Thursday, June 29, 2006
Selanne '07?
Yesterday, I touched briefly on the Crapshoot that is trying to add scoring on a limited budget:
There's an option #1A there that I didn't mention, and that's "sign a veteran who's had injury problems, and hope he stays healthy and plays to form".
Jeremy Roenick's comments yesterday, announcing that he plans on duplicating Teemu Selanne's most recent campaign (right down to the cheap one-year deal), piques the imagination in this regard. And it really is a crapshoot: you look at these guys in their low- to mid-30s, and you don't really know. How much of their recent struggles were due to diminishing skills, how much due to specific injuries, how much due to general wear-and-tear, and how much due to boredom/unhappiness with their situation?
I would suspect, given Roenick's comments, that all six Canadian teams will at least contact his agent and float a number. But if you're looking to take a flier on a possibly broken-down, possibly disruptive (or possibly no-damn-good) former offensive force, I'm more intrigued by Eric Lindros.
I haven't heard a word of chatter about his (or the Leafs') plans for a contract, and I haven't much of a clue what kind of dollars he's in line for -- although presumably it's less than or equal to the $1.55M he got last season.
If Lindros is available for closer to $1M, let me cast my vote right here in favour of that gamble. If anyone knows what the man himself is thinking, please enlighten me.
You can sign a veteran and hope he has a mini-renaissance (e.g. Bondra), or you can sign a guy who looks like he should be able to score but has weak totals, and hope something clicks (e.g. Dvorak!), but you can't plan on anything.
There's an option #1A there that I didn't mention, and that's "sign a veteran who's had injury problems, and hope he stays healthy and plays to form".
Jeremy Roenick's comments yesterday, announcing that he plans on duplicating Teemu Selanne's most recent campaign (right down to the cheap one-year deal), piques the imagination in this regard. And it really is a crapshoot: you look at these guys in their low- to mid-30s, and you don't really know. How much of their recent struggles were due to diminishing skills, how much due to specific injuries, how much due to general wear-and-tear, and how much due to boredom/unhappiness with their situation?
I would suspect, given Roenick's comments, that all six Canadian teams will at least contact his agent and float a number. But if you're looking to take a flier on a possibly broken-down, possibly disruptive (or possibly no-damn-good) former offensive force, I'm more intrigued by Eric Lindros.
I haven't heard a word of chatter about his (or the Leafs') plans for a contract, and I haven't much of a clue what kind of dollars he's in line for -- although presumably it's less than or equal to the $1.55M he got last season.
If Lindros is available for closer to $1M, let me cast my vote right here in favour of that gamble. If anyone knows what the man himself is thinking, please enlighten me.
# posted by Matt @ 10:35 am 
Comments:
I agree that that is a smart move the Flames can make. Allison is another, although he is slow and a defensive liability. Then again, with that D and that goalie, who cares?
C'mon, Fenwick. Sutter knows better than this if you don't. Lindros at this point is an overstretched chain of exploding probabilities. What are the odds that he comes to a new city, shows up in shape, doesn't poison the locker room, doesn't get hurt for the whole year, works hard, and plays in good enough luck to produce? It's like compound interest in reverse.
I tend to agree with Colby on this one. Lindros is certainly a giant bundle of potential, and he would probably tear things up from October 1 to November 15. After that it can only end in tears.
Do you suppose he would sign a 2 month contract?
Clearly, some due diligence would be required first.
To start, you ensure that he's healed and that he is fit (i.e. interested in playing NHL hockey). Then, you see if he's interested. I don't think you want to sign him by outbidding every (any) other team.
If you are satisfied on these counts, then the only real risks are injury and lousiness. My guess is that if he's healthy and productive, he's a 30-goal scorer. To me, that's a worthwhile $1M gamble.
(Is there really even questions about his attitude any more? I would think, if anything, he feels like he has something left to prove.)
Lindros? Please. Even when he was young, he had no history of being able to put together full seasons. If the Flames could get 65 games out of him, maybe, but the evidence for that happening is awfully thin. I don't doubt he might be motivated, but he just can't hold up.
As for J.R., if he's in shape, and as humbled as he'd like everyone to believe, he might worth a million on a flyer. Until the last 2 years, he had been fairly consistent in terms of production and health. If it's just conditioning holding him back, do your due diligence to see if he's not just BSing the media. He might not pan out either, but a fit Roenick is a better gamble than Lindros.
It would be ironic if Lindros ended his career in a small Canadian market.
Calgary can have him if they want him, as far as I'm concerned.
If the Avs signed Lindros, that would rank amongst the greatest ironies in NHL history.
scuttlebutt here is Lindros resigns with the Leafs - they want him - he wants to be here - and he'll be cheap
as for JR "I'm training hard and off the booze" first of all, I'd believe it when I see it and secondly the guy gets concussed when somebody looks at him funny
maybe, maybe, at the minimum
but my bet is he gets that from St.Lou or someone else
What is wrong with you, Cosh? It's a GREAT idea. I hope Sutter reads this site and hires Matt on the spot.
I guess no one's looked at this from an Oilers POV because no one considers either guy worth the risk.
With Peca not coming back and Rem apparently thinking of retiring right now our depth at centre stands as Horc-Stoll-MAP-Brodziak-Petersen.
That's a little bit scary and if we don't get another dependable pivot, yes yes I know everyone wants Reasoner back, then all of a sudden Stoll's gonna be playing a lot tougher min than he did last year.
Assuming health I'd take Eric over JR but I know that would be folly. I'd take a flyer on JR though.
Lindros is a terrific 5on5 player when healthy. It's just that he never is.
