Hasek is a Wing, Rucinsky is a Blue, and the rest of the past few days...

Team Carolina	Wednesday, August 02, 2006 Signed forward Jesse Boulerice to a one-year contract.
Chicago	Acquired the rights to forward Vaclav Pletka from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for forward Eric Meloche.
NY Rangers	Agreed to terms with defenseman Fedor Tyutin.
Ottawa	Signed forwards Dean McAmmond and Serge Payer to a one-year contracts.
Pittsburgh	Signed forward Libor Pivko to a one-year contract; re- signed defenseman Alain Nasreddine to a one-year contract.
St. Louis	Signed forward Martin Rucinsky.

Team	Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Buffalo	Agreed to terms with forward Maxim Afinogenov on a multi-year deal.
Chicago	Signed defenseman Jim Vandermeer, forwards Brandon Bochenski and Matt Keith and center Craig MacDonald to one-year contracts.
Columbus	Named Clint Malarchuk goaltending coach.
Nashville	Signed forward Scott Hartnell to a one-year contract.
NY Rangers	Agreed to terms with defenseman Michal Rozsival on a contract.
Pittsburgh	Re-signed center Dominic Moore to a two-year contract.

Team	Monday, July 31, 2006
Detroit	Signed goaltender Dominik Hasek to a one-year contract.
NY Rangers	Named Frank Effinger professional scout.
Washington	Re-signed left wing Matt Pettinger to a three-year contract.

Team	Sunday, July 30, 2006
Buffalo	Re-signed center Paul Gaustad to a multi-year contract.

Team	Friday, July 28, 2006
Buffalo	Agreed to terms with center Tim Connolly on a multi-year contract.
Florida	Signed defenseman Mike Van Ryn to a four-year contract.
Ottawa	Re-signed left wing Peter Schaefer to a multiyear contract.
Vancouver	Signed defenseman Yannick Tremblay to a one-year contract.

NHL Jeff's Take: Due to lost time, from these transactions, I will only be commenting on those that I feel are extremely significant.

Detroit's decision to bring back aging goaltender Dominik Hasek is a controversial one. Although I really dislike teams trying to ride old goalies for too long, and I dislike this signing, it seems to be relatively low risk with possible high rewards. The Wings will only shell out $750,000 if Hasek doesn't pan out, and if he does pan out, they pay him a little bit over a million. If they end up having to give him the bonus money that will have meant that he has played to his usual level of one of the top netminders in the league and the Wings will have gotten stellar play at a very low price as compared to other teams. The Wings did what they had to do to work well with the cap as well as not give up players. What I would have liked to see them do was to trade for Martin Biron, J.S. Giguere, Egeni Nabokov, Vesa Toskala, David Aebischer, or Robert Esche. That would have made things a bit more interesting and exciting while also alleviating some team's goaltending issue with having :2 number 1's.

Quickly, on the Rangers signing of Rozsival, I think it was extremely necessary for them especially if they wanted to maintain a solid defense while also having some scoring from the blueline.

Sabres' GM Darcy Regier seems to really be getting everything together now with only 3 of the 12 players that filed for arbitration actually having to go through with the hearing. Afinogenov was an extremely significant part of last year's team puzzle and it is great that they will have him back.

The Sens made a great choice for some added veteran leadership with Dean McAmmond. Not only is McAmmond a proven leader, but he is also able to chip in a decent amount of points throughout the season. Great addition.

The Blues seem to be hoping to make a push back into the playoffs. Tkachuk, Guerin, Weight, and now Rucinsky, are a great offensive core. I was a bit sad to see that Rucinsky didn't re-sign with the Rangers. I fear he may not play as well as last season with out all of his fellow Czech countrymen from the Rangers.

Hawks' Kyle Clader Awarded $2.95 Million

The Hawks have 48 hours to sign Calder.

An arbitrator has awarded Chicago Blackhawks forward Kyle Calder $2.95-million for the 2006-2007 season.

NHL Jeff's Take: Seems a bit much for a guy that got less than 60 points, but the fact that that led the Hawks shows how good he considering how terrible the rest of the team turned out last year. I suspect the Hawks will accept the award.

