Rangers Re-sign Stepan

Just hours before they were set to have their arbitration hearing, the New York Rangers and restricted free-agent center, Derek Stepan agreed on terms of a 6 year deal...$39 million for six years...$6.5 million...Not a bad agreement since Stepan (25) was heading into the arbitration looking for $7.25 million yearly, and the Rangers were offering $5.2 million...

Besides being a key member to the Rangers lineup, it was the ridiculous contract that Buffalo gave Ryan O'Reilly, that was forcing this to arbitration if the Rangers didn't pay up...Stepan is a solid two-way center, who has better numbers the O'Reilly...

More info backing up this signing...Stepan is the first New York Rangers' to put up 50 or more points in 3 consecutive seasons, since Wayne Gretzky...

This past season Stepan finished 5th or higher in all of the following team stats...Assists, Points, Game-Winning Goals, Plus/Minus rating, Shots on Goal, Power Play Goals, Power Play Assists, Power Play Points, Short-handed Goals, Short-handed Assists, and Short-handed Points...

The only other player to do that was Chicago's Jonathan Toews...

Stepan is a key piece for this team to continue doing what they've been doing...But they have hardly any room under the cap now...I would like to see them move defenseman Dan Boyle, but I'm not sure anyone wants that old man and his contract...An easier contract to move would be defenseman, Kevin Klein who just had his best season of his career, and is cap hit just under $3 million...

Rangers fans are happy we got Stepan locked up, along with other key restricted free agents, JT Miller, Jesper Fast, and Emerson Etem...But a bit of cap wiggle room will help too.

Lots of NHL Moves...Who Won?

This past week the NHL's free agency period opened up...And while there were plenty of signings, the biggest moves were all trades...The first one, and the biggest one was the Toronto Maple Leafs, after much speculation, moving talented scorer, Phil Kessel to the Pittsburgh Penguins...And while many in Toronto are happy to be rid of Kessel, the Penguins won this deal...

Kessel, with great hands, great skating, good speed, to go with his piss-poor defense, often out of shape, coach killing, locker room cancer ways, has driven people crazy since stepping into the NHL...Guys with his goal scoring ability don't get traded for no reason...Especially not twice...By all accounts the guy is a pain in the ass...He has a wealth of talent, but doesn't work hard enough...Doesn't play D...He's fat...But man can he shoot...And now he's going to a team where he has talented people around him, to feed him the puck, and he won't have to worry about D...Sidney Crosby has got to have had a boner since this news broke...There's a chance he'll actually be playing with an elite goal scorer, assuming the pair Kessel with him and not Malkin...Malkin and Sid don't play well together...So with this deal, the Penguins could have two high-powered lines...

And what did they give up for Kessel? Well, Kessel comes with two prospects who haven't sniffed the potential they are said to have in D-Tim Erixon, and W- Tyler Biggs...As well as a 2nd round pick...The Penguins gave up, Prospect F-Kasperi Kapanen, average prospect, F-Nick Spaling, and prospect D- Scott Harrington, who if I'm making a big trade, he is not the Penguins D prospect that I would trade for...They have better...Also the Penguins send conditional 1st and 3rd round picks...The Leafs may be rid of the Kessel bullshit, but they lost...

Pittsburgh also resigned trade deadline acquisition, D- Ian Cole...3 years for $6.3 million is a good deal for keeping your Blue line strong...

The other big trade...The St. Louis Blues sent star RW- T.J. Oshie to the Washington Capitals for F- Troy Brouwer, G-prospect Phoenix Copley, and a 3rd round pick...Ummm, Yeah, Washington is a big time winner here...Oshie gives them the ability to have two strong top lines...And makes their Power Play a lot better...Brouwer is an average grinder guy...And Goaltending prospects are often the toughest to figure out...Example, Rick Dipietro was a first round pick, and fucking horrible! Henrik Lundqvist is one of the NHL's elite goalies, and he was a 7th round pick...

There were a lot of rumblings that at least one of S. Louis's stars was going to get moved, so I wasn't shocked when it was Oshie...He was quite outspoken late last season about the teams lack of respect for their coach...

