Sod16

A first, second and third for Aho would be a no brainer. Whatever Carolina's financial position, they will match for sure. If they matched and traded him they'd get more than those picks.

Big pay day but will be consigned to a weak team for a long time. Fact that Kessel was willing to go to AZ but vetoed MN, in spite of being from WI and playing for U MN, is telling.

Weak return. In the cap world, you take a discount when you get a pick rather than a player. He's an NHL player who may get better. A third rounder has a low chance of being an NHL player. Anyhow, we were obviously done with him, and he was done with us.

Would prefer Kreider and $5m of space over Panarin. Rebuild on roids. The scoresheet on signings like this reads Fluery, Holik, Gomez, Richards, Redden and Drury on one side and Gaborik on the other. I wonder if the "money on the table" was not Islanders or FLA offers but the last minute Columbus one.

I hope the Rangers don't ever get in the position of the Wild, which is so unpromising at the moment that they have to overpay in an already inflated UFA market to get a guy like Zucc. $6 per for 5 is an insanely rich deal for him. The fact that Anders Lee is not interested in his hometown team reflects how lame they look.

Want to see where the Rangers may be heading in 2-3 years? Look at Winnipeg and Toronto. Just when they reach the point of becoming contenders, they have to start shedding good players with little or no return. We're more destined to be in that position if we sign Panarin. Let him enjoy the glamour of traffic on the Interborough Parkway.

2-3 years from now, we are going to have to shed quality players due to cap issues just as we are becoming a contender. The more I think about it, the more I lean towards taking a pass on Panarin. That huge block of cap space could really hurt.

Pananrin needs to be taken on a tour that includes: (1) the lovely Elmont area near the race track; (2) a rush hour drive from the Islanders' practice rink at Eisenhower Park to Barclays; and (3) crossing Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale on foot. "I want to be a part of it, LI, LI". After that, they should take him to skate on some slush and finish the day with a trip to a planning committee meeting with yapping Long Island residents doing everything in their power to stop or delay the new rink.

Elliotte Friedman, DJ Hradek and Arthur Staples discussed Panarin at length on NHL Network. They all think Lou's ready to make a big splash, especially with Lee and Lehner not signed. Friedman said up front that FLA is still favorite, but after that, all of the talk was about the Islanders. They are even talking about Isles package deal for Panarin and Bobro. I don't want them going to the Islanders, but I'm quite happy that we have enough new toys for the coming season.

Where's the wolf?

Uncle Larry today says that if it is a choice between at Panarin at 11.5 per for seven years and Kreider at 6.5 for 6, he'd take the latter. I agree. He also points out that there will be other big name UFAs next year and it might be better to wait to see our needs. Agreed again. Last year it was Tavares, this year Panarin, next year someone else.

I've always been suspicious of Larry's statement that they agreed on numbers but not the NMC. I think Slats always knew that there would be not agreement without the NMC, so he could throw out whatever numbers he wanted for public consumption. Cally's career took the exact path that Slats, and even casual Rangers' observers, expected after the trade. I still like the Rangers chances in 2014 with Cally as opposed to MSL, but that needn't be debated any longer.

You better believe it. He was excellent for them, but no one is going to give term and a first for a 31 year old, and the 31 year old is not going to be giving home town concessions when home is a hotel room he lived in for a couple of months.

Agreed. He was actually one of the better Bolts in their playoff flop this year. Still, a good return for the Bolts considering the cap space they are opening. I'm only worried that with Cally and JT both gone, the Bolts may feel the need to restock on Rangers. I'd rather deal with someone else!

Degenerative disk disease is pretty subjective. Everyone over about 45 can be said to have it (I sure do). It's convenient in a way for Cally. He would have been bought out, gotten less than his contract, and probably not gotten a guaranteed contract, so he's ahead. Obviously though, a guy like Cally would not go along with something like this if he had any hockey left in him, although it would not surprise me if a year from now he tries to make a comeback.

Bob McKenzie says no salary retention. Still a good deal for Devils. Granted it's a big cap hit, but if he were a UFA, you'd have to go longer than three years, and they will be done with him at age 33, which will be just about right. It will take about two years for him to wear out his welcome, so they'll just have to contend with him for one when he's a problem. Second rounders are nothing for a guy like this. Everyone thought Nashville won the Suban-Weber trade when it was made. Now, not so much.

Why is the Vancouver crowed so angry and nasty?

I share the author's surprise at the apparent lack of interest at Shatty at $3.3 m per for two years, especially when you look at the marginal defensemen that teams are happy to obtain. They should just hold tight. Someone will bite on him with at 50% retention before opening night. Much as I have a soft spot for him for sacrificing term to come here to begin with, there's just no role for him with Trouba and Fox around.

Larry's comments about Lundquist are musings, but his discussion of Kreider is pretty firm. Love or hate Uncle Larry, and he may be wrong about some things sometimes, but he is almost never wrong when he predicts that a player is on the way out. I've never seen him write an article like the one he wrote about Kreider today and have it turn out that the player stays long term.

Is this organization going to trade every quality 26 to 28 year old player when he is within a year of a new contract? Sure seems that way. As Brooks points out, do you really want to field a team of 22 year olds? I'm afraid there haven't been substantive discussion of numbers with Kreider's agent because everyone knows, within a narrow span, what his next contract is going to look like: six years at seven per. I guess Gorton doesn't want to pay that.

The plot now thickens with respect to Kreider, Shatty and Panarin. Impossible not to love this trade. Could DeAngelo's improved play in the latter part of the season put him in play for a decent return now, or have we decided that we quite like him ourselves? We shall see.

I'd take Hags at 2.75 over most of the UFAs who are signing for twice that.

Agreed. There may not be a player just like this available for free as a UFA this year, but this is the kind of contract you have to give to get a UFA typically without paying anything in terms of players and picks. I understand that Kreider is a little older and not a right handed defenseman, but it is hard for me to see not extending him and then turning around and giving up a rich package for the privilege of signing a guy to the equivalent of UFA terms. Whoever gets Trouba will pay a very dear price. That doesn't make sense for us before we are about to embark on a year with perhaps five or even six rookies on the roster. Better to do this kind of deal next year, after the dust settles a bit, because there is a huge cloud of dust right now.

Well, if Eberle isn't good and is getting this contract, it would seem to indicate that if a player is "good", he definitely will get a long term deal at this age. He had a weak regular season. 9 points in 8 games in the playoffs.

The were chanting against him in Nashville. Another good destination.