R&R: A Rare Break

At the end of a week filled with more contracts than a lawyer's office came a calm before an almost certain storm that will swell up again next week. It's true that this was probably one of the busiest weeks in NHL history with regard to player movement and contractual transactions.

And it's quite possible next week may give this one a run for its money. Raise your hand if you think that's crazy.

Put your hand down.

It's the weekend, so the lawyers and agents and everyone basically took the day off. There were only a few real transactions to speak of.

Colorado got busy after losing Kariya. They re-signed Milan Hejduk to a five-year contract and snatched up Andrew Burnette with a new deal since he apparently has no interest in returning to the Minnesota Wild.

The Hurricanes also continued to build their offense. After signing ex-Bolt Cory Stillman last week, Carolina got Ray Whitney's John Hancock on the dotted line. That's a couple of significant additions to their lineup. I'm not saying this will give the Lightning a run for their money, but at the very least, it won't be easy.

There being no other news, today's post will be a short one. And I may not even post at all tomorrow depending on any potential transactions. We'll see what happens.

By the way, I just wanted to point out that, on the sidebar I have the Lightning's pre-season schedule posted. As far as I'm concerned, hockey returns Sept. 19.




Five More In Mile High   Here, Milan Hejduk tries to put one by San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov. Hejduk is one of the few members of the "I'm-sticking-with-my-team" club this summer. He re-upped with the Avs today, a contract good for next five years. You know, barring any trades or whatever.

R&R: Another Bolt Gone

If you haven't heard the news, either you've been on the moon or you're not a hockey fan. Both of those seem crazy to me. But it is true. Nikolai Khabibulin, one of the top three reasons the Lightning won the Cup, has signed with the Chicago Blackhawks. It's a very sad day for Lightning hockey fans. Especially myself.

How could anyone want to leave a team he won a championship with? After everything he'd been through with that team, turns out what he really wanted was money. Players like that make me crazy. Yesterday I talked about how I won't miss Andre Roy, now that he's in Pittsburgh. I'm not sure I can say the same about the "Bulin Wall."

We got Nik as a free agent as the 2000-01 season was winding down. He refused to sign a new contract with Phoenix because he wanted more money than they were willing to give him. More than anyone was willing to give him. He played in the minor leagues for the entire 1999-2000 season before realizing he wanted back in the NHL, no matter what the pay.

The Lightning eventually signed him to a contract after acquiring his rights from Phoenix as part of a trade involving Paul Mara and Mike Johnson. He had been away from the league for nearly two years, playing only two games in that 2000-01 season. His next three seasons proved a triumphant return culminating in a Stanley Cup victory.

Now he's back to demanding more money. And this time, wearing that championship ring, he's more worth it. Especially to the Blackhawks. It's a shame, but it's what happened.

Hopefully the Lightning will be able to find someone equal to the task of replacing him but even if they don't, I think John Grahame will be able to handle the pressure. He proved that in the Bolts' Cup run.

Obviously I had a lot to say about Khabibulin, but he wasn't the only guy to change teams today. Below is a list of other notable signings.

• Paul Kariya will become a Predator after year in Colorado;


• Tony Amonte left the Flyers behind to join Calgary;


• Jason Allison agreed to a deal with Toronto after a few years with the Kings;


• Darren McCarty ditched Hockeytown for a few years with the Flames;


• Martin Straka signed with the Rangers, leaving Los Angeles;


• Brad May will join the Avalanche now that he's departed Vancouver;


• Jim Dowd is bound for the Windy City after a term with the Canadiens;


• and Martin Rucinsky will be moving to Manhattan after leaving the Canucks.

And just like I've been reporting every day, not everyone is signing elsewhere. Brendan Morrison of Vancouver, Tie Domi of Toronto, and Igor Ulanov of Edmonton re-upped with their respective clubs.

Finally, there's just a little more Tampa Bay news. The Lightning re-signed Nolan Pratt along with minor/draftee players Brandon Elliott, Brady Greco, Timo Helbling, and Mitch Fritz, who stands 6-foot-8, 260 pounds. To put it another way, he's enormous. Remember what I said yesterday about replacing Roy?

Speaking of replacement, there are more than a couple good choices to replace the newly departed Khabibulin between the pipes. Buffalo's Martin Biron. Florida's Roberto Luongo. Dan Blackburn or Mike Dunham from the Rangers. Philadelphia's Sean Burke. Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff. Chicago's Jocelyn Thibault. Colorado's David Aebischer. Detroit's Curtis Joseph. LA's Roman Cechmanek. St. Louis' Chris Osgood. Vancouver's Dan Cloutier. And most of all, Montreal's Jose Theodore.

They're all very available. The favorites are Luongo, Kiprusoff and Theodore.

In that order.




Gone With The Wind   Nikolai Khabibulin is a Bolt no more. The sad news came down from Chicago today. Fours years. Twenty-seven million. What a dope.

R&R: Moving Day, Part III

Open season on the free agent market continued today. The player trafficking wasn't limited to minor players either. Some pretty big names were being moved around.

For one thing, the Flyers realized that signing Peter Forsberg and company doesn't leave a lot of room for anyone else on the payroll when considering the NHL's newly christened salary cap. That said, nine-time all-star Jeremy Roenick is heading back to the Western Conference. Philadelphia traded him to the Kings for a draft pick. That's gotta feel good.

On the other side of that, the Avalanche came to the realization that with the loss of Forsberg and Adam Foote they've been pretty well gutted. Last night they signed Patrice Brisebois of Montreal and Pierre Turgeon of Dallas.

Speaking of the Stars, the flip-flopping Mike Modano finally made a decision. There was a wink then a slap then a hug which ultimately brought him to signing a five-year deal with the team he's played for ever since they were North Stars in Minnesota.

