Alternate Jerseys-- A History In Light Of A Thinning Herd

Andrew Greenstein of the fantastic jersey database website NHL Uniforms put out a great post about many teams getting rid of their alternate jerseys, namely the Edmonton Oilers, Buffalo Sabres, and Florida Panthers-- as well as the lack of possible announcement of any new alternate jerseys coming to the forefront.

More over, the fact that many of the alternate jerseys have gotten so popular or bought more often-- they have been moved from alternate to the regular home jersery. In fact, the Los Angeles Kings, Dallas Stars, New York Islanders Philadelphia Flyers, Sabres, and Oilers have recently had their alternates move to their full-time home jerseys. Many thought the Nashville Predators were supposed to make their old alternate jerseys into the full-time look before they went with a full-gold presence. Also, the Anaheim Ducks seem to be rolling out their alternate more and more; that could get a road counterpart in the next few years.

However, the history of the third jersey is pretty interesting to say the least. The first instance of an alternate jersey was the 1955-56 season when the Boston Bruins used their white, black, and gold motif.  They used that for two years, but would stop it in the 1957-58 season, only to bring it back for the 1959-60 season and have it last until the 1964-65 season. They were the only team in that era to use three jerseys in their wardrobe.

The next recorded instance of an alternate is when the Toronto Maple Leafs introduce new home and road jerseys, but kept their old home jerseys as an alternate in the 1970-71 season. It was merely a transition from old to new, as they would go away the next season. It was another 11 seasons before there was another alternate jersey, when the 1981-82 Pittsburgh Penguins worked in a gold jersey to their repertoire, which would last for two seasons, before the gold jersey became the home jersey in the 1983-84 season, lasting just one season, however.

Discounting the entire 75th Anniversary celebration by the NHL where the Original Six had alternate/retro jerseys for the 1991-92 season; the biggest boom and the start of the wide-spread third jersey craze was in the 1995-96 season with five teams kicking off the program (Mighty Ducks, Bruins, Canucks, Penguins, and Kings) and from that point on-- there was quite the boom for teams, as they saw how much of a great money maker it was....except the Blues.

Here's the breakdown of teams with an alternate jersey since that season, not including Winter/Heritage Classic jerseys-- unless they use it past their Winter/Heritage Classic year:

1995-96: 5
1996-97: 6
1997-98: 11
1998-99: 13
1999-2000: 10
2000-01: 11
2001-02: 15
2002-03: 16
2003-04: 21
2005-06: 21
2006-07: 18
2007-08: 0-- New Reebok Edge design
2008-09: 18
2009-10: 23
2010-11: 24
2011-12: 22

Most Seasons With Alternate Jersey: 23, Boston Bruins.
Teams With Never Having An Alternate Jerseys: Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils

While Greenstein has a point that it's interesting some alternates may be getting less and less prominent and some could be taken out of full rotation while others are being put into it-- the debate on whether or not they are going away is going to be there. They still are something people will clamor to have, and while some will be put into full rotation-- it just gives the team another reason to make another jersey in order to make even more money through merchandising. Plus, as well have seen in the past-- even the bad alternate jerseys are looked back at fondly, as we've seen with the Wild Wing and Burger King jerseys.


Even if they're going away, the fact more people than not will buy the new jerseys regardless of their look is going to be something teams remember and exploit (to a point) when trying to market them to not only their own fan-base, but the jersey collectors alike.

Blue Jackets' Lost Season

Just under a month before the NHL playoffs begin, the first team has been eliminated. Last night, the Columbus Blue Jackets were mathematically eliminated from the post-season. The Jackets could win their last 13 games and still end up with 77 points, but the 8th place team now has 78 points. Sad trombone here.

The Jackets season ending in March is fun-- as the season for the team came in like a lion, with all their signings and trading for Jeff Carter; it ended like a lamb-- due to injuries, untimely play, and then trading Carter.

But how do you fix this team?? Is there a chance to even fix a constantly rebuilding squad??

