NHL Free Agent frenzy day

[WOLF]

Best day of the year along with the trade deadline? So far we have:

Gonchar to the Sens (terrible deal IMO; too much term and money for his age)

Alex Tanguay to the Flames

Z. Michalek to the Pens

Alex Auld to the Habs as their backup 'tender

Colby Armstrong to the Leafs (we get it Brian, you like tough players, but who will score for you)

Nittymaki to the Sharks

Malhotra to the Canucks

Jody Shelley to the Flyers

Andrej Meszaros traded to the Flyers

Sean O'Donnell to the Flyers

Marty Biron to the Rangers

[Lardbucket]

None of these moves make me say "Wow".
Hopefully Niittymaki makes the Sharks forget about Antti Niemi and keeps his price tag lower for the Hawks.

[WOLF]

More:

Hamhuis to the Canucks (love Vancouver's additions today)

Kurtis Foster to Edmonton

Dan Ellis to Tampa

Henrik Tallinder to NJ

Toni Lydman to Anaheim

Ray Whitney to Phoenix

Paul Martin to Pittsburgh (also like the adds to the Pens D today)


To me it's looking like there is almost no place for the free agent goalies to go. Nabakov, Turco, Theodore, Chris Mason, Budaj, Toskela, etc are all available. The new trend is spend little on your goalies and shore up your offence and D.

Also, some big names are still out there: Kovalchuk, Frolov, and Volchenkov are probably the biggest.

[Lardbucket]

Yeah, the Canucks are making some nice moves.
Everything I've read says the Kings are going to go hard at Kovalchuk.

[WOLF]

Andrew Ladd traded to the Thrashers

Johan Hedberg signs with NJ (I guess they've finally realized Brodeur shouldn't play 75 games)

Chris Mason to Atlanta

Jordan Leopold to Buffalo

Matt Cullen to Minny

Volchenkov to New Jersey (they are going to be strong on the back end with the additions of Volchenlov and Tallinder)

[Anne_Thrax]

I think we got a goalie, I repeat, I think we got a goalie

[alecjonsludge]

Gonchar to the Sens (terrible deal IMO; too much term and money for his age)

Hard to believe all the pundits are praising this deal.Don't get me wrong,I'm a big Gonchar fan,but he has been quite fragile(oft injured) the past two seasons.He's also at the age where regardless of where or how he gets hurt,it goes against the cap.If he were to get run over by a truck crossing the street tomorrow,his contract can't be taken off the books.The Pens were offering the same money(5.5 per) but only at 2 years.IMO this 3rd year could potentially handicap Murray and the Sens.

While he is a PP juggernaut, he has a tendancy to be soft in his own end.Many times I've seen him ease up and allow his competitor to go by him and scoop up a puck in the corner rather than take the hit for getting there first.

Martin and Michalek are great additions to a Pens D that was lacking a little depth.