Beyond that, there were lots of players who signed contracts with new clubs today. They are listed below.

• Scott Niedermayer made a bee-line for Anaheim to play alongside his brother Rob after many years with the Devils;


• Alexei Zhamnov signed on with Boston after realizing the Flyers can't afford to pay him or anyone else;


• Teppo Numminen beat a path out of The Big D to become a Sabre;


• Oleg Tverdovsky, an ex-Devil, will be moving to Carolina;


• Ville Nieminen of Calgary fame is now a Ranger;


• Ex-Lightning draftee Daymond Langkow left Phoenix to join the Flames;


• Columbus snatched up former Sens goalie Martin Prusek;


• and New Jersey agreed to terms with ex-Flyer Vladimir Malakhov and ex-Bruin Dan McGillis.

Among all the team changes going on, some players actually know what loyalty is. Like Modano (see above), Mathieu Schneider and Chris Chelios of Detroit, Alex Tanguay and Kurt Sauer of Colorado, Brian Rafalski of New Jersey, and Alexei Kovalev of Montreal are sticking with their respective teams.

A couple other contracted players also switched teams by way of trades. Joining Roenick (see above) is Flames forward Chris Clark who is headed to Washington.

Then there's the second member of the 2004 Stanley Cup champion Lightning who will be donning new colors come October. Following Cory Stillman's departure to Carolina, enforcer Andre Roy signed a deal with the Penguins today.

I feel he's fairly replaceable. Roy's just a tough guy who likes to fight. There are plenty of those around the league who'd be more then happy to hitch their wagon to a contender. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not discounting some of his big moments during the playoffs. But if he wants to move on, I won't really miss him.




Pre-Game Lights   I took this picture at one of the first games the Lightning played in the Ice Palace, which has since had its name changed to the St. Pete Times Forum. Yeah, that's roughly the same.

R&R: Moving Day, Part II

I'm going to have to emphasize the point in my last post almost to the point of suggesting that the NHL may be unrecognizable in October. So many players switched teams yesterday. And that was nothing.

Today the big names came out in full force, pen in hand, to sign their lives (or at least a few years) away to brand new clubs.

• Brian Leetch left the Leafs (like Nieuwendyk and Roberts) to head back to Boston, where he went to college;


• Peter Forsberg left the Avalanche (like Foote) to head back to Philadelphia, where he was first drafted into the NHL;


• Miroslav Satan booked some time in Edmonton, leaving Buffalo;


• Bryan Berard signed with Columbus, leaving the Blackhawks behind;


• Mathieu Dandenault sped out of Motor City to play for the Habs;


• Sergei Gonchar is moving to Pittsburgh, ditching the Bruins;


• and the Oilers made some big trades which landed them Chris Pronger from St. Louis and Michael Peca from the Islanders;

In other, less-interesting news, Manny Fernandez of Minnesota, Markus Naslund of Vancouver, and Jarome Iginla of Calgary all re-signed with their respective teams.

The bad news is for Lightning fans. The Carolina Hurricanes signed Cory Stillman last night after I posted. The second-leading scorer and now he'll be playing for one of our prime rivals. We'll have to see that abandoning back-stabber eight times this season.

The only good news in losing Stillman is that we did get Vinny Prospal back from Anaheim last season. We initially picked up Stillman because of losing Prospal to the Mighty Ducks in the first place. Now that we have him back, I guess Jay didn't see much point in keeping both of them.

Stillman was one of our top power play performers, but I'm sure Prospal can more than fill his shoes. It's sad to see Stillman go, but at least he helped us to a Stanley Cup. Something he won't be doing again any time soon.

I'll still be keeping a close eye on the wires until (at the very least) Khabibulin and Lecavalier re-sign contracts here in Tampa. All this waiting around is killing me.


Sorry, I have no pictures for you today. Wait until the season begins, I'll be having more pictures than I know what to do with.

Relocating And Replacing

The free agent market officially opened yesterday at noon. Until that point, teams weren't allowed to talk to players without contracts. Since then, over a dozen NHLers have ditched their old teams to don new uniforms come October.

And I assure you this isn't the end of it. I'm just keeping up to date here. There will likely be a lot of big signings and probably more than a few trades in the coming weeks.

But as for the last two days, here are some of the guys who will be relocating next month:

• Joe Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts left Toronto behind to sign with the Panthers;


• Pavol Demitra ditched the Blues for sunny Los Angeles;


• Adrian Aucoin left the Islanders for a stint in Chicago;


• Dave Scatchard also departed Long Island for a job with the Bruins;


• Bobby Holik dumped the Rangers and is bound for Atlanta;


• Long-time Avs star Adam Foote will be a Blue Jacket;


• and Philadelphia was on a roll snatching Derian Hatcher from Detroit, Mike Rathje from San Jose, and Chris Therien from Dallas.

Not only that, but to fill the void left by Aucoin's departure, the Isles inked Alexei Zhitnik, a long-time Sabre. Plus the Flyers traded blue-liner Danny Markov to Nashville for a pick in next year's draft.

Quite a few players have changed teams and that was just the first two days. Give it a few more weeks and the new NHL might look even more different when the teams hit the ice in October.

The free agent signing flurry wouldn't matter to me so much if I wasn't combing every transaction web page for the names Lecavalier and Khabibulin. I'm just hoping Jay Feaster works his magic and convinces those guys Tampa is where they should stay.

We would be a very different team without them. I'd almost venture to say they're irreplaceable.




Best Of The Best   This photo has no relevance to today's story. It's just from the 2004 All-Star Game. We won't be seeing another one until 2007 so I thought at least if I posted a picture we wouldn't forget about the concept.