The Ditch

Checked out of the ditch, cleaned my side, been a slice.

I started to loose any hope and didnt think they were going to get it done. They nearly waited to the last second but Im glad its done. Going to be a mad race of a season. The interdivisional rivalries are going to be great.

I'm reading about some of the specifics in the CBA.

Not happy about them as they are reported right now, I hope they add some more rules.     Too much variance on longterm contracts and the buyouts are really bothering me.    I hate the buyouts, 2 is a bunch of crap.   I wish the owners added some of that buyout money to that 200 million to be spread around instead since that's the area that can really bring stability among the smaller franchises.     A huge opportunity wasted in many respects...again.

Don was right the whole time, getting the cap up to 64.3 for next year is huge and will offset many of the losses since early December proposals.   Still not sure he served the PA best, but his legacy should be stronger than ever.      I really hope the PA keeps paying attention after the CBA is signed so this mess isn't so bad next time.  

Well, time for them to write all the details and I can spend the next half decade trying to completely understand the document.

Warning to everyone, the media was irresponsible idiots when it came to analyzing the CBA last time and most missed the boat when it came to short and long-term implications.    Instead of them being idiots, let's cut them out of it and screw up the interpretation ourselves instead!   We can be as stoopid as they were.

My first reaction is that I wish they waited another week.    I've been reading for a few hours trying to understand all the provisions, but I think I'll just have to wait a few days until they hammer all the details out.

They're still all sucks, let's see what kind of damage they did to the corporate support, we'll know more the next 18 months.   I'm sure arenas is COl, ANA, PHX, Dal, FLA, TB, CLB, NAS, and NYI will really be thumping.

With so many crappy rules that I think will actually make the game worse in many respects,  I will continue to have the ditch maintained.

Merry effing hockey season everyone.

Dont forget to pay your bill before ya leave! Lets drop that puck!

Oh great.    I can't even venture out of the ditch right now.   Many of the sites with cap data are down while they scramble with the new CBA.   I can't even speculate on the market value of the available FAs.

I have to start my "shady buyout watch" list too.

I didn't think I would be so aggravated by news of an agreement.   

I wonder which teams will use the buyouts and if it will impact the trades this season and prior to the deadline.    Does Vinik tell Yzerman to move Vinnie so he can be bought out next summer?

Hossa, how will he perform this year?
Does Jacobs let Chiarelli buyout Chara and then resign him on the cheap?
Luongo?
What kind of crazy reckless crap does Holmgren do?

There are a bunch of big contracts and players with some gas in the tank that may be subject to movement and buyouts depending on the details.   I hate it for the game but it will be interesting. 

At least I can now devote attention to off season injuries.

So much to do and only so many voices.

Just like last lockout, it will be very interesting to see which rosters are loaded up with players that are not ready to play physically.   It might be worse than last time since players had around 3 months knowing 2006 season was starting. 

The 1st games to take place will be rivalries. Gee, I wonder why? Penguins @ Flyers is supposed to be the 1st game. 7 divisional games, and 1 home & home conference game, with no inter-conference games. The 1st game is guessed at Jan. 19 after a few practices.

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Luongo for sale!

Congrats to those who persevered through this lawyerfest.  I have been shaking my head like an etch-a-sketch trying to clear the CBA process from my brain.

Now if only Kesler was ready to return.

Go Nucks!

I gave the ditch-maid a tenspot to clean up my mess.      

Woooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! That is all.

I wonder which teams will use the buyouts

I think theres a few teams that are easy to figure out. The Sabres and Ville Leino, the Canadiens and Scott Gomez, DiPietro and the Islanders. Those come to mind right away and I'm sure there are others getting paid more than what they are producing.

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I have a question. Why should players get paid big money when not producing and should be cut? Like the NFL! Wait, a contract is a contract in the NHL but not in the NFL, MLB, or NBA right? That was easy to figure out.

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Some of the buyout or Non-buyout decisions are going to give us fodder to have a few GM's evaluated for sanity. What we think are obvious moves, like DiPietro, might not go as planned.

Only NFL contracts are not guarenteed. MLB and NBA are.

Some of the buyout or Non-buyout decisions are going to give us fodder to have a few GM's evaluated for sanity. What we think are obvious moves, like DiPietro, might not go as planned.

