It's that time again where we fill you in on what is happening elsewhere in the NHL. Not much happened this week as far as the amount of signings, but we do have some surprising pick ups. So buckle up cause we got a weeks worth of NHL news coming at you in just one jam packed article.
First up, veteran center Mike Modano will not be wearing a star on his sweater next season as he agreed to a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings. Modano, 40, has spent his last 16 seasons as a Dallas Star and it looked as if he was nearing retirement until he was approached by the Red Wings. Modano notched 30 points last season with the Stars ( 14 goals 16 assists ). Modano is ranked 23rd all-time for points by a player with 1,359 ( 557 goals and 802 assists ).
Another veteran was picked up this week, John Madden. Madden, who helped the Blackhawks win the cup last season, agreed to a one-year $1 million contract. Madden, 37, has won 3 Stanley Cups including the one with the 'hawks.
2009-2010 stats: 10 G 13 A 23 PTS
Christobal Huet's agent is on the hunt to find him a new home. The Blackhawks just recently gave their rookie goaltender, Antti Niemi, the boot and are now looking to dump Huet who has 2 years left on his contract. With the recent signing of Marty Turco, the Blackhawks look free up additional cap space, roughly $5.6 million, as that is the amount that Huet will receive each season under his current contract. Huet served as backup to goaltender Antti Niemi, going 26-14-4 with a 2.50 GAA and a .895 SV % during the 2009-2010 season.
The Edmonton Oilers inked veteran goaltender Martin Gerber to a one-year deal. Gerber, 35, played in the Russian KHL last season where he was 15-6-6 as a starter with a 2.19 GAA and a posting a .914 SV%. Does this rule out Edmonton as a possible home for Antti Niemi? We shall see.
Teemu Selanne is set to return to the Anaheim Ducks for another season. The 40 year-old winger will be entering his 12th season as a Duck. I would't be surprised if he still had another year or two after this one, 48 points at the ripe age of 40 is still pretty solid.
2009-2010 stats: 27 G 21 A 48 PTS
A verdict has yet to be reached in the Ilya Kovalchuck hearings. In what I will dub thee as Koval-gate, arbitrator, Richard Bloch, has yet to make his decision in what will determine if Kovy will wear a Devils jersey for the next 17 seasons or if he will be sent back to the free agent pool. Kovalchuck and the Devils had agreed on a 17 year, $102 million contract, which was vetoed by the NHL on the basis that it circumvents the leagues salary cap. It is rumored that a decision could come Monday.
Antti Niemi's future is still uncertain. I thought for sure a few teams would have stepped up and shown interest already but I haven't heard anything. I'm still sticking with the following as possible landing spots for Niemi: Stars, Islanders, Panthers, and Lightning.
Niemi will not go to the Lightning They have Mike Smith and Ellis now and are not going to over pay as they said before they are happy with their additions so far and are not going to change their team any more than they have adding gagne and Ellis.
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David Heikkila ladies and gents.
ReplyDeletedef need a new hockey writer, this shit sucks
ReplyDeleteI disagree. What exactly sucks about it? If you give me some good reasons I'd actually respect your perspective. Except there won't be any reasons because all this is doing is reporting things that happen and telling stats and shit. I really don't see what problem you have with it.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it does and Derek that’s fucking fact that’s bullshit We have as good a chance getting Ovechkin as the lightning getting Niemi. Stars Bullshit they have Kari Lehtonen and Raycroft so that’s bullshit as well. So on that note I rest my case.
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terminology is whack, the shit about kovy is all wrong because kovy's deal was too frontloaded to be allowed by the CBA. circumventing the leagues salary cap? wtf does that even mean? predictions are ludicrous. points by a player? obv by a player, no goalie is guna get over 1,000 pts. seems like he either doesn't know hockey, or copied and pasted from a different shitty site.
ReplyDeleteThe very last sentence of this blog is the only one that you have a problem with. Well why don't you tell me where Niemi is going to land because at least he's given places that remotely make sense. Listen to yourself Heikkila, Andrew Raycroft? Niemi just won the fucking cup as a rookie goaltender you don't think a team would mind upgrading to him? Any of these are possible, you're making it sound like Mike Smith or Kari Lehtonen are all-star goalies. I'm literally cracking up at my computer screen haha.
