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…

Free Agent Frenzy Part Two

More deals roll in. I won’t be here all afternoon, but once I leave, I’ll come back tonight or tomorrow with some broad reactions to whatever happens today.

2:28- The Islanders sign Dwayne Roloson to a two year contract. He could back-up Rick DiPietro or start if/when the U.S. National team starter has another injury. Also, the Blackhawks sign Tomas Kopecky from Detroit, to go along with Marian Hossa, and Ty Conklin leaves Detroit for St. Louis.

2:47- Reports from TSN and Puck Daddy that Steve Montador has signed with Buffalo. The Boston Globe’s round-up of early signings thinks it’s a case of Sabres coach Lindy Ruff believing Montador can improve his defensive game with better coaching. Having Ryan Miller in goal helps too…

2:55- The Rangers sign Donald Brashear away from Washington, while the Caps add Mike Knuble from the Flyers. Not a Brashear fan although he has developed into more than just a fighter. Apparently, Ranger fans now have to forgive him for crushing Blair Betts last season. Knuble should add some scoring depth to Washington’s forwards, taking the heat off the likes of Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin. For two years and $2.8 million per, it could be a bargain. Coincidently, Brashear’s contract with the Rangers is virtually identical.

3:27- Nothing big right now, some relatively minor signings, although Scott Niedermayer has re-signed with Anaheim (which was virtually certain after they traded away Chris Pronger), while Philadelphia signs Brian Boucher for what will be his second stint with the Flyers. He’ll compete with Ray Emery for the starting job in goal. Not that this will give Flyer fans too much confidence.

4:03- Jaroslav Spacek signs with Montreal for three years and $11.5 million. Decent offensive defenseman, but might be overpaid at that rate. It probably means Mike Komisarek isn’t coming back.

4:19- Edmonton addresses their goaltending need by signing Nikolai Khabibulin to a four year deal. He’s 36, but was excellent last year (25-8-7, 2.33 GAA), winning away the Blackhawks’ goalie job from Cristobal Huet. Almost certainly an upgrade over Dwayne Roloson.

4:21- Erik Cole re-signs with Carolina for two years.

4:48- Puck Daddy’s live blog posts confirmations that Scott Clemmensen has signed with Florida. He did a great job in New Jersey filling in for the injured Martin Brodeur during the mid-part of last season, and while he will likely again be a back-up, this time to Tomas Vokoun, he apparently will also get a nice pay raise too. Further, Ian Laperriere leaves Colorado to join the Flyers. Both players signed for three year deals.

5:06- Hal Gill is headed to Montreal. Two years, $4.5 million. He did well for Pittsburgh during the playoffs last year, but don’t ask him to be a front-line defenseman. He tends to do a little better in the #2 or 3 pairing. Elliotte Friedman of CBC notes that Gill likes disciplined defensive systems, which could make him a good fit for Jacques Martin.

5:17- More from me later. Gotta run.

Marian Hossa Signs

There’s the big one, reports Pierre LeBrun, and confirmed on some of the live blogs elsewhere. And what a whopper contract it is- 12 years averaging $5.2 million per. Nice addition for the Blackhawks, of course, but can they still afford the pay raises that will eventually be owed to Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and perhaps a couple of others? Oh, and Hossa will be 42 years old when his contract expires (although obviously he may not be playing at that point). This blogger already seems a bit skeptical, making reference to Brian Campbell and his albatross of a contract. On the other hand, a Penguins fan writes that Hossa’s cap hit will be less than Martin Havlat’s ever was, and he’s probably a better player too. We’ll see who got this one right eventually.

Free Agent Frenzy

As TSN hypes NHL free agency every year! We’ll update from time-to-time over the course of the day with stuff culled from various sources. Quick-fire reactions as warranted.

Canucks will take over a $12 million cap hit per year to keep the Sedin twins. Mild surprise there, because it sounded like Toronto was going to bid and possibly go all-in on them. But they keep the playmaking and goal-scoring pair, and for not much more than they would have paid under one of those 10-12 year deals players have gotten lately (these contracts are for 5 years each). At least one Canucks fan/blogger likes it on the grounds that Vancouver is keeping its core intact, and might now even have a window to win the Cup, especially if they add one more top-notch scorer.

