Avs Acquire Winnik

			2009-2010 NHL Statistics				2011 Cap Info
To Colorado	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Daniel Winnik	Forward	25	74	4	15	19	0	RFA
--------------
To Phoenix	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
2012 4th Round Pick

The Colorado Avalanche acquired the rights to soon-to-be restricted free agent forward Daniel Winnik for a mid-round pick in a couple of years in a small deal on Monday.  Winnik is known to be more of an energy, checking line forward that can provide some offense in those situations.  The Coyotes are already stacking up on some young talent for the 2011 season and that's likely the reason why Winnik is on the way out, while the Avalanche were likely in need of some cheaper talent to fill out the depth positions in their line-up.

The Avalanche currently have a number of forward positions open in their potential 2011 roster and once Winnik is signed, he'll fit right into the team's table and for a 4th round pick in two Summers from now, it looks like a pretty solid deal.

Pouliot & Pyatt With New Deals

The Montreal Canadiens signed a pair of potential restricted free agents on Monday to new 1-year deals. According to a report today, Benoit Pouliot signed a 1-year deal worth $1.375 million and Tom Pyatt signed a 1-year one-way deal worth $500,000.  Both players were pretty good for the Canadiens in the back end of the season and into the playoffs, earning their new deals before they were technically without a deal on Thursday.

In the 2010 regular season, Pouliot had 17 goals and 11 assists in 53 games between the Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens, ranking him 211th among all forwards in the league in scoring.  The best part about those numbers were what he had done with the Canadiens, picking up 24 of those 28 points in 39 games since the trade.  He quickly became a favourite among those in Montreal.  Unfortunately, the playoffs were not so kind to Pouliot, as he only managed 2 assists in 18 games with the club.

Pyatt wasn't quite as instrumental in the regular season as Pouliot was, picking up 5 points in 40 games in his rookie season with the Canadiens.  In the playoffs, Pyatt ran more with a fourth line role on the team, scoring 4 points in 18 games in the post-season.  Pyatt was dealt to the Canadiens a year ago from the Rangers in the deal that included Scott Gomez coming with him for Christopher Higgins and a package.  With the one-way deal, we can assume Pyatt is pretty much a lock to make the squad, barring some major transactions that may bump him down a little.

Forwards	Defense	Goalies
Tomas Plekanec	Andrei Markov
Scott Gomez	Roman Hamrlik
Mike Cammalleri	Jaroslav Spacek
Brian Gionta	Hal Gill
Andrei Kostitsyn	Josh Gorges
Benoit Pouliot	Ryan O'Byrne
Travis Moen	P.K. Subban
Tom Pyatt

With the additions of Pouliot and Pyatt to the table of signed players expected to make the roster, the salary cap figure now goes up to $50.2 million for the 15 players above. That total currently ranks them 5th in the league in this category, according to my spreadsheet.  The biggest question mark left to worry about for the Canadiens will be the cap amount given to Carey Price for the 2011 season and that should determine how much money is then left for the remaining forwards to fill out the roster.

Buyout Period Ramps Up

With only days remaining until the Free Agent Frenzy begins, teams are now making use of the buyout period, which ends shortly, by placing a number of trouble contracts on waivers for the purposes of buying them out. Each player that is placed on waivers will have to sit there for 24 hours, in the team's hopes that someone finds the contract already in place feasible to their situation, but it's such a rarity nowadays, likely to also give that team an extra little cap hit for twice the duration of the remainder of that contract. Saying that, here is the first batch of waived players. If you don't hear anything about them being claimed tomorrow, expect the buyouts to happen.

The Flames will be looking to part ways with Ales Kotalik, who was acquired from the Rangers in the Olli Jokinen deal at the deadline last season. Kotalik still has two more seasons at $3 million a piece left to go, which will make this a fairly substantial hit in the end, which you can see below, thanks to CapGeek.com.  Kotalik did not amaze in his short time in Calgary and it doesn't look like he'll be welcomed back.

ALES KOTALIK BUYOUT FROM CAPGEEK.COM
2010-2011: $1,000,000
2011-2012: $1,000,000
2012-2013: $1,000,000
2013-2014: $1,000,000

Out of the Panthers organization, they will be letting go of defenseman Ville Koistinen, who has one year left on his current deal, which has a cap hit of $1.2 million.  Koistinen has been a bit of a disappointment in his short NHL career, not making a really big name for himself with a full time job between Nashville and Florida.  His cap hit isn't terrible, but I don't expect anyone to pick him up.

VILLE KOISTINEN BUYOUT FROM CAPGEEK.COM
2010-2011: $266,667
2011-2012: $466,667

The Senators are not going to surprise anyone with the news that Jonathan Cheechoo will be let go with a buyout this Summer, sending him to unrestricted free agency. Cheechoo spent a solid stretch in the minors in the 2010 season, making his acquisition in the Dany Heatley trade a poor decision by Senators management.  Sure, they hoped for a little bit more or a revitalization of his career in Ottawa, but unfortunately, those hopes were dashed fairly quickly.  Don't expect his cap hit of $3 million to be picked up by anyone in the next 24 hours.

