This is what I've seen so far...

Bowmeester to Calgary for Leopold and third round.... Calgary signed Bowmeester... I think this is a pretty big grab for them.

Hossa is in Chicago - lots of playoff experience and good replacement for Havlat who they are probably losing if they signed Hossa.

Mathias Ohlund is going to Tampa Bay Lightning - this should help them. Give them a more solid defence.

Dvorak is staying in Florida - not a big deal, but he got a 2 year deal worth 3.4 million. Not a bad payoff for a third liner.

Sedins are staying in Vancouver for 6.1 million each. Vancouver HAD to do this or waste away next season accomplishing nothing at all. And they had to sign both otherwise these guys are not worth 6 million each. Maybe 4.5 to 5 but not 6. Either way Vancouver needs them to do well.

Gomez is going to Montreal. Not sure if this is a smart move or not. Gomez is solid but I just don't know if it's going to be any easier in Montreal than in New York. It was a 7 player deal that moved him up there.... not really mentioning any of the other players because the only one worth mentioning is Higgins and even then it's not really worth talking about.



so, that's all for now. I'll keep updating this thread as stuff happens. Feel free to comment on the moves so far.... I think they're good for the most part. Free agency is basically teams filling in holes in their rosters from the previous year so most of the moves are as good as they can do basically.

Okay, some new news

Mike Knuble signed with Washington. He'll add some toughness that the Caps didn't really have last year.

Khabibulin is in Edmonton this year. And boy do they need him. Solid goaltending just hasn't been there for Edmonton the last few years. They've had some pretty good goaltenders but no one outstanding and this might be their chance to have one. He also signed for a reasonable amount. 15 million over 4 years.... so 3.75 per year. Not bad for a starting goalie.

Not much else so far, but I'm still enjoying the first free agent day! I've become a hockey nerd over the last few years... I'm excited about free agency starting up.... kinda silly but still really exciting to see what changes are made in the league. I'm also curious to see how many, if any of the draft picks play this season. I could see 2 or 3 (like Tavares) playing because their teams need a boost but I also expect it to be like Stamkos was last year. He's good in a the AHL, or where ever he was playing but to come up to the NHL and put up 50+ points is a lot harder

You don't know how annoyed I was when I heard about Knuble. But at least the Flyers got Boucher back as a backup (or starter, depending on Emery).

probably backup... realistically. I don't think Boucher is good enough to be a starter.... or at least they'll trade off games. Cause Emery with his head on straight is a good goalie....

Well, his GAA was like 2.19 or something along those lines. That's pretty good. Also, his save percentage was .917

Also, the key phrase there is "with his head straight." That's where the problems are. If he stays in line, we're set. IF

that's a fantastic GAA.... and yeah, I think there were problems between him and the coaches. Hopefully he fits better in with the new system.

Okay, new news....

Gaborik went to the Rangers, Havlat to the Wild... those are the 2 newest ones that I hadn't seen earlier.

I know there are a bunch of other signings and stuff but they're not as important.

Define new... (he was the Flyers goalie a few years ago).

Anyway, which move do you think will have the biggest impact?

OH, you meant Boucher? And I have to point out.... those stats were with San Jose.... so it's no surprise that they're that good.

He won't do that well with the Flyers. And yeah, he was with the flyers in like 2000-2001...

I thought you were talking about Emery...

I'll need to check his stats...uh...recently they're not so good, except from the 06-07 season. 918 save percentage and a 2.47 GAA with 5 shutouts

well, Emery did go downhill the last 2 seasons or so that he was with Ottawa. He didn't like the staff though. Look at his minutes played, wins/losses.... that was just a terrible season overall. He played in Russia last year (or for the last 2 years or something like that).... I'm guessing the Flyers are hoping to see the 06-07 Emery and not the following year one. He played 60 games and had a solid season. With Boucher as a backup picking up the other 20 or so games you guys might actually have solid goltending this year.

I certainly hope so. I liked Niittymaki though. I never thought he was given a fair chance with the Flyers. The only year he really got a chance to play was when we were the worst team in the NHL and our entire team stunk.

I just hope that completely changing our goaltending helps

it probably will help.... maybe not in the first month since you've made a fair number of moves but at some point the team will probably come together and be a formidable force.


Aucoin signed with Phoenix to a 1 year deal. That should free up cap room in Calgary since he was a 3.5 million dollar player when we had him.... I liked Aucoin but he's getting old and I think Calgary is trying to get younger.

Antropov signed with Atlanta, and Recchi signed with Boston.

That's basically all that's new for today.

Yeah, day 1 was exciting and full of moves. I don't figure today will even be remotely the same

it never is...

although I did notice that Heatley still hasn't moved. Sounds like there aren't any teams willing to take him or Ottawa wants too much for him. Either way as long as he doesn't play on Calgary I don't care.

I'll bet it's the first one. And as long as he doesn't become a Flyer, I don't care

yeah... I don't blame other teams... I think he's earning 7.5 million a year... and he's not performing nearly well enough to make that much money.

He's making that much?! Wow, no wonder nobody wants him

I know!

I'd give him 5 million... cause he will put up solid points... maybe 5.5 but not 7.5 million.

nevermind... I just looked at his stats and I would pay him 6.5 or 7... as long as his production went back up. He was getting 100 points in a season... sure, he's down to 72 which isn't worth 7.5 million... but that seems to be the way it goes with huge contracts.

