And I'm back!

Hey!

The weird part is that I published this post on te day before yesterday. At least I thought I did. So there will be a "double" post in the same post, if you know what I mean


Call me mad if you want, but the NHL began yesterday. OK, it really began with the draft. But I've been in Thailand so I couldn't follow it that much. Now, however, is the time of wheelings and dealings. The thing we all now is that Mats Sundin won't be playing with the Maple Leafs this upcoming season. The latest rumour is that he's off to Vancouver. We'll see what happens.



These are just some of the deals done during the Free Agency period:
Niklas Hagman (F), four years - Toronto Maple Leafs
Jeff Finger (D), four years - Toronto Maple Leafs
Curtis Joseph (G), one year - Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto is building a new team, which means that this is not the last moves we will see during the summer. Worth mentioning is that Andrew Raycroft (G), Darcy Tucker (F) and Kyle Wellwood no longer are Toronto-players.

Andrew Raycroft (G), ? - Colorado Avalanche - Replacing Jose Theodore

Jose Theodore (G), ? - Washington Capitals - Replacing Cristobal Huet

Cristobal Huet (G), ? - Chicago Blackhawks - Will work "together" with Khabibulin. I'm interested in if this will succeed. None of those two would want to sit on the bench.

Ty Conklin (G), ? - Detroit Red Wings - Will be a backup for Osgood. Weird move by Holland. There were better guys out there.

Olaf Kolzig (G), one year - Tampa Bay Lightnings - Will bring stability to the goalkeeping side. Interesting.

Alex Auld (G),? - Ottawa Senators - This means one thing and one thing only. Ray Emery WILL be gone.

Brian Rolston (F), four years - New Jersey Devils
Bobby Holik (F), ? - New Jersey Devils. - Both these guys will be coming "home" and they will rock in "The Rock".

Brian Campbell (D), eight (!) years - Chicago Blackhawks - Long contract, hefty price ($7.1 million a year). But it's a great player and he's needed to bring calm to the young Chicago team.

Wade Redden (D), ? - New York Rangers - Fantastic signing by the Rangers. He will be great. Together with Campbell, Redden was the best D name in the Free Agency.

Jarkko Ruutu (F), ? - Ottawa Senators - Somewhat a weird move. But the signing has to do with the fact that Ruutus older brother is a scout for the Sens.

Sean Avery (F), four years - Dallas Stars -$3.87 million a year for four years. I don't know. Is it worth it? I mean, he's for sure a special player but that's a lot of money. I would not have signed him for more than two years, perhaps with an option of extension.

Darcy Tucker (F), one year - Colorado Avalanche - One weird move, for sure. The Avs need to get younger players into the team, not collecting old ones.

Kristian Huselius (F). four years - Columbus Blue Jackets - A good move for Huselius. He's coming to a new team. A team that has just lost one of its snipers (Zherdev) and this could mean playing in the first line. Worth mentioning is that he's linking up with former team-mate Fredrik Norrena, who he played together with during the lockout season in Linkopings HC (Sweden).

Four player trade:
Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche goes to New York Rangers in exchange for Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin. A nice move for both teams. The Rangers needs to improve their offence while Columbus needs some strong defensmen. My guess is that the Rangers aren't even close to be done aquiring new guys for the 08-09 season.

Marian Hossa (F), one year - Detroit Red Wings.
Nice move by GM Ken Hollamd. But is Hossa as good as the hype tells us? Personally I think the Pens would have done just fine without him in this playoffs. But maybe Holland knows something we don't.....

Like I said, these are just some of the moves done. More will follow. Stay tuned!