NHL awards/draft/off-season/training camp/preseason running thread

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

I guess the Devils will be looking elsewhere.

 

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

I didn't think he'd sign on the East coast. Edmonton makes sense. I'm pretty sure he still has family there after spending some time growing up in Edmonton.

 

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

For a guy who had loads of PP time and 28 goals his -28 was abysmal. That number probably scared a lot of teams...

 

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

The rumour I saw on a different board was that it was in the 4.5 mil range per for five years

 

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

Perhaps the funniest news of the day here. Apparently the Dallas Stars are getting way too fed up with the fact their fans and the media think they're clueless — and rightly so if you ask me. Check out this letter Stars president Jim Lites sent to fans via e-mail today. Pretty poor attempt from an organization with no vision, in my opinion.

An Unfiltered Letter from Dallas Stars President Jim Lites



July 12, 2007

Dear Stars fan,

There have been a lot of things written and said over the last two weeks, many of which have painted a negative perception of the Dallas Stars as a hockey club and where we are headed in the future. We've been called everything from 'stupid' to 'asleep at the wheel' to 'out of touch,' simply because we did not make a big splash in the free agent market.

I'm here to tell you that these beliefs, columns, opinions and statements couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, it's downright unfair. Contrary to what some have written or said, we haven't gone stupid overnight and we do have a plan in place.

The Dallas Stars have been the second-most successful team in the entire NHL over the last 11 years. We're proud of that mark, and you should be too, for your support has been a big factor in our success. Do we wish we had more hardware? Absolutely, but the consistent success we've achieved over the years cannot be ignored.

We were one of the best teams in the league again last season. The Stars won 50 games and earned 107 points, finishing just three points behind Pacific Division and Stanley Cup champ Anaheim (who we beat four times). And we did this while having the fifth-most man-games lost due to injury, most of which were our best players (Modano and Morrow). And we played our best hockey against the best teams (going 23-15-4 vs. all other playoff teams).

That's the good news. But obviously a first round loss in the playoffs was disappointing for all of us, and that is what people remember and center their attention on. That's understandable. We all want to win in the playoffs.

But in the new NHL, there are no longer "upsets" in the first round. All eight playoff teams in the West could have easily won the conference. The "new NHL" includes first round match-ups that are much closer than in the old system. The playing field is more level than ever before.

Some believe that we should make wholesale changes to this club because we have struggled in the playoffs of late. We disagree. It would be irresponsible of us to trade some of our core players because we believe that won't make us better. At the end of the day we would punish the fans and ourselves.

Would we like to add scoring? Yes. But we have to operate under the salary cap and do the best we can with the chips we have to play with at the table. We want to give ourselves the best chance for success, both short and long term. What we can't do is take unreasonable risks on contracts, which was something we could do under the old system. We can't take an extra center on a long-term deal and see if we can make him change positions and make him fit into our system. We tried that with Pierre Turgeon and it didn't work. That was OK when it was just money. We can't take that risk now with the salary cap.

These might sound like excuses to some but it is the reality of the business model we are in.

Doug Armstrong has done an excellent job in firming up our roster. He was able to sign Brenden Morrow and Jere Lehtinen to extensions one year ago at money and term that are fair and make sense. Then Doug traded for Mattias Norstrom at the trade deadline. These moves basically spent a lot of the possible money that would have been available for this year's crop of free agents. Any team that would have added these three players to their roster on July 1 would have been very happy.

That said, we were very much interested in adding a player to bolster our scoring (and still are). In essence, we have about a $4 million slot available to try and sign someone and we held discussions with several key free agents on July 1. In the end, all of our targets ended up getting more money and/or more term than we were comfortable with.

Many of the contracts that were signed by free agents in the first 24 hours of free agency were for what we like to call "stupid money." In our opinion, several teams drastically overpaid to sign these free agents and they are now tied to contracts for many years that they may regret in the future because of the way it will hinder their roster movement.

We refuse to mortgage our future simply to sign a free agent in July and appease the media. We're not going to sign a player to win a PR battle; we'll sign free agents to contracts that will help us win hockey games. We're going to do whatever it takes to get better but you have to make good smart decisions, because mistakes in this system can kill you.

There are still options available to add players to our roster. One possibility is making a trade to add that scorer. But the bottom line is that we will not make a move unless we feel it is the right one. And we don't need to make that move in July.

Some have asked me what kind of a team we're going to have this season. I think it's going to be a good one. Take last year's 50-win team and put it up against our roster right now. The main differences are Mattias Norstrom replacing Darryl Sydor, Joel Lundqvist replacing Eric Lindros, and Todd Fedoruk replacing Matthew Barnaby. Then look around our division and our conference and ask yourself has anyone gotten better? None of the playoff teams have. And our roster that you see today is probably not the final roster you will see on opening night. We will continue to look for a way to add scoring punch to this lineup.

There are three main things that a team needs to have to be successful in the NHL -- a quality goaltender, a productive offensive defenseman, and talented center-ice men. We feel we are in very good shape in all three of these areas for 2007-08.

Marty Turco is one of the best goaltenders in the league and is under contract for the next three years. We also feel very good about Mike Smith in his role as Marty's back-up. We just extended Sergei Zubov's contract through 2009. We expect him to again anchor our blue-liners and be an important player for us. And we think we're in good shape at the center position with Mike Modano, Mike Ribeiro and Jeff Halpern. We're talented and can compete.

Every decision we make is done to win hockey games. We've always spent to the cap and always will, thanks to a great owner in Tom Hicks. Money is not an issue. The Dallas Stars are about winning. We've won in the past, we're going to win this season, and we're going to win in the future.

As always, I want to hear from you. Please send me any feedback to StarsPresident@DallasStars.com [mailto:StarsPresident@DallasStars.com] or call me at 214-387-5502.

Thank you for your support of the Dallas Stars. Have a great summer!


Sincerely,

James R. Lites
President, Dallas Stars

 

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

$27 mill over 5.

Maybe Beef will stop bitching now.

 

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

Wow. Didn't know Edmonton was even in the running for Souray. Go figure ...

 

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

It's kinda weird it too so long.

He was in the top 5

 

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

Too much drama around his name?

 

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

I have no clue but it might be family issues.

 

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

Oilers site:

“I’m heading home to Alberta and I can’t wait to step onto the ice at Rexall Place”, said Souray. “It’s always been a terrific building to play in. I couldn’t be happier with my decision and I can tell you it was an easy one to make. I’m looking forward to playing in Edmonton for a great organization and believe me, I know how good the fans in Edmonton are.”

 

Re: 2007 NHL awards, draft and off-season running thread

Desperate move by Lites because he's heading a Star-less organization with Modano creeping to his retirement, that's if Mikey has been able to save a few dollars to feed his dog. I can't imagine too many Dallas fans are excited for another season full of 2-1 games, Turco losing another series, and Modano pretending to be a top line center.