NHL free agency promises more free spending

Source : Cbc.ca

As NHL teams rush to reach deals with potential free agents (even as others scramble to reduce payrolls to the $64.3-million US salary cap for the 2013-14 season) the money that has been spent in the last month has been mind-boggling. 

From the time Patrick Bordeleau inked his three-year, $3-million extension with the Colorado Avalanche back on June 6, up until Jordan Leopold's two-year, $4.5-million extension with the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, there have been a whopping 21 players signed to 58 years and $172.65 million worth of contracts.

Thirteen more players, to a tune of 70 years and $106.02 million, have been given their freedom with compliance buyouts.

Will this free spending continue when the free-agent signing period begins at noon ET on Friday? Why not? Who would not want to add players like Danny Briere, David Clarkson, Nathan Horton and Jarome Iginila, to name a few.

We'll publish a full list of free agents once it's released on Friday, but for now here are our 10 most intriguing unrestricted free agents:

1. Jarome Iginla -- He's 36, but durable, and although his production has dipped slightly, only Alex Ovechkin (371) and Ilya Kovalchuk (309) have scored more goals than Iginla's 280 since the 2004-05 cancelled season.
2. Danny Briere -- He's looking to stay in the East. He's 35 years old and his production has dipped to 22 goals over the last two seasons, compared to 60 in the two seasons before that. But he always has been a big playoff performer.
3. Ilya Bryzgalov -- Will anybody be willing to take a risk on this strange soul? His two-season stint in Philadelphia was a disaster, but he's only two years removed from his best days in Phoenix and only 33 years old.
4. Andrew Ference -- At age 34, he has played the best hockey of his career in the past two seasons. Not big, but he does play physical. He is a top-four defender who can help out on the power play and penalty kill.
5. Valtterri Filppula -- The 29-year-old Finn is two years removed from his most productive season of 23 goals and 66 points. Can he flourish on another team after playing behind Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg in Detroit? 
6. David Clarkson -- Since his junior coach Peter DeBoer arrived in New Jersey, the 29-year-old forward has scored 45 goals in 128 games. He's a power forward who goes to the net, certainly a desirable commodity in today's game.
7. Stephen Weiss -- It's hard to believe the Toronto native already is 30 years old. He was limited to 17 games last season because of wrist surgery. He has only seven games of playoff experience after nine seasons in Florida. 
8. Nathan Horton -- At 28, Horton has scored 20 or more goals in six of his nine NHL seasons. He wants a quieter hockey market to continue his career after two trips to the Stanley Cup final with Boston in the past three years.
9. Daniel Alfredsson -- With the news on Wednesday that the Bruins have contacted the long-time Senators captain, it will be interesting to see what transpires with the 40-year-old Swede. He won't leave Ottawa, will he?
10. Manny Malhotra -- After being shelved in Vancouver by general manager Mike Gillis, the hard-working 33-year-old forward wants to continue his career. He's good in the faceoff circle and a solid penalty killer.

Team	Payroll	Cap Space	Roster Size
Philadelphia	$67,578,522	-$318,522	24
Minnesota	$65,598,868	$2,451,132	21
San Jose	$62,331,667	$2,643,333	20
Pittsburgh	$60,173,333	$4,126,667	19
Boston	$60,733,810	$5,153,690	19
Carolina	$57,912,500	$6,397,500	17
Los Angeles	$57,796,894	$6,638,106	17
Anaheim	$57,779,167	$7,490,833	20
Vancouver	$56,802,778	$7,497,222	16
Columbus	$60,833,809	$7,991,191	21
Washington	$55,834,295	$8,465,705	19
Tampa Bay	$55,765,477	$8,534,523	19
Montreal	$57,973,333	$9,024,167	20
Chicago	$55,109,295	$9,545,705	18
Detroit	$54,602,879	$10,707,121	20
Nashville	$54,411,310	$11,248,690	20
Colorado	$55,658,333	$11,351,667	22
Buffalo	$51,449,524	$13,700,476	19
Dallas	$51,052,777	$13,857,223	19
NY Rangers	$50,906,667	$14,155,833	17
Edmonton	$54,186,667	$14,935,833	17
St. Louis	$49,907,500	$15,825,000	20
New Jersey	$47,337,500	$16,962,500	19
Florida	$52,052,875	$17,069,625	20
Calgary	$47,874,583	$17,421,667	19
Phoenix	$45,941,667	$18,358,333	14
Toronto	$45,579,167	$19,020,833	13
Ottawa	$43,500,833	$22,074,167	19
Winnipeg	$41,607,500	$23,917,500	14
NY Islanders	$32,337,333	$32,812,667	15

La chasse est ouverte

Source : Rds.ca



Marc Bergevin ajoutera-t-il du poids à sa formation? Qu’arrivera-t-il de Nathan Horton, Ryane Clowe et David Clarkson? Où Jaromir Jagr et Jarome Iginla termineront-ils leur carrière? Mike Ribeiro signera-t-il une entente à long terme?

