More Free Agent Fun

Apparently, miss a few hours today, and you miss a ton. So, here’s a round-up of what else happened in the NHL today, plus some reaction from various pundits.

Newsday and ESPN both reporting that the Rangers have signed Marian Gaborik to a five year, $37.5 million contract. It’s a lot of money, but Gaborik is 27 and is a top notch scorer when healthy. Okay, that’s a big question mark with him. He missed all but 17 games last year for Minnesota with a hip injury, although he recorded 13 points in the games that he did play, and scored 42 goals just two years ago. Also, his salary would be comparable to the now-departed Scott Gomez, and again, assuming good health, Gaborik’s definitely a better scorer than Gomez while still being able to set up others too. Which means Rangers GM Glen Sather turned Gomez into three players (Gaborik, Chris Higgins, and Ryan McDonagh) who could all contribute in the years to come, probably for no more than an extra $1-2 million per year. Potentially very good business on his part. After Marian Hossa, Gaborik was the most coveted winger in the free agency pool.

They also lost Fredrik Sjostrom to Calgary. No surprise there. He wanted a pay raise, and is a good penalty killer. Still, even at $750,000 a year, he was dispensable. Rookies probably could give them about the same, and for something closer to the league’s minimum salary. On the other hand, adding Sjostrom to the signing of Jay Bouwmeester must make Miikka Kiprusoff very happy in the Flames’ crease.

Montreal continued to splash the cash and remake its team (sounds like longtime captain Saku Koivu is headed elsewhere), and tonight their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs were heard from too. The Habs added Mike Cammaleri and Brian Gionta. Both are solid scorers, and if Cammaleri’s 31 goal outburst last year wasn’t a fluke, his $6 million per year price could soon become a bargain. Gionta at $5 million seems a bit pricey, although he has scored 20+ goals in each of the past four seasons for New Jersey. Checking line standout Steve Begin headed to Montreal’s other rival, Boston. Meanwhile, Toronto traded Pavel Kubina to Atlanta for Garnet Exelby (a couple of other relatively minor names were involved too). The Leafs clear a bad contract, while Atlanta adds some veteran leadership to their young blueline, which features 20-somethings Zach Bogosian and Tobias Enstrom. Also, while Toronto didn’t sign Cammaleri, a a Toronto-area native, they did win the bidding war with several teams for now ex-Canadien Mike Komisarek. Good defensive defenseman, and if he takes fewer penalties while maintaining his physical presence, look out. Toronto should improve next season, and they could leave plenty of bruises on teams even in defeat.

Minnesota acted swiftly to replace Marian Gaborik, signing Martin Havlat, who was made redundant in Chicago by the signing of Marian Hossa. They have also offered Saku Koivu a deal (his brother Mikko plays for the Wild) and might get an answer within a day or two.

Finally, a quick round-up of some other deals. Some fairly notable players changed addresses, including John Madden and Sami Pahlsson, while Chris Neil chose to stay in Ottawa. The National Post (Canada) has an even more extensive list, plus some quotes on a few of the bigger moves.

So now let’s hear from the peanut gallery. SI’s Allan Muir joined me and others in questioning the day’s big move, Hossa’s big score with the Blackhawks. Again, it was about the length of the deal and how the Blackhawks intend to pay for some of their other stars once they get off of entry-level contracts. This Detroit fan was pleased that his team didn’t match what the Wings’ rivals offered.

Muir also sounded off on perceived winners and losers. Personally, I think the Knuble and Ohlund signings will make a bigger impact than those of Komisarek and Khabibulin- even if he can help the Oilers persuade Dany Heatley to waive his no-trade-clause to join them.

This Panthers fan had a somewhat light-hearted, somewhat cynical take on the day.

Puck Daddy likes the Gaborik signing, as well as what the Blue Jackets did (adding Pahlsson and back-up goalie Mathieu Garon). He’s not so sure about Montreal’s team construction. They might score goals, but he is right about their sudden size issues. Wouldn’t surprise me if they get worn down by physical teams unless they fix this over the next three months. Bob McKenzie is also unsure what to expect from the Canadiens next season.

Other Ranger fans seem mixed on Gaborik, based on posts to blog threads or their own commentaries. SNY’s bloggers worry about the injury problems but appreciate his obvious talent. Rangers Review definitely likes the move. Hockey Rodent thinks there’s more to come.

Hall-of-Fame reporter Eric Duhatschek thinks Calgary became a serious title contender. Bruce Arthur adds that the Flames have so much money tied up in eight players, that injury problems could lead to a repeat of last year, when they were too close to the cap to dress the full allotment of 20 players for several games. Beyond that, he says, it was a very interesting day in Canada as each team tried to get better. And with the cap and stronger Canadian dollar in place, none of that country’s six teams has an excuse for losing anymore.

