Tuesdays With Hildy: Should RFA Poaching Be Used More Often?

Rabbit season!

I’m not a huge fan of offer sheets, but I would like to have Mr. Ryan on the Blues.

Another guy that I would be interested in is Blake Wheeler. He has one year left on his entry level deal. He’s also big, he’s young, he’s skilled, and in his first two years he’s scored 21 and 18 goals. Not fantastic, but I’d definitely like to see the Blues add another guy who could pot 20-30 goals this year.

I don’t know much about him as a person, except that he fucked over the Coyotes, so I don’t know if he’d would really be a good fit. Also, the Blues have a lot of RFAs coming up already. But, the Bruins need to dump some salary and it looks like they will either move Wheeler or Savard, and guys with Wheeler’s size and skill don’t come along every day.

But they better lock up EJ/Perron first.

Now I know that EJ isnt able to sign offer sheets due to missing a year thanks to fucking golf carts(Fucking golf…I hate it) but imagine our anger if he were able to sign somewhere else and one of these teams waaaay under the cap threw an offer at him that was just obsurd….now we know we need to sign a couple more guys and we still need a scorer…..and theres the future to think of too……do you want to match a sheet that screws your cap up 2 or 3 years down the road??? I say no……Just work on keeping your own guys in house and then keep that cap room so that if another team trys to fuck us then we just give them the finger right back…with matching rights and another finger…..

Our management tends to take RFAs past July 1st (as they’re doing now) to take all the time in the world to evaluate contracts, plan ahead, and structure the salaries so the organization stays tight and payroll stays low. Next year is a red-letter offseason where the Blues need to sign a lot of RFAs, and if they happen to poach an RFA this year they won’t be able to use the “slow and steady pace” that built us a cheap team with young, skilled talent; instead, they’ll be racing against the clock and having to deal with surprise raises from teams that are willing to poach from a poacher (poachers poaching poachers). It’s worst case scenario, but it’s the fear that’s probably running through JD’s veins as his accountants crunch the contract numbers.

I don’t think the Blues are even interested in FAs and RFAs right now. This seems like the final test-year of the rebuild, where the weight is placed solely on the young players to step up their game as the top-lines, pairings, and starter positions. After this year, Brewer will be gone and Pietrangelo and Cole will be coming in, with Tarasenko possibly making a surprise visit to the NHL. The kids are going to have to grow up in time to welcome the rookies in next year, and to prove their worth when contract negotiations come around. I think if the Blues could’ve gotten Kovalchuk they would’ve, but as of now they’re sticking with what they’ve got to see if it’s worth as much as they think it is.

Management is throwing down the gauntlet with the youngsters, and free agents of any kind will only be added onto the Top 6 line-up if management thinks the team is good enough on its own to be worthy of risk-spending (and, of course, if we find new investors).

We have to many good guys that we could have snatched up in retaliation. There are still scorers in free agency (Frolov) and via trade (Gagne). I would hate to see someone come in and snatch up Oshie or Backes or something like that. There is just to much at risk, so I say stay away from it. Although I do still have to laugh at the Hawks. They will be in cap hell for for a LONG time. :-D.

which is why I voted Yes. Other teams are going to do it at The Note’s expense if their cap situation turns into Beirut-like crazy form (See Blackhawks, Chicago). So if you see an opportunity to sign a guy that can improve your club at a slightly-over-valued amount and it forces another team to sweat out a decision, so be it. It’s business.

Now usually you’re only going to do this if you don’t see a way you’re going to be dealing with them in the future . . . this is why I liked what the Sharks did with Hjalmarsson because, let’s face it, those two teams are NOT going to be trading pieces back and forth at any point. They’re rivals now.

So . . . yeah. Poach away. Improve your team. Piss someone off? Oh fucking well. This is hockey, not tiddlywinks.

as a pacsifist everything i know about organized war i learned from risk. i think those who believe this is an inaccurate way to llearn executive warfare just suck at risk.

hmmm read and study “the art or war”, \go to west point or play a board game for money and pretty much pick up the exact same knowlege? quick someone hand me 5 dice!

on this rfa topic i am in a bid draft baseball league and have been forever. I think hayes was president during our first draft and rutherford (or ruthy as we called him) threw out tommy bond at 3 cents. those who have never done a bid draft but love roto sports are like people who think they know what tuna taste like but refuse to try “sushi” . every freaking bid draft is different and the throw out and bid strategies involve “poaching”

it is to this end i will try to speak. poaching is baiscally what you really try to do. what how you do it falls into a few categories

1) make your enemy spend his limited resources while maintaining you own financial flexibility

2) assuring salary normalcy by refusing to let players you are mostly uninterested in go for well under their market value

3) never assume that in pushing your oponnents money buttons you wont get stuck with the player and his bill

4) anytime another owner thinks he knows how you like, how instantly develope a dislike for that plauyer. screw loyalty, this is war. give me my 5 dice and let someone else get price fielder this season.

so in this sense, i think the whole rfa thing is a farce. the deal is not to get the player you bid on, the system is designed so that you don’t get the person you place a rational bid on. the system is there to tick off the other team and make their owner fire one of his illegal groundskeepers or perhaps give up that monek shit coffee for something slightly less exotic for a month.

Was not what the Sharks really wanted . Yes they went after him because they knew the Hawks would match it and it would put the Hawks back in Cap hell .

What they are really counting on is Neimi getting a big reward from arbitration say 4 /5 Million the Hawks will not be able to do it and down swoop the Sharks to steal him away .

The Sharks then sit pretty with Nitti and Neimi in goal and they get revenge on the Hawks for beating them out of a trip to the finals . Plus hurt the Hawks chances for next year .

Pure EVIL you have to love it