Congratulations to the LA Kings for winning their second Stanley Cup in 3 seasons. Now this is where the fun begins. Which free agents will go to which teams? Which teams will make a splash on draft day? Who will be the number 1 overall pick in this years draft? Only time will tell. You are all welcome to speculate however you would like, and I encourage you all to do so.

Will Mike Richards be a king when the new season starts? Will Broduer be a devil? Where will Vanek end up? How about Moulson? What will Shanahan do to this off season to shake up the maple leafs? What will go down in Vancouver? Will Edmonton finally be able to make the transition to becoming a playoff contender? Who will be announcing their retirement this summer?

Share your thoughts, report on NHL news, comment on speculation, talk about which teams you are most excited to follow, and which teams you believe will take a step forward or backward.

I would like to begin this thread by saying congratulations to Teemu Selanne for having a spectacular career, and that I wish him happiness and the best of luck in the next chapter of his life.

Well I guess I will be the first person to post here.

Jaroslav Halak signed with the Islanders for 4 years. This is huge for the Islanders, as it makes them a legitimate threat now. They would have beaten the Penguins in round 1 of the playoffs 2 seasons ago if it hadn't been for Nabokov's weak goal tending. They also now have the rights to Dan Boyle, so hopefully they will be able to sign him. That would also be HUGE for the Islanders, as their defense is not the best. I see Matt Moulson returning to the Islanders. He loved being there and he loves the other Islanders players. Tavares and Okposo are the godfathers of his two kids. I know that Moulson wants to return to New York, the only question is - does Garth Snow want him back?

Also, I want Brodeur to stay a Devil, but I don't think it will happen. Brodeur wants to keep playing and the Devils don't want him anymore.

Have you heard the rumor that Phaneuf is going to be traded away? Honestly if it happens it won't affect me, but how badly would the team suffer and who do you think would fill in for him?

BluemageKyle : Didn't they just sign Phaneuf to like a 7 year deal or something at the beginning of the year? I'm surprised to hear that they are trying to trade him. (Islanders! Go get him! You NEED defense!)

I would love for Phaneuf to be traded. Hes not captain material at all, and his benefits to the team do not outweigh his detriments. The isles have a nice set of young players so if the leafs can grab a few in return, I would not be disappointed.

bobq : I totally agree, I'd try to like the Leafs but I can't because of Phaneuf. 

2SedinsNoCup : I think it was Phaneuf requesting a trade from the team sometime after the playoffs. (Probably because of how far they didn't get.)

The leafs will never win a cup again they stink, and my B's window for a cup is closed for a while they blew it in 5 of the last 6 years.

Marian Gaborik just signed a 7 year extension on his deal that will keep him in LA for an average salary of about $4.8 million per year. Considering how he's had injury problems in the past, 7 years seems like the Kings are taking a bit of a chance here. They haven't yet released yet how much per year he will get, though.

Callahan also got a big deal to stay with the Lightning. His is six years, totaling out at an average annual value of $5.8 million. Well, at least they aren't making the St. Louis trade worthless, and not keeping the player they got.

And the one that nobody cares about, the Wings resigned backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson to a one year deal. Which in my opinion is pretty big. I've never thought that highly of Howard, and we're not winning with him in net. He's 30 now, and although he hasn't played for long, I don't see him making any big leaps this year. Gustavsson to backup was a good choice by Ken Holland. Another good move for us was finally giving up on Bertuzzi. Yay!

patar4097 :

Bertuzzi and Matt Cooke are both dirty players that should have been kicked from the game. Id say Torres is on the brink of that category to, but both those 2 should have been kicked out of the league by now.

Leafs were unfortunate to have an unhealthy Gustavsson when he came to the nhl. He was the big time free agent goalie the leafs had been looking for, but unfortunately he had some unexpected health problems. I wish him all the best.

I think that Gaborik is a steal at the price he resigned for. When hes on, hes absolutely filthy and one of my favourite players to watch.

With St.Louis gone, the lightning need a leadership type player to replace him with, and I think that will be Callahans role. I feel that his scoring will slip, but I also think that his assists will rise quite a bit, so the points will still be there.

Personally the biggest news in my opinion is that Malone was bought out by the lightning. Ive been calling for this to happen for the past couple seasons and Im glad it finally happened. Now tampa has a bit more cash to play with, although the Callahan signing ate into that extra cash somewhat. Lightning will chase heavily after big free agent defensemen, and I believe that they will land one of them, but Im not sure which one.

