A Long Weekend Away Recap (July 15)

On Friday, the Calgary Flames re-signed unrestricted free agent forward Brendan Morrison to a new 1-year deal, reportedly worth $1.25 million. Morrison was a post-training camp add for the Flames in 2011, playing in 66 games for Calgary, scoring 9 goals and adding 34 assists. Morrison added some much-needed depth down the middle for the Flames, until a knee injury claimed the last 16 games of the year.  He'll likely be looked upon to provide some more 2nd/3rd line depth in 2012, possibly moving up further from time-to-time.

The Blackhawks made a couple of key signings on Friday last week, re-signing forward Michal Frolik to a 3-year, $7 million deal and then dipping into the unrestricted free agent pool by signing defenseman Sami Lepisto to a 1-year, $750,000 deal.

Frolik split his 2011 season between Florida and Chicago, playing in 80 games and scoring 11 goals and 27 assists.  Frolik is projected to possibly become a top six forward for the Blackhawks and the new contract that he has received is a pretty good indication that now is his time.

Lepisto played all 70 games with the Coyotes in 2011, picking up 4 goals and 12 assists in the process, good enough for 108th among all defensemen.  He'll add a little bit more depth to a re-shaped blueline in 2012, with some potential for decent point productions.

This isn't an official roster signing from my standpoint, but it is as close as one comes, as Erik Gudbranson has agreed to terms with the Florida Panthers, just narrowly missing out on actually coming out of the training camp last season with the big club. With bonuses in tow, Gudbranson stands to make upwards of $3.2 million in each of his three seasons with his new entry-level deal and it is believed that he has a spot to lose in camp in September.

The Los Angeles Kings were busy on Friday, signing seven players to new deals before the weekend started, most notably signing forward Trevor Lewis to a 2-year, $1.45 million deal. Lewis played in 72 games in 2011, scoring 3 goals and 10 assists in a bottom six role. I think we could expect a lot of the same from him in 2012, assuming that someone else doesn't usurp his spot. Also signing 1-year deals on Friday: goalie Jeff Zatkoff, defensemen Patrick Mullen and Andrew Campbell, and forwards Richard Clune, David Meckler and Marc-Andre Cliche.

Not quite as certain as a roster player in 2012, but still notable, the Devils signed their 4th overall pick from this Summer's entry draft, Swedish defenseman Adam Larsson, to his 3-year entry-level deal on Friday, beating out an NHL/European agreement deadline, which would have made it rather difficult/expensive for the Devils to have Larsson in North America to play, if the deal didn't get done.  The word out of prospect camp seemed to be lukewarm, but at least he will have some freedom to find out if he can make it in the Fall.

The Devils were not finished at Larsson, nor were they finished signing toughness for their upcoming season, as they signed unrestricted free agent forward Eric Boulton to a 2-year deal, worth $662,500 against the cap in each year.  Boulton scored 6 goals and 4 assists in 69 games for the Thrashers in 2011 and can obviously handle himself with 87 minutes in penalties.  With Cam Janssen at his side, the Devils will have a pretty tough 4th line to manoeuvre through in the 2012 season.

Finally, the Washington Capitals secured one of their key restricted free agents and moved even closer to the off-season salary cap ceiling number, as they gave defenseman Karl Alzner a new 2-year deal, which will pay him $2.57 million for the duration of the deal, a $1.285 million cap hit per season.  Alzner played in all 82 games for the Capitals in 2011, scoring 2 goals and adding 10 assists, used mainly as a shutdown defenseman.