The 24-year old played in 78 games with Detroit last season, scoring 19 goals and adding 17 assists.

The third round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft has 29 goals in 25 assists in 155 career games in the NHL.

The Philadelphia Flyers locked Joffrey Lupul up with a four-year contract extension. Lupul is one of several players the Flyers are committing to for years to come as they believe only good things will come from these young talents.

The Phoenix Coyotes re-signed left wing Daniel Carcillo in which they feel this sparkplug brings great balance of speed and toughness to the team. Carcillo led the league in penalty minutes last season as a rookie and that seemed to be the type of player the Coyotes want as they deal is undisclosed but was a 2 year contract.

The New Jersey Devils signing center Fedor Fedorov, who is the brother of Sergei Fedorov and has been playing in Europe the past few seasons.

Other signings this week included the Anaheim Ducks agreeing to one year contracts with left win Josh Green and center Eric Boguniecki. The biggest signing of the week has come from the Vancouver Canucks, as they signed six players Wednesday. Those players include RW-Ryan Shannon, C-Rick Rypien, RW-Mike Brown, Defs-Nathan McIver, Zach FitzGerald, and James Sharrow. Make sure to check back to see all the NHL’s top news as this year the Stanley Cup will truly be up for grabs. All this action is getting fans excited for the 2008-2009 season and with opening day being less than three months away it will be interesting to see what other deals come our way.

Laraque accepted to sign a three years contract with the Habs that is going to bring 1.5millions a year. Other teams were interested in Laraque services, but he prefered to play for his own city and come back to montreal. Montrealers are very happy about this and Laraque is certainly a great addition and I’m sure he is going to do a very good job crashing the net during the powerplay.

Later on the Canadiens signed offensive defense man Alex Henry to a one year contract. No word yet if he is going to be part of the Canadiens plan long term, but Henry is probably going to play in Hamilton next season.

The Canadiens then signed ex-Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Marc Denis to a one year contract too. The signing of Denis leaves many options for the Habs. Marc could either go play in Hamilton with Cedrick Dejardins, which by the way just signed a two year contract with the Canadiens earlier today. or he could play on the Canadiens team as early as next year behind Carey Price, and that would give the opportunity for the Habs to trade someone like Jaroslav Halak. Why? Well because since Carey Price is set to become the number one goalie in Montreal for many years to come and since Halak has enough potential to take over a number one spot in many NHL cities, adding Halak to a blockbuster deal could bring a superstar player to Montreal.

Keep up the good work Gainey. All you need to do next is convince Mats Sundin to play in Montreal and that would definitely give you a star in the hall of fame.

Now Ryder was expected to leave, especially with the venu of Alex Tanguay, but a lot of people in Montreal were hoping Streit was still going to be a Habs next season? Personally, I wouldn’t have payed such a price for Streit since he didn’t really score all his points playing defence, he scored them playing forward and on the power play. People thought Montreal was going to lose their powerplay skills when they lost Sheldon Souray to free agency, but Streit was able to take over. Now I truly believe it is not going to take long before someone else takes Streit’s place and believe, we will forget his name faster than we forgot Souray’s.

Now Danis had already mentioned it to press: he does not intend on having a future with the Canadiens. Good enough. But it is going to be pretty hard for him to build a future when you are behind a guy like Rick DiPietro!

Mats Sundin is not sure yet of where and if he wants to play next season? Good, we respect your decision, we’ll allow you a week, maybe two. What? You need a month? Hell no. Sundin has been acting very disrespecful to all the teams that are showing interest for him. If he feels he is not interested now, don’t make them wait after you so that you can say no later and watch them end up with nothing. That is not professional at all and coming from a classy guy like Sundin really dissapoints me. What he is doing to the Montreal Canadiens could en up hurting them real bad, after all the interest they have shown in him he still doesn’t have the guts to say yes or no and always come up with the same miserable excuse he uses over and over again, the ones that says he’s not sure if he’s coming bac to the NHL for next season. Montreal might have had a chance to sign other very good players on the first of july, but ww are never going to know what they could have gotten their hands on if Sundin was not in the picture or if Sundin would have said no from the start. The latest rumors about Sundin is that the Habs are still all over him and appearently they have just offered him a 2 years/15millions$ contract for next season.

Will he say yes, will he say no? Is it even true or is Bob Gainey simply working on something so big it has to be kept underground? I am definitly dying to find out all of the answers, but I guess like Mr. Sundin said, it could very well take up to next month to know them.

To be honest with you I never ever thought Hossa would have signed with Detroit.

In 72 regular season games with Atlanta and Pittsburgh Hossa scored 66 points, in 20 playoff games with Pittsburgh he scored 12 goals and 14 helpers for 26 points.

