*Official NHL Offseason Thread*

[Slappy8800]

some news i hadnt known

-atlanta will now use the baby blue as their home jersey
-vancouver will use their retro jersey as their third
-boston will use a retro as their third

 

[unifiedtheory]

I understand what the Isles are TRYING to do. Locking up DePietro for 15 years seems like a good idea. Your'e getting a young, ascending player for a long time. He'll never see free agency and, if he becomes what they think he will he'll be underpaid relative to the rest of the marketplace.

At the same time, giving him a 15 year contract that is ALL GUARENTEED money in a salary capped league is simply insane. What if he blows out a knee or does'nt get better? That cash will be on their cap for 15 years and makes him totally untradeable.

In other news, the Flyers signed Ryan Kesler (Canucks) to a one year, $1.9 million dollar offer sheet. The Canucks have 7 days to match.

The Flyers found a loophole in the CBA that states if you sign a group 2 free agent (which is what Kesler is) to a contract that totals less then $2 million dollars a year the compensation is only a 2nd round draft pick.

Kesler was a first round pick of the Canucks in 2003. He is one of the few young players the Canucks have in the system that has NHL experience. Reports in Vancouver is they will match but they are not happy about it at all.

Giving a 22 year old with 12 career goals in 160 games, $1.9 millio for a year is insane in a capped league. The Flyers tried to screw the Canucks. Look for Nonis and the 'Nucks to return the favour at some point in the future.

We're seeing a shift in the NHL this year that seems to be the new norm. It used to be you waited to earn your money but this offseason we're seeing more then ever, players getting money based on what they COULD become rather then what they are now or what they have done.

 

[MillerTime]

 

[Boik14]

WOOW Boik is he really worth that cash?

when he has a defense in fornt of him, yes. He played excellent in the playoffs vs TB a couple years ago in front of Janne "Ghost" niinimaa and scrubs like cairns. Last year his stats sucked cause the D in front of him couldnt knock anyone out of his way. A lot of teams just stood in front of our net and deflected pucks and chopped home rebounds. Adding Hill and witt who can clear the crease area some will help him and accentuate his stats.

 

[djfresh47]

LMAO!!!! 15 years?! WTF is wang thinking. did he not remember the crap with Yashin?...oh man...the isles juts keep getting funnier

I think the deal is all risk for both sides. Like already mentioned if DiPietro becomes the player the Islanders expected then it's a great deal for the Islanders but a bad deal for DiPietro. If he isn't what they expect they owe him alot of cash. I'm a Sabres fan but am I crazy to believe that Ryan Miller right now is a FAR superior goaltender than DiPietro?

 

[Boik14]

I understand what the Isles are TRYING to do. Locking up DePietro for 15 years seems like a good idea. Your'e getting a young, ascending player for a long time. He'll never see free agency and, if he becomes what they think he will he'll be underpaid relative to the rest of the marketplace.

At the same time, giving him a 15 year contract that is ALL GUARENTEED money in a salary capped league is simply insane. What if he blows out a knee or does'nt get better? That cash will be on their cap for 15 years and makes him totally untradeable.

In other news, the Flyers signed Ryan Kesler (Canucks) to a one year, $1.9 million dollar offer sheet. The Canucks have 7 days to match.

The Flyers found a loophole in the CBA that states if you sign a group 2 free agent (which is what Kesler is) to a contract that totals less then $2 million dollars a year the compensation is only a 2nd round draft pick.

Kesler was a first round pick of the Canucks in 2003. He is one of the few young players the Canucks have in the system that has NHL experience. Reports in Vancouver is they will match but they are not happy about it at all.

Giving a 22 year old with 12 career goals in 160 games, $1.9 millio for a year is insane in a capped league. The Flyers tried to screw the Canucks. Look for Nonis and the 'Nucks to return the favour at some point in the future.

We're seeing a shift in the NHL this year that seems to be the new norm. It used to be you waited to earn your money but this offseason we're seeing more then ever, players getting money based on what they COULD become rather then what they are now or what they have done.

The dipietro deal does have injury insurance on it. Further its less then Tomas Vokun signed for per year and I know Dipi is a better goalie that Vokun, not that vokun is bad.

 

[Crisis]

Wow, anyway you try and spin this it's a ******ed move.

