Another list of notable UFAs, plus updates on the Bruins and Red Wings defense.
Franson tops list of remaining UFAs.
Why is Cody Franson still unsigned?
CBS SPORTS: Defenseman Cody Franson tops Adam Gretz’s list of this summer’s remaining unrestricted free agents. As to why Franson remains unsigned, Gretz speculates the blueliner’s high asking price at the start of free agency (“perhaps Matt Niskanen money?”) or the significant decline in his performance following his trade from Toronto to Nashville are possible factors. Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, right wing Alexander Semin, center Eric Fehr and winger Brad Boyes are the other notables on Gretz’s list.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: David Staples also mused over why Franson remains unsigned, citing some observers expressing concern over his lack of foot speed. He believes it’s possible Franson will end up with the Edmonton Oilers. Staples suggests the 6’5″ blueliner would be best served as a top-four defenseman, rather than a top-pairing rearguard. He also noted Franson, “a darling of the advanced stats crowd,” stating in the past his desire to return to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Given that club’s embracement of advanced stats, Staples wonders why they haven’t brought him back.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This has definitely become “The Summer of Franson.” I believe the combination of a high asking price (rumored earlier this month at $6 million annually) and the decline in his play after joining the Predators are indeed the key reasons why Franson remains unsigned. I also agree with Staples’ assessment that he could be a solid second-pairing defenseman. Franson will eventually be signed, maybe by the Oilers, Leafs or another club, but he’ll have to accept far less than what he was rumored to be seeking at the start of the UFA period.
As for the others on Gretz’s list, Ehrhoff’s concussion history is a concern, Semin’s indifferent performance has hurt his free-agent value, while Fehr and Boyes simply have the bad luck of becoming UFAs in a summer where there aren’t a lot of teams with a willingness to spend. I expect both will eventually be signed, but it could take until September before they get new deals. Even then, they might have to go through tryouts first.
Updates on the Bruins and Red Wings.
CSNNE.COM: Joe Haggerty recently reported Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney remains open to the possibility of adding another defenseman via free agency. Haggerty believes Cody Franson will be too high-priced for the Bruins, suggesting they might instead roll the dice on an aging, established NHL veteran like Marek Zidlicky or Christian Ehrhoff on an affordable one-year deal. The Bruins currently have around $4 million in cap space.
DETROIT FREE PRESS: Helene St. James wonders what the Red Wings will do to clear their current logjam on defense. She notes there’s no urgency to address the issue, as four of their promising young defenders can be demoted without passing through waivers. “Now that the market has settled from the free-agent frenzy of early July, the easiest route is to sit back and see if another team calls about a trade,” she writes.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I’m not saying this will happen, but maybe Bruins GM Don Sweeney should give Red Wings GM Ken Holland a call? It might be better than signing a defenseman with a recent concussion history (Ehrhoff) or an aging rearguard (Zidlicky) whose best use now would be as a power-play specialist. Just throwing it out there. Let me know what you think.
It’s almost time to start the “Franson Watch” – see who ponys up for his services, or does Cody drop his asking price? Franson situation seems to be the point that teams stopped spending foolishly. His trek to Nashville was a disaster for both Franson and the team.
I am wondering who will take a chance on Curtis Glencross? He’s probably be a 3rd, maybe 4th line player at this stage of his career. Curtis may come at a short term (1yr) – $2M deal.
The problem around the league is as everyone knows, getting under and staying under the cap. All the while trying to stock or restock the cupboards. Many would like to blame the cap the reality is poor player contract negotiations. I guess it’s a gamble as for the Blackhawks for instance. Had everything gone as planned Bowman would have looked a genius. It didn’t however and his three of a kind was beat with a fullhouse.
In my opinion Bowman may still salvage from his sinking ship. With the players left to trade it will be interesting to see how he trades them creating cap space without taking back salary or players. As he failed miserably with Sharp costing him his best young defensive prospect in the process. Having seen Johns play I’m quite certain this will bite him in the butt.
Almost every team is experiencing this due to bargaining contracts far in advance. Those who have managed their caps are now in the drivers seat and they know it.
That sinking ship just won their 3rd Stanley cup in 6 years…
Yeah, exactly. Sinking ship with 3 championships and the big 3 immortalized in Blackhawks history.
OK. Everyone agrees the Hawks won 3 Cups. Congrats. But hawks supporters are missing the point being made here.
They overpaid for Toews and Kane. Nobody else was giving them 10 mil per year let alone 10+. which is now causing them cap hell. Crow all you want, but the past is exactly that. Your 3 Cups will not help you win the next years.
The point everyone is now making and hawks backers are missing is, you may have won 3 Cups but you may have won 3 more with a little sanity and some better cap management.
Bowman’s biggest upcoming challenge is dealing with Seabrook, making the decision to keep him or cash him in for prospects and picks. I think Bowman has done a great job of keeping the ship upright and moving forward.
