What Just Happened Here? A Hurricane Blow Through?

Free agents: LW Erik Cole, $4,000,000 (u) D Dennis Seidenberg, 1,200,000 (u) RW Chad LaRose, 875,000 (u) LW Ryan Bayda, 475,000 (u) RW Tuomo Ruutu, 2,250,000 (a) D Anton Babchuk, 1,000,000 (r)

In LW Erik Cole, 2 years, $5.8M (re-signed) RW Chad LaRose, 2 years, $3.4M (re-signed) D Andrew Alberts, 2 years, $2.1M (Flyers) RW Tom Kostopoulos, 3 years, $2.75M (Canadiens)

Out:

I'm not sure over the past decade that there is a team that has done more with less than the Carolina Hurricanes. I don't mean that as a slight, more of a compliment actually. There's more turnover behind the bench than their is on their roster.

They bring in has-beens or never-weres, the Jussi Jokinen's and Sergei Samsonov's of the world, and completely turn around their career. But that's not what we're talkin' about here, let's talk about their offseason.

Oh wait, I guess those first two paragraphs do kind of fit in. The Canes kept Erik Cole in the fold this time, instead of letting him walk and pining for his services come trade deadline time, and Chad LaRose, who was the only guy who showed up in the series against Pittsburgh, gets a modest raise.

Now for the signings. Is Tom Kostopolous going to turn into a 50 point player? Probably not, but perhaps joining Matt Cullen and Chad LaRose on that 2nd line might be a boon for his career. That is, of course, if Paul Maurice deems him worthy. It seems that the Canes must think they're going to lose out on the services of Dennis Seidenberg over the course of the next couple weeks, otherwise I'm not sure on what planet Andrew Alberts gets a 2 year contract. But in reality, Alberts at $1.1 million a year is probably much more acceptable than a Sedienberg at $1.8.

So I think the Canes, not unlike the Sabres, went horizontal. There's no way they close the gap on Washington, but I think Tampa might be a little too close for comfort for Jim Rutherford. It seems they're pretty much done with free agency, so looks like this will be the team they move forward with.

Will they finish 6th in the conference again? Well, will we see Cam Ward circa rounds 1 & 2 against the Devils and Bruins or Cam Ward circa PWND in round 3? Imagine that, a season hinging on a goalie's performance, haven't heard that one before.

Why Versus Coverage Beats NBC's in my Book

As you can tell by the post before this one, I'm completely tired of having the same so called elite franchises (no offense to those fan bases, but you probably already think that anyway so whatever) that are deemed special enough by network executives to grace NBC are always on the "NHL on NBC."

Then Lepore came back with the Versus TV schedule and I thought hey, this looks better. 16 teams were left off the NBC schedule, while only 4 were left off the Versus. The teams that were left off Versus'? 4 Canadian teams that I'm sure are all over the CBC and TSN schedules.

Well, I thought I'd throw some quick graphs together that prove the point. First off, the NBC schedule.

Click on it to blow it up. But look at that, 6 teams have over different 5 chances (in just 10 weeks!) to be on the national NBC broadcast. Way to switch it up. Oh and WTF! Colorado...COLORADO?!? Are you shitting me? Last place 32-45-5 Colorado gets five chances on national tv? Good choice.

How 'bout Versus? How did they divvy out their broadcast schedule across the 30 (hear that NBC? There's 30 teams in the NHL) franchises? Let's take a look.

Oh look at that relatively even distribution, at least every American franchise gets a look. Even the Thrashers and Coyotes will get a game broadcast on Versus, do you think they'll ever get a look from the execs at NBC? Not a chance. Hell, even the Blue Jackets, Lightning, and Islanders get 5 appearances on Versus.

Now to be fair, NBC only gets 10 broadcasts, and Versus gets 58, and I recognize that fact. So to do I see the fact that those same teams Philly, Boston, Washington, Detroit, and Pittsburgh have as many, if not more, broadcasts on Versus than on NBC.

Yet this is supposed to be a "partnership" between the league and NBC. Not Gary Bettman bending over backwards so that NBC can squeeze every single rating out of his product. Oh we know that's how NBC works, we saw that in Pittsburgh during the Cup finals.

I think it's about time that the NHL starts looking back towards ESPN2 for NHL 2Night and really expanding Versus' offering, maybe even trying to get NHL Network on some basic cable offerings, because frankly, NBC isn't promoting the league like they should be. But they sure are promoting the same teams over and over again.

