NHL Offseason Grades - Atlantic Division

Now that the Free Agent Frenzy is over, it's time to sit back and evaluate how the teams in the Atlantic Division did.

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.

How To Spend Gilbert Arenas' Unwanted $16 million...

Oh, how generous of Hibachi, taking a "pay-cut" of $111 million over six years instead of the Washington Wizards' original offer of $127 million. Here is a touching rhetorical question from Arenas as told to The Washington Post: "What can I do for my family with $127 million that I can't do with $111 million?" How about this Hibachi: What can you do for your family with $111 million that you can't do with, say, $50 million? Probably buy a solid gold statue of Lute Olsen and make out with it. Hibachi also said that he didn't want to financially bind his team with a maximum contract... haha, no seriously.

But what could one do with that extra little $16 million? Let's see:

Buy 109,589 barrels of oil

Buy 1,142,857 copies of Coldplay's new album Viva La Vida

Buy 45,714 iPod Classics, 160 GB version 

MAKE IT RAIN! (for like four days straight)

Sign some supporting players to go along with Washington's big three of Butler, Jamison, and Arenas... just an idea guys

But Hibachi, have fun with  your money that you earned with all 13 of your games played last season.

Signing Caron Butler to a 5-year deal in 2005: $45 million

Signing Antawn Jamison to a 4-year deal: $50 million

Signing Gilbert Arenas to a 6-year deal: $111 million

Losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers every year in the playoffs: PRICELESS!

Resurgence Of The Major League Catcher

As the careers of Mike Piazza and Ivan Rodriguez began to diminish in the beginning of the 21st century, the catching position in the Major Leagues started to be considered weak. There were no great players at the position and it seemed that would be the case for some time.

Here we are in 2008 and the good catchers in the league are plentiful and young. The National League is stocked full of them:

The Dodgers' Russell Martin, who is 25 years young, is batting .309 and has stolen 9 bases so far this season after stealing 21 last year. Brian McCann of Atlanta is 24 years old, has hit 14 homeruns to date, is batting .298, and is the favorite to start in the upcoming All-Star game. Geovany Soto, who plays in the North Side of Chicago, is 25 years of age and has smacked 14 homeruns to date and is hitting .290 this season (18-44 vs. Pittsburgh this season... shit). There is Yadier Molina, who is not a prototypical hitting catcher (4 homeruns, 14 extra-base hits total) but he is batting .306 to date and has always been known as a solid fielder of his position and he is turning 26 years old later this month. And last but not least, Pittsburgh's Ryan Doumit. If not for over 30 games that Doumit missed due to time on the DL for a broken finger and most recently due to a concussion, he would be fourth in the league in batting average (.337) and sixth in the league in slugging % (.594). His 10 homeruns as a catcher puts him in third place in the National League despite missing over 30 games this season. At age 27, Doumit is somewhat of a veteran to the younger catchers, but if he can stay healthy, he can expect to play in many All-Star games in his career.

In the American League, there is really only one catcher worth mentioning, but he is no doubt the best in the Major Leagues. This would be Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins. Mauer is only 25 years old (birthday is April 19th, woot) and 2008 is his fifth year in the league. Mauer is hitting .324 this season (second in the American League behind Ian Kinsler at .325) and is a career .315 hitter. Mauer, like Molina, is not your everyday hitting catcher. His career high in homeruns is 13 and has only 38 homeruns in 492 career games. but the most astonishing thing about Mauer is his on-base %. In his career, Mauer has 45 more walks than strikeouts (251-206) and has a career on-base % of .397. Not only that, but Mauer has an incredible .995 career fielding percentage. Now I have obviously never seen the likes of Johnny Bench or Roy Campanella, but in my mind, Mauer will be the best catcher of my lifetime. In the future he will squash the likes of Sandy Alomar Jr. and Ivan Rodriguez as a whole in all of the aspects of the catching position. Of course, Mike Piazza's 427 homeruns may not be touched by another catcher, ever, but if Mauer stays healthy, he will be one of the best overall hitting catchers in history.

So there it is, the newest class of catcher in the Major Leagues, you will be seeing a lot of them in years to come, and possibly later on... in Cooperstown.