NHL 2003/04 - Who's Coming in Second?
HOLY CRAP.
I just read up that the Avs signed BOTH Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne on Thursday. That is some seriously scary shit. And the amazing part is, they went to Colorado, not the other way around, and they took less money. Kariya took basically a 90% pay cut to play with his old mate in a new town. Who says Roy's retirement is a bad thing -- you can pay both of their reduced salaries and still have money left over!
To those who make Rangers comparison on ESPN an elsewhere, you don't know hockey very well. The major differences between these two guys and all the guys the Rangers sign are: 1) These guys are both team-first type players; they will do whatever the coach asks of them. 2) They form one the very best forward tandems anyone has seen in the last 30 years. When they were on their game in Anaheim a few years back, you could compare them easily to the way Foresberg and Hejduk play together, or Yzerman and Shannahan or Jagr and Lemieux. They are completely aware of the other's habits and where they are on the ice.
The Rangers have never done that in recent years. They just sign random, sometimes fallen superstars from random teams. Often with attitude problems. There is no comparison between signing say Lindros and Holik vs. Kariya and Selanne. Guess which Sather would RATHER have, had he been given the choice?
So anyway, let's look at the potential lines, shall we (I'm sure the roster will change a bit, they're short at right wing):
1 - Hejduk, Foresberg, Tanguay
2 - Kariya, Sakic, Selanne (can you imagine Joe's assist totals??)
3 - Aubin, Reinprecht, Hinote (little grindage with some goals)
4 - Messier, Shantz, Willsie (more grindage)
1D - Foote and DeVries
2D - Blake and Marchment (the bruisers need to play with these guys)
3D - Skoula and Morris
NOW, if Aebischer can't find a way to come into his own with a lineup like THAT in front of him, he never will anywhere else either. Will be interesting to see if Colorado goes after Cujo. I frankly hope they do not. They don't need him IMO and he's not that impressive for the money.
[edit]
Oh by the way:
PP - Hejduk, Foresberg, Selanne, Blake, Skoula
SPOOKY.
I just read up that the Avs signed BOTH Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne on Thursday. That is some seriously scary shit. And the amazing part is, they went to Colorado, not the other way around, and they took less money. Kariya took basically a 90% pay cut to play with his old mate in a new town. Who says Roy's retirement is a bad thing -- you can pay both of their reduced salaries and still have money left over!
To those who make Rangers comparison on ESPN an elsewhere, you don't know hockey very well. The major differences between these two guys and all the guys the Rangers sign are: 1) These guys are both team-first type players; they will do whatever the coach asks of them. 2) They form one the very best forward tandems anyone has seen in the last 30 years. When they were on their game in Anaheim a few years back, you could compare them easily to the way Foresberg and Hejduk play together, or Yzerman and Shannahan or Jagr and Lemieux. They are completely aware of the other's habits and where they are on the ice.
The Rangers have never done that in recent years. They just sign random, sometimes fallen superstars from random teams. Often with attitude problems. There is no comparison between signing say Lindros and Holik vs. Kariya and Selanne. Guess which Sather would RATHER have, had he been given the choice?
So anyway, let's look at the potential lines, shall we (I'm sure the roster will change a bit, they're short at right wing):
1 - Hejduk, Foresberg, Tanguay
2 - Kariya, Sakic, Selanne (can you imagine Joe's assist totals??)
3 - Aubin, Reinprecht, Hinote (little grindage with some goals)
4 - Messier, Shantz, Willsie (more grindage)
1D - Foote and DeVries
2D - Blake and Marchment (the bruisers need to play with these guys)
3D - Skoula and Morris
NOW, if Aebischer can't find a way to come into his own with a lineup like THAT in front of him, he never will anywhere else either. Will be interesting to see if Colorado goes after Cujo. I frankly hope they do not. They don't need him IMO and he's not that impressive for the money.
[edit]
Oh by the way:
PP - Hejduk, Foresberg, Selanne, Blake, Skoula
SPOOKY.
Comments
Personally, I still don't think it adds up to a Cup winner, especially without a real goalie backing them. I tire of these all-star flavor-of-the-week teams: Colorado, Detroit, Philly, New York. *yawn* Give me the no-name (but Stanley Cup winners) NJ Devils any day of the week.
For whatever reason, Kariya sees something in the Anaheim organization he doesn't like. It's probably not a player issue but a management issue, though I have no clue what it could be. Maybe he doesn't get along with the GM anymore or the coach. I dunno. Apparently the Ducks made an offer not only to Kariya but to get Selanne back for next year, so there's something there (despite the Cup run) that they don't like. Can't blame em really, especially since they're taking *gasp* big pay cuts. Don't see that every day. In fact the only player I've ever seen willingly take a cut was Selanne when he signed with the Sharks.
