It's confirmed, the Coyotes have acquired forward Lauri Korpikoski from the New York Rangers in a straight player trade for Enver Lisin.
Korpikoski is a lightning quick winger who just completed his rookie season with the Rangers with 6goals and 14 points in 68 games.
Korpikoski was drafted by Coyotes GM Don Maloney and was one of New York's 2 first round draft picks in 2004. The other? Current Coyote goaltender Al Montoya.
Lisin had 13 goals in 48 games for the Coyotes this season.
Analysis coming later.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Dead Legend Walking
This is a real difficult blog to write. Because, I feel like I am writing Wayne Gretzky’s obituary as the coach of the Phoenix Coyotes.
Watching the game’s living legend be knocked around over the past few weeks has been a painful experience. He’s clearly a Canadian first and with the swirling controversy over Jim Balsillie and Hamilton, he doesn’t want to say or do anything that is not reverent to his birthplace. He is the living icon of the National Hockey League. No athlete, great or otherwise has ever shown the game more respect than Gretzky. He’s also the coach – and ostensibly the head of hockey operations for the Coyotes – and it’s a job he desperately wants to keep.
Each day that passes that seems less likely.
For starters Gretzky stayed away from the NHL draft and meetings last month in Montreal. He has been conspicuously absent in the discussion of the Coyotes off season player moves. His compensation (rightly so) was ripped in a study of Coyote team expenses. Rumors have been circulating that he won’t be welcome in the Reinsdorf-Kaites-Tavares organization. And Glendale has called into question his standing as a creditor in the Coyotes bankruptcy.
You can read more about Glendale and Gretzky here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/glendale-takes-aim-at-great-one/article1204887/
It’s a sad turn of events. At first he was clearly out of his element behind the bench. In the last two years, he’s grown in the job and seemed to enjoy it more than in prior years. His teams played hard even if they were not particularly well schooled. Now the vibe seems to be that he really wants to keep the job, is willing to take a substantial pay cut to keep it but may not get the chance.
New ownership is keeping their mouths shut until the bankruptcy purchase is completed but you get the sense that a late summer coaching change is imminent. While there is hockey and business justification for a coaching change, there is still an emotional tug that says he’s the greatest player who ever played the game and someone who has always honored the game. He deserves better.
Wayne Gretzky won’t get fired. If the decision is made to end his association with the Coyotes, he will resign gracefully. Because that is his style. And while he has not been the great one as a coach, he has handled a difficult situation with grace and composure. Wayne Gretzky has never demanded the spotlight – it always found him. Now he lurks in the background as a creditor, a financial albatross and a supporting actor in a play that has gone horribly wrong. It is so uncomfortable.
I’m reminded of a comment that was made about Wayne when he played and lived in LA. “He’s a great, hockey player” a business associate once told me, “but he’s an even better human being”. Good people deserve better.
If Wayne’s World is indeed closing, we’ll be watching a chapter of his remarkable career without a happy ending. And we all will be watching an opportunity slip away that started with so much promise but now is eclipsed by an economic struggle for survival.
Somehow, we’ll all be a little poorer for the experience.
Watching the game’s living legend be knocked around over the past few weeks has been a painful experience. He’s clearly a Canadian first and with the swirling controversy over Jim Balsillie and Hamilton, he doesn’t want to say or do anything that is not reverent to his birthplace. He is the living icon of the National Hockey League. No athlete, great or otherwise has ever shown the game more respect than Gretzky. He’s also the coach – and ostensibly the head of hockey operations for the Coyotes – and it’s a job he desperately wants to keep.
Each day that passes that seems less likely.
For starters Gretzky stayed away from the NHL draft and meetings last month in Montreal. He has been conspicuously absent in the discussion of the Coyotes off season player moves. His compensation (rightly so) was ripped in a study of Coyote team expenses. Rumors have been circulating that he won’t be welcome in the Reinsdorf-Kaites-Tavares organization. And Glendale has called into question his standing as a creditor in the Coyotes bankruptcy.
You can read more about Glendale and Gretzky here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/glendale-takes-aim-at-great-one/article1204887/
It’s a sad turn of events. At first he was clearly out of his element behind the bench. In the last two years, he’s grown in the job and seemed to enjoy it more than in prior years. His teams played hard even if they were not particularly well schooled. Now the vibe seems to be that he really wants to keep the job, is willing to take a substantial pay cut to keep it but may not get the chance.
