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[Fuzzy]

Remember what I said about loopholes in the salary cap? Here's another scenario.

Sponsor: I'd like to buy some ad space at center ice.
Team: We'll give you a great deal but in return you have to do something for us.
Sponsor: Like what?
Team: Offer the free agent that we want to sign a local endorsement deal if they sign with us.
Sponsor: Make it so we get the ad space for free and you got yourself a deal.
Team: Deal!

Players get close to the same money the earned before and teams like Toronto lower their revenue to a point where they're no longer in the top 10 revenue makers so they don't have to pay into the revenue sharing pot.

 

[fallout]

Ranger fan.

Oh ... I'm sorry. Wow, this is awkward ... is there anything we can do?

 

[Shinobi]

If that happens, I can guarantee the leafs will go down as the most hated team in NHL history. But knowing the leafs, we'd take him and then put him in the farm team because we wouldn't feel he's ready yet.

:lol :lol :lol

I now want to see Crosby end up in a Leafs jersey, just to see how much it would piss off the puckheads on this board. He'd undoubtedly have the fastest selling jersey in NHL history, as the same people who swore off hockey forever line up at Sportschek locations all over town like sheep to order the blue and white 87's...thus reminding me why I enjoyed the lockout.

Pierre McGuire & Gord Miller talking about the Leafs.. saying there is talk Lindros is talking with the Leafs right now

Well, it's good to see some things won't change. :lol

I worked yesterday, and I work tomorrow and friday as well, but for some reason my boss told me she couldn't come into the office today. I didn't argue, I finally got a day to sleep in and do nothing.

So it's 1:00 and I get a phone call. Just a friend calling on her way to work, she wants to watch a movie tonight. That works out. She also wants to play some pool. That's cool. Eventually I wind up calling her retarded and she tells me in a sarcastic tone that the lockout is over.

I laugh it off, what a bitch. Joking about that kind of thing isn't funny, even though I know she's lying. I've been told so many times by both league and player representatives that the lockout was about to be "over", and it never happened. Every time Bob Mackenzie started talking about the ramiffications of free agency in leue of a certain end to the strike, I'd get my hopes up, and every time, it didn't materialize.

You ever read that Calvin and Hobbes series where he orders the beanie- the hat with a propeller on it- and finds out it takes 6-8 weeks for it to arrive? Every day after school he dashes into his house and with wide eyes, desperately asks his mom if it's arrived yet. Despite being consistently rejected day after day, he couldn't let go of the surely eventual feeling of enjoying that beanie. So he'd do the same thing day after day, week after week. Until he eventually couldn't raise his hopes anymore.

Then one day, he slowly walked through his front door and declared, "my beanie didn't come today, did it.."

That's how I felt when I turned on my computer after hearing her tell me it was over. I knew she was saying it just to get a rise out of me, just to get my hopes up and dash them. Like Calvin, I still had to ask, but inside, I knew it was baseless, there was no point. The beanie would never come. So as I clicked on my browser's icon, and my home page of TSN(.ca) loaded up before my eyes, I finally knew how he felt when his mom revealed the package that had arrived today. Calvin finally got his beanie, and I finally got my hockey.

I missed you, hockey.

You do know the players could vote this down next week right? :lol

Not that it'll happen...the players were never going to win this round (that was accepted by everybody going in), but the deal isn't as bad as I thought it would be following the cancelation of the season in Feburary. I was hearing 35 to 36 mill at the top end for the cap, so 39 isn't too bad. Also minimum salary goes from about 150k to 400 or 450k (I forget which), which is pretty damn good. Frankly the lower end players (which is the majority here) actually saw their fortunes improve...they not only make significantly more while being at the low end of the pay scale, they get to be free agents before their hair starts to turn white. It's the middle guys that are going to take it up the ass with a Sherwood.

Got home from work and ive been sitting on front of the tv for a few hours.. and i gotta say...I'm a bit surprised at how much attention TSN and Sportsnet are giving this. Complete NHL coverage.

You're joking right? They had 20 minute segments for six months straight when they had NOTHING to talk about. This is one of the few moments the ridiculous overdone coverage hockey gets up here is actually justified.

Even Bob McKenzie (who normally never argues or takes sides) was stunned at Glen Healey trying to say the players "won" the CBA because it has a "market place". :lol

:lol Fucking moron...

Ranger fan.

