Nearly two weeks into the NHL’s UFA pool and the depth is getting shallower.

The biggest free agent signing of note over the past several days was that of former Chicago Blackhawks forward Jason Williams, who after several days of speculation out of Ottawa had him signing with the Senators (“Done Deal” according to some internet sites) would up inking a one-year, $2.2 million contract with the Atlanta Thrashers.

Williams, 27, is coming off an injury-shortened season which saw him net 13 goals and 36 points in 43 games (four of those goals game-winners), leading the Blackhawks in power-play ice time until a sports hernia sidelined him for 35 games.

This is a good signing for a Thrashers team thin on offense heading into next season. He can play center or right wing and it’s possible he might be placed on the same line as star left wing Ilya Kovalchuk, especially on the powerplay.

In a move suggesting a trade is in the offing the Anaheim Ducks signed former Florida Panthers defenseman Steve Montador to a one-year, $800K contract.

Montador, 28, had a career year with the Panthers last season, with 23 points in 73 games and plus-minus of +1.

The Ducks are expected to dump some salary to free up valuable cap space before the start of next season with Mathieu Schneider and his $5.75 million contract for next season considered the likely candidate and Montador filling his spot on the Ducks blueline.

Tampa Bay Lightning ownership continue to load up at forward, re-signing veteran center Chris Gratton to  a one-year contract.

With seventeen forwards currently on the roster (including 2008 first overall pick Steve Stamkos) it believed the Bolts will soon shop one or two forwards for some much needed veteran depth on their blueline.

Frequently suggested trade candidates include Jussi Jokinen and Michel Ouellet.

The Toronto Maple Leafs addressed a need for more toughness, acquiring checker Ryan Hollweg from the NY Rangers for a fifth rounder in 2009.

Hollweg’s aggressive style should make him a good fit on the Leafs fourth line.

The number of notable free agents still available in this summer’s NHL UFA free agent market has shrunk considerably, and over the past two days the list grew even smaller with the announced signings of veteran forwards Pavol Demitra and Sergei Fedorov.

Demitra signed with the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, while on Wednesday the Washington Capitals announced a one-year, $4 million contract enticed Fedorov to return.

Neither signing was unexpected. Demitra’s former agent is Canucks GM Mike Gillis and it’s been rumored for some time that Demitra would land in Vancouver, while the Capitals made no secret of their willingness to bring Fedorov back into the fold.

Demitra will be expected to replace the offensive gap left by former captain Markus Naslund, who signed last week with the NY Rangers as a UFA, but it seems at this point he’s scarcely an upgrade. Demitra and Naslund had virtually the same number of points last season and unlike Naslund has been frequently hampered by injury over the past four NHL seasons.

If the injury bug continues to bite Demitra next season it could have an adverse effect on his performance which won’t bode well for a Canucks team hoping to bolster their offensive production.

Fedorov isn’t the superstar he once was during his days with the Detroit Red Wings and appeared last season headed toward retirement or playing out his days in Russia until he was dealt by the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Washington Capitals, where he enjoyed an offensive resurgence, with 13 point in 18 regular season games and five points in seven playoff games.

$4 million seems a bit steep for a declining star like Fedorov but the term is right and he brings other intangibles, such as experience and leadership, to a young Capitals team.  If he can contribute even 50 points this season and help the Caps advance beyond the first round of the playoffs that will be consider $4 million will spent.

-The Ottawa Senators resolved their need for experienced blueline depth by signing former Philadelphia Flyer Jason Smith to a two-year contract. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

It was rumored Senators GM Bryan Murray was in the market for a trade with Anaheim for Mathieu Schneider or San Jose for Kyle McLaren. Smith’s signing negates the need for the latter and appear to indicate they’ll re-sign Andrej Meszaros which would remove the need for Schneider

Smith was believed in talks with the Buffalo Sabres but evidently he liked what the Sens had to offer. His gritty performance in this spring’s playoffs, particularly against Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, raise his stock on the UFA market, and heading into this week was the best available blueliner left on the market.

-Reports claim Pavol Demitra is either close to signing or has signed a multi-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks.

That could raise complaints of tampering from some Minnesota Wild fans given Demitra’s spring sojourn to Vancouver as the guest of former Canucks captain Markus Naslund as well as the fact Mike Gillis, the Canucks new general manager, is Demitra’s former agent.

The league already looked into that matter and found no evidence of tampering. Gillis’ previous relationship with Demitra obviously has some influence but the bottom line is the Canucks desperately need offensive depth and are willing to consider taking on an aging, injury-prone forward.

-Speaking of the Canucks, they now have seven days to decide if they’ll keep forward Steve Bernier.

