Canucks interested in signing Schultz

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The most unlikable team in the NHL is also interested in signing former Wisconsin Badgers All-WCHA defenseman Justin Schultz.

Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun - Canuck general manager Mike Gillis and assistant Laurence Gilman are in Toronto and it's not to chat with Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke about a Roberto Luongo trade.

Gillis and Gilman instead headed east in the hope of meeting with hockey's hottest free agent not named Zach Parise or Ryan Suter.

The Canucks are one of a reported 26 NHL teams said to be pursuing collegiate defenceman Justin Schultz, who just completed his junior year at the University of Wisconsin.

This is one free-agent negotiation that won't be all about the money. Everyone is prepared to offer Schultz, a soon to be 22-year-old Kelowna native, the maximum $925,000 a year, two-year entry level contract (plus bonuses) to which he is entitled under the current collective bargaining agreement.

What Schultz is said to want is ice time and there have been suggestions that he also has a preference to play in Canada.

While I follow and write about UND hockey, Justin Schultz is one of my favorite opposition players. In my opinion, Schultz is "one" of the best players that I have ever watched play the college game at the defense position.

Let me preface this by saying, this is not a slam against other WCHA players and or former Fighting Sioux hockey players, because I have watched some great players over the years.

The reason I think that Schultz is that good and close to NHL ready – he the ability to dazzle you with his offensive talents and he brings the fans out of their seats –he is also like having a fourth forward on the ice. That being said, I hope Schultz signs with anyone other than the diving, whining Canucks hockey team.

Link around on Thursday

CBS Boston

This weekend the free agent signing period will kick off on Sunday July first. There are some big name former WCHA players out there on the market looking to sign new deals. With all of the negative news stories making up today’s news cycle I thought I would focus on the positive, NHL Hockey.

SCSU forward Drew LeBlanc has been invited and will attend the Minnesota Wild’s Development Camp. [St Cloud Times]

Apparently, former Fighting Sioux forward Jonathan Toews is trying to get Phoenix Coyotes forward Shane Doan to sign with the Blackhawks. [Rant Sports]

According to Darren Dreger of TSN – Penguins star forward Sidney Crosby Penguins will sign a new long-term contract extension worth than $9 million and a total value over $100 million. [ESPN.COM]

According to NESN, the Boston Bruins are close to re-signing Tuuka Rask. [NESN.COM]

While I am not a fan of Montreal Canadians defenseman P.K. Subban or his bush league antics – I am quickly becoming a big fan of his little brother Malcolm Subban, who was drafted in the first round by the Boston Bruins. Get those recorders rolling – Bruins first-round pick Malcolm Subban is already on record as saying that he hates the Montreal Canadians. [CBS Boston]

According to Michael Russo - the oft injured power forward - Guillaume Latendresse's playing days with the Minnesota Wild are now over - Latendresse will test the free agency market starting on July first.

From the Same article Russo says that, "The Wild's contract offer to Parise on Sunday will be, let's just say, absolutely colossal." As a Wild fan this makes me happy.

According to the AP - A judge has upheld the Glendale City Council's vote on an arena lease agreement with a prospective owner of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Former Fighting Sioux defenseman Brian Lee has been resigned by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Lee’s contract is a two year deal, and also a one-way contract.

Former Fighting Sioux All-American Forward Zach Parise is listed as one of the top dozen free agents [NHL.COM]

Also, from that same article linked above – former WCHA alumni Ryan Suter (UW), Nashville, Jason Garrison (UMD), Florida, Justin Schultz (UW), Anaheim and Matt Carle (DU), Philadelphia – are also included in that dozen. Impressive fact is that five out of the top 12 available free agents that also have ties to the WCHA. That speaks volumes on what kind of league the WCHA is. [NHL.COM]

Justin Schultz has given his list of teams that he will sign with, they are as follows the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers. [TSN.CA]

Former Boston College Eagle goalie Cory Schneider doesn't seem all that worried about not having a new contract as of yet. [TSN.CA]

Here is the latest from the CBA front - Donald Fehr, ‘says season could start on time even without agreement.’

