The player agent is referring to the negative publicity surrounding his client Alex Semin, who remains unsigned despite being the most talented free agent available this summer. It all began on July 1, when analysts Marc Crawford and Pierre McGuire took turns shovelling dirt on Semin during TSN’s live broadcast, alternately calling him “a loser” and “the ultimate coach killer.”

For Gandler, you could not have asked for a bigger PR nightmare. If teams had not already been cautious of signing the enigmatic Russian forward, who has reportedly been offered a contract in the KHL next season, they certainly had reason to be now.

[np-related]

But was any of the criticism accurate? Or was this yet another character assassination based on someone’s passport and inability to play nice with the media?

After all, Semin is not a troublemaker in the way that Sean Avery was. He might have stuck his foot in his mouth when he compared Sidney Crosby to “dead wood” in a regrettable 2008 interview, but so far his biggest crime has been a perceived indifference to playing without the puck.

Even then, some say it is exaggerated.

“Since I was there, he bought into what I was trying to preach,” former Capitals head coach Dale Hunter said. “We even had him blocking shots. I had no problem there whatsoever.”

Where Hunter could have used more help from Semin during the regular season and in the playoffs was in the goal-scoring department. And if you want a valid reason why teams should be cautious about signing the 28-year-old — aside from him possibly leaving for Russia — that’s it right there.

Not long ago, Semin was amongst the league’s top snipers. He scored 38 goals and 73 points in 2006-07 and had 34 goals and 79 points in 2008-09 and 40 goals and 84 points in 2009-10. But the last two seasons has seen a 30-point drop in production to the point where some question whether he has lost his touch.

During this year’s playoffs, he managed only four points in 14 games, contributing no goals and one assist in a second-round loss to the New York Rangers.

“Definitely, you wish your skilled guys scored more,” said Hunter. “That kind of hurt us.”

Of course, it is difficult to score when you are sitting on the bench. When Bruce Boudreau was the Capitals coach, Semin averaged nearly 20 minutes per game and saw action with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. But Hunter stripped Semin’s minutes and limited him to third-line duty.

It was a poor fit for a natural goal-scorer. And when a frustrated Semin made it known that he would not be returning to Washington after the season ended, the conclusion was that he is not a good teammate.

“It is a bias and I’m not the biggest fan of all the Russian players,” former NHLer Bobby Holik said in a podcast on his official Web site, “but I also have to be open-minded and objective and say that Alex Semin can bring something to your team if you put him in a position to succeed and not expect him to be a Selke Trophy winner.”

Hunter agrees: “He’s got great skill. Someone will sign him.”

Semin, who earned US$6.7-million on a one-year deal in Washington last season, is reportedly mulling over a two-year deal for similar money to play for CSKA Moscow. But the real holdup could be that the NHL teams that might be interested in his services — Detroit, Pittsburgh, Chicago, New Jersey — are waiting to see where Doan, as well as Rick Nash and Bobby Ryan end up before making an offer.

So Semin waits. And while he does, his agent hopes that the water has not been completely poisoned.

Email: mtraikos@nationalpost.com | Twitter: Michael_Traikos

Unfortunately for free agent Alex Semin, his reputation precedes his impressive statistics. (Jerome Davis/Icon SMI)

By Stu Hackel

Goal scoring in the NHL is down, the thin free agent market is depleted of top offensive talent, and the trade market seems frozen, so one name in particular stands out: unrestricted free agent Alexander Semin. Theoretically at least, he could be the solution to some team’s scoring woes, but there he sits by the phone, waiting for his agent Marc Gandler to tell him which club wants to sign a supremely talented 28-year-old who has put up seasons of 38, 34 and 40 goals during his NHL career. His numbers are comparable to Zach Parise’s, but no one is throwing a 13-year contract worth $98 million at Semin. Not even close.

Semin is coming off a $6.7 million one-year deal after another one-year contract worth $6 million.  You’d think he’s set up for something with a longer term, but no NHL team, apparently, wants to give that to him. And it’s quite doubtful that anyone wants to pay him close to what he had been making with the Washington Capitals.

Oh, there have been reports that CSKA, the legendary Red Army team of the KHL, has offered Semin $10 million a year for three years. But not everyone believes it, even in Russia where Andrew Matsegora wrote on Thursday for AllHockey.ru that, “Frankly, the truth of this assertion is doubtful.” Semin/Gandler and teams in the KHL may be talking, Matsegora contends, but not about that kind of money. Their discussions may help create a better marketplace for Semin, but won’t bring him those sorts of riches.

Around the same time that the CSKA story emerged, Semin was being savaged in North America during coverage of the first signings of the free agency period. Would he be one of the big names to get snapped up early? These guys on TSN didn’t think so.

They treated Semin like a pariah. “The ultimate coach killer” destined for the “Island of Misplaced Toys” was how they characterized him. Harsh stuff. For many who follow the Capitals and haven’t always heard or read what others around the league think of Semin (fans of most teams generally only digest what their local media and fellow fans have to say), it was something of a shock.

No one was more shocked than Gandler, who told Chuck Gormley of CSNWashington.com that the take-down was “the worst I’ve ever heard an analyst say about any player.” The agent said that his client compared quite favorably to other players. “Take a look at Semin’s plus-minus over the same period of time as Parise,” Gandler said. “Look at his plus-minus over any period against his teammates with the Capitals and you will see he is not that guy they say.”

There’s truth in that statistical analysis: Semin’s plus-minus over his last four full seasons is plus-92 while Parise’s is plus-62 (not including the minus-1 of his truncated 2010-11 campaign). Of course, Semin also played on a line with Alex Ovechkin for a good chunk of that time, including two seasons when Ovie topped 50 goals and 100 points, which would be beneficial to anyone’s plus-minus.

Gandler thought Semin was being singled out because he’s Russian. “If they said anything like that about any of the Canadian players…,” Gandler said of the TSN slam. “It’s just prejudice and there is no place for that in the National Hockey League.”

