Ottawa Might Be Interested in Kaberle?

Luke @ LSB points to an article in the Ottawa Sun today, intimating that the Sens might be interested in Carolina's Frankie Kaberle.

It's all just speculation at this point, but the Sens have been decimated on the blue line and with all the big money free agent signings of defensemen and trades over the last few days, most of the "big names" are gone, and for more $$$ than the Sens were willing to pay. The Sun speculates that Kaberle and Vancouver's Kevin Bieska could be targets in Ottawa. The Cannucks reportedly want RFA Antoine Vermette in exchange for Bieksa, who is slotted to make $3.5 million per over the next 3 seasons. Kaberle is under contract to Carolina at $2.2 million per for the next 2 seasons.

With their trades and free agent signings over the last 3 days (Joni Pitkanen, Anton Babchuck, Josef Melichar), the Hurricanes now have 7 defensemen under contract for next season, with Dennis Siedenberg waiting in the wings as an RFA. It seems apparent that the Canes will try to move at least one of those defensemen via trade to bring their salary cap down into the $45-46 million range. Most speculation trends towards Kaberle, Nic Wallin or Dennis Seidenberg being dangled as possible trade bait. Wallin has a NTC, which he has exercised in the past.

Of the three defensemen rumored to be on the block, I think Kaberle makes the sense to move. His salary, based on the silly money that has been thrown around so far, now seems reasonably affordable. If he can get back to being healthy he offers a lot as a puck moving defenseman who can score on the powerplay. The Canes have gotten younger at his position, so he has become obsolete on this team, but I would guess there are plenty of teams out there still looking for puck moving defensemen. There always are. When healthy Frankie has been solid as a Cane, and who could ever forget his integral role during the Cup run and game winning goal in game 7 against Edmonton? The last 2 seasons have been marred by nagging injuries, which have obviously affected his play and decimated his confidence. Now, with Corvo and Pitkanen on board, there just doesn't seem to be a slot for him on this team at the moment. Perhaps it would be the best thing for both parties for Kaberle to get a fresh start elsewhere, and the Cane to pick up some depth or draft picks.

I'm hoping that we can keep Seidenberg. He has been steady when healthy and given the chance to play. Not outstanding, but solid as a depth guy on defense. Those are good guys to have around at the right price.


Stay tuned.

-m

Jagr Signs with Russian Super League

Jaromir Jagr parted ways with the NY Rangers on Thursday after 3 years in the Big Apple, signing a contract with Omsk Vanguard of the Russian Super League according to reports on the Russian team's website.

No financial details of the deal have been officially announced, but according to media reports Jagr stands to make a cool $35 million over 2 years, with an option for a third. Sounds like that might cover his moving expenses.

Jagr played for Omsk during the 2005 NHL lockout and became a fan favorite for the Hawks.

Jagr had a down year, by his standards, in 2007/2008 scoring only 71 points while adjusting to new line mates after the Rangers lost center Michael Nylander to free agency last summer. He never seemed to mesh with his new centermen - being paired first with Scott Gomez, then Chris Drury and finally Brandon Dubinsky. Had Jagr scored 84 points or more, his contract would have automatically been renewed. Instead the Rangers, who have spent freely in the free agent market (Surprise!!) thus far, acquiring the likes of Wade Redden (D), Dmitri Kalinin (D) and Markus Naslund (F), had informed Jagr that he was no longer part of their future plans.

Jagr led New York to three straight playoff births in his tenure with the Rangers, after the team had missed the post-season 7 straight years prior to his arrival. In 18 NHL seasons Jagr played in 1273 regular season games and notched 1599 points (646 goals, 943 assists). In the playoffs he appeared 169 games and scored 181 points (77 goals and 104 assists). He played in 9 All-Star game, earned 5 Art Ross Trophies (NHL scoring leader), 3 Lester B. Pearson Awards (MVP - as voted on by players) and was named the league MVP (Hart Memorial Trophy - awarded by writers) in 1999.


The NY POST has some quotes from Jagr concerning the move:

"I'm disappointed that I'm not going to be in New York, but I've always believed in my life that things happen for a reason, and that's how I look at this. Coming to the Rangers was great for me, and I owe Glen thanks for making the trade with Washington to bring me here.

