CBS.SportsLine.com's Wes Goldstein and Greg Cimilluca provide analysis on three weekly topics.
| Who will be the most sought-after free agent this summer? | |
| Wes Goldstein | Greg Cimilluca |
Teams are still learning to work with the salary cap, so there
might be nearly as many free agents available this summer as last,
and several will be of the top-shelf variety. Teams looking for
offense will probably get a shot at players like Marc Savard, Joe
Sakic, Patrik Elias, Jason Arnott or Daniel Briere, while those in
search of help in the back end could turn to Rob Blake or Ed
Jovanovski. Look for goalies Curtis Joseph, Martin Biron and
Dwayne Roloson to be out there too, but I think the big prize
could be Ottawa's Zdeno Chara -- if he hits the open market in
July, that is. Teams that can fit what will be a very expensive
salary into their budget will be tripping over themselves to get
at him. Chara is the biggest defenseman in the league -- literally
at 6-feet-9 -- and one of NHL's few true franchise type blue
liners still in his prime. The Senators want to re-sign him and
their other top defenseman Wade Redden, but might not have enough
salary cap space to do so. The speculation most of the year has
been that Chara would be the most likely to walk and would create
a bidding war among teams looking to solidify their back end.
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There are many big names available, and they'll no doubt be
attractive to several organizations. Players like Joe Sakic and
Doug Weight, while getting older, still have good hockey in them
and will no doubt be valuable to any team they play for. Others on
the aging-yet-still-producing list are Brendan Shanahan and Teemu
Selanne. Weight is the youngest at 35. On the defensive side are
Niklas Lidstrom and Rob Blake, but again, they're 36 and 37. Not
all free agents are aging. Marek Zidlicky (Nashville) and Ed Jovanovski
(Vancouver) are two outstanding defenseman who will be valuable
assets. And goaltender Martin Gerber has certainly showed what he
can do for a franchise in Carolina. But the most sought-after will
be Ottawa defenseman Zdeno Chara. He's 29 and has become a
dominating force. That he should be for years to come and will
only get better is something that can't be said about the other
free agents. He's a monster in his own end, has been a Norris
Trophy candidate and is getting more skilled in the offensive
zone. He's the one player who can step in and make a significant
impact now and for years.
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| What do you think of making games worth three points each? | |
| Wes Goldstein | Greg Cimilluca |
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If it were up to me, I'd make each game worth the three instead of
just the ones that go to a shootout, and give all the points to
teams that win in regulation. I have no problem with the idea of
giving something to both sides if they go to OT or a shootout, but
incentive is important, and getting a bonus for winning in 60
minutes might encourage a lot more teams to be a lot more
aggressive than they have been this year. There are arguments to
be made for keeping things the way they are, the best of which
came recently from Canada's TSN, which studied the effects of the
guaranteed extra point that comes from shootouts and concluded
they have had a minimal effect on the standings. The study said
that essentially all the teams currently holding playoff seeds
would be there even without the extra shootout points they've
gained. More important, the playoff races in both conferences have
been so intense, it's hard to complain. But the three-point game
might make playoff races even better. Teams that are still
mathematically alive right now, but have little real hope -- think
of Florida and Minnesota -- could still get back into things in
the final week if they got three points against conference rivals.
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It boils down to value for me. In order to boost the
regular-season point total, you have to think that either a
regulation win is worth more, or that the overtime/shootout points
are devaluing the regulation win. Right now, if you win a game in
regulation, you get two points. If you lose two games in overtime,
you get two points. Does that reward the team that won in
regulation enough? To be honest, I have no problems with the way
things are now. With no more ties, at the end of every game,
there's a two-point winner. If you take a team to
overtime/shootout and lose, you get a consolation point for being
even at the end of regulation. I can understand the three-point
system, but I don't think it's necessary. I don't think teams need
any sort of incentive to play harder in regulation. Are they not
playing hard to begin with? From the moment the puck drops, are
they thinking "let's get to OT"? I don't think so. I think this is
one area where we can leave well enough alone.
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| Will the refs still call penalties as closely during the playoffs? | |
| Wes Goldstein | Greg Cimilluca |
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Nobody gave NHL the benefit of the doubt when it said its on-ice
officials would call rule book very tightly this season, and that
was to be expected considering how many times in the past those
promises where made. Well guess what? Things are
different, because unlike years past, the stricter enforcement did
not wane as the season progressed. Credit the league's new
officiating director, Steven Walkom, with great oversight. He has
kept on his guys from Day 1 and pushed them hard about not letting
up. It has made power plays critical -- maybe too much so -- to
the success of many teams this year, but that's part of the curve
for many players brought up learning how to play defense a certain
way: illegally. Craig Conroy of the Los Angeles Kings was musing
about that a few days ago and actually seemed almost indignant
that you can't get away with what you used to at this time of
year. Funny thing is that there are those who think referees will
take a more liberal approach to things during the playoffs, but
judging by the fact that we're in April and players are not
complaining that obstruction has crept back into the game, I
wouldn't bet on it.
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They'd better if they expect to continue doing this for a living.
Stephen Walkom, the NHL's senior vice president and director of
officiating, has repeatedly stated that obstruction penalties
(among others) that have been called much more closely will
continue -- playoffs included. That's how it should be, and the
fact it took the lockout to fix is troubling to say the least.
Now, much like any new cog in a machine that has been running for
years, it's not going to be an exact match. Some things have been
let go -- and should have been -- but officials are human and
trying to figure it out as well. Just as it's for a player to
erase years of clutching and grabbing, it's hard to start calling
it now. There have been several late game and overtime penalties.
I have witnessed more than one three-on-three in overtime, and
even a five-on-three. So the penalties are being called, and I
firmly believe Walkom has his troops ready to do so in the
playoffs. The process will evolve, and there might not be as many
touch or phantom infractions called in seasons to come, but I do
believe we will see an end to the style of hockey of the last
decade. And this isn't all on the refs; the idea was to get
players to act within the rules and the more they have done so,
the better the game has become.
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