Happy CanadaUFA Day

OK everyone take a deep breath and look at this practically naked babe. Breathe, breathe. It'll be fine. Scott Gomez is a good player, and he's excited to come here.

So Happy Canada Day eh? Fuck I love my country. Canadians don't say that enough. But damn it's good to live here.

And Happy UFA day. No doubt shit will go down today. No doubt we'll be here making stupid comments about it and making lame excuses to post hot chicks. Should be fun. C'mon Bob, we still have faith! JayBo may be gone, but Heater is available. How about a Gomez-Kovy-Heater line? Not bad, eh?

Mmm, these fine Molson products go so well with cereal.

Bienvenido Señor Gomez!

Well it appears to be true. Chris Higgins has been traded to the Rangers in return for Scott Gomez.

Finally, the overpaid undersized center we've been dreaming of.

My New NHL 3

The rich millionaires started to save while the poor millionaires began spending. That’s what happened when the six-year collective bargaining agreement was signed in the summer of 2005. Rather than embolden the small market teams, the new CBA created huge reserves for the wealthy ones, huge reserves that would allow them to make serious splashes in the UFA pool when the cap would start rising again. It stood at 38 million dollars for Year 1 of the CBA. Now, at Year 3 it has climbed up to 52 million. It has gone up by 37%. Poof!

In an environment where the playing field is in the process of expansion, a gap starts to emerge, between the Haves and the Have-Nots. The field was flattened at a 38 million dollar cap, where everyone could allocate that amount in salaries. Today however, not all pockets around the NHL are 52 million dollars deep.

A New order is rising. It happens to be the Old order.

While the NHL was deflating spending to 38 million dollars a couple of years ago, the wealthy teams who were spending over 70 million were making significant savings. Today, with a cap that’s over 50M teams like the Red Wings and Rangers are still saving about 20M a season compared to their pre-cap splurges. That money could not really come in handy with everyone being obliged to run in a potato sack race. Now that the rules are changing and are allowing participants to run the race with the latest and most sophisticated engines money can buy, some teams will still have to resort to the best potato sack money can buy. This is when the savings of the last 2 years are going to pay huge dividends for the Rich of Yesterday. In fact, they are the ultra Rich of today and the uber Rich of tomorrow.

My New NHL 2 (from 2005-2007) was a flattened league. My New NHL 3 is a system of castes again.

Who’s in trouble? The small market American teams, that’s who. They are spending the same American dollars today as they did before the CBA. The Canadian teams, while relieved somewhat by the cap correction of 2005, have much more to thank in the surging Canadian dollar.

In 2001 the dollar was agonizing at 61 cents. Today it’s trading at 94.

The Canadiens’ payroll in 2001-2002 was 41.2M, meaning they were paying 66.3 M Canadian. Today that would mean a 43.7M payroll in Canadian funds. In today’s league figure the Habs will take up the entire cap room and spend the allowed 52M; in Canadian funds, with a 94 cent dollar, it will cost them 55.1M, 11 million dollars less than in 2001 despite a cap that is 11 million higher! God Save the Queen.

What has rescued Canadian hockey is the dollar, it actually has little to do with the cap. There was a time (that time was 2 years ago) when the cap did restrict the wiggle room and level the playing field. A 25M payroll did not have to compete with the 80M T-Rex roaring out of Manhattan. Today, the cap is rising and the tide is going to turn. At that turn, you will find Scott Gomez and Chris Drury in their new Ranger uniforms.

The Canadian teams can weather the storm and ride the momentum of a strong currency. The more tepid American teams however will have no luck in finding such solace. They are the Canadian teams of old. Which is why the Pittsburghs and Nashvilles are going to turn over their business AFTER the CBA was signed, because they know what’s coming. They’ve been there before.

Looking for the Next Gros Bill

The Habs biggest need come July 1 -and really for most of my lifetime, if not since Jean Beliveau retired IN 1971(!) - is a big, physical, talented first line center. Ideally, Koivu is a #2 centerman. Ideally, as in on a Stanley Cup contender.

So who’s out there for free this summer? Is there someone who a) has size and plays like it; b) is affordable and is willing sign in Montreal; and c) can play with Kovalev. (C) might be the biggest consideration, otherwise we’re wasting about $4.5 mill again this year. And if he has a decent set up man, AK27 can be a gunner again. So in theory one signing = 2 players. Unlike the Sammy signing which = (-23 combined).

Today FHF takes a look at potential UFA’s out of the Eastern Conference.