And why won’t players want to play there? Michael Frolik was an OK player when he got to Chicago; playing with the Hawks turned his game around. Rozival was a pickup who turned out to one heck of a bottom 6 defenseman. You could say the same about Versteeg, he bounced around after leaving CHI, came back and looked pretty good during playoffs last season. Kane and Toews – bad contracts? Maybe, but you know Buffalo would have given Kane the same deal if he became available on the open market. Both players are winners.
I think the demise of the Hawks is a little overstated, realistically even minus Versteeg and Bickell its a core that arguably has one of the top 3 players at their position in the world at center, wing and D a core that consists of Toews Kane Keith Hossa Hjalmarsson Seabrook (atleast for a while) still some very good young players in teravainen Dano Runblad (to anextent) Pokka…all locked up or under somekinda club control for the most part….yep the demise of a team thats one 3 of the past 6 cups is a little overstated as they say. Good players get paid, good teams have lots of good players, the Hawks are still the best team.
And the Hawks have a goaltender that can win big games – in this regard, Crawford is kinda like Billy Smith.
Or Osgood I kinda agree…
you forgot to mention the lost of Sharp, Saad and Oduja. You cant take away the great job they done and the 3 cups in 6yrs; however winning team end up paying winning players. The hawks are now done and will be lucky to make the playoffs next year. In two years they be trying to off load Toews or Kane. Can’t complain because the ultimate goal is to win the Cup and they done that 3 times in 6 years.
id bet a lot of money they will be in the playoffs next yr! anisimoz dano daley are no slouches not to mention still have kane,toews,hossa,keith,seabrook,teurovinnen
Ken Holland should be working the phones like mad. Boston, NJ, Buffalo… The Wings have at least 3 affordable D’s that should pique the interest of all the teams mentioned. Wings fans want the Kindl experiment to end now, Brian Lashoff is hanging out in the AHL, not sure on B Smith and Helene was calling for Quincy to be traded last year (very wrongly I might add). Wings could also package Howard, Pulkinen or possibly Mantha to get a solid “center of the future” presently in a 3rd or 2nd line role but with great upside. The Wings are silly with prospects and need to make decisions now in my opinion.
The Wings are one of the smartest teams in the league with their prospects. If you look at Hollands track record really Mathias is the only prospect they’ve ever traded away that amounted to much (oddly enough the pick used to pick Mike Green was a pick traded to Washington for Robert Lang back in the day). On the other hand they’ve traded away or let prospects walk that came up to the big club and didn’t perform as expected and most of them have been busts for other clubs (Lieno and Brunner are the best examples). The only 2 recent players (probably since Fedorov) from the Wings system that have left the Wings and been successful are Hudler and Flilipula.
So if the Wings were to make a trade my guess is they won’t move guys like Sproul, Oulette, or Marchenko, but Lashoff (as you mentioned) Kindl and Smith are more typical of the players Holland would move at this point. Personally I think they need to ditch Smith. He shows flashes of offensive potential but he seems like he makes more defensive zone mistakes than anyone on the team. Kindl is pretty solid defensively most nights, but I’d rather see him on another team so they can move up a Oulette, Marchenko or Sproul and see what they can do playing for Blashill.
Also trading Howard, Mantha and Pulkkinen would be foolish. Pulky has a shot at being a top tier forward, a sniper known league wide. Mantha had a rough start in juniors, but its only been one year, and he was injured half of the season. Even proven NHLers go through that (Sharp this past season, Sedins 2 years ago). Howard prior to his injury was carrying top 10 in the league stat lines and was voted to the All Star team. He never seemed to recoup his game after the injuries. He’s still a solid starter. I like Mrzek, but I don’t think he’s going to be as good as Howard. He’s small and fast. Reminds me of Felix Potvin who disappeared into relative obscurity when his reflexes slowed with age.
I’m guessing the Wings will give Mantha and Larkin 2 years or so of development to see where they stand before deciding on whether they need a more high end prospect down the middle
I think I’m one of the few Wings fans that actually wants Kindl on the team. I think Babcock wasn’t using him properly (or Ericsson for that matter….dude is NOT a top pairing defensemen, regardless of what you’re paying him) and as a result, had him stapled to the bench for not performing the way Babcock wanted. If you look at Kindl’s advanced stats, while also taking into consideration the sample size, he’s actually a pretty good d-man.
I’d like to see Smith, Lashoff and Quincey all traded off, but I doubt any of them move before the deadline. Especially Smith since he just got a new contract
As to whether Don Sweeney should call Ken Holland, the Broons have plenty of 5-7 dmen, what they need is someone to either play with Chara or if Seidenberg returns to Chara’s right side, then someone to play on the 2nd pair. What they don’t need is another spare dman.
I think Sweeney will wait until training camp to sort out the defensive necessity thereof.All that are left in UFA are retreads or borderline NHL players in my opinion.Let Colin Miller,Trotman and Morrow fight it out for a top pair position.I also think Max Talbot and Chris Kelly will be collecting checks elsewhere by the end of camp.There seems to be a plethora of young,fast, players available to fill the bottom six forward positions,out with the old and in with the new.
