The Blackhawks have reportedly placed both goaltender Corey Crawford and defenseman Aaron Johnson on waivers today, likely in order to send them down to the minors. 
Here's one that I missed out on yesterday. The Coyotes decided to sign Robert Lang to a new 1-year deal on Tuesday, adding some veteran talent to the young squad. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Sabres continued to send down some of their young talent on Wednesday, shipping Nathan Gerbe and Mike Weber down to the AHL. Both Gerbe and Weber haven't had the best of luck cracking the Sabres line-up in their career, being sent down to the AHL at pretty much every turn.| Forwards | Defense | Goaltenders |
| Derek Roy | Craig Rivet | Ryan Miller |
| Jason Pominville | Toni Lydman | Patrick Lalime |
| Thomas Vanek | Steve Montador | |
| Tim Connolly | Andrej Sekera | |
| Drew Stafford | Henrik Tallinder | |
| Clarke MacArthur | Chris Butler | |
| Paul Gaustad | Nathan Paetsch | |
| Dan Paille | Tyler Myers | |
| Jochen Hecht | ||
| Mike Grier | ||
| Matt Ellis | ||
| Patrik Kaleta |
The Sabres have a fairly complete line-up above, but there does seem to be a bit of a logjam among the defensemen. Having eight projected defensemen usually means that one will be cut before the start of their season. 
The 22 players that are listed above, surprisingly don't come at a very reasonable cost. Their current cap number, if the list of players is correct, sits at $56.2 million, only $600,000 short of the cap ceiling. No matter what their line-up looks like, they will likely be keeping only 22 players in their opening night line-up.
Last night was the annual draft for the Opiated Sherpa website and there were six Sabres taken all together. Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, Tim Connolly and Drew Stafford were all selected in rounds 2 through 12.
Well, I hope you didn't take Sergei Kostitsyn in your hockey pool. The younger brother was suspended by the Canadiens today for not reporting to the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL. Kostitsyn has reportedly demanded a trade to leave the Canadiens organization, trying to find some greener pastures.
Further to the signing of Maxim Afinogenov yesterday, the Thrashers signed defenseman Mark Popovic to a 1-year deal, thanks to a good camp as a professional tryout. Popovic and Afinogenov were two players that really impressed in Thrashers camp and they were greatly rewarded with a new deal. The deal is reportedly worth $600,000 this season, but the cap was not going to be a concern this season for the Thrashers.
On Wednesday morning, news leaked out that Cam Ward has signed an extension with the Carolina Hurricanes. The reported deal is for six seasons, worth a grand total of $37.8 million. That works out to be a cap hit of $6.3 million per season. At the end of the 2010 season, Ward was scheduled to become a restricted free agent.
Ward has quickly established himself as one of the NHL's premier goalies over the past number of seasons, winning a Stanley Cup and earning many-a-win for the Hurricanes in the regular season. Last year, Ward finished with 39 wins and 6 shutouts for the Hurricanes and listed third among all goalies in pool rankings. That's some very established company he was with.Since his extension does not begin until the 2010/2011 season, there is no change to any of the Hurricanes cap figures for this coming season. The forecast for the 2011 season already lookings rosy, as the Hurricanes already have 12 of their key players signed on at a cap hit of $39.5 million. That number does not include figures for Zach Boychuk, Drayson Bowman or Brandon Sutter.At the draft last night, Ward was taken 14th overall, in the first round by Stacey. Ward was the sixth goalie taken in the first round and has plenty of potential to be in the top three once again. At the 14th pick, he could end up being a huge bargain.
On Wednesday, Mats Sundin announced that he is retiring from the NHL, ending quite the career, which spanned 18 seasons over three teams (Quebec Nordiques, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks).
Sundin played in 1,346 career games in the NHL, scoring 564 goals and adding 785 assists. His career-high in scoring came back in 1992-'93, when he scored 47 goals and 67 assists in 80 games for the Nordiques, two seasons before being moved to the Maple Leafs. 
