Where Will The Free Agents Land?
Posted 12:08 PM ET | Comments 13
Based on Ek's list of who's the best available, I'm forecasting where each player will land this summer:
#1 Centers
1. Chris Drury (7.5M) - San Jose. I think they'll sign Drury and trade Marleau. Anaheim already has McDonald and Getzlaf as their top two centers and the Kings have Kopitar and Cammalleri.
2. Scotty Gomez (7M) - Atlanta. Gomez centering a line of Kovalchuk and Hossa. Sick.
3. Daniel Briere (6.75M) - Buffalo. It's in the best interest of both Briere and Buffalo to continue their relationship.
4. Peter Forsberg (4M) - Retire or play for Sweden.
#2 Centers
1. Michael Handzus (3.5M) - St. Louis. Will eventually replace the soon-to-be-retiring Doug Weight.
2. Michael Nylander (3.0M) - NY Rangers. Will continue to feed Jagr some pretty sweet passes.
3. Mike Peca (3.0 M) - Philadelphia. The Flyers are desperate for a veteran center and Peca will probably the best of what's left.
4. Keith Tkachuk (2.5M) - St. Louis. Will return to the city that traded him last season.
5. Todd White (2.25M) - Carolina. Will slot into the #3 spot behind Staal and Brind'Amour.
6. Wes Walz (2M) - Minnesota. Will re-sign with the Wild.
#3 Centers
1. Mike Comrie (1.25M) - Ottawa. Will re-sign with Ottawa.
2. Brian Smolinski (1M) - Washington. Not a sexy name, but can play on one of the Caps top two lines.
3. Eric Lindros (1M) - Please retire?
#1 Left Wings
1. Ryan Smyth (6.5M) - NY Islanders. In the end, I think Wang & Co. will convince Ryan to stay on the Island.
2. Paul Kariya (4.5M) - Nashville. Will re-sign with the Preds once the new ownership group takes over.
3. Jason Blake (4M) - Toronto. The Leafs will grossly overpay for this overachiever.
#2 Left Wings
1. Gary Roberts (2.5M) - San Jose. Will replace the departing Billy Guerin.
2. Ruslan Fedotenko (1.5M) - Philadelphia. Will return to the Orange & Black and shuffle between the 2nd and 3rd lines.
#3 Left Wings
1. Martin Gelinas (1.5M) - Anaheim. Will look for 2nd or 3rd line duties, keeping Moen and May on the 3rd and 4th lines - where they belong.
#1 Right Wings
1. Brendan Shanahan (4M) - NY Rangers. Will give it one more go around with Jagr and Co.
1. Teemu Selanne (4M) - Retire.
2. Petr Sykora (2.5M) - Calgary. Will slot onto the 2nd line behind Iginla.
#2 Right Wings
1. Scott Hartnell (2.5M) - Montreal. Will bring some toughness to the Habs 2nd line.
2. Ladislav Nagy (1.75M) - Dallas. Will re-sign with the Stars.
3. Dainus Zubrus (1.75M) - Buffalo. Will re-sign with the Sabres.
4. Bill Guerin (1.5M) - Pittsburgh. Will replace the departing Mark Recchi.
#3 Right Wings
1. Scott Nichol (1M) - Colorado. The Avalanche have money to spend.
2. Todd Bertuzzi (750K) - Chicago - The Blackhawks will be one of the few teams willing to take a chance on Big Bert.
Defence 1-2 Pairing
1. Sheldon Souray (6.75M) - Colorado. The Avalanche have money to spend and will waste it here.
2. Kimmo Timonen (7.2M) - Philadelphia. The Flyers find their #1 defenseman, despite overpaying for him.
3. Brian Rafalski (4.0 M) - NJ Devils. Sweet Lou won't lose BOTH Gomez and Rafalski.
Defence 3-4 Pairing
1. Mathieu Schneider (3.5M) - Anaheim. Will replace the retiring Scotty Neidermayer.
2. Roman Hamrlik (2.5M) - Edmonton. Will help out the PP.
3. Craig Rivet (2M) - San Jose. Will smartly stay put.
4. Danny Markov (2M) - Montreal. Will replace Souray.
Defence 5-6 Pairing
1. Cory Sarich (1.75M) - Nashville. Will replace Timonen (as far as adding a veteran defenseman, he won't replace Timonen's offensive production).
