Dust Off After Deadline

Just days after the trade deadline, the dust is starting to settle. The hectic – yet sort of disappointing – Feb. 26 resulted in some big names being dealt, but more importantly, several rumoured players not moving.

Olli Jokinen, Michael Ryder, Bryan McCabe, were just a few stars among those staying with their original squads as several general managers could not pull the trigger. When all was said and done, there were winners and there were losers. The Sports Corner takes a look at these teams.

Deadline Winners:

The Western Conference - It’s a broad choice but this side of the NHL really stole some star talents from the East. San Jose made a major splash by picking up Brian Campbell from the Buffalo Sabres, while the Dallas Stars won the Brad Richards’ sweepstakes. Both of these playoff teams jacked up their squads for the playoffs. Also, the league’s best team, Detroit, made their back end scarier with the addition of Brad Stuart, just imagine what the blueline will look like after Lidstrom, Chelios, Rafalski and Kronwall come back from injuries. 

Whichever team comes out of the East will be up against a very challenging opponent in the Stanley Cup finals because every contender in the West right now looks poised to claim the top prize. Early to say, but this Conference will probably repeat as champions. 

Colorado Avalanche - The day before the deadline headlined the Avalanche’s biggest move by signing UFA Peter Forsberg, bringing him back to the team where he won two Stanley Cups. This acquisition bolsters a threatening offensive unit, which is already seeing the return of Sakic, Smyth and Statsny. Colorado also got a gift handed to them as Adam Foote demanded a trade from Columbus back to his old team. It pumps this team up for a strong playoff run, and making them a legit contender.

Colorado made the most noise in their division, as the North West failed to respond. The Avalanche are desperate to appear in the post-season after failing to gain a spot last year. The addition of Foote and Forsberg will surely make a big difference on the standings for this Western squad. 

Washington Capitals - The Capitals made a statement on Tuesday. They want to be in the playoffs. And considering their moves at the deadline, they backed up that claim. Washington started off the day with a stunning trade by picking up Cristobal Huet from the Montreal Canadiens for a second rounder. Then they went out and got more offensive help by trading for Sergei Federov from Columbus and Matt Cooke from Vancouver. Washington is ready to get this team back into the playoffs, and getting support for Alex Ovechkin is a great start.

The Caps are not far out from claiming the division title and with help coming to their team after Tuesday, the possibility is high. The East should watch out for Washington, a team capable of making some loud noise when the time comes. 

Deadline Losers:

Canada - Out of the six Canadian squads, there were six moves resulting in only two players coming to the hockey nation. Vancouver got Matt Pettinger from Washington, while Ottawa got Martin Lapointe from Chicago. The Leafs made the most deals, trading away three players for draft picks. The Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames stayed quiet, while the Montreal Canadiens were probably the biggest losers out of this country. They gave away Huet for something less then his value, and could not complete a deal for Richards or Hossa, two players they were heavily rumoured to acquire.

Montreal disappointed their fans, and is putting a lot of pressure on rookie Carey Price to lead them through the playoffs. They also failed to add any offensive punch, and the same can be said about Vancouver. The Canadian teams just couldn’t match the rest of the NHL with additions needed to take them one step further to the Holy Grail. 

Tampa Bay Lightning - Although they got rid of big salary players, they did not get back what could have been demanded. A player like Richards would have landed someone like, let’s say, Huet, who is considerably better then Smith. Prospal on the other hand, only got them a weak defensive prospect, and a second rounder. The Lightnings did not handle the proposal to the best that they can, and therefore, did not get the best possible return. A quick look at Atlanta, who got a steal for Hossa, and Tampa Bay could have learned some lessons from them.

Sure, they unloaded huge salary, but Tampa Bay was not efficient enough in trading off their big stars, and could have probably garnered better deals from other teams. 

