I’m a hockey nut; I love every facet of the sport, from the game itself to the inner working of the front office. Also there is a feeling of power when you can pronounce a player’s name and no one else can, but we’ll skip over that.
So the season is over, congrats to the Anaheim Ducks on bring the state of California its first ever Stanley Cup, that’s right, not even Wayne “Great One” Gretzky won a cup when he played for the Kings. The big shock from the Stanley Cup Final, of course, is the fact that Samuel Pahlsson didn’t win the Conn Smythe, or Playoff MVP, award, Scott Niedermayer took home the honor. The regular season awards will be handed out on June 14, but I thought I’d play a little puck prognostication and try predicting the winners:
Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP): Sidney Crosby, PIT
Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year): Evgeni Malkin, PIT
Vezina Trophy (Goalie): Roberto Luongo, VAN
Adams Trophy (Coach): Michel Therrien, PIT
Norris Trophy (Defenseman): Nicklas Lidstrom, DET
Frank Selke Trophy (defensive forward): Samuel Pahlsson, ANA
Free Agent season starts on the first of July. I said before that I’d like to see Daniel Briere come to Atlanta, but I know that Briere will want a lot of money from whoever he signs with.
Chris Drury would be a great fit in the Thrashers organization. He would add grit and stamina to what has been a finesse team. Drury will probably want $4.5 to $5.5 million a year over three years, something in that ballpark. That means that Atlanta will have to make some changes. We’ve already heard that Tkachuk will not be getting an offer from the Thrashers, so that opens up some money. Defenseman Andy Sutton is also likely gone, a salary cap casualty, but a necessary loss. Atlanta has two good, young defensemen in the minors: Boris Valabik and Mark Popovic. Sutton’s departure would give Atlanta more cap room to lure Drury in.
The possible downside to this is the likely departure of Slava Kozlov. Kozlov is a master of the shootout, and the fact is after him, Atlanta has no one close to his skill in the contest. Losing Kozlov would hurt, not help the Thrashers at this point.
Grubbs pointed out another option yesterday, which I’ve mulled over. Sign Todd Bertuzzi to a one-year deal with a club option for a second year and a no-trade clause. Stick him on the same line as either Kovalchuk or Hossa, and then other teams would be less likely to take cheap shots at our superstars. I mean, Bertuzzi almost killed a guy one time. Another Grubbsian thought was Ladislav Nagy, a younger player with good speed and a nice upside. Nagy has played in relative obscurity for a while, but in the right scheme, he could flourish.
I like the idea of raiding Minnesota and bringing Wes Walz to Atlanta. Walz is a solid puck handler with good speed and a great sense of the game. He plays well in both zones, a rarity in these days. Walz would be a good line-mate for Kovalchuk, who sometimes struggles with puck-handling.
2 comments:
Ok, I'm calling it now. Sutton and de Vries are gone, as is Kozlov. We promote Enstrom from the Swedish league that he's in, and sign some other defenseman (Cory Sarich? Vishnevsky? I'd love to grab Scott Hannen or Craig Rivet, though), plus we resign Hnidy and X. We sign Jozef Stumpel to play with Kovy, and either a gritty RW to play on that same line, or a gritty LW with some offense to play with Hoss (I'd love to see Bert play with Kovy, and Hartnell with Hossa, but I doubt either of those will happen. A safer bet is a combo of 2 of the following: Owen Nolan, Jan Bulis, Wes Walz, and Kyle Calder). Or we could go for a bigger name, like Zubrus, Comrie, or Handzus, and bring up Little or Sterling from the minors. If that's the case, we'd still have the one that doesn't make it as a back up, plus Krog and Haydar. Oh, and last but not least, McCarthy is gone in a draft day trade for a 3rd rounder, or maybe a 4th line or AHL level forward.
In my opinion, we should realistically end up looking like this:
Kovy-Stumpel-Nolan
Bulis-Belanger-Hossa
Larsen-Holik-Dupuis
Boulton-Slater-Sim
Zhitnik-Hannen/Sarich
Hnidy-Havelid
Exelby-Enstrom
Little, Sterling, Krog, and Haydar to back up the forwards. Valabik, Oystrick, and Popovic to back up the D.
Phew. Long response. Plus, it's probably totally off the mark.
I like the lines. Waddell has stated that Atlanta will be major players in the free agent market. Were apparently in the running for some pretty good players. Could be interesting come draft time.
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