Crewsings Around the NHL

Every week (hopefully), I will give you my take on pertinent (and sometimes merely percolating) topics around the NHL.  In fantasy sports, I’m known as Crew, and these are my musings.  So with that said…

Tim Thomas

Tim Thomas has been a consensus top two goalie over the first quarter of the year.  If you dig deeper, he’s been steadily improving every year since he left Euro Island to come (back) to the NHL. 

So now, the talk is starting to be about what kind of contract he will command from Boston to re-sign.  Some short-sighted pundits are saying it will only take $3 million a year to get him back, which is preposterous. 

If Boston waits until the regular season (and playoffs) are over, at the very least, it will take $5 million a year for three years to get Thomas to re-up. 

However, if Boston does wait until the regular and post-seasons have been completed, they may be opening themselves up to having no choice but to cough up a contract the likes of which no one ever saw Tim Thomas being able to command even two years ago. 

I say this because if Thomas maintains his level of play for the remainder of the season, he will be a Vezina Trophy candidate.  His price goes up. 

Then, if he takes the Bruins into the Eastern Conference Finals, or for that matter the Stanley Cup…or for that matter Boston wins the Stanley Cup (for anyone who doubts this happening, do two things: first, watch them play a few times.  Second, think “Carolina Hurricanes, Stanley Cup Champions”), Thomas’s price does anything from rises to skyrockets, depending on the playoff results. 

Then, imagine if Thomas, with no competition from Brodeur and possibly Luongo, beats out Henrik Lundqvist and…I don’t know, Craig Anderson, for the Vezina.  Yup, you guessed it, price goes up again. 

At this point, $6 million per season for three seasons , and we’re looking at an $18-24 million, 3-4 year contract for Tim Freaking Thomas! 

He could get a four season contract if his agent can talk a desperate GM into thinking that because Thomas doesn’t have the miles on his body that other NHL goalies do at age 35, he will still be in peak form by age 39.

And he will surely cite Roloson’s resurgence this year as proof that it’s possible, since Rolo shared games for years in Minnesota.

If we’re being completely honest about this, the likelihood of this happening is very high.

Sean Avery

Contrived.  Bitter.  Issue-laden.  Obvious middle child, Sean Avery took things oh, about three steps too far Tuesday morning in Calgary after the morning skate. 

By calling Elisha Cuthbert his “Sloppy seconds,” he broke an unwritten rule between NHL players that states you can say those things on the ice, but keep it clean off. 

NHL Commissioner Darth Bettman, who let’s face it, has been looking for an excuse to take Avery out for years (which peaked after his stick-waving debacle vs. Brodeur and New Jersey last spring), will first make sure that he legally can, and then expect him to suspend Avery for at least 25 games. 

Dallas, with the exception of co-GM Brett Hull, would LOVE to get Avery out of the dressing room, and will assign Avery to, well, anywhere they can, since the Stars don't actually have an AHL affiliate, the second they can post-suspension. 

This will take Avery off the Cap, and allow Dallas to acquire a minimum $3 million (preferably left) winger, basically the second Avery is sent down.  This will actually allow them to get the jump on the trade deadline, and they may not have to give up as much as a result. 

In the meantime, Avery will then balk at going to the minors, which will allow the Stars to suspend him for the remainder of the season. 

Once the season is over, the Stars, weary of a long court battle if they attempt to exercise a behavioural clause to void his contract, will simply buy out the remaining three years and $11.625 million of his contract. 

This will cost Dallas just under $7.75 million, as well as an approx. $1.29 million cap hit for each of the next six years.  So next summer, Sean Avery will again be a UFA. 

As a Leaf fan, I can only hope that Brian Burke isn’t a fan who’s in the mood to give him a second (fifth?) chance next July.

Speaking of Dallas, when all of this went down, I had the sneaking suspicion that Avery’s inevitable suspension may act as addition-by-subtraction for the Stars. 

Mike Modano and Brendan Morrow, two of the three unquestioned leaders in that locker room (Marty “How far can I back up into the crease and still stop pucks?” Turco being the third) have both come out & said in one form or another how disruptive he is. 

