Is it hot out there? Or is it just me? Way out here in the High Desert…I saw and listened to the free agent frenzy from afar in some respects and yet I felt right in it….knee deep in the craziness. It was in the 110’s most of the last week here. In the GM offices across the league, I am sure it was much hotter. Just when you thought the thermostat couldn’t break….it did.
Fireworks in GM offices everywhere…….
When Kevin Lowe offered Thomas Vanek a 50 million dollar offer sheet (add in the way it was frontloaded) and you had the ingredients for the same scenario that played out when Sergei Fedorov was a restricted free agent and Carolina was pursuing him. It seemed after Buffalo matched the sheet..that they had clearly won. However, a number of GM’s are clearly swirling in the midsts so to speak…waiting for the next RFA to pounce on. Edmonton wasn’t the only team coveting a RFA….multiple GM’s have made it known (anonymously) that there are several players they are looking to make an offer sheet to if the opportunity presents itself. So though Lowe may have burned a bridge in Buffalo….is it really any worse than what Clarke did last summer? Probably not.
Next on the Monday Ice Water Cooler….is well….Bill Guerin after 4 days of being an Islander is now wears the C on Long Island. This is from the team that fired its GM after a month…from the team that gave Dipietro a 15 year contract then let two of their best players walk away without a peep…then signed a bunch of players that made you wonder just what was going on. Making Guerin captain is just par for the course for a team that runs a business by committee approach that confounds most conventional experts. Maybe it will work out for them…more than likely it is a huge question mark that may just backfire.
Finally, I wanted to humbly announce that the new NHL Arena is looking better and better by the day. Thanks to the Commish and Zita for putting forth an amazing site to hop into. They have helped not only with the Arena itself but the blog and the promotional aspect in a way that can’t be imagined. Soon, everyone will be able to check out the new Arena for themselves and I’m proud to say that so many people had a role in it.
Thank you and good night from the ice water cooler….ah that cider goes good with a bbq.