But Semin’s critics aren’t just found in North America. Matsegora noted in his AllHockey.ru piece that “Overseas, they rightly believe that he is too weak-willed a player who often loses the motivation to play. And he loses it at the most inopportune moments.” Matsegora added that former Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau regularly tried to motivate Semin, only to have the winger “shrink from criticism on the bench, so (Boudreau) had to leave without having achieved from Semin at least some noticeable fire in his eyes.” Boudreau often spoke of Semin’s potential, believing the young winger had more promise than even Alex Ovechkin.

Matsegora also referred to Semin’s “lack of discipline on the ice,” especially his habit of going for a change at the wrong times, and that he is “quite weak in defense. Yes, Semin can backcheck, but his efficiency drops significantly immediately.” As evidence, Matsegora points to Semin’s declining production over the last two years while Boudreau and Dale Hunter tried to install more of a defensive oriented system. “In other words, the price for his defensive performance is his attacking ability,” Matsegora wrote.

“Alex doesn’t fit into that system obviously,” Gandler told ESPN The Magazine. “It just doesn’t make any sense to him. He plays, he did the best he could under the circumstances and he earned his right to be a free agent.”

Of course, anyone stunned by the recent criticisms of Semin has apparently forgotten that former Capital Matt Bradley had publicly dissed him a year ago, telling Ottawa’s Team 1200 radio, among other things, that Semin “could easily be the best player in the league, and just for whatever reason, just doesn’t care.” Gandler defended Semin against those allegations as well, which is, after all, his job.

It’s probably most telling that the Capitals never signed Semin to a long-term deal after his entry level contract, just a two-year deal followed by two one-year pacts. Now, having just signed Wojtek Wolski for less than one-tenth of what they paid Semin last season, the Caps seem prepared to let him walk away.

Gandler told Gormley that he wasn’t sure if TSN’s treatment of Semin would hurt him in the free agent market, saying “I don’t know. I hope not. Listen, fans are listening to this and fans sometimes drive owners. Sometimes for a big deal like Semin will be getting, you need owner approval and this is what the owners hear and that’s very bad.”

There doesn’t seem to be a big deal in the offing for Semin, however. As we noted last week, Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford said he’d “heard the stories” about Semin, but might take him on a one-year deal, get to know him on a trial basis and see what comes of it. The Red Wings and Penguins have kicked Semin’s tires as well and might be interested. Right now, however, he is just another name on the UFA list. Perhaps after Shane Doan decides if he’s moving on from Phoenix and signs a deal somewhere, a team will reel in Semin, hoping he’ll prove everyone wrong and transform himself from an enigmatic player to an energetic one.

But when teams aren’t swarming a guy who has averaged 31 goals annually since 2006-07, you have to ask why they haven’t fallen in love with his talents and are not rushing after him.

There are countless versions of this song, but here’s one of the first, from the Big Band Era before WWII:

This one was a 1963 hit for Ricky Nelson during the late stages of the “Teen Idol” Era, and the one that inspired She & Him, as you can hear from their studio version. That’s the great James Burton with the guitar solo behind Ricky:

And here’s the first one that I heard, a 1960 hit for Brook Benton. The wild string-heavy arrangement is very typical of pop music of the era.

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Martin Brodeur’s son Anthony could be up for NHL draft next summer.

Has there ever been a more boring start to an NHL off-season than this one? Granted, the free-agent pool might not be as deep as it has been in years past, and is only going to keep on getting thinner due to all of these mega-deals, but still, there are enough names out there for this to have been a pretty exciting few weeks in July. It’s funny that when Ryan Suter and Zach Parise actually signed, aside from the initial, “Wow! Minnesota got both!” reaction, the excitement was limited, and people stopped talking about it within two days. Now if Parise had gone to the Rangers, Flyers, or Penguins, and Suter to the Red Wings, not only would we still be talking about it, but suicide hotline workers would be raking in overtime cash.

• Even with no one signing anywhere, off-seasons do not have to be boring. Does everyone remember the summer of Ilya Kovalchuk’s signing with the Devils, where we waited anxiously to see where he would end up to begin with, before he actually signed, had the contract nullified by the NHL, then settled on a smaller amount, locking him up with New Jersey for eternity? Well, even then there were at least rumors and items to report on during the saga. Though half of them came from Eklund and other fools like him, it was at least something, if to just keep us occupied and laughing, and nothing else. These first two weeks of July have had none of that. No rumors of Alex Semin, or ongoing rumblings for potential Rick Nash or Bobby Ryan trades, though it is believed the Rangers and Flyers are still in the running for one or both of them. There used to be a time in July where you couldn’t wake up in the morning without having texts or Tweets waiting for you on moves that were made while you were sleeping. Now, all there seems to be is crickets chirping.

• I had a very interesting discussion last night with two people who contribute to this blog on occasion, David Zohn and Chris “Gootz” Hoeler, and that was in regards to the possibility of the Rangers drafting Martin Brodeur’s son Anthony at next season’s NHL Entry Draft. While I thought Chris wanted him out of spite for the Devils taking Stephane Matteau’s son Stefan a few weeks ago, I found that he was much more vengeful than that, saying this in between fits of maniacal laughter: “No. I just want him so they can’t have him. And to do it in the Prudential Center, no less! Could you imagine the hysteria?!” I then added that such a selection would cause the first riot and fan deaths in NHL history, along with it being the first draft riot since Vietnam. Anyway, we then posed the question surrounding the hypothetical situation of the Rangers drafting Brodeur: it is now many years into the future, and the Rangers and Devils are playing each other in an important playoff game, which has just gone to double-overtime. Stefan Matteau gets the puck in the corner and scores on a wrap-around against Anthony Brodeur. Mind = blown. Would that cause the end of the world, or what?

