Puck Daddy

"Bouwmeester ...

... Jay Bouwmeester" (cue music)

Handing out grades for the annual Free Agent Frenzy is difficult for two reasons: first, that we won't really have a true picture of success or failure of these moves for years; second, that there are still enough impact UFAs (and RFAs, if the good ‘ole boys decide to violate their own unwritten rules) on the market that can affect the grades.

So grain of salt, all things considered, yadda yadda ... enough has transpired in the last few days for us to award hasty evaluations about the acquisition or discarding of talent around the NHL.

Last year's report card dealt strictly with the first day; we've expanded it to late Friday afternoon and included some of the trade made during the Frenzy and signings made before it.

As you'll see, our initial evaluations of the moves made produced some high marks from unexpected places, and low marks from expected ones. Patience was rewarded; inactivity was sometimes the best activity.

So here are the grades; agree to disagree. Thanks again for reading this week. It was a blast.

When we last discussed Pierre McGuire's candidacy to become a National Hockey League general manager it was in response to a blog post by the Denver Post's Adrian Dater.

Since then, the TSN and NBC analyst has stated interest in entering the management sector, even interviewing for the Minnesota job before being eventually passed over for Chuck Fletcher.

With the Florida Panthers as the only NHL team without a GM, is it time that franchise moves in an alternative direction?

After having Bill Torrey, Rick Dudley, Mike Keenan, and Jacques Martin leading the team this decade to zero playoff appearances, it's obvious that retreads aren't making progress in South Florida. A year ago, Florida brought in a successful junior hockey coach Peter DeBoer (whom a source told me is very close to McGuire), and the Panthers improved, coming within a tiebreaker advantage of making the playoffs for the first time since the 1999-00 season.

They took a chance on an unproven guy at the professional ranks behind the bench -- why not at GM?

The salary cap-induced exodus from the Detroit Red Wings continues, as winger Mikael Samuelsson leaves for a three-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks, the team reported today. Elliotte Friedman of CBC Sports had it at $7.5 million total, or a $2.5 million cap hit; Samuelsson was at a $1.2 million hit last season.

For the Red Wings, this is the fourth player they've lost in the Frenzy, along with forward Tomas Kopecky(notes) (Chicago Blackhawks), goalie Ty Conklin(notes) (St. Louis Blues) and perennial championship voodoo idol Marian Hossa(notes) (Blackhawks).

Fans and observers are naturally of the mindset that "hey, it's the Red Wings, they can fill the voids" and lord knows they're stocked with forwards (Justin Abdelkader(notes), Ville Leino(notes) if he's re-signed) who will have expanded roles next season. But Samuelsson was a very good fit for their style and contributed some essential offense down the lineup.

This one will hurt a bit, even if his departure was expected due to financial constraints.

As for the Canucks, it's a nice move. He's a 40-point guy with size (6-2, 210) and oodles of the kind of postseason success that locker room needs. Forwards like him have gotten looks on the top two lines for the Canucks before, so his spot in the lineup's a bit of a mystery. But Samuelsson, who'll be 33 in December, has the versatility to pull off different roles. At the very least, a good depth move.

Now it's onto the blue line for Canucks GM Mike Gillis.

This is simply one of the most fascinating video artifacts we've ever viewed on YouTube: Gary Bettman making his television debut as NHL commissioner, interviewed by the great Marv Albert on NBC during the 1992-93 All-Star Game in Montreal. It plays like an eerie prequel to the 16 years that followed.

Let's get to the most important issue first: The celebrity Gary Bettman most resembled back in 1993:

The choices are, from the left, Kevin Spacey in "The Ref"; an older Dirk "Starbuck/Face from The A-Team" Benedict; and Stanley Tucci in "Big Night."

