Even though we are in the middle of a play-off race, I need to talk about the upcoming off-season. Here is the list of Unrestricted Free Agents currently on the Islanders roster:
Aaron Asham, Jason Blake, Mike Dunham, Sean Hill, Viktor Kozlov, Tom Poti, Randy Robitaille, Chris Simon, Ryan Smyth, Richard Zednik. Trent Hunter, Chris Campoli, and Andy Hilbert are Restricted Free Agents.
The Cap should go up to about 48 Million dollars this year. So the Islanders have about 26 Million dollars committed to next years pay roll. So expect the Islanders to spend around 19 Million dollars on re-signing their players and attracting free agents.
Player by Player Analysis:
Asham-Arron Asham is a perfect 4th line player. He has been a fan favorite ever since he was acquired for Maruisz "the Polish Prince" Czerkawski earlier this decade. I think he will re-up before all is said and done for about 1 million.
Blake-He wants Marco Sturm-esque money. Sturm signed for 4 years 14 Million back in February. Expect Blake to try to up that to 5 years 4.5 Million. I believe he will sign a 3 year deal for about 13 million.
Dunham- Has been a good back-up goalie for us thus far. He is not going to be too expensive either. If we don't re-sign him, I'd like to see Dubliewicz get a shot as a back up in the NHL. He will most likely be back next year, one year 800,000 seems right.
Hill- We really got a bargain when we signed Sean Hill this summer. He has been a good physical defensemen and a leader on this team. However he is an older guy. We have good young defensemen who could fill his void. I think he will retire or sign elsewhere.
Kozlov- Another bargain in Kozlov. He came into the season with the notorious lazy Russian tag. He has since shaken that off and has scored 22 goals this year. He will be looking in the 1.75 million dollar range for two years. We can do that.
Poti-Poti signed a one-year deal worth 2.75 Million in the summer. I think he's been an unsung hero on this team. He has kept his composure all year and hasn't turned his home team's crowd against him yet this year. If we can afford to keep him, we should. But once again Meyer,Campoli, and Gervais are young capable rearguards. Toss up. I say he signs elsewhere unfortunately.
Robitaille- Been real good as of late. I think he will be relatively cheap. We do have some good young forwards though who may take his spot. I think he too, will sign somewhere else.
Simon- Simon has been a really pleasant surprise for the Islanders until March 8th. Because of the suspension though he will be cheaper. I say he re-signs a one-year deal worth 650,000.
Smyth- Ryan Smyth has been an Oiler his whole career. He is a prototypical Canadian forward. He is rugged and works hard every night. Charles Wang has been a nutjob his whole career. He is a prototypical money-slinging, do now-regret later type of owner. I think he will throw the world at Smyth. Watch out for a crazy 5 year 6 million dollar deal.
Zednik- Nice knowing ya Rich!
If those price ranges are right the Islanders will have around 6 million to play with for Free Agents after resigning the RFA's. I think a big bodied defensemen and a 3rd line center will be added via free agency. But then again its only March....
Thanks for reading,
Go Islanders.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I think you hit it on the head. I think we can keep robitaille though
I'm with you almost verbatim, man... I think we get Poti back if only because although he did well for us this year on a minute-by-minute basis, numbers-wise he's in no position to ask for more than he got this year; that's why the Rangers didn't resign him last year.
I want to believe that Poti gets sold on the idea that we'll be better next year than we were this year, takes a little closer to $2M and tries to re-up his stock in '07-'08.
Your thoughts?
Post a Comment