Calm before the storm

Not much going on in the hockey world during this extended labor day weekend. Expect things to really start gearing up in the next week as players start funneling into town, coaches continue their preseason preparations and executives and staff members start crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's as season approaches.

There has been a little news floating around out there. By now most have heard of about the Jackets singing 2007 94th overall pick Russian right winger Maxim Mayorov to a 3 year entry level contract.

If you recall Howson sent three 4th round picks to move up and grab Mayorov in the 4th round. Most thought was a top 20 talent in that draft year but he slipped as NHL teams were scared off by the transfer agreement issue and questions about his willingness to come to NA.

..but now it certainly appears he will be staying in NA and Howson could come out of this one smelling like roses should the big Russian develop.

The question now is where does he play? Assistant GM Chris MacFarland had this to day:

Assistant general manager Chris MacFarland tells the Columbus Dispatch that they have not decided where the 18 year old will play this season, either with Brandon of the WHL or Syracuse of the AHL.

"That's a tough thing to ask of an 18-year-old," MacFarland explains of placing him in Syracuse. "We'll get a chance to see him in training camp and make the call."

The upside of a year in the WHL is that it will give Mayorov a chance to dominate against players his own age while adjusting to the North American game/lifestyle. His contract also won't kick for another year. The downside is that he would be unavailable to the Jackets until his junior season concluded.

The upside to Syracuse is that Mayorov could develop and adjust to NA game/lifestyle with other Russians Nikita Filatov and Andre Plekhanov and be available to the Jackets for recall. The downside is that the Jackets would burn a year of that contract on development as an 18 year old Mayorov would be playing against men in a much tougher league.

Getting my first look at Mayorov he certainly has the tools to be an NHL player. He has great size and skates very well for a big man. Like most young players he need to work on his play away from the puck but there is certainly a lot of talent and potential there.

I think the Jackets have an idea of where they'll put him next year but I do believe them when they say they really want to see where this kid's skill stacks up in camp and then make a decision.

Tampa continues its yahoo fantasy league offseason with their acquisition of Andrej Meszaros and now they've signed him to a whopping 6 year 24 million dollar deal. This move brings their cap hit to 54 million according to nhlnumbers.com. They currently have 8.75 million tied up in 6 defensemen and 30.417 million in 11 forward. Lecavalier alone will make about 1 million less than their entire defense next season.

For those that are into this sort of thing, CNNSI.com has a really good read about the potential of another lockout on the horizon. One word I have for both sides if they let it comes to that -- "idiots".

-LTL