Matt Stroika wrote:Timmy Thomas wins his second Vezina to go along with his Conn Smyth. What a year.
I have to admit that I was doubting Thomas was the man. I am happy that he proved me wrong. If he can stay healthy, I think he has another 3-4 years in him. What do you do with TuuKKa?
Will the team fall apart like the 'Hawks after these guys all demand more money now that they are SC champions?
How many more days until hockey starts? It will be a really long time if there is no football.
They'll keep em both. I say 2 more years with Timmay MAX. He is 37 afterall, but heck, Roloson had a pretty good playoff eventhough he was 41....
They won't fall apart, b/c unlike the Hawks they have spent wisely. Their core is mostly signed long term to managable deals. You'd have to think Savard is coming off the books, the money is guarenteed, If I were him, I would just quit, the next hit could leave him in a vegetable state.
The only guy that realistically could "demand" more money, is Marchand, he's an RFA, at the least they'll go into arbitration with him.... I expect him to get a deal somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.25-3.5 Mill per year.
Then you gotta make decisions on Ryder and Kaberle... I think Ryder will be gone.. I don't think he'll take a discount and some team out there will pay for his nice ability to finish, although it's very inconsistent. I think you may see Kaberle back... Of course, it won't be at the 4 Mil he made last year. I think they can go two ways with him. If he truly wants to come back, and at a discount, I think the B's will entertain that, as long as it's like 2.5 Mil per year over 3 years or so. The other option the B's have is to say, "Listen Thomas, you were looking at 4 Mil on the open market before the trade. You totally sucked until we had about 2 games left in the Stanley Cup Finals. How bout we give you (1) year, $2.0 Million, you get another shot to win the Cup, get a full training camp and full season with the team and we meet at the end of the year again... to re-assess."
This team of course has needs to fill, like every other team, however, the holes are small and you are talking about a team who's core is young and locked up for a while. Plus, you got promising guys like Caron, Kampfer, Bartkowski, Seguin an incoming top 10 pick, I am hearing Ryan Murphy, who they compare to a smaller Mike Green at Defense.
The B's are in real good shape. Possibly have $10 mil to spend on the cap... take out the raise for Marchand and potentially resign Ryder and Kaberle, they still likely have about $4 mil to spend on a Free Agent.
I would love Leino or a Fleischmann, to add a little more depth at the wing, if Ryder leaves.
anybody going to the parade?
