Nucks vs Boston - 2011 Stanley Cup Final

[bergamascho]

Vancouver is a market players who want to win championships are attracted to.

This is indeed a huge bargaining chip. I like the addition of key veterans in addition to blue chip FAs. Mark Recchi surely provided some intangibles that served the young guys well. As for who is out there...we'll see. I am definitely a fan of the three amigos (Torres, Higgins, Lapierre) and personally feel we should hang onto them.

As miffed as I am about last season, I am already looking forward to the next one...GO CANUCKS!!!

 

[italian_stallion21]

The nice thing about a long cup run? It's only 2.5 months till it starts again! Going to be a very interesting offseason, and one of the nice things is that Gillis should be able to retain most of the team we had this year. Hopefully we get a bit more luck with injuries next year.

 

[johnnybluenose]

National Hockey League Salaries and Statistics | NHLnumbers.com is your friend.

This season's cap was 59.4 Mill
Next years cap is rumoured to be as high as 63 million, but various reports have the number the NHLPA voting to approve is 62.2 Million. Floor at 46.2 Million if the 62.2 ceiling comes to pass.

Players under contract for 2011/12I'm posting the top NHL roster of the depth chart, not AHL'ers etc)
Luongo - 5.333
Schneider - .900

Rome .800
Edler 3.25
Ballard 4.2
Hamhuis 4.5

H Sedin 6.1
D Sedin 6.1
Kesler 5.0
Raymond 2.55
Samuelsson 2.5
Malhotra 2.5
Burrows 2.0

RFA's and 2010/11 cap hits
Lappierre .900
Hansen .825
Bolduc .500

UFA's and 2010/11 cap hits
Higgins 1.6
Glass .625
Rypein .550
Tambellini .500
Torres 1.0
Bieksa 3.75
Salo 3.5
Ehrhoff 3.1
Alberts 1.05


Likely to play on NHL team next year with 2-ways:
Tanev .900
Hodgson 1.667

So you have cap committed for next year 48.30 Million with this:
Sedin - Sedin - Burrows
Raymond - Kesler - Samuelsson
_______ - Malhotra - _________
_______ - Hodgson - _________

Hamhuis - Edler
Rome - Ballard
Tanev - _______
7th: _____

Luongo
Schneider

I'd say reup the following guys at following money, any more money is stupid imho.
RFA's:
Hansen @ 1.0
Lapierre @ 1.0

brings your cap to 50.30 and now you have a 13th forward as CoHo bumps down the depth chart.

Trade Ballard, even if you can get a bag of pucks for him or simply waive him. brings your cap to 46.10
Salo retires or goes elsewhere, certainly Gillis won't resign him.
Resign Higgins @ 2.0, cap @ 48.10
Resign Glass @ .750, cap @ 48.85
Resign Torres @ 1.0, cap @ 49.85
Resign Bieksa @ 4.5 (hit not money ) cap @ 54.35

now you have this
sedin - sedin - burrows
raymond - kesler - higgins
samuelsson - malhotra - hansen
glass - lapierre - torres
hodgson
hamhuis - bieksa
edler - ______
tanev - rome
_______
Luongo
Schneids.

essentially you have 7.85 Schmill to resign Ehrhoff or another top 4 defenseman and another utility defenseman... I don't want Alberts back imho.

I have it on good authority that Ballard is a sort of "outsider" on this team, a me first guy...and not part of the plan. Expect him to be gone, either via his own trade request or because the guys ask Gillis to get rid of him.

7.85 plus any carryover LTIR Cap relief with all of the key components in place, I'm pretty comfortable with our prospects for next year...

The only thing worrying me is Detroit, and if Lidstrom retires alongside Rafalski, they will have a LOT of $$$ and a huge hole to fill on the back end. It will be hard to take a hometown discount for Bieksa to play with his two amigos in Kes and Burrows if he turns down 6+ per year, but i really think the Dman cap is Hamhuis... unless you can make a play for Weber.

