The Red Wings put Derian Hatcher, Ray Whitney, and Darren McCarty on waivers on Monday, where, if they go unclaimed, they will be bought out. Such a move would free up $9.31 million in cap space for next season, but will cost Mike Ilitch $15.5 million over the terms of their contracts.

It’s nice to see this move after calling for it the past five weeks on this site. Maybe GM Ken Holland reads the newspapers and/or Red Wings blogs, because those three have been pegged as buyout candidates for awhile now. I’d like to think I influenced a few on this issue, as On the Wings was the first of the media/blogs to call for the buyouts of Hatcher, Whitney, and McCarty.

So what do the Wings do with the extra cap space? First secure Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, acquire a veteran goaltender (Osgood), scoring forward (Glen Murray), and a second-line defenseman, and then finish signing guys like Steve Yzerman, Mathieu Dandenault, and Jason Williams.

Red Wings assistant GM Jim Nill:

“They’ve been a big, big part of our franchise. This is just a part of doing business right now with the new CBA…[on McCarty] He’s a hard-working, roll-up-your-sleeves kind of guy. He’s really what the city’s all about. He came every night to play hard. He was a big part of our success.”

According to the Portsmouth Herald, Mark Mowers signed a one year deal with the Wings, believed to be for the league minimum $450,000. It’s actually a good deal for Mowers, since he made $450,000 during the 2003-2004 season, joining a small group of those who don’t lose money with the new CBA.

The Wings had no reason not to sign Mowers. With the need to fill in roster spots with cheap fourth-liners, Mowers, 31, is a good fit. He had three goals and eight assists in 52 games played last season, and played in Sweden and Switzerland during the lockout. The former Univerity of New Hampshire star remains unsure of his market value:

“You just don’t know what the market’s going to be. Some days I thought (the new structure) would help me and some days I thought it could hurt me.”

Mowers actually had a deal to play for Fribourg-Gotteron of Switzerland next season, but an escape clause allowed him to sign back with the Wings.

Actually, to be technical, Mowers only has a verbal agreement with the Wings, since the period to sign free agents begins August 1. The period for teams to negotiate with their own free agents began on Saturday (or is it the period to negotiate and sign own free agents? The NHL doesn’t specify). The same goes for all players who are reported as “bought out” this week. In reality, these players are being placed on waivers, which they must clear during a 24 hour period before their clubs buy them out. The likelihood that teams select players from waivers is close to none. Why not just wait until their clubs buy them out and sign them for less?

UPDATE 7/25 10:36 PM

Here’s a clip of an amazing goal by Mark Mowers, from the March 3, 2004 game against Calgary.

Some of the Q/A’s in the FAQ’s on the League’s site caught my eye so I thought I’d make some comments on them.

The text in blockquotes below comes from the NHL’s Relaunch FAQs, followed by my responses.

Has the 2006 All-Star Game been cancelled?

Yes. As part of the new CBA, NHL players will participate in the 2006 and 2010 Olympic Winter Games and the League will not hold All-Star Games in those years.

Surprising that the League, which is going to have to work very hard to win fans back, would cancel the game specifically for the fans. The Olympics are great but they obviously aren’t directly tied to NHL hockey and fans will distinguish the two. It seems like an especially weak policy to cancel the All Star Game in the League’s first year after a season-canceling lockout. I guess it was the players’ decision.

Too bad for Glendale, Arizona. Bettman says they’ll get the game again someday, just not in 2007 since a city has already been decided on.

Will the playoff format be expanded to include more than 16 teams?

No.

Whew! I’m very glad the rumors about adding 4 teams to the playoffs aren’t true. Having 2/3 of the teams in the post-season would have been ridiculous (it’s already bad enough to have over half of the teams make it). Not to mention adding another whole round to an already long playoff run. Imagine the possibility of a team playing 35 extra games after an 82 game regular season in order to win the Cup. Besides, the 16 wins seems like the right number to me.

Will the overtime format change?

Yes. If a game is tied at the end of regulation time, the teams will play a four-on-four, sudden-death overtime period. If the game remains tied at the end of the five-minute overtime, a shootout (three shooters per team; if teams still tied after three shots, then sudden death) will be used. Our fans have told us in overwhelming numbers that they like the excitement of the four-on-four format. They have also told us that they would like to see every game produce a winner. The addition of the shootout will add to the excitement and provide a result to every game.

