Turco to Chicago

[Robin Hood]

It's only posted as a rumour right now but apparently its for 1.75m:

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=805370

[Lee]

Let the games begin.

Turco is available. Bids start at a 1st round pickand young top 6 forward

[The BBKL Insider]

Let the games begin.

Turco is available. Bids start at a 1st round pickand young top 6 forward

sucks he'll be a back up

[Lee]

sucks he'll be a back up

You are assuming they keep Niemi and that if they do, he plays as well as he did last year AND that they arn't being platooned

[tyler]

Let the games begin.

Turco is available. Bids start at a 1st round pickand young top 6 forward

rofl.

[The BBKL Insider]

You are assuming they keep Niemi and that if they do, he plays as well as he did last year AND that they arn't being platooned

they already signed Niemi, no?

2.3 mil per 1 year?

[Shoalzie]

they already signed Niemi, no?

2.3 mil per 1 year?

That was the decision handed down from the hearing...nothing has been said if they go for this salary. They have 48 hours from when that was announced to make a decision. This is why the rumors of Turco (and briefly before that, Theodore) have been popping up. I can't imagine that Turco signing happens before something is done with Niemi. It would almost be foolish on their part to just let him walk. Maybe they do an NBA-style sign-and-trade to get something for him instead of just saying no to the deal and let him become a UFA. This is the cap era for ya...a Stanley Cup winning goalie could be shown the door because of cap issues. It's going to be one or the other...Niemi or Turco will be the man in Chicago next year with probably Crawford or Toivonen as the cheap option at backup.

[Topher]

Arbitration awarded Niemi 2.75 for one year and reports say that Chicago is making up their mind today on this.

[Shoalzie]

Arbitration awarded Niemi 2.75 for one year and reports say that Chicago is making up their mind today on this.

Done deal...the Hawks sign Turco and let Niemi walk.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=535332


The trickle down gets interesting...who finds a home first, Niemi or any of the remaining free agents (Theodore, etc.)? Does Niemi become the most attractive target in free agency? Does he go on to take less than the $2.75 million on the open market?

[The BBKL Insider]

Arbitration awarded Niemi 2.75 for one year and reports say that Chicago is making up their mind today on this.

i see that

i thought the hawks signed him after his arbitration, i guess they are still undecided

[Nick]

i thought the hawks signed him after his arbitration, i guess they are still undecided

No, They've made up their mind, they are walking away.

[Scott]

But who really even needs a goalie out there? Nobody if you ask me.

[Shoalzie]

It's not like $2.75 million is a bad price for Niemi considering he just won a cup and a guy like Nittymaki signed for $2 million with the Sharks, Mason signed for $1.85 million with the Thrashers and Ellis signed for $1.5 million with the Lightning...plus Halak, a year younger, signed for a million more a year than Niemi's price. The cap is kicking the Blackhawks' ass this summer.

Is there any doubt that they've been downgraded more this offseason than the Wings were last summer when they lost Hudler, Samuelsson and Hossa? I see them still contending but I think the Wings and Hawks are about even now in the Central and I think Vancouver, the Sharks and the Kings are on the come as well. The league is about as wide-open as it ever has been since the lockout...great balance amongst the top teams.

[Nick]

Niemi simply wasn't that good, and was not the reason for them winning the cup. IMO Turco is an upgrade.

[Scott]

I agree Scott.. it's definitely going to be a crap-shoot this season.

[Nick]

I disagree.

Losing Hossa, Samuelsson & Hudler, as well as the aging of your star players is a worse off season then losing Buffy, Verbeauty, Ladd, Soper, Eager & Niemi, especially when they are replaced by Beach, Stalberg, Skille, Morin, Paradis, Leddy, Vishnevskiy, Marcus Kruger & Turco.... & Kane, Toews, Keith all get older....which is a good thing given how young they are.


However with that said, its not like they ran away with the regular season, or the playoffs, they simply won it all, and in hindsight it seems they were the best by a mile, why else would they win it all?