Obviously, the biggest thing is what to do with Rick Nash. He's a guy said he wanted out at the trade deadline to "help" the franchise by getting prospects in return-- code for that he didn't want to go down with the ship. There's going to be a lot of convincing from the ownership to keep him stay. I don't think Scott Howson doesn't get the chance to convince Nash, because it goes beyond that. The ownership needs to be the guys to actually get to Nash and try and change his mind. They have the money and control to tell the GM to do this or do that in order to keep the superstar and franchise face happy.

Another point to that is to see what GMs are out there and see if firing Scott Howson is the biggest point. Let's be honest, he started off to a good start, but hasn't been able to build off the playoff performance they had a few seasons ago. While it looks good on paper for what he has done...the game isn't played on paper, that's just silly. The chemistry didn't seem to be there and the fact there wasn't much of a support system for the younger guys, especially Steve Mason-- who could have used a better veteran back-up to help him out and get him to move along.

There's a lot of problems, but the biggest victory for the Jackets has been their off-ice staff.

Whether it's a bizarre Twitter Q&A or the replacing your Jeff Carter nameplate with a Jack Johnson nameplate, the entire crew off the ice-- from PR to merchandising-- have done all they could to get people to the games, get attention to the team, and maybe garner new fans from everywhere. While the product on the ice hasn't been stellar, they have been doing their damnedest to actually make things work in Columbus.

Whatever needs to happen, the Jackets will have a lot of time to contemplate it all. They should have had a better fate with their off-season acquisitions, but all the glitters isn't gold. The franchise has always had so much promise only to be left in the dust. It doesn't help that they are in the toughest division in the NHL and maybe the move to the East would be great.....and after this season, the pitch for that writes itself.

Peeves with Nicknames

There seems to be something happening with hockey nicknames. Albeit, the trend of shortening a guys name and adding "y" at the end has been going on for a while, as has adding the "y" at the end of someone's entire last name. Also, adding "er" to the end of a name has caught on in some circles. However, it seems there's a new trend going around-- but I think it could be just contained to the Washington Capitals-- so I've seen.

That trend is taking a player's initials and their number, throwing it together, and boom, there you go. Like Karl Alzner is KA27, Marcus Johansson is MJ90, and Semyon Varlamov is now SV1, though you can bet that the number and spelling could change for Varlamov at any given moment. I don't know if it's more Twitter friendly or just a lack of anything better; but it's bugging the hell out of me.

Yes, it's a bit clearer when it comes who someone is talking about, but at the same time-- where have all the good nicknames gone. We had a time were you had Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Bernie "Boom-Boom" Geoffrion, and Jimmy "The Blonde Bouncer" Fowler. To be honest, I don't think we've had a unique nickname since Ray "Chicken Parm" Ferraro; thanks to the center-turned-analyst's love for the entree of the same name. Sure, you have some inventive nicknames that are seemingly inside jokes, but there's not many out there that stray away from the formula of adding the "y."

If anything, the initials/numbers scenario is much more creative than the normal formula. That said-- has the era of nicknames died, not just in hockey-- but in all sports. I honestly can't think of many nicknames that really stand out to me in any of the lexicons of sports-- that are widely known, mind you. You can have cliques who call a player something, but it doesn't catch on to the masses. Is that just a mark of the laziness of this generation of players or is having a nickname just not that important anymore. If it's the latter, then it's a sad state for sports and maybe in 10-15 years, someone can really bring it back. If it's the former-- I can understand that, actually and I'll let it pass.

Plus, it seemed that once you got a nickname, you were welcomed into the fraternity of a team. It's like "Top Gun" but not as many fruity undertones....or just as many-- I can't remember. While it gives you a bit of a persona, as unfriendly as it may be when given, it's a bit of an endearing thing and an acceptance onto the squad. It's something that is earned for one reason or another and not just given out willy-nilly because you made the team.