C Daniel Briere
And somewhere Yvon Pednault just had an orgasm. But makes sense to start at the top: obviously the “great” French Canadian talent most fans are clamouring for. But I don't think it's a good hockey fit. Didn't we have an albeit much crappier French Canadien Koivu clone recently? We need size and toughness. Sure he’s tough, but not physical. Plus we're talking huge cash, making it risky cap-wise . And I think if Briere is as smart in his contract choices as he is on the ice, he will avoid Montreal like Jacques Parizeau does a bath.

Scott Gomez
Soon to be former NJD = big talent, little body, big bucks. He’ll be out of our price range – and for that money, we need a player who’d be doing the throwing in a midget-tossing contest. .

Chris Drury
Hee-YUGE heart and a proven winner. Again, unlikely at best. Someone else is going to offer him max-cap type money, and it won't be Double G (George Gillette). Unless he can play soccer, too.

Alexei Yashin
I know I'm supposed to say emphatically no. I'm sure he wants to play in Montreal. And I’m sure he's really, really sorry and promises to work hard this time. And I’m sure he means it this time, not like last time. And the time before that. And the time before that.

He's a certain type of player: a skilled, puck-hogging, unmotivated, often self centred, usually heartless, essentially mercenary player - and don't we have one just like that model? Then again, maybe that means he’ll click with AK27. But isn’t that what was said about Miro Satan (he of the all time best NHL name), and that lasted half a season. Of course Satan in no Kovalev (chuckle).

But there's a chance, right? I mean, what if he really is a good guy off the ice? What if the contract weighed him down? He did put up points early in the season before he got hurt, so he's still got some left in the tank. And he says he'll play in Montreal, which unfortunately is now a consideration - just like the Expos had to deal with. (Slowly shakes his head at the thought of comparing the Expos and Canadiens.) It comes down to two things: options and money – obviously, it’s Kash-in' Yashin' we’re taking about! If the Habs can't land any kind of big name UFA, then Yashin looks more attractive, and if the price is right (around $2M or less)...

C Viktor Kozlov
I really liked this guy last summer, but no one seemed to listen to me. He's not a physical presence, but he's big, and he's got the skill to have played between AK27 and Sammy (yeah yeah, hindsight!). And then he went out and put up 25 goals and 51 points for the Isles. Remind me again who beat us out for the last playoff spot. Ohhh, The Islanders.

Wait. Seriously? They were in the playoffs?

The lesson, as always: why don't they ever listen to me when I'm right?

Mikael Nylander
Spent the last couple of seasons as Jaromir Jagr’s set up man, which has lead some to believe he’s overrated. And the stats support this: 10 more assists the last two years with Jags on his wing that his previous career high. Could he possibly recreate such productivity with Kovalev on his wing? Well, to paraphrase a certain 1988 Democratic VP candidate, “Sir, I know Jaromir Jagr, I’ve played with Jaromir Jagr. Mr. Kovalev, you are no Jaromir Jagr.” Will NY offer more cash to keep him feeding Jagr? I would bet yes. But they may go after Gomez or Briere, in which case Nyls may be available. Supposedly Calgary and Philly have interest if he doesn’t re-up. Still, doesn’t seem like a great fit. He’s not big or physical and he’ll be 35 in October. And he was a Whalers draft pick. And the Whalers still suck (even if they won a Cup).

Dainius Zubrus
Big, talented. 2nd Liner at best, though. Interesting, but again unlikely if only because this regime has already deemed him expendable, and I somehow doubt that Gainey’s mindset will have changed. Just like his expressions.

Mike Comrie
Talented but small, questionable heart - Kashin' Yashin syndrome as well.

Yanic Perreault
HF29 : "Next!"

Keith Tkachuk
Shift him to centre you say? He's a talented, big body presence (ohh, my first Maguire-ism) with a mean streak, you say? Big mouth and ego to go with it? Pass. Plus he’s established American hockey star and American teams will pay a premium to get him and his mouth. Bottom line: Not in Montreal, thank you very much. He looks like he enjoys the nightlife. And as cool as it would be to run into him at Club Downtown, his head would explode five separate times between Peel and Stanley alone.

Jozef Stumpel
An interesting option, although not much talk about him. Upside: 6’3”, 225 Lbs., 23 goalscorer last year and at least 50 points in the last four years he’s played 70 games. Downside: He’ll be 35 in training camp, and he’s not exactly known as a physical player. Still, I think it could work if there price were right. He might even fit with AK27.

NEXT UP: Western Conference UFA’s