The guy wants to find the right organization obviously where he can finish his career. San Jose is not a very friendly place from a player relations standpoint so I can see why he's leaving. Question is, how long with the strike in 04/05 be and will one or both of these guys stay on with the Avs?
Also, I agree in principle they're getting close to losing balance in their group of forwards. Too many stars is never a good thing. Hard to make it work. But that's the real kicker here is that both of these guys are hard-working, team-oriented guys. The reason the Rangers and Flyers don't pull it off is they have some dicks on their "star lists". I don't see anyone for Colorado qualifying in that regard other than Marchment maybe. I think he had better make this a good year or else he's done. And I imagine he knows it.
I believe he genuinelly wants to play the rest of his career with Selanne and they're simply testing the waters. If things go good next year, they will restructure some contracts and find a way to keep both guys. And I bet both will make less than 7 a year. Both could easily be worth 10-11, but they won't go fishing for it if they're happy with what CO offers them as a team / personnel-wise.
besides...I'm a Wings fan
and as much as I used to hat Hatcher...I'm sure glad they picked him up...he will beat the crap out of those Colorado boys
I mean look at the Wings defence now: Lidstrom, Hatcher and Chelios
thats just the top 3
then they have that whole goal tender situation...Hasek may be coming back...rumors are that Joseph might go to the Rangers for Lindros...which I have mixed feelings about
but then there is Federov...his agent says he would be better off elsewhere...but he did this same thing a few years ago...he's just trying to get Holland excited
Bob Clark (flyers GM) has lost his mind.
Buffalo did well getting Drury. Am I the only person who thinks he's that good or something?
It will of course be interesting to see what happens with the Devils. Lou doesn't seem too interesting in marquee players for the most-part, and he's got a long list of free agents, though most of them aren't too important. But both Nieuwendyk and Tverdovsky are both free agents, but both had relatively poor seasons, especially Tverdovsky who still has to learn to give and take hits. The defense seems more vulnerable since Daneyko will probably retire and Smehlik isn't exactly the future. Lou traded away a bunch of great defensive talent over the past few years (Commodore, Bombardir, Morrison, etc.). I wonder if it's going to come back and bite them?
I wouldn't bid for Joseph, he'll want too much, and he isn't worth it, and after this year's playoffs and last summer's "contender" crap, he's damaged goods -- that's gotta hurt the confidence.
Foresberg is Swedish, Selanne is a Finn. I am reasonably sure, given the rivalries between those two countries, that they did not play together in Sweden.
Even if they had played together in the past, I don't see the Hejduk-Foresberg-Tanguay line breaking up anytime soon. It will remain their #1 line most likely, assuming they play anywhere near as well as they did last year. You could switch Tanguay and Selanne at RW, but that would mean moving Selanne off Kariya's line. Not going to happen most nights.
As for Hatcher, he's pretty near "over the hill" territory. Unlike Chelios, he's not particularly mobile for a skater his age, though he can still hammer people. But both of Colorado's two big lines will have two big, mean defensmen to back them up. Foote, DeVries, Blake and Marchment are all more than capable of handling the goons of the world I'd say.
Federov is a goner.
On the Philly thing, all I can say is: what? you're just now realizing Bob Clarke is retarded?! This is the guy that sent Kent Manderville (one of their best penalty killers and roll players) to Pittsburgh for ex-felon Billy Tibbetts (one of Pittsburgh's biggest scrubs ever).
Sweet irony would be the nameless, AHL-infested Penguins making the final on the back of Lemiuex and a good goalie, and beating them. Then hell would freeze over and Satan would buy a new pair of CCMs.
Question is: who will be stupid enough to deal for Lindros?
As for Lindros, who cares. I just want to see if NY is dumb enough to add Jagr (another locker room loser) to their roster.
[edit] Ugh. Colorado just signed some no-name defensman from Buffalo in a trade for Steve Reinprecht. DUMB! I don't know why LaCroix is so good at pulling off big trades/ signings, and so BAD at pulling off small ones. Last summer they traded Drury (DUMB) for an offensive defensman, last deadline Vrbata (DUMB) for Battaglia ... now their best young Center for some guy I've never heard of. Maybe he's an up-and-comer but still....
http://www.coloradoavalanche.com/fea...363174527.html
Stevens (for one more year?) - Rafalski
White - Niedermayer
Albelin/Smehlik? - Tverdovsky?
He was worthless in the playoffs which was a bit of a surprise to me. I thought he'd bring it every night for some reason. Now Toronto is more goon-like than ever. I think I'm pretty safe in saying everyone on that team is easy to hate other than Gary Roberts maybe -- and even he's annoying to non-Lead fans. Either way, I'm sure Marchment will have fun pounding on Phillips and anyone else who puts their knee in his way.
http://espn.go.com/nhl/news/2003/0714/1580640.html
IDIOT!