The Washington Capitals made their first significant signing of their off-season, re-signing veteran winger Matt Bradley to a new contract.

Bradley was eligible for unrestricted free agency on July 1st, but decided to forego it to re-sign a new three-year, $3 million contract with the Capitals.

His new deal will count as $1 million per season over the contract’s tenure against the team’s salary cap.

Bradley joined the Capitals in the summer of 2005 as an unrestricted free agent after spending four NHL seasons with the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins, establishing himself as a gritty checking line winger on a rebuilding Capitals team.

In 77 games last season he had 7 goals, 18 points and was +1.

Meanwhile, the long contract standoff between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Evgeny Artyukhin has finally drawn to a close.

Reports out of Tampa Bay last week revealed the Lightning had reached agreement on what was believed to be a two-year contract with Artyukhin, bringing him back to the Bolts after a two-season hiatus.

The 6’5, 260lb Artyukhin was a third round pick of the Lightning in 2001 and played two seasons in the minors with the ECHL and AHL before making his NHL debut with the Bolts in the 2005-06 season, where he had 17 points in 72 regular season games and scored a goal in five playoff games.

Unfortunately, after that season Artyukhin and his agent, Marc Gandler, became embroiled in a contract dispute with the cap-strapped Lightning, and he opted to spend the next two seasons in the Russian Super League, first with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv and last season with CSKA Moscow.

It’s unknown how much Artyukhin’s new contract will be with the Lightning, but it was believed he was seeking $1 million per season.

The Lightning hope to place the hulking Russian on a checking line with big center Chris Gratton, provided they can get the latter under contract for next season, as Gratton is eligible for UFA status in July.