R&R: Moving Day, Part IX

Brad Lukowich. I don't know, man.

Greener pastures. Maybe greener islands.

Brad will be taking up arms with the New York Islanders this fall, making him the second of our top four championship blue-liners to disappear without a trace. Jassen Cullimore being the other.

Cullimore joined the Blackhawks last summer. The same place where Khabibulin just showed up. That combined with their other recent pick-ups, including Martin Lapointe and Adrian Aucoin, might be fair to say that Chicago could be a real force this season. We'll just have to see.

But as for the Isles stealing Lukowich, the fact is they could use him. The loss of Aucoin and the potential/likely loss of Roman Hamrlik leaves a pretty good dent in their blue line.

That said, there are rumblings that Hamrlik could be the next original Bolt to return to Tampa. He'd probably like to join a contender, and it's not like he didn't enjoy living here. We traded him to Edmonton back in '97 for three guys who never really left their marks on the team.

The other big news from a league-wide perspective was the signing of Eric Lindros to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yeah, they got Forsberg, but does Philadelphia really mean to dismantle their entire team piece by piece? Unlike Chicago, who needs to retool, the Flyers didn't really have that losing problem. Still, if the shoe fits.

As for Toronto, they're just stock-piling all-stars much in the way the Rangers have for the past few years. Lindros' career is pretty much over, though it's interesting to note that the Leafs wouldn't sign him until after an MRI exam.

Quite a few players re-signed contracts today. Joe Thornton of Boston, Mike Ribiero of Montreal, Niko Kapanen and Steve Ott of Dallas, Kyle McLaren and Niko Dimitrakos of San Jose, Dan Hinote of Colorado, and Pasi Nurminen of Atlanta will all be continuing with their respective teams.

With no other real hockey news, I leave you with this thought: (conjure the voice of Bolts radio guy Dave Mishkin) "St. Louis! St. Louis! St. Louis! Marty's done it again!"




Marty St. Louis!   Why? Because who doesn't love seeing the Stanley Cup hovering over a Lightning jersey in Marty's hands? Tell me that.

R&R: Not Going Anywhere

I think there were more re-signings today than their have been in the past two weeks combined. Quite a few players made the decision to continue with their current teams.

Sergei Samsonov and P.J. Axelsson of Boston, the Sedin brothers of Vancouver, Justin Williams of Carolina, Wade Belak and Aki Berg of Toronto, Robert Esche of Philadelphia, Andrei Zyuzin of Minnesota, Scott Hartnell of Nashville, Martin Havlat of Ottawa, Andrew Ference of Calgary, and Wayne Primeau of San Jose are all staying with their respective clubs.

With regard to the free agent market and players beating a path out of town, there are a couple of guys changing teams. Jan Hrdina, previously a Devil, is moving to Columbus and Mathieu Biron, formerly of Florida, is taking a job with the Capitals.

Plus, the Blackhawks, realizing that with Khabibulin at the helm they no longer needed anymore goalies, decided to trade Jocelyn Thibault to the Penguins for a fourth-round pick in next year's draft.

Among other news was the announcement out of Calgary that Dave Lowry and goalie Roman Turek are retiring. Lowry's staying with the club though, to coach the Hitmen (the Flames' minor league affiliate). Turek is 35 and wants more money than he's worth. Do the math.




Boyle Here To Stay   This is a snapshot from a game last year during the Stanley Cup Finals. Dan Boyle and Brad Richards will be back for sure. Dave Andreychuk is still mulling his options for the future.

R&R: A Busy Day In Tampa

I knew today would be more eventful.

The Tampa Bay Lightning made three important moves today. First, we re-signed blue-liner Danny Boyle. Boyle was a major defensive factor in our run to the Cup last season. Losing him would've caused a lot of problems. None of which we now have to consider for at least three years.

The second move came shortly thereafter. We will see Rob DiMaio returning to Tampa. If Fritz doesn't fill the void left by Roy, I'm sure DiMaio will be able to step in. And I say "returning to Tampa" because DiMaio was one of the original Bolts. In 1992, we claimed him from the New York Islanders in the NHL Expansion Draft. I think it'll be nice to have him back. We lost our last original a few years ago when Rob Zamuner was traded Ottawa.