• Isn’t it funny, or ironic, that every off-season, even when the Rangers are dangerously close to the salary cap, they spend exorbitant amounts of money, and now this summer, after signing two players and still having nearly $16 million in cap space, there is no one to sign? Glen Sather could not give the money away right now, burning sensation in his pockets or not. This is literally the most money I ever remember this team having in the cap era, and there is no mega free agent available. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were never in contention, and after them, no one is left, except perhaps Shane Doan, who will decide his fate after tomorrow. While I admire the Rangers’ GM for standing pat and not climbing on top of a bench in New York City and slinging hundred-dollar bills all over the place, there are many fans angry at the inaction. I usually like to poke fun at the “Garden Brainless” as I call them, but this is too much. This is a team that over-pays year after year, and this summer, has spent less than $6 million on two players (spread out over two seasons in their contracts) and people are complaining? Would you rather have wasted it on someone like Matt Carle or Jason Garrison instead? I think not, so just be patient and see what happens over the next few weeks, as I am sure he is busy working the phones with Anaheim and Columbus.

• Usually when a person suffers from delusions of grandeur, they are carted off to a mental institution, or at least given some medication. But if you like hockey and live in the Columbus area, they might even make you the GM of a professional hockey team. Putting aside the fact that Scott Howson should have been out of a job long ago, I am left wondering if the reason no deal for Nash has been made is because he is still asking for the moon from every inquiring team. Rick Nash is a star, no doubt, but coming with some baggage and off a pretty mediocre season for someone such as himself. How then can he demand one (or all) of Ryan McDonagh, Chris Kreider, and Derek Stepan from the Rangers? Sather probably laughed in his face in between cigar chomps. While I would concede Stepan, McDonagh and Kreider are untouchable, just like Jeff Skinner is on the Carolina Hurricanes, who were also in on Nash until Howson brought up his name. I wonder if in his mental deterioration he was actually surprised when they said no. Maybe he was expecting them to volunteer Cam Ward in a deal along with Skinner. I wonder who he would want from the Flyers, Claude Giroux maybe? This guy belongs in a padded room, not a front office. He has to understand that stars do not get traded for stars. They rarely ever did, and they never will in the future with any regularity either.

• QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “If I learn to ice skate and change my last name to Staal, think I could get signed and overpaid by an NHL team?”- Joe Aiello

• What’s the deal with Alex Semin? Bad reputation or not, one would think he would have been signed already. I still maintain that if Columbus trades Nash, Semin going there would be a no-brainer, but if it keeps being dragged out, the Detroit Red Wings might want to make a push for him since they lost out on Parise…and because no one ever seems to fail in Detroit. I have also done some musing on the Rangers signing him to a one-year deal. I do not like the guy, and did not need any help from TSN analysts bashing the hell out of him to make that decision, but he could score 20 goals without even trying (and he has not tried in quite some time, which is the problem) and if he could only buy into a system and be a team player, he could go back to that 40-goal star player he once was. Would a team like the Rangers be a good fit? One would immediately think no because of John Tortorella, but I’m leaning towards the fact that everyone there buys into his system. Washington was split, but on New York, he would not have much of a choice, because you know their no-nonsense coach would just scratch him every night if he did not buy in. The Rangers have so much money free that it would not hurt them at all to sign him for one year and take that chance.

• THIS JUST IN: We have learned that initially, Ruslan Fedotenko wanted to sign with the Dallas Stars, but was turned away because he wasn’t old enough.

• Lastly, how about those free agent predictions I made with the above-mentioned Joe and Chris? Wow, they are so bad they almost have an odor. Usually, we are sub par every year but this time just takes the cake. We usually advertise ourselves as “still better than Eklund”, but I don’t know about these. We are a combined 13 for 66 (~20%), with Chris leading the way at five correct picks. The two things that do stand out, however, are Chris getting Parise to Minnesota right and me picking George Parros to the Florida Panthers…don’t ask how I got that one right…

Lazy, hazy and crazy are good words to describe this NHL summer so far. After the crazy free agent business we surveyed on Thursday, completed transactions have slowed to a lazier pace as the players on the market and the clubs in need evaluate their potential moves. Meanwhile, the trade scene has turned hazy — it usually is when rumors fly.

But now that the top names in free agency are gone, the biggest trade targets are getting more attention from frantic clubs that were spurned by the likes of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, as are the remaining free agents. So which players, in what Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli calls the “secondary market,” have the biggest targets on their backs?

Let’s start with Rick Nash, whose situation is lazy, hazy and crazy all by itself. The big, scoring winger with a no-trade clause remains a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets a mere half-year after he requested that the team trade him. You want hazy? Here’s what we know, or what we think we know, or what has been reported (take your pick): Nash’s list of preferred destinations supposedly includes the Rangers, Red Wings, Penguins, Flyers, Sharks and Bruins. It’s obvious from looking at his group of teams that — unlike many of the big free agents — Nash is no longer content with being a building block on a rebuilding club. (The ‘Canes prefer to call it “reshaping”). He wants a chance to play for an established club and win the Stanley Cup sooner rather than later. However…

Columbus GM Scott Howson won’t be rushed into a deal that brings back anything less than “market value,” which means he wants at least one impact player in return, and probably some additional pieces as well, considering all the needs the Blue Jackets have. Obviously, it’s a lot to ask. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Hurricanes wouldn’t pay Howson’s asking price, which included exciting young forward Jeff Skinner, so they’ve dropped out of the Nash sweepstakes — if they were really ever in it, considering they’re not on Nash’s list. Howson is reportedly talking to every NHL team anyway, not just the ones that Nash has approved, in the hopes that if he gets a deal he likes, he can convince Nash to go along.

And, as Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch writes, Howson, “won’t trade Nash for less than ‘market value,’ even if the saga drags well into July, even into August, and yes, even into the start of training camp in September.”

Is that crazy? Not if you’re Scott Howson, I guess.