Maybe so but I still think it’s gimmicky. Why not just extend over-time indefinitely like they do in the playoffs? Playoff overtime is some of the most exciting hockey and to me it’s a more legitimate way to decide tied games. Sure there’d be some overly long games but at least let the players play it out and decide the game as a team, like they’re supposed to. I’d hate to see some important games decided down the stretch by something as individualistic as a shootout, as exciting as it may be. Part of the excitement of the penalty shot and situations like that is their rarity. Why make it common? I think we’ll have some angry fans after they try this one out.

What will the role of the new Competition Committee be?

The Competition Committee, comprised of NHL players, general managers and owners will ensure that the game is being played in a manner that emphasizes entertainment, skill and competition.

The inaugural Competition Committee is comprised of Philadelphia Flyers’ Chairman Ed Snider, General Managers Bob Gainey (Montreal), Kevin Lowe (Edmonton), David Poile (Nashville) and Don Waddell (Atlanta) and players Rob Blake (Colorado), Jarome Iginla (Calgary), Trevor Linden (Vancouver) and Brendan Shanahan (Detroit). NHL Players’ Association Director of Business Operations Mike Gartner also will provide input to the Committee.

The Competition Committee met for the first time on June 23 in Toronto and met as recently as this past Tuesday to finalize the new rules for the 2005-06 season.

It’s good to know the Competition Committee had a say in the rule changes the League is implementing this year. I guess it gives the changes a bit more credibility in my mind since they weren’t just approved by some arbitrary group of people in the NHL office.

Text in blockquotes in this section comes from the CBA FAQ.

Will Clubs be able to renegotiate contracts with players?

No. Player contracts will not be renegotiated (upward or downward) during their term. Extensions may be negotiated but only in the final year of the contract and only if such extension is for an amount that can be accommodated in a Club’s upper limit for the current year or as computed for future years.

So it doesn’t look like a contract extension would work in Nick Lidstrom’s case. He is in the final year of his contract but with that provision that counts the extension amount toward the current year (rather than the future years), an extension wouldn’t serve much purpose. He’s still on our buy-out list but only as a last resort and only if the Wings need more cap room for some other reason. They can keep him but they’ll just have a younger roster and won’t be able to be as active on the free agent market.

Has the date of the trading deadline been moved?

Yes. The trade deadline will be moved from the 26th day to the 40th day immediately preceding the final day of the regular season.

Interesting. That will give newly acquired players more time to become acclimated with their new teammates so they can play better together in the post-season. It also means teams will have to figure out their needs for the playoffs a little earlier. However, a lot can happen over 40 days and some teams may end up going in to the playoffs less well-prepared than they did when they could make trades up to 26 days before the end of the regular season. Besides leaving more time for familiarity, 40 days also leaves more time for players to get hurt and negate the advantage of having acquired someone in a trade in the first place.

Text in blockquotes is from the NHL’s explanation of the new rules.

The neutral-zone edges of the blue lines will be positioned 64 feet from the attacking goal line and 75 feet from the end boards in the attacking zone. The addition of four feet in each of the offensive zones should encourage more offensive play, particularly on power-plays.

So the neutral zone is even narrower? Smart move, guys. Now players have even less room to build up speed going into the offensive zone. But when they get there, they’ll have plenty of room to move around, right?

Passes from behind the defensive blue line to the attacking blue line will be considered legal. The center red line will be ignored for purposes of the “two line pass”.
…
“Touch” icing will remain the practice, although the Linesman will have discretion to wave off apparent icing infractions if they are deemed the result of an attempted pass. Providing the discretion to the Linesman also should have the effect of reducing the number of situations in which a race for the puck might result in an injury to a player.

These two rule changes have some potential to be pretty cool (until teams adjust defensively and shut down the long bomb pass). Just close your eyes and imagine Pavel Datsyuk taking a pass at the blue line and walking in all alone on that goalie. Pretty cool, huh? And if that pass doesn’t connect, the linesman may just waive off the icing and play will continue, probably resulting in a good scoring chance anyway. The potential for that will last about a game or two before defensemen start sitting back between the circles at all times. But those two games will be exciting, eh?

