Clowe has re-signed, and Vlasic is in talks, but the stories and topics of the week come from the loyal listeners. Defense, offense, hypothetical, and finally, trivia questions are posed and answered.

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New episode here.  We did have some business to attend to in the Clowe signing and the Vlasic extension report, but the rest of the show was taken up with the trivial (trivia questions) and non-trivial (listener emails).

I just discovered this blog, and not to put too fine a point on it, it’s fantastic.  The good news is it gives amazing insight to the inner workings of an NHL team’s hockey management philosophy and strategy, including posts by the actual GM, assistant GM, and director of hockey ops.  The bad news is it’s about the Minnesota Wild.

I just read a book called Money Players that talks about this sort of thing, mostly a historical perspective on the players union, and the various CBAs that have been around.  It doesn’t really cover the new deal much because it was written during the lockout.  And actually, it’s not at all complimentary to Doug Risebrough, the current GM (and blogger) of the Wild.  According to the book, he made some pretty bad decisions back when he was GM of the Flames.

For whatever reason, I’m fascinated by this “game beyond the game”.  With the new CBA to navigate, changing U.S. to Canadian dollar exchange rates, rule changes, crazy UFA periods, it’s a whole science and art in itself.  It’s not easy identify good players (both good now and those that will be good in the future), choose what to pay them, and fit them under the salary cap, all while meeting any other goals ownership has set.  Plus you have constant scrutiny of your moves by fans, journalists, and oh yeah, you’re directly competing against 29 other guys who are trying to eat your lunch.  It’s like trying to do a puzzle where you don’t know the picture, the size of the final image, and the individual pieces are always changing size and shape.  Sometimes you have to get out the hammer to pound some pieces together, and sometimes they fit together like Legos.

So let me lead the call- we need Doug Wilson, Wayne Thomas, and Greg Jamison to start a blog.  Great job, Minnesota Wild.  Good luck not having Rolston and Demitra.

As the lone holdout from last years roster waiting for a new contract, it appears Ryane Clowe’s deal could be announced in the next few days, as David Pollak’s blog hinted today. This is very good news, very good news indeed but it might be hard to speculate what the dollar amount and term will be of Clowe’s new deal. Before I had guessed that due to his injury last season, overall lack of NHL experience (only 91 regular season games and 44 points) and his recent brush with the San Jose Po-Po, Clowe might settle for a two years deal worth 3M total. But, the market has been bizarre for a player of Clowe’s stature in the RFA market.

Daniel Carcillo got 2 years, roughly 1.8M from Phoenix. He has only 75 NHL games under his belt and 31 career points. Patrick Eaves got 4.2M for three years with 168 games and 76 points. Steve Bernier got 2.5M with 177 games and 90 points. Antoine Vermette just got two years, 5.5M for 297 games and 139 points.

So what is Clowe worth in this market? Will he take less term and less dough in order to cash in later? Will he want security and will Doug Wilson pull a “Matt Carle” type of deal of overpay for the potential long term investment? I see the former happening. I’m sticking to two years and 3M, and it should be no more than 3.2M or that’s a minor slap in the face to Little Joe.

As for some of the McLaren bashing that is happening on other message boards, and I admit to being a little guilty of it at first – don’t we think that Kyle deserves a little more than being thrown out like trash to the lowest bidder? With a positive suggestion in the post below, bcsteve brings up the LA Kings could take Kyle and his 2.5M salary to make the cap requirements and Lombardi might have a passing interest since he’s the one who brought McLaren to San Jose in the first place. Good idea, and I’m sure DW would prefer to send him out of the division, but with Kyle the odd man out – he might not have a choice…and neither might the Kings.

Newest podcast episode can be found here. Let’s hope we’ll be talking about Clowe’s new deal next week as a done deal.

Newest episode here.  As last week, most of the ideas for the show came from you, the listeners.  I know it’s not a real hip-hop-happening time in hockey right now, but it’s a good opportunity to discuss those issues that aren’t particularly affected by whether Mark Parrish has been bought out or not.