Sabres Down to 6 Arbitration Hearings

• Buffalo signs Lydamn and Pominville, down to 6 arbitration hearrings

• Flames sign Defenseman Brad Ference
• Red Wings re-sign Jason Williams
• Lightning re-sign Sarich before arbitration
• Lamoriello says he'll honour Gomez award

NHL Jeff's Take: On A Buffalo Sabres team full of surprises, Jason Pominville still stood out. Many thought the 2001 draft pick had fizzled out and would never really make it, well, for at least one season, he proved them wrong. It is still to be seen whether it just so happened that everyone on the Sabres team had basically a career year last year or if they truly are as good as they seemed. If so, Pominville should be a force in Buffalo for years to come.

GM Darcy Regier acquired Tony Lydman just prior to the start of the 2005-06 season. Lydman became on eof the most underrated defenseman in the league as he climbed up the Buffalo defense ladder. In the playoffs he was an iron man on a team full of injuries. With the loss of Jay McKee, Lydman will be looked at as the go-to guy for shot blocking and penalty killing.

MORE TO COME

Sens Avoid Arbitration with Neil, sign him to 3-year deal

• Ottawa re-signs Winger Chris Neil to 3-year Deal

• Markov joins the Wings for 5th team in as many seasons
• A rare 2-year deal is awarded in arbitration to Pittsburgh's Ryan Malone
• Caps sign Bradley for two-years, avoid arbitration
• Panthers' Bouwmeester gets 2nd 2-year deal of the day
  

NHL Jeff's Take: Chris Neil had a great season for the Sens in '05-'06, nearly doubling his carreer high in points while continuing to play an agressive, gritty game.

Markov should be a a solid addition to a Red Wings defense desperately in need of an injection of agression. The only worry is whether or not he will last the whole season, as he has been plagued with injuries throughout his carreer.

Ryan Malone got a 2-year deal averaging a little less than $1.4 million per season. I'd say this is the higher end of the price spectrum for a player like Malone, but he is well worth it. I think he still needs to prove himself, but he was very consistent in both of his full seasons with the Pens, and consistency is something Pittsburgh has often lacked. New GM Fred Shero has made some surprise moves in the players that he decided to let go, but I don't think Ryan Malone will be one of them.

Bradley is a solid role player for the Caps, but in my opinion was only worth bringing back if it was at the right price. Hopefully they didn't go too high jsut to avoid arbitration (the signing salary was not disclosed).

A $4.35 million dollar 2-year deal seems about right for Bouwmeester. Despite his plus-minus being relatively low (on a lackluster team), he has matured extremely well as a defenseman in his first 3 seasons in the NHL. He was pushed (a little too hard, I think) by the Panthers to be a top defenseman right away and he has taken to that a lot better than many like him would have.

Devils in a Tight Spot: Gomez Gets $5 Million in Arbitration

• Gomez Awarded $5 Million in Arbitration

Other NHL News:

• Stars extend contract of GM Armstrong for 3 years

NHL Jeff's Take: $5 Million was my guess for what Gomez would receive in arbitration. I knew he was highballing at $7 million and that the Devils were low-balling at $4 million. I am almost sure the Devils will accept the award and sign him, but what they will do after that remains to be seen. There seems to be no way the team can afford to keep both Gomez and Gionta (who has yet to go to arbitration) and remain under the cap. In all likelihood they will accept both awards and trade one of the players. It is popular belief that Gomez will be the one traded with rumors stating interested teams as the Sharks, Coyotes, Oilers, and Canucks. The Sharks and Coyotes both seem possible to me.

I think it was a bit premature to award GM Doug Armstrong for the play of his Dallas Stars. While they have improved in the regular season under his reign, they have barely shown up in the playoffs. It seems to me that the team should have waited for Armstrong to show his teams can compete in the playoffs before extending his contract.

Isles Accept York's Arbitration Award

Just as I previously predicted on Saturday,

I am guessing Snow will not want to take any chances on his first big move and he will re-sign Mike York.

the New York Islanders decided to accept Mike York's 1 year, $2.85 million arbitration award and re-sign him.

Other news:
Senators re-sign Defenseman Chris Kelly to one-year deal

NHL Jeff's Take: Kelly had a grat first pro season for the Sens last year. He played in all 82 games and manged to notch 30 points with his somewhat limited ice time.

The Eagle Lands in Florida, Oilers Lock up Hemsky for 6 years!

• Ed Belfour signs one-year deal with Panthers
• Oilers Lock Up Hemsky for 6 seasons
• Sharks sign Ehrhoff, newly acquired Bell

NHL Jeff's Take: Despite TSN's earlier reports that the Panthers had had a change of heart, I thought the Panthers' signing of Ed Belfour was inevitable. He should be a great mentor to Alex Auld as well as a capable fill-in. Hopefully his back will be able to hold up in his lesser than usual role.