New ownership is keeping their mouths shut until the bankruptcy purchase is completed but you get the sense that a late summer coaching change is imminent. While there is hockey and business justification for a coaching change, there is still an emotional tug that says he’s the greatest player who ever played the game and someone who has always honored the game. He deserves better.
Wayne Gretzky won’t get fired. If the decision is made to end his association with the Coyotes, he will resign gracefully. Because that is his style. And while he has not been the great one as a coach, he has handled a difficult situation with grace and composure. Wayne Gretzky has never demanded the spotlight – it always found him. Now he lurks in the background as a creditor, a financial albatross and a supporting actor in a play that has gone horribly wrong. It is so uncomfortable.
I’m reminded of a comment that was made about Wayne when he played and lived in LA. “He’s a great, hockey player” a business associate once told me, “but he’s an even better human being”. Good people deserve better.
If Wayne’s World is indeed closing, we’ll be watching a chapter of his remarkable career without a happy ending. And we all will be watching an opportunity slip away that started with so much promise but now is eclipsed by an economic struggle for survival.
Somehow, we’ll all be a little poorer for the experience.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Coyotes This & That…
Two Coyotes -- Nigel Dawes and Dan Winnik have filed for salary arbitration. This means that if the team and the layers do not reach agreement on a contract, a hearing will be held on a hearing in Toronto between July 20th and August 4th. The players and the team will argue their respective cases and an arbitrator will decide their 2009-10 salary.
The two players cannot sign offer sheets and are bound to play for the Coyotes by the amount decided by the arbitrator. The team has walk away rights from offers if they choose. This could be an issue if Dawes is rewarded with a higher offer than the Coyotes are comfortable paying based on his modest goal scoring over the past two years. On Monday we’ll learn if the Coyotes are invoking team elected salary arbitration on any of their other RFAs. This could happen if negotiations with any of the qualified RFAs are not going well. Watch to see if Keith Yandle or Scott Upshall are taken to arbitration.
Elsewhere, there are still lots of quality players available in free agency. I count 32 players who made more than $2MM last year and another 31 who made between $1-2MM looking for work.
Unfortunately for the Yotes, the number one need on their shopping list is goal scorers and there are not a lot of marksmen still unsigned. And the ones left are generally in the back half of their careers and looking for landing places with contenders. Players like Alex Kovalev, Alex Tanguay, Saku Koivu, Petr Sykora and Robert Lang are all likely to head to teams looking to win now.
Don Maloney has a few choices. He can break the bank for one of the bigger names. Of those available, Tanguay may be the best price/value option. Or he can roll the dice on a reclamation project. Maxim Afinogenov anyone? Or perhaps he may be to find a trading partner.
If Maloney decides to go the trade route, he has plenty of assets available, mostly on the back end. The Coyotes have 7 NHL defensemen signed for next year (OK, 6 + David Hale) and 4 1st round draft choices coming along. He could also further fortify the backline with any of the several workmanlike defensemen still available. And perhaps that would open up the possibility of trading a defenseman for a scoring forward.
And the ability to move a defenseman could also address the payroll situation. While GMDM still has some money available (The Coyotes are flirting with the cap floor with their current roster) there’s little doubt he would be open to moving the two bad contracts on the team – defensemen Ed Jovanoski and Jim Vandermeer. If he could move either or both contracts, it could open up many possibilities. He would certainly have to take salary back but right now there are more quality defensemen available than scorers.
Several rumor mills are talking about Jovo being in play. There’s little doubt that Maloney has already talked to the player and his agent about possible destinations (likely before the draft) and a deal could happen. The Coyotes would no doubt have been in the Ryan Smyth trade talks but without moving a big contract, they couldn’t take that kind of salary back. It’s almost impossible to guess what players might be available but a big salary for big salary trade could be the next Coyotes move.
And on a somewhat unrelated subject, you may have heard that the Chicago Blackhawks may have missed the deadline for tendering their restricted free agents. If that’s the case as many as 14 Hawks could be declared free agents. It’s a complex case that is being investigated by the NHL and being closely watched by the NHLPA. Cam Barker and Kris Versteeg are the biggest names available and if both became free agents, they would get tremendous interest around the league. Probably too rich for the Coyotes system.
