The New York Rangers continued their free agency spending on Thursday by signing 30-year-old forward Ales Kotalik to a three-year, $9 million deal. It's a move that could signal the end of restricted free agent Nikolai Zherdev's tenure in New York after one, uninspiring season.
As for Kotalik, he spent the 2008-09 season with Buffalo and Edmonton, while he's scored at least 20 goals in three of the past four seasons. He's also one of the best shootout specialists in the league. General manager Glen Sather, however, continues to sign checks with a stamp. Or so it seems.
After jumping out to a 1-0 series lead in the Western Conference Final, Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock held a press conference on Monday and fielded a variety of questions from the media. For the most part, it was your typical, run-of-the-mill press conference.
About half way through, a reporter started asking Babcock about how he once joked that he was ready for the salary cap to break up the young talent the Chicago Blackhawks have assembled over the years. In Babcock's mind, he wasn't joking.
Weeks of rumors, innuendo, and e5s will finally come to a head on Wednesday. At 3pm Eastern, the NHL trade deadline will pass. You can follow all the activity with our NHL Trade Deadline Tracker.
Entering play Tuesday night, 23 NHL teams are either in a playoff position or within six points of one. While this is great for the playoff races, it's not so good for the deadline. It minimizes the number of potential sellers, drives up the trade market for the few players who should be available, and leaves us wondering if any big deals will go down. Here's a look at how the Eastern Conference looks heading into the deadline.
For the Penguins, they finally get some help on their wings as Kunitz can provide immediate help up front, while Tangradi instantly becomes the best prospect in a depleted Pittsburgh farm system. According to Hockey'sFuture, he was the No. 2 prospect in Anaheim prior to the trade.
Things are getting ugly in New York as the Rangers continued their recent slide with a 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday afternoon, their seventh loss in the past eight games, putting them in the quagmire that is the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Aside from getting booed much of the afternoon (the only emotion the Madison Square Garden faithful showed) the Rangers were also getting crushed by NBC analysts Pierre McGuire and Mike Milbury for their lack of effort and intensity.
Every Monday morning The Ice Sheet will take a close look at everything that's happened in the NHL since Friday night at 5:00 p.m. To read them all, click here.
On Saturday morning when I passed along the news that Petr Prucha was actually going to get into the lineup for Saturday's Rangers-Lightning tilt in Prague, I also made a point of linking to a rather angry Larry Brooks column where the Slap Shot columnist let loose with every little complaint he had about the way the Rangers were handling their pre-season. After giving it a read, you could be forgiven for thinking the team was in a bit of disarray:
It's all about Renney coaching a team without Jagr and Shanahan to lean on, and it's all about this group filling the huge voids created with the decision to dispose of the team's post-lockout identity as if it were toxic.
It's all about one of the most vanilla Rangers teams in memory bonding in order to form a unit greater than the sum of its underwhelming parts.
Well, here we are a little less than 48 hours later, and all is forgotten in the wake of a pair of 2-1 victories over the revamped Lightning. Rangers newcomers Markus Naslund and Wade Redden combined for two goals and two assists over the weekend, as the New Yorkers pretty easily dominated the run of play as the Lightning played against type. While new owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie spent most of the Summer stacking the team with loads of new offensive weapons, it was their goalies, Mike Smith and Olie Kolzig, who kept things close, stopping 76 of 80 shots over the course of two games.
Apparently, it's a multi-year deal with an average salary exceeding $5 million per season. As to who it might be, I guess it's time to get out your spreadsheets and start guessing. Our colleague James Mirtle lists possible destinations as St. Louis, Toronto, Montreal, Columbus, the Islanders, Phoenix and Atlanta. Mirtle also cites LA as a possible destination thanks to all their cap room, however, they would need to reacquire a third round draft pick in order to make it happen.
Losing Meszaros and Wade Redden in the same offseason couldn't have been part of the plan for Murray and the rest of the Ottawa front office. A defense that was deep and solid just two seasons ago during a run to the Finals now looks horribly vulnerable. What's worse, while the Sens might be thin on the blue line, they're still loaded up front, which makes taking the draft picks and embarking on a rebuild program something of a non-starter.
