Kevin Lowe laughs in the face of salary inflation

Is Kevin Lowe a jerk, an idiot, or just collapsing under the weight of the chip on his shoulder? First the ridiculous Tomas Vanek offer sheet -- cause, obviously, anyone with ONE good season can't possibly regress over the course of his career -- and now comes word that Lowe's put out another overpriced offer sheet, this time to Ducks' big bruising forward Dustin Penner. This contract's modest in comparison, averaging out juuuuuuuuust over $4 million per year (said in my best Bob Eucker voice).

Boy, $4 million just can't buy what it used to, can it? Penner's had one reasonable year with 29 goals, but ask any Ducks fanboy (or fangirl) and they'll tell you that Penner's maddeningly inconsistent. At some times, he'll look like Todd Bertuzzi at his prime. Other times, Penner will look like today's Todd Bertuzzi. Coincidentally, Penner's potential replacement is the worn-down Todd Bertuzzi, all at a similar price.

Remember the pre-DUI Mark Bell who consistently scored about 25 goals for the Blackhawks while offering John Leclair-style presence on the boards and in the slot? One season ago, the Sharks gave him an average of $2.25 million per season. Suddenly, someone with less credentials deserves almost double that for at a longer term?

Inflation? Bah, Kevin Lowe doesn't care about that. Of course, when Shawn Horcoff becomes a free agent at the end of the season, he'll look at the team payscale and determine that he deserves $900 million over a 30-year term with a no-movement clause and his pick of Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman, or Kate Beckinsale.

Coming out of the lockout, proven 25-goal scorers got Petr Sykora-type deals of about $3 million. Suddenly, everything costs 25% more. Geez, I wish my home value would appreciate at a pace like that.

My personal theory: Kevin Lowe is a mole planted by the NHLPA to artificially drive up costs.

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Hit the head, get a penalty

I've often wondered why the NHLPA doesn't do more to actually protect the physical health constituency. Sure, they do things like try to drive up salaries and pensions and stuff like that, but what about actual on-ice health concerns? Visors, dirty hits, hits to the head -- the PA seems content to allow its players police themselves on these issues rather than looking at the big picture. The problem is that almost every hockey observer, from former players to longtime media members, have remarked on the degeneration of on-ice respect between players. Is it an old-school mentality or is the membership just too proud to acknowledge the dangers of these issues -- especially concussions?

Since 1997, the NHL has used a baseline concussion testing program that gets a good reading of where every player's neurological profile stands at the preseason. You get hit, the team doctors compare your tests to your baseline, and they measure progress from there. It's forward-thinking and provides a good metric to gauge the severity of concussions, but here's the tricky thing: with concussions, you just don't know.

In the non-hockey world, the spotlight has been on pro wrestler Chris Benoit and his murder/suicide incident, and while many media pundits are quick to point out things like steroid abuse, painkiller addiction, and other chemical factors, most are overlooking the role that cumulative damaging effects of concussions could have played. One former pro wrestler/college football player named Chris Nowinski is trying to change the focus of the investigation to include this particular aspect; Nowinski's work with former NFL players highlight the frightening downward spiral that athletes can experience thanks to repeated concussions.

It's not just getting your bell rung, and it's not just a few weeks of headaches. In severe cases, there's depression, anxiety, sleepwalking, memory loss, loss of cognitive functions, violence, even suicide. Since leaving the WWE due to severe concussion problems, Nowinski's turned his own suffering into a crusade for concussion awareness in sports. While Nowinski's work has primarily been with football (and since the Benoit incident, media about pro wrestling), his lessons should be a warning to every hockey player and the NHLPA. One of Nowinski's prime examples? Former NFL player Andre Waters who died by suicide and, according to a neurologist working with Nowinski, had the physical equivalent of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's sufferer's brain. The doctor predicted that had Waters survived, the cumulative damage to his brain from concussions would have had him incapacitated within the decade.

For the NHL, concussions have been a hot topic for many years -- just ask Paul Kariya, Jeff Beukeboom, and Eric Lindros about it. However, it wasn't until recently that the specific issue regarding hits to the head has been brought up. The league is supposed to examine the issue and potential rules regarding it this summer. The question remains: will it do enough to protect its own players or will a lingering tough-guy mentality prevail in the face of overwhelming research and evidence?