The next trade, and this one surprised the shit out of me...The Chicago Blackhawks traded pending restricted free agent W- Brandon Saad, prospect F- Alex Broadhurst, and prospect D- Michael Paliotta to the Columbus Bluejackets for forwards Artem Anisimov, Marko Dano, Jeremy Morin, Corey Tropp, and a 4th round pick...It was no secret that Chicago was going to have to make tough decisions, and there are probably a couple more moves they will make to free up cap space...But trading the young, talented Saad who had a huge playoff run, caught a fee of us off-gaurd...

Anisimov is good, and Dano will jump right into the lineup as well...Tropp is a grinder who may end up in the AHL, and this will be Morin's second stop in Chicago, and not much is expected...Saad bolsters an already Talented and ready to burst lineup in Columbus...Adding him to their top six just made this already tough to play team, a real pain in the ass...Columbus locked Saad up this week with a 6 year, $36 million contract...Columbus wins this deal...

Signing-wise, the winners start in Alberta...Edmonton signed D- Andrej Sekera (6 years $33 million) and F- Mark Letestu (3 years $5.4 million)... Letestu is a well rounded player who can play on the PP and PK and will be a good influence with that young team...

Calgary signed RW- Michael Frolik (5 years $21.5 million) after a breakout season...They also agreed to terms with 22 year old D- Dougie Hamilton (6 years 34.5 million) after trading with Boston for him...They also inked G- Karri Ramo for another year at $3.8 million...Between their draft weekend moves, and these, both of Alberta's teams are looking good...

Arizona did well too...Signing back two players they recently traded...Stanley Cup Finals clutch performer, F- Antoine Vermette (2 years $7.5 million)   and D- Zbynek Michalek (2 years 6.4 million)...Also, solid backup goalie Anders Lindback (1 year $875,000) and tough guy, with some skill, Steve Downie (1 year $1.75 million)...

One signing jumped out at me, and could be a surprise win...The Ducks signed Goalie Matt Hackett for 2 years $1.2 million...Hackett (25 years old) was the third string guy in Minnesota, before he was traded to Buffalo...In Buffalo he was lumped in with a mess of goalies, and none quite got the shot to be the guy...Hackett has talent, and if he gets regular work, he could be really good...

Losers... Buffalo...Yes, they signed 2nd overall pick Jack Eichel...But on draft weekend they traded for Ryan O'Reilly, who comes with a big ego and an agent that feeds it, and wins apparently...At 24 years old, and 6 seasons into his NHL career, O'Reilly has only scored 20 or more goals in a season, once...Yet his agent was commanding big money, and that's why Colorado was eager to trade the physical, defensive Center...Well, Buffalo resigned him to a 7 year, $52.5 million deal...

The O'Reilly deal will lead to more winners...Guys like New York Rangers C- Derek Stepan, who just filed for arbitration...And a guy like Steven Stamkos, who will be  a free agent nest year...'O'Reilly got $7.5 million a year? I better get 10 or 11!'

Surprise...35 year old Brad Richards cashed in on his Stanley Cup run with Chicago, and got a 1 year $3 million deal with Detroit...Many didn't expect Detroit to be much of a player in free agency, but they did this, which was a tip-off...Because next they signed D- Mike Green for 3 years $18 million...Detroit is getting older, but always seem to move talented young guys into their lineup...Will these two moves payoff?

My Rangers did squat...They announced their GM Glen Sather was stepping aside, but staying President...His right hand man is the new GM...Now he must search for cap space, and resign 4 important restricted free agents...And he has no 1st round picks for a couple years...Thanks for the ass fucking Glen!

If I didn't cover your team, they didn't do anything that really grab me...Let me know how you think they did, or ask me about your team, I'll have some thoughts...I've been going through all the moves fro a couple days.

Monday Moaning

Wow!  Seriously, how else do you respond to walking into this bedroom...Or for that matter what other way do you react after the Boston Bruins spent draft weekend destroying their franchise even more then former GM Peter Chiarelli did...

This weekend was the NHL Draft but most of the talk leading up to it, and during, was all about trades...Many expected the Toronto Maple Leafs to be active, trying to move asshole Phil Kessel and whatever other dead-weight Mike Babcock want to be rid of...But no, it was other teams that were busy...