Well, that kind of decreased production is usually a sign. I wouldn't risk it

so, partially as a way to get this thread going again and partially because I want to complain about this....


Hossa got a 12-year deal?!? 12 years? the guy is already in his 30's.... and they gave him 12 years.... that's just a bad idea. Sure, it's only 5 million a year which 5+ years from now won't be a huge hit on the cap (assuming it starts going up again).... and sure he'll be a solid player for them for a while.... probably.... but I still can't believe the 12 year contract.... what if he keeps getting injured? He's having a shoulder surgery soon and who knows what condition he'll be in after that.... I think it was a bad move on Chicago's part.... plus signing 12 years for Hossa might limit their chances on keeping Toews, Kane, Seabrook, etc.... I don't think that team has too many chances to win the cup before they have to break up at least part of the team.

Ehh... I really don't follow sports but hockey is my favorite. Havn't followed it recently but I like Avalanche (my home team) and Calgary the most. Has the season started? I'm in the dark lol but think I might go watch some games

My team use to be awesome had Patrick Roy, Peter Foresburg, Joe Sakic but those days are well over

oh . Oh well, I guess I can forgive you because you're a Calgary fan .

And yeah, the Avalance did have an awesome team. However with Sakic retiring and Smyth leaving for LA they are in total rebuild mode. The nice thing is that to rebuild is fairly easy. Sure there might be a season or 2 with a bad record but free agency and draft picks are usually enough to allow a team to build back up.

The season hasn't started.... I just started this thread on the opening of free agency (July 1) to get us talking about the next season. Games don't start until October (regular season) or mid-september for exhibition games.

Wait, Hossa got a 12 YEAR DEAL?! How did I not hear about this? He's way too old for that kind of long-term deal. What were they thinking?

I have no idea. It wasn't mentioned when he first signed.... it was just reported that he had signed with Chicago. But yeah, he's got a 12 year contract for 60+ million dollars... it's just over 5 million a year which per year isn't bad... I just can't believe they want him for 12 years.

They won't even have him that long. I know he'll be done before that contract expires. Hopefully they wise up and restructure it, for their sake

they might... I just wouldn't want to be 3 season down the road trying to trade him off after he pulls a Gaborik and can't produce. Not that I think he will for sure, but 12 years is a long time to sign anyone....

although, I just remembered that they let Khabibulin (probably misspelled his name) go so that is like 7-8 million they just saved on his contract.... they're not as bad off as I was thinking.... but Toews and Kane are both going to get pretty large contracts soon.

http://www.sportscity.com/NHL/Chicago-Blackhawks-Salaries I think that is current. At least the players are.... they're pretty close to the cap.... I'm really not sure how they'll pay Toews and Kane along with the rest of that team. Something has got to give....

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=457975

might be a problem with the Hossa contract.... it's pretty short but quite interesting. Apparently his contract starts off large and then gets smaller as he gets older (makes sense) but it sounds like if he retires early there could be a problem. Sounds like just at an investigative stage right now but there could be fairly severe penalties to the Hawks if this is done to circumvent the cap.

Can't say I'm shocked , and they're probably gonna get in soe trouble. But let me get this straight, they'll be freeing up cap room greater than the money he'll receive in those years, which would mean they're getting extra cap room, correct?

I'm not really sure what the big deal is now that I've read the article again. But when I added up the numbers they gave in the article he's going to make like 73 million, not 62.8 like the contract says....

7.9 for 7 years - 55.3 million
4 for year 8 - 4 million
3.5 for last 4 years - 14 million

that equals 73.3 million.... I'm not sure what the problem is here with those numbers... why I'm getting such a difference. But maybe this is the problem right here. He's getting the bulk of his money in 7 years and then he'll probably retire before the last few years are paying out which means the Hawks don't take the cap hit anymore and can sign someone else. The way the contract is built seems to make that the most likely thing that is going to happen. Either way I'm sure we'll hear about this at some point again whether the contract is bad and if the Hawks pay a penalty for it.

Well, if they're doing what I think they're doing, then they probably will get a penalty

yeah, it really does look like something sneaky was done.... although they have to be pretty sure that this was done on purpose.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=433516&navid=DL|NHL|Home

this is a list of the major free agents still unsigned.... people that have actually played in the nhl already.

Any in the list that you would get, or think a certain team you follow should pick up? There are a couple guys in that list that I would pick up if I could get them for a good price. Calgary has no cap space or I'd offer up some suggestions for them....

I don't think that the Flyers are gonna make any moves, but there are some decent players out there. Tanguay might have had injury problems the last couple years, but he's pretty good when healthy, it seems. Satan is getting older, but I think he's still a decent player, even if he didn't have such a good year with the Pens. Like NHL.com, I think there was a chemistry problem

yeah, Satan would probably do well with any other team....

and Tanguay only had a bad season with Montreal... he was great when he was with Calgary, for the most part.

It seems a lot of players have good seasons in Calgary and then get signed for more than they are worth when their contracts are up. Oh well, our loss is someone else's salary cap hit

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=463425

Roenick is retiring.... I couldn't be happier.

I'm so tired of him. He's such an ass. I couldn't stand listening to his interviews or hearing about his off-ice antics... I'm just glad to see him go.

"I'm so tired of him. He's such an ass. I couldn't stand listening to his interviews or hearing about his off-ice antics... I'm just glad to see him go."

I completely agree, especially since he's an ex-Flyer