Schneider still on Murray's radar

I have been led to believe that Schneider is still totally on Murray's radar and to not be surprised if he lands the veteran defenceman. That is a major reason as to why nothing has happened with Meszaros, as Murray will need to sign him under $2 million.

There are many things holding the Schneider move up. Niedermeyer, Selanne, Sundin are all obstacles in what happens here.

I'd definitely love to see that happen. Even if Mesz sits out we'd be in pretty good shape with Schneider on the back end. Great scoop Jam, and I'm glad to hear he's still on the radar.

I think Schneider would be a great acquisition, regardless of whether Mezie sits or not; I just wish this whole thing with Mez would end.

The problem is Mesz would need to accept a really lowball offer in order to fit Schneider under the cap. Even if we move Neil or McAmmond out.

Would Mesz accept a contract for under 2M even for one season?

jamvan wrote:I have been led to believe that Schneider is still totally on Murray's radar and to not be surprised if he lands the veteran defenceman. That is a major reason as to why nothing has happened with Meszaros, as Murray will need to sign him under $2 million.

There are many things holding the Schneider move up. Niedermeyer, Selanne, Sundin are all obstacles in what happens here.

Meszaros signing for under $2 mil? No chance on that. I'd be surprising and impressed with Murray, in fact, if he can get him to sign for less than $3 mil a year.

We've been over this point a few times now. To make room for Schneider and his $5.625 mil contract, we'd HAVE to move a biggish contract (in the $2-3 mil range): Kelly, Volchenkov, Smith, or Vermette. There's no other way, unless we wanted to move someone with an even bigger contract. Moving small-time contracts in the $1 mil or less range (Neil, McAmmond, Donovan, etc.) would not be enough because the guys we'd have to call up from the minors to replace those outgoing players would cost almost if not just as much as them. Trust me on this one. I crunched the numbers extensively on this, reviewing the best case scenario, over at KLee's site -- http://www.hockeybuzz.com/boards/thread.php?thread_id=45317&page=27 (about the middle of the page). It won't work financially if we don't move one of those 4 players, or someone with an even higher salary; and moving one of the 4 players a 39-year-old on a 1-yr deal, from my perspective at least, doesn't make a lot of sense hockey-wise.

I hate to keep stomping on this Schneider dream because I would be thrilled to have him on our offensively-challenged backend, but it's really a red herring at the moment. He's a viable option if Meszaros sits, but otherwise we can't afford him without making a move that I think we'd all regret in the long run.

rooneypoo,

I think the point is that if he picks up Schneider (He's only on Murray's radar) that it most likely means Mesz either sits or sucks it up and takes the lowball offer. I know you think it's highly improbable that Mesz would sign such a lowball contract but those are the only two options I see if Murray does indeed sign Schneider.

Cap'n' Clutch wrote:rooneypoo,

I think the point is that if he picks up Schneider (He's only on Murray's radar) that it most likely means Mesz either sits or sucks it up and takes the lowball offer. I know you think it's highly improbable that Mesz would sign such a lowball contract but those are the only two options I see if Murray does indeed sign Schneider.

I think any GM with any sense still has Schneider on their radar, no? I'm mean, he's a great Dman -- certainly the best available at the moment -- and it'd be silly to not even consider him.

The lowball offer is a possibility, I grant, but it would be a huge mistake. Insult the guy or try to strong-arm him like that and you pretty much guarantee he leaves the orginzation the second he hits UFA. It's just not a good idea, I think, to treat your players, especially your young, potential-filled players, like crap.

I just don't see Schneider in our future if Mesz plays, for a variety of reasons.

Anyway, ANA might have to move more than just Schneider, btw. Here's a good article on this: http://my.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?user_id=5608&post_id=5989.
Basically, the idea is that ANA actually has an internal cap of about $50-53 mil and because they sit at $59.9 mil at the moment, and will in all probablity want to add Selanne to the mix, they'll have to move something like $8-9 mil in salary in the coming weeks. Speculation seems to be swirling around Marchant (primarily) or Kunitz (long shot). Marchant wouldn't net them much in return; Kunitz would. There's a guy (Kunitz) who would fit nicely in our top 6, no?

