Going, going, gone!

It is upon us, the dawning of the Free Agent Frenzy and already it feels like it has begun.

Last night the Nashville Predators traded soon-to-be Unrestricted Free Agents Dan Ellis and Dustin Boyd to the Montreal Canadiens for Sergei Kostitsyn. It looks as if signed Ellis will be part of the Goalie 1A/1B combination in Montreal along with Restricted Free Agent Carey Price (this after the Habs traded the rights to goaltender Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues earlier in the off season).

Will there be more trades today? My guess is probably. Now that the Habs have a head start to talk to Ellis and his agent odds are he will probably sign. Ellis had this to say via Twitter:

Very excited about the trade! Its an honor to be part of a team with such great tradition and passion! Hope we can figure something out!

and...

Hello and Bonjour to all my recent followers! Have not taken French since 9th grade so please give me some leeway!

after an influx of followers on his Twitter account after the announced trade (you can find Dan Ellis on Twitter @dellis39 ).

In other hockey news yesterday the Dallas Stars officially announced that they do not have any plans to offer Mike Modano a contract. After such great send offs both in Dallas and in Minnesota (where the played his last game this past season and even threw on a North Stars jersey) it is possible he will retire. There is no topping the way the fans in both cities treated him (except maybe going out with a Stanley Cup win but then you don't have that individual acknowledgment that he received).



It is possible that this image from the game in Minnesota vs the Wild is the last image we will have of Mike Modano playing in the NHL. Kind of reminds me of another famous picture of a players final step...



Tomorrow's Free Agent Frenzy brings with it the hope for the future and the memories of the past of those players decide to leave the ice.

What is Washington's goal?

So it appears right now that Jose Theodore will not be returning to the Washington Capitals next season.

Capitals' are faced with either going with their two young gun netminders in Semyon Varlamov and Michael Neuvirth or bringing in another veteran from Unrestricted Free Agency.

Some of the available goalies the Capitals' have to pick from:

Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose)
Dan Ellis (Nashville)
Chris Mason (St. Louis)
Marty Turco (Dallas)
Ray Emery (Philadelphia)
Johan Hedberg (Atlanta)
Antero Niittymaki (Tampa Bay)
Vesa Toskala (Calgary)
Andrew Raycroft (Vancouver)

Personally I would go with picking either Dan Ellis, Marty Turco, or Antero Niittymaki for the position in Washington.

Dan Ellis is testing the market after the Predators re-signed Pekka Rinne for a 2 year $6.8 million contract. The two of them made a great goaltending combination that finished the season just two points behind the Detroit Red Wings (and 12 points behind the division lead Chicago Blackhawks) in the central division.

Marty Turco has only won one game inside of Joe Louis Arena in Detroit in his entire NHL career; however, the Capitals being in the Eastern Conference and not the Western Conference like the Dallas Stars that stat isn't going to play much of a roll (unless the teams meet in the Stanley Cup Finals - that might me awkward). Turco (along with Martin Brodeur) is one of the best puck-handling goalies in the NHL and lets face it getting the puck to Alexander Ovechkin or Nicklas Backstrom good things tend to happen.

Antero Niittymaki brings with him two Olympic medals. Winning the bronze medal in the 2010 Vancouver and the Silver medal (and tournament MVP) in 2006 when he was the starter for the Finnish team. Also important for the Capitals' (being in the Southeast division) Niittymaki has a career record being 17-0-0 against the Atlanta Thrashers.

Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award: The goaltenders Kryptonite

Sports and curses/jinx go together like peanut butter and jelly or for those north of the boarder like gravy and cheese curd on french fries.

So when I was looking over the history of the “Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award” I couldn’t help but think this thing is jinxed.

For those that are not familiar with the award it is awarded by the National Hockey League to the goaltender who ends the season with the best save percentage (with at least 25 games played). Eight players have won the award since its inception in 1999-2000.


The list of winners is as follows:
Ed Belfour (1999-2000)
Marty Turco (2000-2001)
Jose Theodore (2001-2002)
Marty Turco (2002-2003)
Dwayne Roloson (2003-2004)
Cristobal Huet (2005-2006)
Niklas Backstrom (2006-2007)
Dan Ellis (2007-2008)
Tim Thomas (2008-2009)
Tuukka Rask (2009-2010)

So you’ve just had the best save percentage in the entire NHL what are you going to do? - Nothing? At least in the NFL if you win you go to Disney World

Lets look at the post lock out era goalies to win because lets face it the game has changed since then. Each of them had a finonimal season only to end up replaced.

Huet is currently playing in the Stanley Cup Finals right now; however, I use the term playing lightly as he is sitting on the bench collecting a HUGE pay check while the rookie kid from Finland, Antti Niemi, has taken his place on the ice.

Backstrom and the Wild have been plagued with goaltending problems (mostly injuries and lets not forget the fire that destroyed the teams equipment earlier this season) so I‘ll go light on them.

Ellis won the award and then had to split a season with Pekka Rinne the following season for lackluster play and only 11 wins for the season. He’s now testing the free agency market this summer as Rinne has taken over as starter for the Predators.

Tim Thomas. The amazingly heartfelt story from the 2008-2009 season who went on to win not only this award but the Vezina Trophy for the top goaltender of the season - he made the 2010 Team USA Olympic roster but never saw ice time and was replaced by the rookie Tuukka Rask as the starter for the Bruins.

Which brings us to this years winner - Tuukka Rask. - History will be made… or maybe jinxed.