Ant-War Nuts Attack Jets!

1) In an example of utter nonsense and absurdity a cabal of anti war groups has attacked the Winnipeg Jets and their use of a logo that in their twisted view: .."the team has attempted to attach itself blatantly and directly to an existing, contemporary arm of the military..." Are you &%$ing kidding me?? So its inflammatory to put a military logo on a uniform of a sports team now? Have the left wing/anti-military nuts gone off the rails? This has to be one the most absurd 'protests' we have ever heard of. Do these people have nothing better to do with their pathetic lives than to get their panties into a knott over the logo on a sports team's uniform?

2) Its not like the Canadian military is giving the Winnipeg franchise money or getting an endorsement with their choice. This Politically Correct (PC) bullshit is getting overwhelming/absolutely absurd now. First teams were forced to change names that might have offended Native Americans/Indians (Except the Washington DC Football team for some reason). The Washington DC basketball team changed their name from the ' Bullets' to Wizards because the 'violent imagery' the previous name supposedly conjured. We're sure the change has resulted in the sharp decline in the DC murder rate, right? Dumb.

3) These idiots believe that tacit support of the brave folks in the various branches of the military is the same as supporting a particular country's foreign/military policies(s). Clearly the Jets logo does not have direct political implications except those who hate all things military. Much like the atheists have been doing in trying to eradicate all symbols/acts to do with religious practices because they might be offended. Give us a freakin break! Showing support for the military does not prevent anyone from opposing foreign policy. You can express respect and appreciation for the military and still feel free to criticize decisions made by politicians regarding the deployment of those troops. Ironically its that same military that is there to preserve/protect that very right to express these opinions, as twisted as they are!

4) Wearing a Winnipeg Jets jersey does not show your preference or opposition to any particular political issue. It merely shows that you’re a hockey fan expressing support for your team. Period! It’s actually very simple and straightforward. AS with many sports teams' the name/logo of a franchise shows relevance to their community. In this case Winnipeg is home of 17-Wing Air Force base. Additionally, Winnipeg has a long and storied connection with the air force. Nothing nefarious here. All that said, in our opinion the Jets would have been best served to bring back the 'vintage' Jets logo. We're not sure why they decided to go with this updated version. Perhaps they couldn't? We're not sure if the Coyotes (the old Jets) still have rights to it? Along those lines will the new Jets honor the old retired Jets such as Bobby Hull, Dale Hawerchuk, etc? Nonetheless, the discussion of the logo should be confined to its aesthetics not the warped interpretations of a vocal minority!

Off Season Report Cards- West

1) As we did earlier this week we will go through each team in the Western Conference and list additions and subtractions to rosters and discuss how much each team achieved their goals to improve this summer. As last time we will give our opinion with a grade. As you saw with the east, we are TOUGH graders with no one getting an A

2) Now we will go through each team:

• Anaheim Ducks: Significant Additions: Andrew Cogliano, Jean-Francois Jacques, Kurtis Foster, Matt Smaby, Jeff Deslauriers, Significant Subtractions: Todd Marchant, Andreas Lilja, Ray Emery, Jarkko Ruutu. Not a busy off season for LA's other team. They are waiting to hear from Teemu Selanne about a return (recovering from knee issue). Bob Murray has basically stood pat. Time will tell if that was a good thing? Grade C-
  
  
  

• Calgary Flames: Significant Additions: Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, Chris Butler. Significant Subtractions: Robyn Regehr, Ales Kotalik, Adam Pardy, Steve Staios. Jay Feaster had a busy summer keeping his original roster intact. Regehr was a cap subtraction with their top 4 D-men already getting close to 17 mil. They are now FAR from the Cup contending team they were 3-4 yrs ago. Overall unchanged from last year's playoff near-miss. Grade C-
  
  



