Jay Bouwmeester has to be a pretty happy guy right now.
True, the 25-year-old defenceman did not get traded to a Stanley Cup contender on Wednesday. For now, he remains a member of the Florida Panthers.
But Bouwmeester can fall asleep each night with the knowledge he will get filthy rich on July 1, if he does not re-sign with Florida before then, when free agency opens. Bouwmeester is a cornerstone and should get at least $6.5 million US a season on a long-term deal.
"It's good to put everything behind you and just focus on hockey, which is what I was doing," Bouwmeester said after the trade deadline passed without a phone call from Panthers general manager Jacques Martin. "I kind of knew, had a feeling, that nothing was going to happen."
Bouwmeester didn't have to pull up stakes and can keep concentrating on helping the Panthers, a good surprise this season under new coach Peter DeBoer, try to make the playoffs for the first time since 2000. Entering play last night, the Panthers had 74 points and were in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, three points up on the eighth-place Buffalo Sabres.
It would have been hard, if not impossible, for Martin to make a deal that would have made the Panthers instantly better. And there's the rub -- a package for the future would have been great for the Panthers, but the future is not a huge concern. In a market where they aren't much more popular than Chris Brown would be at a Rihanna family reunion, the Panthers have to make playoff noise this spring.
Martin said he won't try to go back to Bouwmeester with contract extension talks until after the season because "that only makes sense."
Keeping Bouwmeester might make more sense than initially thought.
Tim's deal not tiny
Speaking of happy guys, the Sabres' Tim Connolly must be wondering if one of the concussions he has suffered in the past is messing with his head.
The Sabres aren't in the business of throwing money around, but GM Darcy Regier backed up a truck to the centre's doorstep, loaded with $9 million for the next two years.
When healthy, Connolly is a talented player. But good health and Connolly go together like Sean Avery and the Dallas Stars. In a three-year deal that paid him $8.7 million, Connolly has played just 34% (80 of 228) of the games because of injuries. Had Connolly not re-signed with Buffalo on Wednesday -- for that money, who wouldn't? -- the Sabres were working on a deal to ship him to the Chicago Blackhawks for defenceman James Wisniewski. And Connolly would have been bound for free agency on July 1. Although GMs love to overspend on July 1, Connolly had to know he wouldn't be offered $4.5 million a season on the open market.
Connolly was the fifth choice overall by the New York Islanders in 1999, but he never has had more than 55 points in one season.
"The team has always been there to support me," Connolly said. "We've put (injuries) behind us, and moving forward on the ice I'm feeling as good as I ever have."
Connolly's health is not a concern for Regier.
"We expect him to be healthy," Regier said. "For us, it's better than a trade."
Hard-ing times for Josh
When the Minnesota Wild drafted Josh Harding in the second round of the 2002 entry draft, it undoubtedly thought it had its goalie of the future.
Well, the Wild partially was right. In Harding, it has a goalie of the future, but not its own. Three years ago, Niklas Backstrom was making about $250,000 playing in Finland. Signed as a free agent by Minnesota in 2006, Backstrom has been excellent in his brief time in the NHL, and this week signed a four-year contract. Where does that leave Harding, who has been a solid backup but should develop into a starter long before Backstrom's contract is done?
"I don't even know what to think," Harding said. "It's up to management. Does a backup quarterback want to be a starter? Of course, he does. I know there's a period where you've got to learn a lot and be a backup. But I want to be a starter."
Wild GM Doug Risebrough does not plan to trade Harding, but knows he has a good asset on his hands. The class of goalies destined for free agency on July 1 is not chock-full of game-savers.
Ice chips
The Colorado Avalanche never has finished a season with less than 39 wins since landing in Denver as the re-incarnated Quebec Nordiques in 1995, but that likely will change. The Avs have won 28 games and are in last place in the Western Conference. GM Francois Giguere could be on shaky ground at season's end. The goaltending is a mess, he let Andrew Brunette walk as a free agent last summer after three solid years and badly overpaid Darcy Tucker ... When Don Cherry was busy ripping Alexander Ovechkin last Saturday, he managed to take a few shots at Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland, who supposedly has built a team that's not tough enough. At last count, Holland and the Wings had won four Cups in 11 seasons; Cherry tried to go the tough route with the OHL's Mississauga IceDogs 10 years ago, and it became obvious awfully fast to anyone who knew one end of a hockey stick from the other that Cherry was in over his head ... The Pittsburgh Penguins want to re-sign Petr Sykora, but they would prefer a two-year deal. Sykora wants three years and $10 million.
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