NBA vs NHL

I took the liberty of inserting NHL players, teams, writers, broadcasters, owners, G.M.'s etc... to really illustrate how absurd NBA free agency is. I don't think anyone could even fathom the same thing going down in the NHL even if the rules of free agency were similar.

The original story can be found here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5359255

Sidney Crosby is planning to announce the team with which he will sign during a one-hour special on TSN Thursday night, TSN's Darren Dreger has learned through independent sources.

TSN would only confirm that active discussions for the special are ongoing. But sources tell Dreger that representatives for Crosby contacted the network, proposing that Crosby makes his announcement during a 9 p.m. ET special.

Those sources said that Crosby's representatives requested they be allowed to sell sponsorship for the one-hour special, with the proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, and that TSN agreed to the proposal but had not been told what Crosby has decided.

It only makes sense that Sidney Crosby would create a show to tell his choice, that he would drag teams and fans along until the camera's red light comes on, writes TSN.ca's Bob McKenzie.

The NHL's most prized free agent opened a Twitter account on Tuesday and posted his first message on the social networking site. While he provided no information about his future plans, at least he offered something as the NHL awaits the decision on where he'll play next.

"Hello World, the Real Sid the Kid is in the Building," said the tweet on the Sidthekid feed, which by 9 p.m. ET had more than 167,000 followers.

Crosby's publicist confirmed the superstar's entrance to Twitter, a place where fellow prized free agents Jonathan Toews and Ilya Kovulchuk often post details about their public lives off the ice.

Crosby's plans still are a closely guarded secret. He visited with six teams -- the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks -- last week at his business offices in downtown Pittsburgh.

Early Wednesday, it appeared that if Crosby were to play next season with Toews and Kovulchuk, he'd do it in Chicago: Kovulchuk has decided to join Toews with the Hawks, a source with knowledge of the situation told Dreger. An announcement was expected later in the day.

TSN's Pierre Maguire also reported that Kovulchuk would join Toews in Chicago.

It was not immediately clear whether Kovulchuk would sign with Chicago outright or join the Hawks through a sign-and-trade deal. Kovulchuk could earn $125 million over six years via sign-and-trade, but only $96 million over five without it.

If Kovulchuk joins a team without doing a sign-and-trade, he will be able to sign only a five-year deal worth $96 million. He is determined not to leave that $29 million on the table, sources told Dreger.

"Either way, he's definitely going to Chicago," the source said.

There had been various reports that the New Jersey Devils were working on a sign-and-trade deal with Pittsburgh for Kovulchuk, and that Crosby tried to convince him to join the Penguins. Both Crosby and Kovulchuk were aware that such a trade was possible, and Crosby tried to recruit Kovulchuk to the Penguins several times in the past few weeks, sources told Dreger.

But Kovulchuk wanted to play with Crosby in Pittsbugh, Chicago or Florida(Miami), and told the Devils he'd accept sign-and-trades to those cities, sources told Dreger.

Unsure of Crosby's decision, The Blue Jackets have a Plan B in case he rejects their offer.

The agent for Rangers forward Marian Gaborik says the Jackets have talked to him several times since free agency began on Thursday.

An official within the league who is very close to the Jackets management team said the team would also consider going after Kings forward Anze Kopitar if Crosby rejected the offer that was presented by the ownership group(JMAC Hockey LCC) and a team that included teen mogul Justin Bieber.

Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson said in a text message on Tuesday that there was nothing to report on the free-agency front.

Asked about the Jackets'options if The Kid nixes their overtures, Howson wrote:

"We will look at other options if we don't get one of the top guys."

While Crosby is the star attraction in this summer's stacked class of free agents, other players have either stayed home or found a new one. On Monday, Brad Richards agreed to a five-year deal with the Rangers and said he would continue to recruit Crosby to join him.