• Chicago BlackHawks: Significant additions: Rostislav Olesz, Andrew Brunette, Jamal Mayers, Daniel Carcillo, Steve Montador, Sami Lepisto, Sean O'Donnell. Significant Subtractions: Tomas Kopecky, Troy Brouwer, Brian Campbell, Fernando Pisani, Chris Campoli, Ryan Johnson, Jake Dowell, Jordan Hendry, Marty Turco. Not nearly as devastating an off season as a year ago. That said they lost some important puzzle pieces in Campbell and Brouwer. Both were cap related trades. We're not sold on their replacements in Carcillo and Montedor. Both adequate, but far from improvements. Grade C
  
  



• Colorado Avalanche:Significant Additions: Semyon Varlamov, Jan Hejda, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Chuck Kobasew, Shane O'Brien, Joakim Lindstrom. Significant Subtractions: John-Michael Liles, Brian Elliott, Peter Budaj, Tomas Fleischmann, Philippe Dupuis, Adam Foote. A mini makeover in Denver with a new goaltending tandem that if they stay healthy will be a significant improvement over last season. The additions of Hejda and O'Brien help bolster the defense as well. With the offense already up and coming we see the 'Lanch as an improved squad. Grade B
  
  


• Columbus Blue Jackets: Significant Additions: Jeff Carter, Vinny Prospal, James Wisniewski, Radek Martinek. Significant Subtractions: Jakub Voracek, Jan Hejda, Chris Clark, Scottie Upshall, Ethan Moreau, Nikita Filatov, Mathieu Garon, Craig Rivet, Anton Stralman. GM Scott Howson has been busy. Biggest move is adding center Jeff Carter as well as acquiring (overpaying for-?) Wisniewski. We like both moves, but will it be enough to get the Jackets into the playoffs? That will depend on Mason regaining form. They don't have a reliable back up so its Mason or nothing. Grade B-





• Dallas Stars: Significant Additions: Michael Ryder, Jake Dowell, Radek Dvorak, Vernon Fiddler, Eric Godard, Adam Pardy, Sheldon Souray. Significat Subtractions: Brad Richards, Jamie Langenbrunner, Karlis Skrastins, Jason Williams, Jeff Woywitka. The Stars barely missed the post season. They lost their best offensive player in Richards and replaced him with Ryder and Dvorak. Hardly an improvement. They then signed Souray who wasn't good enough to play in the NHL 2 years ago. Say it aint so Joe (Niewendyk) Grade D+
  
  



• Detroit Red Wings: Significant Additions: Ian White, Mike Commodore, Ty Conklin, Chris Conner. Significant Subtractions: Brian Rafalski, Kris Draper, Chris Osgood, Mike Modano, Ruslan Salei: Modano might still play, but he'd be best served if he retired. White isn't Rafalksi, but he's OK. Can Commodore add anything? Overall the Wings stood pat, which isn't shocking as their roster is still one of the best in the Conference. Grade C




• Edmonton Oilers:Significant Additions: Eric Belanger, Ryan Smyth, Ben Eager, Darcy Hordichuk, Cam Barker, Andy Sutton, Yann Danis, Significant Subtractions: Andrew Cogliano, Kurtis Foster, Colin Fraser, Zack Stortini, Jason Strudwick, Steve MacIntyre, Jim Vandermeer, Jean-Francois Jacques. Actually not a bad offseason for Steve Tambellini. They got back Cpt Canada Smyth, Belanger and Eager to bolster the forwards and Sutton and Barker to the D, to give the young Oilers some veteran leadership. Now can they keep Khabibulin out of prison? Grade B-
  
  


• Los Angeles Kings: Significant Additions: Mike Richards, Simon Gagne, Colin Fraser, Significant Subtractions: Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, Ryan Smyth, Michal Handzus, Alexei Ponikarovsky. LOmbardi made an already deep offensive roster even better with the additions of Gagne and Mike Richards. With a healthy Kopitar the Kings can send out 2 formidable scoring lines. Only work to be done as of this writing was getting Dougherty under contract. As we wrote previously, we don't expect he'll miss any time. Overall the Kings look better on paper. Grade B
  
  


