Rock Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 09 SEPTEMBER 2005. http://www.spectorshockey.net/ KOVALCHUK REMAINS UNSIGNED. ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: John Manasso reports it's growing increasingly unlikely that Ilya Kovalchuk will report for training camp when it opens next week. He's still unsigned and is believed seeking a new contract worth between $6-$7 million per season. Kovalchuk has signed with a Russian Super League team and has an "out" clause should he re-sign with the Thrashers, however, if he plays a single game in Russia after October 5th, he must pass through waivers before rejoining the Thrashers. Spector's Note: I'm posting this because there's been some confusion over the last 24 hours as to Kovalchuk's status. Essentially, if the Thrashers can't re-sign him prior to October 5th and he plays in Russia, they can kiss him goodbye for this season, as there's no way he'd pass through waivers unclaimed. JOKINEN ALSO UNSIGNED. CANADIAN PRESS: Pierre Lebrun reported yesterday Florida Panthers captain Olli Jokinen remains unsigned. He's seeking a raise, but that apparently isn't the issue for the Panthers, but rather the fact Jokinen can become a UFA next summer unless the club is willing to sign him long-term. Lebrun suggested the addition of veteran depth earlier this summer at center by GM Mike Keenan may be hurting Jokinen's leverage. Keenan claims he needs time to "review our financial situation and some of the things we discussed in terms of what approach we might take with Olli and what would work best for both sides". Spector's Note: The Keenan plan thus far seems to me that he wants to drive off his best goalie and forward over the next two years, but of course that's just my opinion and I could be wrong.... THE LATEST ON THE DEVILS. NEW YORK POST: Mark (N)Єverson reports Sergei Brylin, Jeff Friesen and Viktor Kozlov are all hoping they're not among those dealt by GM Lou Lamoriello to free up the payroll space needed to get the team under the $39 million salary cap. (N)Єverson suggests Brylin's $1.6 million contract could work against him. His, combined with Friesen's and Kozlov's, represents the $5.5 million the Devils must free up. Spector's Note: As (N)Єverson noted, Lamoriello will pull something off to make it happen, either via two-way demotions or long-term write-off...or a trade. HAVLAT NEARLY DEALT FOR COLE. OTTAWA SUN: Bruce Garrioch yesterday reported the Senators nearly dealt forward Martin Havlat to the Carolina Hurricanes straight up for Erik Cole. Those talks took place before the Marian Hossa for Dany Heatley trade, when the Sens were looking at freeing up payroll to re-sign Hossa. The club tried shopping Bryan Smolinski for a centre but couldn't find much interest. Spector's Note: My thanks to everyone who sent this in. Smolinski's $2.2 million contract probably turned off most potentially interested suitors. As for Havlat-for-Cole, most Sens fans are probably breathing a sigh of relief that deal didn't go down. Havlat has much better stats both regular season and playoff than Cole. I'm puzzled why Sens GM John Muckler continues to under-value Havlat. BONDRA AND CAPITALS TALKING AGAIN. WASHINGTON POST: Tarik El-Bashir reported yesterday the Capitals and forward Peter Bondra have resumed contract talks. The Caps offered a one-year contract worth $1.5 million which with incentives could bump it up to $2 million. With a payroll presently sitting at $28 million El-Bashir writes the Caps have already spent $3 million more than they were hoping to. Spector's Note: My thanks to "David". Bondra is probably finding that this deal from the Caps is perhaps the best one he'll get, regardless of who else is apparently interested in him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MantaRay Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 Bondra posturing gives me a chuckle. A few weeks ago his agent was feeding the press BS that "several" teams including the over the cap Devils and the disinterested Flyers wanted him, now he is practically begging for Washington to give him a deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belizarius Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 I think the Devils will work with demotion to the AHL... too many players with a similar profile. Oliwa OR Langdon for example... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruins4777 Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 How great is this? All of the teams i like which SHOULD have been in prime lockout position are falling apart. Thrashers are on the edge of losing kovalchuk Bruins dont' have their no.1 goalie or dman signed Panthers have pissed off their MVP goaltender of hte past 2 years and their leading scorer of the past 2 years. sooner or later something bad is gonna happen with the preds... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MantaRay Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 I think you should change your alliances and cheer for the Flyers at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aylbert Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 Im 100% for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LetsGoDevils Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 ...Panthers have pissed off their MVP goaltender of hte past 2 years... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Only paying the man what he is worth. Nothing more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruins4777 Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 ...Panthers have pissed off their MVP goaltender of hte past 2 years... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Only paying the man what he is worth. Nothing more. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> This isn't about his contract value or his worth, its about the fact that keenan has publicly pissed off luongo. Luongo wanted a contract and they could have easily worked it out but Keenan took him to arbitration before they even started talking about a contract. And then there was just a large fiasco and luongo apparently wants out of florida and its all frustrating. Luongo deserves some blame for his actions, but when your dealing with keenan who supremely undervalued luongo, at one point he offered luongo a sub 2.5 million dollar contract, you're going to get pissed off. The bottom line is Keenan decided to play hard ball, and through this he has pissed off their MVP of the past 2 years to the point that he may even want out of florida. Thats not what you call good negotiations, its what you call hurting a team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyFan42 Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 sooner or later something bad is gonna happen with the preds... They play in Nashville. 