Wednesday, June 16, 2010

9 Days Until The Draft

A few things today:

Cam Neely is going to be named "President" of the team. So what? Front office maneuvering is really exciting. I'm glad I got the email from Bruins Fan Relations saying a "major announcement" is coming today. A major announcement would be a blockbuster trade - spare me the front office BS. The only thing I would be interested in is how this changes his day-to-day. I doubt it changes much.

For those of you that play keeper fantasy leagues: every one of you knows a guy in your league who is always stockpiling young talent and hoarding extra draft picks right? This guy is constantly thinking about next year and never wins a penny and you love having him in your league because he is a doormat. For me, Peter Chiarelli is in danger of becoming the NHL's doormat if he doesn't parlay some of these extra picks they have into something this offseason (especially the Bruins own 1st Rounder this year and Toronto's 1st Rounder next year). Cash some of your chips in and make a run at it Peter - you have a window of opportunity right now.

More thoughts on a potential Tim Thomas trade:
1. The only teams that would take on a contract they cannot get rid of (35+ with no-movement clause) to be saddled with a $5M cap hit for the next three seasons would be teams trying to win now who think a solid goaltender is the missing ingredient. We already know Philly is desperate for goaltending...who else needs help?

2. Other teams with weak goaltending as of right now: Atlanta (no one signed, Pavelec is RFA), Dallas (already extended Lehtonen 3 years @ $3.55M per), Ottawa (LeClaire under contract with $3.8M cap hit for next year only), San Jose (Nabby a free agent), St Louis (Mason a free agent), Tampa Bay (Mike Smith under contract with $2.2M cap hit), Washington (Theodore a free agent, Varlamov still under contract). Ok, so of these teams who is a possibility?

3. Cross off Atlanta because they are not in "win now" mode. Cross off Dallas because they are already committed elsewhere. St. Louis may also fall into the rebuilding category and Ottawa also has the commitment to Leclaire. So the way I see it, I rank the potential Thomas trade partners in this order: Philly, Tampa, Washington, San Jose, St. Louis. You could speculate for days on what would happen with this, but the end result would be freeing up cap room for a top 4 d-man (my preference - look at the Bruins D and compare it to the top four of the two cup finalists as Fluto did the other day) or a scoring winger.

4. If Philly wants to trade, I want Jeff Carter and no one else. I do not want Simon Gagne (injury prone). I do not want Danny Briere's contract (5 years left @ $6.365M per against the cap) even though he was a Bruin killer in the playoffs. Add on some nice draft picks to sweeten a deal for Carter. Philly can fit Timmy under the cap and still take care of the only guy they need to take care of: Braydon Coburn. Basically everyone else on that team is signed for next year and some at an incredible discount (how would you like to have Giroux, Leino, and Van Riemsdyk for less than $3M total against the cap - roughly $3.3M with Van Riemsdyk's bonus potential?).

9 comments:

  1. Great thoughts on Philly. Can you give us a run down of Tampa and Washington as well? I still say Vinny from Tampa and make the Habs roll over in their graves.

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  2. Two problems with Vinny: 10 more years with an annual cap hit of $7.3M and he's a centerman. Marty St. Louis would be a better fit for the B's (signed thru next season - $5.25M cap hit), but management doesn't appear to be into the waterbug types. What I was thinking with Tampa Bay was to trade Thomas for Mike Smith (principals in deal - not just straight up) to back Rask up and free up the cap room. The problem with Tampa is: would Timmy waive his no-trade to go there?

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  3. Washington's biggest problem is on the blueline. They have Mike Green, Tom Poti, John Erskine and the kid John Carlson under contract right now. We saw Mike Green's epic fail in the 1st round loss to the Habs. So...you never know, they might be willing to allocate $5M of their cap to goaltending, but my bet is that they spend more on defensemen and get a Chris Mason via free agency or something. The dream sniper scenario would be Alex Semin of course (one year extension @ $6M next year). He would be the only one we would want - assuming Green, Ovie, and Backs ain't going anywhere of course.

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  4. What's wrong with holding onto Thomas and having a really strong goal tending tandem.
    What if Rask struggles during the full year?

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  5. I agree Rock.
    I'm just saying if we can get scoring for him, do it.

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  6. Halak trade lowers Timmy's market value IMO. True Halak was RFA and less proven but #30's contract and age wouldn't lend itself to him being that much more valued. Carter would be the ceiling I think just bc of matching cap hit. And I still believe JC is overated. I also don't honestly think Stevie Y would bite and deal MSL and Smith even if we added the 15 pick/prospects etc. Holmgren is too tough a negotiator to give back fair value. Timmy's good but still hasn't proven to be any more 'big game' capable than Leighton/Boucher. SJS??? Hell they stuck with Nabby all this time so it might be possible but what would we get back? Timmy will still be the B's #1a/2 between the pipes come October

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  7. Rask is the future. Get rid of Timmy before he gets any older. We don't need a confused GM and Coach (and now president) wondering who should be number one is Rask has some shaky games. Give him the starting job and get something for Thomas.

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  8. Trade Thomas to Philly and sign Leighton to be the back up

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  9. Good points by all. Rask is the #1. I think it's safe to say that everyone sees that. I still think the B's mgmt will get risk averse and shy away from a move that would require ingenuity and sufficient enough testicular fortitude to overcome the NMC and cap issues involved with partner teams in such a move. Keeping Timmy won't be the most beneficial move long term but at least it would be a good insurance policy against the
    'book' getting out on Rask over a full season and a dreaded sophmore slump rearing it's ugly head (unlikely maybe but not impossible even with a gifted kid like Rask). Thomas' numbers were still great last year despite the W-L. Remember Rask let in some softies too, still looks weak glove high, and this offense last year wouldn't even have won Hasek or Roy a game at times. I predict no change in the goaltending situation with this team. Good or bad as that may be long term it won't make the team worse next season.

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