Free Agent Frenzy

7/1/2007 | G8 Diplomat

[G8 Diplomat]

Today's the big day--all the GMs sign the best UFAs to their teams. So far Briere has signed with the Flyers (see my rant about that below), the Wings were negociating with Hasek, the Preds re-signed Nichols, the Bruins got Fernandez, the Ducks got Schneider (they are REALLY stacked now), Buffalo signed Mair, and more.

Here's the free-agent signing tracker: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?fid=4965

[G8 Diplomat]

Most of the signings I don't really care about, but Briere's little stint got me. EIGHT YEARS WITH THE FLYERS??? The Sabres offered him $5 million a year. That wasn't enough for him. He chose to go with the Flyers for $6.5 million/year. How greedy can you get? You're making a 7-figure income already, he can stay with Buffalo for $5 million and not go broke. I really don't believe he signed with a sucky team just for an extra $1.5 million. Is this about hockey or money?? And why 8 years?? That's a very long time, and he's getting $52 million over the course, with the first year giving him $10 million. That's insane. Yeah Philly has a lot of young guns but A.) Most of them aren't good enough to lift the team to the Cup B.) The draft picks have to finish college first, which will take half of Briere's contract length anyway, and C.) It takes more than a year for them to develop and become good in the NHL. He had a better shot at winning the Cup with Buffalo, but the offer wasn't high enough for him. Sad...And if Drury signs elsewhere I'm gonna go crazy. Briere and Drury were the best on the team, they can't afford to lose both.

Happy Canada Day, Briere! /sarc

[G8 Diplomat]

Hockey Ping!

[EQAndyBuzz]

He is also 30. His stats were pretty impressive but although he had a 95 point season, 32 goals doesn’t do it for me. Especially when he is going to a team that is going to expect him to score. He is going to have no one to pass to.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Question. Any hockey coaches out there at the Bantam level. E-mail me. I want to discuss strategy.

[fkabuckeyesrule]

So I can take my Flyers jersey out of my closet. LOL!

[mikrofon]

I’ve been following the UFA derby from the hometown here, and it does seem that “Show me the money” is the theme this year. Not that I can really blame Briere for leaving Buffalo, but I think upping the cap abruptly to $50.3M encourages this free-spending and undoes the discipline the league needs, only a few years after coming out of the lockout.

It would be nice if the Sabres had a shot at retaining Drury, but I’m not holding much hope for that. The one bright spot is that they have about $20M of non-committed salary next year to deal with Vanek and go into the market themselves.

[SamAdams76]

I wonder if Bobby Orr can be persuaded to come out of retirement for the Bruins. He’s had over 30 years of rest. Unfortunately, so has the rest of the team.

[G8 Diplomat]

Oh crap, Drury signed with the Rangers. Now NYR is stacked and the Sabres just lost their captains and best players. I said I’d go crazy if Drury left and believe me, I am. Not as crazy as when the Sens knocked Buffalo out of the Cup finals though ;)

I think I’ll just wave goodbye to the Cup now and save the trouble later.

[G8 Diplomat]

And I can put my Sabres one away

[Alberta's Child]

The Devils lost both Scott Gomez (to the Rangers) and Brian Rafalski.

Lou Lamoriello may be the best general manager in North American sports, but I gotta be wondering what's happening here in New Jersey. At the rate this team is declining, they're going to be playing in a brand-new arena next year with tons of empty seats.

[ConservativeStatement]

Paul Kariya to St. Louis is almost a done deal.

[secret garden]

Chin up. My team lost its captain, #1 goalie, and one of our 1st rounders and is in the process of losing Kariya and what did they do? Resigned Nichol, the biggest $750,000 step backward our team has done yet. Stunningly, they have sold an additional 1,000 season tickets but I have to wonder how many didn’t renew when they saw Forsberg as gone. I wish we had gotten Perrault back. He still owns a house here.

[secret garden]

I’m sorry. I was hoping we might land Drury. I am tempted to cancel our season tickets or at least cut them way back. The kid schedules are getting too complicated for regular hockey excursions, unfortunately.

[mikrofon]

Too bad about Drury in both cases, but what’s the use having him if the team’s in KC...

BTW, what is the scoop re: the CA guy who may buy the team and move it to MO? Is it a done deal?

[G8 Diplomat]

True...that must suck for Preds fans. Nashville’s not gonna do so well next year. Pity, they were a good team.

[secret garden]

There is a local group of health care execs trying to pony up the bucks but it looks like the Boots(KC guy) Biaggio deal may work. They won’t go anywhere for at least 2 more seasons, since we have the lease. We all feel slighted by Kariya since it’s now obvious it was never about the chance to win a cup - it was a chance to make some bucks. Now Tootoo has $18 million reasons to hit him. ;)

[secret garden]

Maybe our team of youngsters will surprise everybody this year. Hey, anything can happen! I cannot believe the major money being handed out by the Rangers, can you?

[Phsstpok]

Hockey? I thought this was about a real sport, not some poor relation to the Ultimate Fighting, the WWE or roller derby!

(grinning, ducking and deftly avoiding the board check)

[G8 Diplomat]

I cannot believe the major money being handed out by the Rangers, can you?

Nope. They were a good team already, I don't know why they're so deseperate to dish out the cash for the top UFAs. They played well in the playoffs; they don't NEED Drury and Gomez, although they certainly would help.