There’s another lesser known player who might interest the Coyotes – goaltender Corey Crawford. He’s projected as the backup in Chicago next year and as a prospect on the rise, he could be a very appealing free agent. Front office fiascos of this nature are not unprecedented – it happened to the New Jersey Devils several years ago. The difference this time around is the salary cap restraints. It would clearly cramp the Hawks going forward.
The two players cannot sign offer sheets and are bound to play for the Coyotes by the amount decided by the arbitrator. The team has walk away rights from offers if they choose. This could be an issue if Dawes is rewarded with a higher offer than the Coyotes are comfortable paying based on his modest goal scoring over the past two years. On Monday we’ll learn if the Coyotes are invoking team elected salary arbitration on any of their other RFAs. This could happen if negotiations with any of the qualified RFAs are not going well. Watch to see if Keith Yandle or Scott Upshall are taken to arbitration.
Elsewhere, there are still lots of quality players available in free agency. I count 32 players who made more than $2MM last year and another 31 who made between $1-2MM looking for work.
Unfortunately for the Yotes, the number one need on their shopping list is goal scorers and there are not a lot of marksmen still unsigned. And the ones left are generally in the back half of their careers and looking for landing places with contenders. Players like Alex Kovalev, Alex Tanguay, Saku Koivu, Petr Sykora and Robert Lang are all likely to head to teams looking to win now.
Don Maloney has a few choices. He can break the bank for one of the bigger names. Of those available, Tanguay may be the best price/value option. Or he can roll the dice on a reclamation project. Maxim Afinogenov anyone? Or perhaps he may be to find a trading partner.
If Maloney decides to go the trade route, he has plenty of assets available, mostly on the back end. The Coyotes have 7 NHL defensemen signed for next year (OK, 6 + David Hale) and 4 1st round draft choices coming along. He could also further fortify the backline with any of the several workmanlike defensemen still available. And perhaps that would open up the possibility of trading a defenseman for a scoring forward.
And the ability to move a defenseman could also address the payroll situation. While GMDM still has some money available (The Coyotes are flirting with the cap floor with their current roster) there’s little doubt he would be open to moving the two bad contracts on the team – defensemen Ed Jovanoski and Jim Vandermeer. If he could move either or both contracts, it could open up many possibilities. He would certainly have to take salary back but right now there are more quality defensemen available than scorers.
Several rumor mills are talking about Jovo being in play. There’s little doubt that Maloney has already talked to the player and his agent about possible destinations (likely before the draft) and a deal could happen. The Coyotes would no doubt have been in the Ryan Smyth trade talks but without moving a big contract, they couldn’t take that kind of salary back. It’s almost impossible to guess what players might be available but a big salary for big salary trade could be the next Coyotes move.
And on a somewhat unrelated subject, you may have heard that the Chicago Blackhawks may have missed the deadline for tendering their restricted free agents. If that’s the case as many as 14 Hawks could be declared free agents. It’s a complex case that is being investigated by the NHL and being closely watched by the NHLPA. Cam Barker and Kris Versteeg are the biggest names available and if both became free agents, they would get tremendous interest around the league. Probably too rich for the Coyotes system.
There’s another lesser known player who might interest the Coyotes – goaltender Corey Crawford. He’s projected as the backup in Chicago next year and as a prospect on the rise, he could be a very appealing free agent. Front office fiascos of this nature are not unprecedented – it happened to the New Jersey Devils several years ago. The difference this time around is the salary cap restraints. It would clearly cramp the Hawks going forward.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Day Two of Free Agency...Give The Coyotes an "A"
Give the Coyotes an “A” for their latest free agent signing.
A as in Adrian Aucoin. This is more like what I had in mind for this off season. This is a good, potentially great signing.
Aucoin is a horse. He played 22 minutes a game this year for a very good Calgary team. He scored 10 goals in each of the last two seasons totaling 34 and 35 points. And even though he’s slowed down a little at age 35, he still is a strong skater and a steadying influence.
All of this on a very flexible one year contract for $2.25MM. Or said another way, $50,000 less than Jim Vandermeer. Still think that wasn’t part of the Jokinen deal and was made in March?
So what is going on as NHL free agency completes its’ second full day? Well for starters, star players still got star money. Gaborik for $7.5MM in New York. Havlat for $5MM in Minnesota. And Hossa for ever in Chicago.
