The Ottawa Senators have found a replacement for the recently bought out Ray Emery, signing former Bruins goalie Alex Auld to a two-year contract worth $1 million. $2 million. 

That ‘ll make him a more affordable cap hit to the Senators cap, and Auld will be hoping to stick with the Senators for a while and perhaps re-establish himself as a potential starter he was once envisioned to be with the Vancouver Canucks earlier in the decade.

Adam Hall’s solid performance this season for the Pittsburgh Penguins, especially during the playoffs, landed him a three –year contract extension worth $1.8 million.

Sorry about that, folks, the feed I received had Hall re-signed with the Penguins. He in fact signed a three-year, $1.8 million contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. My apologies for the confusion.

The Pens also signed former Calgary Flames forward Eric Godard to a three year contract.

Thus far the Penguins have retained two of their UFA forwards but of course they were the most affordable to re-sign. It remains to be seen if they can retain Marian Hossa and defenseman Brooks Orpik.

It appears goaltender Alex Auld will be getting another shot at playing in the NHL this season.

The Phoenix Coyotes traded Auld to the Boston Bruins in exchange for minor league forward Nate DiCasmirro and a fifth round pick in 2009.

Auld began this season with the Phoenix Coyotes but became the odd man out on their goaltender rotation when the club plucked Ilya Bryzgalov off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks over two weeks ago. Auld is on a two-way contract and was demoted to the Coyotes minor league affiliate in San Antonio.

This could prove a good opportunity for Auld to get his once-promising career back on track. He was dealt by the Vancouver Canucks in June 2006 to the Florida Panthers as part of the return for goalie Roberto Luongo, and it was believed he'd have the chance to establish himself as a number one netminder with the Panthers.

Unfortunately Auld struggled with the Panthers and ended up as Ed Belfour's backup for the second half of last season. He signed with the Coyotes this summer as an unrestricted free agent and was part of their goalie tandem along with Mikael Tellqvist until Bryzgalov arrived.

This was a trade the Bruins were forced to make. Veteran starter Manny Fernandez remains sidelined rehabbing his surgically reconstructed knee, and Tim Thomas, who'd admirably carried the load in his stead this season, was injured in a recent game, apparently more seriously than originally believed.

It remains to be seen how long Thomas will be sidelined, but it's apparent the Bruins had no one in their system to suitably back up promising young netminder Tuukka Rask, who has played only two games thus far for the Bruins as Thomas' backup but looked sharp in those appearances.

Rask will now be thrust into the starter's role in the short term, and having Auld there should provide him with an experience backup, which should help take some pressure off the young Finn.

And with his two-way contract, Auld will be affordable to demote should Thomas return to action.

There's not a heckuva lot of talent remaining in this year's NHL UFA pool, which isn't unusual two weeks after the free agent frenzy began, although it wasn't a particularly deep pool this season. 

James Mirtle has been keeping track of the remaining UFAs, and as you can see, there really isn't much to choose from.

Still, there's a few gems still available, perhaps for bargain prices the longer they remain on the market.

For scoring forwards, only Peter Forsberg, Teemu Selanne and Alexei Yashin remain. The first two could retire while Yashin is apparently miffed over supposed "low ball" offers and could play in Russia next season.

The best checking center would be Mike Peca, provided he can avoid the injuries that have plagued him in recent years. 

Martin Gelinas and Mike Johnson appear to be the best checking wingers still available.

There's still a few good defensemen remaining, with Danny Markov, Andy Sutton and Ossi Vaananen likely to attract interest in the coming days from teams seeking blueline depth.

Not a lot of depth in goaltending, but Ed Belfour, Curtis Joseph, Alex Auld and Robert Esche could attract some interest.