And I hope the NHL struggles mightily. Bettman and the board of govenors are an extremely unlikable group of fucks who care little for us long time fans. They want new people and new money. This whole CBA struggle was mostly due to their stupid fucking "footprint" teams in the Southern US, who will never survive even if they make the salary cap limit 5 bucks per team. That's why there will be shootouts and new jerseys and 20 teams in the playoffs. They're not looking to appeal to Leaf fans and Ranger fans and Flyer fans and Habs fans and Canucks fans, because these teams were all fine before the lockout! But who cares because hockey is back, right?

Trades will be nearly non existent. Rosters will turn over heavily at the end of each season. The already shit talent pool will be even further diluted thanks to a fair amount of players staying over in Europe. Plenty of young Europeans won't even come over now because they can make just as much there. It's going to be like the AHL, but with shittier jerseys. But who cares because hockey is back, right?

mumble.. fuckin nhl... mumble...

It's encouraging to see that not everyone has bought the NHL's bill of goods. Alas, too many fans and media gimps have allowed themselves to be snowballed by Bettman and co. (not unlike the players with Goodenow). Like I said before, they'll learn soon enough.

NHL was right.

NHLPA was very wrong.

You know what the most profitable team was in 2003-2004?

Toronto

Do you know how much money Toronto made?

around 2 to 3 million dollars.

TWO TO THREE MILLION.

You're full of shit. The Leafs haven't made less then 15 mill in over a decade.

And this ticket price drop thing, whatever. The Leafs already said they likely won't drop, which should only surprise the completely clueless. Ticket prices are based on consumer demand...salary level has never been a huge factor. If the market is willing to pay 300 bucks, the team (in this case the Leafs) will charge it. And why not?

Oh sure, some of the other teams will reduce, but those will be teams who did nothing but paper their buildings the last few years and are in markets where the only ice most of the residents there have seen is in their drinks, and will probably still end up folding or moving back north in a few years anyway, making this past year an even bigger waste of time. But it's not gonna be a 25-30% reduction to match the new, wonderful economic windfall that these BILLIONAIRES will now enjoy.

Maybe they'll prove me wrong in the coming weeks. But I doubt it.

BTW, it sure is embarassing seeing some of the video clips on Sportsnet of players who swore they'd never take a cap barely a year ago. Thanks to digital technology, those clips will be archived forever, as clean and pristine as the day they were first recorded. Sucks for them. :lol

 

[acidviper]

I can't believe a team has not just found one of those shut-in obese persons and have them block the entire net. It is not against the rules and I'm sure there are plenty of candidates willing to get paid a million dollars to block pucks with space-age titanium polymer graphite lexar defence shielding.

I guess the hardest problem would be transporting this person for road games or pushing them across the ice after periods.

 

[fallout]

I can't believe a team has not just found one of those shut-in obese persons and have them block the entire net. It is not against the rules and I'm sure there are plenty of candidates willing to get paid a million dollars to block pucks with space-age titanium polymer graphite lexar defence shielding.

You know, I thought about this once when I was 8. My grandmother has this little Christmas tree ornament that has a penguin playing hockey against an eskimo. The eskimo is the goalie and is so fat that he covers the entire net with a huge grin on his face.

I'd like to see what the NHL would say about obese people playing as goalies in the NHL. Maybe they actually have a size restriction ... if so, I smell lawsuit!

Spoiler

I'm kidding.

 

[acidviper]

This is perfectly legal. Hockey is stupid because of this loophole in game design. Why pay someone to catch the puck when it can just bounce off his ass.

 

[MetatronM]

One of these days we'll be good again...:lol


But YAY FOR HOCKEY!

 

[dem]

some details of the cba on tsn...

- The entry-level system will limit those players to $850,000 a year in salary (which it was 10 years ago) with bonuses not as easily reachable as the previous deal. The maximum possible amount in bonuses is $4.5 million although it's unrealistic for almost anyone to reach all the lofty targets. The age for draft eligibility will also be raised from 18 years to 19 years.

Im curious as to how theyre going to manage this. It would be easier if they just cancelled this years draft.. but obviously that isnt happening. Maybe incrimentally... move the eligibility date back 4 months every year?

- The league will play an unbalanced schedule. Teams will play their four divisional opponents a total of eight times for 32 games. Teams will play their 10 conference rivals a total of 4 times for 40 games. Teams will play a home-and-home against each team in one division of the other conference for a total of 10 games - that's a total of 82 games.