2. Aaron Miller (1.25M) - Atlanta. Will help stabilize a defensive unit that has gone through several changes recently.
3. Bryan Berard (1M) - Retire.
Goalies #1
1. JS Giguere (6.75M) - Florida. Will open the bank and say "take however much you'd like". Anaheim can still win with Bryzgalov.
2. Dom Hasek (5.5) - Retire.
Please feel free to give your thoughts on where you think some of these players might land.
#1 Centers
1. Chris Drury (7.5M) - San Jose. I think they'll sign Drury and trade Marleau. Anaheim already has McDonald and Getzlaf as their top two centers and the Kings have Kopitar and Cammalleri.
2. Scotty Gomez (7M) - Atlanta. Gomez centering a line of Kovalchuk and Hossa. Sick.
3. Daniel Briere (6.75M) - Buffalo. It's in the best interest of both Briere and Buffalo to continue their relationship.
4. Peter Forsberg (4M) - Retire or play for Sweden.
#2 Centers
1. Michael Handzus (3.5M) - St. Louis. Will eventually replace the soon-to-be-retiring Doug Weight.
2. Michael Nylander (3.0M) - NY Rangers. Will continue to feed Jagr some pretty sweet passes.
3. Mike Peca (3.0 M) - Philadelphia. The Flyers are desperate for a veteran center and Peca will probably the best of what's left.
4. Keith Tkachuk (2.5M) - St. Louis. Will return to the city that traded him last season.
5. Todd White (2.25M) - Carolina. Will slot into the #3 spot behind Staal and Brind'Amour.
6. Wes Walz (2M) - Minnesota. Will re-sign with the Wild.
#3 Centers
1. Mike Comrie (1.25M) - Ottawa. Will re-sign with Ottawa.
2. Brian Smolinski (1M) - Washington. Not a sexy name, but can play on one of the Caps top two lines.
3. Eric Lindros (1M) - Please retire?
#1 Left Wings
1. Ryan Smyth (6.5M) - NY Islanders. In the end, I think Wang & Co. will convince Ryan to stay on the Island.
2. Paul Kariya (4.5M) - Nashville. Will re-sign with the Preds once the new ownership group takes over.
3. Jason Blake (4M) - Toronto. The Leafs will grossly overpay for this overachiever.
#2 Left Wings
1. Gary Roberts (2.5M) - San Jose. Will replace the departing Billy Guerin.
2. Ruslan Fedotenko (1.5M) - Philadelphia. Will return to the Orange & Black and shuffle between the 2nd and 3rd lines.
#3 Left Wings
1. Martin Gelinas (1.5M) - Anaheim. Will look for 2nd or 3rd line duties, keeping Moen and May on the 3rd and 4th lines - where they belong.
#1 Right Wings
1. Brendan Shanahan (4M) - NY Rangers. Will give it one more go around with Jagr and Co.
1. Teemu Selanne (4M) - Retire.
2. Petr Sykora (2.5M) - Calgary. Will slot onto the 2nd line behind Iginla.
#2 Right Wings
1. Scott Hartnell (2.5M) - Montreal. Will bring some toughness to the Habs 2nd line.
2. Ladislav Nagy (1.75M) - Dallas. Will re-sign with the Stars.
3. Dainus Zubrus (1.75M) - Buffalo. Will re-sign with the Sabres.
4. Bill Guerin (1.5M) - Pittsburgh. Will replace the departing Mark Recchi.
#3 Right Wings
1. Scott Nichol (1M) - Colorado. The Avalanche have money to spend.
2. Todd Bertuzzi (750K) - Chicago - The Blackhawks will be one of the few teams willing to take a chance on Big Bert.
Defence 1-2 Pairing
1. Sheldon Souray (6.75M) - Colorado. The Avalanche have money to spend and will waste it here.
2. Kimmo Timonen (7.2M) - Philadelphia. The Flyers find their #1 defenseman, despite overpaying for him.
3. Brian Rafalski (4.0 M) - NJ Devils. Sweet Lou won't lose BOTH Gomez and Rafalski.
Defence 3-4 Pairing
1. Mathieu Schneider (3.5M) - Anaheim. Will replace the retiring Scotty Neidermayer.
2. Roman Hamrlik (2.5M) - Edmonton. Will help out the PP.
3. Craig Rivet (2M) - San Jose. Will smartly stay put.
4. Danny Markov (2M) - Montreal. Will replace Souray.
Defence 5-6 Pairing
1. Cory Sarich (1.75M) - Nashville. Will replace Timonen (as far as adding a veteran defenseman, he won't replace Timonen's offensive production).
