Isles Ready For Smyth Bidding War
May 25th, 2007 by murph
A little bit of Isles news/rumors from Greg Logan’s On the Islanders Beat blog.
Negotiations between Islanders general manager Garth Snow and the agent for left wing Ryan Smyth should begin in another week or two, but it will rank as a major upset if the Isles sign Smyth before he has a chance to sample the NHL free-agent market on July 1.
That doesn’t mean the Islanders are out of the running for Smyth. Far from it. It just means they are likely to have a lot of competition.
Meehan’s answer seemed to suggest it’s unlikely Smyth will sign until he has heard all the offers. Unless he fell in love with the Islanders in his brief stay lasting 18 regular-season games and a first-round playoff loss, it would make business sense for Smyth to see what all his options are on July 1. Most likely, he could count on serious offers from upwards of a dozen teams.
But who knows? As much as Snow, coach Ted Nolan and owner Charles Wang want Smyth, maybe their offer still will be the best in the end. Since it doesn’t appear the Islanders are going to sign 40-goal scorer Jason Blake, Smyth is the main object of their desire. If it appears he’s going elsewhere, they likely would go hard after Buffalo center Chris Drury along with the rest of the NHL.
Smyth testing the market isn’t much of a surprise. Wang’s going to have to dig deep to keep him here. However if Drury is the backup plan, I’m all for that idea too!
Patrick Says
Smyth doesn’t want to be here so I say let him go. The guy’s heart is in Canada.
May 27th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Paul Says
Who says Smyth doesn’t want to be here?! I would not be surprised if the Isles sign him. What amazes me however, is that Snow and Wang appear to be keeping Yashin on the team.
May 28th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Kronis Says
Yashin will never be worth the $7 mil or so on each of the remaining years of his contract, but if he plays as well as he did this past season before he got injured this coming season, it’s worth keeping him around as opposed to the buyout. The NYI have the cap space for Yashin, Blake, and Smyth.
Why does the article mention that “it doesn’t appear the Islanders will sign 40 goal scorer Jason Blake”? I figured it was a no-brainer.
May 29th, 2007 at 4:31 am
fauxrumors Says
1) Yashin is worse than the sum of his parts. He deletion(buy-out) would do much more than add cap space to the team. Instantly their team morale would elevate.
2) We feel its no coincidence that the teams best streak all season took place when Yashin was OUT of the line up. he may be a nice gentleman off the ice, but he is a cancer and cap-albatross that needs to be jettisoned for the isles to be taken seriously as a playoff contender. perhaps Smyth sees this as well?
May 29th, 2007 at 10:23 am
fauxrumors Says
1) BTW, sorry to say Isles fans, but we can NOT see a situation where Smyth stays on the island.
2) Be sure, that if he isn’t an Islander on July 1st the chances are ZERO for them to sign him. Their best/only shot is to get him inked prior to July 1. Its about a 10% chance at best.
May 29th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Tom Says
i think smyth is outta here but i’d love to see drury in the orange and blue.
Jun 1st, 2007 at 10:39 am
Anthony Says
I watched Drury back during my days at BU when he won the hobey baker award, love to see him on the isles with fellow BU alumni Bates and DP - Bates and Drury played with each other in college so maybe he can have some influence there
Jun 6th, 2007 at 9:47 am