Play the Flamers and the Canuckleheads 8 times a year? Sounds good to me

As of 2007-08, players - regardless of age - can become unrestricted free agents after seven years in the NHL, with the 2004-05 wiped-out season counting in the service time. That means any player who began his career in the NHL at the age of 18 can qualify for unrestricted free agency at 25. In the meantime, the age of unrestricted free agency will remain 31 this summer but will gradually be brought down to 27 by the end of 2007-2008 season.

Rick Nash and Ilja Kovalchuk free agents at 25? Yup
Also... doesnt this make Joe Thornton a UFA next season if he doesnt get locked into a multiyear contract?

Another key thing to understand is the cap figure. Yes, it's $39 million, but that doesn't mean you can't have players on your roster whose annual salaries add up to more than $39 million.

You just can't have them on your roster for the whole year. That $39 million figure is not some mythical paper-number, it's how much a team can actually spend on salaries in one year.

So a team that runs way below the cap for most of the year could conceivably add a big salary player at the trade deadline and, on a paper payroll, go over the cap - so long as the actual money spent on salaries stays below $39 million, it's not a problem.

A team could conceivably go into the playoffs with a roster whose salaries add up to more than $39 million. It's all a matter of balancing the books.

Looks like you could still see some trade deadline activity...

TORONTO (CP) - The NHL's new collective bargaining agreement will include a stiff drug-testing policy, a league source told The Canadian Press on Tuesday.

The policy would see players subject to a minimum of two drug tests a year with no advance warning. A player would earn a 20-game suspension for a first-time offence, a 60-game ban for a second offence and a permanent suspension from the NHL after a third violation.

Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow suggested the league and union would introduce such a policy after the two appeared before a U.S. congressional hearing on steroid use last May.

Could be interesting. Though I dont think the NHL really has much of a drug problem.

 

[calder]

Play the Flamers and the Canuckleheads 8 times a year? Sounds good to me

Let's hope the Flames can do slightly better against the Greasers and go a perfect 8 and 0 this year instead of a mere 6-1-1 or whatever they did in '04. How did the Oil do against the Canucks last season anyway? Instinct and common sense says "terrible" but I can't find split stats anywhere.

 

[dem]

Oh... they did terrible

But its still fun


Anyway... its a whole new world. Lets see how the canuckleheads do without the melancholy captain

 

[Fuzzy]

Also... doesnt this make Joe Thornton a UFA next season if he doesnt get locked into a multiyear contract?

The seven years of service isn't retroactive to current players so he'll have to wait to reach the new age limits and since his birth date is July 2nd that means that he has to wait an extra year.

Could be interesting. Though I dont think the NHL really has much of a drug problem.

:lol

 

[dem]

The seven years of service isn't retroactive to current players so he'll have to wait to reach the new age limits and since his birth date is July 2nd that means that he has to wait an extra year.

Are you sure the seven years arent retroactive?
"with the 2004-05 wiped-out season counting in the service time."
Why would the wiped season count as service time if it WASNT retroactive to current players?

:lol

You really think theres a big problem? The only thing I've ever really heard of is sudafed. When youre big drug problem is cold medicine... eh.

 

[bishoptl]

Anyway... its a whole new world. Lets see how the canuckleheads do without the melancholy captain

As stated before, free agents regularly use the media to set the floor for negotiations. As an Oiler fan, you wouldn't be privy to that sort of information, seeing as how free agents in Edmonton just...leave, period. :lol

 

[dem]

Why would he want to stay in Vancouver when he could go down to sunny California and hang with his big bud Brian Burke?? Not to mention play with Sergei Fedorov instead of inflating Brendan Morrisons stats all year. Hell.. maybe Bert will join him down there... cause he certainly doesnt want to go back and play with the Alien twins while watching Clutch let everyone down in the playoffs.


ITS OVER CANUCK FANS

OVERR

Just before that surefire dynasty started.. eh? :lol

 

[VALIS]

Oh ... I'm sorry. Wow, this is awkward ... is there anything we can do?

Give us Sidney Crosby. It's best for the league to put him in NY for media presence, and damnit, we've been through a lot lately. Throw us a bone.

I'm going to laugh my ass off if he ends up with Carolina or Nashville or Phoenix. Let's see what all the small market, pro-cap crybabies have to say when he gets buried on one of those non-entities for 10 years. "When I was yelling for parity and fairness, really I was just complaining that I wanted the Oilers to get help! I couldn't care less about other small market teams!" Hahaha. Whoops.

 

[dem]

VS

Hellooo DUCKS!