ReplyDeleteAnd circumventing the salary cap is the way NHL.com phrased it so I'm not sure how much more accurate you'd like him to get? Points by a player... what would you like him to say? Is Modano a player? But if you guys have a problem then you don't need to read the blog because I don't see a problem with our hockey writer right now. I find it ridiculous that you do, personally.
ReplyDeletei think i have to agree w drob on this one... these posts are really just reporting the news, he's barely writing anything that is opinion. and btw i know what circumvent means so its really not that crazy a word..
ReplyDeleteDrob you don’t know everything on this. Ellis and Smith are a fine Tandem the lightning are happy with them and Lehtonen is actually a good goalie who has been on a shitty team, so you’ll have to watch and find out for yourself. Raycroft also was a great back-up last year when Luongo went down check that out.
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Heikkila Niemi won the fucking Stanley Cup all I'm saying is that any of those teams WOULD be upgrading by getting him. So you can't say there's no chance they'll do it. Do you think any of those "fine tandems" will be good enough to win the Cup? Absolutely not, and I'm glad Raycroft was a great BACKUP but I'll just remind you again that Niemi was the starting goaltender on the Stanley Cup Champions last year.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather have manny fernandez than niemi
ReplyDeleteFuck you you’ll see I’m not wrong about this none of those teams would screw with their cap just for Anti Niemi this late who had great defense last year and is actually quite overated.
ReplyDeleteHeikkila
Haha easy Heikkila all I'm asking is for you to pick 4 different teams than KShep did and predict which one he'll go to, and then we'll just see who has the shittiest prediction before you friggan lynch the kid over a prediction.
ReplyDeletechi saw greatness from niemi so much that they decided to let him go for nada and get old ass turco and still say they will win the cup, proving that niemi isnt good and they wudnt move just 1.75 mill of cap to hold on to him. niemi being good was a fluke, guna tank on any team or go unsigned
ReplyDeleteAlright, you got me on player. Let me correct myself, "Modano is ranked 23rd all-time in points scored."....is that more to your liking? I say player for the simple fact that a goalie does get credit for assists. If you had read last weeks update and even the july 25th post I quoted, "circumvents the league salary cap". No reason to keep quoting it since it has, since then, become every day knowledge in the NHL community. I know the deal was front loaded, he was set to make $95 million of the $102 million in the first 12 seasons. The reason the Devils did that is so that they wouldn't take such a large hit in salary cap, that's why the NHL ruled against it. He was only going to make about $550,000 the last 5 years of the contract.
ReplyDeleteAs for the predictions, I honestly don't expect you to agree with them. For you to say that my predictions are "bullshit" is such an amateur thing to say. If you don't agree with them then why don't you come up with a reason as to why you don't agree. Show me some facts and come at me with a good arguement. Let me break down the reasons as to why I chose the teams that I chose as landing spots for Niemi starting with the ones you hastily disagreed with:
Dallas Stars: They just unloaded Marty Turco, but I'm sure you're aware because you seem to know more about hockey than I do. Yea, Kari Lehtonen is good, I don't disagree. But, Niemi is coming off of a cup win. Valuable experience if you ask me. Lehtonen may have more overall experience, granted they're the same age, but you can't argue that Lehtonen will hold his own down the stretch and into the playoffs, where Niemi already has a cup to prove he's worth the money. Oh I forgot to mention that Lehtonen is 0-2-0 with a 5.59 GAA in the playoffs. Winner, Niemi. And, seriously, Andrew Raycroft? I would literally love to just laugh in your face for saying Raycroft is better than Niemi.
Lightning: Who the hell are Dan Ellis and Mike Smith? Oh, I know why I haven't heard of them, neither was a starter. I don't know what Tampa's payroll is but $2.5 million for one year, the amount that it would take in order to sign Niemi, could be worth it to have a Stanley Cup caliber goalie on your roster. Oh, just so you don't question where I got that figure, it was the amount awarded to Niemi by an arbitrator.