The game is faster, the players are stronger, and the equipment is tougher than ever before. Armored like gladiators, an elbow to the head or a shoulder to the jaw provides a much bigger impact thanks to hard plastic caps within the equipment -- an issue brought up to the competition committee and the league. However, the solution that some people are looking at is penalizing hits to the head -- and the resistance to this movement is baffling, especially considering how many sports careers have suffered or ended because of concussions.

Some Canadian junior leagues, along with international play and the NCAA, penalize hits to the head. From all accounts, those leagues haven't suffered in quality because of this rule, and really, why should they? Would implementing a rule to protect heads prevent players from delivering clean bodychecks or grinding in the corners? For anyone who believes this, the rebuttal is this: from early on, players are taught that the proper way to check an opponent is to start squatting down, impact the opponent's chest, and use your legs to power through. Why? Because the goal is to knock the opponent off the puck, not decapitate him. Aiming for the chest and lifting up is an easy way to affect a player's center of gravity while attacking a protected area. Done properly, the worst thing the impact can cause is getting the wind knocked out of you.

Why not implement this rule in the NHL? Once again, I have to wonder why the NHLPA doesn't push hard for something like this, let alone at least support it. Don't the lessons of countless concussion victims mean anything to the PA? Isn't the PA designed to protect its constituents or is it just a means for ratcheting more money and bigger salaries for players?

There's still this old-school mentality that calls for a ridiculous amount of macho thinking in hockey, especially with dangerous situations that can be easily remedied. What's wrong with implementing a hit-to-the-head penalty? Does anyone actually support or defend hits to the head? Sure, it won't clean up every aspect of the game, but it will at least set a precedent for saying that that type of behavior is dangerous, disrespectful, and can have long-term implications for PA brethren.

Some will point to the ridiculous argument of placing Martin St. Louis side-by-side next to Zdeno Chara, saying that if Chara puts his arm out, St. Louis will go face-first into his elbow, causing an unnecessary penalty -- and the league can't have any more unnecessary penalties. So what? Slashing isn't judged by the length of a player's arm. Kneeing and clipping don't factor height or leg length into account. Players are different sizes, but that doesn't mean that they can't be aware, careful, and respectful of each other.

Here it is, in black-and-white terms: Any damaging contact to a player's head, whether it be by shoulder, elbow, hand, forearm, or stick, should be made a minor penalty with the potential for major as judged by the discretion of the official. Just as inadvertent high sticks are penalties, so should blows to the head. If the NHL can penalize hits below the knee, they can penalize hits from the neck up. It's as simple as calling slashing.

Anyone who doesn't support this type of protection in all sports should simply talk to an athlete forever damaged by the ravages of concussions. That can put things in perspective really fast.

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The case for...

With Sheldon Souray signing in Edmonton, it's down to slim pickings in the UFA market now, and that means that we're heading into about six weeks of relative quiet. While debating the scraps of the UFA junkpile isn't quite as fulfilling as talking about Chris Drury or Scott Gomez, there's still some talent in there--and in the right situation, you might be able to see some career revivals going on.

Who's worth taking a chance on? Let's have a look:

The case for Peter Forsberg
Injuries, injuries, injuries--when talking about Peter Forsberg these days, that's pretty much the only topic on anyone's lips, and for good reason. Forsberg showed that he could still be a highly effective player when he was healthy last season. At this point, 60 games is a miracle for Forsberg, especially since word is that he probably can't start skating for some time even if he decides to come back.

So let's assume he comes back for 40 games and slowly builds up to form. If that's the case, then he would be rounding into form during the stretch drive and priming for the playoffs. For a team that needs a dynamic top-flight center (and really, outside of Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, and San Jose, who doesn't?) and has enough depth to weather the storm until Forsberg is ready to go, it's a reasonable risk/reward evaluation.

Teams that could work for Forsberg: Colorado, Detroit, Atlanta

The case for Alexei Yashin
Yup, pretty much everyone in the world sans Carol Alt hates Alexei Yashin, and it's not just because he wears turtlenecks on ice. If Yashin was only getting paid, say, $2.5 million a year, would the Islanders still have bought him out? His point totals speak for themselves--he's pretty consistently got about .75 points per game over the past few seasons, and can really help out a power play. If Yashin can go away from the spotlight with a coach who can push the right buttons at the right price, I think he's still worth a gamble. Yashin's got a notorious locker room presence, but most reports seem to say that he's more of the type to keep to himself rather than stir controversy a la Sean Avery.

