Patrik Elias, F, re-signed with the Devils this morning... signing his qualifying offer. That puts the Devils over the cap limit, with still some key positions to fill. Elias is slated to miss the opening part of the season after recovering from Hepatitis A, but even with the salary cap rule of if a player misses 10 or more games consecutively, the salary cost per game is subtracted from the salary cap against, won't help a a great deal. Also, since he was only signed to his qualifying offer of 1-year, it is likely that he will become unrestricted come next summer. I would think Devils management will deal him for a high pick soon.
Roberto Luongo, G, is headed to arbitration in Toronto this morning. This will ensure that he is at the Panthers training camp in a couple weeks. Unfortunately for the Panthers, this move to bring Luongo to arbitration has publicly dampened the Gold Medal winning keeper's spirits of staying with the team after this one-year deal expires. This also could do two things to his play: 1) make him play better and ask for a trade or 2) make him play poorly through the year and leave via unrestricted free agency. I would imagine if Mike Keenan can't console his keeper, he'll move him to get something in return. Stay tuned to this one.
Pasi Nurminen, G, looks to be on the verge of retirement. Reports out of Atlanta are saying that Nurminen has suffered a knee injury that looks to be career-ending. This is a shame, really... I thought he was going to really do something. Atlanta will have a lot less of a goaltending controversy now that Kari Lehtonen looks to fill the shoes of the starting role after a solid performance in the minors last year. Lehtonen is a favourite up-and-comer of mine and one that I'd look to in the pool this year for a good second or third round pick.
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