Panthers: Vokoun is getting up there in age. They have 26 year-old Chris Beckford-Tseu, 23 year-old Alexander Salak, and 23 year-old Tyler Plante who all combine for a total of 3 games played. Why wouldn't they consider Niemi?
Islanders: The only goaltender on the Islanders that wasn't over a 3.00 GAA was Rick DiPietro, and DiPietro is coming off of a knee injury. Islanders need some serious help between the pipes.
I'm with you KShep. Apparently Stanley Cups are just flukes though. You win with the backup goalies, it's no big deal that Niemi has played 1 season and is 1-for-1 winning the Cup, which if I'm not mistaken is the only objective each year. Every goalie's job in the league is to ultimately help his team win the Stanley Cup and I'm pretty sure exactly 1 goaltender in the league can do that? And it was Niemi? So in a way doesn't that mean he was the most successful goaltender last year since everyone else fell short? Yeah other goalie had better numbers, but who got his team the victories? Don't give me the bullshit that he had great defense and he's just a fluke, Stanley Cup experience as a rookie goaltender isn't something to just shrug off. Niemi joins Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy, and Cam Ward as the only rookie goalies to win the cup. I'd say he's in good company. All I'm saying is that you cannot tell me any of those teams would never consider getting Niemi. Seriously bro just look at the goalies you named. Niemi is an upgrade over all of them.
ReplyDeleteHere's the bottom line I'm addressing to Heikkila, who brought up cap space. Tampa has $14 million left in cap space with 3 roster spots open. Dallas has $12 million to fill 1 roster spot. Florida has $9 million with an already filled out roster. Edmonton has $11 million with an already filled out roster. What exactly would screw up any of these teams cap situations again? Get your facts straight boy! +1 for team UB.
Heikkila I told you why I don’t agree with your predictions they simply won’t happen it’s not that hard to understand.
ReplyDeleteEdmonton has Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers who is excellent if you have ever seen him play and e’s really young to he can definitely fill the goalie slot there and they also have khabibulin and there is no chance in hell dallas or Tampa will pick him up so those three predictions are absurd end of story.
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But actually Heikkila that isn't all you said, you said the reason was those teams "wouldn't screw with their cap" to sign him. And I just shot that point down like a bird flying through a shooting range. So now that cap isn't a problem and you didn't argue against the plain and simple fact that Niemi is a better goalie than any of those guys, where's your argument? It's gone..... PLUS YOU STILL HAVEN'T MADE YOUR PREDICTION LIKE I TOLD YOU TO, IF THESE 4 TEAMS ARE SUCH SHITTY PREDICTIONS THEN GIVE ME 4 MORE LIKELY DESTINATIONS.
ReplyDeleteLMFAO Heikkila your arguments are so terrible, you give me a no-name goalie and just say trust me he's nasty... and then you just say there's "no chance in hell" the other teams will get him. I'm not really convinced by your arguments.... we're bringing the facts and you're bringing opinions...
ReplyDeleteK shep if you haven’t heard of Mike Smith or Dan Ellis you don’t know fucking shit about hockey Ellis was a starter for Nashville and Mike Smith has been the Lightnings goalie now for almost two years and before he was on dallas and has a lot of potential so KShep read a book about the NHL and Goaltending cause you don’t seem to know shit and then get back to me.
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DRob for youhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gGo4cYgMHI
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gGo4cYgMHI
ReplyDeleteHaha awesome Heikkila I could make a highlight video like that for Hannu Toivenen too? Who cares about highlights I want proven experience. And by the way before you go calling KShep a retard you should get a few things straight, Dan Ellis and Mike Smith.... neither of them have ever played more than 44 games in a season in their entire careers so don't act like they're starters let alone Stanley Cup caliber starters. 31 games last season for Ellis... did you say he was a "starter" for Nashville? Still cracking up at my screen lmfao. Smith has a lot of potential... he's 28 years old? When will he develop if he hasn't yet? Just stop acting like either guy is better than Niemi... here are the #'s which don't lie from last season.
ReplyDeleteMike Smith, 3.09 GAA, .900 %
Dan Ellis, 2.64 GAA, .909 %
Antti Niemi, 2.25 GAA, .912 %
Just give up Heikkila, Niemi is better. He won the cup and has better #s by a significant margin.