• Minnesota Wild: Significant Additions: Dany Heatley, Darroll Powe, Devin Setoguchi, Mike Lundin, Significant Subtractions: Martin Havlat, Andrew Brunette, Brent Burns, Antti Miettinen, Cam Barker, John Madden, Jose Theodore, Chuck Kobasew. We'll give GM Chuck Fletcher credit for not standing pat with his club. he made some big trades this summer. The swap of underachieving forwards, Havlat and Heatley. He also acquired Setoguchi, (who had just resigned with SJ), for puck moving defender Brent Burns. Along with a new/unknown coach (Mike Yeo) the Wild will be a Wild-card this season. Hard team to grade, but we're not big Heatley fans. Grade C+
  




• Nashville Preditors: Significant Additions: Niclas Bergfors, Zack Stortini, Brett Lebda. Significant Subtractions: Cody Franson, Matthew Lombardi, Joel Ward, Marcel Goc, Steve Sullivan, J-P Dumont, Shane O'Brien. Even with, or especially because of the Shea Weber signing, the Preds are in trouble. Trouble because they can't expect to add any additional salary. They can't afford to go into the season near the cap max, and as a result they lost a few decent free agents this summer. Even an astute GM like Poile will have his hands full and tied to even retain his remaining core of star players. Grade C-
  
  
  
• Phoenix Coyotes:Significant Additions: Mike Smith, Alexandre Bolduc, Boyd Gordon, Raffi Torres, Curtis McElhinney, Justin Pogge Significant Subtractions: Ilya Bryzgalov, Ed Jovanovski, Eric Belanger, Andrew Ebbett. The ascention in the desert could be in trouble. Maloney replaced departed #1 goal Bryzgalov with mediocre Mike Smith. The other adds and subtractions were basicly a wash in my opinion. Overall, right now the Yotes are weaker than last season. Grade D+
  
  
  


• San Jose Sharks: Significant Additions: Martin Havlat, Michal Handzus, Andrew Murray, Brent Burns, Jim Vandermeer, Significant Subtractions: Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi, Ben Eager, Jamal Mayers, Kyle Wellwood, Kent Huskins, Ian White, Scott Nichol. Doug Wilson had a very productive offseason. Jettising playoff ghost Dany Heatly was a huge step. Acquiring Burns to compliment Boyle was also huge. The off the radar move in our opinion was getting Handzus to be the 3rd line center. Few teams will be as deep up front as the Sharks, despite the loss of Setoguchi. This might be the best Shark team yet. Grade B+
  
  


• St. Louis Blues: Significant Additions: Jason Arnott, Jamie Langenbrunner, Scott Nichol, Kent Huskins, Brian Elliott. Significant Subtractions: Paul Kariya, Cam Janssen, Ty Conklin. Apparently Doug Armstrong felt his team needed more veteran presence in 'The Room'. So he added two older respected players in Arnott and Langenbrunner. No one should expect big production out of those 2, so the Blues are relying on a healthy roster this season and maturation of last season's regulars. Grade C
  
  


• Vancouver Canucks: Significant Additions: Marco Sturm, Alexander Sulzer, Mark Mancari, Andrew Ebbett, Mike Duco, Steve Pinizzotto. Signifiant Subtractions: Christian Ehrhoff, Raffi Torres, Jeff Tambellini, Tanner Glass. The Canucks coming off their Presidents Trophy season didn't tinker much with their lineup. They lost Ehrhoff, but if healthy the remaining defenders are still pretty decent. We're not fans of the 'Twins', but they are 'The Guys' along with Luongo, so Mike Gillis is going to ride his stars into next season and hope they can jump to the next level and win it all this time. Grade C-

Off Season Report Card! East

1) Sorry folks. We originally intended to publish this post a couple of weeks ago. The trend since the new CBA was signed in 2005 is that teams opening day rosters are pretty much set by the end of July; after the draft, initial free agent signing frenzy is over and after all arbitration cases are settled. So aside from a few yet to be signed players (none of whom we believe could alter the balance of power) the off season's for all 30 teams is pretty much a done deal. With that in mind we will go through each of the 30 teams and discuss their off season and finally give them a grade. The grade will NOT be a prediction of 2011-2012 success,(that comes in October) but our opinion of how well they did or didn't do to upgrade their previous seasons roster. As you will see, we are tough graders! ; ) The list will be in alphabetical order. First here willl be The East, then soon to be published, the West.

