After spending the whole day watching other teams load up, finally a blurb came across the free agency wire:
8:06 PM: New York Islanders sign defenseman Mark Streit to a five-year contract worth $20.5 million.
Not a bad opening salvo from Garth Snow, who had gone on record as saying that the Islanders were "not going to be very active" in the free agency market.
We like the move. Streit is not too old (30), is a power play quarterback that this team can sorely use, and his stats are pretty solid.
It's sensible moves like this that will speed along the rebuilding process.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
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7 comments:
Agreed - decent move from Snow. The key is that he'll still be the power play QB when the Isles presumably are ready to make a serious run in 2-3 years. And we all know how much the power play sucked this year.
Still would like to have a 1B goalie considering Lalime went for peanuts, but maybe MacDonald will surprise me this season.
Good signing. Should set the Isles on the "Streit" and narrow path to success. We sorely needed a puck moving d-man.
Dr. Hook, MacDonald will surprise I think, especially after he has to take over the last 20 games of the season due to another DiPietro injury. Just kidding! I hope.
I see the positives, but isn't there a possibility we have gotten another bergeron for 5 more years?
Wouldn't a better play have been getting McCabe at 6 mil this year, then 4 over the next 2 years. He is less of a defensive liability and loves Long Island.
5 years could turn out to be too long of a time.
I don't know, is he has bad defensively as some people are making him out to be?
By the way, on a TSN poll about which defenseman signing will bring the best value for his new contract, Mark Streit is outstripping Brian Campbell and Wade Redden. Streit is receiving 51% of the vote with Campbell notching 31% and Redden 18%.
This is good since fans around the league clearly see that the Redden signing is ridiculous and Campbell is just overpaid now!
Yann Danis gets signed. Another Canadien.
And I think Ken D. claimed - in response to my question about Snow going to sign any UFA goalie as backups - that Snow will give MacDonald a chance the upcoming season and will not pursue any goalies on the market.
Guess it was me who was right this time. :)
Actually, I haven't seen anything about Danis on the wire. Not saying Snow won't sign him eventually, but apparently that was just a rumor earlier today.
Even if they do sign Danis, I would imagine he would play in Bridgeport. MacDonald has a one-way contract and the Sound Tigers need another goalie (assuming Poulin isn't sent there immediately if he signs).
Danis looks like he'll be the AHL goalie. As per Greg Logan's blog.
Dr. Hook wanted Lalime as a backup. Would have been okay in my book. Didn't happen, though.
P.S. -- Wolf, I like the Streit move despite any criticism. He's a real shot in the arm for the team on the PP and on the PR front. Solid move. Didn't overpay, at least compared to Redden and Campbell.
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