Stuart played in 9 regular season games, after being dealt at the deadline by the Los Angeles Kings, with Detroit recording 2 points and a plus 6. In playoffs Stuart played 21 games recording 7 points and a plus15

Lilja played 79 regular season games all with Detroit recording 12 points and a minus 2. in Playoffs Lilja recorded 1 assist and a plus 3 in 12 games.

Conklin’s signing was a big surprise (at least for me) that July 1st had. Conklin started in 33 regular season games with 18 wins and a .923 save percentage. He didn’t start any playoff games.

To be honest I thought the Detroit Red Wings would stick to a Chris Osgood/Jimmy Howard goaltending tandem.

RDS is reporting that Maxim Lapierre was indeed signed by Bob Gainey–General Manager–for two years. Gainey had this to say about Lapierre,

“Maxim is one of our young core group of players that contribute to the success of our team. His grit, determination and energy are important attributes that we look for in our young players”.

With this signing, Gainey is starting to make his fourth line. Lapierre is quick and has some talent, however he hit the boards more than hitting the players last season and will have to change that if he is going to make a statement for the next two years.

Lapierre will also have to work heavily on his face-offs. Lapierre has some size at 6′2” and 200 pounds to win face-offs on a regular basis. Lapierre was decent in the circle at the end of the year, and in the play-offs. Unfortunately decent doesn’t cut it in the NHL.

Maxim who has the capability to be one of the best pests of the league, will have to improve on his fighting skills also. Going after P.J. Axelsson won’t get him any respect around the league. He has to be willing to back up all the words he uses during a game.

Gainey made a good signing. Lapierre won’t be expensive for the next two years and has gained experience while playing for the Habs last season. Lapierre has the talent to be a good third line player, possibly a fourth line player as well. He is young and well liked in Montreal. Lapierre knows his role, now he has to fully embrace it or run the risk of being sent back down to the minors like the early part of this past season. There will be many youngsters gunning for his job during training camp. Contract or not, it will be up to Lapierre to win his spot next season.

One RFA down, six to go. That is if there are no trades that happen before the next season starts.

TSN reports that the Lightning have signed Boyle to a six-year deal worth $40 million.

“We are extremely pleased to have Dan back in the fold for the next six years,” said Lightning GM Jay Feaster. “Our team and our fans have been able to witness first-hand, during Dan’s injury and recovery, how tough it is to win without Dan in our line-up.”

“As John Tortorella has consistently said, Danny is the player that makes our offense go from the back end, and this signing demonstrates the commitment of current and prospective ownership to ice a championship caliber team in Tampa.”

Boyle will get $6.66 million per season for all six years.

Not bad for the 31-year old defensemen.

“I am grateful that we were able to get the deal done today,” added Boyle. “I am very proud of what we have been able to accomplish here in Tampa over the past few years, including winning the Stanley Cup.”

“And while this year may not have gone the way we have liked to this point, I am confident we can return to those winning ways very quickly. Otherwise, I would not have made the commitment to stay with the Lightning.”

The question now with the Lightning is how are they going to fit Boyle with the club’s Big Three on the roster? Oh, yeah, they’ll move Brad Richards and his $7.8 million cap hit.

“Barret has been a staple on the blueline for the Blues since his rookie season,” said Blues General Manager John Davidson in a statement. “He logs plenty of minutes per game and will continue to be a key part of our team as we move forward.”

Jackman said in a statement that his main priority was to remain in St. Louis.

“I have said all along that I wanted to remain in St. Louis,” stated Jackman. “The Blues drafted me, I met my wife here and I want to raise a family here. I’m excited about the direction of this franchise and love playing in front of Blues fans.

The deal is believed to be worth a total of $14.4 million.

Jackman has accumulated two goals and six assists in 58 games for the Blues this season.

With this blow to the Philadelphia Flyers, and the other interested teams in the Foppa sweepstakes, this may be the train that knocks down the no trading wall. With the re-acquisition of Forsberg and the recent reinsertion of injured players back into the lineup, does this make the Avalanche a cup contender?

The Colorado Avalanche have been hanging around the playoff picture just four points behind the last spot for a while with injuries to their best players, will this move make the Avalanche pass some teams who have been falling of late in the Western Conference and regain what should be some sort of playoff hope? They most likely will as their goalies have been playing really good as of late, and all indications suggest that with all their injured players coming back that the Forsberg acquisition will give them the boost they need.

Most of the people seem to take Colorado as their playoff dark-horse now that Foppa has been added to the team. Is this the only acquisition that the Avalanche will make before the trade deadline, or, will they get someone else to further their hopes of making a strong push for the playoffs?

One thing is certain, the fans of the Colorado Avalanche are jumping with joy with this acquisition, with all Forsberg did for them in the past, Peter will be hard pressed to repeat what he did in the past.

2008-09 - $3.2M

2009-10 - $3.4M

2010-14 - $3.6M

Schultz has been a solid performer for the Wild over his career, and will continue to serve as part of the club’s defensive backbone. At only 25 years of age, Schultz has spent his entire 5 season NHL career with Minnesota, where he has at times shown the potential to become a decent offensive contributor. He isn’t an “elite” defenceman, but is one of those guys that every team would like to have.