Detroit Red Wings Offseason Notes (Redwing77)

Since we're talking NY Islanders prospects (what a goal!) and all, I thought I'd chime in about what's going on in Motown.

Former UW defenseman Brian Rafalski and All American Mike Modano have retired. I would have liked to see someone like Chay Genoway get a sniff from the Red Wings to replace Rafalski because I feel Genoway is just as good with the puck.

However, the Wings did sign Ian White to replace Rafalski. I don't feel he's as good as Brian but he'll do.

Also, Chris Osgood just announced his retirement. This is a VERY good thing. The Wings would have had to pay him too much (anything above veteran minimum for him is too much) to bring him back to be a backup. I thought Joey MacDonald played very well in the backup roll last year.

Nevertheless, Osgood had a stellar career and will certainly get HOF consideration. I'm not sure if he'll make it in, but I'll be rooting for him. He retires with 401 career wins. That's good for 10th all time. Not too shabby. He's also 4th all time in career playoff shutouts with 15.

Good luck running the Detroit Goaltending scouting and development program, Chris. And good luck with your golf game. Mine stinks.

What's next?

It's no surprise that Detroit wants to sign another goaltender to back up Howard and MacDonald. I'd love to see someone signed who can compete with MacDonald for the #2 spot. MacCollom isn't ready yet.

Here are a few goaltenders I'd love to see Detroit look at (all UFAs):

Ty Conklin
Brent Krahn
Pascal Leclaire
Justin Pogge
Hannu Toivonen

Only Conklin is really established as an NHL backup. The others might not pan out at all, but Leclaire and Toivonen intrigue me. Leclaire has the potential to be a great backup in the NHL but has been plagued by injury and playing for bad teams. Toivonen is a Finnish player and I argue that only San Jose has as good luck with Scandinavian players as Detroit. Krahn (along with Leclaire and Toivonen) are all former 1st round picks. I think Conklin is the only one on this list that would demand a higher price tag than the others. And I don't think Detroit needs to pay a lot for a backup.

Notice I did not put Ray Emery on this list. I don't like the guy. He probably has the most talent of the available goaltenders out there, but his head isn't screwed on tight enough and he is very inconsistent with his work ethic. Maybe he would work out with Detroit and undoubtedly Ray will get signed somewhere, but I don't think Motown needs a distraction like Emery.

Hawk flies away (RW77)

Over the weekend, the arbitrator awarded Antti Niemi $2.75 million contract, which is roughly $1 million less than his agent was seeking. So it seemed to be a victory for the Hawks, since they could theoretically fit Niemi's new contract under the cap...barely.

Wrong.

Today the Hawks said "Thanks for your hard work. Good luck somewhere else." And now Niemi is a free agent.

Instead, the Hawks signed veteran Marty Turco to a 1 year $1.75 million contract. This gives the Hawks roughly between $600K and $1.35 million of cap relief (it was rumored that Niemi's contract would have roughly put them 400K over the cap).

I really can't blame either side. Niemi is worth $2.75 million per year. However, it was very unlikely that the Hawks would have any money to re-sign Niemi next year anyways with Seabrook headlining that year's free agent class and Huet still being under contract for at least one more year (IIRC).

What does this mean for Chicago?

Well, they've lost almost ALL of their depth. They still have very little cap space. Niemi was good, but there's no telling how his sophomore year would be. Would it be Roy-esque or would it be like Cam Ward (good, but nowhere near his rookie year)? Unfortunately, it's a risky loss for Chicago, but it just came one year earlier than expected.

What does it mean for Niemi?

It could mean trouble. This isn't Carey Price throwing a tantrum. This is a good, upcoming goaltender who was on a team that liked him (and from what I could tell, he liked being a Hawk) and he just wanted to get what he was worth. There are teams that could use Niemi (San Jose, Montreal, Dallas, Atlanta, Philadelphia) but most can't afford it.