I doubt any of those young fast players have the grit, tenacity, physicality, faceoff acumen and experience that Chris Kelly brings to the table. Bar none, he is one of the most underrated centers in the game. He is complete as as any forward you can find and we don’t have a kid that can tie his laces. Learning the defensive game and the art on the dot takes time, you can’t expect a fast, young rookie to fill that void out of training camp..
Ummm Chris Kelly is a 3 million dollar 34 year old 3rd liner…pretty sure they could find an adequate cheaper alternative. If the Bruins continue to do what they seem to be doing I would think that it makes some sense to try and lose guys like Talbot and Kelly, and get something in return as its not likely that you would want to resign either one and they are both ufa after this year….
Bruins need to ditch their entire 4th line at the moment. Kelly, Rinaldo and Tlabot. all for various reasons.. talbot seems to want out, rinaldo is more useless than anyone i’ve ever seen and kelly is too expensive for a 4th line center. they also need to bolster the d squad. they have 0 top 4 talent right now. Chara is on the decline and needs to pass the D torch to someone. he’s propabbly best suited to lpay 2nd line minutes given his age and recent severe injuries. Seidenberg is not the german shut down machine he used to be and would be more serviceable to another team. that being said I would have kept seidenberg and never resigned mqcuaid. C miller will spend a year in providence to get used to the B’s systems before he makes th jump….bruins should find a trade partner willing to take : Kelly, ericsson, seidenberg, talbot, rinaldo, kevin miller and get back whatever they can via trade or use cap space to make some signings. next year they’ll have kelly, ericsson and lucic salary holdngs off the books so could be poised to make some deals that don’t offer a huge salary now but bump up next year and the year after.
What would Boston have to offer to Detroit ??
the same thing Detroit has to offer Boston, Nothing.
Especially since they’re in the same division. I can’t see either team willing to pony up whatever overpayment would be necessary to get someone off the opposing teams roster
Bruins should go the trade route instead of FA ….Det..Flyers …Jets are a few team with extra D players
A bit off topic here, but can someone explain waivers to me for young inexperienced players. Boston has 3 goalies without NHL experience and no backup. Could they use them on a rotational basis say a month each then send one down and bring up another on a continual basis without loosing one on waivers?
Hi, Cecil, under your scenario, it’s possible the Bruins could do that with Subban and McIntyre. Jeremy Smith becomes eligible for waivers after playing one NHL game. The following link should clarify things. http://www.wingingitinmotown.com/2013/7/26/4548948/getting-to-know-the-cba-episode-7-waivers
Would like to see B Smith a Bruin
Speaking of Boston and Detroit, Xavier Ouellet is a guy we can use in Boston…good solid all around game, he can replace Seidenberg…who needs to be be checked out of Bean towns ASAP..plus Xavier hasn’t been given a fair chance in the NHL yet by the wings who seem to prefer playing every other prospect but him..The kid has been ready for two seasons already.
Oulette has been ready for 2 years by the standards or other teams in the league. By Detroit’s standard he’s not a pro yet. This should be his first full year, Marchenko next year, and then Sproul (who plays like a young Pronger and doesn’t get nearly enough attention.)
The Wings won’t trade prospects that haven’t had a chance in the league. If anyone they’re going to trade B. Smith, Kindl, or Lashoff.
Mrazak is taller and lighter than Jimmy. Also, Jimmy put up those numbers with a more potent offense, a younger Kronwall and a dude named Nicky playing in front of him. Throw in Rafalski to boot. Agree on X, I would have liked to see him start the season instead of throwing away 6 mil on Green. Pulky has an upside for sure, that’s the nature of a trade. Question is, who in the minors and on the big teams roster would he replace? If he doesn’t come to camp with 10 more lbs of muscle we know he doesn’t understand whats needed.
Bruins have 3 issues as of now…need for at least one maybe two top 4 D-Man..a backup goaltender ( they have three in minors who can’t all play one should be traded (Subban)..need a vet goalscorer who is very good in the clubhouse,not enough cap space to get all three so a trade or two will be needed to get this done
Bruins need a high profile winger to score some goals, they dumped too much money on krecji I think. a JVR (not likely going to happen) who could produce 30 goals would help a lot. they also need a legit #1 dman (keith/doughty kind of guy) so chara can ride off into the susnet. as for goalie’s they’ll be ok as J smith will back up rask this year then Zane MacIntyre and Subban have the reigns goign forward under rask.
How much does JVR from leafs costs?
Apparently a couple of teams are in talks with TO for him
The moon.. and I’ll believed it when I see it.
of all the free agents left i would l would love to see the Oilers sign Franson. I know he’s not a top line dman but he’s an upgrade over a guy like Ference or Nikitin for sure. Sign him up but no 5 or 6 year deals. don’t want to block guys like Reinhart and Nurse in a few years. 3 years $17.0M. give him a bit more per to take less length. $5.67M per. could be worse
Sekera-Fayne
Klefbom-Schultz
Nurse-Franson
Thats actually not bad.