2. Aaron Miller (1.25M) - Atlanta. Will help stabilize a defensive unit that has gone through several changes recently.
3. Bryan Berard (1M) - Retire.
Goalies #1
1. JS Giguere (6.75M) - Florida. Will open the bank and say "take however much you'd like". Anaheim can still win with Bryzgalov.
2. Dom Hasek (5.5) - Retire.
Please feel free to give your thoughts on where you think some of these players might land.
Wow pretty good assesment. I hope we do better than that, but I can see it going down like that. If this is the case I don't see us making the playoffs for a long long time. I am still banking my chips on one of the big 3 out of Tampa. Mark my words!@
I am pretty impressed and think a lot of what you say may actually happen.The only problem is if one team does something shocking it will trigger a series of radical moves and some of these moves that seem logical now will be thrown out the window.Good work though!
Thanks for the comments. It really is a crapshoot on how this will all play out. Donmega, Tampa is not going to break up the "Big 3". Two of them have a no-trade clause, and Richards' will kick in on July 1. Plus, what do the Flyers have to offer Tampa? If there's a 1% chance of one of the Big 3 getting traded, it would be for a top flight goaltender. Flyers aren't trading Biron and we'd have to include Richards (or Carter) and Pitkanen in the deal too.
As a Panther fan, I am hoping desperately that Giguere does sign in Florida, let's be serious, they can pay him whatever he wants.
Some I like, some I disagree with. I really like Gigeure to Florida. That is definitely contrary to popular sentiment and really, it makes sense. Especially from a PR perspective for FLA screwing up the Luongo trade.From an Oiler perspective, I don't see Hamrlik coming here. Kind of a "been there done that" situation. And I really do see Sykora staying an Oiler. He has been outspoken about liking Edmonton and put up great numbers with Hemsky before the coach decided to split them up for no apparent reason.
Sarich "replaces" Timonen? That's kind of like Hatcher replacing Brian Rafalski. Two utterly different players. Hasek will re-sign with Detroit, for less than $3.5mm. Also, why would Recchi leave the Pens? His wife is from there and he's happy there. Some good thoughts, but quite a few head scratchers.
comrie ont resign in ottawa unless he takes like 2 million dollar pay cut
If Giguere goes anywhere it is to the L.A. Kings like some of the picks but i'll lean to the opposite of Smyth and Blake, with Smyth going to the Leafs (as he wants to return to Canada if not then the Flames) and Blake staying with the Islanders.
I good articale but I don't agree with some of that stuff that you said I don't think that Gary Roberts signs with the San Jose I think that the Ottawa Senators will make a serious offer to Gary Roberts and Gary Roberts will be the only guy that they sign this off season that is on that list of big free agents and I don't see Mike Comrie re-signing with the Ottawa Senators I think that Mike Comrie will sign with the Washington Capitals.
That's what is fun about this...everyone has their own opinion and their own viewpoints. Thanks for all the responses. I knew that there would be a lot of disagreement, but that's what sparks debate. Jsaquella, I should mention, I didn't mean Sarich would be replacing Timonen as far as skill level, more on a depth chart level - that Nashville might need another veteran defenseman.
My misunderstanding.
i do not see the flyers paying 7.2 million to a guy who is 32 and was playing for some amazing predator teams. didnt they learn their lesson with hatcher? also, timmonen's playoff experiences have been mediocre. donmega...i have been saying all along i would like to see richards centering gagne. but i am very doubtful of such a wet dream.
I didn't choose the dollar amounts. Those were Ek's numbers...I simply copied and pasted, since he had already done all the dirty work of creating the lists.