Well, there have been a lot of signings so far. Iginla, Orpik, Sharp, and most of the high profile players are already off the market. And the Wings completely struck out. The Wings needed a right handed defensemen that could be at least a top 4 guy, if not a top 2 guy. But all we did was resign Riley Sheahan, a 4th line center. The other was resigning Kyle Quincey for over $8 million for two years. He's worth about half of that. We pretty much just said that we don't care about this season, as it's gone down so far. We've got the cap space, and we really should get rid of Franzen, so I don't know why we overpaid for a below average defender instead of overpaying for a good one.

So, there is all this speculation that Evander Kane wants out of Winnipeg. I would be so stoked if Toronto could make a trade for him. I Heard that Winnipeg is also interested in acquiring James Reimer, so Im thinking maybe Kadri, Reimer and a draft pick for Evander Kane. What are your thoughts on that trade? Personally I think Evander Kane is 3 times the player that Kadri is, but Kadri seems to have quite a bit of value right now. Both Kadri and Kane have that egotistical part of their character that Id rather not have, but perhaps a change of environment can serve both players well. Reimer wants out of Toronto, and understandably so, so this seems like a kind of trade that could benefit both teams, and Winnipeg would be getting good value back for letting Kane go. I think Toronto would likely have to throw in a decent prospect to make the trade more fair, but I still do believe that it is a trade that would make sense for both sides. What are your thoughts?

bobq : I heard a rumor that there were talks between Winnipeg and New York Islanders. People were saying that Winnipeg is going to trade Kane and Byfuglien to the Islanders for Anders Lee, a 3rd round pick, and another player that I can't remember. I highly doubt it will happen though.

The Islanders just re-signed Cizikas and De Haan. They also signed Kulemin, Grabovski, and Conacher. They look like they are going to have a good year.

tgags123 :

Kuli and Bobski are players I really wanted to like as a leafs fan. They both had so much skill. The problem with them is that they werent able to adjust their game when teams figured them out; they became predictable. Watch Kuli on a breakaway; forehand to backhand and then he shoots gloveside. He rarely changes it up, and thats why his goals dried up after his career year.

Bobski has an ego and a temper. He is intensely skilled, but is an individualistic player. Ill give him credit that he has heart and was one of the few leafs that really tried to make a difference when the team was struggling, but he also tried to do it on his own. Thats his downfall. If Bobski can be set straight, he will be a solid player, but I genuinely dont think he will change his approach to the game.

Kuli is a guy who got overplayed in toronto, and underperformed partially due to that. If the isles can limit his minutes and get him to become more creative with the puck, he will be very valuable. Personally I think they were payed too much money for the players they have been in the past couple seasons, but I wish them the best of luck.

   It looks like Islanders could have new owners in the near future. Two people, including the former Capitals co-owner Jon Ledecky along with Scott Malkin have reached an agreement to buy a "substantial minority intrest" in the Islanders. With this, Charles Wang will still be the majority shareholder, though.

patar4097 :

yo man. What about these redwings. they remind me of the bruins this offseason. The redwings didnt really do anything to improve their team, and theyre hesitating to sign alfredsson.

I still expect nyqvist to have a huge year.

bobq : Missing the playoffs wouldn't surprise me at all for them. They haven't made a move that actually makes us better. Dropping off weight like Bertuzzi is great, but why is Cleary still around? And why they signed Kyle Quincey like he was anything more than the number 4 defensemen he should be? At least on a team that would have a decent defensive core, which we don't really have.
   We showed that we couldn't do it last year, so get rid of the ridiculousness of a contract that is Franzen, and get somebody else. Get somebody that can lay a hit once in a while other than Abdelkader. We just aren't a balanced team right now, and a battle for 8th place is really the only place I see them. We need the youngsters to step up again this year, and Howard has to come up big. If neither of those happen consistently throughout the year, missing the playoffs seems likely.

patar4097 :

 You have to admit though, gustavsson was very good last season; especially compared to the seasons he had the toronto.

I dont know what howards deal is. He and neimi were big time goalies and both have fallen out of favor somewhat on their clubs. I still think detroit will be a difficult team for anyone to beat, if datsyk and zetterberg are healthy.

   (Late reply, I know) Oh yeah. Gustavsson did great. Lots of fans here wanted him to take over the starting role since Howard's goals allowed average in the 3rd period was awful compared to the rest of the game. Obviously, not all his fault, but it's frustrating to have a 2 goal lead with 5 minutes to go turn out to be a nail biter. 

   And to think the Wings were going to start the season off healthy. Datsyuk will be out for about 4-5 weeks. Not really how we want to start off the season. At least we have some young guys that can I guess can come up and do okay, although if we get a big injury on the defensive side, we'll be in big trouble. Out d-line is bad enough as it is, and losing somebody like Ericsson again or Kronwall could be bad news.