Log Jam!

1) In an unprecedented change from previous summers the free agent signing boom we would normally see the first day or two is not evident. In stead we are seeing a signing here and there and NONE of the bigger names. Why? Simple, the duo of Zac Parise and Ryan Suter appear to be gumming up the usual swiftness of the time of year. With a dozen or so teams not knowing where they stand with respect to those 2 other transactions are also on hold

2) Before teams will commit to other big transactions/trades they first want to see how they fair in the Parise/Suter sweep stake. Therefore the secondary tier of free agents such as Alex Semin, etc are waiting it out feeling that once teams lose out on the top 2, they will quickly be courted with significant offers. Additionally the "losers" will then turn toward the very fluid trade market we have previously outlined last month.  However the teams that would possibly be involved in such deals will first see how the Parise/Suter situation shakes out first.

3) We feel teams (other than Detroit/Minnesota) are wasting time believing they have a shot. We maintain what our reliable sources told us days ago, that a complicated-suter-parise-deal is being worked on/soon to be announced. However we're told just too many teams are holding up./waiting for these big shoes to drop before making other personnel decisions. We're told that once this deal(s) are completed/announced that the dominoes will quickly fall and the next 24-48 hours we'll have a flurry of activity that we would have usually seen on July 1st.  Stay tuned folks, we're hearing that the "log jam" is soon to be dislodged!!