Yes but they will not sign him though I’m just simply telling you.
ReplyDeleteHeikkila this is the last time I'm going to ask you to make a better prediction, where will he go? If you know those predictions are so shitty then that means you must know better possibilities. Tell me now.
ReplyDeleteI’m not going to make a prediction I’m just disproving a few teams that were predicted.
ReplyDeleteAtlanta Florida Montreal NY Islanders better
ReplyDeleteDRob aren’t those more suitable
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAH well KShep had the Islanders and Florida both in his prediction so you sound slightly retarded there.... Montreal is not going to get him, they just traded Halak because they are completely invested in Carey Price, that's the dumbest prediction out of all of them... lmfao this argument is over Heikkila, but if you start a hockey blog I'll argue with you on that.
ReplyDeletecheck out how discussions are going with Price.... not so good.
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I know I am more knowledgable than this K Shep kid who apparently hasn’t heard of NHL starting goaltenders have fun with this kid writing for you he’s a real keeper!
ReplyDeleteHAHA Heikkila I don't know how many times I have to tell you but Mike Smith and Dan Ellis are not starters that's just a fact, by the number of games they play, they have split time with another goalie every single year, so I think you just lost any chance of ever being hired by UB... plus KShep's article just got like 300 hits to the website from you so basically this is exactly what a website wants. And on top of all that it's finally time to accept the fact that some people DO know as much about hockey as you Dave.
ReplyDeleteYou don’t even make money on UB and I wouldn’t want to be hired either and you basically said if you write an article thats absurd and people won’t agree with that’s great well you’ll see smith and ellis will be a good 1a & 1b tandem. http://www.rawcharge.com/2010/7/1/1548267/what-tampa-can-expect-from-dan
ReplyDeletelmfao alright we'll see what happens, maybe they'll change the rules and give a dual-vezina trophy to dan ellis and mike smith because they are both so good, almost good enough to have played a half-season more than once in their career.... then when they win that award and niemi goes unsigned i will say you were right.
ReplyDeleteOk lol sounds like a plan someone will sign Niemi but not Dallas nor Tampa & K Shep wasn’t knowledgable on Dan ellis or Mike Smith so obviously he doesn’t know too much.
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http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qw4ki-iLo_U/TF5CD03BvxI/AAAAAAAAA2k/j1tEUZJfnM0/s1600/evie3.jpg
ReplyDeleteYo, I know who Mike Smith and Dan Ellis are. I was making my point by saying no one knows of them because they were BOTH BACKUPS last season. Smith backed up Niittymaki in Tampa and was 13-18-7 as a starter and Ellis backed up Rinne the past two seasons for Nashville. I wonder why the Preds went with Rinne over Ellis after Ellis had that one good season in 2007-2008. Seriously, if you think you can do a better job than me, then by all means start your own blog. I'm not even going to waste my time over this since you won't come at me with solid facts. You have been unable to convince me that Dan Ellis and Mike Smith are superior to Niemi. All you keep saying is, trust me, they're nasty. And all I have been blogging about is news and you all of a sudden you come out of nowhere and try and shit on a few 4 predictions? Relax Barry Melrose, they're just predictions. I'm not saying that one of those teams is where he will end up, they're just likely candidates.
ReplyDeleteYeah Heikkila gotta agree with KShep you aren't Barry Melrose despite thinking you are.... from a neutral perspective you haven't brought much to the table in this argument to justify saying KShep sucks.
ReplyDeleteOk buddy
ReplyDeleteI think I set a new record for having the most comments on a post, thanks Heikkila....you're not only giving me more views but your giving Ultimate Boston more views....please, keep the naive comments coming. We're the ones benefiting at your expense.
ReplyDeleteHaha yes. Gold.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch hockey and I can tell that this Hekkila fella has a terrible argument... And Drob and Kshep... you don't have to defend your Posts... You've made your arguement in the article... You don't see Dan Shaunessy and Bob Ryan Defending their articles in the Boston.com comments section. You want people to criticze your article, that means they were interested.
ReplyDeleteI like it. I'll drink to that, Shane.
ReplyDeleteI mean Enahs.*
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