 

[dem]

Give us Sidney Crosby. It's best for the league to put him in NY for media presence, and damnit, we've been through a lot lately. Throw us a bone.

I'm going to laugh my ass off if he ends up with Carolina or Nashville or Phoenix. Let's see what all the small market, pro-cap crybabies have to say when he gets buried on one of those non-entities for 10 years. "When I was yelling for parity and fairness, really I was just complaining that I wanted the Oilers to get help! I couldn't care less about other small market teams!" Hahaha. Whoops.

Like Gretzky was burried in Edmonton? Like Lemieux was burried in Pittsburgh?

 

[bishoptl]

while watching Clutch let everyone down in the playoffs.

*pathetic attempt to piggyback off OTHER TEAMS' SUCCESS instead of his own while flailing about trying to make a point*

Sorry, I don't deign to converse with fans of teams that can't *make* the playoffs, amusing as your attempt at smacktalk has been. Maybe there's a Nashville fan on the boards I can chit chat with.

 

[dem]

That will be all.

 

[calder]

Sorry, I don't deign to converse with fans of teams that can't *make* the playoffs, amusing as your attempt at smacktalk has been. Maybe there's a Nashville fan on the boards I can chit chat with.

Well, there might be some fans of other Western Conference Playoff teams around. Maybe even Western Conference Champion fans!

"Booyah! Bring on the fucking Wings!"

My personal favourite, it's worth wrecking the post width to display it's awesomeness:

And, one for dem too.

EDIT: changed avatar out of sheer giddy anticipation. SIGN DANY HEATLEY DARYL YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

 

[bishoptl]

Is that the quality of free agent we're expecting to see in Edmonton this year? There's something to be said about growing from within, but still...

And this pic

has to be one my all-time favourites. :lol

 

[dem]

We cant all fly to Mars to puck up an alien duo

 

[bishoptl]

That's the problem with Edmonton - you can't pick up ANYBODY. Twins or singles.

A CITY WEEPS

Hope your boys enjoyed golfing during the strike, the 2003-2004 playoffs and the 2001-2002 playoffs - true to form, they'll have plenty of time this postseason to continue working on their game.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

We cant all fly to Mars to puck up an alien duo

:lol

 

[darscot]

The Canucks will be just fine this season. The odds of Bert landing with the ducks is laughable. If Bert really wants out I expect they will do something like flip Bert to Boston for Joe Thorton. Joe Thorton and him are both in similar situations.

ANd on the note of putting a fat guy in net to stop the puck. Time to put down the pipe guys. Even with the modern equipment of today the guy would get KO in about five seconds.

 

[dem]

We'll see who comes back to the City of Champions

Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So let's sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again

 

[dem]

:lol :lol
Bert couldnt fetch Joe Thorntons jock in a trade
Bruins will be CONTENDERS this year

 

[darscot]

Bert has his issues but the guy still has the physical assets that are the wet dream of GM's around the league. Rumor has it Joe is not happy in Boston and may want out. Bert may want out of Vancouver so a trade like that could work for both teams. You want your guy out of your conference and you want something comparable back.

 

[bishoptl]

What are you smoking? Those cool GM moves you make in your fantasy league, dem - they don't always translate into real life. Doug Weight going back to Edmonton...hell, any free agent worth his salt (ie. not Petr Nedved) going to Edmonton of their own volition goes against all logic. Nobody's going to choose to freeze their ass in Edmonton for a team that's guaranteed to:

- give up the booty regularly to nearly every other WC team
- not make the playoffs

Hell, Dougie can play for the Panthers then - at least the weather's decent.

The skies above are clear again

A shot from downtown Edmonton @ Whyte Avenue, yesterday

 

[dem]

- give up the booty regularly to nearly every other WC team

Looks like the Canucks take care of that within the team

 

[dem]

It's alright to be afraid of Dougie Weight, Bish. After all.. the only thing that saved you from his wrath last time was the flu.

 

[bishoptl]

Doug Weight? Was that him taking a powder after Bertuzzi pasted Jackman into malt-o-meal during the playoffs against St Louis? Hell of a leader, that captain. You're right - he'd fit right in with Edmonton again.