My guess?

Niemi signs with the Flyers. Let's face it, this is Christmas for Philly and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Niemi's stay as a free agent lasts less than 72 hours.

Niemi and Leighton combo with their D is a good potent combo. It may make Philly Stanley Cup favorites.

************************
If I had inside information in Montreal, I'd have a better idea but...

If I were Gauthier, I'd talk to Niemi's agent. If Montreal can get Niemi for cheaper than Price's asking price for the same or similar length of contract, I'd sign Niemi and tell Price to go take a flying leap...

************************

To respond to Goon: Setoguchi is a diver, but he's also a pretty decent player. I'd take Setoguchi before I'd ever consider Carcillo

El Rocco coming to UND Campus in 2011 and Random Notes (RW77)

Rocco Grimaldi Commits to Sioux

US NTDP standout forward Rocco Grimaldi committed to UND according to UND blogger and Herald Sports Writer Brad Schlossman.

He was deciding between Notre Dame and Denver before selecting UND as his final destination before the pros.

Right away, the guy reminds me of someone.... Ah yes. Ryan Duncan. Why? Because he's 5'6" and 160 pounds, which, IIRC, is right about Duncan's size. However, what he also does is remind people about a certain BC standout that had UND's goat...ahm... Nathan Gerbe anyone?

Rocco's hometown is listed in Michigan but he's actually from California. He has done well for himself everywhere he's been at, winning the championship for his midget team (Little Caesar's AAA Midget), winning the U-17 tourney, and the U-18 tourney.

He had 20 points in 32 games with the NTDP this year, including a team high six goals on the powerplay. He was also the top scorer in the U17 Challenge.

He served as Team Captain as well, which is another standup quality for the young man.

Here's the USHL link

Random College Notes:

-- UND's roster will be finalized this month. Most of the pontifications on this blog and the Siouxsports.com forums have pretty much nailed what's expected already so no surprises are expected.

-- Four Frozen Four Sites have been announced. 2011 is Minnesota's home ice advantage XCel Energy Center, 2012 is Tampa (whooo! That's going to be as packed as that sell out was in Anaheim a few years back!), 2013 in Pittsburgh and 2014 in Philly. Boston snubbed again. The good news is maybe ESPN can entice Sidney Crosby to come to the show in Pittsburgh so they can find something OTHER than college hockey to talk about (aka Edwards and Moriarty with Doug Flutie in 2000)

-- Chay Genoway is working out but not yet cleared medically to play... to the knowledge of Brad Schlossman (who I believe will be the first person outside of UND's Athletic Department, UND's players and coaches, Chay's friends and family to be notified)

NHL News and Notes:

-- HEY GUESS WHAT! A Canadian news agency proposed to televise the Ilya Kovalchuk "decision" in, yup, an hour long special. No, I'm not being cynical or making this crap up. Thank you LeBron. I hope you get burned big time.

-- Philly re-signed thug cave-man intellectual equal Danny Carcillo today. I don't know how much he was paid, but whatever it was, even if it was one penny above league minimum, it was too much.

-- Modano may not end up in Detroit after all. Looks like bygones will be bygones and the Wild may sign him. It's nice to know that Modano can turn the other page after Risebrough gave him the middle finger when Modano all but volunteered to play for the Wild after the lockout and Risebrough said no.

-- Niemi's arbitration date has been set. He's looking about somewhere around $3 million+ a season thanks to STL and Halak. It will be very interesting to see what the Hawks do.

A Quick bit of news (RW77)

A little news today on the NHL side of things with one WCHA connection:

David Fischer...bababa BUST!

Just in case you weren't aware of it, former Gopher Defenseman David Fischer is a first round bust. He was a bust in Minnesota and Canadians GM Gauthier confirmed that he's an NHL bust as well. He told David's representative that they have no intention of signing him and will get a compensatory pick in the 2011 Entry Draft (20th pick of the second round to correlate with the draft position of Fischer).

