The Big Three, Part Two

The two men pictured are two-thirds of this potential Tampa Bay Lightning Big 3: Redux; the third is, of course, Pittsburgh newcomer Marian Hossa.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Penguins have offered Marian Hossa a long-term deal to the tune of $7 million and change per year, for the next 7 years.

If Hossa were to accept these terms, I can see two very different viewpoints regarding this deal.
The logic that the Pittsburgh brass seems to be following is that Hossa's playoff performance and chemistry with Sidney Crosby is worth their commitment, especially if he's interested in staying in town for less money than he could command in the free agent market.

On the other hand, Pens faithful have cause to be wary that the amount of money slotted to be tied up in Crosby, Hossa, and Malkin will soon be at the expense of role players like Staal, Talbot, or Sykora; or even sooner in the cases of UFAs Malone, Ruutu, and Orpik.

It seems to me that the issue here is whether the Penguins think that a championship is just around the corner or further down the road. Tearing through the playoffs (at least until running into a claustrophobic Detroit defense in the Finals) would suggest that they are missing very few pieces to their Stanley Cup puzzle; which is why this long-term Hossa deal boggles my mind. No one needs to be reminded that the Lightning's salary cap woes contributed to their post-Cup decline, and the Penguins seem to be treading a similar line, only without the championship pedigree.

I wouldn't argue that Hossa is a great hockey player and adds a ton to the Pittsburgh attack and special teams play, but, I will say though that he is only one man.

As of now, Crosby will be making $8.7 million a year and Gonchar is making $5 million. Adding Hossa's $7 million to that makes $20.7 million every year, split between three guys. That's almost half the cap!

What's going to happen a year from now, when Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal become RFAs? Next season, the Penguins will owe Malkin 3.8 large for his services. Barring a huge dropoff in production, he'll surely command a much larger salary in free agency. Maybe the Russian who fought through such a complicated process to play for Pittsburgh in the first place will keep his salary demands low to stay in Steeltown, and maybe he won't, but the Pens only have one more season of discounted Malkin before both parties are faced with difficult decisions.

Staal, who'll make $2.2 million next season, is in a similar situation. His two-way play makes the Pens one of the deepest teams in the NHL at center, though a third-line center behind Crosby and Malkin could easily see second-line minutes, and money, somewhere else.

My humble opinion is that Staal's skill set is perfect for third-line and special teams play, and he's one of the best in the game at them, but I certainly wouldn't blame the guy for wanting the chance to do bigger and better things in a different colored jersey.

Maybe Cup rings on the fingers of all the aforementioned players will make this speculation irrelevant, though I think that even if the Pens do win it all next year, they won't be able to keep the band together. There is already talk on the blog-o-sphere of Ryan Malone heading out to Columbus, where he and Rick Nash might just make for a pretty intense power play unit.

Whatever happens to the Pens in the coming years, the salary cap is certainly doing its intended job.

(Originally posted at http://bleacherreport.com/articles/29992-the-big-three-part-two-pittsburghs-cap-caper )

In Jim Rutherford's latest fireside chat on hurricanes.nhl.com, the GM stated a lot of what Hurricanes fans probably thought was obvious: The team is going to have to make some sort of move to improve their defense, be it through the draft, trade, or free agency.

Carolina is currently sitting on the No. 14 pick in this year's entry draft, so it's hopeful at best that the Canes can acquire the rights to someone who is an immediate NHL-caliber defenseman.

Free agency is an option, though the defensemen who will be available are mostly of the older variety (Rob Blake, J-M Liles) and/or out of realistic price range for a team who operates under a self-imposed cap limit.

Anything can happen of course, but as of right now, the Hurricanes have the following lineup on their homepage:

Line 1: Whitney-Staal-Cole

Line 2: Samsonov-Brind'amour-Williams

Line 3: Ruutu-Cullen-Walker

Line 4: LaRose-Letowski-Eaves

D: Wallin-Gleason, Kaberle-Corvo, Seidenberg-Conboy

With all of these players healthy, the Canes are definitely capable of dominating games offensively, the way they did at the beginning of last season. Even the late-season collapse didn't prevent them from finishing fourth overall in the Goals For column.

On the other hand, the departure of workhorses Glen Wesley and Bret Hedican leave a significant void in a defense that was already notoriously porous (or porously notorious... either one is fun to say), one that gave up more goals than 25 other NHL teams. The only teams allowing more goals than the red and black last year were the Maple Leafs, the Thrashers, and the tied-for-last Lightning and Kings. Yikes.

