Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

I don't think they do it. Just seeing what he's worth. The longer it goes the more likely they buy him out.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Letang ends up signing for 8 years and 58mil. Goodbye much flexibility starting next year.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

They'll be fine. With the ntc to only half the teams, it'll be a movable contract if need be in a few years. Plus the cap is going to go up. there is a risk, but He'd likely get a lot more than that on the market.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

That's a lot of money for a mediocre defenseman that can score a lot.

Oh sorry....ZOMG Shero is teh best!!1

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Bron gonna Bron. You are such an idiot

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Good argument. Letang is still average (at best for a defenseman) in his own zone and they are paying him like he's an elite d-man. Yes he is very talented offensively but $7m+ a year for him when he is a year from free agency? That seems like an overpay.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

I talked to Boyd last night. He said Seth Jones is going to go 1st overall.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Allan Walsh @walsha Talking with some NHL people who say the League is projecting the Upper Limit to go up 33% over 3 years. That's a $80M Upper limit.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Pens have 8 players signed for $45mil. That's a lot. In a few years will have some relief but cap going up next year won't be much.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

And our boy Dreger reporting what our tranny Jackets fan is not gonna like, shopping Bob since he wants $6mil+. That's a lot for a guy who hasn't proven anything yet. I understand him wanting it but also understand CBJ not wanting to hand it out.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

26 year old Norris finalist Kris Letang is only worth $1m-$1.5m more than 35 year old Mark Streit and 39 year old Sergei Gonchar. The pens pool of blueline prospects makes the decision to re-sign Letang even easier. We can fill out the rest of the blueline with guys on entry-level contracts over the next 3-4 years, with Letang leading the way. He is still at a bargain basement price of 3.5 next year, so even if the cap doesn't go up that much after, PIT only needs one ELC to come through as a top4 D and they are at a good. Otherwise he can still be shopped next summer after PIT used up his cheap years and everyone else has seen some more star contracts after in the new CBA signed an is over this idea that everyone should be compared to whatever Boyle or Pronger signed half a decade ago.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Watch Philly try to trade for him.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

The current Boston Bruins have 41 million tied up amongst 8 guys, as do the Kings.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

And that's a lot is all I'm saying. Those are the decisions you have to make. I'm just surprised they didn't trade him with all the young talent on D everyone says they have.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

As for Philly and Bob it wouldn't surprise me but with the $$ he wants it won't happen. How about Bryz signing with CBJ? lol

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

yeah, my gut was telling me he'd be traded. it was playing exactly like the staal situation last year. apparently the deal isnt actually complete yet, so maybe he does. i think at the end of the day, shero probably feels better about giving letang this deal than going with 4 or 5 rooks in a year when orpik and martin are gone.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Hilarious overpayment by Pittsburgh. Letang is a top teir offensive talent on the blue line, yes, but when you have $48 million committed to 7 players now next season...that's a problem.

It becomes even more of a problem when one of those is a goaltender that really needs solid defensive defenseman in front of him (which has been made painfully obvious the last two playoffs) and Letang isn't one of those.

Everyone saying that they can just "shop MAF" if they have to...TO WHO? Who is going to take a struggling goaltender? It sounds nice in your head, but you still have to find someone to actually take him and his contract. And unless you find some solid defenseman in their own end VERY fast, he's going to continue to struggle.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Its really not. He'd get a ton more on the market. Look at what Streit and Gonchar got. Teams pay for Offensive dmen.


and now Lebrun saying Bob and the jackets are close on a deal. :lol

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Was just gonna come to post the LeBrun report. A quick turn around there.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Very quick. Makes you wonder if one side leaked that to get things moving.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

This is always my least favorite argument out there.

Just because he'd fetch more on the open market, doesn't mean that Pittsburgh can afford to pay them what they did.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

I was watching NHL Network last night and they were doing NHL Combine stuff. The part I caught was the interview process with Seth Jones and the Blue Jackets. The GM of the BJs really has his shit together. I'm impressed.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Imagine if Orr was playing in his prime now?

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

That is true. At the same time, the team would better with him than without. To be honest, i see both sides here, but i think that with the cap going up, its a no brainer.

Hawks are reportedly shopping Nick Leddy....

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Agree to disagree. I think it's an overpayment for Pitt to be making it. Now if someone else made it? It makes sense, but I don't see Pitt getting better by this signing, and they're really making life difficult for themselves later.

They need a stay at home defenseman that's really solid in his own end. Hjalmarsson-esque. At least one, if not two, of those types of guys.

I realize Hjalmarsson's don't just grow on trees, and he's an incredible talent as a stay at home defenseman, but they need guys that play like that. MAF is absolutely more talented than Crawford between the pipes, but you get guys like Hjalmarsson, Seabrook, Oduya, etc. that protect your goaltender, and you mask a lot of inadequacies.

I could get on my soapbox about how much the NHL overvalues defenseman like Letang and Karlsson now adays, but that would take way too much time. I'd much rather have a guy like Keith/Doughty that's extremely solid defensively most of the time, and produces some offense, than a guy that is very offensively talented, but leaves his goaltender out to dry way more often than he should.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

It is not an overpayment at all. Was it a dumb decision cap wise, yes, but it is not an overpayment.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

He dreams in color, he dreams in red. Can't sign Leddy-man.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Tyler Kennedy to Sharks for 2nd rd pick.

Good move for both teams.