In recent days we've seen several
trades (see my most recent posts since August 29th) and now we're
starting to see some movement in the free agent market.
The big news today comes out of Los
Angeles, where the Kings announced the signing of forward Jarret Stoll to a
four-year, $14 million contract.
Stoll was acquired by the Kings from
the Edmonton Oilers earlier this summer in exchange for defenseman Lubomir
Visnovsky.
His new contract breaks down as $3.5
million per season against the Kings salary cap, a significant raise over the
$2.2 million per season he earned over the last two years with the Oilers.
Stoll got that contract thanks to a
22-goal, 68-point performance in 2005-06, but a concussion the following season
and the lingering after-effects hampered his performance since then, with 39
points (in 51 games) in 2006-07 and 36 points in 81 games last year.
The Kings may be taking a chance on
Stoll regaining that 68-point form as it appears he hasn't been the same since
the concussion, but if he can round back into form he'll be worth that kind of
coin.
At least cap-wise the Kings are now
a little closer (now less than $10 million closer) to the NHL's minimum cap of
$40.7 million.
In Detroit meanwhile comes a signing
that surprises no one, that of Chris Chelios returning for another season at a
very affordable $850K.
The ageless Chelios is obviously not
the great defenseman he once was but is still capable of playing 14-16 solid
minutes per game and has proven to be a valuable member of Detroit's defense
corps.
However, that move will likely come
at the expense of another Red Wings d-man, as GM Ken Holland recently suggested
he'll likely need to pare down between $100K-$300K from his payroll and could
look at shipping out a defenseman to do it.
It certainly won't be the
46-year-old Chelios.
And finally, after some speculation
that Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray was perhaps interested in bringing in a
veteran free agent winger, comes the announcement the Sens have signed Brad
Isbister to a one-year, two-way contract.
For those Senators fans hoping that
Murray was looking at Brendan Shanahan, Glen Murray or Mark Parrish, please try
to contain your disappointment.
Fact is, Murray doesn't have a lot of cap space to play with, and with this signing combined with his recent acquisition of winger Ryan Shannon from Vancouver, it's clear at this point he's going for affordable depth rather than squandering precious cap signing an aging veteran to a one-way contract.