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Has August become the new July for the NHL?
We all know August is a hot month... most think of beaches and sun tans when the month of August rolls around. The only ice that crosses one's mind are the cubes in their drinks. The only chill are those of the frosty beverage in their hands while relaxing on a backdoor patio.
Well this month I expect the NHL to be hot with player activity. I expect the ice cold trade market to thaw. I expect the teams feeling the heat from being over the cap to start shaking things up.
In the past most of your NHL player movement primarily happened in two windows:
NHL Draft (June)
NHL Free Agency (July)
The dust had typically settled come August and teams were generally set.
Yes the NHL has had it's fair share of movement in July but more so than ever that does not seem to be the case this season.
For starters - teams are locking up their young players to long term contracts before they have a chance to hit free agency thus making the pool of players available in early July limited and less attractive. Teams are taking their time and taking the entire offseason to make improvements.
The cap is certainly playing it's role in all of this. The cap is perventing the big spenders from going hog wild while budget markets are counting every penny they spend. This leads to less player movement out of the gate on July 1st.
There are teams over the cap max limit (Boston, Chicago, Philly, New Jersey, Calgary and Vancouver) and teams under the lower limit (Thrashers, Islanders, Avalanche). Teams are still going to have to make moves to either A. get under the cap or B. get over the cap minimum.
We have the Illya Kovalchuck situation still hanging out there. That won't be settled until August and could have a domino effect around the league for further activity.
A large number of players have filed for arbitration as both teams and players look to get the best deals for their situations. While the majority of these filings have gotten worked out prior to the actual hearings many teams have been in wait mode until these situations are resolved. The James Wisniewski deal yesterday is a perfect example of the fallout from the arbitration process.
All this adds up to teams still not settled on their rosters and like many others, I expect a lot more activity come August.
I expect the Columbus Blue Jackets to be one of these active teams.
It's no secret the Jackets want to upgrade their blueline despite Howson's PR speak that he "really is" happy with his group.
Names like Kaberle, Souray and Bieska are still heavily rumored to be available.
You have the teams over the cap that are going to have to make a move to get under it. Are there any pieces on Vancouver (Bieska?), Calgary, Boston (Bergeron? Savard?), New Jersey and Chicago (Sharp?) that may interest Howson?
You have teams like LA that have made it known that they need scoring help. Could a trade between the Jackets and LA be worked out?
You have teams like the Islanders, Avalanche and Thrashers who still need to add salary? Could the Jackets dump anyone (i.e. salary dump) to one of these squads to free up budget room to make a move for a higher price guy that could fill a hole?
You have all the backdoor conversations and proposals that we as fans are never privy too. The deals that are made that make you say "well that came out of nowhere".
Finally there are still a lot of unsigned free agents floating around out there. Do the Jackets have any interest in dmen like Andy Sutton, Denis Grebeshkov or Willie Mitchell? Are there any forwards that may be of interest? There were some rumors about the Jackets having interest C Ryan Johnson for example. What about a Mike Comrie or a guy I'd personally love to see them add on a 1 year deal (but would never come here) in Mike Modano?
The bottom line is I expect a flurry of activity in the month of August. Whether or not the Jackets will get in on the action.... well, we'll have to kick back on the beach with frosty beverages in our hands and wait to see what, if anything, unfolds.
-LTL