Svitov, who was to earn $1 million this season and $1.25 million in 2008-09 after signing a two-year deal with the Blue Jackets this June, has signed a multi-year deal with Avangard Omsk of the Russian Super League.

“We were informed by Alexander’s agent today that he has signed a contract to play with Avangard Omsk this season,” Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson said in a statement Friday.

“We will explore the situation in greater detail with respect to Alexander’s contract status and will make a decision after reviewing our options. While this news comes as a disappointment, it creates an opportunity for other players when we open training camp next month.”

In 76 games for the Blue Jackets, the 24-year-old Svitov registered career-highs in goals (7) and assists (11).

According to his agent, Brian Lawton, the deal will pay Saprykin more than $1.5 million per season and contains an out-clause that will allow him to “return to the NHL after each year of the deal.”

“In reality, it’s a one-year deal,” Lawton said. “Oleg wants to play in Russia, have a big offensive year and then have a chance to be a top six guy in the NHL.”

Saprykin became an unrestricted free agent when the Senators managed to void the $1.064 million qualifying offer tendered to him by former GM John Muckler before he was fired in June.

“John made him a qualifying offer, but [current Senators GM] Bryan [Murray] basically released him,” Lawton said.

Murray wanted nothing to do with Saprykin.

“He thought he should have been considered a higher level of player than we did,” Murray said.

The feeling was mutual, apparently, as Saprykin did not have a great time in Ottawa either.

“His experience soured him on Ottawa,” said Lawton from his office in Minnesota.

“While he was pleased to get another chance to play in the final, he would’ve liked to have contributed more.”

Craig’s arbitration hearing was held on Friday in Toronto, where it is believed that he was seeking a one-year, $1.2 million deal. The Lightning were offering the same term, but at $650,000 per season.

“We appreciate the fact that the Arbitrator weighed all the evidence presented and awarded what we believe is a very reasonable contract for this player,” said Lightning general manager Jay Feaster said. “We had consistently discussed a negotiated arrangement with Ryan that always had us starting at the $750,000 mark and we believe the award in this case is consistent with our thinking. The good news is that Ryan will now be under contract for the 2007-08 season and the amount of the award will not force our hand in terms of having to move the player.”

Craig, 25, has scored 29 goals and recorded 55 points in 120 NHL games. In 2005-06, he tied for second most goals by a rookie in Lightning history with 15.

The Kings’ leading scorer will earn $3.1 million this season and $3.6 million in 2008-09.

That is a substantially lower salary than the $6 million per season Cammalleri was asking for during an arbitration hearing was last Thursday in Toronto. It’s believed that the Kings were countering Cammalleri’s demands with a $2.6 million per season offer.

“We got there the hard way,” Kings GM Dean Lombardi told the [Los Angeles] Times. “Nobody wins at these things. I think it is safe to say it came out closer to our end. But these situations aren’t for winning and losing.”

“The challenge for him and the team is to go to another level,” Lombardi told the Times. “He had a good year last year, but it’s one year and the team still has not had success.”

“Patrice is a seasoned veteran who brings a vast experience at the NHL level. His presence adds depth to our group of defensemen,” said Bob Gainey.

While no financial terms have been released yet, reports surfaced last week that the Canadiens were interested in bring back Brisebois and had offered $700,000 per season.

The 36-year-old blueliner spent the last two season with the Colorado Avalanche, where he scored 11 goals and recorded 38 assists in 113 games. Prior to that, Brisebois spent the first 14 seasons of his career with the Canadiens.

The Islanders now have 48 hours to accept or decline the arbitrator’s decision. If the club decides to walk away from the ruling, Hunter will become an unrestricted free agent.

However, it’s expected that the Islanders — who have plenty of salary cap space to work with — will accept the ruling.

The 27-year-old Hunter scored 20 goals and recorded 15 assists last season, while earning $1 million.

The Anaheim Ducks have decided not to match the five-year, $21.25 million offer tendered to Penner last Thursday by the Oilers.

As compensation, the Ducks will receive the Oilers’ first, second and third-round picks in next summer’s NHL Entry Draft.

That is $700,000 less than the restricted free agent asked for in his arbitration hearing last Monday in Toronto, and $600,000 more than the Rangers were offering. Avery earned $1.1 million last season.

While the Rangers harshly criticized Avery in their arbitration brief, the club appears to be in good spirits about the decision handed down.

“We are pleased to have Sean under contract and are looking forward to him returning with the same passion and enthusiasm he brought to our team last year,” Rangers general manager Glen Sather said in a release. “He is a terrific competitor, who we expect to play a significant role in a successful season.”

The only question remains whether the bitter words used by the Rangers to describe Avery in this ugly process has soured the feisty forward on the Blue Shirts.