This will be interesting.

I'm expecting some big contract movement this year because of buyout provisions.
A wacky owner like Dolan or McPHee and gm Holmgren would be my two top candidates to do something crazy with buyouts.     Beware the nuts in CGY and Vinik's vision in TB.

My ditch-bar tab along with the robe and towels I took goes on Lulz's account. :)

Two words, Wade Redden. With the cap being where it is a few guys could find themselves in his position instead of being amnestied. I would expect long term deals to be the ones jettisoned and other creative ways to deal with the ones with a year or two left on the deals.

I tip my cap to Scot 'The Lockout Crusher' Beckenbraugh. He may have played a key roll in helping resolve this lockout mess. At least he probably did alot of the dirty work on Friday trying to get the two sides together.

With the cap being where it is a few guys could find themselves in his position instead of being amnestied. I would expect long term deals to be the ones jettisoned and other creative ways to deal with the ones with a year or two left on the deals.

The possibilities seem to be endless.

Does Gillis buyout Lou and then resign and trade him for a huge value in prospects and picks?

Giving big market owners the ability to spend 10s of millions opens up a ton of possibilities for other owners to sell picks/prospects to let another owner buyout their bad contracts.

Many agents with big clients are going nuts figuring out how to cash their studs out only to have them sign another deal next summer.

Some owners will just buyout bad contracts, but I think the buyout provision will be manipulated.   I just hope all the legal teams got more sleep than Gary and Don so that they can eliminate some of the potential problems.

Are you guys really gonna vacate the ditch?

lol red. my tab? don't make me send my union henchmen out there to teach u some manners

Are you guys really gonna vacate the ditch?

Vancouver's slow start, the roster age of Detroit, the blueline in PHI, the 3rd line in Pit, the Chicago special teams, etc. will keep the ditch busy Cutter.

So when can free agents get signed and players traded?  Should be an interesting week.  When is the trade deadline? 

Vancouver's slow start, the roster age of Detroit, the blueline in PHI, the 3rd line in Pit, the Chicago special teams, etc. will keep the ditch busy Cutter.

Detroit's roster age has been a so called issue for two decades now but they still manage to find a way to win.   Heck I think since 1998 they haven't gone more then 4 years without making the Stanley Cup finals.

That said, what does Detroit do with some of their contracts?  I'm very curious to see what they do with Franzen's deal.  I think that guy is regressing and he can't seem to stay healthy for an entire season.   Zetterberg's deal could be the first corrupt move by a GM in my opinion.   He's one guy not likely to play hockey anywhere but Detroit so if the rules allow teams to but a guy out and re-sign him I could see a little scamming going on in Detroit.  I could see Zetterberg doing Holland a favor or two so he can free up some cap space. 

The Red Wings and the Jets are going to have it worse than any other team, as far as travel goes. Detroit, being in the western conference, will have to fly out to st.louis, a nashville, plus they have to go out on the west coast. The jets won't play any games against the Flames or Oilers, and will have to fly out east. Compare this with the leafs, who play teams within an hour flight, and even a two hr drive to buffalo, and there only games where there's any far travel will be florida.

Vancouver the same, they only go up and down the west coast, for the most part.

For many GM's the 2 contract removals can't come fast enough.  Waiting until the end of the year and not being able to hide the bums in the AHL will chafe their backside.  To have 2 more the following year will be hard to use for most teams.  If any GM can use all 4 I'll be impressed.  I also want to see how many GM's walk away from an arbitration of more than 3.5 mil.  This new CBA has some interesting features.  But then I regress, I just want big boy hockey and plenty of it.

Back to the real issue.  How do we get rid of Pierre? 

Red from what I understand teams only get two buyouts and that's prior to the 2013-2014 season.  None this season and none from season 3 on of the CBA.  But I could be wrong.  Am I missing something?

I have been reading about the buyouts all day. It is only two and they have to be used prior to the 13-14 season. There are some twists and turns in the way they work. I have seen a couple articles saying DiPietro isn't going to get one because the Isles would have to spend $24 million just to get rid of a guy and get nothing in return. A couple other teams need to shed some contracts that are actually OK deals because of the timing of other expiring contracts. Cap geek actually has a buyout calculator.

It is only two and they have to be used prior to the 13-14 season.

That's the way I read it.

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