Alright. Who gave the crack pipe to the NHL G.M.’s?

Wow.  Wow.  Wow. 

That word kept going through my head as I sat staring at the highlights from yesterdays free agent frenzy.  Once again, NHL general managers universally screamed “damn the torpedo’s” and and went hog wild with their owner’s cash making July 1 as the day to watch in the NHL.  Some of the deals made good sense.  Others were off the charts.

The Good

The Sedins stay in Vancouver.  If the Sedin sisters had walked then the Canucks would have been up the creek.  They both signed for lower money and a shorter term if they had gone to free agency, but now the Canucks will stay competitive in the West.

Burke brings in bruisers.  This is only good in the sense that Burke has a plan and is sticking to it.  The Leafs never really had any plan in the past few years.  Burke wanted to make the Leafs tougher and tougher they got.  Only question is, who will score any points as Orr, Komisarek and Exelby have a combined 20 career goals and 1500 penalty minutes.  Odds are, the PA crew at the ACC is queuing up the Rocky theme song as we speak.

Gaborik goes to the Big Apple.  Finally, this guy is going to be allowed to show what he can do.  After years toiling for the trap-zombie coach Lemaire in Minnesota, Gaborik will be given a free reign to score to in NY.   

Ottawa keeps Chris Neil.  I only like this because the Leafs offered him a contract and I was terrified that he would sign with them.  I hate Chris Neil.  There is no way I could ever cheer for him.

The Bad

Montreal gets older and smaller.  They trade for smurfish Scott Gomez and then sign 5’7” Brian Gionta.  For the last 2 years Bob Gainey has claimed he was looking for a big number 1 center.  Instead, he gets two Keebler elves.  Go figure.  Then they lose 27 year old Komisarek.  To compensate they sign 34 year old behemoth Hal Gill and then Gainey overpays for smallish winger Mike Cammalleri.  Maybe Gainey should contact Burke and learn how to formalize a plan and then stick to it.  Have fun playing the Leafs and Bruins.

Havlat goes to Minnesota.  The Wild counter losing Marian Gaborik by signing Martin Havlat.  Both are prone to injury, but one has to think that the Wild would have been much better if they had kept Gaborik and let him do what he does best.  Score.  Havlat is not half the player Gaborik can be.

The Ugly – or just down right crazy

Hossa signs with the Hawks for 12 year – 59 million.  This is crazy.  No other way to put it.  Hossa is 30 years old and there is no way he will be worth 5 million a year if he is still playing at the ripe old age of 42 when the contract ends.  Chances are Hossa will retire 6 or 7 years into this deal, but the Hawks will have this contract counting against the cap until 2021.  That is the way the CBA works.  Even if a player retires it will count against the cap until the contract expires.   Hawk G.M. Dale Tallon must know that the shelf life of a NHL G.M is fairly short so he won’t be around in 5 or 6 years when this gets really messy.

Antropov signs with Atlanta for 4 million a year.  Antropov?  Really?  Antropov?  The Leafs could only get a second round pick for this guy at the trade deadline and he is now worth 4 million a year?  Man, the Thrashers are going to suck again this year.

On the fence

Jay Bouwmeester signs with the Flames.  This deal certainly makes the Flames a much stronger team defense wise, but I can’t help but wonder just how are they going to manage to ice a team under the cap.  Calgary has over 30 million tied up in Ignila, Phaneuf, Reghr, Kiprusoff, and Jaybo.  A NHL roster is 23 players.  The Flames have 26 million to pay 18 more guys and they lost 39 goal man Mike Cammalleri.  This is going to be a roster rounded out by rookies, career journey men and pluggers.  I hope the fans of the Flames will like 2-1 and 3-2 games cause there is not going to be much scoring in Calgary this year unless you count one night stand hook ups at Cowboys.

The Greener \m/