With Nash, the Blue Jackets and the rest of the NHL unable to agree on where the star winger should be traded, lots of attention has shifted to Bobby Ryan. The Anaheim winger doesn’t have the body of work Nash does, but he’s still very productive and consistent (he’s hit the 30-goal mark in each of the last four seasons), younger, and comes with a smaller contract with less term remaining on it. Jesse Spector of The Sporting News believes Ryan is actually a better choice than Nash and if Ducks GM Bob Murray agrees, the price could be just as high. Having upgraded their blue line since July 1, the Ducks still need a second-line center, but if lots of teams are chasing Ryan, Murray can expand his demands.

Another alternative that appeals to many clubs that are looking to add a top six forward is Coyotes captain Shane Doan, and his plight is lazy, hazy and crazy, too. Doan is a UFA who is getting lots of buzz, but on July 1 he postponed considering any offers until this coming Monday. That date, July 9, was the earliest  in which the Coyotes’ potential new owner Greg Jamison could gauge whether the various machinations he and the City of Glendale have to go through would clear a path for the team’s sale.

Doan doesn’t want to leave the Coyotes where he’s provided lots of the glue that has kept the players together in the face of the franchise’s never-ending ownership saga — or, more precisely, lack-of-ownership saga. But, as Lisa Halverstadt reported earlier this week in The Arizona Republic, two new petitions could postpone or kill Glendale’s lease with Jamison and their first stages won’t be acted upon until mid-July. Additionally, seven candidates for Glendale City Council, including two who are running for mayor, want the lease delayed pending discussions on whether paying Jamison $10 million to $20 million annually to run Jobing.com Arena is a sound fiscal decision for the city, which is heavily in debt. So if that July 9 date still has relevance and these latest moves push Jamison’s plans further into the future, Doan may decide it’s time to go.

Another target could be one of Doan’s teammates, defenseman Keith Yandle, the highest-paid Coyote at $5.25 million and one of the game’s better offensive defenseman. For some reason — perhaps his salary on this red ink team — he seems to have become a hot commodity on the trade market since the NHL Entry Draft last month. GM Don Maloney wouldn’t rule out dealing Yandle when asked if he would. “Keith Yandle is an assistant captain, a core member of our team and the best young offensive defenseman in the game,” Maloney said in June. “So if we were ever to make a deal, it would have to be something very special.”

Since the Coyotes lost their leading scorer, Ray Whitney, to free agency, perhaps Yandle is bait to get an impact forward, although that would be more like treading water than swimming somewhere. He’d be a lot to surrender on a team that doesn’t score enough.

You’d think the Coyotes and any team that needs offense would be lining up for UFA Alexander Semin but the trashing he took on July 1 on TSN was not an aberration among experienced hockey people. His reputation isn’t good and despite his obvious offensive talents, there doesn’t seem to be much interest in signing him. Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford did mention to Chip Alexander of The Raleigh News-Observer that he’d consider signing Semin to a one-year contract. “We wouldn’t want to get locked in to anything, because we’ve all heard the stories about him. We do like his skill level. It could be that we could bring him in for a year, get to know him and go from there in terms of considering something longer term.”

Poor Semin. The guy has averaged 31 goals over the last six seasons and, in a league struggling to score, no one wants him. But with his lazy shortcomings and hazy mind for the game, it’s not crazy that he’s not getting any love from the NHL’s GMs.

There’s also some hazy speculative news on the Canucks trading goalie Roberto Luongo, who supposedly wants to return to the Panthers. The Canucks probably have also heard from the Maple Leafs and the Blue Jackets — places Luongo would like to play, but only for the visiting team. The Canucks are said to want Panthers goalie Jose Theodore in exchange. Theo has a year left on his deal and Vancouver believes he’d be a good backup for Cory Schneider. The problem is that No Way Jose has a partial No Trade Clause in which he lists 10 teams he can be dealt to without waiving it. The Canucks, Pierre LeBrun of ESPN reported, are not among the 10 on the list. And does Theo want to be a backup?

Earlier on Friday, Luongo told a Vancouver radio station, “It’s time to move on.” We’ll have to wait to find out if he gets his wish soon or this one drags on lazily through the summer, too.

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Earlier today Matt Carle signed a $33 million dollar deal over 6 years with the Lightning. In other news, the Lightning continue to sign horrible defensemen. In light of that, Shane Doan is the only remaining free agent from my original list and I’m really feeling confident that if he doesn’t resign with Phoenix he’ll stay in the West and either go to Detroit or Los Angeles so I’m not even really considering him any more.

I also realize that I never really explained my passive aggression with Zbynek Michalek in the last post. Here are some statistics that really prove that Michalek was in fact more expendable and slightly worse in Pittsburgh than Paul Martin has been. Outside of the limited number of really talented offensive defensemen, looking at production isn’t particularly illuminating, so my emphasis isn’t on that (although for the record Martin’s 51 is a lot more than Michalek’s 32 over the last two years). I can’t really look at hits either because first, the way the NHL records hits is entirely subjective, and second, neither of them hit anybody so it doesn’t matter. What I’m interested in then is plus/minus and time on ice. I feel like these are two of the best statistics to judge the overall effectiveness of a defenseman. Plus/minus asks if the guy is keeping pucks out of his team’s net and if he is contributing to production in the other teams zone. Time on ice is a vital statistic for a defenseman because teams only dress three pairs of defensemen instead of 4 lines of forwards. Whoever the team is counting on most is going to get the biggest minutes. So then on to the stats themselves.

•   This past season Paul Martin was a +9 and logged an average of 23:00 minutes per game TOI. To break that down a little more, he averaged 1:49 per game on the PP and 2:36 per game short-handed.

• Michalek was a 0 this past season while averaging 21:38 TOI per game. His power play time somehow averaged :14 seconds and his SH time was 3:38 per game.

In other words, Martin was on the ice significantly more than Michalek, and despite that helped the Pens to a combination of fewer goals and contributed significantly more to the Penguins offense. You might be tempted to say, well that’s just because Z spent that much more time on the Penalty Kill and if you say that you’re wrong. Special teams don’t count against +/-, if you score on the power play you don’t get a plus, and if you allow a goal on a penalty kill you don’t get a minus. For the record if you allow a short-handed goal you do get a minus, and if you score a short-handed goal you do get a plus.

