Decision Day

[Captain Slack]

From TSN.ca. Mostly about Detroit, but their's a little about other teams near the end:

Decision day in the NHL

TSN.ca Staff

6/30/2003

(TSN.CA) It’s decision day in the National Hockey League.

If players eligible for restricted free agency are not offered qualifying deals by midnight (ET), they will be allowed to become unrestricted free agents. Teams face the same deadline in trying to keep potential unrestricted free agents off the open market.

The last day of June will be an interesting one in Detroit, where the Red Wings face tough decisions on two key players from their championship teams, and one who didn't play at all last season.


The Red Wings have until midnight tonight to exercise the option they hold on the services to Dominik Hasek, who retired after winning the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2002.

An NHL management source told TSN Monday "you can take it to the bank" that the Wings will pick up the option, rather than allow the netminder to become an unrestricted free agent.

If Hasek does decide to come back- and it's a virtual certainty he will- the Wings would then have two goaltenders under contract with salaries of $8 million for the coming season. Detroit signed Curtis Joseph last summer to a 3-year, $24 million contract, one that included a no-trade clause.

Although the Red Wings have not officially requested that Joseph waive the no-trade provision, they are believed to have initiated trade discussions with several teams.

Last season, his first in Detroit, Joseph often struggled. Still, he finished with a 34-19-6 record, a 2.49 goals against average and a solid .912 save percentage. But Joseph was outplayed by Jean-Sebastien Giguere in the first round of the playoffs, and Detroit suffered a shocking sweep.

In his final season in Detroit, Hasek was 41-15-8 with a 2.17 goals against average and a .915 save percentage. The six-time Vezina Trophy Winner and two-time leage MVP also led the Wings to a Stanley Cup championship.

In addition to their goaltending concerns, the Red Wings are also on the verge of seeing two key players from their three Stanley Cup teams become unrestricted free agents.

Detroit has withdrawn its' offer of $10 million per season to centre Sergei Fedorov, who is expected to try his luck on the open market.

Fedorov is coming off a 36 goal season and has 400 in his NHL career.

The Wings do have an offer on the table to winger Darren McCarty, who can also become an unrestricted free agent July 1. McCarty had 13 goals and 138 penalty minutes last year.

In New York, the Rangers are actually trying to trim payroll. TSN has learned that the Rangers have offered defenceman Brian Leetch a one-year deal worth $4.5 million. That’s half of what he made last season. If he doesn’t sign by midnight, Leetch will join the unrestricted free agent ranks.

The Phoenix Coyotes have all kinds of possibilities to work out with defenceman Teppo Numminen. The club can pick up his contract at $5.5 million. Numminen has a player option on the deal at $4.5 million. There is a good possibility that he could simply be traded.

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, fresh off their Stanley Cup Final appearance, have already decided to set Adam Oates free, TSN has learned. Now they have to deal with Paul Kariya, who requires a qualifying offer of $10 million to keep him off the open market.

Stay with TSN all day long for more free agent updates as the deadline approaches.

[VandyCane]

Watching all these teams dumping high salary players makes me glad that we have our core team intact. Other than settling our defenseman situation we are actually in pretty good shape. It should be interesting to watch all these teams trying to replace the expensive players with cheaper options. Will it happen or will the "dumped" players still get huge amounts of money? Only time will tell, I guess.

[Shell]

Kariya cut from flock; Wings pick up Hasek

It is unlikely the Ducks superstar will re-sign with Anaheim as a free agent as he was very disappointed with the offers presented to him by Ducks management.

(posted Jun. 30, 9:30PM EDT)
The Anaheim Mighty Ducks have made their captain available to the highest bidder, deciding Monday night not to tender a qualifying offer to star forward Paul Kariya. | Red Wings pick up Hasek's option

Also: Hatcher, Fedorov lead list of eligible free agents

NHL moves before the deadline

Kariya will be an unrestricted free agent starting Tuesday after the Ducks agonizingly decided his $10-million US qualifying offer was simply too much.