On the other hand, they lose Mattias Ohlund, who is headed to Tampa. The ‘Bolts did give him a seven year deal, even though he’s 33 years old, but that keeps the cap hit under $4 million per year. For at least the first 3-4 years of the deal, he should definitely improve their porous blueline from last year, and could be a valuable mentor for this year’s #2 overall pick and fellow Swede Victor Hedman. As Scott Burnside notes in ESPN’s running blog (linked above), this may up the price for Mike Komisarek and Rob Scuderi, because with Jay Bouwmeester choosing to accept Calgary’s offer last night, there aren’t many good defensemen on the market.

1:15- Puck Daddy has a live blog with twitters from various good sources and some comments. Good stuff so far. Also one from TSN. I will mostly post what is officially confirmed. Nonetheless, there are rumors that the Leafs have signed former Ranger Colton Orr. Not a bad move, because as Derek Harmsworth notes, Brian Burke wants them to be a tougher, workmanlike team than they have been in recent years.

1:20- Remember to hit refresh (or just check in every so often) for updated posts. WordPress doesn’t post what I add automatically…

1:27- Another blog notes that Radek Dvorak re-signed with Florida, which the Sun-Sentinel confirms. Scintillating, I know.

1:34- A Flyer fan’s wishlist. Not sure if they’ve really got the cap room to do much though. Chris Pronger might be it for the moment.

1:43- Andy Greene resigns with New Jersey. Probably more of a depth move than anything else; they actually didn’t give him a qualifying offer because of cap considerations, hence he became a free agent.

1:50- TSN confirms the Panthers have re-signed David Booth to a 6 year contract worth over $25 million. Booth set a personal-best with 31 goals last season, and could make next year’s U.S. Olympic team.

Rain Check Monday

And it did pour for a little while this afternoon here on the Island!

But no witty weekend recap due to a lot of work earlier today- congrats to the Penguins (who surprised me a little by winning Game 7 in Detroit) and Lakers (whose coronation was no surprise at all) or reaction to the U.S.’ loss to Italy, done in by one of their own (sort of). Good effort from our men though against one of the top 5-6 teams in the world, and if they can avoid going down a man against Brazil and keep something in the tank for the second-half, they just might be able to put up another fight against the Selecao later this week.

I’ll leave you with this image until I blog about it more at-length tomorrow or Wednesday. Have fun, gentlemen! It’s not that difficult, umm… right? That’s what this blogger thought
about two years ago. Oh wait, that was under pristine conditions and without 30,000 or more fans plus several million TV viewers… oops.

There’s Nothing Like A

GAME SEVEN. Which hockey fans can now look forward to on Friday night. Actually, every sports fan should be excited for this one.

Why? It’s one game of playoff hockey, already intense enough. But now, it’s for all the marbles like the Super Bowl and the various cup finals in soccer. So you can dial things up 10 notches. Or more.

Detroit has won all three of their home games, are loaded with superstars both young and old who have been here before. The likes of Malkin and Crosby obviously haven’t been to the truly ultimate stage of hockey before, but experience has rarely stopped them over the past couple of playoff runs. They beat Washington on the road in Game 7 back in this year’s second round, so despite a 5-0 loss in Game 5, I doubt they’ll be intimidated on Friday. But the Red Wings do have intangibles on their side, including that it’s been a while since any road team has won a Stanley Cup Final seventh game- Montreal in 1971. Oh, and if it goes to OT, the Wings are the only team to ever win it at that point. And they have dominated for much of their three home games so far in this series, in part because having the last line change before face-offs allows them favorable defensive matchups against Pittsburgh’s forwards. Also, Chris Osgood has made some great saves, while on the offensive side, the Red Wings have used the Joe’s “lively boards” to create some unexpected goals.

Miss this showdown in Motown at your peril. Period.

