A Dose of Summer Reality

I've been thinking about hockey a lot lately. I bet you all have been doing the same.

The elation of the springtime was sent crashing to reality as all of the high-priced/high-talent free agents found new homes away from Long Island. One thing is for sure: the more you look at the numbers, the more and more it looks like the whole lockout was a waste of everyone's time.

Devils: C Dainius Zubrus (six years, $20.4-million)

Rangers: C Scott Gomez (Devils, 7 years, $51.5 million), C Chris Drury (Sabres, 5 years, $35.25 million)

Flyers: C Daniel Briere (8-year, $52 million), D Kimmo Timonen (6-years, $37.8 million), F Scott Hartnell (6-years, $25.2 million).

Toronto: RW Jason Blake (Islanders, 5 years, $20 million)

Canadiens: D Roman Hamrlik (Flames, 4 years, $22 million)

Red Wings D Brian Rafalski (5-years, $30 million)

Colorado D Scott Hannan (4-years, $18 million), LW Ryan Smyth (5-years, $31.25 million)

OK, I think we can safely assume that there are a good number of names on this list that we can qualify as true superstars and many are also difference-makers. I mean, any team who signs Chris Drury--and it pains me to no end to say this because he is now a Ranger--is getting their money's worth. The guy is a winner and he always has been.

Take another look at the list, though, and you'll see the sickness. Some of these dudes are clearly overpaid. All Islander fans can look to the money that Montreal gave Roman (head down; turtle-style) Hamrlik and wonder if he showed up to the negotiation with a weapon and mask on his face. Whether he did or not is immaterial. The guy left the meeting with 22 bags with dollar signs on them. Just crazy, insane money for a guy who plays like he is half-interested.

The same can be said for the Devils and Dainius Zubrus. Good player, sure. Difference-maker? Hard to tell. He has never been in a position to make a real difference after playing with Washington and even with Buffalo this past spring. Do you want to test him out over six years?

How about the Flyers? I mean seriously. If I am a Flyer fan, I have seen this band-aid management style before. They always bring in a high-priced free agent (or three or four) and I'm still trying to remember how many cups this boutique shopping has brought them. Oh, yeah. Zero.

And why pay Scott Hartnell for his alleged potential when he, you know, hasn't proven anything yet? Also, between he and Timonen, you're talking a six-year experiment here. Briere for eight years? That is ridiculous. He's been a top player for a couple of years now. Would he look good on Long Island? Why, yes he sure would. The point here is that no one learned from the Islanders' Yashin debacle. (And yes, I am aware that we have 14 more years of DP in net. Is that a different case? Well, not really.) These long contracts and crazy money pretty much send a flare up to all of the fans of the NHL who suffered through the lockout. You know what that flare says? It says, "The lockout was a joke."

I don't know about you, but I simply cannot stand being played. A year without hockey was like your parents missing your birthday: unconscionable. And yet, we sat there and lapped it up. Why? Because the league said it was for The Good of the Game. Salaries had to come down for the game to survive. And guess what? The average NHL salary is now higher than it was before the lockout occurred. Chew on that for a minute. What does that say to the fans who stood by the league and the game while the players were locked out?

Here's another one for you. Remember how before the lockout there were all of these penny-pincher teams who put together bare-ass teams for little or no money? Remember how the Edmontons and Calgarys and Floridas of the world complained about the other teams in the league and how they were being so outspent by the Rangers and Caps and Leafs that they just couldn't compete? Well, now thanks to the lockout, those teams are spending pretty good money on their teams--money they claimed that they did not have before--but now they just suddenly have it? I know the Canadian dollar has come up a ton in the last few years and that might be a part of the suddenly-level playing field...or it could have been creative Chicken Little accounting techniques.

Just thinking of this gives me another freaking concussion--but none of that matters because the Islanders signed Ruslan Fedotenko!!