Ballard, Schneider and a first rounder for Weber's RFA rights. I do that in a heartbeat... although with Rinne they don't need Schneider...but you see where I'm going with that.

 

[fat monkey]

However you look at Luongo, the fact is that he made $10 million this season. For that kind of money, he had to be great; good was simply not enough.

Yeah, you're right. Anything less than a Vezina nomination is just plain crap.

 

[italian_stallion21]

National Hockey League Salaries and Statistics | NHLnumbers.com is your friend.

This season's cap was 59.4 Mill
Next years cap is rumoured to be as high as 63 million, but various reports have the number the NHLPA voting to approve is 62.2 Million. Floor at 46.2 Million if the 62.2 ceiling comes to pass.

Players under contract for 2011/12I'm posting the top NHL roster of the depth chart, not AHL'ers etc)
Luongo - 5.333
Schneider - .900

Rome .800
Edler 3.25
Ballard 4.2
Hamhuis 4.5

H Sedin 6.1
D Sedin 6.1
Kesler 5.0
Raymond 2.55
Samuelsson 2.5
Malhotra 2.5
Burrows 2.0

RFA's and 2010/11 cap hits
Lappierre .900
Hansen .825
Bolduc .500

UFA's and 2010/11 cap hits
Higgins 1.6
Glass .625
Rypein .550
Tambellini .500
Torres 1.0
Bieksa 3.75
Salo 3.5
Ehrhoff 3.1
Alberts 1.05


Likely to play on NHL team next year with 2-ways:
Tanev .900
Hodgson 1.667

So you have cap committed for next year 48.30 Million with this:
Sedin - Sedin - Burrows
Raymond - Kesler - Samuelsson
_______ - Malhotra - _________
_______ - Hodgson - _________

Hamhuis - Edler
Rome - Ballard
Tanev - _______
7th: _____

Luongo
Schneider

I'd say reup the following guys at following money, any more money is stupid imho.
RFA's:
Hansen @ 1.0
Lapierre @ 1.0

brings your cap to 50.30 and now you have a 13th forward as CoHo bumps down the depth chart.

Trade Ballard, even if you can get a bag of pucks for him or simply waive him. brings your cap to 46.10
Salo retires or goes elsewhere, certainly Gillis won't resign him.
Resign Higgins @ 2.0, cap @ 48.10
Resign Glass @ .750, cap @ 48.85
Resign Torres @ 1.0, cap @ 49.85
Resign Bieksa @ 4.5 (hit not money ) cap @ 54.35

now you have this
sedin - sedin - burrows
raymond - kesler - higgins
samuelsson - malhotra - hansen
glass - lapierre - torres
hodgson
hamhuis - bieksa
edler - ______
tanev - rome
_______
Luongo
Schneids.

essentially you have 7.85 Schmill to resign Ehrhoff or another top 4 defenseman and another utility defenseman... I don't want Alberts back imho.

I have it on good authority that Ballard is a sort of "outsider" on this team, a me first guy...and not part of the plan. Expect him to be gone, either via his own trade request or because the guys ask Gillis to get rid of him.

7.85 plus any carryover LTIR Cap relief with all of the key components in place, I'm pretty comfortable with our prospects for next year...

The only thing worrying me is Detroit, and if Lidstrom retires alongside Rafalski, they will have a LOT of $$$ and a huge hole to fill on the back end. It will be hard to take a hometown discount for Bieksa to play with his two amigos in Kes and Burrows if he turns down 6+ per year, but i really think the Dman cap is Hamhuis... unless you can make a play for Weber.

Ballard, Schneider and a first rounder for Weber's RFA rights. I do that in a heartbeat... although with Rinne they don't need Schneider...but you see where I'm going with that.

It is nice that the Nucks won't have to do too much tinkering to get better. It's going to be an interesting off season, that's for sure. I see Ballard gone too, but I heard the opposite about him as a player. I heard he was the consumate team guy, not a me first. But something clearly isn't meshing with AV and the other guys don't seem to mind him not playing so what does that say? If we can get rid of him and just use the cap to resign Bieksa I'll be happy, as we'll still have a ton of money for our other signings.

