Figured we could use a place to post all the stuff happening before the season starts to discuss.
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The reunion with Teemu Selanne will have to wait. Unrestricted free agent forward Paul Kariya won't play during the 2010-11 season, according to a statement released on Friday by his agent.
"After being examined by concussion specialist Dr. Mark Lovell, Paul is not able to play hockey due to post-concussion syndrome," agent Don Baizley said in a release distributed by the NHLPA.
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Forward Clarke MacArthur has signed a one-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The team announced the deal with the unrestricted free agent Saturday.
MacArthur had 16 goals and 19 assists last season between the Buffalo Sabres and Atlanta Thrashers, who acquired him on March 3 in exchange for draft picks.
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The NHL free-agent market's top remaining goal scorer not named Ilya Kovalchuk is staying in Arizona.
The Phoenix Coyotes re-signed unrestricted free agent Lee Stempniak to a two-year contract, the Arizona Republic reported on its website late Sunday.
Stempniak will be paid $3.8 million for the two years, according to media reports—$1.5 million for 2010-11, $2.3 million for 2011-12. His cap hit is $1.9 million according to capgeek.com.
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With money to spend and prized prospect Taylor Hall in need of developing playmates, the Edmonton Oilers re-signed Sam Gagner on Monday. The toll: two years at $4.55 million. The goal: for Gagner, it's becoming the team's No. 1 center.
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The Colorado Avalanche remain committed to their youth movement, signing forward Chris Stewart to a two-year deal.
The 22-year-old Stewart led the team with 28 goals last season and finished with 64 points.
The deal’s terms weren’t disclosed.
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The Montreal Canadiens have re-signed restricted free-agent goalie Carey Price to a two-year contract. The 22-year-old goaltender signed the new contract on Thursday, ending two months of negotiations with the Canadiens.
Price has spent his entire career in Montreal after being selected fifth overall in the 2005 NHL draft. He’ll start the upcoming season as the team’s No. 1 goalie. He split the duties last season with Jaroslav Halak, who has since been dealt to the St. Louis Blues.
Price was 13-20-5 in 41 games. Halak took over the starting job late in the season and helped the Canadiens reach the Eastern Conference finals.
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The San Jose Sharks signed the goalie who helped knock them out of the playoffs, agreeing to a one-year, $2 million deal with Antti Niemi on Thursday.
Niemi joins fellow Finnish netminder Antero Niittymaki in San Jose as the replacements for longtime starter Evgeni Nabokov. Niittymaki signed a two-year, $4 million deal on the first day of free agency in July.
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anybody else think carey price is softComment -
LOL Price is being so underrated these days, it's not even funny. Expectations for him coming into the NHL were not too high as much as they were too early... and now he's being unfairly labeled as a bust.
The guy just turned 23 last month, and made the All-Star Game during the 2008-09 season at the age of 21. Of course he wasn't ready to carry an average team to a long playoff run at such a young age, and this is true for most goaltenders who are now successful in the NHL. How many goalies have you seen dominate at that age, other than generational talents like Roy and Brodeur? It took Luongo at least 3-4 years on a weak Panthers club to deliver on his promise (his stats from 21 to 23 are actually quite similar to Price's, with Carey having a small edge in save %). Vezina Trophy winner Ryan Miller didn't leave the AHL until he was 25... he only had 15 career starts before the 2005-06 season. Heck, even Cam Ward and Steve Mason, who had tremendous rookie seasons, saw their stock drop big-time in their 2nd NHL season. Price is so technically sound... all he needs is a boost of confidence and the team to stop playing like $H!t in front of him (most of the Habs' worst defensive performances from last season took place when Price was between the pipes, and more than one time he was the sole reason why the team lost by only a goal or two).
Carey Price will be among the elite of the league within the next 3 seasons. Being a long-time Montreal fan - but I like to think of myself as an unbiased one and a hockey fan first and foremost - I'm very confident that GM Pierre Gauthier did the right move in choosing Carey Price over Jaroslav Halak. IMO the results will start showing as soon as this season.
