News & Notes

Well, the top ranking Unrestricted Free Agent has signed a deal. Manny Legace signed with Central Division rival, St. Louis and should take on their number one role from the get-go. Legace and the Blues will face his former team eight times in the coming season, so it should make the rivalry a little spicier.

The Blues have done a lot of work in this off-season to make themselves a force to be reckoned with again after a pretty poor campaign last season. The fantasy numbers may come a decent combination of old veterans with a touch of new, young talent. Legace was 20th in pool points in Detroit, playing in the easy Central Division, so it will be unlikely that he'll return to his 37 wins in St. Louis, unless the Blues really get it together.

With Legace's signing, the Blues will just crawl across the line of minimum salary in the league. Legace's salary for the year is still yet to be announced, but with Weight only making $3.5 million, Guerin making $2.0 million, Tkachuk making $3.7 million (but more counting against the cap), McKee making an even $4 million... the other talents are not quite as expensive. Larry Pleau looks like he's got the picture now in the new NHL.

Perennial pool pick defenseman, Eric Desjardins, will call it a career with a formal announcement on Thursday. A usual mid to late round pick in most pools will call it a day after somewhat of an injury-plagued season, only playing 45 games. Desjardins, the 17-year veteran, will leave as the Flyers' second-highest scoring defenseman of all-time and leave with one Stanley Cup ring (Montreal in '93).

Winger J.P. Dumont is now on the Unrestricted Free Agent list after he was let go by the Sabres this week. Dumont was awarded $2.9 million for 1 year by an arbitrator last week and Sabres will walk away citing he isn't one of the more important parts of the team. Dumont joins a small list of 20+-goal scorers still available on the market, including Yanic Perreault, Anson Carter, Petr Sykora and Peter Bondra. Teams, other than Buffalo, can sign him for any amount, as they are not restricted to the arbitration ruling.


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