 

[Crisis]

The dipietro deal does have injury insurance on it. Further its less then Tomas Vokun signed for per year and I know Dipi is a better goalie that Vokun, not that vokun is bad.

HE'S SIGNED UNTIL HE'S 40 YEARS OLD.

That doesn't bother you? Now he's untradeable if he sucks, and you're stuck with him until then.

 

[Boik14]

I think the deal is all risk for both sides. Like already mentioned if DiPietro becomes the player the Islanders expected then it's a great deal for the Islanders but a bad deal for DiPietro. If he isn't what they expect they owe him alot of cash. I'm a Sabres fan but am I crazy to believe that Ryan Miller right now is a FAR superior goaltender than DiPietro?

Yeah you are. Id say the sabres had a far superior TEAM last year especially on D. One of the isles biggest flaws, as previously mentioned was the lack of any defensive presence on the blueline. Now with witt and sean hill added to zhitnik and campoli its not so bad. The other big problem is that our fowards under Stirling did not skate back on defense with nearly the same tenacity that skated with on offense so i expect the back checking and the defensive presence to be mucnh greater with nolan here. Im pretty sure our resident flyer fans (Dom and roman) and our resident Rag fan (Slappy) would further attest to these difficiencies in the isles last year. And they certainly affected Dipi's stats. Thats not to say Miller isnt a heck of a goalie, but in the end id say theyre about equal.

 

[Boik14]

HE'S SIGNED UNTIL HE'S 40 YEARS OLD.

That doesn't bother you? Now he's untradeable if he sucks, and you're stuck with him until then.

and if hes great we have a steal. Hes locked up for his prime years extremely cheap if he becomes what the team thinks he can become.

 

[djfresh47]

Yeah you are. Id say the sabres had a far superior TEAM last year especially on D. One of the isles biggest flaws, as previously mentioned was the lack of any defensive presence on the blueline. Now with witt and sean hill added to zhitnik and campoli its not so bad. The other big problem is that our fowards under Stirling did not skate back on defense with nearly the same tenacity that skated with on offense so i expect the back checking and the defensive presence to be mucnh greater with nolan here. Im pretty sure our resident flyer fans (Dom and roman) and our resident Rag fan (Slappy) would further attest to these difficiencies in the isles last year. And they certainly affected Dipi's stats. Thats not to say Miller isnt a heck of a goalie, but in the end id say theyre about equal.

Since being the top pick overall he's always seemed like alot of hype who really didn't impress me. He's still young but being the top overall pick I think of guys becoming superstars and I haven't seen that from DiPietro yet. Part of the hype may have been because he's American but I haven't bought into it yet.

 

[Crisis]

and if hes great we have a steal. Hes locked up for his prime years extremely cheap if he becomes what the team thinks he can become.

The risk isn't worth it.

A 15 year contract is absurd, I don't care what player it is.

With that being said, for an "ok" goaltender that's a TERRIBLE contract.

 

[dominizzo]

Like Boik Said!! IF Isles get a D!! He can be great

 

[Boik14]

Since being the top pick overall he's always seemed like alot of hype who really didn't impress me. He's still young but being the top overall pick I think of guys becoming superstars and I haven't seen that from DiPietro yet. Part of the hype may have been because he's American but I haven't bought into it yet.

its not really a question of hype imo. When the team has won games its because the defense in fornt of him has done something to chip in. During his tenure the NYI have been an offense first team that hasnt had a defensive mindset or fowards willing to contribute in that area. Hes played spectacularly well during the Tb series a few years ago single handedly keeping them in games they were dominated. The rangers seem to have his number but dipi has the ability to be an elite goalie, same as miller. Ive seen bad goaltending that was overrated hype (eric fichaud, tommy salo, ron hextall) and good goaltending (billy smith, roberto luongo) and dipi is much much closer to the latter rather then the former.

 

[Boik14]

The risk isn't worth it.

A 15 year contract is absurd, I don't care what player it is.

With that being said, for an "ok" goaltender that's a TERRIBLE contract.

The contract is 4.5m per. Thats 8th in the league. In another year or 2 it will be 10th or 12th at 4.5m per. As salaries rise that contract will look better and if dipi exceeds the contract it looks just as good as any other long term contract that works out.