“This was very difficult for me,” Ducks general manager Bryan Murray said Monday night on a conference call. “Paul is a great guy and a great player. We've had a very good relationship. ...

“Financially some things have to make sense in our business,” Murray added. “I know our company, I know our budget, I know the amount of money it costs to operate this hockey team. We have to get our players' contracts in order.

“It's just what had to happen at this point and time.”

Anaheim's gut-wrenching decision to cut loose Kariya represents the clearest indication of the new-found resolve among NHL clubs to cut down costs ahead of the September 2004 labour war.

Kariya, 28, has played with the Ducks his entire NHL career. He led the team with 81 points (25-56) in 82 games this season. Murray said the Ducks still hoped to re-sign Kariya -- obviously at a cheaper price -- but he didn't give the impression that Anaheim's long-time captain was going to give loyalty a premium.

“He did not give us the right of first refusal,” Murray said. “He was very disappointed. We had talked about this possibility numerous times.”

The Ducks became the toast of the town after surprisingly reaching the Stanley Cup final this past season but they may suffer the backlash of their fans after also announcing Monday they would not pick up Adam Oates' $3.5-million contract option for next season, making the veteran centre an unrestricted free agent.

“I don't think there's any question we understand that,” Murray said of the fans' reaction. “Paul's a very important player for our franchise. This year he was a real catalyst for what happened to our team. We don't want to lose our fans over this but it's difficult to build a real good team when you have a $10-million player.

“We've talked about this before with Paul and he understands.”

Anaheim's announcement on Kariya stole the spotlight from Dominik Hasek, who earlier Monday evening had his return to the NHL officially signalled with Detroit's decision to pick up his $8-million contract option for next season.

The Wings must now decide what to do with star goalie Curtis Joseph, who has two more years left on his $24-million, three-year contract and more importantly has a no-trade clause.

Monday was a busy day as NHL clubs faced a midnight deadline to re-sign players, pick up contract options and qualify restricted free agents.

The unrestricted free agents hit the market Tuesday, a crop that includes forwards Kariya, Sergei Fedorov, Teemu Selanne, Ray Whitney and Joe Nieuwendyk as well as defencemen Derian Hatcher, Brian Leetch, Greg De Vries and Glen Wesley.

Several of the traditional big-spending clubs such as Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia and Toronto have said they will not jump the gun like previous years, instead waiting cautiously to see what transpires. And maybe that's why Anaheim figures it can take a chance on Kariya and try to sign him for less money.

“I think it's a general fact around the league now that financially a lot of things don't make sense,” Murray said.

Hasek, 38, won't be among the unrestricted free agents Tuesday after Detroit as expected picked up his option. Hasek retired after winning the Stanley Cup with Detroit in June 2002. But the two-time Hart Trophy winner and six-time Vezina Trophy winner says he missed the game last season and informed the Wings last month of his decision to return.

What that means for Joseph, 36, remains to be seen. Philadelphia, Boston, Colorado and the New York Rangers could use a No. 1 starter of his calibre.

Defenceman Eric Desjardins took himself out of the free-agent running by signing a two-year deal plus an option to remain in Philadelphia. The 34-y-old will earn about $4 million a year, which is what he made last season.

The Edmonton Oilers re-signed defenceman Cory Cross to a three-year contract Monday. The 6-5, 219-pound blue-liner would have become an unrestricted free agent Tuesday.

Cross, 32, had two goals, seven assists and was plus-16 in 37 games with the Rangers and Oilers last season and helped Canada to a gold medal at the world hockey championship in Finland in May.

Edmonton also announced it had bought out the contract of forward Daniel Cleary, making an unrestricted free agent.

And the Phoenix Coyotes announced they'd re-signed 35-year-old Teppo Numminen to a one-year deal. He could have declared himself an unresricted free agent Tuesday.

The Philadelphia Flyers traded defenceman Dmitry Yushkevich to the Washington Capitals for a seventh round pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Yushkevich would have also become an unrestricted free agent.