The Panthers announced today that they have signed their first round pick from this past Summer's draft, defenseman Dimitri Kulikov. Kulikov signed the rookie maximum, 3-year, entry-level deal with the Panthers toady, which may be pending at the NHL offices, because of the final bits of investigating surrounding his rights in Russia. I have seen a spot or two saying that its all been cleared up, so I think we're okay here.
Further to my post this morning, the Devils did in fact put three players on the waiver wire, likely to be sent down to the minors. Rob Davison, Jay Leach and Tim Sestito all have to clear waivers to head down to Albany of the AHL. I also expect to see one more player get sent down, now likely one that doesn't have to clear waivers.
It's official now... the Atlanta Thrashers have signed Maxim Afinogenov to a new 1-year deal, worth $800,000. Afinogenov was a traning camp invite this Summer and he came out and impressed enough for his new deal, as expected. Afinogenov did express an interest of playing with Ilya Kovalchuk and Nikolai Antropov, so the deal shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone. Now, it's time to predict how many points he will get with the Thrashers this season.
A small surprise, as the Predators started the process of cutting down their roster this afternoon. Alexander Sulzer, a young defenseman, was sent down with four other players. Sulzer signed a one-way deal this Summer and was thought to be a bit of a lock on the team, but it looks like he was played out of the line-up and will continue to hone his craft in the AHL.| Forwards | Defense | Goaltenders |
| J-P Dumont | Shea Weber | Pekka Rinne |
| Jason Arnott | Ryan Suter | Dan Ellis |
| Martin Erat | Dan Hamhuis | |
| David Legwand | Kevin Klein | |
| Joel Ward | Francis Bouillon | |
| Steve Sullivan | Cody Franson | |
| Ryan Jones | Teemu Laakso | |
| Jordin Tootoo | ||
| Jared Smithson | ||
| Ben Guite | ||
| Marcel Goc | ||
| Patric Hornqvist | ||
| Wade Belak | ||
| Mike Santorelli | ||
| Colin Wilson |
At 23 players, the Predators now have an annual cap hit of $43.4 million, leaving plenty of room over the floor and under the ceiling. The Preds will have to tack on Wilson's $1.725 million (or a portion, thereof) to the cap total, when he is deemed healthy and ready to be in the line-up.
The Senators have now finalized their 23-man roster with the official sending down of Christoph Schubert and the inclusion of defenseman Brian Lee. Schubert cleared waivers today without any claim and Lee did not need to be placed on waivers, so the move was straight-forward.| Forwards | Defense | Goaltenders |
| Daniel Alfredsson | Filip Kuba | Pascal Leclaire |
| Jason Spezza | Chris Campoli | Brian Elliot |
| Alex Kovalev | Chris Phillips | |
| Milan Michalek | Alexandre Picard | |
| Nick Foligno | Anton Volchenkov | |
| Mike Fisher | Matt Carkner | |
| Jonathan Cheechoo | Erik Karlsson | |
| Chris Kelly | ||
| Jarkko Ruutu | ||
| Ryan Shannon | ||
| Jesse Winchester | ||
| Shean Donovan | ||
| Chris Neil | ||
| Peter Regin |
The Senators' 23-man roster now sits at $54.1 million against the cap, a fair bit better than where they were sitting before the Dany Heatley trade. This has now been a pretty good Summer for the Senators. It wasn't looking this rosy when the Summer began... a huge understatement!
Two signings to report out of Pittsburgh. Ryan Bayda, who was invited to Penguins camp, signed a 1-year, two-way deal with the club last night. That deal was worth $500,000. This morning, the Penguins signed free agent defenseman, Martin Skoula, to a new deal details were not disclosed.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have officially set their 23-man roster thanks to a number of roster moves. The Jackets placed Fredrik Modin on the injured reserve, thanks to his knee injury. Both Mathieu Roy and Alexandre Picard have been waived in order to be sent to the minors. Matthew Calvert has been sent back to juniors in Brandon of the WHL. All of these moves have now made the active roster within the limits.| Forwards | Defense | Goaltenders |
| Rick Nash | Fedor Tyutin | Steve Mason |
| Kristian Huselius | Mike Commodore | Mathieu Garon |
| R.J. Umberger | Jan Hejda | |
| Antoine Vermette | Kris Russell | |
| Jakub Voracek | Marc Methot | |
| Derrick Brassard | Anton Stralman | |
| Fredrik Modin | Rostislav Klesla | |
| Jason Chimera | ||
| Raffi Torres | ||
| Samuel Pahlsson | ||
| Jared Boll | ||
| Andrew Murray | ||
| Derek Dorsett | ||
| Nikita Filatov | ||
| Michael Blunden |
Not that there was any worry about the salary cap, but the Blue Jackets approximate salary cap number today, minus Modin, is now sitting at $45.6 million. That's pretty good shape for the year.
