All the cool kids are doing it, even Brian Burke. As transcribed by Alec Brownscombe at Maple Leafs Hot Stove, Burke spoke yesterday in Prince Edward Island at the Special Olympics Festival, and had a few interesting quips about this summer:
"With the salary cap and the new collective bargaining agreement that’s coming up, I don’t know what our plans are for filling out our roster," Burke told the large gathering at Credit Union Place.
"Free agency starts on July 1, it’s a really thin group.
"Teams are locking all these quality players up now, so the group that is getting to the market is thin, it’s shallow. There are really two high-end players and that’s about it, (Nashville defenceman) Ryan Suter and (New Jersey forward) Zach Parise.
"I don’t think we are going to be in on either one of them."
Here's hoping that he also doesn't spend more than a million dollars on some depth player whose services might be easily replaced by some AHL plug.
Follow me over the jump for more. Happy Thursday, everyone.
Assessing Nikolai Kulemin; Part I - Shooting and Scoring
Cam Charron looks at Kulemin's expected goal totals with normalized ice time, shots, and shooting percentage.
Assessing Nikolai Kulemin; Part II - Defence
Here, Charron examines the other half of the equation.
Is VLM missing the mark?
Go over and give Michael Langlois a tap on the shin pads.
The 10 best moments from this year’s class of Hall of Fame inductees
Video link from Justin Bourne at BHS.
Where Does This Hall Of Fame Class Stack Up?
Dirty Dangle has a look.
Flames acquire defenceman Wideman from Capitals
It's not that they gave up so much to sign him early, it's that they actually gave up anything to sign him early, and for a dumb contract at $5.25M per year for 5 years. Shockingly, as I write this, no NMC/NTC has been reported on Capgeek yet. Story from Alan Maki at the Globe & Mail.
Talks on new NHL collective agreement to begin Friday
Ugh, please no lockout. Story from Chris Johnston of the CP at the Globe.
Quick lunchtime rant on hockey rumours
Laura (a.k.a. @theactivestick) is upset.
On suffering, and waiting, and hanging on, and why
Another entry from Laura that she thought some of us around here at PPP could stand to read.