This isn't all that surprising. Fischer never played as well as he did prior to Minnesota. He never improved. He just was a big body and no appreciable talent beyond his stellar years prior to playing for the Gophers.

This year seems to be the year of Finger Pointing. Whose fault is it about Fischer's stalling in development? In this case, I think Minnesota is off the hook. Fischer's freshman year wasn't stellar to begin with. I truly think he came to Minnesota peaked out developmentally and the coaching staff couldn't do a darn thing.

Will another team sign him? Maybe to a minor league deal. He'd certainly be cheap.

If I were Fischer's representative and David wanted to continue playing hockey, I'd look overseas. Try to get into the Finnish Elite League or perhaps the KHL.

I feel for David as a person. It wasn't his fault that the Canadiens saw something in him that wasn't there.


Blackhawks Situation Update

The San Jose Sharks just signed off Niclas Hjalmarrssen to a 4 year $14 million contract. The Hawks have 7 days to match it or they'll get San Jose's 1st and 3rd round picks in the 2011 draft.

This is nothing more than the cap mess rearing its ugly head again.

And it gets worse.

Rumors have been circulating that they may even drop Antti Niemi if the Arbitration goes bad for the Hawks.

I'm not sure how bad this would be overall. Niemi played well, but he still was the weakest link to the Hawks Cup run. Losing Hjalmarrssen seems to be the worst scenario.

The problem is timing. If the Hawks knew what arbitration would bring before the 7 days were up, it would more than likely have a huge impact on what they decide to do regarding Niemi and Hjalmarrssen.

The question is: could they find another diamond in the rough overseas? If so, then letting Niemi go might be ok. You throw your chips in with Toivonen and bring in that diamond from overseas. Huet is done regardless. I can't see them wanting to keep that sieve around even if Niemi is gone.

I guess what I'm saying is that I think the Hawks have to match the offer sheet laid by San Jose. Defensemen are at a premium this offseason and I think that they can recover better in goaltending than defense.

We'll see what happens. I just hope Bowman doesn't change his mind and decide to drop Niemi and throw his chips in on Huet. They already did that twice and failed both times.

Rumblings and Mumblings Part Two (RW77)

More rumblings and mumblings and my take on them.

First, I must say that anyone who thinks that this year's Free Agent crop is anything above average at best is kidding themselves. Yeah, there's a few top end players (or were) on the market but most have already signed. There are some decent potential but that only matters if you're a Minnesota pro sports franchise. I love the offseason and tracking movement of players and all this stuff, but... man... it's hard this year. After Kovalchuk signs, apparently the dominoes will fall and all that will be left will be the same type of stuff you find when you are picking dodgeball teams when all your friends have been chosen and all that are left are the "fat" kids and those kids who aren't sports inclined. I know, that's kindof a harsh analogy, but it's pretty accurate.

Ok, now the rumblings:

1. Niemi files for arbitration. This is bad for the Hawks but probably good for Niemi. Other than the obvious (arbitration is typically for a 1 year contract and unrestricted free agency following that year barring contract extensions), this could force the Hawks into another Huet like situation. Goaltenders are strange creatures. Cam Ward was the last rookie goaltender to win a Stanley Cup. He did it in 2006 and, though his stats weren't nearly very good during the 2006 season, he wasn't any better the following year. Ward isn't a terrible goaltender, but you never know what is going to happen. And Chicago has a history of overpaying goaltenders. Could be a bad thing.

2. Modano could be a Red Wing. Color me surprised on this one. I've seen this described as a "Dallas Drake-esque" type signing (with the only difference as Modano's name is already on the Cup). I'm not sure what to take of this. On one hand, he's a great player and a surefire Hall of Famer (Well... maybe... if Oates, Bure, and Gilmour couldn't make it in...) but on the other hand, I'd like to see the Red Wings not have to have a seperate bus dedicated to the nursing home staff and be able to sell off their considerable stock in Rascal 0 turn radius powerchairs. Yeah, they need to get younger.

