If you haven't gotten a chance to hear yesterday's "Breakfast with the Blue Jackets" on 97.1 The Fan it's definitely worth a listen, if only to hear the Derick Brassard's interview.
The good news is that Brassard said his injured shoulder is 100% and that he has been working out the past month. He also says he plans on returning to Columbus this summer to workout with the Jackets strength and conditioning coach Barry Brennan prior to camp.
If you think that was good news then check this baby out. When asked about who he wants to win the Cup he said without hesitation the Pittsburgh Penguins and that he "hates the Red Wings!"...
Haha.... another example of why I absolutely love this kid! He get's it already!
Brass though, like the rest of us, went on to say what we unfortunately hate to acknowledge and that is that the Wings are the best team in hockey and they can make you look silly.
(okay.. excuse me while I wash my mouth out with soap)
Just for the record Brass... I hate em too!!
You can listen to the interview here about halfway through. Thanks to Ed from Insidehockey.com for giving me the heads up on this.
A little Manny news from yahoo.com:
The Blue Jackets made an official offer to checking line center Manny Malhotra(notes), hoping to re-sign Malhotra before he becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1. It didn’t appear the two sides are close to reaching terms, but there’s no pressure on either side to get a deal done … yet.
I suspect that if anything gets done, it will happen after July 1st. Manny will get a chance to test the market and if other offers are comparable to what the Jackets have tabled my guess is he'll choose to stay put.
My gut feeling right now is Manny's camp wants to get paid more than a 3rd/4th line center warrants in this league and they believe that can get it on the open market. That may very well be the case and you certainly can't blame the guy for exploring his options.
I hope Howson sticks to his guns because I think if the two sides can't come to terms we can get similar production compared to what Manny gave this team last season (11g, 24a, 35p +9) for a cheaper price. Marty Reasoner (14g, 16a, 30p +11) anyone?
Free agency is less than 23 days away!
Yahoo.com has also picked up on the Bouwmeester chatter:
The Blue Jackets’ annual offseason search for a skilled defenseman might compel them to make a huge offer to unrestricted free agent Jay Bouwmeester(notes).
It’s unclear if Bouwmeester—after six years playing for the Florida Panthers—would consider signing on with another club in a non-traditional hockey market.
But the Blue Jackets, unlike lots of other NHL clubs, have the salary cap room to make a significant offer, upwards of $6 million per season.
And the Jackets certainly have a need.
He would certainly fill a huge need but again, I just don't see how Columbus could swing it (remember they are a budget team and not a cap team) and I don't see him choosing to play in another non-traditional hockey market like Columbus.
I think this is a classic case of someone looking around and saying hey they need a #1 d-man and have cap space they gotta be interested!
If only it were that simple.
I'll tell you what's gonna happen with this guy. Nik Lidstrom is going to retire and Bouwmeester is going to sign with the Wings for some bargain basement price. You heard it here first!
UPDATE: Cross Marty Reasoner off the list. The Altanta Thrashers just re-signed him to a 2 year deal. No word yet on the terms but you can bet this will signing will certainly help set the market value for a guy like Malhotra.
UPDATE: According to Kevin Allen of USAToday via Twitter. Reasoner signed for 1.1 million the 1st and 1.2 the second. Manny Malhotra made 1.5 mil last season.
-LTL
Monday, June 8, 2009
Gotta love Brass!
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4 comments:
When I heard the Brass comment yesterday, I was thrilled. Especially that he didn't hesitate. I love it.
If it comes down to $ for Jay Bow, he will be a CBJ. Not sure if a NW team can afford him. Edmonton has a ton of $ tied up in D. The only team being a possibility is Vancouver, if they let the wonder twins walk.
LTL,
The contract offers are definitely trending down.. Reasoner could have been in the 1.5 range a year ago (ala Manny).. and usually when you sign before you opt to test the market you are on the receiving end of an overpayment.. something teams like the Thrashers and other small market teams usually have to do to maintain their players . e.g. if reasoner would be signed by a Bruins/red wings or sharks team.. he wouldn't make more then 800K... anyways... this is not a good thing for Manny but great for us... I personally think that if Manny is thinking 1M to 1.5M... Howsen will make it happen... But I can see some Eastern teams offering Manny 1.75M - 2.00M
I still think Manny will end up packing his bags... and end up in the East somewhere.. (My gut is telling me Washington... they can use some solid defensive forwards who can play the PK)
Another interesting development.. Krejci with the Boston Bruins...
This past season, Krejci appeared in all 82 games, scoring 22 goals and collecting 51 assists for 73 points (all career highs). He led the NHL with a plus-36 rating. During the playoffs, Krejci had 2 goals and 6 assists in 11 games. He played the entire season with discomfort in his right hip and will undergo surgery tomorrow in New York to repair an impingement.
Boston signed him for 3.75M a year... that's a fricking steal... he was very impressive in the playoffs for me...
Aren't you guys sick of guys like Franzen and Krejci who are taking hometown discounts.. winning teams will continue to push this trend.... I am expecting a lot of this for Chicago in the upcoming seasons....
the "hometown discount" is more frequent, due to the size of the salaries, and economy. The NHL players are not making $10M/year. The cost to relocate can be more costly than taking less salary. Try to sell a house in Detroit.
The only Jacket player that I can think of that gave us a bit of a hometown discount was Jan Hejda last season.
He could have definitely gotten more than 2 mil a season in unrestricted free agency but he didn't want to move his family again so he compromised. Just another reason to love Jan.
It certainly would be nice to see some other players follow suit. They should certainly get paid but is an extra 500k worth it to move on? Those are decisions each player has to make.
Regardless though I just don't think there is going to be enough money to go around this offseason and that players are going to be forced to take less -- the 3rd/4th liners will defintely feel the squeeze the most.
I agree about Manny though. I just have a feeling his camp thinks he's worth more that he really is. Maybe he is but I just don't see many teams going over 1.5 to 2 mil a year. Reasoner put up similar numbers last season and didn't spend half a season centering guys like Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius and look at the deal he took to stay put.
If Manny bolts, a guy I'd really like us to look into now that Reasoner is off the market is John Madden. I think he'd be a perfect fit for a Hitch coached Jackets squad.
-LTL
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