PR - Misconducts

Misconducts Yet To Land Free Agent

Free agency for the Miami Misconducts has been much like a trip to the strip club . . .a lot of flirting, even some with high priced talent, yet at the end of evening you go home without what you came in looking for and with a lot less money than you had to start. The Misconducts have spent a lot of money bringing in free agents including Jason Smith three times and Jaromir Jagr once. However they have been unable to sign a single free agent. Jagr was thought to be the only free agent this team really covetted in the offseason. They viewed him as the perfect replacement for Petr Forsberg. But Jaromir Jagr quickly became out their price range when his asking price to sign went higher than 11 million. When efforts to sign Jagr went sour, the Misconducts turned their attention to suring up their defense and went hard after Jason Smith. But the same thing happened with Smith as did Jagr, he quickly became out the Misconducts price range. Rumors have it that the Misconducts are now looking at bringing back Craig Conroy who signed with the Misconducts this time last year. He has already two trips to South Beach and a third is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon sometime.

The New Face Of Miami

When the free agency market turned cold for Miami, GM Rob Maxwell had to get creative in his offseason moves. He said last month their goals of free agency where to add a solid dman or two and some much needed scoring up front. Since the draft he has reshaped much of this team. The first deal saw starting goalie Martin Brodeur traded for Chris Osgood and Radek Dvorak. Dvorak will be switched to RW during camp this year and looks like a good bet to end up playing on the second. Osgood on the other had was dealt to the Aces in exchange for D Aaron Rome and LW Perttu Lindgren. Also going back to the Aces in this deal where D Joonas Lehtivouri and the Misconducts 2nd round pick next year. Rome was acquired to play on the third line and the top power play unit. He appears to be just another one of those young dmen that GM Maxwell continues to stock pile. Lindgren was acquired to provide some much needed LW depth in Phoenix. Another one of their big moves this offseason was trading for former captain Mike Modano. Many in Miami are very happy to see the former captain return home. The cap space to trade for Modano was openned up when Jagr refused the team's 11 million dollar offer. While Modano was the better PR move, the really gem of the Modano deal was landing first round pick Nigel Williams. The Misconducts tried frantically to move up in the draft to select Williams as they had him ranked the number 3 defenseman coming out. They even had a deal worked out prior to the draft with Blackhawks to move up to pick number 8 so they could take Carey Price and Nigel Williams back to back, however Derek Brassard, the player they covetted, was still available when they picked so the trade fell threw. Williams is expect to play on the first or second line this season and be one of their main penalty killers. They believe with in two years he will be a force in this league. In order to get Modano and Williams the Misconducts parted with leading scorer from last season Jan Hrdina, a future 1st, and a future 3rd. It was a very small price to pay for the Misconducts in order to get the stay at home defenseman they covetted. Another former Misconduct is returning. Former draft pick Kyle Chipchura was acquired for a fifth round pick and veteran defenseman Karel Rachunek. Other new players coming in include Rosario Ruggeri and Stephen Weiss acquired for Daymond Langkow, Jeff Jillson, and three minor league players. The Misconducts also got three future draft picks back in the deal.

Trade Rumor

A rumor floated around right now is that the Misconducts have made yet another move since the draft. Rumor it has the Misconducts and Apocalypse have already agreed upon a trade and our just waiting for league approval before official announcing the deal. The Misconducts would receive muched rumored about defenseman Tomas Kloucek and Sergei Anshakov, who the team plans to switch to LW. The Apocalypse in turn would receive Brian McConnell and Kris Beech. There are also draft picks involved in this deal but they will not be known until the trade is official. This move comes a total shock to everyone in the organization as Kris Beech was viewed as one of the build blocks on this team. Rumor has it that the Misconducts have been very impressed by the development of Eric Nystrom this offseason thus making Beech available. The team was not actively shopping him but when the Apocalypse came dangling Anshakov in front of them they couldn't resist. They plan to move him to right wing and give Nystrom yet another premier passer to team up with. Kloucek was finally brought in after several discussions with the Apocalypse including before and after the draft. He will allow players like Carlo Colaiacovo, Boris Valabik, Mark Fistric, Nathan Guenin, and Rosario Ruggeri more time to develop in the minors this year. He will be team up with recently acquired Aaron Rome on the third lining defensive pairing.