• Boston Bruins: Notable additions: Joe Corvo, Benoit Pouliot. Notable subtractions: Mark Recchi, Micheal Ryder, Tomas Kaberle. Not nearly as a devastating off season for this year's Cup champs as the one we saw with the near dismantling of the Black Hawks last summer. The B's did lose a couple of contributors from last season but have recouped with the new faces, and retain their core so they should be contenders once again. Grade C+




• Buffalo Sabres: Notable additions: Christian Ehrhoff, Robyn Regehr, Ville Leino, Ales Kotalik. Notable subtractions: Steve Montador, Tim Connolly, Rob Niedermayer, Mike Grier, Craig Rivet. Ehrhoff and Regehr give the Sabres some pretty decent defensive depth to go along with a solid goaltending tandem in Miller and Enroth. Most importantly though new ownership appears committed to bring the Sabres back to contention. Nice start this summer! Grade B+
  
  


• Carolina Hurricanes: Notable additions: Tim Brent, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Anthony Stewart, Tomas Kaberle, Brian Boucher, Notable subtractions: Erik Cole, Joe Corvo, Cory Stillman. The Canes solidified their defense with the Kaberle signing and the retaining of Joni Pitkanen, but they lost more than they gained with respect to offense. A sophmore slump by Skinner and or an injury to Staal could make things difficult in Raleigh. Grade C-
  
  


• Florida Panthers: Notable Additions: Jose Theodore, Brian Campbell, Ed Jovanovski, Sean Bergenheim, Matt Bradley, Tomas Fleischmann, Tomas Kopecky, Scottie Upshall, Kris Versteeg, Marcel Goc. Notable subtractions: Tomas Vokoun, Rostislav Olesz Marty Reasoner, Steve Bernier, Sergei Samsonov, Niclas Bergfors. Huge roster turn over by Dale Tallon. Some of the contracts we have already blasted in previous posts. Panthers will be better offensively, but we hardly see them as a playoff contender (again) With the goalie tandem of Theodore and Clemmenson it could be a LONG season in FLA. This summer's moves are more like shuffling the Titanic deck chairs in Sunrise, FLA. Grade D+
  
  


• Montreal Canadiens: Notable additions: Erik Cole, Peter Budaj. Notable Subtractions: James Wisniewski, Benoit Pouliot, Roman Hamrlik, Jeff Halpern, Alexandre Picard, Paul Mara, Alex Auld, Brent Sopel. The Habs got Cole but by and large are hoping their youngsters and existig roster can replace the departed players production. Cole is injury prone and not worth big $$ in our opinion, but having a healthy Markov on the back line should help them. Overall not much improvement. Grade C-
  
  


• New Jersey Devils: Notable Additions: Eric Boulton, LW; Cam Janssen Notable Subtractions: Brian Rolston, Pierre Luc-Letourneau Leblond, Colin White, Anssi Salmela. Evidently Lou Lamarello thinks his farm team and current roster are good enough? A healthy Parise wil help, but their goalies are about 45 years old. Without the Gum Chewer (Lemaire) behind the bench we don't see the Devs back in the playoffs once again. Pete DeBoer's tenure will be brief, and like in Florida, not his fault. Grade D
  


• NY Islanders: Notable additions: Marty Reasoner, Brian Rolston (Alex Yashin-?) Notable subtractions: Bruno Gervais, Trent Hunter, Radek Martinek, Doug Weight, Zenon Konopka. We like the Rolston addition to replace Weight, but Snow added little else and is probably hoping the healthy returns of Streit and Eaton will be enough to bolster them on defense, and a continuation of the maturation of their young forwards. Grade C-. (If Yashin signs, Grade D-)
  
  