But the second wave of free agent signings seems to be coming much more slowly. Only about half as many players signed on the second day this year compared to last year. And by my count, there are still over 30 players who made $2MM or more last year who have not yet signed new contracts.
Aucoin was squarely in that group. He made $4MM last year finishing off a 4 year contract he signed after the lockout with the Chicago Blackhawks. He took a big pay cut and a one year contract to get a seat at the table. Others will likely be in the same position.
It’s unlikely that a Robert Lang or Alex Kovalev will drop far enough to be in Don Maloney’s price bracket but some good offensive players who might are Ales Kotalik ($2.5MM last year), Maxim Afinogenov ($3.5MM), Mikael Samuelsson ($1.2MM) and Petr Sykora ($2.5MM). There’s also the possibility of a trade that brings a contracted player to the Coyotes.
Even with the signings of Aucoin, Vernon Fiddler, Jason LaBarbera and the acquisition of Jim Vandermeer, the Coyotes are still hovering around the salary cap floor. It appears there’s room for one more contract and that will almost certainly be a scorer.
Like much of the television advertising we see these days, prices have never been better. And better yet, operators are standing by. That’s great news when dollars are tight and your needs are great.
GMDM, Shop till they tell you to stop!
A as in Adrian Aucoin. This is more like what I had in mind for this off season. This is a good, potentially great signing.
Aucoin is a horse. He played 22 minutes a game this year for a very good Calgary team. He scored 10 goals in each of the last two seasons totaling 34 and 35 points. And even though he’s slowed down a little at age 35, he still is a strong skater and a steadying influence.
All of this on a very flexible one year contract for $2.25MM. Or said another way, $50,000 less than Jim Vandermeer. Still think that wasn’t part of the Jokinen deal and was made in March?
So what is going on as NHL free agency completes its’ second full day? Well for starters, star players still got star money. Gaborik for $7.5MM in New York. Havlat for $5MM in Minnesota. And Hossa for ever in Chicago.
But the second wave of free agent signings seems to be coming much more slowly. Only about half as many players signed on the second day this year compared to last year. And by my count, there are still over 30 players who made $2MM or more last year who have not yet signed new contracts.
Aucoin was squarely in that group. He made $4MM last year finishing off a 4 year contract he signed after the lockout with the Chicago Blackhawks. He took a big pay cut and a one year contract to get a seat at the table. Others will likely be in the same position.
It’s unlikely that a Robert Lang or Alex Kovalev will drop far enough to be in Don Maloney’s price bracket but some good offensive players who might are Ales Kotalik ($2.5MM last year), Maxim Afinogenov ($3.5MM), Mikael Samuelsson ($1.2MM) and Petr Sykora ($2.5MM). There’s also the possibility of a trade that brings a contracted player to the Coyotes.
Even with the signings of Aucoin, Vernon Fiddler, Jason LaBarbera and the acquisition of Jim Vandermeer, the Coyotes are still hovering around the salary cap floor. It appears there’s room for one more contract and that will almost certainly be a scorer.
Like much of the television advertising we see these days, prices have never been better. And better yet, operators are standing by. That’s great news when dollars are tight and your needs are great.
GMDM, Shop till they tell you to stop!
Yawn...
The NHL draft and free agency have not been the buzz builders that the Phoenix Coyotes had hoped for.
Aside from dealing for a couple of minor league prospects, the only NHL player acquired at the draft was defenseman Jim Vandermeer who came over from the Calgary Flames. Now one day into free agency the Yotes’ have added journeyman (don’t you just love that word) goaltender Jason LaBarbera and utility (another cool adjective) forward Vernon Fiddler as free agents.
I didn’t even write a free agent preview because I wasn’t expecting much out of the Coyotes. Everyone assumed GM Don Maloney would be shopping in the bargain aisle this summer. So far, it feels like the clearance bin at the dollar store.
Fiddler is a nice 3rd/4th line player. He works hard, kills penalties, wins face-offs and was a crowd favorite in Nashville. He will fill the Steve Reinprecht role on the team.
LaBarbera is an enigma. Like most goaltenders he is streaky. But boy is he ever streaky. He can be very good one night and very bad the next. In parts of 5 NHL seasons, it’s been more bad (2.97 GAA) than good.
