At noon eastern time Tuesday, the NHL Free Agency signing period officially began; and signifying a commitment to winning in the new era of Chicago Blackhawks hockey, GM Dale Tallon set off on a spree of signing two of the best available players. In shoring up two areas of need, the Hawks acquired defenseman Brian Campbell and goaltender Cristobal Huet. Campbell, who was traded to San Jose from Buffalo at last year's trade deadline, signed for an astounding 8 years/$56.8 million. He is self-described as a complete player, but is known for contributing on the offensive side. He will add a perfect dimension in quarterbacking the Blackhawks power-play attack (which was weak last year), as well as adding depth to a young, defensive core on Chicago's blueline. Huet, meanwhile, signed for 4 years at just over $5 million/year. He was one of the league's top goaltenders last year for both Montreal and Washington, to whom he was traded at the deadline. Had had 32 wins last season, including 9 straight wins to help the Capitals make the playoffs. Hawks GM Dale Tallon stated that his intention right now is to have Huet split time with current Blackhawk netminder Nikolai Khabibulin (who is being paid over $6 million in the last year of his deal). In regards to the day's events, Dale Tallon had this to say:
"Habby and Cristobal give us great goaltending to go with a really good defense. We scored goals last year. We were in the top 10 despite injuries. But our goals against was too high and our power play was not very good, so shoring up our defense and goaltending will help get us to where we want to go...There's only so much money that goes around. We paid a lot of money for the services of these players. We have to be careful now and give our young players an ability to come in and play some of those other positions."
Now, the Hawks are $3 million over the salary cap for the coming season and seemingly have some good talent going into this season, but some big names still remain for the taking in the NHL Free Agency pool. Among them are Marian Hossa, Brendan Shannahan, and Jaromir Jagr. I believe that it would be an outstanding move if the Hawks could somehow sign one of these players to add to the top offensive lines, and give them another lock they could count on to produce big numbers. Another signing I'd like to see by the Hawks: Pens-UFA enforcer Georges Laraque. He's done a nice job protecting Sid the Kid and the rest of Pittsburgh's young talent, I believe he'd be a good addition to do the same in Chicago with Kane/Towes and the rest of this young roster. The Hawks could be looking for an enforcer-type now that David Koci signed with Tampa Bay. One player in the system, however, who could fill this role (and much more) sooner, rather than later, is recent 1st round draft choice Kyle Beach. Beach is not only a tough guy, but also was rated as the top 2 or 3 forward in this year's draft with great offensive talent.
Here's some links to articles about today's Blackhawk signings, as well as some overall NHL rumor/news sites:
In some other, marquee news from today's NHL signings, a goalie-shuffle transpired as Jose Theodore signed with the Capitals, pushing Olaf Kolzig to sign with Tampa Bay, and Andrew Raycroft replaced Theodore in Colorado. Minnesota sniper Brian Rolston signed a deal with the Devils, and D Wade Redden signed with the Rangers. We now keep an eye out in the coming days to see where superstars Jagr, Shannahan, Hossa, and Sundin end up!
When it looked like all was going to be relatively quiet, MLB GM's sprung into action moving star players left and right. After the previous weeks had seen such large deals as C.C. to Milwaukee and Harden to the Cubs, another big deal went down days before the deadline. The Atlanta Braves traded star, switch-hitting 1B Mark Teixeira to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This move, made by baseball's best team (statistically, of course) is clearly a addition in ammo meant for October. Tex adds another huge bat to an offense already featuring Vlad, Tori Hunter, and Garret Anderson. Then, today (a day before the July 31 [non-waiver] Trade Deadline, the Yankees made a move to replace their star catcher (Jorge Posada who is out for the season with a shoulder injury) with another star catcher, acquiring "Pudge" Rodriguez from the Tigers for reliever Kyle Farnsworth (a move that nearly brought Yankee manager Joe Girardi to tears, because of their close relationship after Girardi caught Farnsworth in Chicago). Now, with less than 24 hours remaining before the Trade Deadline, there looks to be a third major trade on the brink of happenning. The Boston Red Sox seem set on trading Manny being Manny, seemingly sick of his personality. There is a trade on the table, according to sources citied by MLBTradeRumors.com, which would send Manny to the Marlins, while the Red Sox get Jason Bay from the Pirates, and the Pirates get Hermidia from the Marlins (with prospects also involved to all teams). Now to me, this trade seems extremely stupid. While Manny may be causing distractions for the Red Sox front office, he is still producing on the field (.301 AVG/20 HR/68 RBI) and is one of the greatest hitters in history. And they want to get him off the team for Bay, a guy who would certainly be a downgrade from Manny: 1)he is not the seasoned hitter mentally that Manny has proven to be, 2)you'd be losing Manny's electric personality in Fenway, 3) you'd be losing the invaluable friendship between Manny and fellow partner-in-crime David Ortiz. If I had those two in the middle of my lineup, I'd ride the power wave to championship town (2 WS titles in last 5 years) as long as I could. Now if this deal was made, it would certainly be a steal for the Marlins here. They'd be acquiring a proven hitter for the middle of their lineup, who along with Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla would give them a nice core to compete in the N.L. East (of which they're only 1.5 games out right now). In other trade news, the Cubs are looking great, beating the Brew Crew the last three games in convincing fashion. They already bolstered their team this year by adding released center fielders Reed Johnson and Jim Edmonds who have been key cogs to the offense (along with much-improved Mike Fontenot and Ronny Cedeño). They also traded for a true #2 (actually an ace of his former staff), Rich Harden who has been stellar in three outings. In addition to the offense and starting staff, the bullpen has also become a strength as the emergence of Jeff Samardzija, Chad Gaudin, Neal Cotts, and Sean Marshall adds to the already stellar Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol for a solid staff of late-inning, shut-down arms that Lou can feel confident in calling upon. However, there have been rumblings that the Cubs have inquired on a few left-handed, outfield bats. Most notable, according to MLBTradeRumors.com, Brian Giles, Raul Ibanez, and David DeJesus. One last item that this blogger would like to touch upon, is the stunning availability of a major offensive threat to any of the 30 MLB teams. There is a player out there who can be had for no prospects or players of any level. He can give you instant help to the tune of major power, a +.400 OBP, a leadership prescence in the clubhouse, and a serious offensive boost for the fall. And he'll only cost around $300,000. Who is this player? The answer: Barry Bonds. He is still a FA, who told the Yankees last week (before they acquired Nady and Pudge) that he'd play for them for $300 K and donate it all to buy tickets for kids. If you're worried about his legal troubles, he doesn't have a court date of any kind until next spring. If you're worried about his clubhouse consequences a signing will have, he has been said to be a great clubhouse prescence who improves younger players. And if you're worried about his offensive production, well he said he could be ready in about 10 days, he is BARRY BONDS!!, and he has produced every single year he's been healthy. I don't think there is a question about his offense. If I was a GM, I would sign him in a heartbeat. And looking at teams like the Rays, who seemingly need one DH/OF bat to be serious contenders, I think it'd be a smart idea.