3. Kovalchuk to (maybe) stay with the Devils - The cap hit on this is simply unbelievable. It would be the fourth highest cap hit if he stays. According to reports (brought to my attention by Goon), Atlanta offered him even more than the Devils. However, according to ESPN.com, Atlanta is out. NY Islanders and St. Petersburg's KHL team are the other two candidates. I don't know... Maybe Snow would offer Kovy a 15 year $165 million contract with a no trade clause?

4. The mighty have fallen. Sheldon Souray... wow. The NHL analysts used to rave about his shot. Now the Oilers are raving about his contract.... and how they still have to pay it. And it's a yikes type arrangement. $5.4 million cap hit. Well, at least they signed Hall...

5. The Kings can't decide if they're interested in Simon Gagne or not. I'm not sure what to say about him.

6. Seemingly the joke du jour, but Tomas Kaberle is on the trading block.... for the umpteenth offseason.

7. Daniel Carcillo filed for arbitration. I'll give him $50 cash if he signs with the KHL instead. Oh wait, there's no signs that even the KHL wants him.

Free Agency Reactions Part One (RW77)

UPDATE: First, I found a few errors in the TSN Free Agent Tracker so I'm going to correct them now.

Day one of Free Agency is now over and there were a lot of moves. Most of them, I don't care about or know too little about to make any sort of opinion about.

However, there were a few moves and a rant about monetary worth that I will share with you today.

First, former MTU defenseman (sorta) John Scott signed a 2 year $1.25 million contract with Chicago. Uh....... You could have signed Adam Burish back for 2 years $1.15 million and had a better all around player. But I guess not. Surely there were better options than Scott? The guy is only barely better than Boogaard defensively and equal to Boogaard offensively (in otherwords, non existent). They claim he's versatile and can play forward or defense... I guess so. They never claimed Scott could play either position well.

Check this out: John Scott signed a $612,500/year contract for having some basic fighting skills and being over 6'4 in height. Tambellini, a scoring forward (at least in college) was on the market and went for $500k. That's right... a guy with more offensive upside than Scott went for less.

UPDATE: Ok, it's not as bad as it was originally, but I swear to god there HAS to be a better defensive option than Scott. They haven't locked up Hendry or Hjalmarssen (though both are expected to be back) yet but I really don't see Scott as an every day player... even if it is 3rd pairing. He's another Boogaard. $500k/year is all he's worth. Oh, and by the way, apparently Scott turned down MORE MONEY to be a Hawk. I wish I knew which team had the bigger moron.

Kudos to the Wild for not falling for this crap. Shame on the Hawks for seeing Scott as being more valuable than anyone with ANY upside other than fighting. Scott isn't going to replace Byfuglien. Byfuglien may fight but he's not KNOWN for it. He's know for driving everyone on the other team nuts. Burish could have done that.

New Jersey says goodbye to Paul Martin and hello to Anton Volchenko. Volchenko was, according to ESPN people, a top flight defenseman coming into free agency but is he as good as Martin offensively? Well, he's certainly cheaper than Martin. So Martin is gone for sure (Skoula is probably also gone) and they pick up Tallinder and Volchenko.

Detroit has basically standed pat. They resigned Holmstrom and Lidstrom. They do have a few names as RFAs and UFAs such as Abdelkader, Meech, Helm, Lebda, Lilja, and Maltby. I see the Wings resigning Meech, Helm, and Lebda for sure (I read somewhere that the only reason why they haven't resigned Abdelkader yet is because they're trying to figure out length of contract not necessarily money). The others.... Larssen might get resigned for goaltending depth but I don't know much about him. Maltby, Williams, Janik, and all are replaceable IMO. Lilja might even be replaceable if they can find the right guy. He's 34 and I'd love to see Detroit get at least a little younger.

Still quiet on the front of the Blackhawks and their goaltending. No word on Niemi to my knowledge and Huet's contract is one of the worst in the NHL.

