My Take on Free Agency ’09

Well, the first couple days of free agency have passed, and the landscape of the league has shifted dramatically in some spots, while there is still much more work to do in others.  I don’t want to break down every move, as I leave that to the experts (read: Dreger, Darren;  McGuire, Pierre; McKenzie, “Big Head” Bob), but I present to you my take.  In case anyone is having a difficult time tracking all the moves, or want them neatly sorted by team, TSN.ca has done a wicked-awesome job on this page.  Anyways, here’s what I think about what some of the teams have done so far:

Brian Burke: Real Man of Genius

Toronto Maple Leafs

As any regular reader of this blog has come to know, this is my team.  And so far, I’m hella-impressed.  I know that the whole “Brian Burke is putting his trademark / stamp” on the Leafs is already covered, but so what?  He openly declares it everywhere he goes, acquires physical players, drafts giants, and gives his teams an “identity.”  When told by a co-worker that the Leafs acquired pugilist Colton Orr, I grimaced and responded, “if they spent more than a million per year on him, I’m going to be sick.”  Luckily for me and the aforementioned co-worker, Orr will make a million per season.  That works for me – the Leafs sorely lacked an enforcer last season, leaving then-18 year old Luke Schenn to engage in fisticuffs with the league’s tough guys.  Not anymore.  Toronto was then able to ship overpaid defenceman Pavel Kubina to Atlanta for another physical presence in Garnet Exelby.  The few times I was able to see Exelby last year (playing on Atlanta doesn’t exactly give one much exposure), I loved his grit.  Lastly, the crown jewel of Toronto’s acquisitions is undoubtedly former Canadiens’ d-man Mike Komisarek.  This guy is another prototypical rugged Burkian player, but has talent far surpassing that of Exelby and Orr.  I love what’s being done here, as Burke is placing the foundation for a solid team a couple years down the line.  I’m not going to get unrealistically excited for this season, as I think there will be many nights where Toronto will be searching for goals.  I should note here that I spoke personally with former NHL defenceman Andy Delmore regarding these moves, and he’s a fan of the Komisarek acquisition.  Also noteworthy – Delmore’s description of Orr was (affectionately stated), a “mutant.”

Chicago Blackhawks

Wow.  Well, they have officially made themselves Stanley Cup runner ups for the next 12 seasons.  But seriously, they better win next season, or else they’re going to be in a world of trouble, contract-wise.  With such a young, talented team, there’s going to be big-time contract issues in the coming seasons.  I almost want to write, “look at what happened to Pittsburgh – they spent all their money on the big two (Crosby / Malkin) and lost talents like Ryan Malone, Colby Armstrong, and Erik Christensen!”… but then, you know, they won the Cup this year.  Regardless, Hossa is a nice upgrade over Havlat (particularly if Havlat returns to form in ’09/’10… that is, stuck on the Disabled List).  Still though – twelve years?? That’s insanity.  Chicago’s pick-up of another Wing, Tomas Kopecky, improves depth with another skill player up front.  These young Hawks are loaded, have the experience from this past season’s deep playoff run, and have put a dent into division rival Detroit.  Losing Khabibulin will hurt them in net, unless they can find a decent platoon-mate for Cristobal Huet (who has proven with numerous teams that he isn’t a clear-cut #1), but I expect Chicago to be looking to get into high-scoring games.  It’ll probably be an effective style in the regular season, but I’m not sure how good it’ll go over come playoff time next year (particularly when Marian Hossa becomes David Copperfield and disappears).  I’m not ready to crown this Chicago team yet, but if you wanna crown them, then crown their asses!

Detroit Red Wings

Well, it looks like that impressive minor league depth that Detroit has shown in glimpses over the past few seasons will go on full-time display.  They’ve lost Hossa and Kopecky to Chicago, backup goalie (although he was a 50/50 goalie in the regular season) Ty Conklin to St. Louis, and there are still quite a few unsigned free agents.  In the local paper, GM Ken Holland stated that shot-happy winger Mikael Samuelsson has “better offers elsewhere,” and that Detroit’s basically offered all they can.  Jiri Hudler needs a contract too.  The biggest blow, however, is undoubtedly the loss of Chris Chelios.  Chelios was, without argument, the best defenceman (if not, overall player) on that team last season, and his skill (read: veteran “savvy”) will leave a gaping hole on the blueline.

