Most of the major moves in the NHL have already been made in the reckless 24-hour period that was Sunday, and they are all proof that for all the talk during the lockout about ensuring parity and making small-market teams more competitive, it was mostly bullshit — the New York Rangers snapped up both Chris Drury from Buffalo and Scott Gomez from New Jersey, meaning they’re going to go high on a lot of people’s pre-season best list come September. Buffalo continued to be plundered, with Daniel Briere going to Philly earlier in the day and the Flyers added on, dealing for Jason Smith and Joffrey Lopol from Edmonton (just remember, Flyer fans, I recall talk about how top-notch the Flyers were going to be with Forsberg as their star last year, and look where that got you). Anaheim signs Mathieu Schneider away from Detroit as Scott Niedermayer continues to consider retiremtn, and my Avs add to the wrecking of Tri-State area teams not the Rangers by inking Ryan Smyth from the Islanders. (Good. Colorado will at least make the playoffs next season.)
The team salary cap in the NHL jumped up to $50 million this year, and thus, the lie has been put to the owners’ and Bettman’s reasoning for that lockout. Meet the new order, same as the new order.
Filed under: NHL, free agency, front office, trades
(just remember, Flyer fans, I recall talk about how top-notch the Flyers were going to be with Forsberg as their star last year, and look where that got you).
Well, that was actually two seasons ago. The Flyers had a lot more questions going into last season because Forsberg had ankle surgery (It was thought that he would miss the first four months of the season) and the retirements of Primeau and Desjardins.
D’oh.
just made my pick. ENJOY the post
http://mwcfootball.wordpress.com/2007/07/02/hazean-mock-draft-round-1-pick-3/
I am so damn pissed that the Sabres lost both Drury and Briere. So much for trying again for the Stanley Cup.
Yeah, the Flyers were pretty fooked from the get-go. Basically, they had absolutely zero defense and started the season 3-14. They were losing by absolutely absurd scores…it was a miracle if the opponent didn’t get five or six goals.
EXACTLY my thoughts when I saw which teams made the biggest signings, including the two Rangers ones like you pointed out.
[...] smaller teams) has been revealed as complete bullshit after the money the Rangers, Flyers, and Avs threw at free agents while the Sabres and Islanders were [...]