Monday Monday…

So the Red Wings and USA both get it turned around on Saturday night, and how! No newsworthy, funny, or otherwise photos this morning because the computer I’m typing from seems to have a problem uploading them right now…

Plus the Yankees record another come from behind win and finally beat the Rays at home, this time in front of Sarah Palin, there as a guest of uber-fan Rudy Giuliani during her visit to New York. Ken Davidoff adds that it was arguably a bit of a statement win for them. We’ll see. They’ve got another one tonight, followed by three with Boston in Fenway, but frankly, with about 100 games to go, the real statement games don’t come until after the All Star Game, to put it kindly. Off the field, the Yankees could become the first team to stream games online within their regional market, if you’re willing to pay for the privilege.

The Magic had Game 2 of the NBA Finals in their grasp twice, and couldn’t finish the job, writes Mitch Lawrence, who uses the “cursed” word by reminding us of Nick Anderson’s missed free throws in 1995. They paid for it in OT and are now in big trouble, especially since to win the series, they now must go back to LA for a potential Game 6 (unlike the earlier playoff rounds, the NBA uses a 2-3-2 for the Finals). You can ask if Pau Gasol got away with goaltending at the end of regulation, but I think the Magic shouldn’t be making any rationalizations for badly missing a very makeable shot.

Lots of other good sports action this weekend. I went to Belmont for the first time, which I’ll elaborate on later and hopefully be able to post a picture or two. Bottom line, I didn’t fare well but at least I didn’t wager much in the first place! Props to Kent Desormeaux for an outstanding ride, culminating in Summer Bird’s explosive final surge evocative of what Calvin Borel on Mine That Bird (they both have the same sire, Birdstone, but different dams) did to blow away the field in the Kentucky Derby.

More later…

Aye Caramba…

That was ugly last night. 3-1 to Costa Rica, and it could’ve been more. Leaky defending, to say the least. Still, I like that the USA and Bob Bradley wanted to start out with an attacking 4-3-3. Obviously, the two early goals changed everything. With a loss like this, it’s a case of ‘Good thing we have another game in two days,’ because who’d want to spend weeks or months thinking about that one! Michael Bradley’s suspended though because he picked up his second yellow card of the round, and he can really be a two-way influence in the midfield, so it’ll be interesting to see how his dad adjusts the lineup in response.

Meanwhile, the Red Wings must be thinking the same thing right now. Penguins up 4-2 after two periods and on fire. Even worse news, ‘Gino’ Malkin and Sid The Kid are involved now. If Detroit doesn’t get things straightened out fast, they can ask Washington how much home ice is worth against the Pens when they’re going full throttle. Butt kicking in game 7.

And So It Begins Again…

A new era for Danimal’s Den starts today. The changes may be slow at first, and I haven’t finalized exactly what they will include, but you can be sure this site won’t look or feel quite the same by the end of the summer.

More importantly, I’m confident that we’ll have better content than ever before, updated regularly throughout the week.

Apparently, however, there’s nothing new about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ performance in the first two games of their rematch with Detroit. 2-0 down, and while their effort was considerably better than in the first two games of last year’s series, when they lost both games by a combined 7-0 (which was basically the difference in the series as the remaining four games ended up being a virtual dead-heat), the result was the same. Down two games, and beaten by a sucker-punch goal in the third period both nights.

Ed Olczyk’s commentary is correct. It was terrible defending from the Penguins, giving Justin Abdelkader so much time and space. Still, as Pierre LeBrun recognized in his column last night, the biggest difference between the teams so far in this series is that Chris Osgood is getting it done and Marc-Andre Fleury isn’t. Johan Franzen’s game-winning goal in the opener was a bit of a fluke and unlucky for Fleury, as the puck hit his pads while he was down on the ice and went over the line. But Abdelkader’s goal simply can’t be conceded at this level. Period. If the Penguins don’t turn it around in Games 3 and 4 back at their often inhospitable Igloo, you can point to Osgood’s stop of Evgeni Malkin’s breakaway in Game 1 (for good measure, Osgood stopped a Malkin wrist-shot from the point last night while it was still 1-0 Penguins) and Abdelkader’s goal in Game 2 as the defining moments of this series. Joe Starkey also noticed this shocking difference in net. Luckily for Pittsburgh, Malkin escaped a possible one-match ban for a late fight with Henrik Zetterberg. Puck Daddy’s not so sure he should have gotten such a reprieve, and Puck Stops Here agrees. In fairness, Malkin is presumably on the ice to score goals, and the instigator rule is really intended to deal with teams who send out enforcers late in games.

