Making the cut

NHL.com took a look at team's they thought had good offseasons and the Jackets were one that made the cut:

Blue Jackets -- If R.J. Umberger can be the No. 1 center that Rick Nash has never had with the Blue Jackets, then a 50-goal season isn't out of the question, especially with the help of playmaking wing extraordinaire Kristian Huselius over from Calgary as a free agent. Depth? The Jackets never were sure what they were going to get from Nikolai Zherdev. They've gone more conventional with hard-working additions like Umberger and Raffi Torres in a trade with Edmonton. Fedor Tyutin just might be Columbus' best defenseman right away, coming over from the Rangers with fellow blueliner Christian Backman.

They didn't even mention Commodore or depth signing like Mike York. Throw Brassard/Voracek/Filatov in that mix and I'm tellin yeah, look out for us NHL.

They ranked Detroit as the team whom had the best offseason. When you can convince the biggest free agent on the market to forgo a moster payout to take a one year deal then its certainly hard to argue that point.

Although the flip side of that from a player perspective is that I think Hossa was the most foolish free agent of all -- you don't turn down that kind of pay day that would set your family up for generations to come in a game where your one hit away from the end of your career.

As I mentioned in the comments section of the previous post the war between the NHL and KHL is really beginning to heat up.

Check out the latest developments from this article highlighted by:

There is a scheduled meeting on September 4 in New York where representatives from the NHL, the KHL, and other ice hockey federations that is supposed to tackle issues such as the transfer agreements and the logistics of holding a hockey World Cup in 2012, but NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly isn't so sure the league should be at the meeting.

"We are not certain we are going to go forward with the meeting at this point. Our position with the IIHF has been very clear. If the KHL doesn't disqualify Alexander Radulov from playing in their league so he can abide to his contractual obligations to Nashville, we have no interest in meeting with them and or engaging in discussions over any broader cooperative relationship with them," Daly told The New York Sun. "You know, we would still like to, and we still have offered to meet with the IIHF and the other federations, but it is not certain at this point in time where that will happen or not.

Larry Brooks of the NYPost has this to say about a secret meeting Bettman had with KHL Pres Alexander Medvedev regarding the Radulov dispute:

When Bettman threatened legal action, Medvedev essentially invited the commissioner to present his case in Russian court, reminding the commissioner that the NHL success rate in the Russian legal system is equal to the zero-percent success rate of Russian hockey interests in the US court system.

The Post has learned that Medvedev, citing common practice in international soccer, offered to pay a transfer fee to the Predators in order to resolve the dispute, but that Bettman refused to consider the proposal. The NHL has forbidden its teams to pay transfer fees to European clubs.

Out of both of the articles I found this to be the most interesting part:

The Post has learned that Medvedev also informed Bettman that the KHL would hold a universal draft for the 2009-10 season that will include players currently under contract in the NHL. Medvedev told Bettman KHL clubs will offer signing bonuses of $1M to players who are playing in the NHL this season.

The more I read about things like this the happier I am that Zherdev is history. That's not to say we won't possibly have our own issues to worry about with CBJ Russians Tyutin, Filatov, Mayorov & Plenhanov but noone in that group would have worried me like enigmatic Z. Call it a hunch or whatever you'd like but I just have this feeling his Russia bound after this year with New York. If he falls flat on his face in the big apple take it to the bank.

Speaking of Filatov. As I also stated in the comments word is that the Radulov IIFH ruling is supposed to go down today. If so my guess is that they'll announce the other players whose playing status is under investigation including our man Filatov.

If anyone here's of any news please post it in the comments and I'll add it to this post.

Update: A reader just pointed out this article that says the IIHF ruling on Radulov has been pushed back which most likely means that any ruling on Filatov will be pushed back as well:

The International Ice Hockey Federation had hoped to complete its investigation by mid-August, but a spokesman said Thursday that schedule is no longer feasible.

"We believe that we won't be able to meet the mid-August ambition,'' IIHF spokesman Szymon Szemberg said. "Our legal people are working on this and it is our ambition to communicate the result as soon as it is possible.''

-LTL