Granted, I'm sure I'm wrong and I need to get out more and learn more teams and how they work with the whole nickname ordeal. If that's the case, just shows how little research I care to do for these bits. Bottom line is that even if I'm a bit wrong with one or two players, the fact remains it's not at rampant as it once was, which could also show why we don't have as many unique personalities/characters in hockey due to lack of creativity when it comes to labeling a guy.

For now, we'll just have to wait and hope something can change and some names start coming out of the wood works. Also, not too long before the regular season starts and most of this filler ends. This is SW97, signing off.....oops....dammit.

Price Tag Makes Hawks Anti-Niemi; Pro-Turco

The dismantling of the Stanley Cup champions continue, as the Chicago Blackhawks walked away from their Cup winning goalie Antti Niemi's arbitration reward (one year, $2.75M). Instead, they take a more affordable option of Marty Turco, who was out there on the market forever, who's contract is reported to be over one million dollars less; as Turco signed for one year at $1.3M.

The one thing about Niemi that I don't get is the awe surrounding him. Sure, he did win a Cup; but he does remind me of a modern-day Johan Hedberg as a guy who came out of nowhere and took over the league by storm because no one knew much about him. While Niemi had a longer regular season stint and played well, as well as winning the Cup; but had the same scheme where they may have just been good because people didn't know how to read them like the goalies who had been in the league prior. That's not to take anything away from Niemi-- just calling it how I see it.

That said, I don't know how I would feel about taking Marty Turco over Niemi. Turco has all the goods, but does him being shell-shocked in Dallas the past two seasons make him a better option than a guy who's coming off a Stanley Cup victory from out of nowhere?? Niemi had better regular season numbers than Turco, sans save percentage; but the defense around Niemi was probably leaps and bounds over what Turco had in front of him. If you put Turco with the quality of what the Hawks have, it could turn his career around.

The age thing is another factor, with Turco turning 35 in the middle of this month and Niemi is going to be 27 at the end of this month. Turco hasn't been injured as often as some older workhorses, but there's always that worry he could go down at any time, which would make the move that much worse if Niemi goes on and has a stellar year wherever he lands. All eyes will be on Turco to succeed, especially in the Chicagoland area, who have a reason to be pro-Antti Niemi.

Speaking of which, where does Niemi go now?? A Cup winning goalie, under 30 years old, and able to steal games if need be and actually be effective. Sure, you'll have the obvious teams with shaky goaltending dispositions (Washington, San Jose, Philadelphia); but at the same time-- could he be hung out there without a suitor for a while and have to wait until another guy goes down in order to get a gig as a starter in the NHL??

In the end, this adds to the dismantling of the Stanley Cup Champs and the oddities of the NHL off-season; along with Ilya Kovalchuk's situation-- it's been a bizarre summer. Turco has a lot to prove, but doesn't need to do much to prove it. He's a solid goalie and behind that Chicago's defense; he'll regain what he lost in Dallas. Niemi may have a lot of people after him, but can't afford to take him on because they don't have the money to bring him in. It could be a situation where Niemi is sitting on the side, losing his allure and prowess because teams have to wait for someone to get injured.

Who's Not Going To Edmonton 2010

With the past occurrences of Michael Nylander signing with the Edmonton Oilers, then going to Washington afterwords, moving to the Chris Pronger issue, then the Dany Heatley situation, and now the Sheldon Souray dilemma; it's safe to say that Edmonton has their issues in drawing and keeping people With the team looking forward to the next season and seemingly going for a youth movement (not by choice, maybe), there would be some guys out there for their needs to fill the gap while the youngsters grow.

Yet, with all the problems that seem to come out of the Edmonton area, this is a look at which players, by position, I think won't be heading to Edmonton this summer, even if they're offered the max contract out there.

CENTER: Patrick Marleau: While he had a career year in goals (44), Marleau doesn't look to be going back to Canada anytime soon. Marleau is from the small town of Aneroid, Saskatchewan, but has played his serious hockey in the US, starting with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL and then to San Jose. Plus, his contract demands would also be too much down the middle, with Shawn Horcoff still there. He'd be a solid addition, but not much will sway him away from the warmth of the Pacific Coast.

