Wednesday's Pre Game Thoughts
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by user UNT66
Wednesday Night is the 1st Stars game after the comments of Dave Nonis, Canucks General Manager. In a nutshell, he said that the NHL Free Agency ages and the current schedule is a joke…..
My Take:
Free Agency after seven years of service: Nonis said that Crosby going to free agency by age 25 is a joke, I disagree.
Think about this: Crosby will not be earning a rookie deal at age 25, he will be demanding at least a 7-8 million dollar a year contract……
If the Penguins can’t fit a contract like that under the cap, then they don’t deserve to keep the player on their roster. Now, they have three outstanding players who are 2nd year players or rookies in Crosby, Malkin and Jordan Staal.
The Penguins GM should be able to structure their cap in order to keep all three players, with enough money to field a competitive team…..
If they can’t, Crosby would be open to all offers, including the Canucks……
Thus, the free agency age should not change.
Current Schedule: Nonin said the current schedule is cruel to the Western Conference teams who have to travel at least 2 hours to each site, yet Eastern Conference teams for the majority of the trips travel by bus to game sites. Also, he hated that the Canucks will not play every team in the Eastern Conference this year, preventing their fans from seeing all of star players of the NHL.
My Take: One thing I agree on is the later point. Last season, the only way Stars fans saw Sidney Crosby was on NHL on NBC or Versus, as the, as the Stars failed to play any team in the Atlantic Division.
This season, the Stars will not play any teams from the Northeast Division, including the NHL point leaders, the Buffalo Sabres. If Stars fans want to see the NHL jerseys of the future, they must watch matchups on Versus or NBC.
In my opinion, it is stupid to play divisional opponents eight times… and not play every team in the league. The next schedule change should be pulling back to 6 games against each divisional rival to allow teams to play every team in the league….
Just a couple thoughts….
Stars-Blues in about 30 minutes…..
The Return of Bill Guerin…..
Can’t Wait…..
JG
