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Cream Of The Crop: 2009 Offensive Ufas


DA_Champion

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The complete list of UFAs in 2009 is here:

http://nhlnumbers.com/freeagents.php?team=...&

status=ufa://http://nhlnumbers.com/freeagents.ph...amp;

status=ufa://http://nhlnumbers.com/freeagents.ph...amp;

status=ufa

I'll make another thread for defencemen later.

Here are the offensive ones that stand out imho:

Name Age Tm. Pos. Salary Cap Hit

Morrison, Brendan 33 ANA C UFA 2.750 2.750

Afinogenov, Maxim 29 BUF R UFA 3.333 3.500

Cammalleri, Mike 27 CGY C UFA 3.350 3.600

Havlat, Martin 28 CHI L UFA 6.000 6.000

Franzen, Johan 29 DET C UFA 0.942 1.150

Hossa, Marian 30 DET R UFA 7.450 7.450

Zetterberg, Henrik 28 DET L UFA 2.650 2.900

Cole, Erik 30 EDM L UFA 4.000 4.000

Gaborik, Marian 27 MIN L UFA 6.333 7.500

Koivu, Saku 34 MTL C UFA 4.750 4.750

Kovalev, Alexei 36 MTL R UFA 4.500 4.500

Lang, Robert 38 MTL C UFA 4.000 4.000

Tanguay, Alex 29 MTL L UFA 5.250 5.375

Gionta, Brian 30 NJD R UFA 4.000 4.000

Holik, Bobby 38 NJD C UFA 2.500 2.500

Guerin, Bill 38 NYI R UFA 4.500 4.500

Weight, Doug 38 NYI C UFA 4.300 1.750

McDonald, Andy 31 STL C UFA 3.333 3.333

Antropov, Nik 29 TOR C UFA 2.050 2.150

Sedin, Daniel 28 VAN L UFA 3.575 3.575

Sedin, Henrik 28 VAN C UFA 3.575 3.575

Sundin, Mats 38 VAN C UFA 8.600 8.600

Fedorov, Sergei 39 WAS C UFA 4.000 4.000

Kozlov, Viktor 34 WAS C UFA 2.500 2.500

My Conclusion:

The player we most need to resign is Saku Koivu. The centers available who are as good or better are Sundin, Sedin, McDonald and Franzen. But there's probably going to be *a lot* of competition for those guys, and we probably won't get them. It's better to resign Koivu.

Lang, Kovalev, and Tanguay are more expendable. A lot of good wingers are available, also 2nd/3rd line centers. Centers can be moved to wing sometimes, and the player I would most go after Johann Franzen.

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tbh, i can't start thinking about the ufa market now because it only upsets me but that list isn't all that exciting if you're looking for a center other than koivu (who would be my priority). sedins will be hard to break up, i imagine, so morrison is the only one that catches my eye - other than zetterberg (regardless of position) but detroit isn't crazy enough to let him walk.

heatley isn't on the list? did i miss something?

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What bothers me about these kind of lists is that every year it looks like there is tons of talent just waiting to be scooped up but realistically how many of these players will be actively searching for a new club come July 1st?

Detroit has Franzen at 1.15 million, zetterberg at 2.9 and Hossa at 7.45... they have 274, 000 in cap space this year so I predict one of them walks.

http://nhlnumbers.com/overview.php?team=DET&season=0809

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Detroit has Franzen at 1.15 million, zetterberg at 2.9 and Hossa at 7.45... they have 274, 000 in cap space this year so I predict one of them walks.

http://nhlnumbers.com/overview.php?team=DET&season=0809

Not to mention they already have $41m committed to next season. They are set in Nets & Defense but they have to sign about 5 or 6 forwards with approximately $10m of cap space - and that includes Franzen, Zetterberg and Hossa. Samuelsson should arguably be due for a substantial raise too... and Hudler will be RFA and looking for a big salary boost. If Hudler wasnt such a smurf, Id look at what the cost of acquiring him would be...

Gonna be a tough summer for Ken Holland!

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Source?