Maloney has history with the lanky goaltender. When GMDM was in New York, LaBarbera was a Ranger draftee and farmhand.
Here’s a great story about Jason’s roller coaster career…
http://crashingthegoalie.com/2009/02/15/the-ups-and-downs-of-jason-labarbera/
LaBarbera was signed to push Ilya Bryzgalov but in reality he won’t be doing that. He’ll battle another form Ranger, Al Montoya, for the backup position.
But there is still hope for a shot of electricity that the franchise desperately needs. The silver lining here is that even with the three acquisitions made to date, the Coyotes are still below the NHL salary cap floor. I’ll do the math later today but it looks that even with reasonable qualifying offer allowances for players like Keith Yandle and Scott Upshall, the team still has enough money to buy another player or two.
So now what? The team still needs help on defense. Preferably a right hand shot. Derek Morris is still out there but there’s a certain ‘been there, done that’ quality to any potential resigning. And let’s not forget that Morris was awful for much of 2008-09.
And there’s a real need for a proven goal scorer to take some pressure off the young guns. The Coyotes were 29th in the NHL in scoring last year. While there is a lot of hope for internal improvement, there’s still a long way to go. There will be a lot of pressure on the kids to produce if this is the team we go to war with.
As other teams sign shiny new free agents, there may be some salary dumps available. And there’s always the player who won’t have a seat when the music stops playing who may just decide Phoenix in January sounds pretty damn good.
Until there is new ownership in place, Phoenix will simply not have the money or will to compete for premium free agents. There’s no money to take on big contracts from other teams. There is however a need to create news and excitement around the team and the next few days will go a long way to seeing what rabbits GMDM might be able to pull out of the hat.
Aside from dealing for a couple of minor league prospects, the only NHL player acquired at the draft was defenseman Jim Vandermeer who came over from the Calgary Flames. Now one day into free agency the Yotes’ have added journeyman (don’t you just love that word) goaltender Jason LaBarbera and utility (another cool adjective) forward Vernon Fiddler as free agents.
I didn’t even write a free agent preview because I wasn’t expecting much out of the Coyotes. Everyone assumed GM Don Maloney would be shopping in the bargain aisle this summer. So far, it feels like the clearance bin at the dollar store.
Fiddler is a nice 3rd/4th line player. He works hard, kills penalties, wins face-offs and was a crowd favorite in Nashville. He will fill the Steve Reinprecht role on the team.
LaBarbera is an enigma. Like most goaltenders he is streaky. But boy is he ever streaky. He can be very good one night and very bad the next. In parts of 5 NHL seasons, it’s been more bad (2.97 GAA) than good.
Maloney has history with the lanky goaltender. When GMDM was in New York, LaBarbera was a Ranger draftee and farmhand.
Here’s a great story about Jason’s roller coaster career…
http://crashingthegoalie.com/2009/02/15/the-ups-and-downs-of-jason-labarbera/
LaBarbera was signed to push Ilya Bryzgalov but in reality he won’t be doing that. He’ll battle another form Ranger, Al Montoya, for the backup position.
But there is still hope for a shot of electricity that the franchise desperately needs. The silver lining here is that even with the three acquisitions made to date, the Coyotes are still below the NHL salary cap floor. I’ll do the math later today but it looks that even with reasonable qualifying offer allowances for players like Keith Yandle and Scott Upshall, the team still has enough money to buy another player or two.
So now what? The team still needs help on defense. Preferably a right hand shot. Derek Morris is still out there but there’s a certain ‘been there, done that’ quality to any potential resigning. And let’s not forget that Morris was awful for much of 2008-09.
And there’s a real need for a proven goal scorer to take some pressure off the young guns. The Coyotes were 29th in the NHL in scoring last year. While there is a lot of hope for internal improvement, there’s still a long way to go. There will be a lot of pressure on the kids to produce if this is the team we go to war with.
As other teams sign shiny new free agents, there may be some salary dumps available. And there’s always the player who won’t have a seat when the music stops playing who may just decide Phoenix in January sounds pretty damn good.
Until there is new ownership in place, Phoenix will simply not have the money or will to compete for premium free agents. There’s no money to take on big contracts from other teams. There is however a need to create news and excitement around the team and the next few days will go a long way to seeing what rabbits GMDM might be able to pull out of the hat.
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