I’ll be back some time tomorrow. We’ll run through whatever else transpires, and get into some moves in the NBA and other sports. Oh, baseball’s All Star Game voting ends this week and Manny Ramirez can return from suspension too…

That Didn’t Take Long

Scott Gomez in somewhat happier times, Image courtesy of http://www.umich.edu/

Even before the NHL’s free agent frenzy, we have a big trade. Scott Gomez is now a Montreal Canadien. He and a couple of minor prospects head up I-87/Autoroute 15, while the New York Rangers get restricted free agent to be Chris Higgins (a native of Smithtown, NY), touted prospect Ryan McDonagh, and journeyman Doug Janik.

Image Courtesy of jthockey.wordpress.com

Quite a few pundits seem to have thought this deal would set the Rangers up to acquire Dany Heatley, whom the Ottawa Senators have been trying to trade so they wouldn’t have to pay him a $4 million bonus tomorrow. Actually, the relationship between Heatley and the Senators has very much deteriorated in recent months, but the bonus essentially provides a built-in deadline. But right now, there doesn’t seem to be any indication that the Rangers are prepared to pay a steep price in prospects for Heatley, especially if Ottawa won’t take on the big contracts of Michal Rozsival or Wade Redden; trading Gomez rid New York of $4-5 million a year (assuming they sign Higgins, which GM Glen Sather apparently expects to do). Perhaps, they will use the freed up salary cap space for someone else, or to deal with eventual contract extensions for some of their better young players, like Marc Staal or Brandon Dubinsky. There is also the possibility of a salary cap decrease in 2010-2011 depending on what the economy does to ticket and sponsorship sales across the league next year.

Excluding that stuff though, it’s probably a better deal for the Rangers than for the Canadiens, as Adam Gretz writes. Higgins had an injury plagued 2008-09 season, but is a decent two-way player and seems to have the type of lunch-pail attitude head coach John Tortorella wants. McDonagh was a first round pick only a couple of years ago and scouts give him strong marks for his speed and talents as a “defensive defenseman.” Gomez can be a terrific playmaker, should improve Montreal’s offense, and in general, the Canadiens need to clean their house after an ugly finish to last season. Still, they gave up a lot for him, not to mention the amount of money they have to pick up. Might be a sign that Montreal doesn’t expect to recruit any major free agents, and if so, Gomez doesn’t really bring them much closer to Stanley Cup contention on his own, even if he can put up the numbers he once did in New Jersey. Puck Daddy rounds up some of the other blogospher reactions.

Image Courtesy of GettingGlenergized.blogspot.com

And in the last hour or so, The Fourth Period is also reporting that Jay Bouwmeester has signed with Calgary for five years and $33 million. CBC and the Flames have confirmed the deal. The Flames acquired his rights from Florida over the weekend for Jordan Leopold (who is also supposed to become a free agent tomorrow) and a draft pick. This was not a small risk, because Bouwmeester was definitely going to be the most coveted free agent of the summer. Still, he is originally from Edmonton, will be joining a pretty good team led by Jarome Iginla and goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, and he’s probably not leaving more than about $1 million per year on the table. Kudos to the Flames for this one.

Tomorrow could be pretty wild, so hold on tight!

Really Cool Links

I will get back to some longer-form posts as the week progresses. It’s just been pretty busy for me the past couple of days and nights.

In the meantime, check out Jeff Skversky’s piece on a Philadelphia-area high school swimmer born without eyesight. Jeff was one of my supervisors when I interned at the NBC station in Syracuse and he’s now a sports reporter for one of the country’s most successful local news stations, in his hometown to boot. My brother and sister have both swum competitively for Great Neck South’s teams, and never forget to tell us how intense it is/was at the dinner table. That just makes Matt Wallace’s accomplishments even more amazing. Awesome story.

Jeff also did a story this weekend on the Philadelphia Flyers’ carnival to raise money for various charities. Looks like that event was pretty successful! Closer to home, the Rangers have a casino event every year for charity, and that’s coming up next week. A little too expensive for my tastes, but the pictures I’ve seen from past events indicate that it’s probably a lot of fun. Before anyone asks, I do like the hiring of John Tortorella as the new Rangers head coach. I was not advocating for Tom Renney’s removal; he did a terrific job getting the team back to respectability and the playoffs. Also, the roster as presently constituted probably isn’t that much better than their record indicates. That said, I do think Tortorella’s style could light a fire under the team and help them get going at exactly the right time- the end of the interminably long regular-season and into the playoffs. We’ll see though!

Also, Taylor Buonocore, a friend of mine from Colgate, is blogging about her experiences volunteering for the better part of her first year after school. She spent nearly three months in Ecuador last fall and is now in Tanzania, working at a children’s village/school until the end of March. Plus, she’s had the chance to see the Galapagos, go on a safari, and visit other incredible natural sites. It sounds really cool, so do make her weekly updates part of your blog-reading habit for the next few months!