With a strong locker room and the right bench bosses, Yashin can probably help a team out as a second-line center--just not for a gazillion dollars.

Teams that could work for Yashin: Minnesota, Detroit, Calgary, New Jersey

The case for David Aebischer
Just a few years ago, Colorado fans were chanting "Abby, Abby" after Aebischer made a big save. How much would you like to bet that every single Avs fan wants to reverse the Aebischer for Jose Theodore deal? Remember, at one point Aebischer was Colorado's #1 goalie with some pretty darn good stats, and while the past two seasons haven't been that kind to Aebischer (more so in Montreal than in his last half-season in Colorado), he's still got pretty good career numbers with a 2.51 GAA and .912 save percentage.

Can Aebischer still be a #1 goalie? He's under 30 and has done it before--and he comes with a bargain basement price tag. There's a chance, in the right situation, that Aebsicher can reclaim that form.

Teams that could work for Aebischer: Phoenix, Minnesota, Edmonton, Tampa Bay

The case for Michael Peca
Mike Peca's best years are behind him--that's a fact. After nasty knee injuries and concussions, age and wear have slowed him down, and he'll never be the 50-point guy we saw in Buffalo. However, when healthy, Peca's still a good skater with great shorthanded instincts and abilities. He may not throw out as many thunderous hits as he used to, but he's still got the tenacity to get under an opponent's skin -- that's a trait that won't go away. Peca's also a noted locker room good guy, and always gives his all despite putting his body at risk.

Heart, grit, penalty killing, and a little bit of offense. There's quite a few teams that could use that.

Teams that could work for Peca: San Jose, Philadelphia, Florida

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Caption This: L'il Danny Boy

Am I the only one who did a double-take at this photo of Daniel Briere being introduced to the Philly media? I swear it looked like Holmgren brought his kid on stage! Since we've got nothing better to do, how about a little Caption This fun? Leave snarky captions in the comments. I'll start:

"Dad, I said I wanted a Simon Gagne jersey! You never listen!"

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The lost Staal brother

I thought there were only four Staal boys (Eric, Mark, Jordan, and Jared), but apparently IGN has discovered the black sheep of the Staal family -- meet Nick Staal, only good enough for video games:
Not to be confused with Nick Stahl, the dude who succeeded Eddie Furlong in Terminator 3.

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Remembering JR

It's kinda funny how Jeremy Roenick's retirement got announced. You'd think JR Superstar would have bought network time and thrown himself a career retrospective or something instead of a brief message to a reporter saying, "I'm retired." After all, this is the guy who did the opening act for Luc Robitaille's encore last skate around Staples Center by dancing around the ice.

That's kind of the thing with JR, though. You just never really knew what to expect.

I remember when Wayne Gretzky retired, the NHL on Fox broadcast ran a nice montage set to Sarah McLachlan's I Will Remember You. As the sappy music started to roll, I turned to my friend and said, "Geez, he's not dying, he's retiring. Can't we celebrate a little?" When I think of JR's career -- and the way his career affected my own fandom -- I'm thinking more of a montage of David Lee Roth-era Van Halen. Running With The Devil, Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, Jump, something along those lines all seems a fitting soundtrack to a highlight reel of JR hits, dekes, and goals.

Put it simply, Jeremy Roenick was my favorite player for a long, long time, starting when I was in high school and pretty much every year after that; even in the dwindling twilight of his career, I still had a soft spot for JR. It was pretty damn hard not to love his style when he was in his prime -- he ran over people with no fear, he could dance with the puck like no one's business, and he scored sweet goals at clutch times. There's a reason why his NHL 93 likeness was a pixelated demi-god immortalized in Swingers; at that time, he was everything you'd want a player to be.

With the Blackhawks, JR showed up as a skinny, cocky Boston kid with a ton of skill. Through those years -- and with the help of people like Mike Keenan, Dirk Graham, Darryl Sutter, and Doug Wilson -- JR was still flashy, still dazzling, but put it all together with an intensity that made him a true gamer and a true Chicago hero. There's a reason why even today Roenick will say he felt he should have been a Blackhawk for life.

