Frozen Pucks – Week 3

June 29, 2009 5:19pm CDT

Pronger a Flyer
The biggest news on draft day, other than the Islanders taking John Tavares first overall, was the Flyers aggressive deal to add 34 year old Chris Pronger to the fold. Here is how the deal broke down.

Flyers Get: Chris Pronger and Ryan Dingle
Ducks Get: Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, a first round pick in 2009 and 2010, as well as a conditional third round pick in either 2010 or 2011.

The Ducks made the move after learning that Scott Niedermayer would return for at least one more year, though they still need to get him under contract (believed to be a near certainty). "I wouldn't say I'm surprised," Pronger said of the deal. "When you hear it persistently over and over again, you figure it's probably going to become reality and you start planning.

From the Flyers perspective this was a bold move to add one of the leagues best defensemen despite the fact that Pronger is only under contract for one more season at $6.25 million. Still, it gives the Flyers an impressive top-4 of Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn and Randy Jones. In addition, Pronger's chippy attitude figures to fit right in with the Broad Street Bullies, Bobby Clark must love the deal, and his production shouldn't dip at all as he will fill the same role with the Flyers as he did with the Ducks on the top defensive pairing and point man on the first power-play unit (he has scored 59, 43 and 48 points the past three seasons).

As for what the Ducks received, Joffrey Lupul is the fantasy option to keep an eye on. Lupul returns to his home during his first two NHL seasons, and he still owns a home in Newport (wonder if his favorite show is Fox's The O.C.?). Lupul scored 25 goals with the Flyers last season, the third time in four seasons that he has scored at least 20 times, and if he manages to skate on the second line with Teemu Selanne who decided to come back for one more season, Lupul figures to have a great shot at making it four 20-goal seasons in five years. Don't forget that he could also be quite productive on the power-play if get receives a chance to skate with the likes of Selanne, Niedermayer, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf on the man-advantage.


Bouwmeester a Flame, for Now
The rights to Jay Bouwmeester were moved to the Flames with Calgary sending defensemen Jordan Leopold and a third round pick (which turned out to be Josh Birkholz) to the Panthers. What this means is that the Flames have an exclusive window to negotiate with the free agent to be for the next couple of days (until Wednesday the first of July), at which point he will become an unrestricted free agent. That's cutting it pretty close for the Flames who lost a third round pick in the deal, though Leopold wasn't that big a loss since he too will become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday. If the Flames do sign Bouwmeester pity the goalie that will have to face bombs from he and Dion Phaneuf from the point. Speaking of that duo, both play nearly half the game - Bouwmeester was second amongst D-men averaging 26:56 minutes of ice-time a game, Phaneuf was fifth at 26:31 - meaning they would have basically half the game covered on the blue line, and that could be huge for the club.


Sedin's Out in the Cold?
Like two peas in a pod, the Sedin Twins - Daniel and Henrik - are a package deal. They have presented a deal to the club to keep both of them with the organization for the remainder of their careers, all the Canucks need to do is to offer each of them a 12-year, $63 million deal. Given that they would be making just over $5 million a year over the duration of that deal the yearly figure seems rather reasonable, but the team is balking at the length and overall dollars of the proposed deals. Instead, the team would prefer to sign each to a five year deal. GM Mike Gillis has flown to Sweden to talk with the twins, though it remains to be seen if a deal will be worked out.

Wherever the Twins end up, and it seems like they are a package deal even though they aren't attached by an umbilical cord, they will bring with them a boatload of offense. Over the past four seasons Daniel has produced 193 assists (the 10th most in hockey) and 311 points, the 16th best mark in the NHL. As for Henrik, he has posted 249 assists, good for 5th in the league while recording three more points than his brother with 314. Therefore, there is no doubt that the dynamic duo is a potent offensive force, and whomever signs them brings in two-thirds of a first scoring line.


Heatley to Stay Put?
The Senators apparently have received nary a trade offer for Dany Heatley, hardly a surprise given that Heatley is due a $4 million roster bonus on July 1st. Still, the Senators may not get their asking price (two established players and a youngster) for the 2-time 50-goal scorer which means they might end up having to keep a player that wants nothing to do with them. This doesn't figure to get ugly (we hope), but it also doesn't figure to be Club Med either if Heatley remains.

Mike Comrie looks like he won't be teammates with Heatley in the upcoming season no matter what happens as he has no interest in taking a roughly 50 percent cut from his $4 million salary of last season to stay with the Senators. Comrie scored seven points in 22 games with the Sens last year, that after totaling 20 points in 41 games with the Islanders. Maybe dating Hillary Duff has gone to his head. He can be a nice depth scorer in the 20-goal range with totals of 30, 20 and 21 the previous three seasons before this past year's 10 goal effort, but that type of production just isn't worth $4 million in today's NHL.


Lecavalier Not Headed Home
Bolts' captain Vincent Lecavalier will not be traded before his no-trade clause kicks in on Wednesday, this according to GN Brian Lawton. "I can say he's with us and I expect him to be with us. There is nothing going on that would make me suggest he would not be with us next season." This comes after rampant speculation in the Canadian press that Vincent would be traded to the Montreal Canadiens (he was born in nearby Ile-Bizard, Quebec). Lecavalier had arthroscopic surgery on his wrist in early April and seems intent on returning to the level of prominence he flashed when he was recording 108 and 92 points in back-to-back seasons before regressing to just 29 goals and 67 points last year as he finished one goal short of a sixth straight 30-goal campaign. His value should still be in the top-10 amongst centers heading into the upcoming season, that is unless the Lightning implode before then which seems possible given the turmoil in the front office.


Wings Make Decision in Net
Ty Conklin had a wonderful regular season going 25-11-2 with a .909 save percentage for the Wings, but his services will not be required in the upcoming season as the team will let him test free agency. Why did the club make this decision? They feel that Jimmy Howard is finally ready to take on the role of backup to Chris Osgood after spending a long while in the minors (the past four years in the AHL). The team has faith in Howard, even if he has just nine games of NHL experience under his belt (2.76 GAA, .907 SV%). Given that the team won't burn out Osgood in the regular season, he likely won't play more than about 50-55 games, don't forget about Howard on draft day.

The Wings might also be forced to go it without their other former Penguins addition - Marian Hossa. This would obviously be a huge loss for the club considering that Hossa is third in the NHL with 295 goals since the start of the 2000 season while he is fifth in total points (632) in that time. The club would love to have Hossa back, they have offered him a deal in the range of 8-10 years worth about $4-4.5 million a year, but Hossa likely wants something more like $6 million a year. "I'm not optimistic," GM Ken Holland said. "There's only so much salary-cap space we have left. I like Marian and I'd like to have him back. But if he decides to leave, I completely understand."


Nabokov Offered Around?
According to reports out of San Jose, GM Doug Wilson has quietly been gauging what the trade value is of Evgeni Nabokov over the past week. Though no deal is immanent, keep an eye on whether or not the Sharks are able to bring into the fold goalie Jonas Gustavsson of Sweden who is regarded by most as the best goalie not on North American soil. Nicknamed "The Monster," Gustavsson is believed to be negotiating with four or five clubs, one being the Sharks. Nabby has one season left on his current deal, and after another so-so playoff performance the Sharks might choose to go in another direction in net other than the soon to be 34 year old netminder (July 25th) if they can sign Jonas. Still, it would be a tough sale to a fan base that has witnessed Nabokov post top-3 overall numbers at the position the past two seasons as he leads the NHL in victories (87) and is third in GAA at 2.28 in that time.