Everybody Except Eaton and Wyatt Smith Qualified, Finley and Allison signed
Quote:
Originally Posted by Predator Web Site
"Predators GM David Poile announced today that the club has agreed to contract terms with defenseman Jamie Allison and goaltender Brian Finley.
Poile also announced today that the club has made qualifying offers to the following Group II restricted free agents: Simon Gamache, Dan Hamhuis, Scott Hartnell, Darren Haydar, Darcy Hordichuk, David Legwand, Andrei Mukhachev, Steve Sullivan, Jeremy Yablonski, and Greg Zanon. The Predators will continue to retain the rights to Martin Erat and Adam Hall, both of whom were made qualifying offers in 2004 but went unsigned. "
Quote:
Originally Posted by Predator Web Site
"The following Group II free agents were not made qualifying offers and will become unrestricted free agents tomorrow: Mark Eaton, Andreas Lilja, Vladimir Orszagh and Wyatt Smith."
"The following Group III free agents will become unrestricted free agents tomorrow: Tony Hrkac and Jim McKenzie."
With our paucity at center....surprised to see Wyatt Smith cut loose ....
Also does this also mean that Andrei Mukhachev is coming across the pond to play in Milwaukee this year?
I understand smith being let go. He's beneath Fiddler and Smithson on the depth chart, and if Setzinger and Widing are really going to come over, it's better to get them the icetime.
I understand smith being let go. He's beneath Fiddler and Smithson on the depth chart, and if Setzinger and Widing are really going to come over, it's better to get them the icetime.
That would make sense, but with the new agreement with the IIHC, I thought it was still a question whether they were going to be able to come over and play in Milwaukee without playing in a boatload of NHL games.
Eaton just let go for nothing. what a disappointment. there has to be more than meets the eye to that one. so what will our defense be this year if we sign no UFA's? I really hope they aren't banking on using weber, klein and allison to fill those holes
Eaton just let go for nothing. what a disappointment. there has to be more than meets the eye to that one. so what will our defense be this year if we sign no UFA's? I really hope they aren't banking on using weber, klein and allison to fill those holes
Poile knows what he's doing, and has made no secret we're in the market for at least one "name" d-man. I'm not worried.
Poile knows what he's doing, and has made no secret we're in the market for at least one "name" d-man. I'm not worried.
That's a far cry from your thoughts yesterday.
I do agree that he has something planned. Maybe he plans on landing two defenseman that are of better caliber than Eaton. And he didn't want to keep on Eaton in a reduced 3rd pairing role at his price. And doing so would have meant Suter would have remained in Milwaukee. Hopefully this is a good sign because we've dumped 2 NHL quality defenseman (and saved around 1.5+ mil) and have no one to replace them on the 7 Dman list. He's either going to make some waves in the UFA or trade market or he's going to ice the youngest D-core in NHL history. I don't think it's the latter.
You could take that 1.5+ mil and add it to the 3 mil that we might have planned to spend on a Dman(s) and land two really solid ones. I arrive at the 3 mil figure because we were going to spend 6 mil to land around two players (top two center, top 4 Dman). 4.5 mil could land us two very solid top 4 Dman.
You know what, this disappoints me. Forget Wyatt, we don't need him..just another Classen type player. Eaton though......what are we doing? I know we are looking at FA, but we just lost a very good asset for nothing...
Timmonen - ????
Hamhuis - Suter (assuming he can step in and play top 4 minutes)
Zidlicky - ???
Allison
Thats a bleak picture and unless we get some of our targets...we will be struggling on defense next year...and I'm thinking REALLY struggling.
You know what, this disappoints me. Forget Wyatt, we don't need him..just another Classen type player. Eaton though......what are we doing? I know we are looking at FA, but we just lost a very good asset for nothing...
Timmonen - ????
Hamhuis - Suter (assuming he can step in and play top 4 minutes)
Zidlicky - ???
Allison
Thats a bleak picture and unless we get some of our targets...we will be struggling on defense next year...and I'm thinking REALLY struggling.
I know nobody around here thinks this is possible, but Trotz speaks highly of Zanon and Braindead heard Horachuk say at the draft party, "Zanon is a guy that could be in Nashville soon."
I would like to see a second quality dman signed as well, but I think Zanon paired with Zids is not out of the realm of real possiblities....
You know what, this disappoints me. Forget Wyatt, we don't need him..just another Classen type player. Eaton though......what are we doing? I know we are looking at FA, but we just lost a very good asset for nothing...
Timmonen - ????
Hamhuis - Suter (assuming he can step in and play top 4 minutes)
Zidlicky - ???
Allison
Thats a bleak picture and unless we get some of our targets...we will be struggling on defense next year...and I'm thinking REALLY struggling.