Regardless of Pittsburgh’s foibles, gotta give the Wings some props (even if I didn’t mind seeing Pittsburgh lose because I’m not the biggest Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin fan out there). Where do they keep finding all these kids who come in and produce? Even Mike Babcock is shocked how almost everyone he plays turns golden once they put on the famous “Winged Wheel.” Okay, Abdelkader not only played for Michigan State’s 2007 NCAA Championship team, he scored the winning goal in the title game. And, he was a second-round pick back in 2005, so he hasn’t completely come out of nowhere. But Johan Franzen was the 97th pick overall in 2004. Zetterberg was the 210th pick in 1999. Jonathan Ericsson was the last pick in 2002, and he had his appendix removed last week, but came back to score the tying goal last night. I could go on for a while. Mitch Albom notices that not only are they racking up goals and assists, they’re also stopping Sidney Crosby cold.

Much has been written about how great Jim Nill, Ken Holland, Joe McDonnell, and Hakan Andersson are at scouting/drafting players for Detroit, and this weekend was just more evidence of it. The Wings don’t lack for money, but cash is worthless if used unwisely.

Stay tuned to this series, and to this blog. More later today or tonight.

Just a Typical NY Weekend

Yankee Stadium opens up and plays like a bandbox every day. Is it the weather, bad pitching, an actual product of the design? We’ll find out soon enough, but it’s definitely not something anyone saw coming. Listen, it looks really nice, but home-run havens can be tough to win a lot of games in. Took the Astros and Phillies a few seasons before they were in the playoffs after moving into their bandboxes, while Colorado got there in 1995 but not again until after they added a humidor to Coors Field.

On the field, a four-game split between the Indians and Yankees isn’t bad either way- although both teams will hate the manner in which their losses occurred- because they each definitely have talent (as I noted in the preseason predictions), and I won’t be completely shocked if they meet in October, although let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Especially when the Yankees have to figure out Chien-Ming Wang and their middle relief first- and fast– while Cleveland has to make sure Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona are really up to the job. Luckily for them, nobody’s running off with the AL East or Central so far (I haven’t really seen enough from Toronto yet, though if Ricky Romero pitches anywhere close to as well as he did on Sunday, it would sure help them win games not started by Roy Halladay). I saw the Posada home run as it happened and then the numerous replays and just couldn’t tell what the right call should be, so the umpires probably got it right simply by leaving it as made on the field.

Oh, and about that weather. We could not have asked for a nicer Saturday and Sunday around here. Everything the meterologists hyped it up to be. Okay, maybe I’m a little bit of a hypocrite here, because I hate big snow storms as I’ve said here before, but I do enjoy a day turning out even warmer and sunnier than expected! Plus, great to see some friends from school on Friday night in the city- some of whom I hadn’t in several months.

Rangers are 2-0 after they blanked the Caps on Saturday (see above). Lundqvist stood tall again. Yes, he’s good. No, I didn’t expect him or them to win two games in Washington and play as strong a defensive game as they did in the second one. Mark Herrmann was a little surprised too. Still have to finish the job, and to that end, Game 3 at MSG will be huge on Monday night. Elsewhere, looks like Boston, Detroit, and Vancouver each have a foot in the next round. Didn’t think Anaheim would match the Rangers and win two on the road though. They’re arguably a better team, but were playing San Jose, who racked up the most points of anyone during the regular season and lost five times in regulation at home. I still expect that San Jose and Calgary, who is down 2-0 to Chicago but going back home for Games 3 and 4, will not go quietly into the night.

Don’t worry, at least a few more posts over the next several days.