• NY Rangers: Notable Additions: Brad Richards, C; Michael Rupp. Notable Subtractions: Chris Drury, C; Vinny Prospal, C; Alex Frolov, LW; Matt Gilroy, D; Bryan McCabe. Yes, the Rangers got the best UFA available this summer in Richards, but in our opinion their best move(s) were the signings of RFA's Dubinsky/Callahan to cap friendly long term deals, and getting rid of Drury. They might not be Cup contenders, but certainly better on paper than last year. Grade B-
  
  


• Ottawa Senators: Notable Additions: Zenon Konopka,; Alex Auld, Nikita Filatov,
  Notable Subtractions: Ryan Shannon. Evidently the Senators are hoping their next crop of young players can bolster the lineup and get them back to the post season. The wild card is Filatov, who has the tools but does he have the heart? A new surrounding could be the difference, but overall we're sceptical about the job Murray did this summer in improving the sens. Grade C-
  
  
  


• Philadelphia Flyers: Noteable additions: Ilya Bryzgalov, Jaromir Jagr, Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, Maxime Talbot, Andreas Lilja. Noteabe subtractions: Mike Richards, C; Jeff Carter, C; Ville Leino, LW; Nikolay Zherdev, RW; Darroll Powe, C; Kris Versteeg, RW; Daniel Carcillo, LW; Sean O'Donnell, D; Brian Boucher, G. By far the roster with the biggest turn over. Probably the biggest addition is Bryzgalov, although Jagr garnered the biggest press. It remains to be seen if the new look Flyers will be better. Holmgren gambled, but we give him credit by not taking the easy road and standing pat. Grade A-
  
  


• Pittsburgh Penguins: Noteable Additions: Steve Sullivan, LW; Steve MacIntyre, LW; Alexandre Picard. Noteable Subtractions: Maxime Talbot, C; Michael Rupp, C/W; Chris Conner, RW; Alex Kovalev, RW; Eric Godard, RW; Mike Comrie, Why make a big splash when your team had 100 pts without Crosby and malkin for big portions of 2010-11? With both back they should be fine so Ray Shero might have been better off losing out on the Jagr sweepstaakes. Not to mention they have a pretty deep farm system and could have a couple of youngsters ready to contribute. Sullivan, if he stays healthy, could be a steal. Grade C
  
  


• Tampa Bay Lightning: Notable Additions: Ryan Shannon, RW; Bruno Gervais, D; Matt Gilroy, D; Mathieu Garon. Notable Subtractions: Simon Gagne, LW; Sean Bergenheim, LW; Randy Jones, D; Mike Lundin, D; Mike Smith, G Biggest issues for the Bolts were getting their own players, most notably Stamkos, back under contract. The loss of Gagne won't hurt too much, but Bergenheim's playoff heroics priced him off The Bay, and it won't be easy to reproduce a 4th line like they had this past spring. The Lightning should be OK, but we're not happy with their goaltending with a 44 yr old having to play 50+ games? Grade C-
  
  


• Toronto Maple Leafs: Notable Additions:Tim Connolly, Philippe Dupuis, Matthew Lombardi, Cody Franson, John-Michael Liles, Notable Subtractions: Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Tim Brent, Brett Lebda. Sorry if you don't count us as expecting Timmy Connoly to become a 1st line center. He and Kessel might mesh and produce but will/can Connolly finally play a full season? Probably not. Burke failed to significantly improve his team. Grade D+
  
  


• Washington Capitals: Notable Additions: Tomas Vokoun, Troy Brouwer, Joel Ward, Jeff Halpern, Roman Hamrlik, Notable subtractions: Semyon Varlamov, Jason Arnott, Eric Fehr, Matt Bradley, Boyd Gordon, Marco Sturm, Tyler Sloan, Scott Hannan. We have to say we like the moves McPhee made here. On paper this might be the best team ever iced by the Caps. That said the biggest move is the one they didn't make. Bruce Boudreau is still behind the bench and that is still a problem. Grade B
  
  
  
  
• Winnipeg Jets: Notable Additions: Eric Fehr, Tanner Glass, Rick Rypien, Aaron Gagnon, Randy Jones, Derek Meech. Notable Subtractions: Anthony Stewart, ; Eric Boulton, Freddy Meyer, Rob Schremp. No big moves (outside of the franchise itself!) but with a solid young core already assembled and a new front office this wasn't surprising. Grade C+

Happy Birthday To Us!!

