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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Quick hitter

Thefourthperiod.com has their list of the top 30 free agents posted. Here is the list of players they have with Columbus attached as "speculated teams of interest":

Ryan Malone
Unless the Penguins open up their wallets, Malone will cash it in with another team this summer.

Brooks Oprik
The best physical, stay-at-home defenseman available this summer, Orpik is going to cash in as an unrestricted free agent.

Ron Hainsey
After solid back-to-back seasons with the Blue Jackets, Hainsey's likely to receive a solid raise with someone.

Vinny Prospal
Prospal had yet another solid season, picking up 71 points. He could easily double his salary with a new team this summer.

Adam Foote
A stellar stay-at-home defenseman, Foote is expected to re-sign with the Avs or return to Columbus.

Brendan Morrison
Thanks to the injury-bug, Morrison didn't see much action this past season, and it looks like the Canucks are poised to move on.

Full list found here.

I don't many scenarios where Foote would be back in the bug but hey, stranger things have happened.

I think Morrison could be a guy who flys under the radar a bit due to his injury plagued season that we may be interested in if he stays on the market a bit and we fill some other holes.

I also think we'll be very intersted in Redden, Campbell and Liles if they all hit the open market.

-LTL

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just don't see Foote returning to C-Bus. Not with the way he left. I still think a deal on Malone & Orpik (with possibly Marleau in the mix) would give us the help where we need it. Once again, it makes us look more attractive for others in the near future.

Anonymous said...

Morrison would be a decent add, I think. Nothing great, but decent. Marleau for the 6th would be an overpayment.

A few other names that I have heard have become available are Cole, Williams from Carolina and Nylander from Washington.

From what I have been hearing lately, the names for the 19th are garbage--Keith Tkachuk was one of them. I have a HUGE fear that we aren't going to get as much for it as we had hoped and we will come out of the draft highly disappointed.

I don't see Zherdev being part of any package either--his contract is too high and he is only signed for two more years, plus--we all know what happened to him when the season was on the line.

The league is kind of separated between teams who have a lot of players and teams and are right up against the cap, and teams that have no players=bluejackets and the Islanders, Tampa, St.Louis could fit that mold. We are at a disadvantage because yes, we have the two first rounders, but we don't really have any desireble/tradeable players that other teams might want.

I am preparing myself for disappointment--not because I am negative, but because I want to be pleasantly surprised.