The Official NHL Thread

[sav]

I was at a tournament last night, it's called "Tournoi à bout de souffle", here's some pictures of some players that was there :

Jason Pominville (Buffalo)



Daniel Brière (Philadelphie)



Pierre-Marc Bouchard (Minnesota)



Stéphane Robidas (Dallas)



Was there too :  Steve Bernier, Maxime Fortunus, Patrick Coulombe (Vancouver)
                        Marc-Antoine Pouliot (Edmonton)
                        Kristopher Letang (Pittsburgh)
                        Derrick Brassard (Colombus)
                        Claude Giroux (Philadelphie)

[ToOoOoN!!!]

do you live in magog?

[sav]

No. You was there too?

[ToOoOoN!!!]

nope! 

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

Cool, nice pics!

[Mo Z. Dizzle]

enjoy creating your own jersey:

http://www.thesportingstore.com/hockey.htm

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

Should be expecting my third jersey in the mail soon:

Joining: and

[Jaydc555]

Fuck I'm pumped for the season to start!Canucks still need to do something.

[MontrealCity's Most]

Fuck I'm pumped for the season to start!Canucks still need to do something.

yeah they need offense and replace ohlund

[Jaydc555]

If luc bourdon hadn't been an idiot he would have taken up ohlunds spot.Canucks D is still strong but they need another top four

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

They're fine!!!!!!

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

General manager Mike Gillis announced Thursday he re-signed the 26-year-old centre to a one-year deal worth $1.2 million US following an arbitrator's decision.

The Canucks placed Wellwood on waivers last October, only to recall him from Manitoba of the American Hockey League four days later.

"It's very good to have Kyle playing for the franchise," said Laurence Gilman, the Canucks' assistant GM. "He came in, worked very hard and contributed to our team, both in the regular season and the playoffs."

Wellwood started out strong in a Canucks uniform before falling back into a checking role as the season wore on. During one stretch, he went 21 games without a goal.

The former Toronto Maple Leaf scored 18 goals and 27 points in 74 games with Vancouver last season. The 18 goals were a career high, as were Wellwood's 10 power-play markers and three game-winning tallies.

He also ranked third in the NHL for the best shooting percentage (19.1) and recorded six points in 10 playoff games.

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

No rush to sign free agents

Are NHL teams hogtied or high on the hog when it comes to free agents?

While most of the big-name signings took place on July 1, there's been no rush to employ the so-called second tier of free agents.

Conspiracy? Economic woes?

It depends on who you talk to.

A high-profile agent told Sun Media yesterday that the current environment for free agents is "all being orchestrated" by the NHL and the plan all along was to make those players sit in order to see if they're willing to sign for less money.

Four weeks into free agency, players like Alex Tanguay, Petr Sykora, Manny Fernandez, Marcus Nilson, Dennis Seidenberg, Dominic Moore, Rhett Warrener, Miroslav Satan, Mathieu Schneider, Robert Lang and Brendan Shanahan have yet to sign.

None of them are superstars, but they're household names and in a few cases, it's a surprise they haven't been signed.

It would appear teams simply aren't willing to pay their asking price or don't have the money.

"I think what you've got here is something that has been in the works for a while," said the agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"I don't think I've ever seen a bunch of guys sitting around like this looking for work. This is something teams have been looking at for a while.

"What they're trying to do is make these guys wait and sweat so they'll take less money. A lot of these guys aren't going to do that."

A league executive, meanwhile, said that's not the case. He said many teams are sitting close to the $56.8 million (all terms US) salary cap and don't have money to spend, which means players like Tanguay, Schneider, Lang and Shanahan are going to feel the squeeze when they negotiate.

"A lot of teams simply don't have the cap space," the executive said.

"People were wondering how this free-agency period was going to shake out. The top players were still able to get their money. These guys are going to have to fight for theirs.

"Now, they're all playing a waiting game. Both sides are waiting to see which side might bend.

"My belief is it's going to have to be these players because the money just isn't there.

"Teams can no longer afford to overpay for role players. In some cases, that's what these guys are."

Tanguay has had interest from the Oilers, Panthers, Islanders and Lightning. The indications are the best offer he's received has been for $1.2 million a season.

That's almost an 80% pay cut on a deal that would probably only be for a year.

"Most of the dollars are gone," said another league executive.

"You'll see discounted players for sure."

[sav]

Tanguay ; 1.2 million ? Damn. 

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

One day after the Edmonton Oilers announced they're out of the running for Dany Heatley's services; it appears that the disgruntled winger's request to leave the nation's capital isn't dead.

According to a report in the Ottawa Sun, Senators GM Bryan Murray could have ''an option'' to move Heatley to San Jose but it would need a third team involved - possibly the Montreal Canadiens - to facilitate a trade.

The newspaper reported that the Sharks have shown interest in the two-time 50-goal scorer, but what they're offering isn't intriguing Murray. According to the report, the Sharks have tabled a package that includes winger Jonathan Cheechoo, along with defenceman Christian Erhoff and a first-round selection.

''If the Sharks don't have what the Senators want, then (GM) Doug Wilson might have to go get it from another team,'' a league executive told Sun Media on Saturday. ''The Senators want a proven scoring winger in return and that means you might have to get a third team involved.''

A source told The Sun that a third team could be the Canadiens, but wasn't sure what San Jose could acquire from Montreal to satisfy the Senators' needs to deal Heatley.

Heatley, according to the report, would be willing to waive his no-movement clause to go to the Sharks.

''This is all up to Doug Wilson. If he wants to make big changes, this is the biggest one he can make,'' said a league executive.