1) ) WE NEVER we would still be here to go into year 6! Yes, this blog is now FIVE years old! Its amazing that we have reached this milestone. When we made our first post (inspired by the late summer drivel/rumours of the time) http://newfaux.blogspot.com/2006/08/making-up-shit.html we never in our wildest dreams believed this would become what it has. We especially didn't think we'd still be at this when the dark days when our now vanquished blog enemy hacked and stole the original FAUXRUMORS blog. Though its still is out there for his sick amusement, its of little consequence to us now. We have long since moved on when we restarted things again in March 2007. In retrospect he did us a favour, as we feel this forced us to improve/upgrade the blog in many ways since then.



2) With over 880+ original FAUX posts and growing to our credit since that first fateful blog entry, and more than 400+ thousand hits (and growing fast) we are proud of what we have grown here the past 5 years. As we were then, (and always will be) we are a totally FREE site/blog. We decline all advertising offers. For one, honestly we don't need the income, but more importantly, we feel that accepting money would be the wrong perception. We don't want to become Eklund. Selling nonsense/made up crap to sad/loser people. We look forward to the beginning of our SIXTH year! Thanks to all of you!

As always, keep it here for the latest!

August Dog Days: Notes and Observations

1) Isles New Coliseum voted down! Devastating is what one of our Isles' insiders tells us about the recent vote. The "Yes" side would have seemed to had all of the advantages built into the vote: It was held on a Monday in the heart/heat of summer. Few folks had time to mount a meaningful 'NO' campaign, right? WRONG! What Wang and Co. didn't realize that in the current political climate asking people who are already taxed at the highest level in the nation to cough up ANY additional money for the sake of a sports franchise most don't pay attention to was asking a lot! Its no shocker to us at Fauxrumors that this went down. Some over in Isle's country are already asking , "What is Wang's Plan B"? Well folks, this WAS plan B!!

2) 11+ years ago Wang invested heavily in the Isles and lost millions to get his real estate deal (The Lighthouse Project) The Isles were a mere pawn/PR to get it done. Whatever money he had to drain to eventually get his money rain maker off the ground would ultimately be worth it. When the Town of Hempstead (Kate Murray) blocked Wang he decided that he'd spent enough of his own $$ and refused to build a smaller version of Lighthouse or his own new arena. Instead asking taxpayers to build it via bonds, etc. Now that this has been rejected its unlikely that Wang will invest further big money in Nassau County and a move is very likely. Where? Another NY area locale is the most logical set up because the Isles make a ton (12 -15 mil/year) of money in their local TV deal and would lose that if they moved to let's say KC. So Suffolk County, Queens, or even Brooklyn, (who has an arena already in the making) could be the Isles next home.

3) On a related note: Alexei Yashin?? Are you &%$#ing kidding me? So lets get this strait. The guy was not good enough to play on the team 4 years ago but is now? He was a dog in the dressing room, getting under the skin of fellow veterans, but he'll be a positive influence on this young up and coming lineup? Tell us its a very late Aprils fools joke Garth! The Rolston pick up was a nice move, don't counteract it with this bold move of blithering stupidity! Imagine the Isles reaching the cap floor by paying Yashin TWICE!?! Will this be Wang's revenge against the lack of support for the recent referendum? LOL Sorry Isle's fans. We know many of you, and you are as die hard as it gets, but even you die hards would have to see that move as the beginning of the end!

4)Remaining Free Agents: Its been quiet on the RFA scene recently. Doughty, Bogosian, Marchand remain unsigned. Shea Weber is slated for arbitration so he barring a rejection of the award or a trade (both unlikely) will be a Predator this season. Doughty, we hear, is asking for either a Carter/Richards type of 12+ year deal near 7.5 mil per average, or a 3 year at 8 mil that would place him into UFA status at contracts end. Both are NOT what LA would like. They see Doughty as a 5-6 mil player, but they would raise that to 6.0-6.5 IF he agreed on a 7+ year deal. WE are told to expect a shorter term, probably 1 year 6. mil deal and then continue negotiating towards a long term extension. Our LA sources tell us Drew will be in camp on time.

