The Continuing Chronicles Of Jay Feaster's Incompetence

[SeanDMan]

That was good.

[Plubby]

Hey, at least I wrote out the analysis BEFORE I researched the puns.

I meant it

[Gabriel]

Jokinen to Winnipeg is a good signing. Over-priced, but the Jets are hardly in trouble with the cap, so it's all right for them.

The Flames replace Jokinen with Roman Cervenka, who will probably be flanked on one side by new signing Jiri Hudler. I like these moves from Feaster, and if we can somehow lure Jagr to Cowtown without spending too much (or at least moving out a big contract like Bouwmeester or Stajan) then we could have a fantastically talented all-Czech line.

[Toe]

I think Jagr should go to Pittsburgh. That would be pretty cool to see, Crosby or Malkin setting up Jagr.

[TGWL]

Jagr went to Dallas.

[I_Like_EWR]

Why hasn't Jagr retired yet? He's not been good since he left New York.

[Plubby]

...wut.

[NobBe Nobbs]

The Flames replace Jokinen with Roman Cervenka, who will probably be flanked on one side by new signing Jiri Hudler. I like these moves from Feaster, and if we can somehow lure Jagr to Cowtown without spending too much (or at least moving out a big contract like Bouwmeester or Stajan) then we could have a fantastically talented all-Czech line.

Your team has the second-highest payroll in the entire league despite finishing out of the playoff spots last year and you are happy that a) you're paying one guy who's taken until he's 26 to hit the NHL almost $4 million on the cap and b) you're giving Jiri Hudler, one of the poster boys for coat-tail riding, another $4 million in the desperate hope he'll produce as well with Matt Stajan and Lee Stempniak and ooh ooh the five million dollar man Dennis Wideman as he did with Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom. You're so doomed once Jarome Iginla decides he's off.

[Gabriel]

The Flames replace Jokinen with Roman Cervenka, who will probably be flanked on one side by new signing Jiri Hudler. I like these moves from Feaster, and if we can somehow lure Jagr to Cowtown without spending too much (or at least moving out a big contract like Bouwmeester or Stajan) then we could have a fantastically talented all-Czech line.

Your team has the second-highest payroll in the entire league despite finishing out of the playoff spots last year and you are happy that a) you're paying one guy who's taken until he's 26 to hit the NHL almost $4 million on the cap and b) you're giving Jiri Hudler, one of the poster boys for coat-tail riding, another $4 million in the desperate hope he'll produce as well with Matt Stajan and Lee Stempniak and ooh ooh the five million dollar man Dennis Wideman as he did with Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom. You're so doomed once Jarome Iginla decides he's off.

Tim Thomas didn't hit the NHL until he was well past his younger years. That means nothing to me. Will Cervenka produce in the NHL? I don't know if he will. But it's a calculated risk. What did we lose for him? Cap space. That's it.

Hudler will produce at least at the same level as Olli Jokinen, and he's doing it for $500,000 less.

Once Iginla is gone, the team is in the hands of Sven Baertschi. I have absolutely no issue with that.

That's not to say that I'm not unhappy about some things. Obviously Matt Stajan needs to go if we can move him. He's a cap hit that isn't producing on any level, any better than a number of our entry-level contracted players can produce. Worse though, is that Jay Bouwmeester continues to be part of this team. When we signed him, I was happy with it because he was a goal scoring, point producing and responsible defenseman in Florida. When he moved though, he seemed to forget all of that in his old house and turned into a liability. His cap hit is way too high, and he takes irresponsible penalties at the worst possible times. Sure, he eats up a lot of minutes, but so can Giordano, Wideman, Sarich, Brodie and Babchuk.

We need to move Stajan and/or Bouwmeester before I'm truly happy with where the team is headed. We also need to either decide that Henrik Karlsson is our guy and let him play 20 games, or just trade him somewhere he can play and go with Irving for those 20 games. Kiprusoff cannot continue to play 70+ games. Either Karlsson or Irving is our 20 game guy, or we need to go out and get one.

[TGWL]

Everybody is getting overpaid. That's what happens when you sign UFA's and that's what happens when the cap goes up. You need players; you spend money. I'm sure they would've preferred landing a star via trade or grabbing a guy like Parise, however, the only alternative to what they did was bringing up guys who might not be ready to play. This is probably one of the best off-seasons Calgary has had, in recent years.