LEFT WING: Ilya Kovalchuk: While the money issue is there, you can bet that he left the cold of Russia for the warmth of other places in North America. I don't think Edmonton would be the pick for him or his family. Kovalchuk would make a nice cornerstone for this team, but the lack of support will let Kovalchuk flee from any offer easily. He's going to go where he will be a star and have a solid set-up guy, not one or the other. Especially if Jaromir Jagr gets signed by Edmonton, he'd not be in that shadow.

RIGHT WING: Jaromir Jagr: Don't believe the hype when it comes to the Jagr signing in Edmonton. As Tim Matheson pointed out, Jagr wants any team that signs him to sign Roman Cervenka, as well. In addition, the age is catching up to Jagr. The risk of signing Cervenka and a complaining Jagr is not worth the reward of both of them being good and contributing to the team's rebuild. It'd be nice if Jagr could mentor Ales Hemsky more, but I doubt it'll happen.

DEFENSE: Paul Martin: While it's a good gag that Albertans will hate the name being there (that's also the name of a former Canadian prime minister), the fact is that he would never be lured there like Sheldon Souray and have all the pressure onto him. Considering this is the team that gave up the most goals this year (284), and if Martin were to come in-- he'd be expected to be the shutdown guy and then be run out on a rail, I'm sure.

GOALIE: Antero Niittymaki: The logjam in net for Edmonton is already at an all-time high with decisions to be made, but Niittymaki could be lured because of Nikolai Khabibulin's injury issues. And while his play does conjure up the thoughts of other Oilers' Finnish goalie greats like Jussi Markkanen and Kari Takko; Niittymaki would want a place where he could thrive and have a chance at a meaningful game in late-March rather than picking out tee-times.

While this is all in good fun (Thanks to "Johnny Wrath" on Twitter for his brain-storming), these things could definitely come true in the long-run. We'll have to check back in the fall to see which are true, false, whatever. (This is also filler. YAY!!) But, it also shows how the onus of the past in Edmonton could really hurt them in the long-term of things. If bad commentary (like Souray) and reneging on a contract (Nylander) happen within three years-- the reputation of this once proud organization needs to be rebuild from the ground up. Which could mean....front office overhaul. That remains to be seen how Daryl Katz deals with that.

Devil In The Details

The New Jersey Devils announced today that they have hired Jacques Lemaire as their new head coach. This is going to be something, as the Devils are going through a transition period and have a stellar new goalie coming up by the name of Martin Brodeur. Something tells me this kid will make a name for himself soon, boy howdy.

Huh?? Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was 1993 when this sort of thing happened the first time. But alas, it's 16 years later and 11 years after Lemaire ended his first reign with the Devils after the '97-'98 season.

One of the questions in this move is whether or not this is a smart decision. You have to wonder why the Devils bring in a guy who hasn't been the most successful in his coaching career. Sure, his technique and tactics are that of legends, but when you look closer at his history behind the bench, you soon realize that for a team that has had issues in the playoffs the past two seasons, Lemaire could be a step backwards for this organization. Though in his 15 seasons, Lemaire has gone 538-415-176 and one Stanley Cup with the Devils to show-- he has missed the playoffs in six seasons (three times in the last five seasons) and has only gotten out of the first round in six seasons, most early in his coaching tenure.

The fact that Lemaire is more defensive minded and has missed the playoffs in three of the last five seasons, it could be a telling sign that time and the game has passed him by. Especially for a team like the Devils who have had their share of issues when it comes to the playoffs recently-- you wonder why they make this decision over making longtime assistant John MacLean head coach with the big club, aside from putting him down on the farm in Lowell. While putting MacLean in Lowell is a start, you'd have to think he was a top contender considering his time he's put in as an assistant and how well he knows what's successful and what's not with this group of players.

