I don't normally like to bring rumours and sources onto my site, but considering it's The Hockey News (via KK) telling me that Meszaros has signed a multi-year deal with a $5 million cap hit, I trust them enough to bring it up.
Would it surprise me? No. Meszaros has always seemed to think he has been the bees knees, and while his offense has been appreciated, he has been a liability in every other sense the past two years. Maybe some other team remembers that, when paired with a defensive and upstanding guy (Chara), he can perform exceptionally well, as opposed to when he's with someone as defensively suspect as he is, with his own issues (Redden).
When the team is named, I will update. If I am to trust NHLSCAP.com, his hit has not surpassed $5,231,249, and thus we would get a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick. However, a funny rule exists: if the term is six years or longer, the value is still spread over five years. So if he signed a six-year, $30 million deal, the calculated hit in terms of compensation would be $6 million, adding a second 1st round pick to the compensation. As crazy as that seems, I'm not able to confidently rule it out completely, and depending on the total cap hit and term, we could possibly see two 1st, one 2nd, and one 3rd round pick coming our way. I'm not going to entertain the possibility that some team thinks Meszaros is worth four 1st rounders though.
If I'm to trust Wikipedia's 2009 NHL Draft info, since we are expecting to have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick as compensation, it must be from a team that has all three of those picks in the 2009 draft. The following teams are no longer in possession of the required picks, meaning they could not have signed Meszaros to an offer sheet:
San Jose Sharks (1st & 3rd rounder to TBL)
Boston Bruins (2nd rounder to NYI)
Philadelphia Flyers (2nd rounder to TBL, 3rd rounder to EDM)
Anaheim Ducks (2nd rounder to MTL)
Calgary Flames (2nd rounder to LAK, 3rd rounder to PHI)
Montreal Canadians (2nd rounder to Calgary)
Toronto Maple Leafs (2nd rounder to NYI)
Minnesota Wild (2nd rounder to Nashville, 3rd rounder to NJD)
Buffalo Sabres (2nd rounder to Nashville, 3rd rounder to LAK)
Los Angeles Kinds (2nd rounder to BUF)
Tampa Bay Lightning (3rd rounder to PIT)
Originally I was optimistic we could get a good pick, but with the Leafs, Sabres, and Kings all out of the running, the list grows thin. With any luck, it will be Florida, Vancouver, St. Louis, Atlanta, or Columbus that signed him, and we might have a shot at a top pick.
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4 comments:
In this post, it seems like you're assuming the Senators will let him go by not matching the offer. NHLSCAP lists the Senators as having $6,497,671 in cap space, which appears to be more than enough to match an offer in the $5 million range. I haven't seen him play much at all, but wouldn't the Senators want to keep Meszároš? He's a first-round draft pick, member of the All-Rookie Team, a 22-year old defenseman who is still improving but has already averaged 37 points per season, while proving durable enough to not miss a single game in three seasons. Yes, $5+ million would be a lot for someone this young, but isn't Meszároš a future number-one d-man? Ottawa recently lost Chára and Redden, so wouldn't they want to keep this young star?
muero, if you had seen him play you'd see the stats don't tell the whole story... he gives the puck away a lot, and too rarely engages opposition players physically.
Most Sens fans, from what I've been reading, are perfectly happy to see him walk and take the compensation.
While I think that 5 mil is certainly excessive, I don't disagree with you. I think it may worth keeping him, even at that price, especially given his age, and the fact that he will no long be playing with Redden who was facing his own defensive struggles.
Of course, it does depend on the team and the offer. If it's a bad team, and further, if the offer averages more than 5.2, I would strongly consider letting him walk. This would get us 2 first round picks, both with a very good chance of being the top 10. If it's a top team, you sign meszaros, it's not worth losing him for a 24+ pick... of course, if it's a middling team, I'm glad I'm not making the call... my suspicion is Murray played hardball this long, and isn't likely to cave now.
oh, and I forgot to point out that I really don't see any of the top teams, and really only 2 or 3 playoff likely teams that would have any interest in him at the moment (given the cap and their blueline quality)
in other words, i suspect he's gone
Of course, there hasn't been any confirmation of the offer sheet signing yet, so perhaps i shouldn't say he's gone quite yet
Thanks for the response. I didn't realize he was soft defensively. He has good size, stick skills, and hockey sense (I would imagine), so it seems like that would be an area where he would be pretty solid. Maybe it's just that he's a bit lazy, as both being soft defensively and causing turnovers are usually the result of being physically or mentally lazy. I guess you're saying he's more like Joni Pitkänen than the next Scott Stevens or Rob Niedermayer.
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