Having personally witnessed Ales Hemsky play live in 3 games of the Stanley Cup Finals, I knew that he would be an important part of the Edmonton Oilers' future. Just watching him move the puck and skate around countless players is absolutely breathtaking. In my eye, he will be one of the NHL's top offensive threats for years to come, and with signing those years will most likely (see Chris Pronger) be in an Oilers uniform.

Christian Ehrhoff was a significant player for the 2005-06 Sharks defense. He was able to chip in a bit of offense from the blueline, while maintaining strong defensive poise. It should be extremely beneficial for the Sharks to have him back.
Mark Bell, whom the Sharks recently received in a 3-way trade with the Blackhawks and Senators, is a likely candidate to take the spot of recently traded Nils Ekman on the top line with Hart and Art Ross Trophy winner Joe Thornton and Rocket Richard Trophy winner Jonathan Cheechoo. Bell is definitely an upgrade from Ekman, but I was surprised they let him go. The way that I look at it, why mess with chemistry that is already working. It seems the Sharks assumed that chemistry was merely between Thornton and Cheechoo (who did have a lot more points than Ekman), but Ekman's significance in that chemistry should be revealed come October.

Today's NHL News

• Habs' GM Bob Gainey gets an Extension through 2009-10
• Recchi Going Back to the Burgh, Pens also sign Ronald Petrovicky
• Kings Sign Bad Boy Avery
• Hawks Hire Former Florida GM Rick Dudley as Assistant GM
• Canucks sign former Habs winger Jan Bulis
• Preds re-up Erat for two years
• Avs add Defenseman Ken Klee, Forward Paul Stastny
• Predators update Vokoun's status
• Islanders sign Asham, avoid arbitration

NHL Jeff's Take: I am a abit short on time today, so I will only comment on a select numbre of the transactions.

Gainey has done a great job since taking the reins. The Habs are in the best position they've been in since winning the cup in '93.

Recchi's return to Pittsburgh was suspected even at the time of his trade at the trade deadline. He played great while he was there last year (better than expected) and will continue to provide veteran leadership for an extremely young Penguins team.

Despite Avery's fallout with the former Kings' staff, it seems the new authorities are willing to give him another chance, which I think is a great idea. He may be controversial a lot of the time, but a little bit of controversy stirs up the media and gives the Kings and hockey in general a little bit of extra attention.

Although Ken Klee is not much of an offensive defenseman as Rob Blake, he is a skilled, experienced veteran who will definitely help solidify an Avalanche blueline that has lost its number one man. Despite having a great offensive season last year, D-man John Michael Liles will have to step up his offense even more to help the Avs be successful without Blake. The addition of Jordan Leopold in the Tanguay trade should also add a litle bit of offense from the D. Brisebois and Clark also contributed from the blueline last year, and with the the addition of Klee and the resigning of stay-at-home ironman Karlis Skrastins, I don’t think the Av’s defense has taken too much of a step down from last season. Now the offense, that is a whole ‘nother story….

Sabres Avoid Another Arbitration

According to TSN, the Buffalo Sabres got their number of players headed for arbitration down to 8 today when they signed forward Ales Kotalik to a multi-year deal two days prior to his scheduled arbitration hearing.

Kotalik, 27, had a career year last season, registering 25 goals, 37 assists, and 62 points while playing in all 82 games.

NHL Jeff's Take: It is great that the Sabres are finding a way to get some of these guys signed before they head to arbitration. GM Darcy Regier is trying to keep as much of last year's team together as he can and signing Kotalik is another step in that direction. He really stepped up his play last season and will hopefully continue at that level again this season.

Briere Awarded $5 Million in Arbitration

TSN is reporting that as expected, Buffalo Sabres' co-captain Daniel Briere will be receiving a hefty raise should the Sabres resign him. Citing recent contracts signed by Chicago's newly acquired Martin Havlat, Calgary's newly acquired Alex Tanguay, and Minnesota's Marian Gaborik, it was ruled that the Sabres will have to pay Briere $5 million to retain him for next season.

The Sabres have 48 hours to decide whether or not to sign Briere or let him become a free agent. The deal would be only for one year, after which Briere would be an unrestricted free agent.

There are currently rumors floating around that, rather than losing Briere for nothing, the team will sign him but they will be looking to trade him. They would likely like to lower their payroll while acquiring some younger guys that will not be unrestricted next year.