But it's not something that will be new territory with this team. Aside from Zach Parise (and maybe Patrik Elias), there's not that much offensive swagger for the Devils to exploit anymore. This way, you have to figure that there's not going to be too much of an issue with the Devils going more defensive or there's going to be that much of a shake-up going from one style of play to another. Parise's numbers will probably suffer, sure, but if the Devils are going to rack up wins, I think the personal stats will be put aside for the time being....until the style wears out its welcome and changes are made mid-season.

Obviously, only time will tell how much the Devils will change and how the response will be from players and fans alike. The one thing I would have suggested is leaving the past in the past. Sure, Lemaire has a legacy and changed a lot of thing in the coaching game when defensive hockey was the order of the day, but when will people see that bringing back the past often creates more problems than solutions. Even though a coach has a ring from the past, it doesn't automatically mean they will be successful in the present day-- right Mike Keenan??

All the best to Lemaire in his new venture with the Devils, but for the fans out there-- you may want to hope that somewhere between Minnesota and New Jersey that Jacques picked up some high-tempo scoring techniques or realized that maybe offensive isn't that much of a bad thing in the end.

Looking at the GCI

The September 16th issue of The Hockey News arrived at my doorstep today and one of the more interesting pieces, aside from the Major Junior preview, was THN's Goalie Confidence Index or GCI. What THN has does was rank 60 goalies (starter and back-up per team) based on save percentage, GAA, save percentage on the PK, percentage of games in which the goalie was pulled, percentage of games giving up five goals or more, winning percentage, and shutout percentage. They combined both and like golf, lowest score is the big winner.

There's other equations in terms of weighted means and how frequent a goalie starts. Really, it's quite something that they have done here.

Of course, this will spark plenty of debate, but it seems pretty solid all around. The Montreal Canadiens with Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak were first thanks to Price's upside and winning percentage and Halak being the highest ranked goalie because of his spot duty. The Atlanta Thrashers were ranked 30th due to Kari Lehtonen giving up more than five goals in seven of the 48 games he played last year, while Hedburg was one of the worst of the back-ups in the league.

Here's a rundown of who's where:

1. Montreal Canadiens
2. San Jose Sharks
3. Detroit Red Wings
4. Anaheim Ducks
5. New Jersey Devils
6. Nashville Predators
7. Dallas Stars
8. New York Rangers
9. Minnesota Wild
10. Chicago Blackhawks
11. Pittsburgh Penguins
12. Columbus Blue Jackets
13. Vancouver Canucks
14. Florida Panthers
15. Washington Capitals
16. Phoenix Coyotes
17. Philadelphia Flyers
18. Edmonton Oilers
19. Boston Bruins
20. Tampa Bay Lightning
21. Calgary Flames
22. Ottawa Senators
23. Toronto Maple Leafs
24. New York Islanders
25. Buffalo Sabres
26. Carolina Hurricanes
27. St. Louis Blues
28. Los Angeles Kings
29. Colorado Avalanche
30. Atlanta Thrashers.

There's a couple of teams who I thought were a little too high, like Nashville with their unknown and, to a point, unproven goaltenders in net; and Tampa who may have gotten to 20th thanks to Mike Smith's time in Dallas last season. Columbus could be looked at as too high, but Pascal Leclaire's nine shutouts helped them get this high.

Conversely, there some teams I think are too low, like Calgary-- while the Miikka Kiprusoff has been off recently-- they aren't in the lower third of the league. Carolina also got a bad rap, I thought, especially with Cam Ward still coming on his own and not getting a constant back-up help last season.

It must have been some serious number-crunching (read: boredom) in the THN newsroom for this whole thing to be broken down the way it was. I would love to see individual numbers to see how all 60 goalies match-up to another, but that may have to wait for a while.

Hockey Movie Fiasco

Buddy Greg Wyshynski brought to the attention of many that Hollywood is out of ideas and that New Line Cinema is creating a movie based on Sean Avery's time as a Vogue Magazine intern. And while the premise is....well....out there, it did make me think about other hockey movies that could be out there in the hockey world. Just off the top of my head, there's plenty of plot lines out there for the hockey world.