Incidentally: what a mess Burke has made of things with that team! He lost Dustin Penner because he was improvident, he was forced to trade Andy McDonald for a one-year renter in Weight because of cap considerations, he signed, overpaid for, and then bought out Bertuzzi, and now he'll lose Schneider+ to the cap. For a guy who's supposed to be the be-all and end-all of GMs, he certainly seems to get his team in a lot tight spots and make a lot of bad decisions. I hope he is going to TO!

I agree! Burke has never truly impressed me; considering,as you said, what he has done with that stacked Anaheim team he inherited from Murray!

I would LOVE to have Kunitz, but as you said, it's a long shot, but there's no denying that Burke has some SERIOUS wheelin' and Dealin' to do in order to get his team cap-friendly and ready to go. Great article by the way, thanks for the link.

I just had a thought. If it's a foregone conclusion that Mezie has NO intention of bolting to Russia, then really unless a team comes out of nowhere and submits an offer sheet, his only options are to sign or sit out. Knowing this, if Murray has a back-up or plan or 2 in place to snag a D man to replace Mezie should he sit (Beauchemin or Schneider, for instance) then since this has been going on and on, I really don't care one way or the other if he sits or cracks and signs for whatever the amount. Of course, this is all banking on Murray making not just a stop-gap solution, but acquiring a solid D man to replace Mezie.

Sitting in line for coffee this morning someone asked me why are all the fans in Ottawa looking for another puck moving defeseman? If they sign Mesz, and we all belive he'll be in camp, then the other PMD (puck moving d-man) in my opinion is Brendan Bell.

I watched him play a lot when he played in Ottawa for the 67's and the few time the Leaf brass had the balls to bring him up and play him he didn't look out of place.

Couple that with the fact that he's been working out like a beast with Tony Greco, and trust me if anyone will have him ready it's Tony, I speak from experience. I think he's the answer to everyone's prayers. In fact I'm going way way out on a limb and stating that with his Skill, Tony's training, and Hartsburgh's coaching Bell will emerge as the best off season signing by Murray this summer.

rooneypoo wrote:
Incidentally: what a mess Burke has made of things with that team! He lost Dustin Penner because he was improvident, he was forced to trade Andy McDonald for a one-year renter in Weight because of cap considerations, he signed, overpaid for, and then bought out Bertuzzi, and now he'll lose Schneider+ to the cap. For a guy who's supposed to be the be-all and end-all of GMs, he certainly seems to get his team in a lot tight spots and make a lot of bad decisions. I hope he is going to TO!

I couldn't agree more. I've said for a long time now that Burke's claim to fame, as far as building Anahiem's concerned, is that he just happened to have Rob Neidermeyer on his team AND he used to have a good relationship with Kevin Lowe such that he was able to get Pronger. Other than that he didn't do a whole heck of a lot in terms of contributing to that teams Cup win.

Dawg's Wife wrote:Sitting in line for coffee this morning someone asked me why are all the fans in Ottawa looking for another puck moving defeseman? If they sign Mesz, and we all belive he'll be in camp, then the other PMD (puck moving d-man) in my opinion is Brendan Bell.

I watched him play a lot when he played in Ottawa for the 67's and the few time the Leaf brass had the balls to bring him up and play him he didn't look out of place.

Couple that with the fact that he's been working out like a beast with Tony Greco, and trust me if anyone will have him ready it's Tony, I speak from experience. I think he's the answer to everyone's prayers. In fact I'm going way way out on a limb and stating that with his Skill, Tony's training, and Hartsburgh's coaching Bell will emerge as the best off season signing by Murray this summer.

That would be a very nice surprise. I've been cautiously optimistic about this guy.