So that’s that, Martin is better in every way except maybe blocking shots. Deal with it.

Now finally, onto the new list of available free agents.

Forwards:

Alexander Semin: before you laugh, hear me out. Over his career Semin has averaged .870 points per game, that’s not bad. In fact, it is noticeably higher than Zach Parise’s career PPG average of .817. His 21 goals and 33 assists are nothing to laugh at and he’s twice reached 30 goals and once topped 40. The only time he failed to score at least 20 goals was in his rookie campaign. Further, you have to consider that his goal-scoring prowess has come on a team that doesn’t have anyone who can pass as well as Evgeni Malkin. That brings me to my next point: yes there are a lot of talks about his work ethic and his will to win, but I think that comes from playing most of his career for Bruce Boudreau on a team captained by Alexander Ovechkin. Boudreau couldn’t get tough with his players and they ran all over him. Ovechkin was benched on multiple occasions by interim coach Dale Hunter for not caring. If Semin played on a line with Malkin, with Sid as his captain and HCDB as his coach, I’m not quite as worried about his ethic. I think this is why Detroit is interested in him, he would play with Datsyuk under Mike Babcock, they would take no shit and I believe that Semin would be fine. Of course the issue with Semin would be contract, he would probably want numerous years and a cap hit in excess of $5 million. If he doesn’t get it, he could easily return to Russia and probably get a lot more. As a result I think this is a total longshot, but then again, I thought the same about the Pens trading for Marian Hossa…

Wojtek Wolski: he gives Zarley Zalapski a run for his money for best hockey name ever. A 26 year old with massive upside, and a massive history of injury, Wolski (pronounced with a “V” sound) could be an ideal high risk/high reward scenario for the Penguins. Another former Avalanche player who played under Tony Granato, his best years came in the high-paced system that saw Chris Stewart excel as well. He twice bested 20 goals and produced career high 65 points in 2009-10. If you click his link you will see that he’s moved around a bunch in recent years and he only managed 31 games and 12 points last year. As I say, this is high risk/high reward scenario, as such though; he will likely be cheap and not expect a long-term deal. If he can’t stay healthy or he’s lost his touch, you can move on at the trade deadline, however, if he could get back to his Colorado levels of production this could be a massive jackpot for the Pens.

Defense:

Scott Hannan: not a point producer but solid as they come in your own zone and known to lay a little lumber. Coincidentally, yet another player who played under Granato in Colorado. Could possibly slot in next to Brooks Orpik to form a new shutdown pairing, however, I think it might be better to view Hannan as a much more experienced version of Deryk Engelland, not that that’s a bad thing either. The only thing that worries me is that he’s changed teams three times in the last 2 seasons. Clearly he isn’t “sticking” anywhere as well as he once did when he played almost an entire decade with the Sharks.

Matt Gilroy: won the Hobey Baker Award as the top collegiate hockey player in the US in 2008-09. Since then though he’s actually struggled to really gel with a system in the NHL. The assumption here is that the Pens can recreate the magic they’ve found with Matt Niskanen again. Personally I believe they can and I think that Gilroy could be a good fit. Will the Pens spend on him, I have my doubts, but he does have a real cannon for a shot which could help to simplify the point situation on the power play in Sully’s absence.

So that’s the new list. Really, things aren’t anywhere near as bad as they seem. As I’ve said before, even if the Pens do nothing between now and the start of the season, that’s actually not a bad thing. Stockpiling money assets for the trade deadline might be the best decision out there.

It was no secret that the Hawks wanted to improve their defense this offseason. They made a strong push for Ryan Suter, but that did not pan out. The next best available free agent defenseman is Matt Carle, who played his last 4 seasons in Philadelphia. It would be huge if the Hawks could bring him into the organization, however it does not appear that will happen. After Carle, the caliber of free agent defenseman remaining really weakens. My guess is that if the Hawks do add another defenseman, it will be through a trade.

Aside from defenseman, the two biggest free agent forwards remaining are Shane Doan and Alex Semin. Shane Doan has been the captain of the Phoenix Coyotes for a number of years now (I don’t know the exact number). He has averaged in the mid 50′s for points throughout his 16-year career, tallying 50 last season. Despite his age (35), he still has a lot to offer. He is a born leader and a positive influence on and off the ice. Aside from his ability to lead and tally points, Doan is a physical presence on the ice. Last season, he registered 205 hits. The hit leader for the Blackhawks, Brent Seabrook, had 198. If the Hawks can sign Doan, they will be adding both an offensive and physical player to their lineup, both of which would really strengthen their team.

Alex Semin is one of the most talented players in the NHL. He has the ability to score 40 goals in a season, as he did just a couple of years ago. The drawback with Semin is his attitude/personality. Apparently, he is not the greatest teammate in the league, nor is he the best player to coach. With the Hawks having had some friction in the locker room and amongst the coaching staff the past couple of years, they really don’t want to bring in a possible problem-maker in Semin. However, if they could find a way to make it work with Semin, he would be a huge addition to the Hawks’ roster.

Unfortunately, neither Doan nor Semin are centers. Arguably the Hawks biggest need is a number 2 center. There are a handful of free agent centers still available, but none of them are standouts. If the Hawks are going to add a good center to their roster, it will most likely be through a trade. I don’t know who they might try and trade for, but my guess is that they will attempt to trade for a number 2 center.

As for Rick Nash, the only way the Hawks will get him is by trading Kane, and I doubt that will happen. They are more likely to sign Doan or Semin than they are to acquire Rick Nash.

According to hockeybuzz.com, the Hawks have shown some interest in goaltender Jonathan Bernier of the L.A. Kings. This is something to keep your eye on moving forward. Although it is unlikely, the Hawks would like to upgrade at goalie.

