00:25 -0000

Stargazing is a daily assortment of Dallas Stars news, as well as a look at what's happening around the Pacific division and the rest of the NHL.

With only two days separating us and the first round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal, we take a trip around the league for the latest draft news and pause a second more to celebrate our man Brett Hull and his entry into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Don't forget, starting tomorrow we'll have LIVE coverage of Draft Day from the Bell Center by our very own Brandon Worley.

SI.com weighs in and has the Stars selecting Jared Cowen:

The injury-riddled Stars didn't earn many breaks last season, so maybe it's a small payback from the hockey gods that health concerns drop Cowen into their laps. At 6-5 and 220 pounds, he has the potential to become the dominant physical defenseman they've lacked since the departure of Derian Hatcher. Like Hatcher, Cowen has real leadership skills, but also brings an offensive dimension that the former captain lacked.

Mark at Andrews Stars Page offers you two excellent composite mock drafts, with the Stars taking Oliver Ekman-Larsson in one and Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson in the other. Each weighs the rankings differently so be sure to click on over for a unique look at the art of the mock draft.

After the jump, Why don't we have a street named after The Golden Brett? Mike Modano gets dragged to a fancy dinner party, and how would you feel about Kevin Weekes?

We've covered Brett Hull and the HHOF, but worth a read is the perspective from St. Louis (St Louis Game Time) and here at STLtoday.com:

St. Louis will remember Hull as one of the most dynamic performers this market has ever seen, in any sport. And, yes, St. Louis was happy for him when he won his Stanley Cups – even though those triumphs came with the Stars and Red Wings.

He was THAT special to St. Louis. Brett Hull became Brett Hull right here in Mound City. So this is a happy day for us, too.

Sometimes we think of Hullie as such a Dallas guy that we forget he was the face of the Blues for a long time, but there's a tinge of bitterness there. I'm glad they can celebrate him too. Truly he belongs to no single team.

Tim Johnson, Examiner.com, opines that teams losing out on the Gustavsson sweepstakes might look at Kevin Weekes:

With his solid play last season, look for Weekes to get a serious look from the teams in need of goaltending that lose in the Jonas Gustavsson sweepstakes.

Does Weekes interest you for twenty starts or so?

And Mike Modano is scheduled to appear at a party celebrating the art of a well designed, furnished home?

Notable guests include NFL star Deion Sanders and wife Pilar, stars of their own reality show, Prime Time Love on the Oxygen network; Dallas Stars' center Mike Modano and his singer/actress wife Willa Ford; and Victor Almeida, CEO of Interceramic, a U.S. and Mexico tile company.

Oh, Mike. I bet you're already itching to get back on that ice.

Around the Pacific:

The aforementioned SI.com draft wonders if the Kings will hold on to their #5 pick.
The Coyotes will be auctioned, Reuters says, in August or September. First auction will be for bidders wanting to keep the team in Arizona.
Wayne says he wants to see the team stay in Phoenix, and that he may be willing to cut his 8 million dollar salary to make it happen. There are those who may be skeptical of both statements.

Around the NHL:

Scratch Dave Tippett's name off both the Wild and Flames coaching jobs now. The Flames have anounced they'll be coached by Brent Sutter next year.
Should the Blackhawks sign Chris Chelios?
Brian Burke, who can't possibly have time to do his job with all the press he does, says the Leafs will be a "hostile group" next year.

"We are going to be a much more hostile group.

"We will be tougher. I’m not watching this again."

The Sportingnews.com celebrates Brian Leetch and Brett Hull through their legacy and impact on USA Hockey.

Is it Friday yet?

Derian Hatcher retires, joins coaching staff

Travis Hughes — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:25:24 -0000

More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

6 months ago: Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Derian Hatcher skates during a timeout in the second period during Game 1 of the NHL hockey Eastern Conference finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Friday, May 9, 2008.(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Browse more photos »

We all knew it was coming, but Derian Hatcher has retired after 17 NHL seasons. Just a week after having reconstructive knee surgery, Hatcher has decided to end his career as a Flyer before he would've hit the free agent market on July 1.

After hobbling through the playoffs in 2008, Hatcher did not play one single game in the 2008/09 season.