Cap'n' Clutch wrote:
That would be a very nice surprise. I've been cautiously optimistic about this guy.

Just so we're clear this is my opinion. I don't want my husband getting credit for something I've said. I write enough of his drivel on this site as it is.

Cronenbergfan wrote:I agree! Burke has never truly impressed me; considering,as you said, what he has done with that stacked Anaheim team he inherited from Murray!

I would LOVE to have Kunitz, but as you said, it's a long shot, but there's no denying that Burke has some SERIOUS wheelin' and Dealin' to do in order to get his team cap-friendly and ready to go. Great article by the way, thanks for the link.

I just had a thought. If it's a foregone conclusion that Mezie has NO intention of bolting to Russia, then really unless a team comes out of nowhere and submits an offer sheet, his only options are to sign or sit out. Knowing this, if Murray has a back-up or plan or 2 in place to snag a D man to replace Mezie should he sit (Beauchemin or Schneider, for instance) then since this has been going on and on, I really don't care one way or the other if he sits or cracks and signs for whatever the amount. Of course, this is all banking on Murray making not just a stop-gap solution, but acquiring a solid D man to replace Mezie.

I'd say it's all but guaranteed that Murray has a backup option for Mesz siting. I think they would be a) Schneider and b) Aucoin, for starters -- two guys widely speculated to be available because of the cap situations of their current teams.

I'm optimistic -- say, 80/20 -- that Mesz will sign, tho', sometime in the next 3-4 weeks. We need to remember that, as a RFA, his situation isn't all that uncommon, and that the most common solution to his situation is usually results in a contract settlement somewhere in the middle between what the player originally wanted ($4-4.5 mil?) and what the GM wanted to give him ($2.5-3 mil?). I wrote this elsewhere, but I'll go on the record and prognosticate a contract annoucement for Mesz in the next 3-4 weeks for

a) $3 mil / 1 yr,
b) $3.25 mil / 2 yrs, or
c) $3.5 mil / 3 yrs.

If Murray can save a few dollars or tack on an extra year for those amounts, super, but I expect the final deal will look something like one of those 3 options.

Dawg's Wife wrote:Sitting in line for coffee this morning someone asked me why are all the fans in Ottawa looking for another puck moving defeseman? If they sign Mesz, and we all belive he'll be in camp, then the other PMD (puck moving d-man) in my opinion is Brendan Bell.

I watched him play a lot when he played in Ottawa for the 67's and the few time the Leaf brass had the balls to bring him up and play him he didn't look out of place.

Couple that with the fact that he's been working out like a beast with Tony Greco, and trust me if anyone will have him ready it's Tony, I speak from experience. I think he's the answer to everyone's prayers. In fact I'm going way way out on a limb and stating that with his Skill, Tony's training, and Hartsburgh's coaching Bell will emerge as the best off season signing by Murray this summer.

I would love that, but as Clutch said, we're cautiously optimistic about him. I just think Schneider's the kind of guy that can mentor Lee and make him even better.

504Heater wrote:

Dawg's Wife wrote:Sitting in line for coffee this morning someone asked me why are all the fans in Ottawa looking for another puck moving defeseman? If they sign Mesz, and we all belive he'll be in camp, then the other PMD (puck moving d-man) in my opinion is Brendan Bell.

I watched him play a lot when he played in Ottawa for the 67's and the few time the Leaf brass had the balls to bring him up and play him he didn't look out of place.

Couple that with the fact that he's been working out like a beast with Tony Greco, and trust me if anyone will have him ready it's Tony, I speak from experience. I think he's the answer to everyone's prayers. In fact I'm going way way out on a limb and stating that with his Skill, Tony's training, and Hartsburgh's coaching Bell will emerge as the best off season signing by Murray this summer.

I would love that, but as Clutch said, we're cautiously optimistic about him. I just think Schneider's the kind of guy that can mentor Lee and make him even better.

good point, I really feel Lee will be something special. Give him a good role model to teach him the ropes and he can be amazing.