2017 Free agency thread.

Steve Y get's things done, he signed stamkos and kucherov for $16M, he uses the tax-free state issue when negotiating. He has a brain, unlike tallon who can't rub two brain cells together.

 

15 guys on this thread and not 1 could answer my post. love it. temps just hit 96. it's going to be that kind of a shitty friday. hey, it's FA in 2 sports in 48 hrs and Philly looks to be buyers in 1 of them. too bad its fucking basketball. stay cool my friends.

 

To answer your question, Catfish:

No, I have no problem with Tavares saying that he's only interested in a handful of teams. Why would the guy want to go to somewhere like Arizona? He picked out the teams that he has the most interest in, and is going to let them pitch him. He doesn't have unlimited time to listen to every team. I don't see an issue with it at all.

 

fair enough. why the hell are the rangers on it? tv market ? their arena is a shithole. they're not contending for a Cup? so why NY?

what ever happened to most money wins? flyers have a ton of it this summer. they're not even welcome to make an offer bc JT only invited 6 teams. that's his choice but an odd business decision over some of the 6 teams invited.

if every FA did this, then the cream will stay at the top for a long time and the rest of the league gets the scraps. i doubt bettman wants this.

 

Yeah, but that's not the way it works. Every team can contact his people to make an offer. If Philly called up his reps and said, "Here's an offer for 7 yrs at $20 mil a year", Tavares would be listening, whether they're on his "list" or not. These are the teams that we've been told have meetings set up with him. That's all.

 

thanks dline. good stuff.

 

just read Tampa has $5 MIL in cap space. Why are they invited to the party? They can't sniff getting JT !!!

 

They'd have to create cap space in the (IMO highly unlikely) event that TB signed JT. Teams can go over the cap during the offseason. They'd have until October to be cap-compliant.

 

Not a problem, buddy. We're on the audience side of things, so we don't get all the info. We know what meetings have been set up, but someone could easily swoop in and win him over.

The problem for Tavares is that, if you're signing up for a team that has to move pieces to accommodate your salary, then you can't be certain what the team will look like afterwards. As such, those are risky propositions. Ideally, you find a well-run team that's ready to compete and can accommodate your salary as is. Those are hard to find.

 

Thanks Dan. I didn't know that. gives teams time to move some pieces around the chess board. good info as always.

 

Yeah. Remember that GM's are all over a situation when a team must move player(s). SY would be bent over since his trading partner would know he has the leverage. SY is shrewd, and he's got some great assets; still, he is not likely to get full value if it's obvious he has to trade someone.

It's like BUF in Feb. with EK; everyone knew Buffalo wasn't going to sign him in June. That reduced the expected return, (even though Botterill acquited himself well). Now he has the leverage with ROR because Buffalo controls his contract, he does not NEED to be moved, and he's second in line to JT in terms of top C's (perceived) to be available.

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/...ng-sharks-maple-leafs-if-he-leaves-islanders/

JT has so called dwindled the teams down to SJ or Toronto IF he leaves NY...

 

I think he stays with the isles.

 

If I were him, I would've chosen tampa.

 

Always the safe guess is that a player stays with the incumbent team. He can get an extra year, and he knows the culture of the team and area - there's merit to comfort level stuff. Plus, and eight year is nice money guaranteed.

 

That's true, he makes up the tax gain with that extra year if he gets hurt halfway through. Playing with stamkos and kucherov, plus the sun, hard to pass for me.

 

Panthers re-sign Frank Vatrano to a one year deal. I think this kid has the goods, and is going to get paid after this one year is up, and proves he can play. I saw him as a contender for the spot next to Trocheck on the second line, but with the addition of Hoffman, it's more likely he's a third line scorer. I won't argue with having great talent depth at F, which they definitely have right now. Chances are Vatrano gets paid elsewhere next year, because Florida likely won't have the cap space, but I'm fine with him showing out this year and earning it! Get 'em, man!

Sidenote: really would've liked for this deal to have been longer. Not happy about that. But glad he'll be out there playing nonetheless.

 

The Los Angeles Kings announced an eight-year extension for star defenseman Drew Doughty days before it can become official.

While they didn’t confirm the money involved, the estimate is at about $88 million overall (or $11M per season), according to TSN’s Darren Dreger and LA Kings Insider’s Jon Rosen.

If accurate, Doughty will become the NHL’s highest-paid defenseman from a cap hit standpoint, as P.K. Subban‘s $9M currently represents the peak.

Of course, that’s where the fun starts, because Doughty is likely to have company in that range – if he isn’t surpassed – by Erik Karlsson. With that in mind, this contract carries massive implications, not just for the Kings or Doughty’s accountant, but also for other NHL defensemen and the league as a whole. (NHL.com)

 

Doughty's raised the bar. We knew it was going up because of the quality of FA D, and the rising cap.

It'll be interesting to see how the penurious Sens respond to this. Do they want to suck and bust their internal cap? Or do they want to suck, peddle him for some shiny parts, and save coin? Either way they're going to remain sucky.

 

Hedman $7.8M per year until 2024 with better stats.