5) Bogosian is also close to getting signed by Winnipeg. Zach will assuredly get a pay raise, but our sources tell us "he won't be getting Doughty or Weber money". Closer to a 3.5-4 mil 5 year deal. Almost word for word can (and has) been said of fellow RFA Leaf defender, Luke Schenn. Marchand might be the trickiest one left. The 23 year old who had a nice season with 20 goals, but a great playoff wants to be paid like a 1st line forward. The Bruins aren't yet ready to commit big bucks on 2 months of work. A scout told us that Brad might have to bite the bullet and accept the B's offer of 2 years 5 mil. "He's not going to get anything near the 4 million his agent was asking for".

6) As for UFA's: Here are a few of the remaining big names still looking for work: Mike Grier, Cory Stillman, Sergei Samsonov, Paul Mara, Bryan McCabe, Marek Svatos, Nikolai Zherdev. Not an impressive list but some vets who will likely get a training camp invite if not a minimum wage 1 year job. NONE should expect a big/multi year contract. Jobs/rosters are pretty much set with a few moves yet to come, but don't hold your breathe for each move. Its early August and most teams are taking their summer vacations right now and not talking deals/contracts

7) Ranger moves: Finally it seems Glen Sather is getting how to run a team with a limited payroll. (What did it take, 12 years? ) His avoiding arbitration, and signing forwards Callahan and Dubinsky to VERY cap friendly deals was a very nice way to end the ranger 'offseason'. With the jettison of cap anchor Chris Drury, and Wade Reddon set to ride the buses again Glen has positioned the Rangers to be well within cap constraints and be flexible to add talent during the season is he desires.

News And Views

1) With the Dog Days of August nearly upon us I thought I'd comment on some of the various news stories that have occurred the past couple of weeks.

• Steve Stamkos- As expected Steve resigned without an offer sheet being thrown his way. He got as much as he could expect raising his average salary nearly to 7.5 million over the 5 years. A few observations. One is that even after this deal is completed the Bolts will still be on the hook for another 2 seasons to pay Vinny Lecavalier at a cap hit of 7.77 million!! The other is that we wonder if Stamkos is prepared for the intense pressure he will now be placed under. Its one thing to be the new young guy, and another cog in the offense. Its another to be one of the highest paid NHL players. There are now expectations, fair or not, to score 40-50 goals every year. Lets see how he handles a slump. Of course it will help that he plays in a less of a media circus than NY or any Canadian market.






• Osgood- Chris Osgood retired this past week. FR has opined of his Hall of Fame worthiness in the past. Once in 2008 with wizard-of-osgood and again the following year with: revisiting-osgood-to-hall-argument It can be said that Osgood's Hall of Fame case is based on his 401 career wins, he's 10th on the NHL's career list, and his performance in the postseason. He went 74-49 in the playoffs with a 2.09 goals-against average. He ranks fourth in league history with 15 playoff shutouts. What we believe will hurt him is lack of a major award (Vezina, ConnSmyth, and/or First team All star selection) and his non-Redwing record of 84-67. Not bad, but hardly Hall of Fame material. In our estimation If Curtis Joseph gets in (with Zero Cups or Vezinas) Ozzie should too!





• Islanders- Still waiting for that other 'proverbial shoe' to drop. Word is that Snow has been feverishly working the phones with his fellow GM's in an effort to get a big deal done. problem is he has an artificial deadline other teams do not. Namely the August 1st referendum where Nassau County voters will approve(or not) a new arena. If that goes down to defeat the Isles are history(after their lease runs out supposedly in 4 years). To make a yes vote more likely, Wang/Snow want to make a big summer splash to get the locals excited enough to vote yes. Most GM's who don't have arbitration issues have left for their summer vacations are would rather deal later in the summer or are set i their rosters and aren't interested in anything big right now. Our sources tell us Snow and Darcy Regier have talked but no deal is immanent, but as one Asst GM told me, don't be surprised to hear about a sabres and Isles swap

2) So there we are, almost to the end of July. Most teams rosters are 90%+ set. FR tells us they will commence their annual 'winners and losers' of the summer season some time later this month or early August. When something drops we will sure to cover it and discuss any rumours we hear. As always keep it hear for all the latest!!