I don't think Liam Reddox was going to be much of a fantasy player this year or not, but this is more of an FYI for the Oilrs roster. Reddox has been placed on waivers to head down to the minors, if he clears tomorrow. This will remove him from the active roster.
The Buffalo Sabres made one more cut today, as Cody McCormick has been sent down to the AHL. The Sabres have been really quiet on their own website as to who is and who isn't on their roster this training camp, so it's been really difficult to gauge where they are this year. No team update can be provided as of yet, but hopefully we have one in the next day or two.
The Flames have three players that have cleared waivers on Tuesday: Jason Jaffray, Jamie Lundmark and Colin Stuart. I am assuming that they have been placed on waivers to head to Abbotsford of the AHL. The Flames needed to make a couple more cuts to the line-up and it looks like they will carry 22 players into the season after these three get sent down.| Forwards | Defense | Goaltenders |
| Jarome Iginla | Dion Phaneuf | Miikka Kiprusoff |
| Olli Jokinen | Jay Bouwmeester | Curtis McElhinney |
| Daymond Langkow | Cory Sarich | |
| Craig Conroy | Mark Giordano | |
| Rene Bourque | Adam Pardy | |
| Curtis Glencross | Robyn Regehr | |
| David Moss | Staffan Kronwall | |
| Dustin Boyd | ||
| Nigel Dawes | ||
| Fredrik Sjostrom | ||
| Eric Nystrom | ||
| Brandon Prust | ||
| Brian McGrattan |
The remaining 22 players on their active roster now carry a cap hit of $55.2 million, a very flexible $1.6 million away from the cap ceiling. This shuld be of great comfort to the Flames management and all of their fans.
I really need an animated gif for sending kids back to the junior ranks, but I don't have one now, so the minors it is. The Canucks announced today that they have sent Cody Hodgson back to the Brampton Battalion on Tuesday, thus ending his chances of making the team this year. Hodgson was a popular off-season pick for the Calder Trophy this year, but a back injury hampered his training camp, thus not earning a spot with the club this season.| Forwards | Defense | Goaltenders |
| Daniel Sedin | Kevin Bieksa | Roberto Luongo |
| Henrik Sedin | Christian Ehrhoff | Andrew Raycroft |
| Ryan Kesler | Alex Edler | |
| Pavol Demitra | Mathieu Schneider | |
| Alex Burrows | Sami Salo | |
| Mikael Samuelsson | Willie Mitchell | |
| Steve Bernier | Shane O'Brien | |
| Kyle Wellwood | Aaron Rome | |
| Mason Raymond | ||
| Jannik Hansen | ||
| Ryan Johnson | ||
| Darcy Hordichuk | ||
| Rick Rypien | ||
| Tanner Glass | ||
| Sergei Shirokov |
So, with injuries to both Mathieu Schneider, Jannik Hansen and Pavol Demitra eliminated from the opening day roster equation, the Canucks have an active roster of 22 players at an annual cap hit of $55.3 million, a clear million underneath the cap ceiling. Questions will rise when injuries heal and space may be needed to be made to fit these players in.
It appears my allusion to claiming someone off waivers was not too far off. The rumour was this morning that the Islanders would be submitting a waiver claim for Rob Schremp and... voila! There it is.Schremp signed a new deal with the Oilers this year, worth $715,000 against the cap. That isn't quite a deal that would solve the problems that I had pointed out in their team update this morning, but I guess it won't hurt. I'm still thinking that they have another deal or two up their sleeves to get this season opened correctly.