Montreal Canadiens

This is a tough team to assess so early.  They’ve made huge moves, yet they still have holes to fill.  First off, they tried to replace Komisarek’s physical blueline presence with recent Cup-winner Hal Gill.  I can see Gill becoming an instant target for fan vitriol in Montreal, not only because he’s both a former Maple Leaf and Bruin, but because he’s a slow-ass, lumbering skater.  On a lousy team (Toronto), his lack of foot speed was repeatedly exposed.  On a good team (Pittsburgh), he was part of a shut-down defensive pairing.  I think he maxed out his potential in Pittsburgh, and his production will drop a bit under the microscope in Montreal.  Now, on to the real action up at forward.  Or I should say down at forward.  Moving from the towering Gill, we have midget acquisitions: Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, and Mike Cammalleri.  I honestly can’t wait to see Montreal and Toronto meet this year.  I mean, it’ll likely be 5-1 Montreal, but I expect their little guys to pay.  This is another team that, like Chicago, I can see putting together a productive enough regular season but fading in the playoffs due to their lack of size up front.  New, tiny faces, but same old story in Montreal.

Gionta and Gomez will re-unite in Montreal

Calgary Flames

I don’t know what to make of what’s going on here.  Straight up.  Their defence should be among the league’s best, despite losing superstars Jordan Leopold and Adrian Aucoin.  How many teams would like to see Jay Bouwmeester AND Dion Phaneuf suiting up for them for the next few years?  The answer is probably all of them.  The talented D should help offset the loss of Cammalleri’s goal-scoring, as they’ll keep teams off the board (provided Kipper plays like the horse I think he is and not like a retard).  A full season out of Olli Jokinen will help the offence as well.

Minnesota Wild

The team loses an oft-injured sniper (Marian Gaborik), but quickly filled the gap with an oft-injured sniper (Martin Havlat).  Works for me.  Other signee Greg Zanon will not have an impact during this season, or any season, for the remainder of his NHL career.

Nashville Predators

The loss of free agent Greg Zanon to the Minnesota Wild is utterly devastating to this club, and I’m thinking that this is a rebuilding year.

New Jersey Devils

I didn’t notice what was happening here until I checked out that TSN link I mentioned at the top of this article.  I assumed that the Devils were just quiet this off-season, but they’ve actually lost a few key players.  John Madden and Michael Rupp have both been reliable role players throughout their time in Jersey, while Brian Gionta provided a second scoring threat after Zach Parise.  Scott Clemmensen proved that he’s capable of holding his own as a #1 goaltender for an extended period of time (during Marty Brodeur’s injury last season) – Florida may have got a steal signing Clemmensen, especially if they’re able to ship Vokoun for something reasonable down the line.  Martin Brodeur back at 100% this season will offset Clemmensen’s loss, but steady players like Gionta, Madden, and Rupp will be missed over the course of the season.

New York Rangers

Another candidate for the “Who knows?” category.  Then again, whichever team signed Marian Gaborik would fit under this title.  Contract-wise, they offloaded the disappointing Alaskan-Mexican Scott Gomez (and his big-ass contract), and put it towards a dude who can’t make it through an entire season, but is dynamic when he does play.  Wait and see.

Ottawa Senators

TRADE DANY HEATLEY SOON OR ELSE HE OFFER A TEAMMATE A RIDE HOME!

This happened last time a team pissed Heater off

Pittsburgh Penguins

They’ve grown worse with the losses of defencemen Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, particularly with no immediate replacements in sight.

Tampa Bay Lightning

I like what Tampa did here.  While they overpaid for Mattias Ohlund (not on a per-season basis.. but SEVEN years?), he’ll be a steady mentor for #2 pick, and fellow countryman, defenceman Victor Hedman.  With Steven Stamkos and Hedman, the Lightning have a solid future.  Depending on what the team does with Vinny Lecavalier (ie: trade him for even more young talent), Tampa could be stockpiling for the future.

That’s it for my thoughts on this whole free agency thing.  But I’ll leave you with this gem from Jay Onrait’s twitter account, posted yesterday:

“Happy Canada Day! Come out of your basements and enjoy all the cities in this great country that Dany Heatley doesn’t want to play in…”