Another Lock Out Looking Inevitable!

1) Few who follow this blog will be shocked to see that headline. We have been on record from almost the beginning of the last CBA in 2006 that this was going to be the case. Despite getting almost everything that they wanted in the new CBA the owners were never going to stop there. Bettman got his precious "cost certainty" and all was going to be well, right? We wrote about it way back in 2007 when Kelly was instituted as the new CBA boss.
new-labour-war.Then once again 2 years later:
abour-unrest-now-more-certain

2) Yes, as new readers can see we have been WAY out in front of this now looming issue. Things have been becoming even worse in recent months as the usual media mouth pieces start to spew the NHL line of how player salaries are now out of control and hurting the small market teams, etc, etc. here's one --->
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/41055-Campbell-NHL-contracts-salary-cap-will-lead-to-CBA-issues-in-2012.html
We could probably cite several more written right around the recent free agency madness. Its reminiscent of what was written back in 2003-2004 right before the NHL went to war (and won?) with Bob Goodenow and the NHLPA. The story line then was the players salaries comprised too much of the % of revenue, the richer teams had an unfair advantage, and ticket prices were becoming too high.

3) So here we are 6 years into the new CBA and the story line is the same. The problem is that the league now has its "cost certainty". Translation: The players get a fixed percentage! Supposedly it was pushing 70% before the last Bettman lockout, and its now fixed at 56%. It doesn't matter how much the league makes or doesn't make, the players still get their fixed piece of the pie. As the league has grown so has the average player salary, BUT the % of the overall revenues has stayed the same! If revenues fail to meet expectations the players lose their "escrow money" and the owners get a refund on paid out salary.

4) As we and many others wrote before and during the last Bettman lockout, the problem is NOT player salaries, its the lack of revenue sharing between the big market (revenue) teams and the small market(revenue) teams. The big markets and all the Canadian cities are raking in record profits, while the small markets are struggling. Why? the provision in the CBA that required all teams to spend a certain amount. As our post race-to-floor states teams are now forced to spend even if they don't want to. The result: Continued/worsening financial hardship. The likely Betman fix? Reduce player percentage, tweak the salary floor, and if they see blood, eliminate guaranteed contracts all together

5) What SHOULD be done? A realistic revenue sharing system like the NFL has. The NHLPA proposed a very sensible revenue sharing system as part of a possible CBA agreement last time which was rejected out of hand by Bettman. Yes, we know the NHL is a regional sport and most teams make their own money locally, not from national TV etc. However if the NHL wants to stay in these markets they will have to make significant concessions. If not we will have the teams moving from market to market. Atlanta lost a team with this CBA. Phoenix, Florida are on the precipice of losing their respective franchises. Bettman will probably use these teams' plights as a weapon against the NHLPA and not see it as it is: An indictment of his mistakes in constructing the last CBA.

6) The biggest question is not; will Bettman and the NHL play hardball again? Surely they will. However the 2 billion dollar question is; Do the players have the intestinal fortitude to go toe to toe once again and possibly lose another season? Regardless that they now have a tested labor negotiator in Donald Fehr, (Fehr has yet to lose, but that was baseball) the NHLPA has a long history of failure. Can Fehr set goals and keep the players together and cohesive as the pressure inevitably mounts next summer. Surely the league as well as the usual media puppets will be blaming the players and trying to drum up public outcry against the 'greedy millionaire players'). We believe based upon the past the players will initially hold firm(leading to Bettman's third lock out) but unravel leading to Ferh's ouster and possibly union desertification. It is then that the owners and Bettman may go for the kill, and demand the elimination of guaranteed contracts.

Stay tuned folks the bumpy ride is just getting started. Be sure to keep it here to get unfiltered perspective!