Today we continue our grading of early off-season moves. Washington tops the class in the Southeast, while in the Central Nashville wears the dunce cap.
Kent Wilson
Recent Posts
Free agent frenzy Grades – Southeast and Central divisions
Posted by Kent Wilson under Analysis, Editorial on Jul 03, 2011
Free agent frenzy grades – Atlantic and Northeast divisions
Posted by Kent Wilson under Analysis, Editorial on Jul 02, 2011
Despite a rather uninspiring crop of UFA’s this year, day one of the free agent frenzy was nonetheless fairly busy with more than 70 players finding new homes. There were a few bargains had, but the overall scarcity of high quality players drove the prices of a lot of middle talent guys through the roof. There’s no doubt that more than a few deals which were inked the last 24-hours will be rued a few years down the road.
The Cap Floor and Salary Dump Candidates
Posted by Kent Wilson under Analysis on Jun 29, 2011
As our own Rick Moldovanyi recently noted, the Florida Panthers are a couple of expensive yachts short of the new salary cap floor of $48.3 million. With just five forwards signed and about $26 million committed to next season, Florida needs to add at least eight players and some $22 million in cap space merely to ice a team next year.
The unqualified RFA wish list
Posted by Kent Wilson under Analysis on Jun 28, 2011
It’s no secret that the UFA market this season is rather barren. After a few big names like Brad Richards and Tomas Vokoun, things start to get awful thin awful quick. The recent qualifying offer deadline for RFAs may have added a few players of note to the UFA pool however. Here is a list of the most interesting guys that were not tendered qualifying offers by their clubs yesterday.
The Limited Utility of Interviews
Posted by Kent Wilson under Analysis, Editorial on Jun 22, 2011
One of the most interesting parts of Gare Joyce’s Future Greats and Heartbreaks was his description of prospect interviews. For those who haven’t read the book, Joyce was allowed to peek behind the curtain of the Columbus Blue Jackets for about a year in order to research the ins-and-outs of NHL scouting and prospect procurement. He was present for the team’s draft operations roughly between 2006 and 2007.
The Rorschach: Prospects, Expectations and Labeling in the NHL Draft
Posted by Kent Wilson under Analysis, Editorial on Jun 16, 2011
For the past few years, I have become intensely interested in the NHL draft: specifically, how do NHL teams make decisions on who to draft and who to pass-over? What factors do they use to determine the wheat from the Chaffe? More importantly, do these factors actually predict anything?
The Fall of Keith Ballard
Posted by Kent Wilson under Analysis, Editorial on Jun 10, 2011
Keith Ballard was terrible in Game Four of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Formerly a healthy scratch, Ballard was pressed into action thanks to the Aaron Rome suspension. His play justified his prior scratching. In just over 15 minutes of ice time, Ballard was -2 and a contributor to both the goals scored against him – particularly the Marchand marker where he was comically stripped of the puck behind his own net by Patrice Bergeron.
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