JONATHAN CHEECHOO BUYOUT FROM CAPGEEK.COM
2010-2011: $666,667
2011-2012: $1,166,667

The Coyotes will be looking at getting rid of a pair of players this week.  Petteri Nokelainen has not had the best of career's in the NHL and this will be the fourth team to give up on him in six years, so I would imagine it might be hard for him to find a job anywhere in North America when he's finally bought out tomorrow.  Jim Vandermeer, on the other hand, kind of got squeezed out of the desert by his lack of speed and usefulness on such a young squad.  His $2.3 million cap hit for 2011 didn't look too appealing up in the press box. 

PETTERI NOKELAINEN BUYOUT FROM CAPGEEK.COM
2010-2011: $158,333
2011-2012: $158,333

JIM VANDERMEER BUYOUT FROM CAPGEEK.COM
2010-2011: $766,667
2011-2012: $766,667

Flames Add Fuel to the Back-Up Fire

			2009-2010 NHL Statistics				2011 Cap Info
To Calgary	Position	Age	MIN	W	SO	P	Years	Cap Hit
Henrik Karlsson	Goalie	26	0	0	0	0	0	RFA
--------------
To San Jose	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
2010 6th Round Pick

The Calgary Flames are going to take a shot at Henrik Karlsson, a more mature Swedish netminder who tried to crack the NHL with the San Jose Sharks as a free agent, but failed in his attempt.  Karlsson signed to play in the KHL a couple of weeks ago, but if he gets an ample shot in training camp, that might be enough for the Flames to sign the restricted free agent to a deal and have him play behind Miikka Kiprusoff.  The back-up job is open in Calgary, but there could be a good dogfight within the organization, if it does include Karlsson by the end of the sunny season.

For a 6th round pick, that gamble might be worth the risk for the Flames.

Blues Pick Up Sobotka

			2009-2010 NHL Statistics				2011 Cap Info
To St. Louis	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Vladimir Sobotka	Forward	23	61	4	6	10	0	RFA
--------------
To Boston	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
David Warsofsky	Defense	20	0	0	0	0	0	N/A

The St. Louis Blues took advantage of a re-tooling Boston Bruins team by acquiring energy 3rd liner Vladimir Sobotka for prospect defenseman David Warsofsky.  Sobotka has been toiling in the Bruins organization for the past few seasons, but hasn't been able to really stick with the big club for too long, spending a fair amount of time in the AHL during those years. If speed and energy was what the Blues were looking for, they may have found their guy.  The Western Conference is filling up with those guys who like to forecheck, so it will be even more crowded behind those Western Conference nets.

Not too much fantasy value here.

Busy Day for the Hurricanes

			2009-2010 NHL Statistics				2011 Cap Info
To Carolina	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Riley Nash	Forward	21	0	0	0	0	0	RFA
--------------
To Edmonton	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
2011 2nd Round Pick (46th overall)

			2009-2010 NHL Statistics				2011 Cap Info
To Carolina	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Bobby Sanguinetti	Defense	22	5	0	0	0	1	$855,000
--------------
To New York	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
2010 6th Round Pick

			2009-2010 NHL Statistics				2011 Cap Info
To Carolina	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Jon Matsumoto	Forward	23	0	0	0	0	0	RFA
--------------
To Philadelphia	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
2010 7th Round Pick

The Carolina Hurricanes worked a little bit of magic on the second day of the Entry Draft, acquiring two former 1st rounders and a former 3rd rounder for draft picks.  Riley Nash was the Oilers 1st round pick in 2007, Bobby Sanguinetti was the Rangers 1st rounder in 2006, but both were falling further and futher behind in their draft club's depth charts, so GM Jim Rutherford made a few moves and all of these players will get some fresh starts heading into training camp in September.  I honestly think the Hurricanes did really well with the Sanguinetti trade, because he was pretty well touted for the last couple years, but he kind of got left behind the emergence of Michael Del Zotto and Marc Staal.

I'll be curious to see how this all plays down into training camp.

Leafs and Ducks Deal

			2009-2010 NHL Statistics				2011 Cap Info
To Toronto	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Mike Brown	Forward	25	75	6	1	7	1	$538,000
--------------
To Anaheim	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
2010 5th Round Pick

Well, this shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone seeing Brian Burke go after tough guy Mike Brown again. Brown has definitely been a favourite player of Burke's since his days in Vancouver and seeing the two get together in Anaheim and now Toronto; it just feels right.  There isn't a great deal to Brown's game, he does finish years with some points, but he's the kind of guy that really does the enforcer role well and can give a team 100+ quality penalty minutes a season. If your fantasy league takes penalty minutes into account, then Brown isn't a bad guy to have hanging around.

Sharks Re-Sign Two Veterans

Before the drafting got started on Saturday morning, the San Jose Sharks managed to sign up a couple more veterans to their potential 2011 squad. Defenseman Niclas Wallin and forward Scott Nichol each signed new 1-year deals on Saturday.

