The Ditch

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.

CUP4PENS

capgeek = teh awesome.

thanks lulz,
looks like I owe you a "better made" "keogel vienna" with "garden fresh" onions in a "jiffy"

Ok, I think I get it, stuff is still spread out there.  2 amnesty buyouts, that can be used after this season and the next.  Until they publish full contract it will be up to Bob to decipher this madness.  Just drop the puck.

2 amnesty buyouts, that can be used after this season and the next.

like cmc and igloo stated, they have to be used before the 2014 season.

The obvious reasons are to allow franchises to be able to comply with the 2014 cap and to put more money in play for the players from the big spenders.

We can only imagine what Holmgren will do with them once he overpays on his next 2 big free agents.

like cmc and igloo stated, they have to be used before the 2014 season.

Of course this is based on the littel information that has been reported.

By my calculations, I find it very difficult to believe the Redwings will get 100pts on the season again if they play a 48 game schedule.

And of course we will spend half the winter explaining to some of our brothers that 49 points in a 48 game season does NOT mean you have a winning record.

By my calculations, I find it very difficult to believe the Redwings will get 100pts on the season again if they play a 48 game schedule.

Smart-a$$  

capgeek = teh awesome.

= teh almost awesome.  

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.

And I'm sure the media will draw more and more similar conclusions.    Then they'll see all the shady possibilities.

I just hope the league has the foresight this time to recognize that safegaurds have to be put in place to protect the capped system.

Since the 2 buyouts they use don't count against the team salary cap capgeek really doesn't do anything for us.

Since the Islanders are currently 22 million under the ceiling with only about 5 most likely cheap players to sign I don't see the point of cutting DiPietro.  Cutting big name high priced overpaid players only makes sense for teams needing to create some cap space. I don't imagine the Islanders will be spending the max anytime soon.....  Maybe if by some miracle Dipietro plays some excellent hockey and stays healthy ( assuming he's healthy right now) they could trade him at the deadline and a richer team will use him for the playoffs or for insurance and then cut him before the 2013-2104 season.  I doubt that happens but hey, I've seen weirder things.

I'm with you there red, Prust may have the most with konopka and Rinaldo close behind

The NHL BOG will meet Wednesday in New York to ratify the new CBA contract. Season of 48 games starts Saturday January 19th. I can hardly wait.

Good Morning all.

Just thinking about who will benefit the most and least from the shortened season.

Leafs will benefit the most because theyre always near the top of the conference after 50 games before they come back to where they belong.

Winnipeg gets the screws turned, going to be a harsh travel schedule in short time. 

Leafs will benefit the most because theyre always near the top of the conference after 50 games before they come back to where they belong.

Something tells me that this season the Leafs get off to their worst start in years.  I have no research or any logic to base what I just said off of except for one thing.  Losing organizations in all sports find a way to screw up.  I'm sure the Leafs players and Burke will figure out a way to do that somehow