More Wednesday Moves

Today another great player joined the retirement party... Ron Francis, F. Francis, one of the classiest players in the league, was one of the perennial picks in most pools, although his production seemed to taper off in his career, he did produce on the ice enough to be a mention in pools, even late in his career.

The impact on this season's pool will be minimal from Francis' retirement. Both the Hurricanes and Leafs had both moved on significantly, most likely knowing that he wouldn't suit up again. The Hurricanes moreso, since he had moved away to the Leafs... and the Leafs have already done some spending to fill gaps in their side.

Ryan Smyth, F, finally signed his contract with the Edmonton Oilers this morning. As it turns out, there wasn't a whole lot of fear that Smyth would miss camp this year... a 1-year deal had been agreed upon, but Smyth wants to be in Edmonton and Edmonton wants their franchise guy. He signed a 2-year, $7 million US deal and that should do the trick for a couple seasons anyways.

Unfortunately for Smyth, he will be the number one guy up front and he doesn't have a Doug Weight-like centre playing with him. Sure the addition of Peca and Pronger may make the Oilers a formidable team to play against, but Smyth can't handle the load of all the scoring. He may be a 30+ goal guy with help, but by himself, he's only a 20-goal scorer. He only had 59 points in all 82 games last season and I would expect him to do the same unless the Oilers prospects became great over the lay-off. Aim for a possible 65 points from Smyth this year... don't get him too high in your pool.