This is what I said originally:
Montreal's backup (that term used loosely) is now Dan Ellis. He'll play the role of backup to Carey Price for about the first half of the season. Then when they are 6-8 points out of playoff contention, the Canadiens will start panicking and bench Price and then once again make the playoffs. I don't know if they'll go deep, but will they get the idea that, after two straight seasons of the act of simply benching Price gets them to the playoffs teach them? Probably not because Price's agent isn't a moron. The Canadiens will spend big bucks on Price to keep him around and the Canadiens will be just as screwed as the Hawks with Huet.

Update with this:

Montreal's backup goaltenders are now Curtis Sanford and Alex Auld. Yup. I think Montreal wanted to make definitely sure that there was NO ONE in Montreal that will outplay Price this coming season. Sanford is a career bubble player who never really played well enough to get a shot but on the other hand never played poor enough to spend his entire career in the minors. Alex Auld is a conundrum to me. I don't see him as having ever been any more solid a backstop as Sanford yet he's gotten more shots wherever he went...Vancouver...Florida...New York (somewhat less than the others)...and will surely get some shots when Price shows how much he sucks. He was one of the cogs in the Luongo trade if I recall correctly.

More to come later.

Matt Cullen to the Wild?

This move makes a lot of sense to me. It would appear that the Minnesota Wild are interested in signing former SCSU star and UFA Matt Cullen, according to an article in today's Red Star and Sickle.

Maybe three times will be a charm for the Wild and Matt Cullen.

For the third time in Cullen's career, he will become a free agent when the clock strikes 11 Thursday morning. For the third time in Cullen's career, the Wild -- in need of a center -- is expected to pursue him.

The Wild couldn't lasso him the previous two times, but the team might have a better chance this go-around.

"To be honest, at the point I was at four years ago, I don't think I could have handled playing in Minnesota," said Cullen, a former St. Cloud State standout who played in three consecutive boys' hockey state tournaments with Moorhead in the '90s. "But just growing and maturing as a person and a player, to the point of having a young family now, I think I'm at a good spot where I can handle it and excel there.

This is a move that I believe makes sense for the Wild. 1.) It gives the Wild a home grown kid on the Wild from the State of Hockey. 2.) Fills a needs in the offensive zone, for the Minnesota Wild are offensively challenged. 3.) It probably wouldn’t cost the Wild all that much and Cullen is a good two way center that plays both ends of the ice. You also can’t discount that he won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes.

More News (RW77)

Not a lot on the news fronts, but there are some tidbits.

Former UND Defenseman Brad Bombardir has been named the Director of Player Development for the Minnesota Wild.

--> This is not a job I'd want. He has to look the Wild Administration right in their eyes and say "Our minor leagues have talent." On the flip side, he could get to help develop some real talent now that the moron Risebrough is gone and the Wild can now draft players that meet their needs rather than solely meet their "system."

Former UND Associate Head Coach Brad Berry was named the Assistant Coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

--> This is great news. I just hope things go better for him in Ohio than it did for Dean Blais.

Rumor has it that former UND forward Erik Fabian is the leading candidate for the vacant Assistant Coaching position for UND's women's hockey team.

--> FAAAAAAABIIIAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!!

In more NHL News:

-- Chicago traded away the rights to Center Colin Fraser for a 2010 6th Round draft pick (Edmonton). Too bad because, with Byfuglien and Eager's departures, Fraser probably would have seen a lot more ice time with the Hawks. On the flip side, Fraser will be a 2nd line center with the Oilers. Not because he's 2nd line material... rather because the Oilers are that bad.

-- Tim Thomas' agent is looking for suitors for a trade out of Boston. Good luck. Nobody wants to touch that $5 million/year for 3 year salary.... well, unless the Minnesota Timberwolves rehire Kevin McHale and switch over to Hockey.