One of my favorite Roenick memories isn't a single game, but a stretch of time during the 95-96 season when Darryl Sutter put together a line of Bernie Nicholls, Roenick, and JR's buddy Tony Amonte. The line had it all: speed, size, skill, and flash from Roenick and Nicholls (the good ol' Pumper-Nicholl goal celebration) to really be the coolest line in hockey at the time. Roenick was 26 at that point and still in the prime of his career before concussions and knee problems slowed him down. When I reflect on Roenick's career, that's the image I want to hold on to -- #27 with the storied Hawk sweater barreling through a defenseman, stealing the puck, and scoring on a sweet deke.

Incidentally, when Roenick and Amonte were reunited in Philly, they had a bit of that same chemistry, and it was really fun watching how they instinctively knew where the other one was.

It's hard to talk about JR's career and not focus on what took him out of Chicago: money, or lack thereof from Chicago management. While Roenick is still near and dear to plenty of Blackhawk fans, his move signals the destruction of what could have been a dominant team and the ripping apart of a loyal fan base. Bill Wirtz and Bob Pulford infamously told Hawks fans to go enjoy their summer and not worry about JR; a few weeks later, you had Alexei Zhamnov pulling on a #26 sweater saying he was "One better than Jeremy Roenick." It was the first domino to fall in a line that included Chris Chelios, Ed Belfour, Gary Suter, and Tony Amonte, and as a Hawks fan growing up, the way the whole thing was handled helped sever my ties to the franchise.

Roenick's time in Phoenix never quite lived up to the hype; sure, he had some good seasons, but he never potted 40 goals again. There were stretches, especially when Roenick played on a line with Keith Tkachuk and Dallas Drake, when he looked like the JR of old, but during that period, a combination of a defensive-minded NHL and lingering injuries started to slow him down. Still, many Coyotes fans embraced his showman style and he did his part to help make inroads for the NHL in the desert. I don't think any Coyote fan will ever forget his remarkable game 7 comeback after getting jaw smashed apart by a Derian Hatcher elbow several weeks earlier. He was relatively ineffective in the 1-0 OT loss, but seeing him skate with a football-style helmet to protect his healing jaw showed his competitive fire, even if his body didn't always want to obey.

In Philadelphia, Roenick quickly endeared himself to the tough Flyers faithful, and he'll probably be remembered best for scoring the OT winner in game 6 against the Maple Leafs. For me, I'll always appreciate his blunt honesty about his trade from Philly to LA, which was essentially a cap move so the Flyers could sign Peter Forsberg: "I wouldn't stand in the way of them getting the best player in the world."

Out west, JR seemed made for Hollywood, but his game simply didn't follow him on the trip. He tallied on the scoresheet early on, but then began a dismal stretch that started the death knell of his career. An insignificant season in LA (except for some post-game dancing which irked some old-school fans) and an extremely difficult season back in Phoenix put Roenick's career to an end, five goals short of 500. The final line: 1252 games, 495 goals, 675 assists, countless quotable moments, thunderous hits, and plenty of controversy.

Some other random JR notes:

-Many people associate Roenick with the 96 World Cup team that featured Tony Amonte, Brian Leetch, Bill Guerin, and Mike Modano. However, Roenick actually opted to sit out that tournament due to his lack of contract at the time.

-While many people think of Roenick and Tkachuk with Phoenix, the two didn't actually play on a line together until the 1998-1999 season. Until then, Tkachuk's preferred center was playmaker Craig Janney.

-Does anyone else remember the spearing/high-sticking incidents that took place between Roenick and Amonte across two games between the Blackhawks and Coyotes? The rumor mill at the time churned with suggestions that the two had a personal falling out related to a situation similar to the Chris Pronger rumors in Edmonton. Apparently, everything was patched up by the time they both pulled on Flyers sweaters.

-Roenick was taken #8 overall in the 1988 draft. The #1 pick that year? Fellow American future Hall-of-Famer Mike Modano. In between Roenick and Modano were Trevor Linden, Curtis Leschyshyn, Darrin Shannon, Daniel Dore, Scott Pearson, and Martin Gelinas.

-In a really, really pathetic testimony to the Blackhawks' scouting staff, Roenick and Eric Daze are the only Blackhawks draft picks to hit the 30 goal mark in the past twenty years. Ouch.

Is now the time to cue up the sappy music while we reflect on the career of Jeremy Roenick? Not a chance -- we haven't seen the last of JR Superstar. With Brett Hull leaving the NBC broadcast to take on more responsibilities with the Dallas Stars, it seems only natural for Roenick to sit in on the broadcast team. Nah, we'll get plenty of JR's attitude in some form or another in the coming years; for now, just cue up your favorite Van Halen song and remember Jeremy Roenick at his best: wearing the #27 Blackhawk sweater, hitting people without fear, deking defensemen out of their skates, and scoring big-time goals -- and celebrating with a razzle-dazzle that we don't see enough in the NHL.

