The Great Debate And More

Well, the dog days of August -- the slowest month for hockey fans -- are upon us.


It's no wonder I was born this month. There was nothing happening in the hockey world!


Anyway, it's as good a time as any to start with my odds and ends for the month, beginning with this great read from last week on perhaps the best debate going right now:


Whether the Penguins or Washington Capitals are the better squad.


Of course, there's no doubt where I fall on that side of the equation, but clearly I'm not alone.


On a differnt matter, I found it interesting to read Chicago Blackhawks' GM Stan Bowman's comments yesterday about how important it is in the salary cap era to have "flexibility" with his roster -- this, in the aftermath of the news that the 'Hawks were walking away from the 1-year, $2.75 million dollar arbitration award given to their now-former Stanley Cup winning goaltender (making him an unrestricted free agent) and instead signing veteran and former Dallas Stars' netminder Marty Turco on the cheap for 1-year @ $1.3 million.

 As my regular readers know, I wrote a piece here about 10 days ago that talked about how Pens' GM Ray Shero has consistently managed the salary cap well -- and differently than his GM colleagues who regularly doll out contracts more than a decade long -- by preaching that "flexibility" in order to be able to do things with his roster.


The irony in Bowman's remarks is that he has given several of those career-long committments to players like forward Marion Hossa and defenseman Duncan Keith, to name a few, in the last few years. Couple that with the personnel mistakes made by his predecessor, Rick Dudley, in signing blueliner Brian Campbell and goaltender Christobal Huet to overpriced contracts, and you have a team that has anything BUT flexibility.


I guess being forced to jettison 8 players from your Stanley Cup winning roster, including two important forwards and your starting goaltender, doesn't figure into that calculus.


Or, maybe Bowman is just figuring it out now?


And so, Chicago will put its netminding hopes in the trust of a 35-year old goalie who, despite his reputation, has a losing playoff record, but has chosen to scrape the bottom of the salary barrel ($1.3 million is low, even for Turco) for a personal chance at success.


I'm just glad the Penguins aren't in that crunch. They've managed to keep their core and continue to ADD key players in free agency, not send them packing.


More soon on the impact that type of management has on, among other things, fan relations.