Goaltenders may play the puck behind the goal line only in a trapezoid-shaped area defined by lines that begin six feet from either goal post and extend diagonally to points 28 feet apart at the endboards.
…
Goaltenders who play the puck behind the goal line but outside the designated puck handling area will be penalized for delay of game.

I was against this one when Ken Holland first mentioned it and I’m against it now. I’d rather see them make goalies fair game behind the net than add those stupid lines to the schematic of the ice. All it’s going to result in is a lot more stoppages in play because goalies will take time to break the habit of playing the puck. We’ll see more delay of game penalties and more breaking up of the flow. Isn’t that exciting? Funny how in that case the only “delay of game” would be caused by the ref stopping everything in order to call the penalty. If the goalie could just play the puck, play would continue.

Oh, the NHL unveiled its new logo today. I can’t say I’m vastly impressed with it. It’s not bad per se but it doesn’t seem to have the same business-like feel as the logos of the other pro leagues. It looks like a secondary logo to me or like something off the cover of that NHL Hitz video game. I don’t really know what was so wrong with the old one. Ah well. The League wants to be new and fresh. Maybe it’ll work. It’s wasted on me since I’m already a fan and I’m not likely to stop being one, as much as I may grumble from time to time.

I will be a guest on SportsTalkCleveland.com’s “Northcoast Hockey Insider” radio show with Paul Teeple and Rick Morris tomorrow at around 1:05 PM ET, if you want to listen in. Tomorrow is a post-lockout special but “Hockey Insider” will return on a regular basis in November. The show will run from 12:00 to 2:00 ET and I highly recommend checking it out.

Just go to SportsTalkCleveland.com and click “Click here to listen live” on the right-hand side. You’ll need Windows Media Player.

UPDATE (23. July): The show went pretty well, I think, considering I’m not a radio personality. I followed ESPN’s John Buccigross as a guest, which was slightly intimidating. Click here for the audio file (WMA). I come on about an 1 hour and 19 minutes ino the show. They should have an MP3 up sometime soon, I’d think.

Well, I think it’s safe to say the 2005 NHL Draft Lottery, particularly the “Crosby Sweepstakes” aspect of it, had it’s good and bad points. I found it much more exciting to listen to than I was expecting and I was pretty heavily disappointed when the Wings ended up with the 19th spot instead of the 1st. As Gary Bettman droned on (why couldn’t they get someone else to do the reading? It sounded like Bettman was reading a list of casualties or something) and some of the bigger market teams were being eliminated (NY, LA, Chicago), I started to worry that Sidney would end up hidden away in some far corner of the NHL (like Carolina). When the final two teams ended up being Anaheim and Pittsburgh, I was a bit disappointed. Neither of the two is particularly financially stable and I’d hoped a team with more media exposure would get the top pick. However, I’m glad the Pens won because at least now Sidney will get to play with Mario Lemieux and he won’t go into a complete black hole. If any one franchise truly needs a savior, it’s Pittsburgh and Crosby may be the one who can pull it off, like Mario has done before.

I’m not sure it does the NHL enough good but that remains to be seen.

If he’d gone to Anaheim, I’d have felt like the hockey gods traded us Mike Babcock for Sidney Crosby. I don’t want Babcock to already have a reason to regret coming to Detroit and I don’t want a reason to regret the Wings signing him. It would have almost been too much of a coincidence. Know what I mean?

As for the Wings getting the #19 pick, I’m pretty satisfied. It’s the first time the Wings have had a first round pick since 2000 (Niklas Kronwall, #25) and it’s the highest pick they’ve had since 1991 (Martin Lapointe, #10). They haven’t had a pick lower than #22 since then, though they’ve done just fine drafting in the later rounds, finding some gems that other teams passed up. It will be nice to see the Wings have a shot at one of the higher ranked prospects for once, though I wouldn’t put it past them to pick someone lesser known. They’ve had a lot more leisure to do scouting in the past year and perhaps they’ve found another player who hasn’t been noticed by everyone. We’ll find out next week.

