Found this on another board, it's really how I feel:

I think fans here need to realize that you don't just sign a UFA for the sake of signing one! Names being bounced around here are quite comical in signing washed up players like Lindors to retired players like Palffy or players like Rucchin who makes no sense with players like Bonk on the team already.

We need to make a sigining only if it makes sense financially and chemistry wise to the team, Gainey isn't one to jump the gun. We are a team that can make its adjustments in a trade or through promotion of players from the AHL and CHL or Europe.

If most people notice the majority of the signings have been by non-playoff teams who are still lacking a lot even after making these signings. How is Toronto any better with an over priced D, McCabe maybe a one year wonder and Kubina is being paid about 2 million per more than he was even seeking! Kaberle is the only good and consistant Dman there, Raycroft is a very big question mark and their forwards are slim with nothing after Sundin who is declining in skill and have little cap space left to sign and re-sign players in the forward position.

Boston may have Chara and Mara on D and signed Savard, but lets face it Glen Murray isn't Kovalchuk or Hossa...I will be extremely surprised if Savard comes close to his numbers of last year, they too need to re-sign Bergeron and Boyes who won't be cheap.

Teams like New Jersey are in so much trouble with the cap after signing Elias, Langenbrunner and White that they will have to do ala Tampa Bay and trade good players (like Sydor for 4th round draft picks), how can NJ afford Gomez or Gionta? They may not be able to afford them both! They also need to sign Martin on D who won't be near his $500,000 salary of last season.

The best signings may have been by team like Nashville getting help at centre in Arnott, Minny signing Dmen like Carney and Johnsson and Parrish at forward to go with their newly aqcuired Demitra.

We aren't the only team being fiscally smart or looking for players maybe via trade instead. Not all 30 tams are signing players, and the ones signing players aren't necessarly making good signings or addressing their real need or needs. Look at Detroit, Edmonton, Dallas, Buffalo, NJ, Anaheim (sure they traded, but didn't sign UFA's) and ourselves (Montreal)...we aren't all out there making signings and these teams may have the best bunch of GM's in the league under Gainey, Lowe, Burke, Holland, Regier, Lamerillo (cap questions, but he is a proven winner) and Armstrong. They have signed their own first and have looked at the market and have obviously assessed it too expensive to sign players because they are getting too much money compaired to their worth, why do you thing Burke traded players, prospects and picks for Pronger? It made more sense, Pronger is cheaper than the D signed in Chara and doesn't come with a no trade clause and Lupol as good as he is is expendable with players like Getzlaf, Perry, Penner and a prospect like Ryan coming up makes a trade more reasonable financially and makes more sense to the team in all. Anaheim is a legit contender for the Cup even more so after this trade.

I like what the above GM's are doing and I think we will see Gainey take the same route, it may not be the splash Burke made with Pronger, but I believe it will be significant enough to address our needs and to improve ourselves to contender status as well, you can only tinker so much...if you do too much sometimes it leads to rebuilding all over again.

Stay the course, keep to the plan and it will come together.

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think about it like this, what happens next season if the cap stays the same or actually decreases huh? all these teams that overpaid players and gave them multi-year contracts will be screwed like nobody's business. with all of these gms throwing money around like nothing, i expect next seasons ufa's batch to be paid considerably less as this is the first offeason where unrestricted free agency has been truely affected by the new cap rules. This new era is still fresh, and the smart GM's are holding back and trying to predict what this new financial atmosphere will do for their team.

Why give arnott 4.5 million now for 5 years now, when you can give a much better player like briere a similar contract next season? understand the situation, and be patient. there's no reason to rush anything by reacting irrationally.

-- Edited by Jay1982 at 22:25, 2006-07-03