-- Rumor has it (and it's not all that much of a rumor really) that Montreal has started serious talks about re-signing Carey Price. I don't know why this is big on ESPN.com's Rumor Central (I don't have access to the Insider material...lousy budget!), but it's not like Montreal is going to go out and spend big money on anyone like Nabokov, Turco, or whoever. The upside of Price in Montreal is that you get to see him do incredibly stupid things like getting two unsportsmanlike conducts in the same game (one of which was while he was on the bench) and then rationalizing it much like fellow d-bag Matt Cooke by saying "Let 'em know you're there." Don't believe me? Watch this!

Ok, I admit wedging that last one in there because I missed it when I could have put it in a more relevant post. Oh well.

Blockbuster Blackhawk Deal

Well, everyone knew that something would have to break in the Hawk salary cap situation. The first step has dropped as the Blackhawks completed a massive trade with Atlanta.

What Atlanta Gets:

Dustin Byfuglien
Akim Aliu
Brent Sopel
The Rights to Ben Eager

Roughly a $5 million cap hit.

What Chicago Gets:

Marty Reasoner
The Rights to Jeremy Morin
2010 First and Second Round picks (acquired by Atlanta from New Jersey in the Kovalchuk trade)

A Cap hit of $1.12 million (above the $1.2 million contract of Reasoner)

Redwing77's Take:

A necessary evil, this seems to be something that was doomed to occur. My only regret is that the Hawks couldn't somehow get rid of Huet in the deal.

The roughest part is losing Byfuglien. He was KEY in the Stanley Cup victory. He completely unravelled Vancouver.

Losing Sopel and Eager aren't biggies. Eager was good and will continue to be a gritty winger. Losing Sopel won't be missed. Gaining Reasoner is a lot like gaining another Sopel. Unless Versteeg, Ladd, and Sharp aren't retained, I don't think Reasoner is going to be an every game player. He's a veteran and he is pretty reliable, but certainly more of a salary throw in.

The acquisition of Jeremy Morin is interesting. It's too bad he's not NHL ready yet because he'd be a good addition to the team instead of Eager.

What this DOES mean is: Eager and Byfuglien's departures means that this is Skille's and Fraser's (should Chicago re-sign them) chances to stick in the NHL.

The first rounder makes me wonder if they may now try to trade away their 30th overall pick in a package with some more salary.

Here's a list of remaining free agents the Hawks have left to decide upon:

Restricted Free Agents:

Colin Fraser (C)
Andrew Ladd (LW)
Antti Niemi (G)
Jordan Hendry (D)
Niklas Hjalmarssen (D)

A slew of minor leaguers headlined by Jack Skille, Hannu Toivonen, and Bryan Bickell

Unrestricted Free Agents:

Nick Boynton (D)
Adam Burish (RW)
Kim Johnsson (D)
John Madden (C)

3 minor leaguers: Mark Cullen, Danny Bois (awesome name), and Richard Petiot.

I don't know about Boynton or Burish, nor do I know about the minor leaguers but I doubt Johnsson (who spent most of the year injured) or Madden will return solely because of financial reasons.

I'd like to see Ladd, Hjalmarssen, Toivonen, and Skille at least re-signed. Colin Fraser is good too.

But right now the main things that Chicago needs to accomplish is:

1. Get some sort of solution regarding Huet.
2. Dump more salary
3. Start thinking about next year when Seabrook becomes a free agent.

Analysts make a big deal about Versteeg and Sharp but I don't see the Hawks getting rid of both if they can at all help it. To be honest, I'd love to see either or both on the Red Wings.

The Following Sioux Players are UFA's

The List of Fighting Sioux UFA's

Matt Jones Phoenix Coyotes
Jason Blake NY Islanders
Made 1,558,000 during the 2006-2007 season
Ecklund from hockey buzz has Jason going back to the Islanders
Matt Greene Edmonton Oilers
Zach Parise New Jersey Devils
Zach made 703,000 in 2006-2007 expect a big pay day.
David Hale Calgary Flames
Brandon Bochenski Boston Bruins
Brandon is locked up in Boston has he has signed a one year deal with the Bruins.