If I'm Sens owner Eugene Melnyk, I'm getting ready to ask Murray some very difficult questions about the future of the franchise.
When a veteran player signs a long-term deal with a club, they often demand a no-trade clause to prevent them from being rented out to another club on a GM's whim. Why, the player must think, would the team want to sign me for five years if they don't want me around for five years?
Of course, circumstances change quite drastically over the course of four of five years, and what was once a playoff team, such as the Toronto Maple Leafs were, is now a bottom feeder in desperate need of an infusion of draft picks and prospects.
In the case of Wade Redden, however, we see a great team trying to, strangely, deal away their #1 defenseman before the playoffs begin. Why would the Senators, who are poised to be the #1 contender out of the Eastern Conference, want to deal away their top defenseman?
Normally, people don't want to work where they don't feel wanted. If your bosses made continual hints that they didn't appreciate the work that you did, wouldn't you be inclined to go find a job with another, more appreciative, company?
Well, Wade Redden has been stubborn in his insistence on staying put in Canada's capital, refusing an off-season to the Oilers (for good reason!), and now refusing to waive his no-trade clause as the trade deadline approaches.
Offense: The two teams are just loaded with firepower -- Ottawa was second in the NHL in goals scored (behind Buffalo), Pittsburgh was third. The Sens are led by the trio of Dany Heatley (50 goals, 55 assists), Jason Spezza (34, 53 in just 67 games) and Daniel Alfredsson (29,58), while the big guns for the Pens are scoring champ Sidney Crosby (36,84), presumptive rookie of the year Evgeni Malkin (33,52) and the League's second-leading defenseman scorer, Sergei Gonchar (13,54). Both teams have depth, with each featuring five 20-goal scorers and a sixth with 19, and both have strong power plays, with Pittsburgh boasting the League's 5th best efficiency with the extra man and Ottawa ranking 14th. Both are also strong down the middle, though Ottawa should have a noticeable advantage in the faceoff circle. Edge: Neither
Defense: Ottawa was 11th in the League in goals against, Pittsburgh was 15th, and the Sens ranked ninth in the League on the penalty kill compared to the Pens' 17th-place ranking. Ottawa's top four defensemen -- Wade Redden, Chris Phillips, Andrej Meszaros and Anton Volchenkov each averaged better than 20 minutes of ice time per game and will be relied heavily upon to shut down the Pittsburgh attack. The Pens blueline isn't as deep or experienced, but rookie pivot Jordan Staal's seven shorthanded goals reinforce the fact that Pittsburgh can score at any time. Edge: Ottawa
Goaltending: Ray Emery won 33 games for Ottawa and finished the season 14th in goals against average and 8th in save percentage. He has two playoff series under his belt, cruising past the Tampa Bay Lightning in Round One last year before losing in five games to the Buffalo Sabres in the second round. Marc-Andre Fleury won 40 games for Pittsburgh this year, but wasn't in the top 25 in the League in GAA or save percentage. This will be his first postseason. If the kid struggles, will Coach Michel Therrien go to Joselyn Thibault? Edge: Ottawa
The New York Rangers continued their free agency spending on Thursday by signing 30-year-old forward Ales Kotalik to a three-year, $9 million deal. It's a move that could signal the end of restricted free agent Nikolai Zherdev's tenure in New York after one, uninspiring season. 
After jumping out to a 1-0 series lead in the Western Conference Final, Red Wings head coach 
Weeks of rumors, innuendo, and 
Penguins defenseman 
Things are getting ugly in New York as the Rangers continued their recent slide with a 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday afternoon, their seventh loss in the past eight games, putting them in the quagmire that is the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Here's a shocker for the end of the work day: Just a couple of hours after Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray announced that the team had been 
When a veteran player signs a long-term deal with a club, they often demand a no-trade clause to prevent them from being rented out to another club on a GM's whim. Why, the player must think, would the team want to sign me for five years if they don't want me around for five years?