In the 48 games Briere was able to play during last year's regular season, he was by far the team's best player, registering 58 points. Along with co-captain Chris Drury, he led the Sabres to within one game of the Stanley Cup Finals while notching 19 points in 18 playoff games.

Other news around the NHL:
Montreal inks Ryder for two more years
Penguins sign Orpik to two-year deal

NHL Jeff's Take: There is no doubt in my mind that the Sabres will sign Briere. They do not want to lose their best player and get nothing in return. $5 million seems about right for Daniel Briere, although I think that is a bit much for Havlat. What I am not sure about is whether or not the team will retain him once they have signed him. They are rumored to be shopping him around, with possible destinations of Montreal, Atlanta, and Los Angeles among others. I think that trading him would be a massive mistake. It is not every day that your best offensive player is also the top leader and heart and soul of your team, that is not something that should be walked away from. The Sabres should hang on to Briere, and come January they should look to extend his contract. Due to their huge success last year, it seems that it is worth the risk if they want to make another trip at least to the playoffs and possibly beyond. That would most likely not be possible without Daniel Briere, although, like last year, the team has surprised us before. Although the team did fine in his absence last year, that should not be their deciding factor on whether or not to sign/trade him, they likely would not have made it very far in the post-season without Briere. My prediction: Briere will play the 2006-07 season, at least until the trade deadline, with the Buffalo Sabres.

Ryder signed for $2.2 million dollars, a figure that is a significant amount less than the $2.85 million awarded to the Islanders' Mike York in arbitration and Ryder, in my opinion, is a better player with a much longer future full of potential. But...that is for another post I guess. Ryder led the team in goals and has truly begun to blossom on the wing for the Habs. At 26, he still has a lot of time left, and it is important for Montreal to hang on to their young stars. With this signing, the Canadiens avoided Ryder's arbitration hearing, which was scheduled for Tuesday.

Despite the dislike many acquired for Brooks Orpik after his hit-from-behind ruined Erik Cole's career year, he is a solid stay-at-home defenseman, which the Pens really need. He is very physical and blocks a lot of shots. Those qualities outweigh his occasional giveaways and other falters.

York Makes Good in Arbitration

According to TSN, New York Islanders' forward Mike York has been awarded $2.85 million dollars for the 2006-07 season. The Isles have 48 hours to decide whether to sign him or let him walk. This will be the first test for new, inexperienced GM Garth Snow and he doesn't have very long to think about it. Should the team decline their option to sign York, he will become an unrestricted free agent.

28-year old York made $2.05 million last season while registering 52 points.

Mike York's Career Stats

Arbitration decisions for Buffalo's Daniel Briere and San Jose's mark Smith are also due today.

Other news around the NHL:
Predators sign Legwand to two-year deal
Jackets lock up Chimera for two more years

NHL Jeff's Take: Although York's 52 points were important to last year's Islander team that struggled to get on the scoreboard, I think Snow should walk away from the deal. Market value for York, from what I've seen and read, seems to be between $1.5 and $2 million. I don't think he will be able to get $2.85 from any team should he become an unrestricted free agent. Despite what seems to be somewhat of a steep price, I am guessing Snow will not want to take any chances on his first big move and he will re-sign Mike York.

It was important for the Predators to re-sign David Legwand. He is a key role player on the team and can put up a point about every other game.

As long as they got him for a good price, Jason Chimera is a good keeper for the Jackets. He had a career year last year, which he will hopefully build upon, and he provides some size and definitely some grit on the wing. The Jackets avoided Chimera going to arbitration, his hearing was scheduled for August 3.

If there is anything you would like my opinion on...

Because I have just started this site, I have missed out on writing about many different recent occurrences in the NHL world. If there is anything you would like my opinion on feel free to post it in a comment and I will get to it as soon as I can.

All of Today's Transactions and Free Agency

Source: TSN.ca

Team	Friday, July 21, 2006
Boston	Agreed to terms with defensemen Jason York and Wade Brookbank and forward Jeff Hoggan.
Buffalo	Agreed to a multi-year contract extension with defenseman Henrik Tallinder.
Carolina	Signed defenseman Tim Conboy, forward Mike Angelidis and center Scott Kelman.
Columbus	Signed defenseman Jamie Pushor and center Janne Hauhtonen to two-way National Hockey League/American Hockey League contracts.
Edmonton	Agreed to terms with center Jarret Stoll on a two-year contract.
Nashville	Re-signed forward Jordin Tootoo and defenseman Sheldon Brookbank; signed forward Ramzi Abid.
Phoenix	Signed goaltender David LeNeveu to a one-year contract and center Mike Zigomanis to a two-year contract.
Pittsburgh	Signed forward Colby Armstrong to a one-year contract; signed defenseman Wade Skolney.
Washington	Re-signed forward Ben Clymer to a three-year contract; signed forward Pete Vandermeer.