Toutes les plateformes à contribution

À lire également

• Section Joueurs autonomes 2013
• Les vidéos de la LNH
• Vidéos de la section Canadien

La chasse aux joueurs autonomes s’ouvre dès midi, aujourd'hui, et RDS met toutes ses plateformes à contribution pour offrir aux amateurs une couverture complète de l’ouverture du marché des joueurs autonomes. Les équipes de Sports 30 et de Hockey 360 unissent leurs forces pour la présentation d’une émission spéciale  présentée entre 11 h et 19 h sur RDS Info. On s’attardera alors aux dernières rumeurs et signatures de contrats qui émaneront des quatre coins de la Ligue nationale. Une diffusion simultanée est prévue sur RDS de 11 h 30 à 14 h 30, puis de 18 h à 19 h.

Basé au pupitre de Sports 30, Marc Labrecque est entouré des analystes Gaston Therrien et Patrick Lalime, tandis que David Arsenault est en poste dans le studio de Hockey 360 en compagnie de Mathieu Darche et Denis Gauthier.

Notre informateur hockey Renaud Lavoie se tient quant à l’affut des jeux de coulisses et de toutes les rumeurs. Les journalistes Luc Gélinas et Alexandre Tourigny sont également sur la route pour recueillir les commentaires des joueurs et organisations concernées. L’animateur Luc Bellemare se charge de nous transmettre les dernières nouvelles alors que Valérie Sardin assure un suivi des réseaux sociaux.

Rendez-vous au RDS.ca

Le RDS.ca est évidemment au cœur de l’action. La section spéciale joueurs autonomes de la LNH 2013 est encore une fois un incontournable aujourd'hui. Le  site propose aussi la programmation de RDS Info en webdiffusion (11 h à 19 h) ainsi qu’une discussion en direct pour les amateurs engagés. Les internautes peuvent aussi s’informer via la page Facebook RDS, l’application RDS HOCKEY et le RDS MOBILE. Sur Twitter, le mot-clic pour suivre la conversation est #JA2013.

Enfin, à compter de 19 h, sur RDS Info, l’équipe de Sports 30 fera un retour sur l’ensemble des mouvements de personnel qui auront marqué cette journée spéciale et prendra le relais pour annoncer de nouvelles signatures si nécessaire.

Flames deal greatest legend in franchise history to Penguins

Source : Montrealgazette.com

He arrived here in the spring of ‘96 for two playoff games, a 19-year-old, largely-unknown, rawboned kid with a weirdly square helmet, a penchant for oversleeping and a name that went on forever (Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla). He inherited Jim Peplinski’s old No. 24, if none of the facewashing acumen, and was entrusted with the daunting task of making fans forget an all-time goal-scoring maestro, Joe Nieuwendyk.

That kid scored 21 his first full season. Only 13 in his second.

Fifteen years later, he departs as the most luminous legend this town has yet seen.

No, Jarome Iginla didn’t win a Stanley Cup here, despite a desperate desire. But he has nothing to prove, no more to give, nowhere to lead a franchise that long ago lost its way and has too late at last acknowledged that it must grope frantically for a new direction.

It was time. Past time, actually.

We knew.

He did, too.

And from the flat, drained look of him following the 2-0 loss Tuesday in Chicago -- exhausted by the speculation, torn by emotion and loyalty -- this couldn’t have happened soon enough. At least the
Flames didn’t dither and let this play out all the way until the April 3rd deadline.
Word broke out of Boston pre-puck-drop at the Scotiabank Saddledome that it was a done deal -- a first-round pick (conditional on Iginla's re-signing in Beantown), defensive prospect Matthew Bartkowski and Providence Bruins’centre Alexander Khokhlachev in exchange for future Hall of Famer. To those locals still living in the rosy hue of 2004, steeped in the lore and in nostalgia, it might not seem enough but for a 35-year-old rental that’s more return than many felt would be coming back this way.

When it turned out to be Pittsburgh, for a pair of forwards, Yale's Kenneth Agostino and St. Cloud State's Ben Hanowski, and a first-round pick.

How well either of the U.S. college prospects and the pick turn out is, naturally, anyone’s guess. Identifying kids and projecting their upside always a crapshoot. But no one could’ve forseen that Joe Nieuwendyk would eclipse Kent Nilsson and Iginla would in turn eclipse Nieuwendyk when those deals were controversially struck, either.

Only time can make those determinations.

When news filtered out that Iginla was to be a healthy scratch against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday, no one was buying that "protecting the asset" rhetoric. Something was up.

The destination turned out to be a surprise.

In leaving, Iginla joins a select group of players who’ve graced the jersey - Kent Nilsson, Lanny McDonald, Al MacInnis, Mike Vernon, Theo Fleury - that transcend it.

With Iginla, as with all lasting heroes, the influence went far beyond the 525 goals and 1,095 points. He became a source of pride to this community. A double Olympic gold medalist. An All Star. A
Maurice Richard and Art Ross Trophy winner. Respected and revered league-wide.

