|
Fantasy Hockey News | |
Smith signed a contract with the Bruins Friday, the team's official site reports. With 13 goals and 35 assists in the AHL last season, Smith will likely be used for depth purposes in Boston. | Kovalchuk's revised contract with the Devils will be approved by the NHL, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. His revised 15-year, $100 million deal meets the NHL's contract standards within the framework of the league's collective bargaining agreement, which was reportedly just amended to address the issue of (very) long-term contracts and how they relate to the salary cap. | Kronwall (knee) started walking without crutches on Thursday and remains optimistic about joining his teammates on the ice when training camp begins in two weeks, MLive.com reports. "I had done quite a number of MRIs the past year," Kronwall said. "I knew the LCL, the PCL and the ACL, everything was kind of intact. It was just the lateral meniscus that they had talked about before and they found some cartilage behind the kneecap. That's going to take care of the problem and hopefully I'll be good to go." We'll keep a close eye on Kronwall's progress, as the Wings don't need to push him all that hard in the early days of camp since he's firmly entrenched as part of their four core blueliners entering the season. | The Penguins signed Comrie to a one-year, $500,000 salary on Friday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Comrie instantly goes from the unknown to a top-six forward who figures to see time with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. The shine has worn off of the soon-to-be 30 year old, as he totaled 21 points in 43 games for the Oilers last year, but the Penguins need wingers who can provide offense in the worst way. In addition to playing on a top two line, Comrie could also see time on the power play -- where nearly half (10) of his points came last season. | Fritsche, who spent all of last season in the AHL, will be in camp with the Blue Jackets on a tryout agreement, the Columbus Dispatch reports. If he doesn't make the NHL roster (and he likely won't) Fritsche seems inclined to continue his career in Europe rather than back in the minors. | We've been down this road before, but it appears as if the Ilya Kovalchuk contract situation is finally, mercifully, close to an end result. On Friday, multiple media outlets, including TSN's Darren Dreger, ESPN's EJ Hradek and Tom Gulitti of The Bergen Record are all reporting that the NHL and NHLPA have come to an agreement on an ammendment to the CBA in regards to the long-term contracts that have become the bane of the league's existence the past two years. The 17-year contract that the Devils originally had with Kovalchuk this summer was obviously the breaking point, dragging out his free agency to this point in early September. After the Devils submitted a revised contract last week (a reported 15-year pact worth $100 million) the league was supposed to make a decision on whether or not to approve it by 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Instead of reaching a decision, the deadline was pushed back to Friday, prolonging the situation even further. According to Friday's reports, the newest contract will be approved as part of the new CBA ammendment. Not long after Wednesday's deadline was delayed, reports surfaced that the NHL had issued an ultimatum to the NHLPA regarding contracts like the ones signed by Roberto Luongo and Marian Hossa, among others. Those reports, however, were disputed in the sense that it wasn't necessarily an ultimatum, but simply a negotiation between the two sides. Either way, the agreement will also lead to the Luongo and Hossa deals being approved, as well. According to Gulitti, via Twitter, the "CBA amendment would involve stipulations on cap hit for deals going past age 35 and age 40." | The Pittsburgh Penguins' quest to find forwards over the past couple of seasons has been well documented. Since they have so much cap space invested in their top three centers (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal) they've been forced to use a revolving door of reclamation projects, bargain bin free agent signings and trade deadline rentals to play on their wings: Petr Sykora, Bill Guerin, Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko. With two Stanley Cup Final appearances in three years, they've had a bit of success with this approach. And you can now add another name to the list: Mike Comrie. The 29-year-old forward inked a one-year contract with the Penguins on Friday. The deal is for the league minimum ($500,000) according to the release on the Penguins website. Comrie's agent, Ritch Winter, said on Team 1260 in Edmonton (which originally reported the signing) that Comrie has already spoken to Crosby, who is looking forward to having him skate on his left wing this season. Durability has been a concern for Comrie over the past couple of seasons, as he's been limited to just 247 of a possible 328 regular season games the past four years, scoring 65 goals over that stretch with four different teams (Edmonton, New York, Phoenix, Ottawa). Still, for the league minimum it's a risk worth taking for the Penguins, especially if Comrie can regain some of the 20 or 30-goal ability he's flashed at different points throughout his career. And, hey, even if he doesn't, he'll at least be bringing Hilary Duff -- whom he recently married -- to Pittsburgh with him. So Penguins fans have that going for them, too. Along with the addition of Comrie, the Penguins top-two lines could also have a different look to them this season due to the possibility of having Staal, the team's third-line center the past three years, moving to a top-six role to play on a line with Malkin. The two spent some time together during their rookie seasons, with Staal scoring a career-high 29 goals. Staal, however, will miss the start of training camp due a recent setback with the foot injury he suffered during last year's playoffs (though, he is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season). | |
|
|
 |
|
|
It Is Now Preseason '10-11