Columbus Blue Jackets - Washington in the East made a statement that they will push for a playoff appearance. The Blue Jackets, on the other hand, basically gave up any hope. Even though they are in position to get an eighth place spot, they decided to once again prep for next year. After they failed to acquire Brad Richards, they decided to trade off a couple stars on their team in Federov and Foote, instead of trying to get more help for Rich Nash.

The chances of the Blue Jackets making it into the post-season dance is pretty slim to none, and even if they manage to squeak in, they won’t make it far. It’s another disappointing season for this city, as they are the only NHL team to have not seen any playoff action in their history.

Too bad that streak will continue. 

Capital Money Makes NHL History

It’s the continuation of a common trend and the beginning of a failure.

The trend being long multi-year contracts spanning over 10 years and the failure being Gary Bettman’s aim to prevent such contracts.

Much like many other things Bettman has set his ignorant fingers upon, the NHL salary cap is crumpling right before his eyes. How so?  

Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals agreed today to a 13-year deal worth $124 million, hence signing the biggest contract in NHL history. Ovechkin, who negotiated the contract himself, will be paid $9 million per year for the first six years, and $10 million per for the next seven.

“I’m a risk-taker,” Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said. “And if you’re going to make a long-term investment, who else would you do it with?”

I totally agree with his point of view, but is Leonsis – who is probably one of the fan-friendliest owners in NHL history – going overboard with this contract? Of course locking up Ovechkin is a given, but how does signing a player worth one-fifth of your team’s salary help the other areas of the squad?

The whole purpose of the salary cap was to allow an even field for every team to compete, but owners and general managers have found ways to challenge the restrictions by committing to lengthy contracts. They are banking on the fact that although, the player might be overpaid now, they might be worth it and even “underpaid” ten years from now.

As seen with the recent signings of players like Rick DiPietro and Mike Richards, years are starting to pile up, along with the price. Teams are only going to follow in the footsteps of these major deals and the result is the raising of salaries, which just might pressure the NHL in raising the cap.

A big mistake this off season by the NHL was to up the salary cap ceiling to $50 million, from the previous $44 million right away, as opposed to doing it over the years. The sudden surge sparked richer contracts that reflected pre-lockout days. It defeats the purpose.

Having Ovechkin on Washington is great for the franchise, but a team is never a one-man show. The Capitals can’t afford to provide support for AO with $40 million left to sign 21 other players. Unless they hope to get some steals in the free agent market, there is no way that Ovechkin is the only answer.

Hopefully, Ovechkin enjoys not playing in the playoffs, or even fighting for a spot come January, every season. 

Also, this contract starts a debate of whether or not Ovechkin is worth more then Sidney Crosby. But that’s a whole other article in itself.

Bettman, who obviously is not well liked by this writer, did not well think out the long term strategy of the league. Many will ask now, what’s the harm of signing Ovechkin to 13 years? But it’s not just Ovechkin and the Capitals. It’s the whole trend and process. Guys like Ryan Smyth, who signed a five year $31.2 million contract, is not going to be worth $6-million four years from now.

If Mike Richards flops, then the Flyers are stuck paying him around $6 million for another 12 years.

Bettman is making more money for himself, or the league so he claims, with the salary cap but he does not care about the overall health of these contracts or the NHL. I highly doubt the cap level will be rising every year, and with the audience interest lowering, the possibility of lowering the limit is very likely. Then what? Teams can’t just rework contracts. 

When the NHL starts losing money again, it’s teams with these long term deals that will get screwed.   

What that means is that we’re going to start seeing players aim for long-term deals now, and it’s a crapshoot whether they’ll live up to their amount a decade from now. The money that the owners are willing to dish out is even more amazing then that five years ago. So basically, we were prevented from watching hockey for a season only to repeat the reason as to why the league shut down?

Contracts are at all time highs now, and it’s going to keep rising. Unless of course, the NHL does something about it, but we all know what happens when responsibility is placed upon the governing body. 

All in all, don’t be surprised to hear that the Maple Leafs lock up Wade Belak for another eleven years, maybe then he’ll be able to get his next goal.