It was announced today that the Canes have locked up toughman Tim Gleason, the only legitimate 'defensive defenseman' in the system currently, to a backloaded four year contract—a move which incited much rejoicing. But without at least one other shutdown D-man, Cam Ward is going to have to steal a lot of games.

So, what to do?

The Canes are as offensively deep as any team in the NHL. If Jim Rutherford is looking to make a deal for a top-pairing defenseman, he has plenty of quality forwards to barter.

To a handful of other teams around the league with the exact opposite problem (lots of big name D-men but not a lot of offense; Nashville, Vancouver, Calgary, et al) this could be a fruitful partnership opportunity. The Carolina forward corps seems to be at an important crossroads, so let's break down where they stand.

Untouchable: Eric Staal, Rod Brind'amour

Brind'amour is team captain and signed on for three more years at a relatively modest $3.6 million per. The team would be foolish to ditch the two-time Selke winner now.

Staal wears an 'A' on his jersey (actually three... but this one is most important) and is pretty much destined to be captain once Brind'amour steps down. I'm pretty sure the franchise is committed to building around Staal for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't expect these two to go anywhere.

Rest Easy: Matt Cullen, Sergei Samsonov, Scott Walker, Patrick Eaves

Cullen has two years left on his contract, and $2.9 mil yearly, it's a pretty easy one on the organization's pocket. His 49 points in 59 games last year should convince the team to hang on to him.

Samsonov, in my mind the best player in a Hurricanes jersey during the final few games of the season, has a freshly-signed three-year deal and will probably not be traded.

Walker has a no-trade clause, and though he may choose to waive it if the price or team is right, he's signed to two more years making even less than Cullen. Trading him now would leave a hole that the team would have a hard time filling.

Eaves is the one I hesitated to put in this category. Rutherford seems to have a lot of faith in the one-time 20 goal scorer (20 goals in 58 games in 05-06, though it's worth pointing out that he only had 14 in 73 the next season) and at $1.4 million for the next three years, it would be almost impossible not to lose money in a big-name trade involving Eaves.

On the other hand, we haven't seen much production from him in his time here (to be fair, he only played in 11 games and was coming off surgery) and other teams are sure to figure out that his cheap contract is pretty attractive.

Stay Near the Phone: Tuomo Ruutu, Justin Williams, Ray Whitney, Erik Cole

Ruutu is an RFA next season, so unless he gets locked up soon he might be a good asset for a team looking to add sandpaper to their forward corps.

Williams has three years left on his contract, but the one-time all-star is one of the more expensive forwards on the payroll and probably one of the most attractive to other teams. If there were a team interested in a steady winger who can play both ends, Williams might be someone worth dealing for.

Ray Whitney has two years until becoming an unrestricted free agent and is also one of the pricier forwards currently in the Hurricanes system. Whitney and Williams both had injury problems last year, with the normally rock-solid Williams missing 45 games with a torn ACL. This could both be an argument for the Canes attempting to ship them out, or a warning sign that other teams might not be as interested thus keeping them in Carolina.

Erik Cole, one year away from free agency, is second only to Staal in cash made per year. Cole has been, in my opinion, a heart-and-soul player for this team for a long time. His return to the playoffs after a neck injury in '05-'06 was one of the feel-good stories of the year, and one of my favorite all-time stories.

If the Canes want to keep him, he may have to be willing to take a pay cut after next year. If he is not, then his value as trade bait has never been higher. Considering the possibility that the organization may have to let him walk away for nothing in a year anyway, Cole might be first in line to get shipped out of Raleigh next season or even this offseason.

If I can offer my own opinion, I hope that the Canes do what is necessary to keep Cole. I'm a sentimental guy, and I really don't want to see anyone leave town, especially any of the guys from the Stanley Cup team of a few years ago.

But realistically, if this team wants to be competitive, someone probably has to go.

I personally think that Whitney is the guy to deal, considering his age and contract, and any team would probably welcome the well-traveled sniper. I'd be sorry to lose him, but considering that we have a very similar type of player in Sergei Samsonov signed on for longer and cheaper, and Cole's longer tenure to the team, Ray Whitney's days in Raleigh may be numbered.

(Originally posted at http://bleacherreport.com/articles/30894-nhl-trade-winds-who-is-safe-in-carolina )