Well I just found a juicy piece of news, but here was the original report:

Even Detroit, the model franchise when it comes to drafting, developing and getting players to take hometown discounts, has team-altering decisions to make. Henrik Zetterberg, Marian Hossa, Johan Franzen and Jiri Hudler (restricted) are all up, and Zetterberg is testing the Red Wings’ limits. (They gave Hossa a one-year deal equal to Nicklas Lidstrom’s $7.45 million, and a 10-year, $75 million offer to Zetterberg has apparently been rejected.) The Lightning themselves are in this situation because of the Stanley Cup gifts awarded to three players, Lecavalier being one.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/blogs/2009/01/own..._of_longte.html

but that was on the 15th, I never caught this article postyed several days after, my apologies:

Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland made a huge step toward re-signing potential unrestricted free agent Henrik Zetterberg when he met for seven hours with the Conn Smythe Trophy winner’s agent Wednesday, a source tells TheHockeyNews.com.

Holland traveled to Providence to meet face-to-face with Marc Levine and while its believed the two sides made significant progress toward a long-term deal that will keep Zetterberg with the Red Wings for the rest of his career, there are still some obstacles to overcome.

That being said, there is every reason to expect Zetterberg will be signed to a contract extension within the next month.

It’s believed Zetterberg is seeking a deal somewhere in the $66 million range for eight years, which would average about $8.25 million per season. It’s thought Holland would also like to sign Zetterberg to a deal in the seven- to 10-year range and doesn’t mind paying a salary in the $8 million range for the first half of the deal, but would like to see the salary reduced in the final years of the deal when Zetterberg will be in his late 30s.

Zetterberg, 28, is averaging more than 20 minutes per game, which is tops among all Red Wing forwards and has 14 goals and 29 points in 28 games, second on the team to Marian Hossa.

Zetterberg would be one of the most sought-after free agents in the NHL if his contract were to run out, but there is little reason to believe that will happen.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/2134...-extension.html

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but that was on the 15th, I never caught this article postyed several days after, my apologies:

Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland made a huge step toward re-signing potential unrestricted free agent Henrik Zetterberg when he met for seven hours with the Conn Smythe Trophy winner’s agent Wednesday, a source tells TheHockeyNews.com.

Holland traveled to Providence to meet face-to-face with Marc Levine and while its believed the two sides made significant progress toward a long-term deal that will keep Zetterberg with the Red Wings for the rest of his career, there are still some obstacles to overcome.

That being said, there is every reason to expect Zetterberg will be signed to a contract extension within the next month.

It’s believed Zetterberg is seeking a deal somewhere in the $66 million range for eight years, which would average about $8.25 million per season. It’s thought Holland would also like to sign Zetterberg to a deal in the seven- to 10-year range and doesn’t mind paying a salary in the $8 million range for the first half of the deal, but would like to see the salary reduced in the final years of the deal when Zetterberg will be in his late 30s.

Zetterberg, 28, is averaging more than 20 minutes per game, which is tops among all Red Wing forwards and has 14 goals and 29 points in 28 games, second on the team to Marian Hossa.

Zetterberg would be one of the most sought-after free agents in the NHL if his contract were to run out, but there is little reason to believe that will happen.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/2134...-extension.html

This is quite an old article though, no? Zetterberg has played 44 games now, not the 28 they noted...

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That's some very interesting reporting on Zetterberg and his contract negotiations. I think we can all safely say that Detroit's decision is going to come between Hossa and Zetterberg. I don't see how they will be able to afford both, and I would think the preference would be to keep the player who has roots there, who was drafted by the organization. Which means, Hossa could very well be on the market again next season. We struck out with him last year, but who knows... Perhaps we can get him signed to something reasonable this coming off-season. He really has shown that he's motivated, can play both ends of the ice, still has an incredible amount of scoring touch, and WANTS to win a Stanley Cup. Marian Hossa is the guy I go after this off-season.

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That's some very interesting reporting on Zetterberg and his contract negotiations. I think we can all safely say that Detroit's decision is going to come between Hossa and Zetterberg. I don't see how they will be able to afford both, and I would think the preference would be to keep the player who has roots there, who was drafted by the organization. Which means, Hossa could very well be on the market again next season. We struck out with him last year, but who knows... Perhaps we can get him signed to something reasonable this coming off-season. He really has shown that he's motivated, can play both ends of the ice, still has an incredible amount of scoring touch, and WANTS to win a Stanley Cup. Marian Hossa is the guy I go after this off-season.

By reasonable I hope you are envisioning eight to ten million, long term because that is what I expect him to be after, especially with Vancouver's idiocy with regards to Sundin. Montreal's qualm is they cannot match as easily as any other team for tax reasons however with so many UFAs after this season, we have a vast amount of money to work with. I have little qualm showing Kovalev and Lang/Plekanec/Higgins (one of them) the door in exchange for Hossa. Hey Tanguay too however he worked well with Koivu so I reserve judgment until after his injury clears up and they play together again.