Not the community presence McDonald was, maybe. Not the feisty bantamweight underdog to make an emotional investment in, as was Fleury. Not the sublime talent of Nilsson, certainly. He never won a Conn Smythe, as MacInnis did, or was a championship difference-maker, like Doug Gilmour.

But the entirety of the package, the unassuming person who at least outwardly never seemed to change as the millions mounted, the commanding power forward who was indisputably the game’s best player for a spell, the guy who’d still stoop to offering to buy a weasly media mutt a cafe latte at Starbucks rather than flee at the sight of him, made him singular, unique. Add those franchise-busting numbers and his is a legacy that’s impossible to top.

For everyone, including those of us who’ve covered his exploits from the beginning, from the moment he ventured down from his mom’s house in St. Albert, it’s a vastly different Calgary Flames’ landscape today. But that’s change, and change - even for an organization as resistant to it as this one
- is inevitable.

With the hard one out of the way, more deals may be in the offing. Jay Boumeester, perhaps? The first, and most important, domino has fallen,

Iginla exited the building Wednesday night. Reportedly said his goodbyes to his peers and left. It would’ve been a gong show had he hung around, he knew, and his teammates, still holding out faint playoff hopes, had a game to try and win.

So everyone expects him to say a proper goodbye, 10:30 a.m. today.

He did well by Calgary. Calgary did well by him. They part on the best of terms. Those are the kinds of relationships you remember.

An era has ended. The scoreboard Iggy Dance is now but a kitschy memory. His iconic No 12 jersey will undoubtedly one day hang up in the rafters of a building he dominated for the better part of two decades in a city that embraced him like no one else.

Jarome Iginla heads to Pittsburgh with the hopes and dreams of that city stuffed somewhere in his checked luggage.

There’s nothing anyone in this town would savour more than seeing him at long last hoist that jug-eared silver chalice aloft in early June. If only to make up for the lingering pain of 2004.

Calgarians will have to live vicariously through him and his exploits this spring. At least now they have a playoff team to cheer for.

After all, it’s the closest anyone around here will get to a Stanley Cup for a long, long time.

Flames - Penguins : Iginla échangé

Source : Rds.ca

Les Flames de Calgary ont échangé le visage de l’organisation.

À l’aube de la date limite des transactions, le 3 avril prochain, le directeur général de la formation albertaine Jay Feaster a échangé son capitaine Jarome Iginla aux Penguins de Pittsburgh aux petites heures du matin jeudi.

En retour, les Flames ont mis la main sur les attaquants Kenneth Agostino et Ben Hanowski, de même qu’un choix de première ronde au repêchage de 2013.

Cette transaction marque le début d'un effort de reconstruction pour les Flames, qui pourraient ne pas participer aux séries éliminatoires de la Ligue nationale pour une quatrième saison consécutive.

Jay Feaster a indiqué en point de presse au terme de la victoire de 4-3 des siens contre l’Avalanche du Colorado que l’échange a été conclu au cours de la rencontre. Il a de plus précisé qu’il avait trois offres sur la table pour Iginla. Disposant d'une clause de non-échange, Iginla avait précédemment dressé une liste de quatre équipes auxquelles il était prêt à se joindre : les Penguins, les Blackhawks de Chicago, les Kings de Los Angeles et les Bruins de Boston. Ces derniers ont d'ailleurs semblé être dans la course jusqu`à la toute fin.

« En tant qu’organisation, nous devons énormément de gratitude à Jarome. Pas seulement pour ce qu’il a fait pour nous en tant que joueur et capitaine, mais aussi pour le fait que malgré tous nos efforts, nous n'avons pu atteindre nos objectifs que nous nous étions fixés en tant qu’équipe », a soufflé Feaster.

Iginla a passé toute sa carrière à Calgary. En 16 ans, il a accumulé 525 buts et 570 mentions d'aide en 1219 matchs.

L'attaquant de 35 ans a inscrit neuf buts et 22 points cette saison, la dernière de son contrat avec les Flames.

Il a toutefois été laissé de côté mercredi lors de la victoire de Calgary contre le Colorado. Il ira maintenant rejoindre Brenden Morrow et Douglas Murray, eux aussi acquis par les Penguins un peu plus tôt cette semaine.
 
Vivre d’espoir

Âgé de 20 ans, Agostino avait été un choix de cinquième ronde des Penguins (140^eau total) au repêchage de 2010. L’attaquant de 6 pieds 1 pouce et 200 livres évolue cette année avec les Bulldogs de l’Université Yale. Il a mené les siens avec une récolte de 37 points (15 buts, 22 passes) en 33 rencontres.

Quant à Hanowski, un joueur de 6 pieds 2 pouces et 210 livres, il a amassé 29 points (16 buts et 13 passes) en 34 rencontres cette saison avec les Huskies de St. Cloud State de la Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Le joueur de 22 ans avait été un choix de troisième ronde des Penguins (63^eau total) en 2009.

« Nous estimons que ces deux joueurs évolueront dans la LNH  et qu’ils contribueront aux succès de l’équipe pour longtemps », assure Feaster.