Edit: One last thing, a big WTF to the poster who said he'd rather have Cristobal Huet. There's so much wrong about this statement.Comment -
Good post OYC
I forgot Price was only 23. He has gone through his fair shares of ups and downs but most people that age do as they mature.
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Comparing Price to Miller and Luongo is kind of ridiculous on so many levels. Plenty of goalies have flashes of brilliance before regressing to the mean: Raycroft, Leclaire and Mason come to mind immediately. Though, I don't think Price ever came as close to any of them in terms of brilliance.
The thing about being goaltending is if you don't have confidence, you don't really have shit. You're just a headcase, and Price is without a doubt one of them. I mean, the guy smokes fukking cigarettes.
I found this Facebook group and it's hilarious because it's what you said:
Not saying the points aren't valid, it's just funny to find out Montreal fans who like Price are that repetitive.TOP CAREY PRICE EXCUSES:
Excuse #1: "He is only 21, give him a chance"
Excuse #2: "Price has accomplished so many great things in the past"
Excuse #3: "Carey Price is a number 1 Goalie"
Excuse #4: "Be patient with him"
Excuse #5: "He will be a Star"Comment -
Huet played great and was a future star with the Habs a few years ago, but hasn't been close to that since. So is Halak the next Huet, getting traded from the Habs and becomes a bust? Or is Price the next Huet, only to be a bust that didn't get traded? Problem is, nobody can really answer that for a couple of years.Comment -
The point was not to make a comparision between Price and Miller/Luongo in regard to their worth or their current place amongst NHL goalies. It was simple reminder that neither of Miller or Luongo, who are now widely considered to be franchise goaltenders, had to go through a long process to get to stardom. Now, you won't find anyone arguing that Carey Price was brought up too quickly to the Habs, whereas he should have developed with the Hamilton Bulldogs in the AHL instead. However, that certainly doesn't mean he can't get his act together and deliver to his promise.
Confidence has undoubtebly been an issue for Price in the past two seasons. Still, we're talking about a guy with solid mental make-up, having led Hamilton to a Calder Cup as the playoff MVP as a teenager, and also winning Gold with Team Canada Junior in 2007, once again as tournament MVP & top goaltender. He can get over two supposedly "dreadful" seasons (2.79 GAA and .908 sv% ain't bottom-of-the-league bad by any stretch of imagination), especially now that he doesn't have the pressure of having someone who's ready to steals his job at any moment of the season, if he loses 2-3 consecutive games. New backup Alex Auld will be lucky to get 20 starts in 2010-11...The thing about being goaltending is if you don't have confidence, you don't really have shit. You're just a headcase, and Price is without a doubt one of them. I mean, the guy smokes fukking cigarettes.
What's funny is that in fact, you'll find a majority of Habs fans in Montreal saying the Halak trade is a disaster for the organization and Price is not trustworthy of repeating last year's playoff run.Not saying the points aren't valid, it's just funny to find out Montreal fans who like Price are that repetitive.
Since Halak's antics from this spring, it's getting harder by the minute to find Price backers in the streets of Montreal and in sport radio tribunes...Comment -
The thing is your only real support of Price is that he's bound to get better and that many goalies struggle when they first break into the league. You could literally say the same thing about any young goalie. That's why what you are saying holds such little weight in my eyes. You see how he has failed at the NHL level (being unable to do much in the playoffs and losing the starting role to two different backups) and how little confidence the team, coaching, and fans have had in him and it's just hard to believe he'll turn it around. Maybe a change of scenery helps like Luongo, but the league already knew how valuable he was before the trade happened. The same won't happen for Price.
If you didn't have such an open ended frame of mind, I'd make you a points bet, but I'm not sure you believe he will turn it around this year, or the next, or the next... because he'll still be a young goalie in 3 years. So, we'll just have to agree to disagree.Comment -
Then again, you might not say that any young goalie... Compared to some of the other goalies in the same age range (Pavelec, Varlamov, Mason, Neuvirth, etc.), Price sticks out of the group IMO because of his athletic qualities. Technically, most of these guys are very sound, just like Price. But when you get a 6'4"-220 lbs goaltender with lightning-quick pads, who covers the upper part of the net from his knees like not many NHL goalies can do, and an uncanny ability to handle the puck (don't know if you'll agree with that, but I think he's just as good as guys like Turco and Brodeur in that regard), you just can't ignore the potential for dominance. At this point, it's all between the ears for him to turn his young career around. I believe the progress he has made attitude-wise during the last season & the deep playoff run makes him more likely to improve in that department.