I think the plan is to move Bouw as soon as a team is willing to take him, but for guys who play that many minutes, you don't just take chumps back to get rid of that cap hit.

[Gabriel]

I've got a feeling that when Ryan Suter signs somewhere, that Bouwmeester will be moved. Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Washington could be destinations for Jay Bo. There's still a ton of upside to him, for sure, but we have guys in Calgary who can do what he does, and what he's failing to do, at a fraction of the cost.

Of those teams I mentioned, guys I'd like to have in Calgary would be guys like Patrick Sharp, Jack Campbell, Darren Helm, Wayne Simmonds, Tyler Kennedy or Adam Hall. More than anything, I'd say that there should be at least one top level prospect or 1st round draft pick coming our way for Bouwmeester. In fact, I'd take one of those, and any of those players I mentioned, in return for him.

[NobBe Nobbs]

Tim Thomas didn't hit the NHL until he was well past his younger years. That means nothing to me. Will Cervenka produce in the NHL? I don't know if he will. But it's a calculated risk. What did we lose for him? Cap space. That's it.

Hudler will produce at least at the same level as Olli Jokinen, and he's doing it for $500,000 less.

Once Iginla is gone, the team is in the hands of Sven Baertschi. I have absolutely no issue with that.

1) There is a massive difference between Tim Thomas and Roman Cervenka because Thomas is a goaltender and goaltenders are fucking mental. And saying you lost cap space like that's actually something to be pleased about is about as crazy - Calgary of all teams shouldn't have that attitude because that's driven you to where you are now, not making the playoffs with a roster full of overpaid, overrated players armed with no-trade clauses and the league's worst prospect pool.

2) All the evidence for Hudler producing has been in Detroit. Now he's got to be a first-line player and doesn't have the supporting cast he did on the Red Wings.

3) A guy who's played no NHL games and is the one bright spot in your otherwise laughably poor pipeline is going to step in and replace Jarome Iginla, the modern-day definition of a franchise player. Are you sure about that?

[Plubby]

Matt Stajan was the only skater pulling on the rope late last season. Him and Kipper (as usual) were doing ALL the heavy lifting. The main concern I have for Calgary is the same I had for Colorado when they brought in Tucker and Raycroft. They were overpaying mediocre players and they needed to do that just in order to reach the same level of not-good-enough they had the season before. Feaster needs to blow the team up and start with what young talent they have picked up.

I don't necessarily mean start a firesale. Just...stop signing free agents is a start. Don't add anyone, don't retain most of your veteran core. Keep Iggy if you can (or better yet upgrade him for prospects/picks) Same with Bouwmeester. I'd keep him if they couldn't get the right mix of picks and prospects for him. Right now Calgary's most valuable resource is roster spots. Sure if you let your FA's expire and walk away then you get nothing back in return for the flesh-and-blood body you just let walk, but I think the more valuable thing they have is that the roster spot frees up for the next wave.

[Ruki]

Heard that Parise and Suter might both head to the Wild.

[caucasianheat]

The Freep this morning was talking about Detroit offering Suter $90 million over 13 years, so the hit would be just about 7 per. I'd imagine Parise is going to command even more than that salary-wise and the Wild only have about 15 million in cap space. My prediction remains that Suter moves but Parise stays put in NJ.

Phoenix grabs Steve Sullivan, who I love but won't replace the loss of Whitney and potentially Doan. What a joke that a team can't even re-sign their star players while the league waits around for another slapdash ownership group to hopefully get a deal together. Abandon Glendale already.

[caucasianheat]

Suter signs with the Wild.

[Ruki]

Parise signs with the Wild.

Good day to be a Wild fan.

When will it be a good day to be a Leaf fan?

Edit: Some butt hurt Devils fan: "Now Parise and Suter can finally plug each others holes at night. Honestly **** Zach, but congrats to Wild fans..cant wait to see the contract overpayment"

[caucasianheat]

Ewww, it's like a Miami Heat thing. Somebody's getting back-loaded money.

Minnesota's forward group is still kind of a mess of acquired parts after the Heatley-Koivu-Parise top 3, but now they at least have a good defenseman.

[Ruki]

13 years each...I am guessing somewhere between 6.5 and 7 for the cap hit.

[caucasianheat]

The contracts are identical - $98 million over 13 years each, so a hit of just over 7.5 for both of them.