Clearly, it is not easy to predict what might happen in the near future for the Hawks, but there is nothing wrong with speculating.

Thanks for reading.

Zach Parise and Ryan Suter: first teammates in the Olympics, now locked up for the next 13 years in Minnesota.

The waiting is finally over: the Minnesota Wild have signed both of the NHL’s highly coveted free agents, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, to mega-deals worth $98 million over 13 years. While I would argue against Suter being worth as much as Parise, I suppose it is a rather symbolic gesture that the two American players who probably took so long to sign so they knew for sure that is where the other one was going to go, would receive identical deals. This is a great day for the Minnesota Wild, which has an excellent fan base and atmosphere for hockey. This is a team that has never really succeeded, despite continuing support. They got off to a strong start last season and eventually faded away and out of playoff contention due to poor coaching. Thanks to these signings, though, they are going to be major factors in the Western Conference for many years to come. Throw Dany Heatley, Mikko Koivu, Niklas Backstrom, and to a lesser extent, Devin Setoguchi into the mix, and you have one of the strongest teams in the west.

Almost as important as the signings themselves are the effects that the deals will now have on other general managers who have waited for the proverbial shoe to drop in order to make signings or trades. One would suspect that Alex Semin will sign at some point today, because even with all the negative baggage he brings (part in parcel to analysts ripping him to shreds in recent days on television and Twitter; I guess that’s the fashionable thing to do now), he is still a guaranteed 20+ goal scorer without even trying, and if he were to buy int to a system that has solid leadership and a good core already, he could easily revert back to that 30-40 goal star forward we saw just a couple of seasons ago. My guess is that he signs with the Detroit Red Wings, or my original pick, the Columbus Blue Jackets once Rick Nash gets dealt, which I predict will happen within the next few hours. In NHL free agency, when it rains, it pours.

We also have to ask, what does this mean for the New Jersey Devils and Nashville Predators? For starters, if the Predators cannot lockup restricted free agent Shea Weber, who in my mind, deserves more money than Suter, than they might as well relocate the franchise somewhere else. These two defensemen were literally the heart and soul of the team, and with them gone, there would be no reason for people to bother showing up—as good as he is, Pekke Rinne does not sell tickets. For the New Jersey Devils, financial situation aside, the sky is not falling, as I still expect them to contend for the playoffs if Kovalchuk does not miss a significant amount of time due to injury. They may see a further drop in attendance, but all was not lost in the marketing department with the re-signing of Martin Brodeur. More to come later…

But despite his uneven performance over his seven seasons in Washington and his worse reputation around the NHL – Marc Crawford called him “a complete loser” with “no character” and fellow former coach Pierre McGuire called him “the ultimate coach killer” — the moody 28-year-old Russian figures to be one of the most sought-after free agents along with New Jersey Devils winger Zach Parise (one All-Star selection) and Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Suter (one All-Star selection). That’s because he has averaged 31 goals since returning to the Caps from his native land in 2006-07.

I’ll give Semin a mulligan for not trying to learn or speak English during his North American debut in 2003-04 when he was a 19-year-old rookie living in a totally foreign environment. But reporters had better luck talking to Alex Ovechkin when the future MVP was an 18-year-old No. 1 overall draft pick hopeful in June 2004 than with Semin this season, his seventh in Washington.

And then there’s Semin’s production, or lack of it, when the games mattered most. “Sasha” scored seven goals and 12 points in 30 playoff games the past three years. Enough said.

With Semin expected to depart Washington for good despite last week’s replacement of defense-first coach Dale Hunter with the more offensive-minded Adam Oates, there’s not much housekeeping for Caps general manager George McPhee to do.

Veteran forwards Mike Knuble and Jeff Halpern were told long ago that they wouldn’t be back while goalie Tomas Vokoun was shipped to the Pittsburgh Penguins and defenseman Dennis Wideman to the Calgary Flames. Forward Keith AuCoin, 33, who played well after being called up from the minors, might return.

Defensemen John Carlson and Mike Green and forwards Jay Beagle and Matthieu Perrault were all given qualifying offers as restricted free agents so all will be back in Washington for at least one more season.

Last year, McPhee signed Halpern, winger Joel Ward and defenseman Roman Hamrlik on the first day of free agency while trading goalie Semyon Varlamov to the Colorado Avalanche for first- and second-round picks in last month’s draft. But the Caps really haven’t been major players in free agency so that their only move yesterday was signing 28-year-old bottom six forward Joey Grabb from Toronto wasn’t that surprising. The only free agents on the roster besides Ward and Hamrlik are the equally non-elite John Erskine, Matt Hendricks, Tom Poti and Mattias Sjogren.

That his largely homegrown roster is pretty set is great news for McPhee considering that 40-year-old Jaromir Jagr – whose disappointing tenure in Washington was critical in setting the franchise back for years — is considered one of the top forwards available in free agency.

If winger P.A. Parenteau (who jumped from the New York Islanders to the Avs yesterday) and Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Matt Carle are considered in some circles the best free agents beyond Suter, Parise and Semin, you know how the group is as thin as, well, Semin’s production in the clutch.

So unless Parise chooses to reunite with Oates, whom he credits for helping him and the rest of the Devils as an assistant coach the past two years, don’t expect any free agent the Caps sign to really affect their lineup in a big way.

David Elfin began writing about sports when he was a junior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. He is Washington’s representative on the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee and the author of seven books, most recently, “Washington Redskins: The Complete Illustrated History.” A pre-game regular on 106.7-The Fan the last two Redskins seasons, he has been its columnist since last March. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidElfin

The Rangers are at a critical point at the start of free agency. If they do nothing and stick with their roster as currently constituted, they figure to have another solid year that will get them to the second or third round of the playoffs.

They will not win the Stanley Cup. They almost certainly won’t get past the Eastern Conference Finals. They might not even get that far.