He was the prototypical Flyers defenseman of old, but he became a Flyer following the NHL lockout in 2004. Because of the new rules that were implemented then that intended to speed up the game and create a more free-flowing offensive style of hockey in the league, Hatcher's big, brusing, physical style of defense was never fully appreciated in Philadelphia. He was often called "too slow" for the league's new style of play, but he did have certain qualities that were still important in today's NHL. He has Stanley Cup experience and captained the Flyers for a season, and his physical presence was still felt even as his health deteriorated during what would turn out to be his final season.

Hatcher joins the Philadelphia coaching staff as a player development coach, a job previously held by another former Flyer defenseman, Eric Desjardins. Desjardins is resigning to persue other interests. Hatcher will help to oversee the team's young players and will play a large role in running the club's rookie camp at the end of the summer.

TUESDAY! LINKS!

averagejoe — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:31 -0000

The links aren't as exciting as the headline. Sorry.

Blues news

The Blues are one of these teams rumored to be interested in Dany Heatley. I hope he gets traded to NOT the Blues sometime soon. [Ottawa Citzens]

Hockey news

The Coyotes won't be sold to Jim Balsillie ... at least not now. [Arizona Republic]
OdinMercer is pretty happy. [Five For Howling]
The great Greg Wyshynski breaks down the Coyotes situations. [Puck Daddy]
ESPN has its top 10 moments of the playoffs list. [ESPN]
TWO GREAT links from the PensBlog.The Draper photoshop is awesome and the fan-bashing ... well it's spot on. [Part One] [Part Two]
The Penguins celebrate good times ... come on. [TSN]
Bill Guerin won't retire. [TSN]
Holy shit. The Wings are still whining about handshake-gate. Fuck off, sore losers. [TSN]
The Wilds have a new a coach. [ESPN]
The Hurricanes re-upped Paul Maurice. How long before they fire him again? [TSN]
Wait ... Derian Hatcher was still playing? [TSN]
The Bruins are keeping its GM. [TSN]
Advice for Flyers fans on how to survive the Ray Emery Era. [Five for Smiting] (Thanks PCS!)

Other stuff

Free beats. [TC Magazine]
I feel like Hildymac will like this site. [Why the fuck do you have a kid?]
This guy takes pictures of himself giving people the finger. It's kinda funny. [Flipstuffoff's Blog]

Video

Donut King wants to share literal REM. Thanks kind sir. You are a fair and kind leader.

Gametimelinks (at) gmail.com

Scouting the Enemy: Philadelphia Flyers

FrankD — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:30:06 -0000

Record: 5-6-3

Leading scorers: Mike Richards (5G, 12A, 17pts), Simon Gagne (8G, 8A, 16 pts)

Blogs: They don't have loyal enough fans for a dedicated blog, but you can check 700 Level. It's one of those blogs that touches up on everything Philly, as in they only talk about winning teams. As you can imagine, the Flyers are not a hot topic right now.

And so it continues. After one decent year of hockey the Flyers are back to their mediocre ways. Win a few, lose more than a few, win a few, etc. Right now the Flyers are coming off a 3-1 win over the Islanders, prior to which they dropped three straight to the Oilers, Senators and Lightning.

Which brings us to tonight. Game Two. Next to the Red Wings matches lined up for this season I'd say the Flyers games rank right up there on the intensity level. Not much has happened in Philly since last month, except the fact the miserable waste of a city finally won a championship. But the Phillies, Eagles and 76ers can win as many championships as they want. Just keep them out of the Flyers' hands.

The good news for tonight is Daniel Briere is out 5-7 days with an undisclosed injury. He had a slight tear in his stomach muscle that sidelined him for a game or two last week, but allegedly this injury has nothing to do with the existing one. The latest is labeling it a groin strain. (Insert joke here.) So there's one guy down, plenty more to go.

Derian Hatcher, Randy Jones and Ryan Parent are all on the IR, as was the case on October 14 when these two teams last met. If there were a Flyers blog I'm sure they'd use injuries as an excuse, but since there isn't we can just assume they would and say, "Suck it up, the Penguins got through injuries last year without complaints." And at least our injuries were to decent players.

But I digress.

Game time is 7:30 EST.