But hey, might as well queue up the Crosby vs. Ovechkin promo's, think they'll use the same ones as the past 2 years?

Oh and seriously, potentially 11 chances to see those Avalanche sans Sakic?!? Woooooooooo. To steal a phrase, vomit.

In NBC's World There are Only 8 NHL Teams

Philly, Pittsburgh, Washington, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and...Colorado?!? Steve Lepore, as he always does, got his hands on NBC's potential lineup for those lovely Sunday matinees of the same damn teams. Well lookie here, same old, same old. Honestly, NBC is a joke.

January 1, 1:00 PM
Philadelphia vs. Boston

January 17, 12:30 PM ET
Philadelphia vs. Washington OR
Chicago vs. Detroit

January 24, 12:30 PM ET/3PM ET
Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia OR
Boston vs. Carolina OR
Dallas vs. Colorado

January 31, 12:30 PM ET
Tampa Bay vs. Washington OR
Detroit vs. Pittsburgh

February 7, 12:30 PM ET
Pittsburgh vs. Washington

March 7, 12:30 PM ET/1PM ET
Boston vs. Pittsburgh OR
Detroit vs. Chicago

March 14, 12:30 PM ET/1PM ET
Colorado vs. Dallas OR
Philadelphia vs. NY Rangers OR
Pittsburgh vs. Tampa Bay OR
Washington vs. Chicago

March 21, 12:30 PM ET/3PM ET
NY Rangers vs. Boston OR
Colorado vs. Anaheim

April 4, 12:30 PM ET/3PM ET
Detroit vs. Philadelphia OR
San Jose vs. Colorado

Aprill 11, 1PM ET
Los Angeles vs. Colorado OR
Detroit vs. Chicago OR
NY Rangers vs. Philadelphia OR
Boston vs. Washington

There are 14 teams that MIGHT get a chance to be on national TV via NBC this season, yes, less than half the league. Out of the 10 weeks that the NHL is on NBC, Philly gets 6 chances, Boston 5, Washington 5, Detroit 5, Pittsburgh 5, Colorado 5, Chicago 4, and New York 3. Oh yeah, that won't get old quick. Steve's right, this is how it'll look. Hurray, hockey with now 50% more Crosby commercials!

And let's be honest, even though Dallas and Tampa have 2 shots, and Carolina, Anaheim, San Jose and LA all get 1 shot, they really won't.

Save me your market research, save me your "these are the best teams" arguments, your "best markets for TV", this is just boring. Thank God the NHL decided to re-up with NBC for 2 more years. That way, fans of these cities won't have to illegally stream the games 5 less times than everyone else. So be prepared for more Crosby and Ovechkin love rammed down your throats, for 2 more years at least.

Before the Dawn: Winter Classic 2010

This particular pic comes from Schuyler Baehman (that's a hell of a name), who just happens to be the NHL Manager of Communications. Naturally, of course, from his twitter page.

So here I think we can say for certain that the Flyers and Bruins will be playing in Fenway on January 1st, 2010. The announcement is going to be at 2 PM, it'll be streamed live on NHL.com for you kids that care.

What Just Happened in Calgary? A lot

Free agents: D Jay Bouwmeester, $4,875,000 (u) D Adrian Aucoin, 4,000,000 (u) LW Michael Cammalleri, 3,600,000 (u) RW Todd Bertuzzi, 1,950,000 (u) D Anders Eriksson, 1,500,000 (u) C Jamie Lundmark, 600,000 (u) LW Andre Roy, 550,000 (u) D Adam Pardy, 500,000 (u) C Dustin Boyd, 675,000 (r)

In D Jay Bouwmeester, 5 years, $33.4M (re-signed) D Adam Pardy, 2 years, $1.4M (re-signed) RW Fredrik Sjostrom (Rangers)

Out: LW Michael Cammalleri (Canadiens) D Adrian Aucoin (Coyotes)

I feel like the Flames change their roster just because they can. The turnover on this team, outside of Iginla, Phaneuf (who's subject to trade rumors all the time), and Kiprusoff, I'm pretty sure no one is safe. But with that kind of willingness/desire to win, you also end up with some hefty cap issues. That's kinda where the Flames sit right now.

But you certainly can't say they didn't improve their team. Yes, they lost Cammalleri, but now they have a full year of Olli Jokinen (take that for what it's worth). They traded the rights of Jordan Leopold for the rights of Jay Bouwmeester, yeah I think they won that one. Oh, and Adrian Aucoin? He deserved a $4 million a year contract about as much as Jay McKee ever did.