The biggest move of the day was announced just a few minutes before I wrote this post. The Lightning signed aging goaltender Sean Burke to a two-year contract. Burke is 38 years old and a 16-year-veteran in the league. He's played for the Devils, Whalers/Hurricanes, Canucks, Panthers, Coyotes, and, most recently, the Flyers.

According to team management, Burke is a good choice to replace Khabibulin because he'll be up to the task of battling for the No. 1 spot with John Grahame. And should he lose that contest, he would take on a positive "team first" mentality — necessary to fill in the gaps for Grahame.

If Feaster is right in that regard, I think Burke will be good to have. In the six years Grahame's been in the league he's only been a back-up. Now he'll have the chance to prove he's worth headlining in the crease. Not only that but Burke should serve as a good mentor. Grahame turns 30 at the end of this month.

Personally, I think it'll be interesting to see what happens.

The latest free agent signings around the league are listed below:

• Dean McAmmond joins the Blues after turning down Calgary;


• Andrew Cassels will dump his Blue Jacket for time in D.C.;


• Richard Park left Minnesota to sign with the Canucks;


• and Calgary swapped a draft pick for Avalanche netminder Philippe Sauve.

Still, more players re-signed contracts than not. Among players continuing with their respective clubs are Simon Gagne, Kim Johnsson and Patrick Sharp of Philadelphia, Nils Ekman of San Jose, Kevyn Adams of Carolina, Pierre-Marc Bouchard of Minnesota, and Karlis Skrastins of Colorado.

I nearly forgot to mention another bit of Lightning news. The team also announced today that Dmitry Afanasenkov has re-signed. So that's another championship team member locked down for this year. Now it's just a matter of getting Marty and Vinny back on board.

It's just a matter of time. Just hopefully not too much more.




Getting Used To It   Here are a few odd sights around the league that everyone will have to start getting used to. Paul Kariya's 9 sewn to a Predators sweater. Jeremy Roenick donning black and purple. And The Great One behind the bench (and in Phoenix).

R&R: Moving Day, Part VI

After my post on Saturday Ziggy Palffy decided to leave Los Angeles and sign on with the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is pretty big news and I would have mentioned it sooner, only during one of those wonderful Florida storms the power went out, zapping our cable modem and leaving us without power all day.

But back to the situation at hand. Palffy joins the Pens who, thanks to sheer luck, drafted the most talked about prospect (arguably) since Mario Lemieux. Ironically, Pittsburgh drafted him too. But the important thing is, they can use all the help they can get. So we'll see if this deal pays off.

Below are some others players who are moving to new teams.

• Ben Clymer is leaving Tampa to join the Capitals;


• Stephanie Robidas will move to Dallas after leaving the Blackhawks;


• Scott Nichol is also departing Chicago for a deal with the Predators;


• and Chris Osgood is leaving the Blues to head back to Detroit.

It's not all love-'em-and-leave-'em. Among players staying with their respective teams are Rick Nash (2004's Rocket Richard co-winner) of Columbus, Matt Cullen of Carolina, Pierre Dagenais of Montreal, and Mike Grier of Buffalo.

The other big news is that Wayne Gretzky will finally stand behind the bench. The Phoenix Coyotes today named him as head coach. I guess will find out if he's as good directing players as he was scoring goals.

But that is not all for this day in hockey. The NHL announced today that it is reinstating Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi, who had been suspended indefinitely after breaking the neck of Colorado's Steve Moore back in the 2003-04 season.

He hasn't played hockey since then. He hasn't been allowed to. That said, the league felt he'd had his punishment. Moore sued Bertuzzi civilly so now his problems will be dealt with in court. Now, we'll see if the Canucks keep him. He's a good player who did something extremely stupid, so it's not likely they'll be too willing to part with him.

Short post today. Not as many free agent signings as I'd have thought.




Out Cold   This was Steve Moore as he was wheeled off the ice after being attacked from behind by Todd Bertuzzi. Word came down from the league today that Bertuzzi's suspension will end and he will be reinstated this season.