As for the interview, it was interesting to hear his initial thoughts on issues trying to make hockey a national, rather than a regional, sport; and his take on the fighting issue ("I think we need to put the issue to rest once and for all."). Marv's indignant question about changing the conference names warmed our traditionalist hearts as much as Bettman's answer -- "It's worth thinking about" -- and knowing grin chilled them.

Perhaps the most interesting answer, on what his most difficult task in taking the job was:

"We need a collective bargaining agreement real quick with our players. We have one more season -- this season -- left on it and my goal is to get a new one as quickly and as quietly and cooperatively as I can with the players."

Yeah, about that.

Kudos to VintageDetroit, which earlier posted some classic Norris Division playoff clips from "Hockey Night in Canada." We're quite jealous of your VHS collection.

The puckheads in our late-night Chatter Box live chat on Thursday unanimously said they wanted a third day of this Free Agent Frenzy news and analysis feed. Well, we're bringing it back, which should make them happier than Dany Heatley(notes) counting his $4 million bonus anywhere but Edmonton.

The Free Agent Frenzy Chatter Box is a live blog where we feature 12 different Twitter feeds from various hockey people providing scoops, scuttlebutt and analysis as the news rolls in. We also dip in unannounced for live chats during the day. The insiders we're following today: Kevin Allen of USA Today; Craig Custance of The Sporting News; Chris Johnston of the Canadian Press; Dan Tencer of CHED Radio; Elliotte Friedman of CBC Sports; David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period; Paul Kukla of Kukla's Korner; Darren Dreger of TSN; and Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.

Notice how all of them are hyperlinked? If you're on Twitter, make sure you give them a follow. They've done outstanding work in the last week, weeding out the nonsense from the truth. Send'em a note and tell them how much you appreciate it. It's like tipping your waiter for journalists.

For comic relief, it's yours truly, Sean Leahy of Puck Daddy and the great Down Goes Brown. Not sure how today's going to roll with it being a holiday weekend in the U.S., but there could still be some news and chatter to filter through. Enjoy the chaos, such as it is, and thanks to reading.

(To the Twitter newbies -- "RT" means "re-tweet," as in something that's been quoted; "@______" is the quoted user.)

In a way, the NHL's Free Agent Frenzy is a lot like your fantasy hockey draft, only with slightly less beer and more trash-talking. Teams are assembling talent based on reputation, performance and management's own internal metrics of evaluation; then, without warning, plans go out the window when there's a run on a certain type of player.

For example, the Minnesota Wild thought they had former Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu(notes) on the hook until the rest of the NHL realized that veteran centers that can anchor a scoring line aren't exactly in abundance in the UFA market.

So as Michael Russo of the Star Tribune reports, things went a little south on Day 2:

Fletcher said "negotiations are ongoing with Saku" Koivu, the decorated older brother of Wild center Mikko Koivu(notes). But according to sources, the deal appeared to be heading south fast after the team felt Koivu-to-Minnesota was a lock Wednesday night.

"We've expressed some interest. I think a lot of teams have expressed interest," Fletcher said. "He's a great hockey player and there aren't a lot of centermen in the market place, so I'd be stunned if 10 or 15 teams haven't reached out to him by this point. ... I certainly sensed some interest [from Koivu], but there's a lot of good situations out there. Most teams in the league are thin at the center position."

Russo previously reported that the term of the contract was the sticking point. He also wrote that the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers and Anaheim Ducks were in play for Koivu's services. Andrew Gross of the Rangers Report gets the vibe that Koivu is looking harder at the Western Conference than the Lincoln Tunnel area.

In any case, Koivu's still in play and his stock appears to be on the rise; which is probably good news for the other pivots still out on the market that can get his sloppy ... er, his second choices.

It's not often that Oklahoma City is involved with two interesting hockey stories on the same night.

First off, a bombshell: The Oklahoma City Blazers have informed the Central Hockey League that they are suspending operations just as the 2009-10 schedule is being complied. (The CHL also announced the New Mexico Scorpions will not play this season, either.)

