NHL Season 2007/2008

[UCPesmerga]

[Tullaryx]

I have a feeling Ovechkin's contract will be the beginning of even more ridiculous long-term contracts for the star players in the league. I think the Sharks got themselves a bargain with the contract extension they were able to get Joe Thornton to sign this past off-season.
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[RedCydranth]

Congrats to Alexander Ovechkin for etting that king of money from a sport where that kind of contract is very hard to find. I just hope the Capitals don't turn into the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NHL, where they have one star they can afford to pay and the rest of the team sucks so the poor guy has to mire in mediocrity for his career at the price of his own contract.

I'm not sure who you're thinking of UCPesmerga, Danny Briere? I don't folow the Flyers all that closely but I thin k he received a pretty big contract when he signed with them over the offseason.

I'm not as up to speed on hockey as some of you all are, but I try to keep up. I know Ovechkin is a stud, but does he deserve that kind of money? Without going into the all athlete get paid too much debate, does any NHL player deserve that much money? Last time I checked, the NHl was sort of struggling with their revenues. How can a team afford to shell out that kind of money on a single player? NFL, NBA and MLB are all large markets, but for the most part, Hockey is highly overlooked and is less than cared about by the majority of the people in the USA. In Canada and the upper northeast USA its big, but I can guarantee people in Phoenix aren't all apeshit for the Coyotes, especially this time of year when the Suns are in full swing. I tend to think warm climate areas have less diehard fans than those teams up here in the north. I can speak for the Sabres, Maple Leafs and Penguins as I'm in that area, these teams are beloved and some people would sooner divorce their wives than miss a game of their team. I can see the Penguins dropping 100 mil for Sid the Kid or even Evegni Malkin, since both are really phenolminal. But they don't because last time I checked the Penguins financially aren't able to afford a check like that. Granted its over 13 years, but thats still a lot of money to throw down. I'll guarantee all that money won't get them a championship. That amount of money would probably get 3-4 pretty decent players in the off season and actually get them a championship in the next few years (think Boston Celtics formula).

Oh well, its out of my hands and I think Alexander is a great player and deserves a good check biut thats a bit absurd. Whatever. No, I don't hope he gets the injury bug, I want to see another great all-star. The NHL needs more people like Crosby and Ovechkin.

Go Sabres.
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[glen]

I just do not any players worth that kind of money in any sport at all period. But if the teams are going to offer that kind of money to the players to play for them then i say hell yeah to take it to playfor them. You have to crazy to turn down that kind of money. We just have to see how the Caps do in the next couple years to see if it pays off or not for them.
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I fought the law and got my a** kick big time.

[Exile]

He's talking about the 12 year Mike Richards contract Red, it's weighted so he receives the highest pay somewhere along in the middle of the contract and less at the end. It's a technicality since the salary cap hit is calculated from the average wage across the year. Basically it lets the Flyers pay $10 million for Daniel Briere this year while his cap hit is only $6.5 million, that sort of thing. Actually though Alexander Ovechkin is not getting his salary weighted in that way from what I've heard, apparently it's a pretty straightforward $9.6 million all the way through.

It's expensive but if there was anyone worth giving the contract to it's Ovechkin, say what you want about Crosby but I'd take Alex over him personally, he's more of a goalscorer, he's more entertaining and he's way funnier. He has a great personality off the ice, it's impossible for me not to like the guy for that and his hockey ability.

With his style of play i hope durability doesn't become an issue, he seems pretty hardy though.




The allstar rosters were announced, good to see Cannon (Mike Richards) getting some props and going to Atlanta, Timonen was a surprise, I thought Briere was the only other with an outside chance of making the team and then Kimmo surprises.




Oh and regarding the revenues, they're way up this year, partly perhaps due to the sales of new Reebok Edge jerseys but still the league is doing alright at the moment. The Salary cap will likely rise again this year as a result as it is tied to league revenues.
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Cry woe, destruction, ruin, and decay -
The worst is death, and death will have his day.

[glen]

Thats good to hear for the teams need the money. But if we get anymore of these big time contracts like this we might have some teams go under or sold to other people in diffrent areas to play at which would kind of hurt the fans of some teams if it happens like that.
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I fought the law and got my a** kick big time.

[Tullaryx]

I think teams are still not understanding the whole salary cap process. These teams giving out huge long-term contracts are assuming there's going to be a consistent rise in revenues which in turn will go to increasing the cap. That really only works if the NHL are bringing in major revenues through its TV deals with the network. And anyone who follows sports know that of the 4 major team sports in North America the NHL is dead last in terms of TV revenues.

I'm wondering how long it'll take for the NHL to get it's first 200 million dollar man. I mean I mean it didn't take them too long to break the 100 million dollar salary for one player.
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[Exile]

A 200 million contract would have to be 20+ years long because of the contract limit of $10 million per year (this can also rise as it is tied to the maximum cap value which I've already pointed out is tied to league revenues), I don't we'll see one of those for some time yet.

Hockey is a more international sport than the other big American sports Tull, it does well across most of mainland europe where it generates some good money on TV deals. Financially I'm sure it's still the weakest placed of the big sports over there but there is more to it than the American revenue in this case.