NHL Jeff's Take: A relatively slow day as compared to the beginning of Free-Agent season when there was a flurry of signings. Signings should increase though as teams continue to try to avoid arbitration hearings and as hearings are completed. There are still a few somewhat b-g-name players remaining on the unrestricted free-agent market including Anson Carter, Manny Legace, Petr Sykora, and Dick Tarnstrom. I am hoping GM Dave Nonis can find a way to bring Carter back to Vancouver, I'd love to see him continue to work magic with the Sedin twins. Rumors have LA and Toronto topping his list of possible places where he could end up, but often times those are pure speculation...TSN reported a couple of weeks ago that no teams were really interested in Legace. I was extremely surprised by that, despite his faltering in the playoffs. Not all of that could have been blamed on him and he had remarkable numbers during the season (which could have been due to the team in front of him and playing in a weak division...) I think he would be a great fit in St. Louis as a mentor for Curtis Sanford. Legace could advise him while taking the load when it became too much for Sanford. GM Kevin Lowe in Edmonton is rumored to be after both Sykora and re-signing Tarnstrom....

Sabres re-sign Henrik Tallinder

According to TSN, the Buffalo Sabres have re-signed Henrik Tallinder, one of the key defensemen from their march to the Eastern Conference Final.

It is a multi-year deal. Other terms of the deal have not been made public.

Tallinder played in all 82 games for the Sabres during the 2005-06 season, registering 21 points (6 goals and 15 assists). He was a league high plus-14 in the playoffs.

This signing brings the number of Sabres going to arbitration down to 9. The team had a league high, 12 players file for arbitration. GM Darcy Regier has also managed to sign Brian Campbell and Andrew Peters before going to Arbitration, while co-captain Daniel Briere had his hearing yesterday. The outcome of Briere's hearing should be known by tomorrow (Saturday).

NHL Jeff's Take: With so many Sabres being in the final year of their contracts in 05-06, it was common knowledge that it would be tough for Regier to keep his Eastern Conference Finalist team together. I don't think he expected to have as many as 12 players file for arbitration, but the 3 he has managed to remove from that list are a great start. Tallinder was a crucial part of the Buffalo defense which was made evident when he (among other defensemen) was out of the lineup when the Sabres Stanley Cup run came to an end. Sabres fans just have to hope now that Regier will be able to keep as many of the players going to arbitration as possible. Getting Goaltender Martin Biron and his $2 million salary traded (maybe to the Wings or Blues, although I am not sure the Blues have much to offer) would definitely help the cause. Regier may worry about trading Biron before he has restricted free-agent goaltender Ryan Miller signed, but it may be his only choice if he hopes to keep the team's number one offensive threat in Briere.

Oilers re-sign Jarret Stoll

According to TSN, The Edmonton Oilers have re-signed center Jarret Stoll, a key component to their run to the Stanley Cup Finals, to a new two-year deal.

Stoll was one of only three Edmonton players to appear in all 82 of the team's regular season games last season. He completed the season ranked third on the team in goals and assists. Stoll is also an asset on the powerplay, as he was second for the Oilers in powerplay goals with 11. He also led the team in shots on goal with 243.

Stoll was selected by Edmonton in the second round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft and is entering his third fiull season in Oil-Town.

NHL Jeff's take: Stoll is a grat role player for the Oilers. He provides a lot fo character and grit and really stepped up his point production last season. If Edmonton wants to make another run at the cup, or even the playoffs with their depleted roster, re-signing Stoll was a necessity. In what was supposed to be a new ear for small-market teams with major stars not being able to take off to the big-market for ridiculously high salaries, GM Kevin Lowe seems to have gotten the short end of the sick when it comes to losing key players this off-season. With Dwayne Roloson set to step back between the pipes, if Lowe can re-sign Dick Tarnstrom and maybe add someone like Petr Sykora to help on the second powerplay unit, the Oilers could still be a force to reckon with.