And since he's decided he wants to be a perimeter player on the PP he hasn't been any hell there, not by my memory anyways. In fairness to Eric, I wouldn't want to stand in front of the net on the PP if I'd had that many concussions either.
.
JR is an interesting one. It doesn't surprise me that he wants to play in Canada.
Again with the concussion issues though. Players always seem to be able to bounce back from physical injuries eventually, but a lot of guys (Kariya, McKee, Lindros, even Gretzky) are just never quite the same after a serious concussion.
Personally, I'd like to see the Oilers take a run at signing Roenick. I think there's a decent chance that he's still got game. And he's the best interview in the business.
BTW Matt: Normally I wouldn't say anything about the Flames unless it was both negative and compelling, but as it's the off season:
The Flames hit an absurd number of posts/crossbars last season. Especially for a team that didn't seem to take many risks or generate a shitload of quality scoring chances. They just rang a lot of iron for some reason. Only VAN and ATL have a bigger beef with the hockey gods in this regard.
Maybe the hockey gods were offended by the gayness of their jerseys? I dunno. But they probably deserved quite a few more goals.
Or maybe the Gods just hate that stupid-ass flaming-snot horse thing you guys have been foisting on us for the last four or five years.
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I agree that that is a smart move the Flames can make. Allison is another, although he is slow and a defensive liability. Then again, with that D and that goalie, who cares?
C'mon, Fenwick. Sutter knows better than this if you don't. Lindros at this point is an overstretched chain of exploding probabilities. What are the odds that he comes to a new city, shows up in shape, doesn't poison the locker room, doesn't get hurt for the whole year, works hard, and plays in good enough luck to produce? It's like compound interest in reverse.
# posted by 
: June 29, 2006 11:05 am
: June 29, 2006 11:05 am I tend to agree with Colby on this one. Lindros is certainly a giant bundle of potential, and he would probably tear things up from October 1 to November 15. After that it can only end in tears.
Do you suppose he would sign a 2 month contract?
# posted by : June 29, 2006 11:18 am
: June 29, 2006 11:18 am Clearly, some due diligence would be required first.
To start, you ensure that he's healed and that he is fit (i.e. interested in playing NHL hockey). Then, you see if he's interested. I don't think you want to sign him by outbidding every (any) other team.
If you are satisfied on these counts, then the only real risks are injury and lousiness. My guess is that if he's healthy and productive, he's a 30-goal scorer. To me, that's a worthwhile $1M gamble.
(Is there really even questions about his attitude any more? I would think, if anything, he feels like he has something left to prove.)
Lindros? Please. Even when he was young, he had no history of being able to put together full seasons. If the Flames could get 65 games out of him, maybe, but the evidence for that happening is awfully thin. I don't doubt he might be motivated, but he just can't hold up.
As for J.R., if he's in shape, and as humbled as he'd like everyone to believe, he might worth a million on a flyer. Until the last 2 years, he had been fairly consistent in terms of production and health. If it's just conditioning holding him back, do your due diligence to see if he's not just BSing the media. He might not pan out either, but a fit Roenick is a better gamble than Lindros.
# posted by : June 29, 2006 11:51 am
: June 29, 2006 11:51 am It would be ironic if Lindros ended his career in a small Canadian market.
Calgary can have him if they want him, as far as I'm concerned.
If the Avs signed Lindros, that would rank amongst the greatest ironies in NHL history.
# posted by : June 29, 2006 12:18 pm
: June 29, 2006 12:18 pm scuttlebutt here is Lindros resigns with the Leafs - they want him - he wants to be here - and he'll be cheap
as for JR "I'm training hard and off the booze" first of all, I'd believe it when I see it and secondly the guy gets concussed when somebody looks at him funny
maybe, maybe, at the minimum
but my bet is he gets that from St.Lou or someone else
What is wrong with you, Cosh? It's a GREAT idea. I hope Sutter reads this site and hires Matt on the spot.
I guess no one's looked at this from an Oilers POV because no one considers either guy worth the risk.
With Peca not coming back and Rem apparently thinking of retiring right now our depth at centre stands as Horc-Stoll-MAP-Brodziak-Petersen.
That's a little bit scary and if we don't get another dependable pivot, yes yes I know everyone wants Reasoner back, then all of a sudden Stoll's gonna be playing a lot tougher min than he did last year.
Assuming health I'd take Eric over JR but I know that would be folly. I'd take a flyer on JR though.
Lindros is a terrific 5on5 player when healthy. It's just that he never is.
And since he's decided he wants to be a perimeter player on the PP he hasn't been any hell there, not by my memory anyways. In fairness to Eric, I wouldn't want to stand in front of the net on the PP if I'd had that many concussions either.
.
JR is an interesting one. It doesn't surprise me that he wants to play in Canada.
Again with the concussion issues though. Players always seem to be able to bounce back from physical injuries eventually, but a lot of guys (Kariya, McKee, Lindros, even Gretzky) are just never quite the same after a serious concussion.
Personally, I'd like to see the Oilers take a run at signing Roenick. I think there's a decent chance that he's still got game. And he's the best interview in the business.
BTW Matt: Normally I wouldn't say anything about the Flames unless it was both negative and compelling, but as it's the off season:
The Flames hit an absurd number of posts/crossbars last season. Especially for a team that didn't seem to take many risks or generate a shitload of quality scoring chances. They just rang a lot of iron for some reason. Only VAN and ATL have a bigger beef with the hockey gods in this regard.
Maybe the hockey gods were offended by the gayness of their jerseys? I dunno. But they probably deserved quite a few more goals.
Or maybe the Gods just hate that stupid-ass flaming-snot horse thing you guys have been foisting on us for the last four or five years.
# posted by : June 29, 2006 3:54 pm
: June 29, 2006 3:54 pm Post a Comment
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