Ilya Bryzgalov

[reeveta]

Richards to the Ducks? No way. From Tampa\'s prespective maybe but why would Anaheim want that? They need the cap space down the road to sign Perry and Getzlaf. They only way that could happen is if Anaheim can unload a bucket full of contracts the other way.

[Thieving Giraffe]

lanky522 wrote:

I think you\'re forgetting something in reference to the Washington comments. You mentioned Washington\'s propects, but you forgot about Kolzig. This guy is already 37 years old, and yet he\'s started at least 50 games every year since the 1997 season. He is a tremendous athlete and hardly ever gets hurt (I don\'t remember his last significant injury). He\'ll be around for years to come...

Actually, I completely agree, and that is part of what makes their goaltending situation work out so nicely. Kolzig has put together consecutive seasons in which, had he led a better team, he would have been in contention for the Vezina. If he can last another 3-4 seasons (and I wouldn\'t put it past him) then they\'ll have the chance to let him mentor one or more young prospects before retirement. I\'m hoping that Fernandez (a lesser goalie, but still a veteran) can do the same for TR in Boston.

[lanky522]

reeveta wrote:

Richards to the Ducks? No way. From Tampa\'s prespective maybe but why would Anaheim want that? They need the cap space down the road to sign Perry and Getzlaf. They only way that could happen is if Anaheim can unload a bucket full of contracts the other way.

I actually think that richards would be huge for the ducks... They don\'t really have a \"marquis\" center... McDonald is good, but he\'s really just a serviceable sort of guy. Richards leads teams in the playoffs better than most in the league. He\'s still young and ANY team should jump at the chance to get him if he goes on the trade block.

I don\'t think that this will ever happen, but I was just saying that at least Bryzgalov going to TB would make at least a little bit of sense...

Post edited by: lanky522, at: 2007/07/22 11:15

[lanky522]

TG wrote:

Actually, I completely agree, and that is part of what makes their goaltending situation work out so nicely. Kolzig has put together consecutive seasons in which, had he led a better team, he would have been in contention for the Vezina. If he can last another 3-4 seasons (and I wouldn\'t put it past him) then they\'ll have the chance to let him mentor one or more young prospects before retirement. I\'m hoping that Fernandez (a lesser goalie, but still a veteran) can do the same for TR in Boston.

Well put... I\'ve actually enjoyed living in the d.c. area because I\'ve been given the chance to watch \"Olli the Goalie\" play a lot.

You are quite right on the vezina comment though... if he had a team in front of him, he would\'ve won at least one vezina. He is a tremendous talent and it\'s quite hard for me to believe sometimes that he\'s one of the oldest players in the league.

It\'s a shame to that he\'s as loyal and has stuck with washington over the years, because his numbers are no where near what they should be considering his level of skill. Hugely under-rated goalie over the years.

[reeveta]

I hate to disagree with guys who know a lot more about hockey then me but how would it be possible to fit Richards in Anaheim? Even if it could be done this year at the trade deadline it is not possible for 2008-2009.

2008-2009 salaries (cap hits actually) from www.nhlnumbers.com:
4.000 Bertuzzi, Todd
3.333 McDonald, Andy
6.750 Niedermayer, Scott
6.250 Pronger, Chris
5.625 Schneider, Mathieu
6.000 Giguere, J.S.

That is 32 million tied up in 6 players.

Now, the main reason why Richards can’t fit Anahiem: Perry and Getzlaf. They are due for big raises. Assuming they continue to improve next year there is no reason why they shouldn’t get Hemsky (4.1) or Horton (4-mil) like money. Let’s say Burke can turn water into wine and gets the pair signed long term for 3.5 million a piece (Getzlaf and Perry should fire their agents). There is another 7 million.

Let’s assume that an NHL team needs 22 players and that next years cap will be 52 million.
So the Ducks would have 39 million tied up in 8 players. That leave 13 million for the remaining 14 guys? Do you really think Anaheim can make that happen? 14 guys on the team making less then 1 million on average? That means for every guy that makes 2 million 2 guys have to make league minimum. (I haven’t even counted contracts like Marchant (2.5 million), Rob Niedermayer (2 million), Beauchemin (1.65 million) because I am giving Burke the benefit of the doubt that he could get out of those deals with clever trading.)
Add a Richards in there and that eats up another 7.8 million? – then it actually becomes mathematically impossible instead of just practically impossible to put a team on the ice.

So there is no way that Anaheim can take on any more big contracts until 2009-2010 when they lose a few contracts. I would even state the opposite: they need to get rid of one ‘big’ or two ‘less-big’ contracts this year or they are in trouble for next year. Niedermayer retiring might do it for them but he wouldn’t free up enough space to add Richards.

Now I suppose that Burke could do it by overhauling a major part of his core (like moving Pronger or Giggy) but why would he do that since he just won the cup.

[Fighting_Emu]

I tend to agree, its just an intriguing idea. Its hard to fault burke as he has had the midas touch lately but Im not personally sold on this Bertuzzi experiment. When you consider that he was brought in to replace sellanne- you\'re looking at a question mark in production and a definitive downgrade in leadership. All in all if they could have landed Richards instead of Big Bert, there was a potential win/win solution for both these teams. Only time will tell- who knows if Tampa will even move Richards...

[lanky522]

fighting_emu wrote:

Only time will tell- who knows if Tampa will even move Richards...

yeah I\'m not saying anything will happen (i\'m actually quite sure nothing will) but it\'s just an interesting idea to throw around because it really would help both teams fairly significantly.

[hockeylifer]

I think that it would probably help Anaheim more. It would be easier for them to replace Bryzgalov, as the backup, than for TB to replace Richards, (considering player for player). The cap space that would be generated with any trade of Richards would certainly allow TB to improve in other areas. Bryzgalov would be huge for TB. I considered that such a move would be good for both teams. It would certainly get TB closer to being a contender again.