'Nuf said. (No offense, Z-Man. ) I think you should change your alliances and cheer for the Flyers at this point. As if we need another excuse to get on him about who he likes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insanity_gallops Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 Bruins, there's speculation that Keenan also did that to ensure that some other NHL team wouldn't attempt to sign Luongo to an offer sheet. If that's the case, then I can't blame Keenan as much. And that sub-$2.1 million offer that you say pissed off Luongo so much? That was a qualifying offer. Keenan made that so he wouldn't lose his goalie outright if they couldn't reach a contract agreement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruins4777 Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 Bruins, there's speculation that Keenan also did that to ensure that some other NHL team wouldn't attempt to sign Luongo to an offer sheet. If that's the case, then I can't blame Keenan as much.And that sub-$2.1 million offer that you say pissed off Luongo so much? That was a qualifying offer. Keenan made that so he wouldn't lose his goalie outright if they couldn't reach a contract agreement. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I had this whole story memorized in my head earlier, but i just woke up from the world's most bizarre nap and i don't even remeber what day it is....Ok i remeber something like he was originally offered his qualifying offer, naturally, but then keenan uped the ante to 3 or 4 million a year and then he reoffered Luongo a sub 2.1 million dollar deal again and this was the point where luongo was greatly pissed off. Also apparently at the arbitration hearing the panthers wanted 2.6 and luongo 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insanity_gallops Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 Also apparently at the arbitration hearing the panthers wanted 2.6 and luongo 4. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Do you have a link for this? I thought under the new arbitration rules, it was one or the other -- not a compromise. The arbitrator would either find in favor of the player or the team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aylbert Posted September 9, 2005 Share Posted September 9, 2005 Also apparently at the arbitration hearing the panthers wanted 2.6 and luongo 4. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Do you have a link for this? I thought under the new arbitration rules, it was one or the other -- not a compromise. The arbitrator would either find in favor of the player or the team. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Luongo came in with 4.2mil, Florida came in with 2.35mil, rewared 3.2 mil... The mid point between the two offers was 3.275 mil.... seems like they almost split the difference between the High and Low. Who knows how the CBA will work... RELEASE THE CBA ALREADY http://portal.tds.net/news.php?story=61228 MIAMI - Roberto Luongo became the first NHL player to be taken to arbitration by his team, and he wasn't happy about it. Thursday sure didn't brighten his mood. Luongo, who turned down a five-year deal worth about $25 million Wednesday morning, was awarded a $3.2 million for one season by arbitrator Vernon Gil on Thursday. ``To be honest, I didn't think this was how it was going to go down,'' Luongo said. ``As Mike Keenan said, `This is a business and this was a business decision.' '' While the Panthers offered their All-Star goalkeeper a more lucrative long-term contract, they took the low road on their arbitration offer of $2.35 million; Luongo was asking for $4.2 million after making a league-high 2,303 saves in 2003-04 and ended with a career-high 2.43 goals-against average. ``The numbers are almost insignificant to the overall process,'' Keenan, the team's general manager, said. ``We predicted before we went into arbitration that we knew what that figure would be.'' Luongo, 26, said Thursday he felt the Panthers' last long-term offer surprised him. Keenan said the Panthers ``didn't start negotiating in the past 24 hours,'' and Florida ``made a long-term offer for $20 million two weeks ago.'' Luongo said while he didn't want to come to any rash decisions, he probably would have signed the deal if Florida would have made it a five-year contract worth at least $28 million. When asked if he wanted to be with the team in the future, Luongo didn't lean either way. He will be a restricted free agent next season and could leave the team after the 2006-07. ``I love Florida,'' he said. ``It's a great place to play, a great place to live. I want to stay with the team, but at the same time I have a career I have to think about. I want to win a Stanley Cup, things like that. In the end, if the amount was going to be all right, I probably would have signed the deal.'' Luongo said he didn't want to commit to the franchise unless he was sure it would be focused on winning for the length of that deal. Luongo can begin negotiations with the team starting in January. The Panthers say they will continue to work on a new deal, and Luongo didn't rule out agreeing to one. ``The most important thing for me is to win the Stanley Cup and be part of the playoffs,'' Luongo said a few hours after the decision was rendered. ``I want to be sure the Panthers are making steps in the right direction.'' Being the mainstay on a losing team probably cost Luongo in arbitration. While he is considered one of the best young goalies in the game, he has a losing record and has not been to the playoffs with the Panthers in his first four years with the team. The Panthers brought that up in the hearing, although Luongo said it was not something that upset him and adds there is no animosity between him and Keenan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruins4777 Posted September 10, 2005 Share Posted September 10, 2005 heh, ok, i read something different. Thanks aylbert that clears up a lot. Hopefully that last bit of "no animosity" is really true... If all of that is true thats a HUGE sigh of relief, but even with that....i still can't say i've liked what keenan has done with the team thus far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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