-With his career at a standstill, he hold his own fate in his hands. However, a back-packing trip through Scandinavia shows him that there's more to hockey than just picking a team and training to get ready for a season. It's about family, it's about life, it's about creating story when there are none in an unnamed Canadian city. Mats Sundin plays the heartwarming role of a man who is looking for something more....like money....in "The Deal Maker".

-After brutal attempts the year prior, one man holds an entire organization hostage even though he has his future plotted out. He's not leaving from greener pastures until his wallet becomes greener. Bryan McCabe stars as a hardass negociator who is ready to book it to Miami...but not before he gets his money. "McCabe's Millions" will be straight to DVD just in time for Christmas.

-From producer Oren Koules, a story about speed freaks and snipers taking a small Florida city by hook or by crook. With a youth movement in the fold and the ability to score with anything on the Florida beachs, the only thing this high-tempo crowd is missing is protection from being shot on against. Olaf Kolzig and Mike Smith co-star in the dramedy that shows you what every frat boy knows that you can only score so much without getting burnt. Kolzig, Smith-- "How to Lose a Game in 50 Shots."

-Proving he can transend the medium of hockey, Alex Ovechkin takes on action as he saves babies, fixes the world's problems, and cures every dieases plaguing the world today. "Ovie the Edge" will get rave reviews, but will get overshadowed by Sidney Crosby's short 15-minute film "Sidney Brushes His Teeth."

-In a throwback to "North", a young Swede is trying to find his way in North America and makes headlines in the process. Now, in a city that is as Western as John Wayne, he will try to adapt to the extremely cowboy way. In the process, he could show some other people how to use his customs as another way to go about things. Fabian Brunnstrom headlines an all-star cast in "Lone Star Swede."

-An international battle looms as one big city former US law student takes on a small town Canadian boy in a war of words that boils over in a huge verbal battle creating headlines across the 49th Parallel. With accusations, slander, and downright school-childness-- Brian Burke and Kevin Lowe square off in a knockdown, dragout battle for the ages. The yet unnamed project has had it's title debated and fought about for months now, with no end in sight.

Yes, it's a terrible attempt at humor, but you swing and sometimes you hit it out of the park and sometimes you break some ribs swinging too hard. I think this is the latter. Camps are just around the corner folks, bear with us.

Looking at the Rookies

We're at the camping time of the year-- finally the dark days are behind us. A hot topic will be which of the young guns coming into the league will be the one to turn heads and maybe become the franchise player of the future, today. I could put more rambling cliche things in here, but you get the point; so with that-- let's get to some freshmen who could be making waves in the NHL this coming season.

Steve Stamkos, TB: The first overall pick in the '08 Draft, Stamkos has been pimped out the entire summer in the Tampa area. And with good reason, too. After 197 points in 124 OHL games, Stamkos will probably be thrown into the top-six of the Bolts. However, many forecasters have Stamkos between 40 and 65 points this season. There could be that learning curve, but I would expect to see him more in the 70-point area.

Fabian Brunnstrom, DAL: There was plenty of buzz with Brunnstrom from the start of the calendar year, but he landed in Dallas as a final destination. Even with a few years under his belt in the Swedish Elite League, the transition for Brunnstrom could be a longer one than some kids coming out of junior. With the Stars defensive prowess, there's a good chance the point total for Brunnstrom will be lower than most freshmen.

Kyle Turris, PHX: Turris got a small taste last season and netted an assist. Now, with a summer of training under his belt, Turris has a good chance to make his way into the top-six and to many, become a team leader in scoring. With a team like Phoenix, it's a good chance for him to get time on the ice, but somewhat little exposure in the mainstream media-- which will hurt him in the Calder ballot.

Kyle Okposo, NYI: Fast tracked from college to the NHL, Okposo did what he could in his nine games last season, potting two goals and five points; while in the AHL, he put up 19 assists and 28 points in 35 games. With a rebuilding Islanders team, Okposo should be one of the the hot hands for the Isles this season and could create some buzz for the other New York team.