Wallin, 35, played 70 games between Carolina and San Jose, considered to be more of a defensive defenseman, picking up 7 assists, so he's not much of a fantasy player.

Nichol, 35, played in 79 games for the Sharks, scoring 4 goals and 15 assists, ranking 276th among all forwards, which is a ways down.  He's also considered to be more of a defensive player.

Both players will figure into the Sharks' roster table, but we don't have cap numbers yet, so the salary cap number won't be announced here today.

Quick Notes on the Top Three

I think last year, I really didn't talk about the better picks in the Entry Draft until they were all signed, but I thought I would give it a go here, just for kicks.

I didn't really think there was much of a debate to whether or not the Edmonton Oilers would take Taylor Hall as their first overall pick this year.  Sure, you could concede that the Oilers could have used a pure centre to go with all of their wingers, but I personally think they would have been passing up on the flashiest, most skilled player in the draft pool in Hall.  For what it's worth, the Entry Draft should be about getting the best player available or helping your team in certain areas, which more often than not, go hand-in-hand.  The Oilers will have some work to do this Summer, but the goal is still going to be the same; get some servicing centres for all their talent on the wing. 

What's great about the Bruins in this storied Entry Draft is that they are the complete opposite of the Oilers in the needs they needed to fill.  The Bruins would have died and gone to heaven if the Oilers picked Tyler Seguin instead, but now the team from Beantown has a plethora of centres and likely created a few more trade targets for other teams going forward.  The word on Seguin is that he is close to being ready for the NHL, but I have not read that he is ready to make an impact, but there is still a Summer of working out and maturing left, so stay tuned.  If you're in a keeper league, he'll be fine to store away for a later date, I'm sure.

The third pick in the Entry Draft, Erik Gudbranson, is labeled as a shut down defenseman, which doesn't reflect well on him as a fantasy player, if you're basing everything on scoring, like my pools do.  I have no doubt that he will evolve in the system that Panthers GM Dale Tallon is setting out for the Florida Panthers, but his numbers may be upwards of five years from being notable in fantasy pools.  The counter-argument on Gudbranson on scoring is that it would have only taken 15 points to jump into the top 120 in defensemen scoring, which isn't out of the question and 20 points would put him safely in the top 100. 

It's not fair to drop expectations for the 2011 season on these kids in late-June, so I won't.  I will, however, remark that there will be a close eye on them, much like John Tavares, Matt Duchene, Evander Kane and Victor Hedman the year before.  You can say and believe all you like when you compare the 2010 class to the 2009, which there are a few easy comparisons to make, but they are all speculative predictions in June.  I'd rather wait until September before I get too excited, personally.

Sens & Blues Swap

			2009-2010 NHL Statistics				2011 Cap Info
To St. Louis	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
2010 1st Round Pick (16th overall)
--------------
To Ottawa	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
David Rundblad	Defense	19	0	0	0	0	0	0

As interesting as the 1st round of the Entry Draft was... and it was... the Ottawa Senators were another team that didn't love what they saw in the talent that was on the board and decided to move out of the 1st round with a deal with the St. Louis Blues.  The Blues picked up the 16th overall pick, where they selected Vladimir Tarasenko from Russia and the Senators acquired the Blues 1st round pick in 2009, Swedish defenseman David Rundblad.  This deal doesn't have a lot of impact right away, since Rundblad still has another year in Europe left on a contract, while Tarasenko may still be a year or two away from joining the NHL, due to his smallish size.

Some may look back at this deal a number of years down the line, but for now, it's a footnote in both club's history.

Penguins To Try Their Hand at Hamhuis

			2009-2010 NHL Statistics				2011 Cap Info
To Pittsburgh	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Dan Hamhuis	Defense	27	78	5	19	24	0	UFA
--------------
To Philadelphia	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
2011 3rd Round Pick

As it turns out, the original deal that saw the Flyers pick up the exclusive rights to try and sign Dan Hamhuis have fallen to the wayside, likely do to a lack of salary cap space going forward. As I had laid out in the salary cap section of the post, the Flyers did not have a great deal of room to work with, especially with the expected contract demands of Hamhuis and his agent.  Really, the Flyers getting those rights was somewhat of a flawed plan, unless they were going to dump salary elsewhere.

The Penguins, on the other hand, could be considered doing a little bit better, in terms of their cap figures, but not by too much.  At the time of this deal, the Penguins have 16 players signed on to their roster for $46.9 million, leaving less than $13 million for seven players, which is actually pretty good, now that I look at it a little closer.  The Penguins have been trying to get Sergei Gonchar to re-sign with the team on their own terms, but that doesn't seem to be flying very well with the Gonchar camp, who want a longer-term contract than what the Penguins are willing to give him. 

I think most people would agree that Gonchar would be a better option than Hamhuis if you had to only choose one, but Hamhuis, especially for a good number of teams, would provide a very good back-up option if they needed one.  I would expect that if the Penguins manage to re-sign Gonchar, they leveraged Hamhuis' rights against him to get the deal done, but otherwise, the Penguins would then settle on Hamhuis in the next five days.