Dustin Leed ‏@D_LEED

UPDATED: Odds to win the 2013 Stanley Cup: Pens 8/1 NYR 17/2 VAN 9/1 LAK 12/1 PHI 12/1 CHI 14/1 Bruins 16/1 Wings 16/1 Blues 16/1 Wild 18/1.

Dustin Leed ‏@D_LEED

UPDATED: Odds to win the 2013 Stanley Cup: Pens 8/1 NYR 17/2 VAN 9/1 LAK 12/1 PHI 12/1 CHI 14/1 Bruins 16/1 Wings 16/1 Blues 16/1 Wild 18/1.
- NickTheKid87

always those (frank)ing pens....theyll choke....Cant wait to see schenn nail crosby.

always those (frank)ing pens....theyll choke....Cant wait to see schenn nail crosby.
- Philly1980

I think the Pens will win the division and Sid will earn MVP honors fairly easily. Predicting a Cup winning is next to impossible though.

More Mirtle:

James Mirtle ‏@mirtle

Also: The cap cannot go below $64.3-million, as per the league. Another thing the players gained.

Bryz will be fine.

The kids will step it up!

Briere will go into beast mode for the playoffs, as always.

And G will be G!

Great blog Bill.

I'm just happy to be talking about actual hockey again!

Dustin Leed ‏@D_LEED

UPDATED: Odds to win the 2013 Stanley Cup: Pens 8/1 NYR 17/2 VAN 9/1 LAK 12/1 PHI 12/1 CHI 14/1 Bruins 16/1 Wings 16/1 Blues 16/1 Wild 18/1.
- NickTheKid87

Vegas has the Flyers to win it at 20/1

Dustin Leed ‏@D_LEED

UPDATED: Odds to win the 2013 Stanley Cup: Pens 8/1 NYR 17/2 VAN 9/1 LAK 12/1 PHI 12/1 CHI 14/1 Bruins 16/1 Wings 16/1 Blues 16/1 Wild 18/1.
- NickTheKid87

Vegas has the Flyers to win it at 20/1

Double Post

I think the Pens will win the division and Sid will earn MVP honors fairly easily. Predicting a Cup winning is next to impossible though.
- NickTheKid87

In my opinion Jordan Staal is a huge loss for the Pens and MAF will make or break the Pens. Say what you will about Bryz in the playoffs, he was still the better goalie in the series. My money is on the Rangers. After watching road to the Winter Classic and their overall season, I have to give credit where credit is due. That team has it together.

More Mirtle:

James Mirtle ‏@mirtle

Also: The cap cannot go below $64.3-million, as per the league. Another thing the players gained.
- Jsaquella

I went back and read the details on the discussion of a back diving contract reverting to the originating team when a player retires. The cap hit is not the annual prorated value of the contract, but the actual value of the unpaid balance of annual salary.

In my opinion Jordan Staal is a huge loss for the Pens and MAF will make or break the Pens. Say what you will about Bryz in the playoffs, he was still the better goalie in the series. My money is on the Rangers. After watching road to the Winter Classic and their overall season, I have to give credit where credit is due. That team has it together.
- SuperSchennBros

Rangers have the best team on paper but I believe that their defense overachieved. I don't see Del Zotto, McDonagh, Girardi, etc. all clicking the same way they did last year. Plus they lost a lot of grit up front with Dubinsky & Prust leaving. They'll still be a good team but I think they are overrated slightly as of now.

To a degree, yes. It's no secret he was livid over the loopholes teams found in his CBA of 2005 (which was initially touted as nearly airtight before teams quickly found the contract-length and variance loopholes). But I think he's also appeasing the small-market teams for delivering a higher cap ceiling than the $60M maximum he promised before the lockout. Now the teams with the grandfathered older-CBA contracts carry added risk on those deals.
- bmeltzer

Does this have the makings of a war between the Big Market teams and Bettman? It seems to me that punishing the teams that drive the league from a popularity and revenue standpoint seems shortsighted and downright stupid.

But really, did anything about this stupid lockout make any sense at all?

Nice to see this Blog Getting the Hits it deserves!

