As the cap is likely to go down and he may not be able to acheive a better deal then, especially with teams who will have to dump players to get under the cap.

According to Pittsburgh based site www.insidepittsburghsports.com

Falconer,
Why do you think Armstrong signed for 1 year? Do you think this is his idea or DW’s idea? To me, he proved that he is an asset to a team. After leaving Pittsburgh, he was invaluable to the Thrashers and adjusted to his line changes. What do you think? Or what is being said about this deal. I am glad that we have him, but wonder why he was not signed for longer.

I think it’s hard to say which side wanted just the 1 year. Armstrong at 2.4 million is about right so he is at a good price. It is hard to imagine DW did not want to make a multi-year contract. My guess is Armstrong is looking forward to UFA and being able to pick the team he plays for after this season..

The Thrashers are rolling the dice this year. If I were a player, I’d want a one year deal too in case.

a) Belkin wins his suit
b) They miss the playoffs
c) and Kovy doesn’t resign

that’s the disaster scenario, Army and Kari will want out if that’s the result.

But if all three of those issues break the other way, I’d guess Army and Kari will sign on for longer deals.

Actually, Lehtonen will still be an RFA next summer, so that’s not why he got a 1 year deal. He got a 1 year deal because he can’t stay healthy enough for DW to gamble on a multi-year deal. Lehtonen basically knows that right now he is playing for cheap – if (and it’s a big one) he can stay healthy. So DW wants to see if Lehtonen can stay healthy before he offers big money and Lehtonen knows that missing 20-40 games a year due to injury isn’t going to bring him a big contract. So I agree that all parties wanted a 1 year deal, but in Lehtonen’s case it has nothing to do with the reasons you suggested. He can’t leave on his own.

Your reasons are quite plausible for Army but it also may be that he just simply wants out. He may want to return to Pittsburgh or it may be another Hossa situation where it’s mostly that he just wants to play (almost) anywhere but Atlanta.

Belkin will NOT win his suit. I’m not a lawyer (my best friend is though and he keeps up with this case) and if I understand correctly the court basically agrees now that Belkin has to be bought out, they are just trying to figure out how to do it because the contract was so badly worded that it didn’t cover what happened – neither side liked what the appraiser said. I’ve seen people say that Belkin might get control of the team, but those people are not lawyers. The appellate court put a smackdown on the first court to hear the case essentially ruling that the first court made up law to cover their decision and they sent the case back to the same court and said “Try again”. Belkin will be bought out, but it’s going to take time to figure out who gets to set the price for the buyout. It’s still a mess, but it’s not the kind of mess most of the fans think it is.

So, what if we lose Colby? Is he easy enough to replace (any prospects that could fill his shoes if he doesn’t stay?)?

Colby Armstrong is not an easy player to replace. He brings many things to a team. He hits, he will fight, he plays very well in the corners and in his own end. He also is under rated as a goal scorer. I would not be surprised if he scored 30 goals next season. On top of that he is liked by his team mates. Took him less than 1 season to be named an assistant captain. At 2.4 million he is a steal. The Thrashers have alot of good, young players in their organization (especially after this last draft), but none are even close to stepping up and filling Armstrong’s shoes.