So the Briere sweepstakes are over. The Flyers signed Daniel Briere to an 8 year contract worth $52 million. Yeah, it’s a ton of money but for a marquee player who was his team’s co-captain and leading scorer of his team last year, probably not unreasonable – monetarily speaking. 8 years though? It left me shaking my head.

It seems like the trend this year is to sign your big players for long contracts. My guess is that they’re thinking that their caps are going to increase each year and make these signings bargains in the future. I’m no Kreskin but the last guy to last 8 years in Philadelphia was… anyone? Eric Desjardins. Ok, that didn’t have the impact I thought it would. I thought the last guy was Eric Lindros – he was the next 8 yearer after Desjardins. Anyway, a quick check of the Flyers’ roster shows that longevity is not management’s strong suit. How long before Briere is made the goat and traded like Lindros was? Well, that’s a tough question.

Briere as a “no movement” clause. If it’s anything like Bryan McCabe’s, in Toronto, it means that Briere has to remain a member of the Flyers for the full term of his contract – unless he waives the clause in the [likely] event of a total failure by the team.

But Briere’s agent is no dummy. If things should fall apart in Philly, and Briere waives and moves, his contract could end up being significantly less. So how do you protect against that? Briere’s contract was front-loaded with a $5 million signing bonus. He’ll be making $10 million in the first year. Not bad at all.

Too bad Briere can’t save Philly.

Best team, post UFA frenzy day three? The New York Rangers. Hopefully they are able to hang onto Brendan Shanahan but even if they don’t, Lundqvist, Jagr, Gomez, Drury, Ozolinsh, Dawes, Hossa, Orr, Malik, Montoya… Great team.

My prediction for 2007/2008 Stanley Cup? Either the Rangers or the Penguins. They’ve both got teams full of talented, and energetic teams. And I stress the word teams.

Buy my predictions aren’t worth the ink on this web page so send me yours and we can giggle about them together next April.