Time to Drink Some Kule-Ade

OOOOH YEAH! from familyguy.wikia.com

Today we finally got some Leafs news: Nikolai Kulemin was resigned to a two year $2.8 million/year deal.  This was effectively his last RFA deal and takes him to UFA at the conclusion.  From reading PPP comments on today's FTB it seems that most people are content with the deal.  It wasn't a "homerun" as one commenter put it, but it wasn't a bad deal either.

Kulemin was slated to go to team-elected arbitration soon and this deal stopped that process.  Many NHL fans will recognize that this is quite a common occurrence.  Nobody likes going to arbitration and teams and players often reach a deal beforehand.  In fact there were 7 other forwards headed to arbitration this summer who have come to an agreement with their team.  I have decided to compare Kulemin to them.  Follow me over the jump for the comparison.

Jonathan Bernier: Is His AHL Success Meaningful

Some guy likes putting players on NHL 11 covers

 So here is Bernier!  From http://theheadcrusher.picturepush.com

Last night Andi Petrillo of HNIC tweeted that the Leafs had made an offer for LA Kings goaltender Jonathan Bernier.  This led many Leafs fans at PPP upset and had them ranting about why he was a terrible goaltender.  To be as clear as possible, I do NOT think trading for Bernier is a good idea for the Leafs.  That being said, I think he is a lot better than a lot were giving him credit for.

People were arguing about his ES vs total save percentage, the value of his draft position, his position stuck behind Quick, his junior (CHL and WJC) production, etc.  But for this post I want to specifically look at his production in the AHL.  So follow along after the jump if that interests you.

7 Thoughts on Free Agency Thus Far

Image by draglikepull

When you follow a team that seems to hate the playoffs, you start to look particularly forward to certain times of the year: the trade deadline, the NHL Entry Draft, and of course the opening of NHL free agency.  A fair bit has happened around the league over the last 2 days so I thought I would provide my opinion on some of the activity.  In no particular order, here are 7 thoughts on Free Agency thus far: