MVN - Most Valuable Network

Mid-July Peak at the Northeast

Boston, MA- It’s a little over two weeks into the 2008 NHL Free Agency Period, and of the six divisions in the league, the Northeast seems to be the one drawing the least attention when it comes to big signings. In the Atlantic, the New York Rangers made some noise by bringing in forward Markus Naslund and defenseman Wade Redden. The Tampa Bay Lightning have so far been the story of the Southeast with new coach Barry Melrose and a new cast of characters that will soon be turned into an opening night lineup. The two biggest signings have come from the Central Division, as the Detroit Red Wings netted Marian Hossa, while the Chicago Blackhawks locked up Brian Campbell. The Northwest Division has been relatively quiet for the most part, but the Vancouver Canucks are looking to change that. Vancouver recently signed Pavol Demitra, and appears to be the leading candidate in the Mats Sundin sweepstakes. Olli Jokinen made the biggest splash in the Pacific, as he was dealt from the Florida Panthers to the Phoenix Coyotes.

Although the elite free agents on the market are going elsewhere, the five teams in the Northeast Division have all added at least one key contributor since free agency kicked off at the start of the month.

Starting at the top of the standings from last season, we begin with the Montreal Canadiens. Based on two of their more recent signings in Georges Laraque and Ryan Flinn, Montreal looks to be after toughness this offseason. Even though the Canadiens finished with the top record in the Eastern Conference, physical play was one of their weaknesses. Boston was able to exploit that during the first round and fell short by one game, while Philadelphia literally delivered the knockout punch in round two. The other notable signing by the Habs was veteran goaltender Marc Denis. Denis was very eager to sign with his hometown team, but with Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak capable of playing at a high level, the local netminder might find himself in Hamilton. Montreal has lost two key free agents since the period began in forward Michael Ryder to the Bruins and defenseman Mark Streit to the Islanders. According to the local writers in Montreal, Ryder was in Guy Carbonneau’s doghouse, so he was likely gone to begin with. Streit could be a big loss for the Canadiens as his game has really come along in his third season. The Habs don’t have much left to do this season in regards to current players, but a lot of their star players such as Saku Koivu have contracts that expire next season, so they might want to start tackling a few of those while there isn’t as much pressure.

Next we have the Ottawa Senators, who are in need of leadership as well as someone to spark some energy after a collapse at the end of last season. In the leadership category, enter defenseman Jason Smith. Smith spent last season in Philadelphia after more than seven seasons with the Edmonton Oilers. Five of his seven years in Edmonton had Jason wearing the “C” on the front of his jersey. As far as a sparkplug goes, Ottawa added forward Jarkko Ruutu. Ruutu has been known to be a pest on the ice for his whole career, but is someone the Senators should be able to rally around. The biggest news for Ottawa has been their losses. As expected, Wade Redden left to sign with the New York Rangers, while goaltender Ray Emery had his contract bought out, and has recently signed in Russia. Losing Redden will effect the blueline drastically, but losing Emery could take some of the drama away from the Senators. Taking Emery’s place will be former Bruin Alex Auld. Although Auld is looked upon as a backup, he proved this past season that he can challenge for a starting spot, so Martin Gerber may want to watch his back. With Redden as well as Mike Commodore both out of the picture, defense is becoming the position most needed in Ottawa.

In third place last season was the beloved Boston Bruins. As most Boston fans will tell you, it has been so quiet around Causeway Street in the past two weeks, you can practically hear a pin drop. Aside from officially inking Blake Wheeler to a contract almost as soon as the clock hit 12:00, the Bruins’ lone signing thus far has been Michael Ryder. The reason for adding Ryder was simply to build up the offense - an area that the Black and Gold struggled with in parts of last season. Having Patrice Bergeron out with a concussion for almost the whole year didn’t help matters. While two players have come in, two players have also left. As was mentioned above, Alex Auld went up to play with the Senators in Ottawa. The other free agent to leave was forward Glen Metropolit, as he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers. Metropolit’s leadership and ability to play both ends of the ice will be a loss, but with Boston’s depth at center, they are hoping other players will be able to step in. The Bruins are currently right below the salary cap (signing Dennis Wideman would put them over), so for now, signings are almost out of the question. However, the club could free up some space by releasing or trading a player or two.

Just below the imaginary line that separates playoff teams from golf teams was the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres haven’t made a lot of moves since free agency began, but as kids are tought at an early age, it’s about quality, not necessarily quantity. Quality is a word that can describe Buffalo’s newest acquisitions. Knowing that Jocelyn Thibault probably wasn’t going to return to New York, the Sabres snagged Patrick Lalime off of the free agent market to back up Ryan Miller. Later, the team lost Steve Bernier to the St. Louis Blues, but made up for it by trading for Craig Rivet of the San Jose Sharks. Buffalo’s other loss in the offseason defenseman Dmitri Kalinin, who did stay in the same state, but will now play his home games at Madison Square Garden as a member of the New York Rangers. The biggest issue for the Sabres right now seems to be their depth. In previous years, Buffalo had what appeared to be an endless well of players they could call on. That well is starting to dry up.

Finally, we come to that team that leaves everyone around the league scratching their heads, the rebuilding Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto got going on the rebuilding process even before July 1st, when they bought out the likes of Darcy Tucker, Kyle Wellwood, and Andrew Raycroft. All three of those players have found new destinations, and ironically, they are all in the Northwest Division. Former Leaf Mats Sundin could be headed that way as well. With Raycroft out of the picture, the Maple Leafs were in need of a backup goaltender for Vesa Toskala. Rather than go with youth as a rebuilding team typically would, they decided to go with 41 year old Curtis Joseph. Moments later, Toronto announced that they picked up defenseman Jeff Finger for four years. Since Finger had only been in the NHL for a little more than one season, the length of the deal wasn’t so surprising. The surprising part was the $3.5 million per season he will be raking in for the next four years. The Maple Leafs completed opening day of the free agency period by tossing out $12 million to Niklas Hagman. There’s no question that Toronto has shifted into rebuilding mode. The questions that remain are how long this process will take and what type of team the Leafs will be in years to come.

Two weeks does seem like quite a while, especially when other teams around the league are making moves, but in reality, this is just the beginning. There is still approximately two months until training camp begins, and you never know when a player like Glen Metropolit will land on your doorstep ready to make an immediate impact.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 2:36 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.