[Philly06Cup]

My thoughts on contracts:

Hartnell: 4.75M, 6 more years: Fan favorite, good character, grit. Term is horrible. Will be a good contract for maybe 2 more years, then I'll hate it.
Vinny: 4.5M, 5 more years: Okay value for the next 2 years. then I'll hate it.
Giroux: 3.75M, 1 year left: Steal. He is in the realm of Toews, Datsyuk, Staal.
Schenn, Schenn, Coturier, Read, Simmonds, Voracek: A great young core here. Coturier is so underrated: he's 20, and being groomed as a shutdown centre. But he also has great hands/skill: he'll break out a 70pt season soon.

Timonen: 6M, 1 year left. Over the hill, gotten pretty weak on the back end, but still a great offensive contributor.
Streit: 5.25M, 4 years left. Good value for the next 2 years.
Coburn: 4.5M, 3 years left. Seriously reminds me of Regher in his prime, with slightly better puck skills.
Grossman: 3.5M, 3 years left. Like a Coburn-lite.
Meszaros: 4M, 1 year left. Injuries did to him what they did to Gagne. Hope he can have a rebound season. He was such a complete defenseman in Ottawa: hits, shoots, blocks shots: now he does none of that.

Mason: I hope they sign a 2nd goalie and have a decent tandem.


The team is built to win now. There are some horrible 'win-now' contracts and too many long-term contracts, but they have money to buy out players, and also a great young core signed to good contracts.