[Shoalzie]

But who really even needs a goalie out there? Nobody if you ask me.

Quick run through of the league...

Anaheim: Hiller/McElhinney...maybe the Ducks upgrade at the backup spot?
Atlanta: Mason/Pavelec...probably not
Boston: Rask/Thomas...is Thomas stuck there as an expensive backup?
Buffalo: Miller/Lalime...nope
Calgary: Kiprusoff/backup?...they don't have a veteran signed to backup Kipper and it's not like he can keep playing 70-75 games for much longer
Carolina: Ward/Peters...probably not
Chicago: Turco/Huet...Huet is probably a goner unless they can unload Campbell's salary
Colorado: Anderson/Budaj...nope
Columbus: Mason/Garon...nope
Dallas: Lehtonen/Raycroft...nope
Detroit: Howard/Osgood...nope
Edmonton: Khabibulin/Deslauriers...nope
Florida: Vokoun/Clemmensen...nope
Los Angeles: Quick/Bernier or Ersberg...nope
Minnesota: Backstrom/Harding...nope
Montreal: Price/Auld or Sanford...nope
Nashville: Rinne/backup?...like Calgary, they have a workhorse #1 but no veteran backup
New Jersey: Brodeur/Hedberg...nope
NY Islanders: Roloson/DiPietro...probably not (cheap bastards)
NY Rangers: Lundqvist/Biron...nope
Ottawa: Elliott/Leclaire...nope
Philadelphia: Leighton/Boucher...doubtful
Phoenix: Bryzgalov/Labarbera...nope
Pittsburgh: Fleury/Johnson...nope
San Jose: Niittymaki/Greiss...probably not
St. Louis: Halak/Conklin...nope
Tampa Bay: Ellis/Smith...nope
Toronto: Giguere/Gustavsson...nope
Vancouver: Luongo/Schneider...probably not
Washington: Varlamov/Neuvirth...maybe they sign a veteran backup or consider bringing Theo back for cheap?

At this point, the only jobs available are backup jobs. Theodore might take one of those gigs for cheap but how crappy of situation is this for Niemi? You win a cup and get a reasonable arbitration award but end up on your ass because your team mismanaged the cap. I wonder if goes overseas for a year and comes back next year when some other jobs open up.

[Topher]

Khabi is up in the air who is to say Edmonton doesn't take on Niemi

[Nick]

Khabi is up in the air who is to say Edmonton doesn't take on Niemi

I had similar thoughts, and adding someone who has 'won' is a big thing for a young team.

[Shoalzie]

I disagree.

Losing Hossa, Samuelsson & Hudler, as well as the aging of your star players is a worse off season then losing Buffy, Verbeauty, Ladd, Soper, Eager & Niemi, especially when they are replaced by Beach, Stalberg, Skille, Morin, Paradis, Leddy, Vishnevskiy, Marcus Kruger & Turco.... & Kane, Toews, Keith all get older....which is a good thing given how young they are.


However with that said, its not like they ran away with the regular season, or the playoffs, they simply won it all, and in hindsight it seems they were the best by a mile, why else would they win it all?

The Wings weren't crippled by their free agent losses but what put them in an unfamiliar position (fighting for their playoff lives) was the fact that injuries pushed what little depth they had to the limit. The same can be said for the Hawks. They're probably alright with their healthy lineup but they can't lose a guy like Sharp or Hossa to an injury because they don't have a Versteeg or a Byfuglien to fill in. What they'll need is continued development from Bolland plus a guy like Brouwer needs to chip in offensively like he did this last season.

The Hawks got a lot of contributions out of their secondary pieces...Byfuglien, Versteeg and Ladd are very good role players. They're still very good up front as I said but those are three guys that are tough to just replace with other guys...they fit their roles well. They have to fill the holes with rookies and bargain basement veterans...it's a step down until those other guys prove they can replace what they lost. Going into this past season, their depth was staggering...now, it's very good but they've got question marks and less margin for error if they lost a top 6 guy to injury. They survived the first couple months with Hossa on the shelf because they were so deep.