The Rangers and Oilers also completed one of those silly trades Monday that infuriates the league's head office.

New York sent Leetch's rights to the Oilers in exchange for goalie Jussi Markkanen. Edmonton will receive a compensatory pick once Leetch signs with another team while the Oilers dumped Markkanen -- a restricted free agent -- because they decided not to qualify him before Monday's deadline.

The Nashville Predators signed leading scorer Andreas Johansson and made qualifying offers to Denis Arkhipov, Scott Hartnell, Petr Hubacek, David Legwand, Curtis Murphy, Alexander Riazantsev, Robert Schnabel and Kimmo Timonen.

As expected, a larger group than usual of restricted free agents was not tendered qualifying offers Monday and therefore became unrestricted free agents regardless of their age. The latest trend comes a result of teams tightening their purse strings ahead of next year's looming labour war.

The New Jersey Devils decided Oleg Tverdovsky's $3.6-million qualifying offer was too rich so the 27-year-old offensive defenceman is now unrestricted.

Not all NHL teams disclosed their qualifying offers Monday but these are some of the players that were not tendered qualifiers (players 26 or older cannot be qualified for under $727,500):

- Atlanta passed over forwards Lubos Bartecko, 26, and Per Svartvadet, 28. Both would have warranted $727,500 offers;

- Boston chose not to qualify defencemen Sean Brown, 26, and Ian Moran, 30, as well as forward Michal Grosek, 28. Brown's qualifier would have been $756,250, while Moran came in at $825,000 and Grosek at $727,500.

- Calgary didn't qualify forwards Scott Nichol, 28, and Blake Sloan, 27. Both would have cost $727,500 apiece to qualify;

- Carolina cut loose forward Jan Hlavac, 26, whose qualifier would have been $1.815 million; The 'Canes also decided not to qualify forward Tommy Westlund, 28, ($727,500 qualifier) and defenceman Nikos Tselios, 24, ($660,000);

- San Jose let go a number of minor-league players including forward Ryan Kraft, 27, and defenceman John Jakopin, 28. Both players would have cost $727,500 to qualify.

- Tampa Bay did not qualify defencemen Stan Neckar and Nolan Pratt, both 27. Neckar's qualifier would have cost $1.32 million while Pratt came in at $727,500.

- Toronto did not qualify forwards Jonas Hoglund, 30, and Paul Healey, 27. The Leafs felt Hoglund didn't warrant $1.69 million while Healey would have cost $727,500.

- Vancouver did not qualify forward Trevor Letowski, 26, whose price was $825,000.

The full number of restricted free agents who didn't get qualifying offers will be available Tuesday when the NHL releases the official free-agent list.

Also Monday, forward Dean McAmmond of the Calgary Flames activated his player option for next season at $1.6 million. He had until midnight to do so.

[Shell]

Numminen re-signs with Coyotes
Bob McManaman
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 1, 2003 12:00 AM

Unsure what the free-agent market would bear in a new-look NHL, Teppo Numminen re-signed with the Coyotes for at least one more season amid talks that a multiyear extension might be on the horizon for the team captain.

Numminen, who turns 35 on Thursday, exercised his option worth $4.5 million, guaranteeing the return of the top defenseman on the roster and the longest-serving player in franchise history for a 16th consecutive season.

"Obviously, we're very pleased," Coyotes general manager Mike Barnett said. "Teppo's a very important part of our organization. He leads our blue line night after night, and he's been a great player for us for 15 years."

Earlier, Barnett had informed Numminen and his agent, Don Baizley, that the Coyotes would not exercise their $5.5 million option on the player because "that amount simply didn't afford the comfort we needed."

Several elite players around the league are in the same position as Numminen, the Coyotes' all-time leading scorer among defensemen. With a salary cap and luxury tax seemingly imminent in another year, most teams are unsure about how much to dole out to keep their top players.