The Rangers need to become a more explosive team. They need more goal scoring and they can’t continue to depend on solely on the ability of their players to block shots and Vezina Trophy winner Henrik Lundqvist in goal.

If the Rangers don’t make moves, they probably won’t be as good as they were this past season. They face some free-agent losses of their own, including winger Brandon Prust. General manager Glen Sather knows that Prust will likely cost too much to keep him in the fold for his 12 minutes of action per game.

The Rangers have to be concerned with beefing up their offense by adding a front-line player. They signed Brad Richards last year and they have to look at the top options this year. Sather has been trying to work a reasonable deal with Columbus for Rick Nash, but the bumbling Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson has his hackles up.

Instead of trying to work out a deal that will help his team rebuild efficiently and smartly, Howson is interested in showing the hockey world that he’s not going to be taken advantage of by any New York general manager.

Sather is doing the prudent thing by not gutting his roster for a chance to get Nash. The other trade possibility is Cherry Hill, New Jersey native Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks. While Anaheim general manager Bob Murray is more reasonable than Howson, he’s certainly not going to give a four-time 30-goal scorer away.

The best way to find a scorer is through free agency because the Rangers won’t have to give away any core members of their team to make a deal. Zach Parise of the Devils seemingly dismissed the Rangers when he said he didn’t want to play in New York a day or two after the Kings beat New Jersey in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Parise was fully emotional at that point. Emotions will never be completely divorced from the situation, but July 1st is all about business. If Parise has softened his stance even a bit, Sather will make a move to join the Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings and the Minnesota Wild as Parise’s primary suitors. The Kings may also get involved as well. Parise would turn the Rangers from solid team to Stanley Cup favorites.

When it comes to making a free-agent splash, Sather has shown that he is unafraid to make a big deal. The Richards deal last season shows he knows how to blow away the field.

If he can’t turn Parise around, Sather needs to look at Alex Semin of the Capitals, P.A. Parenteau of the Islanders, Shane Doan and Ray Whitney of the Coyotes and Jiri Hudler of the Red Wings. They are all offensive players who can give the Rangers separation on the scoreboard.

Semin has been unhappy for the last year or so in Washington as the Capitals look for an identity. Would New York be an ideal spot for him given John Tortorella’s demands for defensive responsibilities? Maybe not, but when Semin is allowed to free wheel, he has a vicious and accurate shot. He scored 40 goals in 2009-10 and he could do it again.

Parenteau, a former Ranger, has never reached the 40-goal mark, but in his two years with the Islanders he has proven to be a power play sniper. He scored nine power play goals in 2010-11 and added six more last year. He has a quick release and knows how to find the dead spots in the defense to score with the man advantage.

Whitney, 40, does not have a lot of time left but he is a sniper. That’s just what the Rangers need. He’s smart and dangerous. Doan seems more likely to stay in the Western Conference, but he is a dynamic all-around player who can score and also play the physical game. He will remind you of Brendan Shanahan when you see him on an every night basis.

Hudler could turn out to be an X-factor. He is a 5-9, 178-pound keg of dynamite who uses his speed and quickness to create highlight-film plays. Hudler, 28, is in the prime of his career and he scored 25 goals and 25 assists with the Detroit last year. He’s the kind of player who can create instant offense with his quickness and create a scoring opportunity when his team is in an offensive funk.

Sather can’t just sit tight. He has to make a move and give the offense more firepower. It’s 18 years and counting and there’s no reason to wait around.

Rangers fans, who do you want Sather to sign in the off-season? Be heard in the comments below…

Over the course of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons, Boyes played in all 164 games and totaled 76 goals and 62 assists (a 0.84 PPG average).   However, in the 3 seasons since then, Boyes has totaled just 38 goals and 91 assists in 210 games (a 0.61 PPG average).  Boyes was particularly mediocre this season in Buffalo when he totaled 8 goals and 15 assists in 65 games.  So why should the Caps take a look at Boyes?

At 29, Boyes is unlikely to again reach the numbers of 4 years ago, but he is plenty young enough to still be a productive player when put in the right situation.  Last season, Boyes played just 13:10 per game and spent time on the Sabres 4th line.  While some may see a player whose production has fallen off a cliff, I see a player with a lot to prove who could be had on a cheap one year deal.  He likely will be signed to a low-risk/potential high value type deal.  Another positive is that Boyes, while primarily a winger, can play center when called upon.

There are reasons to hesitate signing Boyes and there are certainly valid concerns that his days as a top-6 forward are behind him.  However, in a day and age when many free agent contracts get bloated to regrettable levels, taking a flyer on Boyes, if he is under the radar, may be worth the risk for the Caps.

Zach Parise – LW – Age: 27 – 11-12 team: New Jersey – 11-12 Cap Hit: $6,000,000

Together with Ryan Suter, Parise forms the crown jewels of the 2012 UFA class. There are reports that he is attempting to work out a deal with the Devils, but I think he is smart enough to see what the other 29 teams may have to offer. An elite talent, Parise is going to command at least 47.5M on an annual basis with his new contract and may even break the $8M barrier. If the Sabres are to make an honest run at him, Tyler Ennis and Pat Kaleta will need to accept their qualifying offers and not reach for a more lucrative extension. Buffalo’s cap situation may prohibit them from chasing Parise, but he is the type of talent that will instantly make his new team better.

Alexander Semin – RW – Age: 28 – 11-12 team: Washington – 11-12 Cap Hit: $6,700,000

A mercurial talent, Semin could possibly be the most talented player in the league if he gave a full effort each night. However, there are more reports of his shortcomings than his successes. Semin will likely get an offer from a team looking for a shot in the arm in terms of goal scoring. Some have pegged the Sabres as a suitor but I fear that some of his more “typical Russian” characteristics wouldn’t work well under Lindy Ruff, in the Sabres room and alongside their newest toy, Mikhail Grigorenko.