The Blazers aren't just some minor league team in a non-traditional market: They led the CHL in average attendance last regular season by a wide margin, and have been an annual success story at the gate, playing in the city for 17 years.

From NewsOK.com, some method to the madness:

The Oklahoma City Blazers have suspended operations after failing to renew their lease with Oklahoma City to play in the Ford Center or Cox Center, a team official said Thursday. The decision comes as Oklahoma City officials have filed paperwork clearing the way to start negotiations with "a prospective AHL franchise afflilated with Express Sports," according to city documents.

The story claims the Blazers declined to renew their Ford Center lease after months of talks. The team has had an odd transition to the larger arena that houses the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder (R.I.P. Sonics), including some scheduling conflicts that sent them back to their old digs at the Cox Center.

But the real intrigue is the AHL angle, as all signs point to the Edmonton Oilers potentially moving their affiliate to Oklahoma City for the 2010-11 season. The Oilers visited OKC in 2008 to tour the city and its facilities.

As the NewsOK.com story reports, the Oilers own the dormant Edmonton Road Runners while their affiliation with the Springfield (Mass.) Falcons runs through 2010. It's complicated, but essentially the Oilers could "restart" the Road Runners in OKC while leaving a franchise in Springfield. The team has expressed a desire to have its AHL affiliate closer to Alberta.

The CHL is feeling shocked and betrayed by all of this, as one of the most successful minor league hockey towns in the U.S. will be without puck for a season; but clearly, the groundwork is there for a more major league to fill the void. Reading the comments on the story quoted above, some of the fans are jazzed about the upgrade.

The other OKC hockey news, which may be just as important: Former OKC Blazers player Robin Gomez was found "not guilty of assault causing bodily harm" for punching Chris Ferraro of the Las Vegas Wranglers during a game in 2008, according to the Victoria News. Ferraro claimed the incident, which happened when Gomez played for the Victoria Salmon Kings, was a sucker-punch; the judge ruled it was "within the scope of the game of hockey."

In his revelatory chat yesterday with Rich Hammond of the LA Daily News, Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi was asked if the Kings were in search of a veteran defenseman during free agency. His response:

"I wouldn't mind looking at that. I wouldn't mind it because I would like to give our kids a cushion, but I don't want to go too far out (in terms of salary) and cut off my numbers to where I can't get the Hossa-type guys. At this time, I don't see a major thing out there. I wouldn't mind a good player to buy us some time, but I'm planning on the defense maturing as a group, and then spending my money up front. I don't see any blockbusters out there but you never know what you might stumble on later."

So does signing Pittsburgh Penguins UFA defenseman Rob Scuderi to four years at $3.4 million on the cap per season (via TSN) conform to that philosophy? Besides once again showing that when it comes to free agency, Lombardi has the patience of the knight who guarded the Holy Grail in "Indiana Jones"?

Some thoughts and notes on Day 2 of the Free Agent Frenzy. Remember to check out our Puck Daddy Chatter Box for breaking news and rumors.

• The New York Rangers shot down Nik Antropov's demands for a long-term deal, but in the end he may have found a better fit. He goes to the Atlanta Thrashers for four years and $16 million, with GM Don Waddell saying (video) that Antropov will play on Ilya Kovalchuk's line next season: "He played with Ilya during the work stoppage. Ilya knows him well." (Then he has a good sense of his speed. Or lack thereof.)

Antropov had a base salary of $2.15 million last season between the Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Overall, pretty good couple of days for the Thrashers in re-signing Chris Thorburn (no terms) and acquiring defenseman Pavel Kubina from the Leafs. Waddell told the team's Web site that he felt the team didn't need to add a large number of new players but instead a few "special" ones. How one feels about a couple of former Leafs will probably dictate how one feels about that mission being accomplished.

• The big story on Day 2, however, is the lack of stories when it comes to two big-name defensive defensemen: Francois Beauchemin and Rob Scuderi.