I'm not sure what you're referring to - the Sedin twins sitting on the ice after scoring yet another goal in yet another win against the Oilers? Let's check the numbers from last season, shall we? (damn, I've missed this )

at Vancouver L 3-0
at Calgary L 1-0
St. Louis L 6-4
at Colorado L 6-1
at Calgary L 4-2
at Detroit L 7-1
at San Jose L 2-1
Minnesota L 1-0
at Los Angeles L 4-2
Vancouver L 3-0
at Calgary L 2-1
Calgary L 2-1
at Nashville L 2-1
Nashville L 4-3
at Colorado L 3-1
Los Angeles L 4-3
at Minnesota L 3-0
at Detroit L 2-1
at Anaheim L 4-2
at Dallas L (OT) 5-4
Colorado L (OT) 3-2
Vancouver L (OT) 4-3
Dallas L (OT) 4-3
at St. Louis L 1-0
at Vancouver L 5-2

But hey you should be all right for this season because ESPN says Ty Conklin is pretty fired up this year and whatnot

OILERS: COMPETITIVE FEVER

CATCH IT

 

[Kabuki Waq]

We'll see who comes back to the City of Champions

Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So let's sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again

More like "CITY OF ....FUCK IT LETS JUST LET DALLAS THROUGH TO SECOND ROUND ALREADY"


wait your excited about a guy who has a wonky knee and has never won a championship?

 

[dem]

More like "CITY OF ....FUCK IT LETS JUST LET DALLAS THROUGH TO SECOND ROUND ALREADY"


wait your excited about a guy who has a wonky knee and has never won a championship?

Dont worry Kabuki... when hes 40 he'll sign with the geriatric leafs. I'm sure Gary Roberts will still be there. :lol

 

[bishoptl]

More like "CITY OF ....FUCK IT LETS JUST LET DALLAS THROUGH TO SECOND ROUND ALREADY"

:lol

 

[calder]

If Bert really wants out I expect they will do something like flip Bert to Boston for Joe Thorton. Joe Thorton and him are both in similar situations.

:lol Reminds me of the trade ideas you'd see on the letsgowings forum. "We should trade Jiri Hudler and a 2nd round draft pick for Joe Thornton!" "No way, Nik Kronwell for Thornton straight up is more than fair!"

EDIT: shit I'm finding all my favourite old hockey pics. This one will please everyone except the 2 wretched Wings fans too scared to post!

I think Kabuki or Dopey actually made the pic better by using the Disney font, but I can't find that version. Shame that everyone had to start hating the boring-ass Ducks by the end of their run, because watching Giguere tune the Red Wings was just fantastic.

And another one for dem:

 

[Kabuki Waq]

Dont worry Kabuki... when hes 40 he'll sign with the geriatric leafs. I'm sure Gary Roberts will still be there. :lol

and will still be a better player than Weight is now.


If Tie domi ever came to your team he would be on the FIRST LINE you have no room to talk about the leafs :lol

 

[dem]

and will still be a better player than Weight is now.

If Tie domi ever came to your team he would be on the FIRST LINE you have no room to talk about the leafs :lol

Same ol delusional leaf fans.

Somebody please photoshop the leafs logo on that pill

 

[Fifty]

ahahahaha

clever! I'll have to write that one down in my book of original Leaf jokes.

 

[dem]

That must be one huge book

Anyone got the blueboy leaf fan picture? :lol

 

[bishoptl]

Stock up on pictures fellas, it's going to be a long season.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

or a really short season if you bring this guy back

edit: Typical Underhanded Thugtuzzi style abuse of power

 

[dem]

:lol :lol :lol

 

[bishoptl]

:lol

 

[bishoptl]

or a really short season if you bring this guy back

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[dem]

ABUSE OF POWER!!!
ABUSE OF POWER!!!

 

[Kabuki Waq]

 

[FightyF]

I think the Oilers will do far better this year...their record during the last 30 games of last season was nearly flawless. Compare that to Calgary...which did about .500, am I right?

But losing Nedved will really hurt, that seems to what spurred the winning streak.

If they can get Allison, or Weight, I can see them easily making the playoffs.

Plus, I don't see the Flames making the playoffs this year. They fluked it last year, as traditionally strong teams didn't make the playoffs. Nashville and the Flames will have to fight for it this year.

 

[dem]

If they can get Allison, or Weight, I can see them easily winning the cup.

Fixed

 

[Fifty]

OMG EL OH EL

Now that you're done laughing (show your friends that picture. the world must see how stupid the leafs are!) I must tell everyone here that I bought a Sundin jersey, half off, just a week ago I suggest everyone to run out and buy a jersey before the prices go back up..if they haven't already.


edit: Man, bish....you've been saving these pictures? all of a sudden it's like jpeg mardi gras up in hurr.