Ted Purcell, LA: Purcell's offensive stride should be able to get him a shot at the top-six slot of the Kings, especially with the departure of Mike Cammalleri. With 83 points in 67 games as an AHL rookie last year, Purcell will probably get plenty of chances to prove himself as a go-to guy for the Kings for this season and beyond.

Nathan Gerbe, BUF: Probably one of the dark horses for the Calder, Gerbe's size will definitely come into question when it comes to if he's ready for an everyday line-up slot. At 5'5, Gerbe will have to do his damnedest to get noticed. Though he led the NCAA in scoring last year in points, Gerbe will have to do even more to get a fair-shot in the pros.

Jakub Voracek, CLB: Voracek is coming off two 60+ assist season in the Q and could be slated to be a set-up man for Rick Nash in the future. However, without many weapons behind Nash and maybe Kristian Huselius, Voracek may have to go about things the hard way in the first few seasons in order to hit the cash cow of being Nash's set-up man.

Now, I'm sure you're probably wondering why guys like Drew Doughty or Zach Bogosian aren't on this list. It's not because they won't make some waves, but most off-- since 1988, only three defensemen have won the Calder Trophy: Brian Leetch, Bryan Berard, and Barret Jackman. With a class like this, odds are that the trend will continue for d-men to be overlooked.

Plus, we have to put into effect the "Sean-O Rookie Theorem" where an out of nowhere rookie will have a hot second-half and steal the show. We'll have to see, but with camps starting up-- we'll be able to weed out the candidate from there.

McCabe's Molasses-esque Move

Hey kids, Bryan McCabe finally got traded-- ta-da!!

The move that was a month in the making finally happened, with McCabe and a 4th-round pick in the 2010 draft went to Florida for defenseman Mike Van Ryn. McCabe's hold-up was to collect the $2M owed to him on September 1st from Toronto. When you have all the cards on your side-- with a no movement clause and all-- wouldn't you stall the hell out of a move if you had to collect money??

The move indicates many things to many people. Mostly, people believe this is a safety net move if Jay Bouwmeester decides not to re-sign with the club this summer. Others think this is the Panthers' goodwill gesture to Bouwmeester incidicating they are willing to spend some money to rebuild this failing team. For a club who dealt away Olli Jokinen and Roberto Luongo in the past three seasons, something needed to be done to show one of the franchise players that the wheels are in motion and things are happening.

McCabe has been knocked around plenty by the Toronto media and fateful for one reason or another during his tenure in Toronto, and it really was a matter of time before he had enough and needed to move on. Not only does he move on, but he moves so far out of the limelight that he'll need to make awful puns like so much David Caruso to get some kind of pub in the Miami area.

His defensive play was brought into question post-lockout as his +/- dipped from a +47 three years leading into the lockout to an even rating three years out of it. Though is production in those three years picked up, it makes you wonder how his defensive game got so craptacular. It shouldn't get any better in Florida, either-- unless McCabe decides to work on his defensive game more.

For the Buds, the acquisition of Van Ryn not only make Tomas Kaberle the go-to-guy now, but it also keeps the rebuilding movement alive. Van Ryn is an affordable pick-up. Of course, injuries have been an issue at times for Van Ryn, but he can't do much worse on the blue line than the departed McCabe, and could pick up some steam should he apply himself to it.

All in all, the move helped out both sides in terms of the fact that it got McCabe out of a horrible situation and out of the limelight and allowed the Leafs to get a younger defenseman and dump a bigger salary to make some more additions, should they need to. Maybe a certain Swede is coming back to help the Leafs......or not.

The Mess with Meszaros

A lot has been out there regarding RFA defenseman Andrej Meszaros. Bryan Murray told the media that the Senators and Meszaros are not close to a new contract. Then the Hockey News' Adam Proteau reported that Meszaros signed an offer sheet worth more than $5M a year for a yet unnamed team.