Numminen will retain his no-trade clause, which he invoked in March to block a trade to Detroit. Barnett, though, said he envisions Numminen finishing his career with the Coyotes, where his No. 27 eventually will hang from the rafters at the new arena in Glendale.

"Both sides would prefer to have a long-term deal," Barnett said, "but we were unable to arrive on an agreement. We will continue to investigate what the price might be for a two- to three-year deal that could replace this one."

Numminen and Baizley did not return phone messages.

Numminen's 1,098 games with the franchise rank as the third-most with one team in the NHL among active players behind Detroit's Steve Yzerman (1,378) and New Jersey's Ken Daneyko (1,283).

[Guyute]

well, there goes Jan. :mad:

[Shell]

Jul. 2, 2003. 01:00 AM
Flash signings may be over in new era of NHL
DAMIEN COX

Peer pressure is an amazing thing.

Whether it's in the schoolyard or in business, doing that which your peer group is doing has always been easier than going against the flow.

NHL teams have similarly always found it difficult to operate independently, to not feed off the actions of a few, which brings us to that which may or may not be happening in the early stages of this summer's free-agent market.

For starters, it figures to be risky over the coming weeks to make snap judgments based on a handful of player moves.

That said, it's also worth remembering that at this time last year, several teams were falling over each other in their pursuit of free-agent forwards Bill Guerin and Bobby Holik, with each player ultimately netting $9 million (U.S.) salaries out of the process.

Two years ago, it was much the same situation. After watching Philadelphia sign Jeremy Roenick and Dallas ink Pierre Turgeon to huge deals, the Boston Bruins were so frustrated by their inability to land either player that they turned Martin Lapointe into a $5 million winger.

That's how it used to work.

Now, it certainly appears that with the philosophy of fiscal restraint in the air these days, one bold move by one team is encouraging other clubs to move in even more radical ways.

That process, it seems, is partly the reason why Paul Kariya is an unrestricted free agent today, suddenly putting a face to the concept that rich hockey players will soon face their day of reckoning.

It's probably worth suspending belief on that, of course, until it's clear none of the other 29 NHL clubs is willing to pay Kariya the $10 million that the Anaheim Mighty Ducks are not willing to cough up.

This could all change with one flashy signing.

But the Kariya situation appears not to be an isolated one. Over the past week, several teams have moved to either cut viable players loose or expose talented athletes to bidding from other teams.

It really began to get serious when Dallas announced it would not negotiate further with Derian Hatcher while it had exclusive rights to do so, and would let Hatcher become an unrestricted free agent on Canada Day.

Then word leaked out that Dominik Hasek had been talking to the Red Wings about coming out of retirement, an event that might have set off the chain reaction that left Sergei Fedorov without a new contract when the free-agent season began.

Then Anaheim announced it wasn't exercising the option on Adam Oates' $3.5 million-a-year deal and that it was declining to give Kariya a qualifying offer to retain his rights.

Even the Montreal Canadiens jumped in. The Habs don't have the big names, but new GM Bob Gainey decided to buy out veteran forwards Randy McKay and Mariusz Czerkawski despite the fact both had only been added to the Montreal roster last season.

In other years, teams might have been embarrassed to implicitly admit such mistakes. Now, the chopping block seems to be the first option for every club largely because they see other teams willing to behave in the same way.

How this plays out will be interesting. When the Bruins opted to walk away from an arbitration award to Dmitri Khristich several years ago, the Leafs jumped right in and signed Khristich, nullifying the impact of the Boston decision.

But will anybody else pay more for Kariya than the Ducks? In a market where one team was always willing to meet the demands of a player that another team couldn't, or wouldn't, there appears to be some kind of real correction going on.

Of course, the fact some team is still willing to pay Jeff Hackett $3 million a year to play goal tells you logic has not yet completely engulfed the market.

But yesterday was so quiet, it was eerie. The sounds of silence across the NHL on what has traditionally been a very noisy day certainly left the impression that the process of slowing this runaway train has truly begun.