If you want an idea of who the Wings may select, check out Bob McKenzie’s “Top 30 Draft Prospects.”

Below is the draft order for the first round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft:

1 Pittsburgh Penguins
2 Anaheim Mighty Ducks
3 Carolina Hurricanes
4 Minnesota Wild
5 Montreal Canadiens
6 Columbus Blue Jackets
7 Chicago Blackhawks
8 Atlanta Thrashers
9 Ottawa Senators
10 Vancouver Canucks
11 Los Angeles Kings
12 San Jose Sharks
13 Buffalo Sabres
14 Washington Capitals
15 New York Islanders
16 New York Rangers
17 Phoenix Coyotes
18 Nashville Predators
19 Detroit Red Wings
20 Philadelphia Flyers
21 Toronto Maple Leafs
22 Bostin Bruins
23 New Jersey Devils
24 St. Louis Blues
25 Edmonton Oilers
26 Calgary Flames
27 Colorado Avalanche
28 Dallas Stars
29 Florida Panthers
30 Tampa Bay Lightning

The draft is structured so that teams will select in reverse order for the second round, the original order in the third, reverse in the fourth and so on.

The draft will take place on July 30th in Ottawa.

From Mark Everson of the New York Post:

“The six-year deal will cut existing contracts 24 percent, install unannounced testing for performance-enhancing drugs twice a year per player, enable teams to take players to arbitration, and eventually lower the age of unrestricted free agency to 27, or seven years’ service. It will allow a buyout period, starting Saturday, for teams to shed players at two-thirds salary, which won’t count toward the cap.

Almost all team and individual bonuses are banned, with entry-level, signing and roster bonuses exempt. In addition, players over 35 and those returning from injury can have certain performance bonuses. The entry-level cap drops to $850G per year, and those deals will be three-way — meaning they can be sent to the ECHL as well as the AHL. Trades cannot include cash as part of the transactions, and contract renegotiations are only permitted in the final year of a deal.”

The Wings have three key players in the final year of a deal: Nick Lidstrom, Manny Legace, and Brendan Shanahan. If this is true, the Wings will be able to free up a considerable amount of money, even offering long term contracts as incentives to the trio.

Another rumor that’s been mentioned relates to how a player’s cap number is figured. It’s said that the NHL will consider the cap number to be the average salary over the years of a contract. So if the Wings signed Lidstrom to a contract extension of two years, $10 million, the cap figure would be counted as 10+7.6 = 17.6 / 3 = $5.87 million per season. This would free up $1.73 million next season – enough to help sign free agents when added to the projected $5-6 million they already will have to spend on the market (beyond re-signing our guys).

UPDATE 7/22 12:15 pm

According to TSN, the rumor about averaging salaries is true:

“The average salary from an entire contract is what will count against the salary cap and not the actual salary from that very season. So a deal that starts at $4 million, then goes to $5 million and ends up at $6 million counts as $5 million a year against the cap.”

But how does that affect the Wings? If this rule applies to contract extensions, Lidstrom’s salary would be averaged over next season plus the extension seasons. To recap, Lidstrom signed a 2 year, $20 million contract last April, but, since the cancelled season’s money doesn’t apply, it would only include next season’s $7.6 million post-rollback. So, if the Wings signed Lidstrom to a 2-year, $10 million extension, the numbers add like this: $10M (extension) + $7.6M (2005-2006) = $17.6M / 3 = $5.87 million per season counted towards cap.

This quote from TSN makes me think contract extensions won’t be averaged with existing contracts:

“Teams will not be allowed to re-structure existing player contracts in an attempt to fit a big salary under the cap.”

Is a contract extension considered re-structuring an existing player contract?

Here’s an update to the Red Wings payroll situation, now considering that renegotiations are not allowed and a $39 million cap. I also updated a few salary numbers and players signed. After reading this analysis you will realize the Wings are actually in good shape. I promise.