Some might say it's naive to sign a player for that long on a huge contract but contracts in sports have progressively become larger over the years in almost all sports I'd say, the average wage continues to rise and while it's possible that salary could suffer a decline it is pretty unlikely (in my opinion), a long contract like Ovechkins is always going to be big because lets face it, it's almost $10 million but if the maximum rises to $14~ million at any time he's the kind of player who can demand it and potentially get it from somewhere. I wouldn't call the Ovechkin, DiPietro, Richards contracts shrewd at this point but I can certainly see the sense in them. I also don't think the cap and wage need to necessarily rise to make these contracts make sense, Ovechkin is Washington at this point, Philadelphia want Richards to be their captain for a long time. These are the kind of players you want to keep for as long as possible.
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Cry woe, destruction, ruin, and decay -
The worst is death, and death will have his day.

[Tullaryx]

Anyone else see what happened to Zednik during their game against the Panthers. I'm not what one would call as being squeamish but the sight of all the blood streaming through Zednik's hand to his neck and leaving a red trail behind him got my stomach turning. It got me to think of an even worst incident like it when Clint Malarchuk's neck was also sliced open by a blade to the neck.
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[Lonelion]

It was pretty bad, a Sabres player knocked down a Panther player in a way that his(Panther player's) foot came up and his skate catching Zednik in the neck.

Last report i heard was Zednik is in stable condition,the surgery must of went well the female doctor the media were talking with said he was talking with his wife in his hospital room which is a very good sign.

I can see throat protectors becoming mandatory equipment after this for all players,the local minor hockey associations(learn to play to Juvenile) leagues will likely be the first to do this they normally are.

Goalies are required to wear one after Clint Malarchuck's incident,helmets will need to be modified to have such a piece added for forwards and defensemen.

It's a scary thing to have happen to anyone,the medical staff who attended to Mr Zednik every step of the way deserve praise for superb work.
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[Exile]

Malarchuk's one was way worse in terms of visuals, there really wasn't gushing pools of blood involved in the Zednik incident but it was obviously still a very, very nasty incident, life threatening in fact, both for Zednik and the unfortunate player who caught him (maybe it was Jokinen?), it probably seriously scared the guy who did it as well.

Zednik is stable now methinks which is good to know, it could have been a lot worse for him. I'm glad it looks like he's on the mend.

As the deadline approaches we had the first big trade, Commodore and Stillman for Eaves and Corvo. I like the move for Ottawa, Stillman has been in a funk but he's a good enough scorer to help Ottawa's secondary scoring after their big first line and he can play at a point per game level. Commodore has been reportedly bad according to Carolina fans but he could help out there, he's not going to provide much offence and he's a bit slow but I think Ottawa believe their forwards are capable of keeping the goals coming and substituting Corvo's offence for Commodore's defence is the way to go. Doesn't look terrible for Carolina either as they likely couldn't afford both or perhaps either of the impending UFAs they dealt, Eaves will be RFA but won't have a huge cap hit and Corvo is locked in for 2 more at about $2.5 million I think which isn't too bad.
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Cry woe, destruction, ruin, and decay -
The worst is death, and death will have his day.

[Lonelion]

I agree it was a really good trade that will help both teams in the playoff runs they'll make this year.
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[Tullaryx]

If the Sharks make any deal before the deadline on the 26th it will probably be for a defenseman. I know in the local sports news columns names like Brian Campbell of the Sabres and Tomas Kaberle from Toronto are two defensemen the Sharks have shown interest in acquiring. It will depend on what other teams will be wanting from the Sharks. I know with Torrey Mitchell having done a much better job this year the likelihood of Devon Setoguchi being traded as the top prospect becomes a strong possibility.
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[fuji]

That cut on Zednik's neck was absolutely ugly. Wasn't he the one maybe 3-4 years ago that got his arm skated over when he was with the Habs? I can't remember if that was him or not.

I don't think giving Corvo for Commodore is a good idea. They need puck movers at the back end and Corvo could do it. Commodore is solid defencively. I think it is a knee jerk reaction to get Commodore given their recent stretch of games. STillman is a great pickup though. Can take faceoffs, can offer the second line a bonafide centre.

I hope we're able to move some monster contracts that we have, but I'm not sure we'll be able to.

McCabe -- No trade, no movement clause at an absurd 5.75 million a year
Kubina -- 5.5 million a year, 2 remaining (I think). Anyone want?
Andrew Raycroft - 3 million a year
Mark bell - 2 million a year... absolutely garbage.
Jason Blake - 4 mil for 5 years? He shoots a lot and has proven to me that good things don't always happen when you put the puck on the net. He thinks he's an elite scorer but he has the talent of a 3rd line checker.
Darcy Tucker - 3 mil, 3 years, no trade.

Sundin -- Now I've hated on this guy for many years because it never seemed like he had any heart. He never showed to me that he wanted to win a cup. That hasn't changed, him wanting to stay with Toronto, while loyal and all thst crap, still shows he doesn't want to win a cup. I will respect that he's probably the best Maple Leaf of all time, even ahead of Sittler. Very easy to trade him.

Kaberle -- On the block, 4.5 million a year. Pretty good contract, good player. I'd rather not see him go. Very easy to trade him too I think.
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[Exile]

In somewhat related news I just bought tickets to see the Senators play the Penguins on October 4th at the season opener in Stockholm, Sweden.

I'm excited.
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Cry woe, destruction, ruin, and decay -
The worst is death, and death will have his day.