I came across the following article that discusses the future of three Calgary Hitmen, one of which is Keith Seabrook.  Seabrook is not eligible to play for the Hitmen next year but still has one year left before he has to sign.  I am not sure where he plays next year, but he may be tagging along with his brother and the Blackhawks for the remainder of the playoffs.  I am really glad to see how much he has developed over the last year and hopefully he gets some time in ECHL or AHL next year...better yet, what about a year overseas.

Not knowing all the salary cap rules in the NHL, I heard an interesting rule today as it related to Markus Naslund.  Since Naslund signed his deal with New York prior to turning 35 and has since announced his retirement, his salary cap hit comes off the books.  If he had signed after 35 then it would remain hitting the cap.

I believe Nylander signed his deal prior to 35 as well.  Could we see Nylander making the same decision as Naslund at seasons end?  Is Nylander happy with being a practice player for another year or two?

Taking a lead from my FanPost on Mike Green I decided to also compare Alex Ovechkin's 2007-8 season with those of the 40 years.  Please note I used the same (il)logic as in the Mike Green article.  The following are the top 15 goal scoring seasons in the last 40 years.

1. 1990 Brett Hull 102.5 goals

2. 1992 Mario Lemieux 101.9 goals

3. 1995 Mario Lemieux 100.7 goals

4. 1970 Phil Esposito 100.3 goals

5. 1983 Wayne Gretzky 95.7 goals

6. 1981 Wayne Gretzky 92.0 goals

7. 1999 Pavel Bure 91.7 goals

8. 2007 Alex Ovechkin 91.4 goals

9. 1971 Phil Esposito 91.0 goals

10. 1991 Brett Hull 88.5 goals

11. 1973 Phil Esposito 87.6 goals

12. 1997 Teemu Selanne 86.7 goals

13. 2000 Pavel Bure 83.9 goals

14. 1984 Jari Kurri 80.4 goals

15. 1979 Charlie Simmer 80.0 goals

BTW, this year's Alex Ovechkin would be on pace for 77.2 goals.  Also note that Alexander Mogilny's 1992 season would have made #12 on this list but I only evaluated Lemieux's season has he had best goals per game that year. 

As everyone has, recently I have caught the Mike Green bug and wondered...how great is his season and how does it compare to the greats of the past.  The most difficult thing about comparing seasons is how different one year is to another.  For example, back in 1983 Paul Coffey scored 126 points over a 80 game schedule where Mike Green is on pace for 81 points over a 69 game schedule this year (assuming he plays the remained of the games this year...knock on wood).  Taking a look at those numbers one would say that Coffey's 1983 season is much better then Mike Green's.  So how do you compare different eras.  Well, I am going to use a simple approach (average goals per game for the season AND averaging a season out to an 80 game season).

When we do this we actually see that Mike Green's current season is better then Paul Coffey's 1983 season.  In 1983 the average number of goals per game was 7.89, where in 2008 the average is 5.81.  This means a factor difference of 1.358.  If we use this factor difference against Mike Green's number (spreading his stats over 80 games we get 126.29 points.  This basically says that if the 2008 version of Mike Green played in 1983 he would have scored 126.29 points during the season, and therefore would have scored .29 points more then Coffey.

I used the same logic over the top point per game defensman for each season since 1966 (minimum of 60 points), but used the season of 1981 as the basis of comparison (as it was the year with the highest average points per game ever at 8.03).

The following are the top 15 seasons of all time (please note I only took the top point getter each year based on points per game and not multiple players from a single season).

1. 1970 Bobby Orr 183.5 points

2. 1969 Bobby Orr 174.6 points

3. 1971 Bobby Orr 161.3 points

4. 1974 Bobby Orr 158.3 points

5. 1973 Bobby Orr 157.2 points

6. 1972 Bobby Orr 157.2 points

7. 1985 Paul Coffey 141.3 points

8. 1994 Paul Coffey 138.7 points (strike season)

9. 1988 Paul Coffey 129.4 points

10. 2008 Mike Green 129.0 points

11. 1983 Paul Coffey 128.2 points

12. 1978 Denis Potvin 127.0 points

13. 1993 Ray Bourque 125.3 points

14. 1984 Paul Coffey 125.0 points

15. 1975 Denis Potvin 118.3 points

Of these 15 seasons, only in 1983 and 1988 has the player above not won the Norris trophy.

With it look like Antropov is heading out of Toronto, would he be a good fit for the Caps.  With Clark on LTIR there is probably some cash that can be used to bring in some depth and Antropov's cap hit is probably only about $700K (he full year salary is $2M).

The question then becomes, how does he fit in?  Right now the common lines are OV-Fedorov-Kozlov, Laich-Backstrom-Semin, Flash-Nylander-Fehr.  I see the value in him as providing front line depth.  Right now Kozlov is out, Steckel becomes third line center which drops offensive potential.  Would it not be nice just to plug Antropov into the first line right winger spot.  I believe one of our weaknesses is insurance for the top 2-3 lines.  Antropov may be a good addition, and I think you can get him for a draft pick in the 2nd-3rd round range.

Thoughts?