"I can't say I regret anything that happened here. We didn't win the Stanley Cup, but there's a lot of luck that goes into that, too, even if you have a great team. Well, I guess I regret that I didn't get 84 points this season. If that had happened, I'd still be here."

"With the contracts for Scotty, Dru and Hank [Henrik Lundqvist], and then signing [Wade] Redden, they have almost $30M in four players, so there wasn't enough for me after that. The Rangers wanted to get better on defense and they spent a lot of money on Redden.

"That's OK. That's what they thought would make them a better team. If I did a better job with Scotty or Dru, it might be different."

"People think that it's better to have a lot of choices, but sometimes having one choice is best because you can't make the wrong one. I don't know what I'm going to do now, but I'll make that choice when it's time.

"I want to thank Glen and Tom and the Rangers. I want to thank all the people who supported me. Being in New York was special."

And then there was this zinger:

"And I also want to say to the people like Mike Milbury who made their living by criticizing me all the time, that they can kiss my [butt]."


Stay classy San Diego.

Having Jagr leave for Europe means the end to one of my all time favorite crowd chants to float around the upper deck of the RBC Center:

"Who ate all the pie? Who ate all the pie? Jaromir Jagr you fat bastard you ate all the pie!!"

-m

A few Rangers Blogs:

My Blueshirt Heaven
Hockey Bird
Hockey Rodent
Ranger Land
Blueshirt Bulletin
5-Hole
The Dark Ranger

Canes Sign Pitkanen, Melichar

Well, that didn't take long.

For all those ready to jump off ledges all over the Triangle, wondering why JR would trade their favorite player for an unsigned RESTRICTED Free agent, well, you can rest a little easier. There will be no long, drawn out negotiations and/or offer sheets from other teams.

Luke at over at the N&O announced today that the Canes have signed defenseman Joni Pitkanen to a 3 year deal worth $12 million. Thankfully, this deal was wrapped up in a hurry. The 24 year old Finn was acquired on Tuesday in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers, who picked up long time fan favorite Erik Cole. Cole was due $4 million for the last year of his contract and Pitkanen has bascially moved into that salary slot - $3.5 million in 2008/2009, $4 million in 2009/2010, and $4.5 million in the last year of the deal. This makes Pitkanen the highest paid Canes defenseman but quite a large margin. Joe Corvo is second on that list at $2.5 million.

JR obviously believes in this kid, and thinks he can blossom into the player he has always been projected to be. Let's hope he's right. JR has made some moves in the past that seemed questionable at the time, but they seem to work out for him more often than not. This decision could be a defining one.



But the Canes did not stop there, and moved to shore up their blue line even more by announcing another signing today. Josef Melichar has signed on to a one year contract at $1 million. Melichar played in 310 NHL games with the Pittsbugh Penguins from 2000/2001 through 2006/2007. He spent last season in Europe playing for Linkoping of the Swedish Elite League. Known as a defensive defenseman, the 6'2", 220 lb Czech has 7 goals and 33 assists in his NHL career. JR had this to say about the 29 year old Melchair:

Josef is a big, strong and experienced defensive defenseman who will be a shut-down player for us...

Melichar's signing makes 3 defensemen added to the roster in the last 48 hours.
So you've got to give Rutherford and company some credit. They said that they needed and would be targeting defensive help (obviously), and they went out and got it.
Now only time will tell if they made the right moves.

The payroll now stands at around $46.7 million for 2008/2009, which is slightly above the Cane's projected budget of $45-46 million. There are currently 7 (Corvo, Pitkanen, Gleason, Kaberle, Wallin, Babchuk, Melichar) defensemen under contract to the Hurricanes at the NHL level, with Dennis Siedenburg waiting in the wings as a restricted free agent who has been given a qualifying offer. Don't be surprised to see a salary-dump trade soon involving one or more of these defensemen (Kaberle? Wallin? Seidenberg?).

Stay tuned.

-m

More Moves on a Busy Day...

And we're likely just getting started...

Luke has announced over on Lord Stanley's Blog that the Canes have re-upped Ryan Bayda, Wade Brookbank and Tim Conboy. All three were part of the mid-season call-ups from Albany that helped the injury plagued Hurricanes stay in the playoff race all the way to the last weekend of the season.