Rangers have the best team on paper but I believe that their defense overachieved. I don't see Del Zotto, McDonagh, Girardi, etc. all clicking the same way they did last year. Plus they lost a lot of grit up front with Dubinsky & Prust leaving. They'll still be a good team but I think they are overrated slightly as of now.
- NickTheKid87

Lol they better win it this year because they dont have enought to resign all of those guys next year!

Rangers have the best team on paper but I believe that their defense overachieved. I don't see Del Zotto, McDonagh, Girardi, etc. all clicking the same way they did last year. Plus they lost a lot of grit up front with Dubinsky & Prust leaving. They'll still be a good team but I think they are overrated slightly as of now.
- NickTheKid87

Look at Tortorella's history. He pushes his players into total sacrifice mode, he gets one great year of commitment and play with a big fall off in the next year. Rangers are going to have large fall off from last year.

I went back and read the details on the discussion of a back diving contract reverting to the originating team when a player retires. The cap hit is not the annual prorated value of the contract, but the actual value of the unpaid balance of annual salary.
- spatso

Yeah that part I saw. Makes it more palatable, at least. It does seem our suspicions of the cap hit reverting will be correct, as well. Maybe it's my Flyers bias, but it seems a bit unfair to punish teams retroactively for things that were totally legal when the contracts were originally signed.

That said, for the Flyers end of it, I'm most concerned about the Carter deal. JvR's deal expires when he's still in his 20's and Richards will be 34. Carter will be 36 or 37.

Rangers have the best team on paper but I believe that their defense overachieved. I don't see Del Zotto, McDonagh, Girardi, etc. all clicking the same way they did last year. Plus they lost a lot of grit up front with Dubinsky & Prust leaving. They'll still be a good team but I think they are overrated slightly as of now.
- NickTheKid87

I hope you are right but one thing is forsure, this is still in my mind the strongest division in the league. With this said though, they work hard, they have the coaching, goaltending and high end talent.

Look at Tortorella's history. He pushes his players into total sacrifice mode, he gets one great year of commitment and play with a big fall off in the next year. Rangers are going to have large fall off from last year.
- spatso

I think him and Nash are going to get into it....my gut feeling is that nash wont go down to block shots lol

just heard Briere is going to see a hand specialist...

1C - Giroux
2C - Couturier
3C - Schenn

How's that look? Obviously G gets the most ice time, bump Coots to more minutes on the second line, drop Schenn in as the 3rd line centre. I can see Coots putting up 20+ goals in that role, Schenn 15-20 in his role. This is somewhat similar to having Briere-Carter-Richards, but I think better overall.
- Rocktane

Home games... Giroux starts, Schenn, then Coots.
Away games... Coots take the draws versus the top lines, Grioux, Schenn.

Lol they better win it this year because they dont have enought to resign all of those guys next year!
- Philly1980

Brooks in NY Post this morning suggests that Rangers might even need to think about buying out Nash to protect their long term interests.

Does this have the makings of a war between the Big Market teams and Bettman? It seems to me that punishing the teams that drive the league from a popularity and revenue standpoint seems shortsighted and downright stupid.

But really, did anything about this stupid lockout make any sense at all?
- MBFlyerfan

Put it another way-under the new and not yet ratified CBA, the salary floor could be $70mm in 8 years. How does that help the small market teams that were supposedly the NHL's biggest concern when they locked out the players this time?

Only the NHL owners would kill half a season to get a CBA that fails to address their own stated primary goal

Rangers have the best team on paper but I believe that their defense overachieved. I don't see Del Zotto, McDonagh, Girardi, etc. all clicking the same way they did last year. Plus they lost a lot of grit up front with Dubinsky & Prust leaving. They'll still be a good team but I think they are overrated slightly as of now.
- NickTheKid87

I personally think that the Rangers defenseman are very strong overall. Girardi is very underrated. Especially is Staal can remain healthy and rebound. Along with the quality team defense, backed up by one of the top Goalies in the League. They're a definite contender.

Brooks in NY Post this morning suggests that Rangers might even need to think about buying out Nash to protect their long term interests.
- spatso

I just have this feeling that Nash will not work under Torts...Is it just me that feels that way.