Since it’s too late have have a retrospective of last season, and too early to have a preview for next season, Mike and Doug talk about which teams in the west are finished making off-season moves, and which moves (if any) we might expect from the Sharks.

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In a bizarre turn of events, including the first case of its kind under the current CBA, the Bruins are about to buy out winger Glen Murray after the regular buyout period had expired. Let me try to explain. The Bruins resigned defensemen Dennis Widemen, who filed for salary arbitration. If a player files for arbitration and is resigned, either for the reward assigned by the arbiter or if the team and player come to terms prior to the hearing (as was the case with Widemen), then the team has a 48 hour window to buyout up to three player contracts in order to accommodate the new contract. (DEEP BREATH).

Does that make sense? It was a loop hole that Mike and I had never heard of, but obviously the GM of the Bruins was well aware. Reports speculated that Chiarelli has been trying to get some return for the struggling Murray, but no one wanted to take a flier on him at 4.1M this season, or last…or the year before. He’s been in the rumor mill longer than Patrick Marleau. So – even with the Sharks current salary cap crunch and crammed roster – it would not surprise me if Doug Wilson reached out to Glen Murray and offered him the chance to reunite with Thunder Joe and restore his former glory as a player on a Cup run with the Sharks.

Murray is 35 and on the downside of his career, with only 17 goals last season and has clearly struggled since Doug Wilson bamboozled the Bruins into giving him Joe Thornton. Once his center was taken away, Murray’s production slid.

With Thornton in Boston 236 games 111 goals
Without Thornton in Boston 186 games 69 goals

Right now, there is no room on the Sharks roster for Murray – but should they make room? Should Doug Wilson offer Murray the same opportunity to pick up his career that he gave J.R.? Granted, Murray isn’t in the same spot Roenick was last offseason, but he isn’t that far off. The allure of the opportunity to join the Sharks top line and find the magic with Joe again could be too much to pass up. How about the Sharks offer Murray 1M – that’s it – take it or leave it. A one year deal that could let him have a big year, get back to 30 goals and then command a larger deal on the open market in 2009.

Would it take some creative management to make this happen? Yes. But I wouldn’t put it past Doug Wilson from making it happen. A top line of Murray, Michalek and Thornton would let the Sharks roll out the best 2nd line in hockey with Pavelski, Marleau and Cheech. That’s just not fair.

Now we wait…and see….

We discuss all this and more on our current podcast. Now available.

After a relatively uneventful week, Mike and Doug mention the recent assistant coaching annoucements, but spend the bulk of the show discussing the roster philosophy the GM seems to have adopted, and how it will play in the difficult Pacific division. As always, listener questions are answered, and the shootout gives a quick rundown on some more hockey stories.

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Now available.  The entire show was pretty much driven by listener questions, so thanks for that.  The number of listens of episode 4 are a little off from the previous weeks; I hope people didnt’ stop thinking about hockey just because it’s the offseason.  We can address some more in-depth questions now that there isn’t as much going on, and this week will likely be the first of several where that is the case.

…the identity of the Sharks’ third assistant coach is the biggest news of the day.  Day?  Hell, that’s the biggest news of the week.  Trent Yawney we heard about before- ok, that’s a guy I watched play, and watched coach in Chicago.  Then, Jay Woodcroft’s name was leaked.  I guess he was the ‘video coach’ in Detroit, a title I didn’t know existed.  Isn’t that was Paula Abdul used to do, before she became a crackhead and raging alcoholic?

And now (drum roll please) we have Todd Richards, coach of the Wilkes-Barre Penguins, the top Pens affiliate.  I’ve heard of a lot of Richards- Brad Richards, Michael Richards, Denise Richards, Ann Richards, Reed Richards, Richard Christy, but never Todd Richards.  Not to disparage the new guy.  There was a story in a recent Hockey News about how the NHL loves to recycle head coaches, and it appears Doug Wilson and Todd McLellan are actively bucking that trend.  The NHL is very much a follow-the-leader kind of league; it’s a bit jarring to go off the beaten path like this.

A discussion about that last statement will probably make up a good portion of this weeks podcast.  If you have anything else you’d like us to talk about, please send a question.