We'll start with Buffalo since they got things rolling Friday morning...Buffalo traded the #21 overall pick to Ottawa for goalie Robin Lehner and center David Legwand...Then Buffalo traded D- Nikita Zadorov, F- Mikhail Grigorenk (who has not lived up to the potential and hopes he came with), F- J.T. Compher and pick #31 for C- Ryan O'Reilly and F- Jamie McGinn...O'Reilly is good, a solid two-way center but the offensive numbers aren't up to where his agents has his sights set money wise...Colorado didn't want to deal with those negotiations again next year...But it could work out in Buffalo...Mix those additions with 2nd overall pick C- Jack Eichel, and last years 1st roand pick C- Sam Reinhart, the Sabres are suddenly stacked at Center, and Lehner will get his chance at finally being "the man" between the pipes...The Sabres got better this weekend...

Then we come to Boston...Thursday they traded Carl Soderberg to Colorado for a 6th round pick...Considering the Avalance then Signed Soderberg to a 5 year $23.75 million deal, the Bruins should have gotten more then a 6th rond pick...Then he Bruins, again traded away an elite, you player, this time D- Dougie Hamilton...He was sent to Calgary for the 15th, 45th, and 52nd overall picks...Next, they traded LW- Milan Lucic to the Kings for the 13th overall pick, backup goalie Martin Jones and a prospect...So the Bruins opened the draft with 3 first round picks...You can do some serious rebuilding on the fly with that...Instead they drafted 3 guys that most teams didn't have going in the first round...Our friend Sully is very pissed folks...Very pissed...

My Rangers needed to get some cap space, because they have some key guys to resign...The biggest name being talked about was backup goalie Cam Talbot...Thursday there was an offer of two 2nd round picks for Talbot...Overrated GM Glen Sather said no...He wanted more...He wanted at least a first rounder plus...For a 27 year old backup, with limited experience...Well, that pipe-dream got squashed when late Friday night/early Friday Morning the Vancouver Canucks traded proven goalie, Eddie Lack to Carolina for a third round pick and a seventh round pick....Fucked up Glen!

Following on twitter it read as if Sather was in a panic talking to everyone Saturday...Then it broke, the Rangers traded F- Carl Hagelin the 59th and 179th overall picks to Anaheim for Emerson Etem and the 41st overall pick...Hate seeing Hags go...Etem is a similar player style wise...A bit younger, and will cost a good deal less...Some dickhead Rangers fans dogged Hagelin trying to justify the move, blasting his offensive numbers...Yeah, he never score 30-40 goals, because he played in a defensive system, played on the penalty kill and not the power play, and was stuck on a line with old man Martin St. Louis most of this year...It was a money move, and they got a body back...It is what it is...

Then the Rangers traded Ryan Haggerty to Chicago for backup goalie Antti Raanta...Good deal, Raanta is solid...So then you knew Talbot was gone...He was moved to Edmonton along with 7th round pick, for a 2nd, 3rd, and 7th...Idiots could have had two 2nds!

There were a lot of draft picks moved around the board, and some other players here and there, but nothing major...Well, there was a somewhat odd one with Arizona...They traded Sam Gagner and a couple picks for a solid defenseman, Nicklas Grossmann and Hall of Fame candidate, Chris Pronger....Huh!

While Pronger is not an active player, his contract is active...This move frees up cap space for Philly, but it also helps the Coyotes...His contract will give them the boost to take them to the salary floor...Another odd thing about Pronger's contract being active, is that he has been working for the NHL in their Player Safety Department...Definitely the oddest draft weekend trade...

-Moving  on to a different topic after B.O.B. posted THIS Q-O-T-D about Russell Wilson...Rumor floating around is that Wilson wants to be the highest paid QB in the NFL...I actually got to learn all about this via my phone while walking my dog...We were away this weekend at my in-laws assisted living home, and my two sister-in-laws came in from Massachusetts as well...I walked the dog a lot to get away from people...So here is the scoop...

Technically he’s not asking to be the highest paid QB in the NFL...His agent is asking for at least 80% of his contract to be guaranteed which never happens in the NFL…Wilson's agent is a Baseball agent, where contracts are guaranteed…he’s trying to change the game in the NFL where career ending injuries are more likely...And I'll tell ya what...With how fucked up ex-football players are, I don't blame him at all!

-Now, the last thing you NEED to checkout is Charlotte McKinney...

When faced with question about how "ugly girls" have to be the funny ones, and good at giving blowjobs, Charlotte responded with this...

"Oh my God, I actually was thinking about this the other day–there are girls that I know that won’t even give blowjobs, and I guess it’s because they think they’re too hot, or something? It’s such bullshit."

I don't think there is anything else we need to know about her...She's a goer!

Have a week...