Selanne Signs with Anaheim for the rest of the season

[azkingfan]

To me this signing is no different than if the Ducks decided to sign Jason Allison instead of Teemu. He's a UFA people. It's pretty black and white to me.

[Byatch1979]

Originally Posted by OrangePuck

it's incredibly simple really and I'm shocked that people can't rinse the sand out of their vaginas long enough to figure it out.

I understand being upset about Niedermayer to a degree because he was under contract. If a contract is signed I can respect someone feeling that a player should honor the terms of the contract that was signed. However, I stop at the point where some of you think that this was some sort of handshake agreement between Burke and Niedermayer. Why? Well, as far as Niedermayer is concerned this little respite cost him a good $3mil or so in personal income. As far as the team is concerned THEY LOST ANDY McDONALD. Surely if this was planned from the start I doubt that Burke signs Bertuzzi or Schneider because he would have had the foresight to know that it would cause him to lose a player form his roster once Scott Nidermayer came back.

As for Selanne he was an UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT. This means that he is available for any of the 30 teams that he chooses to play for. He has a right to earn a living and a right to earn that living where he wants to earn it. For those of you that think that he should go through waivers...you're idiots...he's an UFA. For those of you that think that there should be a cut off date early in the season what about a player that retires due a late season injury that doens't heal until November? What if that player decided he can still go another year? Will he be denied a chance to return to the team he was contracted to or to sign with a team if he is an UFA?

The only hard line rule that the league can implement is a rule against allowing a player under Niedermayer's situation to return after a certain cut off date early in the season. So, if you are under contract, healthy and fail to report to camp then you can implement a cutoff date early in the season.

If you want a rule to keep a person from doing what Selanne did then you are requiring the league to shut the door prematurely on some players who don't know if they can play. It could be due to medical reasons (Forsberg) or personal reasons. UFA's should have a significant amount of slack in this regard.

Also, I think a lot of you are ****ing hyocrites and I will tell you why. Several King fans were very complimentary of the San Jose organization because they had a video tribute for Luc Robitaille on the final game of the season a couple of years back. Also, a lot of King fans were complimentary of the fans for being classy and acknowledging Robitaille with a standing ovation. However, now that the shoe is on the other foot these same grateful King fans can't extend the same graciousness and respect for a first ballot hall of famer because he plays for the Ducks. It's ****ing ridicuouls.

I'm sure that I'll get several responses saying simple minded **** like "Well, Luc never took half a season off" or "Luc wasn't a diver" Boo-****ing-hoo....anyone that comes back with that can suck my hairy nut purse and toss my smelly salad. If you can't see what San Jose did for Luc and pay that forward then you can just go **** off.

I see what you're saying, and your completely right; if the shoe was on the other foot and the Kings pulled a move like this, everybody would be dancing their own jig. The only thing that bothers me about this is Brian Burke. Why? Cause he always carries himself like his ***** don't stink, and you know this to be true. Hopefully next time some one gets creative with the CBA, Burke develops some class and shuts his pie hole. I mean, who is this guy kidding? He's not above utilizing any legal tactic to give his team a better opportunity to win. God the Ducks are easy to hate. With that said King's fans, don't pull a Burke criticize others for something you'd do given half the chance.

[lvforalice]

to ORANGEPUCK thank you for answering my question.

[OrangePuck]

Originally Posted by lvforalice

to ORANGEPUCK thank you for answering my question.

no problemo

[Defgarden]

I don't really have much of a problem with Teemu coming back at all. He's a UFA, no strings attached, and the Ducks had the privilege of knowing he would only sign there, and for far less money than he was probably worth on the open FA market.

The only problem I and many others have with this is the convenient timing (let's face it, he's a well rested ringer). The bigger problem is with Neidermayer (also well rested, and even comes with 2 million in cap space shaved off!).

I don't really fault either player for their feelings and conflicting desires, nor for their eventual decisions, though I don't think Scott should have been given such a long time to decide by the league. Scott was willing to sacrifice 2 million dollars to take an extended break, and I don't honestly believe that either player participated in some sort of orchestrated scheme to return over midway through the season to save the team some cap space, though the pieces do fit.

I also can't really fault Burke for doing what he felt was necessary. Pressuring Neidermayer and Selanne probably would have pushed them away towards retirement. But, really though. When you take a step back and look at it, it really does "feel" as if it was a big scheme, and the eventual outcome and timing of these two players returns lends itself to that. It does seem somewhat underhanded and unfair in regards to the true spirit of sportsmanship.

All that said, I still hope the Ducks choke and die in the first round.

[d dub]

In theory the Ducks are a force, and if they get things together they should be awesome, but the PK is not what it was last year. Carolina is the only team in the league that has allowed more power play goals against & the Ducks are 5 goals against from matching last years total. If they don't get Pahlssun back at 100% & able to carry that first unit, they won't make it out of the West. And if you don't believe me I'd like to introduce you to the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres. League's best 5 on 5 team that had a penalty kill hovering around 20th all season & against Ottawa it killed them since ottawa was the only team that could match them 5 on 5.

For a team that leads the league in penalty box parades, the Ducks are pretty damn thin on quality penalty killing forwards. Why do you think the non penalty killing McDonald was moved instead of the very solid PKer Marchant?