Haha! Well, what did you have in mind? A bet on his number of W's for the upcoming season?If you didn't have such an open ended frame of mind, I'd make you a points bet, but I'm not sure you believe he will turn it around this year, or the next, or the next... because he'll still be a young goalie in 3 years. So, we'll just have to agree to disagree.Comment -
Time for you two to set up a prop bet on Price for this year. Not sure what yet, maybe wins, save %, etc.
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Absolutely. Something that tries to isolate his play from that of his teams, so wins is out of the question. GAA and/or SV %, I guess.
I won't have any problems from taking points from a MTL homer.
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Pretty sad how Cheechoo has gone from a 56 goal scorer, to an AHL'er, to now only getting offered a tryout at training camp in a matter of four years.
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That's precisely what I'm not. Like I already said, I'm a hockey fan first and foremost, and that's what allows me to have some success wagering the NHL... I'm just a huge believer in Carey Price as you noticed!
If you have anything to propose, I'll consider and if it's anywhere near reasonable, I'll gladly accept the prop bet...Comment -
I am the same way. I don't have a favourite team, just favourite players and of course a fan of the game.That's precisely what I'm not. Like I already said, I'm a hockey fan first and foremost, and that's what allows me to have some success wagering the NHL... I'm just a huge believer in Carey Price as you noticed!
If you have anything to propose, I'll consider and if it's anywhere near reasonable, I'll gladly accept the prop bet...
As for the prop bet, something along the lines of top 5 GAAs in the league, or career best SV % is what I am thinking. And just for fun, odds on him not losing the starting role at one point in the season.
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The New Jersey Devils did more than sign Ilya Kovalchuk to a $100 million contract.
A byproduct of the revised 15-year deal was that the Devils helped the NHL and its players union reach an agreement on long-term contracts that will define how much money will count toward salary caps.
Lamoriello said the Devils acted in good faith and abided by the collective bargaining agreement in signing the 27-year-old Kovalchuk to a 17-year, $102 million deal in July.
However, the NHL vetoed the original contract a day later because it circumvented the salary cap. The NHL Players Association appealed and an arbiter upheld the league’s ruling.
That sent Kovalchuk and the Devils back to the bargaining table. A little more than month later, New Jersey sent a revised 15-year, $100 million deal to the league for approval.
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The Atlanta Thrashers have signed free agent forward Fredrik Modin, giving the team another veteran with experience in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The 35-year-old Modin had 11 points in 44 games with Columbus and the Los Angeles Kings last season. He signed a one-year contract.
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GAA and SV% should also be out of the question as his D (questionable) also play a role in helping him inflate his numbers. They can also help as well.
What about shootout goals allowed or losses?Comment -
Shootout goals allowed? Haha very funny.
This is the last statistic I'd use in such a prop bet... it doesn't dictate the goaltender's sucess in regular playing time. I didn't say I intended on betting on Price being good in breakaway situations.Comment -
If you look at it that critically there is literally no statistic you can use to gauge a goalie. This isn't baseball.
GAA and SV% are not really affected that much by the team in front of you if you're a good goaltender. You'll face a ton of shots but you'll also make more saves. At the end of the day, the number would reflect the kind of goalie you are.
I'll look at Price's numbers in the past and some league leaders and come up with some ideas.Comment -
I've always believed the best way to gauge a goalies talent is Save %. GAA can depend on your team (see Osgood/Nabokov) GAA and wins really depend a lot more on your team and system that they play.Comment -
While 20 of the League's best players were in New York for a preseason promotional tour, the NHL's Board of Governors gathered at a nearby hotel to approve a new tiebreaker system for the standings. Starting with the 2010-11 season, the tiebreaker among teams with the same total of points in the standings will go to the club with the most regulation and overtime wins -- no longer including shootout wins in the decision.
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