So yesterday, when both Stars’ Coach Dave Tippett, and several members of the team stated that they can’t see him and don’t want back in their dressing room, it wasn’t the least bit surprising. 

I would be shocked if Dallas (1-1 in two games without Avery so far) doesn’t go on a tear, one of those 8-2-0-1 jobs that will vault them back into the thick of things in the Western Conference.  That is, as long as Marty “I watch tapes of Vesa Toskala to get better” Turco starts challenging shooters again.

Seriously, can someone please tell Vesa Toskala that the goal is to stop the puck, not back up as far as possible at all times?!  Thank you in advance.

Henrik Sedin

Defensively, he’s solid.  That’s fine.  As a play-maker, he’s one of the top five in the league, a statement I don’t think many people will argue.  But seriously, Henrik Sedin, seriously!  Three goals in 25 games?! 

Yes, you could stand to shoot the puck more, but you do have 41 shots, which means that while your brother Daniel, who has scored 11 goals on 81 shots (approx. 13 percent), you Daniel, have scored on an atrocious seven percent of your shots on goal. 

First line centers who get paid $6 million a year don’t score on seven percent of their shots on goal.  Last year, you had 15 goals, which again is terrible for a first line center, but you at least scored on 10 percent of your shots. 

Quite frankly, as one of the people who thinks that Canucks GM Mike Gillis should re-sign the twins, I also wouldn’t blame him at all if he let Henrik (and possibly by proxy, Daniel) go, simply because missing that vital dimension from his game makes him not worth the financial commitment it would take (during this economic downturn) to re-sign him.

Keep in mind, the early buzz is that the salary cap is likely to come down in 2010-11.

Brian Burke

Let’s keep this short & sweet.  He did great in Anaheim in completing the Stanley Cup-winning puzzle there.  He’s definitely had his shining moments in the past. 

Let’s all just keep quiet about it until he actually does something, good or bad, in Toronto. 

What I will say is Kudos! to whomever is currently in power in the ivory towers at Leafs Nation, who had no problem giving Burke the contract and autonomy he deserved to try to make a go of this. 

A rare positive out of top management.

Joe Sakic and Brendan Morrow, you have destroyed my fantasy hockey hopes this year (8 teams’ worth!).  Thank you.

Speaking of Sakic, and this is one of those times where I hope I’m completely wrong, I get the sinking suspicion that Superstar Joe is no more.  70-80 point, very good-to-occasionally great Joe is now upon us. 

And according to the man himself, he will not play unless he’s at an Olympic level, so we may well be seeing the swan song of Joe Sakic when he comes back from his herniated disk in January.

Sidney Crosby

Early on this hockey season, I read a report talking about how Sidney Crosby’s complete lack of power in his shot, not to mention his penchant for a practically straight blade, will cause him to never be able to score 50 goals. 

The underlying tone that I got from the article was that Crosby < Gretzky.  I don’t think anyone will argue that point, but I found it funny that anyone would espouse that Crosby, at what, 21 years of age, will never score 50 goals. 

Shortly after that, Alexander Semin, who I am a huge fan of for the record, had one of those classic Russian “I was misquoted” interviews (or so he apparently told Alexander Ovechkin when Ovie asked him about it), during which he said that Sid the Kid was nothing special. 

I will fully admit, I think that Sidney Crosby is the best player to come into the NHL since Mario Lemieux, and I think that anyone who disputes that is simply a hater because they like to hate. 

So with that in mind, I’ve always watched to see whether or not Crosby upped his game when he was challenged, be it on the ice or verbally.  Gretzky did it.  Mario did it.  You can damn-sure bet Bobby Orr did it. 

So when all of a sudden, Crosby started scoring (six goals in three games at one point, and is now leading the Pens with 13 goals and is second in the NHL in scoring with 35 points), I personally took notice. 

The Kid stepped up, as all the great ones do.  Sooner or later, everyone will realize that this is Sidney Crosby’s sandbox, and everyone else is just playing in it.

Even though this will be a weekly (again, hopefully) column, tomorrow, for fun, I have a treat for everyone.  It’s an interview I conducted a couple of years back with a man who is now an NHL Head Coach.  Seriously.  Thanks everyone for reading, I hope you enjoyed the Crewse.  (Wow, that was terrible!)