he's not even training right now that's a good sign that he won't be back on the ice for awhile

He was training earlier, throughout July with the other Swedish NHL Players (they practice together hard themsleves before coming back.......maybe that's why they do well when the National Team plays.....).

Patrick Roy's # 33 to be retired by the Habs......never thought that I'd see that, after the falling out.

Meszaros traded, and subsequently signed by TBay for a chunk of change (details not out yet, I believe, rumored to be $4 M/yr for 6 years). Tbay looks so much better this year........after getting rid of Richards last trading deadline, they really put that money to good use, shoring up the secondary scoring.

6 years 5m a year.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=247987&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_nhl

Ottawa made out in this trade I do believe. :) Though it really depends on where the end up and who they draft or what they do with the pick. Time will tell who is the real winner though. Tampa is going to be a beast this year if they can mesh well.

$5 M/yr...................that's too much I think. They just spent everything they traded away in Boyle (essentially).

Kuba/Picard are both good players (Kuba easily takes over Mez's spot right now) and Picard is a good, young D that can eventually be part of the top 4. The pick is a crapshoot at this point, even if it very high.

Mez on the other hand is part of the top 4 right now, and has the potential to be a #1 or #2, down the road. I think Ottawa wins on the basis of having 3 decent players, instead of 1 really good player (assuming everyone, including the pick hits their potential) for ~ the same price.

It's rumoured at 5m a year, but TSN generally is accurate with their reports.

Mez is a PP specialist, 70% of his goals came on the PP and 50% of his points were on the PP. He's young, he'll only get better, so 5m locked in over the future could be a steal considering what other big named offensive defensemen go for.

Example, say he has a stellar year next year and the year after and he signed say a 2 year 4m a year deal. Cap goes up those 2 years (Probably anyways) he'll command more than the 5m he's rumoured to be getting now. Smart move to lock a young guy in now long term, unless he busts, which I doubt. :D

The cap will keep going up, as long as the Canadian $ is high. As soon as it dips, the cap is going back down.

I don't think that he'll bust (but it's always a possibility). I do think that in the last 2-3 years he'll have to up his point totals........instead of hitting 35-40 points, I think he'll have to get in the realm of 50 points to justify this $5 million/yr investment (but that's only in my mind........others might think differently).

I haven't really seen him play so I don't know how good he is defensively. If he's solid defensively, 35-40 points a season with his defense abilities is easily worth 5m a year. Time will tell though. :D

From what I remember of him in Vancouver (keep in mind, this was 3-4 years ago, and he has probably matured a lot more since then) he doesn't hit very often but doesn't mind contact, he's an average shot blocker, and he's got decent defensive positioning. I haven't seen much of him in Ottawa, so things might have changed drastically, but if he hasn't he's slightly above average defensively. He does get caught pinching often, but I suppose that's the price of an offensive defenceman.

McCabe to Florida for Mike Van Ryn and a draft pick, to be announced tomorrow. Good deal for the Leafs, getting rid of a $5.75 M cap hit, for a player who wasn't worth it. I don't know what it is with the Leafs, but they overpay D quite a bit (Kubina, McCabe, Finger, and Gill to a lesser extent). Signing Kaberle when they did though was a fantastic move.
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=248234&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_nhl

T-dot signed him after that season when he had like 20 pp goals in the first 40 games (led the league at one point too).  They thought they had a legitimate point shooter, but i still think it was a lucky streak.  The next seasons proved it. Before that, in Vancouver, he was medoicore at best.

At least he's in a market that doesn't give two shits what their team does.

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