CoHo has to play with the big boys this year, I can't see it being good for his confidence to be sent down again.

 

[termatofylakas]

The whole thing with Ballard is confusing but not surprising. There is a reason Hodgson didn't play in the finals as well. Remember when after his first camp and the back problem AV muttered something about him not being tough enough. AV just seems to hate certain players. You guys are gonna tell me Ballard was the only dman bad in game 4 and then in game 6 they play just as bad but no one gets scratched for game 7? A game 7 where supposedly Edler plays with 2 broken fingers? If true isn't it hard to play a game required to hold a stick with broken fingers? Or you sit a healthy guy and play Ehrhoff who's got a shoulder no where near 100%?

I think it's simpler. Yes AV might win the Jack Adams and yes the nucks finished first overall, but that was because of the talent this team had. He was outcoached in every series. SJ series was short because of the PP. This guy is made to look better because of the team that Gillis put together. Replace the coach already since you've replaced almost everyone else around him. Newell Brown (sp) made the PP better and Melanson turned Luongo's year around. Now get a better coach and you might win the cup.

 

[STD]

Can't argue the Ballard thing he was set up to fail, when you choose Alberts over Ballard you send a message he is not good enough then when you are forced to put him you put him on the top pair, makes no swense, talk about messing with a guys head.His confidence in himself is shot and clearly AV doesn't have confidence in him so cannot commit 4.2 million on a cap hit and expect to have enough talent to win. It almost worked this year because of the amount of injuries we had but you cannot expect the same thing next year. He is gone one way or another.

 

[STD]

Another point Mckenzie made is Luongo addmitted to being upset about fans cheering when he got pulled, does he even want to play here anymore. I think AV made the mistake of keeping him in the game for too long in game 3 when the team wasn't playing well. Pull him earlier maybe he plays better in game 4 and the not playing well in Boston thing doesn't get in his head. Hindsight.

 

[italian_stallion21]

Another point Mckenzie made is Luongo addmitted to being upset about fans cheering when he got pulled, does he even want to play here anymore. I think AV made the mistake of keeping him in the game for too long in game 3 when the team wasn't playing well. Pull him earlier maybe he plays better in game 4 and the not playing well in Boston thing doesn't get in his head. Hindsight.

What do you do with him though? Long term contract with a NTC. Obviously if he expresses a desire to leave he'd waive it but where does he go? Philly would be nice, you could hope they can't sign Bryzgalov, and then since they would need to dump salary send Jeff Carter our way Dare to dream......

 

[STD]

I don't think he will go anywhere I just wonder how it will be to have a goalie who is not happy with his playing situation. Again it goes back to what I am saying about Vancouver fans and I'll put the media with them at times as being stupid. Booing your #1 goalie that helped get you to a final is as dumb as it gets. I can see getting frustrated but if you want to win help pick him back up don't make it harder then it already is.

 

[italian_stallion21]

Since we're not talking about the actual series anymore, lets move it here: http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/canucks-hockey/16888-canucks-2011-offseason.html#post338445

 

[Bronco]

Nice

The Big, Bad, Bruins $156,679.74 bar tab - bruins blog - Boston Globe hockey news

 

[italian_stallion21]

Yeah, but $100K of it was for a special bottle of champagne, so not that special. Well, the bottle was 30 litres so maybe it was....

 

[johnnybluenose]

It's not that excessive. (the 30L bottle is certainly excessive though)

If there's 30 guys and 15-20 wives, girlfriends that's 45-50 people. Minus the 100k bottle you're looking at $1,133.00 per person, and with them mostly having 7 figure incomes that's no different than us schmucks going out and dropping $113.30 per person.

I'm sure the Peg boys did a LOT more than that in their cele parties!

 

[bergamascho]

Yeah, but $100K of it was for a special bottle of champagne, so not that special. Well, the bottle was 30 litres so maybe it was....

Know how I know the Bruins are a$$holes? Their bar tab had only light beer on it... FCUK ME WHY COULDN'T WE WIN????