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That's some very interesting reporting on Zetterberg and his contract negotiations. I think we can all safely say that Detroit's decision is going to come between Hossa and Zetterberg. I don't see how they will be able to afford both, and I would think the preference would be to keep the player who has roots there, who was drafted by the organization. Which means, Hossa could very well be on the market again next season. We struck out with him last year, but who knows... Perhaps we can get him signed to something reasonable this coming off-season. He really has shown that he's motivated, can play both ends of the ice, still has an incredible amount of scoring touch, and WANTS to win a Stanley Cup. Marian Hossa is the guy I go after this off-season.

But I guess the point is that not only will they likely have to let Hossa go, they might have to let Franzen,Samuelsson & others go. If they sign Zetterberg to a $7-10m contract and you add that to the $41m they already have locked up, they wont have much cap space left at all. They still have a fair number of holes to fill up front too...

I think that not only will guys like Hossa be available, but there's a good chance they will start shopping some others.

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I'm not overly interested in any of the UFA's presented. Either too much money, too far along in their careers, or just a poor fit (in my opinion) for our team.

Here is a list of RFAs, that might be a better option for us at this point.

http://www.sportscity.com/nhl/2009-nhl-res...agents-by-team/

If I'm looking to improve the time and fill gaps for next season and don't like my prospects on the free agent market, I would start calling around to GM's and inquiring as to which RFA's they might not believe they will sign for next season.

You can potentially grab an RFA that is a good fit for our club. We could also make a move in advance by trading a pick and a prospect. If we lose that player to an offer sheet, we get the picks we lost in return, which are likely to be better than the ones we exchanged.

Example :

We speak to Tampa and they are only willing to offer Eminger up to $2M. We tell them we are considering putting in a higher offer sheet than $2M. We ask them if they would like to arrange a trade instead. Since our offer would have brought them a 2nd round pick as compensation, we offer them the following and they are willing to accept, because they would have been giving him up for only a second round pick anyway.

To Montreal :

Steve Eminger

To Tampa :

2nd Round Pick

Ryan O'Byrne

We offer Eminger $2.2M. We are willing to offer up to $3M.

Another team offers $2.5M. We match their offer.

They offer $2.7M. We either match their offer or accept 1st and 3rd round picks as compensation.

Instead of making an offer sheet and stealing him for a 2nd round pick, we maintain a good business relationship by approaching Tampa first. When his contract comes up for renewal, we are now in charge of the situation and we also have that player for the rest of the season/playoffs. If another team makes an offer sheet and we have pre-determined we are willing to go to a certain extent to re-sign him, but another team is willing to push us to a point where we would consider not matching the offer and accepting the compensation, we still gain.

A cost effective rental player that nets us a benefit at the end of the season.

Tampa gains in this scenario and we gain regardless of the outcome of the scenario.

We either acquire a player we were interested in for an amount we were willing to pay, or we exchange a late 2nd round pick and prospect, for 1st, 2nd and 3rd, round picks in better position.

Of course, you would have to find the right player and make the right negotiation.

If we were to go after Zajac in this manner for example, we would have to give up a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick, as well as a prospect (or player) with the intention of signing him to a decent contract. If we are considering $4M, we would be offering our picks and a player in return for picks in different position if we fail to sign him. If we are considering an offer around $5M, we have the prospect of gaining an additional 1st round pick, with all picks in different position than our likely late round picks. (Of course the ideal is that we sign the player as we intended originally, but backing away still gives us a benefit).

These are just examples to illustrate the idea. A way we may potentially be able to make the RFA system work to our advantage. Doing it before the deadline is ideal, as we acquire a rental player without losing anything substantial.

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I would be interested in signing Camalerri (4 mill) and either hossa for (8mill) gaborik(4-6 mill) havlat(4-6 mill) afiniganeov(4-5 mill) or Antropov(3- 4 mill) and then attempt to sign komi(4-5 mill) and if not him them maybe boumeester or another person.

future lines(dream) hossa-koivu/camalerri havlat/gaborik/kovalev/tanguay

ak pleck sk/antropov

latendresse lapierre sk/kostopoulous

patch maxwell d'ags

markov komi/boumeester

hammer georges

brisbois boullion

price halak

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