O-Pee-Chee Dreams

News For July 5th, 2008

-Pittsburgh Penguins sign Matt Cooke to a 2-year, $2.4 million deal (Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette)  After Jarrko Ruutu signed in Ottawa for an average of $1.3 million a season, the Penguins replace him with another pest in Cooke, save money, and get a better player in the process.  Ruutu has never cracked the 20 point mark in his career, while Cooke has cracked the 30-point barrier twice, and the once had 42 points (!) in 02-03.  Cooke may have a field day in the less gritty Eastern Conference, especially with Eric Godard, one of the best fighters in the NHL to back him up.

-Tampa Bay Lightning signs Zenon Konopka (Crunch Hockey ) Konopka, who was rumored to be sought after by several NHL clubs, including the Ottawa Senators, signs a deal with Tampa Bay rather than remain in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization.  According to Lindsay Kramer's article, he was offered a two-way deal for two years which would see him make $265k in the AHL, but turned it down in favour of a two-year deal with Tampa that would see him play on a two-way deal this season, followed by a one-way deal for next season.  Now, a one-way deal doesn't guarantee an NHL gig, but NHL GMs are much more loathe to demote one-way contracts, so Konopka felt Tampa Bay was the better option for him.  I've only seen him a handful of times, but from what I hear, he has AHL speed, but NHL heart, and could maybe get by as an energy line player.

Other News/Rumors/Conjecture

-15 NHLers have decided to take their clubs to salary arbitration this summer. (Tsn)  The players are

1.Ottawa: Antoine Vermette

2. Florida: Jay Bouwmeester

3 and 4. Washington: Brooks Laich and Shaone Morrisonn

5 and 6. Minnesota: Pierre-Marc  Bouchard and Stephane Veilleux

7. Boston: Dennis Wideman

8. Carolina: Chad LaRose

9. Colorado: Marek Svatos

10. NY Islanders: Sean Bergenheim

11. NY Rangers: Dan Fritsche

12. St. Louis: Jay McClement

13. San Jose: Marcel Goc

14. Detroit: Valtteri Filppula

15. Nashville: Ville Koistinen

What this means now, is that none of these players can now sign an offer sheet with another team.  So all those rumors of Vancouver making an offer sheet on Filppula, Ottawa on Jay Bouwmeester, or Calgary on Antoine Vermette can die.  Personally, if I'd been a team with lots of cap room, I think I would've made an offer on Brooks Laich who had a breakout season last year with 21 goals and 37 points, especially with Mike Green's $5+ million deal kicking in next year, to go with Jose Theodore's $4.5 million a season.  Some interesting RFAs not qualified, any of whom could sign an offer sheet with another team: Dan Paille, Buffalo; Pascal Leclaire and R.J. Umberger of Columbus; Jonathan Ericsson and Jimmy Howard of Detroit; Marc Pouliot, Edmonton; Anthony Stewart, Florida; Patrick O'Sullivan, Jarrett Stoll, Erik Ersberg and Brad Richardson of LA; Jaroslav Halak, Ryan O'Byrne and Josh Gorges of Montreal; Nigel Dawes, NY Rangers; Andrej Meszaros of Ottawa; Dan Carcillo of Phoenix; Ryane Clowe and Christian Ehrhoff of San Jose; Matt Stajan, Toronto; newly-acquired Steve Bernier, Vancouver; and Eric Fehr in Washington.

-Lots of Ottawa Senators rumors out there.  One has them making a deal with Toronto for either Bryan McCabe or Pavel Kubina, another has them acquiring Mathieu Schneider of Anaheim, while still, a third, has them acquiring Kyle McLaren of San Jose.

-Quite a few teams out there with an excess of defencemen.  Carolina has 9 NHL-calibre d-men; Detroit has 7, which will become 8 when Chris Chelios re-signs, and three prospects (Ericsson, Jakub Kindl, and Kyle Quincey) who are said to be ready for the big-time sooner rather than later; Florida has 8; Nashville has 6 with a number of youngsters waiting in the wings (Kevin Klein, Cody Franson, Jonathon Blum); New Jersey has 8 but is rumored to be dispatching Vitaly Vishnevski; Philadelphia has 8, as well, but Derian Hatcher is rumored to be starting the year on the Long Term Injured Reserve; Pittsburgh has 8 and outstanding youngster Alex Goligoski in the AHL, thus rumors have already begun about them sending one of their veteran defenceman, of which they have too many, to Tampa for one of their forwards, of which they have too many (Darryl Sydor for Nick Tarnasky and/or Jason Ward, maybe?  Or how about Rob Scuderi for Jussi Jokinen); Toronto has 8 NHL-calibre D-Men under contract, and are rumored to have signed/are in the process of signing Jonas Frogren.  Calgary GM Darryl Sutter feels you can never have too many experienced defencemen heading into the playoffs, but you have to figure something has to give for some of these teams.