NEW YORK ISLANDERS
Basically the Isles had to sign players just to get up to the Cap Floor. I'm surprised they didn't bring Trottier and Bossy out of retirement, they would have been better than the signings they did make. On offense their only significant move was signing Doug Weight.
Picture: Doug Weight when he wasn't a 100 years old.
This is possibly the worst signing in Free Agent history, the Isles will be lucky if his legs don't fall off by November. What also makes this move bad is the Isles have to contract a trainer just to feed Weight his daily allotment of Geritol, not good times on the Island.
The other signing they made was Marc Streit.
Just think of Streit as a Sergei Gonchar who can't play defense or offense when his team isn't on the PP. And the Isles are going to be so anemic 5 on 5 this year, it will be a minor miracle if they ever do get a Powerplay.
The Isles lost two major contributors in Satan and Fedotenko, they'll be lucky to win 5 games this year.
Offseason Grade=F
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
The most significant move that the Devils made in the offseason was signing Brian Rolston to a 5 year 20 million dollar contract.
2001 called, it thinks this is a great signing
Rolston is a good player but he's not worth that much money for that many years. At 40 years old, do you really think that he'll be worth 4 million dollars. Yeah people will talk about his great slapshot, but can you get that shot off while in a wheelchair?
Another move they made was signing Bryce Salvador for a contract worth over 2 million dollars
Seriously, were the Devils on acid when they made this deal? Salvador is a serviceable player but nowhere near the 2 million dollar range
They also signed Bobby Holik and his uni brow.
Someone needs to tell Jersey that this isn't 1995 anymore
All in all the Devils season will come down to the performance of Marty Brodeur, like it does every other years.
Devils Grade: C-
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
I guess no one told Paul Holmgren that there was a Free Agency period this year. The Flyers did nothing significan, probably because they're still contemplating suicide over giving Danielle Briere an 8 million dollar contract.
Just because it feels good
All in all, they didn't make any stupid signings and didn't lose any real key players.
Flyers Grade: B-
NEW YORK RANGERS
Apparently no one told GM Glen Sather that the league had instituted a Salary Cap a few seasons ago.
Didn't get the memo?
They re-signed Michal Rozsival to a long-term deal worth 5 million per season, that's the same amount as Norris Trophy Finalist Sergei Gonchar made.
Picture: Sergei Gonchar making an outstanding play
Picture: Rozsival not boxing out in the crease and still taking a penalty
They also signed Wade Redden, need I remind you?
When you get your ass beat by Ryan Whitney, WOW
On the forward front they signed Markus Naslund.
Naslund is a nice player but the MSG crowd is going to tear him to shreds for being a soft floater, he's not the kind of player that will like being a Rangers. His best days are far behind him and I wouldn't be surprised to see him fall apart.
More importantly, the Rangers lost Jagr, Shanahan, and Straka which was basically the soul of their team. I really wouldn't be surprised to see the Rangers miss the playoffs this year.
Rangers Grade: D+
I'll grade the Penguins separately at a later date.
This post is awesome
ReplyDelete