I think it's more realistic to peg Suter with Zidlicky. With the loss of Hnidy, Eaton, and Arkhipov, we have around 2.5 million extra to toss around in the UFA market. When you combine that with the 6 million we already had to spend, we can now make the necessary waves. That's damn near 9 million dollars to deal with for three players. I say three (two top 4's, 1 top 6 center) because I think we have three holes that cannot be filled from within. I think 2 mil on the UFA top 4 Dman, 3 on the UFA top 2 Dman, and 3.5 mil on the UFA center would set us up nicely.
Last edited by SmokeyClause: 07-31-2005 at 06:51 PM.
Does anyone know where this puts our payroll (including Erat and Hall)?
I just did some quick math....with slotting Sully at 3.0 mill, Finley at 450k,
Hordi at 550k, Leggy at 1.35 mill, Erat at 900k, Hall at 800k, Hammer at 1.0 mill, Hartnell at 1.1 mill, Zanon at 450k, Gamache at 450k, Stevenson at 450k, and Allison at 450k.
[Remember Weber is signed at 551k, Suter signed at 912k, Upshall is signed at 450k, Johnson signed at 1.0 mill, Mason signed at 450k, Kimmo signed at 2.5 mill, Vokoun signed at 2.3 mill, Walker signed at 1.5 mill, Zids signed at 1.1 mill]
Using those numbers [which you can certainly quibble about]......that puts our total at $21,713,000.
I don't think we pay Zanon, Finley and Gamache that amount unless they're in the NHL. Only one of those guys, maybe at the most two should be in the NHL this year.
I'm guessing that they think Zanon is ready. Allison isn't going to be our 6th defenceman. Maybe they sign 2 but it seems easier to spend the low dollars on Zanon and have more to spend on one of [Foote/Rathje/fill in the blank].
I'm guessing that they think Zanon is ready. Allison isn't going to be our 6th defenceman. Maybe they sign 2 but it seems easier to spend the low dollars on Zanon and have more to spend on one of [Foote/Rathje/fill in the blank].
I can't believe Nashville kept Jamie Allison and let go of Mark Eaton. Some team will pick up Eaton and pleasantly see him become one of the most consistent above-average players on their roster. Meanwhile, Predators fans will get to watch the spectacular Allison in all his glory. (I was being sarcastic about Allison, if you didn't get it.) I don't know what Nashville is thinking with these moves.
Anyhoo...
Christopher "Beautiful" Carlson
Canada's #1 Nashville Predators Fan
"You can never have too many pucks."
I can't believe Nashville kept Jamie Allison and let go of Mark Eaton. Some team will pick up Eaton and pleasantly see him become one of the most consistent above-average players on their roster. Meanwhile, Predators fans will get to watch the spectacular Allison in all his glory. (I was being sarcastic about Allison, if you didn't get it.) I don't know what Nashville is thinking with these moves.
Anyhoo...
Christopher "Beautiful" Carlson
Canada's #1 Nashville Predators Fan
"You can never have too many pucks."
Yeah, I completely agree. There is NO, I repeat, NO excuse to let Eaton go. He wasn't expensive. His salary was very good considering what he could bring to a team (22+ minutes for us last year on the TOP DEFENSIVE PAIRING!!!) At the least, he is a good asset to hold onto. Letting him go, speaks of a grudge to me more than anything else, and letting your anger get in the way of managerial duties is BAD any way you slice it.
Smokey, I completely agree with the Suter comment. I got flamed so much last time for listing him being paired with Zidlicky that I just put him there with a disclaimer. I too believe he will be on the lower pairing initially......especially considering his rookie status.
Zanon and Allison both over Eaton.....excuse me while I go bang my head on the wall.
I don't think we pay Zanon, Finley and Gamache that amount unless they're in the NHL. Only one of those guys, maybe at the most two should be in the NHL this year.
By the way...how do they structure a two-way contract for these guys...both monetarily and capwise [or $26 mill self imposed budget-wise]?
Of course not. Obviously I am speaking out of my armchair GM position, and I realize that I could be totally wrong. Maybe we resign Eaton for less than his qualifier (doesn't make since but it could happen in the end). Maybe we improve all areas like we are hoping. Maybe Poile has a plan to trade for an established player. All of these things are very plausible, and Poile is a smart gm. Still, from this outlook, things do not make a lot of sense to me. Releasing Eaton is a stupid move, no matter how you spin it in my mind. Unless the guy is sleeping with somone's wife......there really is no reason to cut our second or third best defensemen for last year, especially considering we didn't even touch his offensive prowess.
I trust Poile will do all he can to make this team better. However, I know that going into FA a team rarely gets the players they targetted unless they are willing to overpay. Also, as a smaller market team, we could very easily get priced out of the players we want, or could find that the players we want.......simply do not want to come here. In short, we could end up screwing ourselves. Hopefully thats not the case. Other than the Eaton debacle, I am okay with our offseason moves.
I felt the same way when Skrastins was released...but in the end, it turned out alright. I have confidence that there's a plan intact. We've got about 6-7 million dollars to fill things out...something will happen.
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