previous | main index page | next

July 18, 2005

Roundup of CBA articles and other goodies.

The ProJo has an article on Brendan Walsh and how he's enjoying himself thus far in his new duties with Northeastern. A couple of the Manchester boys just competed (and won the bronze medal) with Team USA in the 2005 International Ice Hockey Federation InLine Hockey World Championship- Jeff Guiliano, Troy Milam, and Doug Nolan. It was Jeff and Troy's first experience with the IIHF; it was Doug's third.


The Boston Herald thinks that it's time the fans got a break - namely, in the form of lower ticket prices. InsideHockey has a feature about the CBA resolution up; it features some quotes with Hal Gill. I know I didn't mention this last week, but the NHL will have a strict drug policy with the dawn of this new CBA. I feel so rusty on this whole "talking about the NHL" stuff, y'all. My brain just is not havin' any of it. Which reminds me. I have to talk to my landlords about Center Ice...


James Mirtle has a pretty, pretty graphic of who falls where within the buying power of the new cap. No surprise here, Boston's at the top. I am both disgusted and proud. (The CBA has left me conflicted.) His graphic only has 4 players under contract with Boston, though we know it's five - Patrice Bergeron, Tom Fitzgerald, Ian Moran, Milan Jurcina, and Hannu Toivonen.


And finally, the Boston Globe says that the Bruins are committed to spending the max to get players in here-


"... Ownership is committed. The playing field will be leveled with regard to how much money we can spend and we're going to spend as much as any other team." [ said Mike O'Connell]


Am I the only one who read that and had one of those moments of suspended disbelief where you have to re-read something to make sure that you saw what you think you saw? Of course they're going to spend as much as any other team. That's the POINT of a SALARY CAP. I get that there's some flexibility with the floor and the ceiling of it all, but c'mon y'all. Even if they spend the max of the cap, that's still $5 million dollars cheaper then their payroll was 2 years ago in 2003-04. Boston really has no excuses to not spend this money well. After all, they're the ones who've pretty much been doing things this way for years, no? They could write an instructional book to sell to the other teams and make a few extra bucks, if they were so inclined.


Heather | 01:30 PM | 13
filed under: m. monarchs || nhl news

Comments

Chelsy said:

I know this has nothing to do with what was written but I thought you guys might like to know that Patrice is on an episode of Charlie Moore the Mad Fisherman on NESN it shows them fishing together and also clips of some hockey :)


July 18, 2005 02:23 PM
Heather said:

Ooh, I will have to check my local listings!


July 18, 2005 03:33 PM
stacy said:

haha... that's kewl.
but i got to say, i had to reread that quote a many times. i don't know. this whole thing is just so... sooo... like a dream you're about to wake up in...and then not. see? i'm confused. :*(
cheers...


July 18, 2005 03:53 PM
Ben said:

I think Jurcina isn't being counted as a signed player on most sites because he's never played in the NHL. Likewise Toivonen. Some sites say Boynton is signed though.


July 18, 2005 09:07 PM
Heather said:

That's what I figure, too, but they are signed, and Jurcina at least has a shot at the NHL. In my opinion, I think Hannu could do with another year in Providence, but I don't have much GMing experience. Just that one year in Peru, but I don't like to talk about it.


Boynton, though, is not signed. He has an option on his contract, which will likely (read: had BETTER BE) be picked up.


July 18, 2005 09:12 PM
Mirtle said:

Jurcina has yet to play an NHL game, so I imagine he's on a minor league contract.


July 18, 2005 10:50 PM
Heather said:

Neither has Toivonen, but different places are citing different numbers of Boston players under contract. Those five are under contract, regardless of how they will be counted in the cap.


I imagine that Jurcina's on a two-way; he spent the first two weeks of the 03-04 season on the opening roadtrip out west with Boston. I don't know if he needs a two-way for that,though. I would think that he does.


July 19, 2005 08:25 AM
stacy said:

I don't know, I heard that they might put Hannu as backup in Boston... but that's just what I heard from other fans and sites...!
(They need to keep him in pB to ready himself for the next level!)


July 19, 2005 09:46 AM
Jessica said:

I don't think they'd keep Toivonen as a back-up. He needs to get games in, whether it be in Providence or Boston. I'm sure they'll either alternate him with Raycroft (every other game) or back Andrew up with a veteran and keep Hannu in Prov. Since he's so young, I'd prefer the latter. Don't want to rush a goalie to develop (a la Blaine Lacher) but I do think he already has the potential to be in the NHL. We shall see! :)


July 19, 2005 11:19 AM
Heather said:

A lot of people are theorizing that Hannu will join Raycroft (who remains unsigned, currently), but I think it would be a better idea to have Hannu in Providence for the majority of the season. He's an incredible goalie, but I don't think he's ready for the NHL. Call him up once or twice for a taste, see how he does, but overall- another season in Providence would do him better.


Of course, I also think that Raycroft was overplayed in 03-04 (particularly down the stretch and into the playoffs), and while Raycroft is also a skilled goaltender, I firmly believe that Boston would be better off with a veteran goalie as part of a tandem with Raycroft, and I firmly believe that the games should be a little better balanced then they were with Potvin and Raycroft.


July 19, 2005 11:25 AM
Jessica said:

My thoughts exactly. You need to ease young goaltenders into the NHL. They take longer than other players to develop.


July 19, 2005 01:37 PM
stacy said:

You know, you're right. I want Hannu to stay for other reasons but agree that he is young and still has a lot to learn. I think he will be beneficial to the PBruins this year and yeah, a few games here and there with Boston. I wonder if they'll do that with the other players even if they did have NHL time. I mean, I think they've "grown" up with PBruins... I'm not sure. But again, that's an opinion.


July 19, 2005 04:19 PM
Joe T. said:

Regarding Jurcina, I wonder how the team feels about his development thus far. I attended a number of playoff games and I can't think of another player who turned the puck over more in his own end then he did. The big factor, though, is that he just doesn't seem physical enough to play defense in the NHL. I think Gordon was expecting more of him from the standpoint of pure aggression. I don't wanna pick on him, but to me, he is light years away from a permanent spot in the NHL.

Another note... the UHL announced they will be requiring all players to wear visors next year. Seems like a matter oftime before the A follows suit.


July 20, 2005 01:01 PM