The Flames are top heavy, and outside of Langkow I'm not even sure I'd recognize anyone else on their forward depth chart. But I'm sure they're going to be right there at the top of the Northwest division before it's all said and done.

Havlat's Talking Shit Again

I can't even tell you how much I enjoy Martin Havlat's twitter page. First he goes ape shit on Chicago the organization for the way he was treated in his negotiations. Naturally I loved the drama, and we watched it play out here.

But now with the firing of Dale Tallon, Marty's back with a vengeance. He says, and I quote "I guess everyone saw what happened to Dale....yes, the story is starting to come out but it's just the tip of the iceberg." What a bad ass. You give Rocky Wirtz hell.

And yes, here is the screen cap of his page. Go get 'em Martin, you're quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Not just because of dangle, dangle, but because you're so bad ass.

Hell yes Marty, Give us the truth! WE CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH!

What Didn't Just Happen In Buffalo?

Free agents: RW Maxim Afinogenov, 3,500,000 (u) D Jaroslav Spacek, 3,300,000 (u) D Teppo Numminen, 1,100,000 (u) C Dominic Moore, 900,000 (u) G Mikael Tellqvist, 800,000 (u) LW Andrew Peters, 550,000 (u) LW Matt Ellis, 475,000 (u) RW Drew Stafford, 984,200 (r) D Andrej Sekera, 659,000 (r) LW Clarke MacArthur, 522,500 (r) RW Patrick Kaleta, 500,000 (r) RW Mark Mancari, NA (r)

In D Steve Montador, 2 years, $3.1M (Bruins) LW Matt Ellis, 1 year, $500K D Joe DiPenta, 1 year, $550K

Out: D Jaroslav Spacek (Canadiens) G Mikael Tellqvist (KHL)

There will be turnover in Buffalo, that is for certain. The longest tenured Sabre, Maxim Afinogenov, was not offered a contract. The shortest tenured Sabre, Dominic Moore, was not tendered an offer. The oldest Sabre, Teppo Numminen, is about 67th priority. The 68th priority? That would be "enforcer" Andrew Peters.

The Sabres are going to be signing their RFA's, eventually, I think, I hope. Of the 5 players who were restricted, only Clarke MacArthur filed for arbitration, leaving top 6 forward Drew Stafford, and the others to sign their deals. I would expect that deal Ryan Callahan just signed to be the benchmark for Stafford's deal, while each of the others should expect modest, at best, raises over their 2008-2009 salaries.

So with the loss of PP Point, and leading point getter on the blueline, Jaro Spacek, and naturally no replacement brought in via free agency, look for Andrej Sekera and 2nd year player Chris Butler to fill the transition role for the Sabres. They did bring in a gritty defensemen in Steve Montador to go alongside Craig Rivet, essentially making Andrew Peter's role obsolete, and actually having someone who might just stand up for your goalie on the roster..

So overall, what did the Sabres do? Pretty much nothing. Completely horizontal moves all the way around. They're hoping rookies Tim Kennedy, Nate Gerbe, and potentially Tyler Myers can step in and upgrade the skill level. Lindy Ruff says he's happy with his roster, and Darcy Regier says they will be actively looking for trade opportunities (Lydman, Tallinder, Hecht). I don't think their offseason is done, but did it ever really get started?

Did Dale Tallon Deserve This?

I'm conflicted. We've been thoroughly mocking his strange, yet decisive, moves over the past couple weeks. There was the snafu, ok there was the Hindenburg sized screw up with the qualifying offers to Versteeg and Barker, the ill treatment of one of their stars (Havlat), and insane contracts being thrown out there like tootsie rolls at a parade. What's all that add up to?

The son of a legend stealing your job. But in reality, you see those ef ups above, but think about what he did. Brought in Havlat, stole Versteeg for Bochenski, led the drafting of guys like Seabrook, Toews, and Kane, yet here after 4 years, caput. Second City Hockey has a nice run down of what just happened.

But after I think about the last 2 paragraphs...I'm still conflicted. He's messed up sure, but he was also the architect behind bringing the Hawks back from the dead, and making Chicago hockey relevant again.

What do you people think, was this firing deserved? Are we going to hear some circumstantial excuse from the Hawks org. when they just really wanted to get Stan Bowman into the GM position? Let's hear it.