If I'm the Senators right now, and this report is true-- you almsot have to wonder if Meszaros is worth that amount of money for what we've seen out of him in his short career. He does have tremendous upside averages about 36 points per year, but it almost seems that the price could be a little steep. It's almost to the point where cutting ties could be the only answer and get back some draft picks for it.

The only reason I say that is not due to the lack of ability for Meszaros, but the fact that there's a kid named Brian Lee coming up through the depth chart who could more than fill the void that Meszaros leaves behind. While Meszaros seems to play a more offensive game, Lee's play is balanced to any style needed in him. While he need times to grow, if the numbers of the offer sheet are correct, the more affordable option would be Lee and let the headache of Meszaros go by the wayside.

That said, if Meszaros were to depart, there isn't much for puck moving defensemen on the blue line for the Sens. Christoph Schubert would be the closest thing to a puck moving defenseman, but has split time between defense and wing in the past few seasons. For that alone, Murray and company could pony up the cash for Meszaros and his puck handling abilities.

Once there is an announcement of an offer sheet, it'll be a busy week in Senators HQ and where there will me more or less of Meszaros in the Senators line-up.

Sweet, Sweet Fantasy

Ellen Page is one of mine, but that's not what we're talking about here.

We're getting into the very craptastic part of the NHL off-season where most of the free agent signings, sans some, are done with and we're so close to the opening of camps, but not quite there yet-- much like a Serbian swimmer in the 100 meter butterfly.

Yet, to make sure us hockey fans don't go completely insane, we start to round up our buddies, readers, or listeners in order to organize our fantasy hockey league or hockey pools. For instance, we at the Face Off Hockey Show have already started sign-ups, as has Sean Leahy's Going Five Hole. What better way to hang out with fellow hockey fanatics and do your best Brian Burke impression should someone try to steal your waiver transaction during the season.

And while some out there are geeked about NHL 09 coming out-- us with no attention-span and can't spend hours in front of the 360 or PS3, fantasy hockey is our haven to be the GM and control a team without actually having to do much of anything but adjust line-ups and curse at the TV when our roster is sucking worse than a German prostitute.

Plus, it's a learning experience about guys on the rise and those on the fall. Picking up the players just about to break-out and dropping the guys who would are about to tank worse than the 1983-84 Pittsburgh Penguins. Although, thanks for past history....you are able to win a championship picking Felix Potvin as your first pick thanks to Yahoo's messed up queue. Don't ask why he was in my queue, but he was there-- but still took the league championship.

But what makes fantasy hockey so great?? Is it the comradery?? Is it the smack-talk and bragging rights?? Is it the power over guys we don't know?? It's all of that and more. There's something about fantasy hockey that, to me, puts people over the edge. It makes things more passionate and really makes you toe the party line. For instances, there are some people out there who won't pick anyone off a rival team, no matter how good they are. It makes you want to yell out at players when you go to a game to pick up their scoring because you're down for the week on goals. Plus, it brings about knee-jerk reactions that can only happen in fantasy hockey....or on the Maple Leafs roster.

It's an addiction for some. Pick up all the fantasy guides out there, comparing each and then creating your own rankings. Going as far as making a site dedicated to your teams wheelings and dealings, as well as your own musings and abusings when it comes to teams, players, and whatever else is on your mind. It's more than a game, it's a way of life.

In addition to all of that, FOHS fan favorite and cult hero Jimmy Chunkybutter returns for another season of the FOHSHL report. Also, Jimmy will be opening his own blog soon, the Jimmy Chunky-Blog. It should be full of....well, drunkenness, who are we fooling?? It's something to look out for.

So, get your draft boards ready, get your forecasting done, because it's almost time to pre-rank your draft in case you have to miss out (heaven forbid). Of course, Yahoo picking for some hasn't been a bad thing-- nice pick, Yahoo.

Oh, PS-- if you want to join the FOHSHL, BE DIALIN!!!!!! Just shoot a line to faceoffhockeyshow@gmail.com and we'll get you on the list for the league. Fun times all around.