Bayda was a key ingredient to the Canes' late season surge, teaming with Scott Walker and Keith Aucoin (also a call-up from Albany) to form perhaps the Canes' most consistent line, bringing energy, speed and effort every nite. The line's efforts were not always reflected on the scoreboard, but they set the tone for the rest of the team night in and night out. Bayda finished the season having appeared in 31 games, tallying 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists). His new deal is a one year contract worth $475,000.

Brookbank also signed a one year, $475,000 deal today. He was brought up from Albany in mid-December to serve as the team's "nuclear weapon" on the bench. His role was pretty simple, stand up for teammates and drop the gloves whenever necessary. He notched 76 penalty minutes in 32 games for the Canes last season.

Conboy was signed to a two year deal that will be two-way in 2008-2009 ($475,000 NHL/ $100,000 AHL) and NHL-only in 2009-2010 ($500,000). Last season was Conboy's first in the Canes' organization, and he made his NHL debut against Colorado on Jan. 12th. Conboy quickly became a fan favorite with his grit, hard work and willingness to scrap, hit and drop the gloves (60 PIM in just 19 games) despite his somewhat diminutive stature. He skated as both a forward and defenseman, chipping in with 6 assists, and providing valuable backup on a injury-depleted Canes' roster.

-m

Cole to Edmonton; Babchuck Re-signed

Cannot say that it comes as a surprise, nor can I say that I am completely against it, but it was still a bit of a bummer to learn that Erik Cole was traded today to the Edmonton Oilers, straight up, for defenseman Joni Pitkanen.

Cole was entering into the last year of a contract that is due to pay him $4million this season. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of 2008-2009. This made him an obvious trade commodity, and his name had been mentioned in trade rumors as far back as the 2007 draft, and again at the trading deadline last season. Still, I'll be bummed to see him go.

Here's wishing Erik and his family nothing but the best. UTTR will be keeping tabs and pulling hard for you in Edmonton.

Pitkanen is a 24 year old (offensive) defenseman who will hopefully add some scoring punch to the blue line, especially on the power-play. The terms "potential" and "upside" have been thrown around a lot regarding Pitkanen who was the 4th overall pick (Philadelphia) in the 2002 NHL draft, but he is now going to his third team in 5 seasons. Having not really lived up to the hype so far, his 2007-2008 season was marred by several nagging injuries (knee, hip). He appeared in 63 games for the Oilers, notching 26 points (8 goals, 18 assists). His best season in Philadelphia was 2005-2006, scoring 46 points (13 goals, 33 assists) in only 58 games. He was on the sidelines for 21 straight games that season with a torn abdominal muscle.

It seems that Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford has been high on Pitkanen for a while, as it was rumor that the Canes were in the running to acquire his services last summer as well. Pitkanen is currently a Restricted Free Agent.

I completely understand the necessity to trade a forward to get what we need on defense, and I completely understand that our most "marketable" assets at forward included Cole, Justin Williams and perhaps Ray Whitney and/or Tuomo Ruutu. I'm just a little bit skeptical that a Cole for Pitkanen is straight up fair value for the Hurricanes. I just have not been all that impressed with Pitkanen on the ice (forget the numbers) in the few times I've been able to watch him closely. But of course, its not my job to evaluate talent, and it's only a hobby at best to second guess. Pitkanen is young and has skills. Let's hope he puts it all together in a Canes uniform (Sergei Samsonov, anyone?). If not he is going to have a hard time living up to a trade that sent one of Carolina's most popular players away. Fans can tend to be a little impatient in such situations.


................................

Also in the news, the Hurricanes have announced that the have re-signed/agreed to terms with defenseman Anton Babchuck, who was with the team for two seasons before playing last year in his native Russis (Superliga - Avangard Omsk). Babchuck was embroiled in a bit of controversy when he initially refused to report when the Hurricanes assigned him to the minors (Albany), mid way though the 2006-2007 season. He eventually did report and play out the season with the River Rats, and from most accounts was not a bad apple. But the public spat with the front office was a bit, shall we say, messy.

Babchuck then left to play a season in Russia's top league, where he was fifth amongst defensemen in scoring with 26 points (9 goals, 17 assists) in 57 games played. So far in his NHL career Babchuck has scored 26 points and racked up 54 penalty minutes in 96 games with the Hurricanes and Chicago Blackhawks (drafted in 1st round - 21st overall - 2002). The new contract is for one season and will pay Babchuck $1million.

-m