Mr. Nasty

It is plausible Souray will be traded if a decent return is offered since he is a UFA next year and will be lost for nothing. If the return is poor then they might as well keep him for their run.

The rush for the best UFA's is over and the feeding frenzy caused many teams to overspend on good players. They added talent to their organization but some of them have severely restricted themselves for future cap room. I expect that the rest of the UFA's will not get as big a contracts and there are still some very good players available. Another thing. I also expect many trades to happen in the coming weeks because of the free agents that were signed will cause teams to re-assess their line-ups and get more reasonable salary structures. i.e. New Jersey, Vancouver, Colorado and Toronto.

Weight heads back to St. Louis 7mill over 2 years. http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?blogger_id=5

Rangers have re-signed Straka. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=170333&hubname=

For a complete list of free agents: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?fid=9657&hubname= IMO the following guys have been getting very little attention prior to free agency and can still be valuable contributors to teams. Wingers: Mike Grier Mark Recchi Mike LeClerc Mark Parrish Martin Straka Vaclav Varada Donald Brashear Dallas Drake Jarkko Ruutu Jeff Friesen Brendan Shanahan Sergei Samsonov Petr Sykora Victor Kozlov Anson Carter Centre Mike Sillinger Steve Rucchin Alyn McCauley Petr Cajanek Jeff Halpern Jan Hrdina Mike Peca Jeremy Roenick Eric Lindros Trevor Linden Defense Ruslan Salei Aaron Ward Willie Mitchell Jaroslav Spacek Dick Tarnstrom Filip Kuba Danny Markov Kim Johnsson Marek Zidlicky Tom Poti Goalies....none

I still wouldn't rule out acquisition through trade. Also, with the current line-up there is a serious lack of depth should injuries occur. Also, Streit has re-signed on the defensive core and I believe Bouillion will not re-sign.

That is way too much money for a 3rd pairing d-man. Let him walk. I love his play...but not that much.

06 was a huge improvement over 05 (at least the online play) , I too can't wait until 07 arrives.

being put on waivers, ouch

You can also scratch Lidstrom off the list. 7.6 million http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=170096&hubname=

Afinogenov isn't that great a player...yes, he is flashy and creates chances, but he can't finish. If I was to choose between another Kovalev and another Afinogenov...then my choice is easy. Kovalev.

The rumour site says it got the source from TSN...I don't see it anywhere on their website.

I think you are confusing Perezhogin for Plekanec. I don't recall Perezhogin have any penalty kill time...he did get some powerplay time. Plekanec played a lot of pk with Higgins and is much better defensively. Perezhogin is expendable IMO with Kostitsyn ready.

You really can't go wrong with what Roenick wants for a contract. He said he would take a small salary (less than 2 million) with bonus clauses based on performance. If he flops then it is no big loss. If he has a great year, then he is worth it.

McGrattan just signed a new contract and is arguably the best fighter in the league. He isn't going anywhere. Laraque would be a great match-up.

Any takers? Could this be the cheap Centre the Habs are looking for?, lol http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=169956&hubname=nhl

I agree. Boynton was awesome under the old rules...but his lack if discipline under the new rules made him expendable.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=169806&hubname=

I would pass on Arnason. There is a reason Ottawa is letting him walk...his attitude and desire are 3 times worse than Ribs.

Great News...now to see how much he is getting paid? Have to agree, Aebi is outta here.

According to ESPN the Kings offered up Garon, Frolov and Dustin Brown for Nabokov...that is one steep price. SJ didn't make the deal because they were division rivals. If either Frolov or Brown are offered straight up for Aebischer then that is enough to persuade me. Of course this is pure speculation.

FYI the Habs also selected: Russian defenseman Pavel Valentenko. The 6-foot-2, 202-pound native of Moscow is a strong, physical defenseman with a booming shot. Valentenko played a dozen games with Neftekamsk of Russia’s first division. Cameron Cepek of the WHL’s Portland Winter Hawks at 199th overall. Cepek, who missed the majority of the 2005-06 season with a broken wrist, still managed to put up 10 points in 21 games. Another d-man.

HF: Carle is a strong offensive presence from the blue line, with good skating and strong puck-handling ability. He can tend to get a little too focused on his offensive game, though, and will occasionally neglect his defensive responsibilities. When he does focus on his own end, he is willing to drop in front of shots, and is good positionally. However, that is when he does. Consistency and focus is an issue with Carle’s play. He has good size, and is willing to get his nose dirty from time to time, but will have to use his size more effectively, and more regularly, in order to intimidate the opposition.

Habs select with 49th pick: Ben Maxwell