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Seriously, they're all nuts

I've got my arm out of the sling (the hand's just bandaged up right now) so typing's a little easier. I've got one thought going through my head during all of this free agent madness:

You're all nuts. Seriously. What the hell are you thinking?

(You as in NHL GMs, not you the reader)

Ok, I'll give a pass to LA Kings GM Dean Lombardi for dealing with reasonable amounts of money to second-tier free agents like Ladislav Nagy. And I think the Blackhawks have made some reasonable gambles with Robert Lang at $4 million per season and trading for Sergei Samsanov while a handful of other teams made some reasonable moves too. Pretty much everyone else falls into the bizarro world category.

Let's start from the top. Chris Drury? Good player, great clutch goal scorer, but never a top-tier offensive threat. Drury's point totals will never be confused with Joe Thornton or Alex Ovechkin or hell, Ray Whitney. Let me make one point clear: Chris Drury has never scored 70 points in a season. Got that? Repeat it outloud to yourself. Yes, he's a great playoff performer, but sweet Jebus, so was Alyn McCauley when he was actually healthy and you didn't see teams dropping loads of cash on him. Drury's a $5.5 -$6 million player, tops -- and that's not an insult to him at all. (And no, I'm not saying Alyn McCauley's anywhere near as good as Drury, just making a point about playoff performance).

Scott Gomez? Let's look at his point totals over the past few seasons: 60, 84 , 70, 55, all without significant time missed due to injury. Does that sound like he should be one of the top-paid players in the game? I'd give him $6 million, tops.

Daniel Briere? Holy long-term contracts, Bettman. There are three guys I'd give 8-year deals to and their names are Crosby, Ovechkin, and Malkin. No one over the age of 25 should ever get a deal that long.

Now I know everyone loves Ryan Smyth and I think he's a great player too. But let's remember that Captain Canada has never touched 40 goals, he's over 30, and he plays a rough-and-tumble style of play. One of my readers pointed out that Smyth's career will probably follow John LeClair's -- except LeClair was once the leading goal-scorer in the league. Smyth hasn't come close to that. I wouldn't give Smyth anything longer than three years because you just don't know when his body will give out, despite what his heart wants to do. And considering his point totals, anything over $5.5 - $6 million is too much.

Staying in Colorado, I've watched Scott Hannan first hand since his rookie season, so I'm pretty confident when I say that no one should pay him more than $3.5 million per season, and that's stretching it. Scott's a great shut-down defenseman, but he's soft with the puck, prone to bad turnovers, and seems confused by the whole breakout process. Need him to stick on a guy like velcro? No problem. Need him to clear the zone? Um, it might get interesting. Need him to do a tape-to-tape pass? Maybe only in NHL 2K7.

I'm not even going to talk about Cory Sarich's contract.

Who else is overpaid? Paul Kariya, Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie. Someone tell me on earth Ruslan Fedotenko -- he of one good playoff year -- is worth almost $3 million per season?

Now, I do have to say there were some good pickups, and they mostly involved second-tier free agents who came in around market value. Michael Nylander loves to pass and Alex Ovechkin loves to shoot, so that should be a great fit. Maxime Talbot's a low risk/high reward signing for Tampa Bay's depth chart, and Slava Kozlov's deal is the right balance of term and price. Hell, even though I hate the guy, Todd Bertuzzi's potential is worth the short-term deal Brian Burke signed him to.

Such is the case of the new NHL, where movement becomes more ludicrous and more teams believe in overpaying for the high-priced band-aid fix. Well, someone once thought that Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje were worth big money long-term contracts too, right?

Look, I understand that there's a natural inflation to the whole process, and maybe everyone just needs to get used to the sticker shock of the league's most hyped free agents -- even when they're not the best players in the league. Hats off to Joe Thornton and Jarome Iginla (and from media reports, Sidney Crosby) for letting security and team overcome the possibility of a ridiculous paycheck.

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On injured reserve

You'll notice I've been quiet throughout free agent madness. I just had some surgery done on my hand, so in addition to being doped up on Brett Favre's favorite painkillers, typing is a bitch. Will resume normal blogging and MANY thoughts on free agency later this week.

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