Shane Doan – RW – Age: 35 – 11-12 team: Phoenix – 11-12 Cap Hit: $4,550,000

When the news broke the Shane Doan would indeed be testing the free agent market, things got a bit more interesting for teams looking to find the ever so valuable intangibles. Depending on where he signs, Doan will round out a top six or provide an above-average solution on a team’s third line. Since he plays such a great two-way game, there will be plenty of teams knocking down his door. Based on what he brings to the table, I’d almost be more interested in the Sabres taking a stab at him instead of Parise. The Sabres could use more help on the right side and a $5M hit is more manageable than a $8M hit.

Guillamme Latandresse – LW – Age: 25 – 11-12 team: Minnesota – 11-12 Cap Hit: $2,500,000

Latandresse’s injury concerns are probably why he didn’t get a qualifying offer from Minnesota. He is probably going to command at least $3M, if not more. An unexpected addition to the UFA crop, Latandresse will draw plenty of interest in a thin market. I like the idea of Latandresse if he is paired with the right center. However, his recent injury history may scare some teams off. If he was a right winger I would think the Sabres would have some interest.

PA Parenteau – RW – Age: 29 – 11-12 team: New York Islanders – 11-12 Cap Hit: $1,250,000

Parenteau is testing the market after a successful year on Long Island. I wonder how he will adapt to a high salary and additional attention on the ice. Personally, I don’t know how much more than $2,500,000 I would offer him. Buffalo could be in the running for Parenteau as a second option, but I fear he could be the Ville Leino of the 2012 class.

Ray Whitney – LW/RW – Age: 40 – 11-12 team: Phoenix – 11-12 Cap Hit: $3,000,000

If Whitney wasn’t 40 I would have him higher on this list. I also doubt if he will think to leave Phoenix as he has found a great situation in the desert. With his age working against him, Whitney probably won’t get many huge offers on the market, but he does fill a great second line scoring role. He is a right handed shot but plays the off wing, which gives him some versatility. If he didn’t hate Buffalo, maybe the Sabres make a run to add a bit more scoring depth.

Dustin Penner – LW – Age: 29 – 11-12 team: Los Angeles – 11-2 Cap Hit: $4,250,000

Here is a player who will probably be able to leverage his playoff performance into a similarly lucrative contract as the one he is leaving behind. Without a Cup ring, I’d imagine that Penner would be looking at a contract in the $2M neighborhood. He is still a big body who can score with the right linemates, he will garner plenty of interest.

Jaromir Jagr – RW – Age: 40 – 11-12 team: Philadelphia – 11-12 Cap Hit: $3,300,000

My money is on Jagr staying in Philly. However, as the days creep closer to July 1, the Red Wings and Penguins could potentially come calling. I’m not sure who else would have any sort of interest in Jagr, who had a very respectable campaign for the Flyers in 2011-12.

Peter Mueller – RW – Age: 24 – 11-12 team: Colorado – 11-12 Cap Hit: $2,000,000

Just like Latandresse, Mueller will likely be followed by his injury history when any offer is pushed his way. However, is his situation continues to improve – as it did in 2011-12 – he could be a steal at a low cap hit this summer. I see Mueller as a low-risk signing around the $2M he made last year. The Sabres could take a flyer on him to provide some skill and depth on the right side. If he doesn’t work out, store him in the AHL.

Jiri Hudler – LW – Age: 28 – 11-12 team: Detroit – 11-12 Cap Hit: $2,875,000

Hudler could be a nice add for the team that gets him. However, he doesn’t bring all that much upside to the table. He is a good two-way forward, but doesn’t necessarily have any attributes that would wow you. Some have put Buffalo among his suitors, but I question what he would contribute to the Sabres based on where he would fit.

Kristian Huselius – Age: 33 – 11-12 team: Columbus – 11-12 Cap Hit: $4,750,000

I don’t expect Huselius to leave Columbus. I think he has a good situation there and can still be counted on to aid in the overall rebuild of that team. His cap hit might decrease going into next year, but that is about all to expect.

Brandon Prust – RW – Age: 28 – 11-12 team: New York Rangers – 11-12 Cap Hit: $800,000

Based on his previous salary, Prust may end up receiving the biggest raise from a percentage standpoint. Prust is someone high on my list if he isn’t asking for any more than $1.5M. I fear that his success in New York may inflate his asking price. At the end of the day he plays with jam, can kill penalties and will give you a few points now and then. He is someone who makes your team hard to play against. If Darcy Regier can get him at an affordable rate, I’d jump at the opportunity.

Jamie Langenbrunner – RW – Age: 36 – 11-12 team: St. Louis – 11-12 Cap Hit: $2,750,000

Anyone taking a run at Langenbrunner will be doing it for their penalty kill and his intangibles. He will wear a letter no matter where he signs but probably won’t be worth more than 10-15 goals. Expect him to be back in St. Louis next year. From the Sabres’ standpoint, anything over $2.5M for a third or fourth line guy is a little steep, but he could add a lot of maturity to the locker room.

Ruslan Fedotenko – LW – Age: 33 – 11-12 team: New York Rangers – 11-12 Cap Hit: $1,400,000

Fedotenko is an affordable, experienced winger who can still score at a pretty solid rate. His previous Stanley Cup accomplishments seem to follow him to this day, which is a good thing for him. He has filled a solid role for the Rangers and can provide a two-way punch for the middle of a lineup.

Lee Stempniak – RW – Age: 29 – 11-12 team: Calgary – 11-12 Cap Hit: $1,900,000

Basically the same version of Mueller, just a few years older and without the concussion; Stempniak could give a team a few more goals for their second or third line. I could see the Sabres kicking the tires and playing him on the third line next season. Stempniak is still young and is good for 15-20 goals a year. I like him for some depth scoring on the right side.

Others to watch:

Steve Sullivan (PIT, $1,500,000), Travis Moen (MTL, $1,500,000), Ryan Smyth (EDM, $6,250,000), Jordin Tootoo (NAS, $1,250,000), Daniel Winnik (COL$950,000)