Forwards

Kris Draper – $2,800,000 ($2,128,000)
Tomas Holmstrom – $1,800,000 ($1,368,000)
Jiri Hudler – $750,000 ($570,000)
Robert Lang – $5,000,000 ($3,800,000)
Kirk Maltby – $1,900,000 ($1,444,000)
Darren McCarty – $2,250,000 ($1,710,000)
Brendan Shanahan – $3,000,000 ($2,280,000)
Ray Whitney – $3,500,000 ($2,660,000)

Defensemen

Jiri Fischer – $1,750,000 ($1,330,000)
Derian Hatcher – $6,500,000 ($4,940,000)
Nicklas Lidstrom – $10,000,000 ($7,600,000)
Jamie Rivers – $425,000 (*$450,000)
Jason Woolley – $925,000 ($703,000) [UPDATE 7/21 Woolley is a UFA, but signed on TSN?]
Bryan Helmer – $425,000 (*$450,000)

Goalies

Manny Legace – $1,530,000 ($1,162,000)

—-$42,555,000 (*$32,595,000) —-15 players
*24% rollback in parenthesis, minimum salary $450,000

Buyouts

Derian Hatcher (-$4,940,000 = payroll of $27,655,000)
Ray Whitney (-$2,660,000 = payroll of $24,995,000)
Darren McCarty (-$1,710,000 = payroll of $23,285,000)

—-$23,285,000—-12 players

Free Agent Signings (need 11 players – $15,715,000 remaining)

Henrik Zetterberg – $1,750,000
Pavel Datsyuk – $2,000,000
Steve Yzerman – $1,500,000
Jason Williams – $850,000
Niklas Kronwall – $750,000
Mathieu Dandenault – $950,000
Chris Osgood – $2,250,000
Dmitri Bykov – $1,000,000
Johan Franzen – $500,000
Mark Mowers – $550,000

—-Cost of additions: $12,100,000 —- 10 players, 22 total

—-Remaining cap room: $3,615,000, which must include bonuses, insurance, and dental coverage

This leaves enough money for the Wings to acquire a good, second-line scoring forward or to keep Darren McCarty. Buyouts of Derian Hatcher and Ray Whitney are all but a formality. They are gone. Here’s a list of players the Wings could sign with this remaining cap room, to obtain the 23rd and final player. Their last salary is shown in parenthesis, to give some indication of market value.

Skaters:

Long Shots

Jason Allison ($8,000,000, 2003-2004)
Bill Guerin ($6,738,498, 2005-2006)
Sergei Fedorov ($6,080,000, 2005-2006)
Milan Hejduk ($5,700,000, 2004-2005)
Adam Foote ($4,400,000, 2004-2005)
Jason Arnott ($3,850,000, 2004-2005)
Scott Young ($3,462,278, 2003-2004)

Possibilities

Martin Lapointe ($4,000,000, 2004-2005)
Glen Murray ($3,850,000, 2003-2004)
Jeff O’Neill ($3,700,000, 2004-2005)
Adam Deadmarsh ($3,000,000, 2003-2004)
David Legwand ($1,775,000, 2004-2005)
Shawn Horcoff ($850,000, 2004-2005)

Goaltenders:

Long Shots

Mike Dunham ($3,600,000, 2004-2005)
Dan Cloutier ($3,050,000, 2004-2005)
Jocelyn Thibault ($3,100,000, 2004-2005)
Roberto Luongo ($2,400,000, 2004-2005)
Brian Boucher ($2,000,000, 2004-2005)

Possibilities

Byron Dafoe ($3,500,000, 2003-2004)
Manny Fernandez ($2,200,000, 2004-2005)
Garth Snow $1,313,000, 2003-2004)
Felix Potvin ($1,300,000, 2003-2004)

FINAL ROSTER

Centers

Pavel Datsyuk
Jason Williams
Steve Yzerman
Robert Lang
Jiri Hudler
Kris Draper
Johan Franzen

Left Wings

Tomas Holmstrom
Kirk Maltby
Brendan Shanahan
Henrik Zetterberg

Right Wings

Mark Mowers

Defensemen

Jiri Fischer
Nicklas Lidstrom
Jamie Rivers
Jason Woolley
Bryan Helmer
Niklas Kronwall
Mathieu Dandenault
Dmitri Bykov

Goaltenders

Manny Legace
Chris Osgood

23rd man:

Glen Murray or Adam Deadmarsh (Martin Lapointe if we can’t do any better and he comes for a cheap price)