Free Agent Signing Day Extravaganza

by Casey Richey on Jul 1, 2010 9:01 AM CDT in News

Hey folks, pretty much from today until next Thursday I will be pretty busy so if the posts aren't that frequent from me, you know why. That being said, our good old (and I mean OLD) friend Michael Petrella will be hosting a live discussion thread over at The Production Line.

You can find the link to the thread at:

The Production Line

If you want more free agent coverage, head on over to SB Nation's Hockey page. But go to Petrella's first, I owe him.

Top 5 FA's (in my book):

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Comments

Olol Lolkinen

by Michael Petrella on Jul 1, 2010 9:03 AM CDT reply actions

Jaroslaugh HaLOL

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on Jul 1, 2010 9:12 AM CDT up reply actions

Zbynek MiLOLek

My two favorite teams are the Tigers and Brewers. Drunk tigers. That sounds about right.
Me in 140 characters

by ReichardZ on Jul 1, 2010 10:06 AM CDT up reply actions

Brett LebD'OH!

and of course, Andreas LOLja.

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on Jul 1, 2010 10:13 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs

Is this where I say

Lolya Roflchuk

by bleep bloop on Jul 1, 2010 10:44 AM CDT up reply actions

Scratch one off the list. Gonchar went to Ottawa.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 1, 2010 12:05 PM CDT reply actions

Scratch another one off. The Pens replaced Gonchar with Michalek.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 1, 2010 12:35 PM CDT up reply actions

hmm… michalek and hamhuis

by mikerlz on Jul 1, 2010 2:03 PM CDT up reply actions

Gonchar OTT 3/16.5
Martin PIT 5/25
Michalek PIT 5/20
Volchenkov NJD 6/25
Tallinder NJD 4/15
Lydman ANA 3/9
Jokinen CAL 2/6 - WTF?
Tanguay CAL 1/1.7
Foster EDM 2/3.6
Hamhuis VAN 6/27 (not confirmed yet)
Ellis TB 2/3.3
Nittymaki SJ 2/4
C. Mason ATL 2/3.7
Whitney PHO 2/6
Morris 4/11
Malhotra 3/7.5

That’s all I can remember off the top of my head!

by liddy5 on Jul 1, 2010 3:39 PM CDT reply actions

Manny Malhotra

Extremely overrated. $2.5 million per season is WAY too much for a guy like him.

by dewman8810 on Jul 1, 2010 5:57 PM CDT up reply actions

Immediate thoughts:

Ottawa did well with Gonchar. Yes he’s 36 but he keeps himself in great shape and is still a top 5 offensive defenseman. Should really change things in Ottawa.

Gonchar is a BIG loss for Pittsburgh. Neither Martin or Michalek are in Gonchar’s league and IMO Gonchar is the most important player on Pittsburgh – just look at how bad they have been when he’s out of the lineup. We’ll see how they adjust. 9 mil is a lot for Martin and Michalek – I know that Michalek is underrated but he’s not THAT underrated – he’s a 20 point defenseman, you don’t want to spend too much on guys like that. Martin is an interesting one – in a more offensive system will he prove he’s worth 5 mil.? I doubt it.

Nittymaki is a good pickup by SJ. Frankly I don’t think he’s that far below Nabokov who will be commanding huge money.

Mason and Ellis great budget signings.

Malhotra was signed for too much but he’s exactly what Vancouver needed. Should help get them over the hump?

Jokinen to Calgary is absolutely bizarre, especially at 3 mil. per. Who knows though, Jokinen is a goal scorer and Tanguay is a playmaker – could be a good combo. This also however could be the beginning of the end for the Flames. If they miss the playoffs, that roster and management team will be exploded.

Still left out there: Kovalchuk, Modano, Lombardi and others.

by liddy5 on Jul 1, 2010 3:46 PM CDT reply actions

I have to disagree about Gonchar.

Losing him fills a big hole on Pittsburghs blueline.

I mean, the guy was a -4 last season. There’s no way an “elite” dman should end up minus while playing for a cup contending team.

They have lost a bit of blueline offense, but guaranteed that both Martin and Michalek do a better job of keeping the puck out of their net than Gonchar ever did. And a goal prevented is better than a goal scored.

by Robocop on Jul 2, 2010 8:43 AM CDT up reply actions

Gonchar

Considering he missed 20 games due to injury and the fact he played the most minutes on that team, a ~~4 isn’t that bad. Especially since none of their defensemen had great +/~~ numbers last year. In the playoffs he was their best defenseman (12 pts, 4, 26mins/game), aside from game 7 against Montreal of course.

In the 08-09 playoffs he was 4th in scoring and led the team in TOI (despite that knee-on-knee from AO). In the 07-08 playoffs, he led the defense in scoring and TOI by a mile as well.

07-08 regular season: 3rd in points, 1st in +/- among defense, 1st in TOI.
08-09: missed all but 25 games. While he was out the Penguins were out of the playoffs – as soon as he returned they made their run into the playoffs and ultimately to win the Cup.

What exactly have Martin and Michalek done that equates to what Gonchar has and will continue to do?

Michalek has 115 career pts and is a -22 in 415 games, and his numbers have not been trending upwards each season, despite the Coyotes getting progressively better. He has played a grand total of 7 playoff games and was -4 against the Red Wings in that 7 game series.

Martin has 26 goals, 163 pts (only 70 on the PP his entire career despite being on a team bereft of offensive defensemen for the most part) and is +55 in 400 games for the perennial contender NJ Devils. In the playoffs he has but 16pts and is -11 in 42 games and hasn’t made it past the second round.

by liddy5 on Jul 3, 2010 8:35 PM CDT up reply actions

That should have read minus 4 instead of the sentence being crossed out.

by liddy5 on Jul 3, 2010 8:35 PM CDT up reply actions

Would be nice to see the Wings get a quality defenseman. Now that Vancouver got Hamhuis, sounds like Kevin Bieksa might be on his way out. They should probably try to get one around the trade deadline. Especially because it might be Lidstrom’s last year. All I ask is that we get rid of Lebda and Meech. I like them, but they are really not improving much. I’d rather have Kindl.

by dewman8810 on Jul 1, 2010 6:07 PM CDT reply actions

I’m pretty sure they have walked away from Meech and Lebda with the expectation that Ericsson and Kindl will be in Detroit next year.

I wouldn’t mind seeing them go after a dman though so that we don’t HAVE to rely on both Ericsson and Kindl next season, but I won’t be surprised if they don’t.

by Robocop on Jul 2, 2010 8:56 AM CDT up reply actions

Any idea if meech will be traded for draft picks.....who is available for the wings with the pipsqueak capspace at our disposal???

This sounds weird..but I am not liking this inactivity from the folks at the Joe…I understand that we have a set roster…but we seem to be missing out on some good low cost…gritty defensemen..I still think (not sure if it would happen though) that Modano will be a wing for his swansong….

by HAWKSARECLIPPEDWITHOUTWINGS on Jul 1, 2010 6:15 PM CDT reply actions

SIGN ROBBIE EARL

I live and coach in Houston, this kid stays after each practice and works hard!! Robbies motor is always running great third or fourth line guy with Abby.

by Marcmargolis on Jul 2, 2010 12:47 PM CDT reply actions