The St. Louis Blues signed Bernier, who was acquired from the Sabres last week by the Canucks, to a one-year contract offer sheet worth $2.5 million.

Consider that a bit of revenge on the part of Blues president John Davidson for Gillis’ attempt last week to sign forward David Backes to a three-year, $7.5 million contract offer sheet, which the Blues matched almost immediately.

Gillis will likely match this offer but like the Blues with Backes will end up paying him more than desired.

**UPDATE** As expected the Canucks management announced they would match the Blues offer sheet for Bernier.

-Defenseman Paul Mara is returning to the NY Rangers, signing a one-year, $1.95 million contract, a significant cut in pay from the $3 million he made last season with the Blueshirts.

Given that fact it’s a good bet he wasn’t attracting much interest or offers of note from rival clubs on the UFA market.

As expected former Vancouver Canucks forward Brendan Morrison was signed on Monday, and stayed on the West Coast, joining the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Terms have yet to be disclosed but it’s reportedly either a one or two year contract.

It’ll be interesting to see what Morrison’s new contract will be, given the Ducks are currently sitting around $54 million in cap space.

Of course the Ducks coud get some additional cap relief if as rumored they end up peddling Mathieu Schneider’s $5.75 million contract for next season.

Morrison’s performance has been hampered by injury over the past three seasons, two of which he played through nagging pain which clearly affected his play. If he can stay healthy this season however he could be good for 55-60 points this season and provide valuable offensive depth to a Ducks club lacking scoring punch last season.

The Tampa Bay Lightning meanwhile continued to add to their forward depth by signing veteran forward Mark Recchi to a one-year, $1.25 million contract.

For those wondering why the Bolts are loading up at forward at the expense of their defense, it’s believed they’re planning to shop a forward (possibly Jussi Jokinen or Michel Ouellet) for a defenseman.

Recchi had a rough start to last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, netting only 8 points in 19 games and becoming a healthy scratch, but rallied after being dealt to the Atlanta Thrashers with 40 points in 53 games.

If Recchi can manage that same pace for a full season with the Bolts he could be a good, affordable addition.

Two fading NHL power forwards have found new homes for next season.

On Sunday the Minnesota Wild signed 36-year-old right wing Owen Nolan to a two-year, $5.5 million contract (worth $2.75 million per season) and on Monday the Calgary Flames inked 33-year winger Todd Bertuzzi to a one-year, $1.95 million contract.

Not very long ago these two would’ve commanded top dollar on the open market. Bertuzzi earned $6.8 million in 2003-04 with the Vancouver Canucks after coming off a 46-goal, 97-point performance with the Canucks the previous year.

Last summer Bertuzzi signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the Anaheim Ducks but cap constraints, a need to re-sign Corey Perry and Bertuzzi’s 40-point performance in 68 games forced the Ducks to buy out the remaining year of his contract last month.

Nolan made $6.5 million with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2003-04 season but injuries and a contract dispute saw him miss the 2005-06 season, and the last two seasons he played for Phoenix and Calgary earning $1.225 million and $1.75 million respectively.

His point production over the past two seasons (40 and 32) suggests the Wild, to put it kindly, overpaid for the aging Nolan and was likely based on his playoff performance (5 points in 7 games) with the Flames this spring.

In signing Bertuzzi to replace Nolan the Flames get him at a reasonable price, although that combined with what he got in his buyout (approximately $2.6 million) means he’ll actually earn more next season than he would made had the Ducks not bought him out.

For both players, this could be their last opportunities to prove themselves still worthwhile NHL forwards.

At 36 Nolan’s NHL career appears to be rapidly winding down as he’s now more of a checking forward than the high-scoring power forward he was at the turn of this century, while Bertuzzi still toils under the shadow of his infamous attack on Steve Moore over four years ago and a recent injury history that limited him to 83 games over the last two seasons.

The Pittsburgh Penguins took action to fill the gaps on the wing left by the departures of Ryan Malone and Marian Hossa on Thursday, signing right winger Miroslav Satan and winger Ruslan Fedotenko to one year contracts.

Satan, who had 41 points in 80 games with the NY Islanders last season, will earn $3.5 million, while Fedotenko, another ex-Islander, had 33 points in 67 games and will make $2.5 million.

Neither will fully replace what Malone and Hossa contributed to the Penguins last season and will be seen as stopgap replacements, but at least GM Ray Shero has addressed the lack of depth on the wing in the wake of Hossa and Malone’s departures with a pair or decent free agents

This probably means we can scratch those speculations of Jaromir Jagr and Markus Naslund signing with the Penguins.

Boston Bruins fans were hoping GM Peter Chiarelli would bring in some scoring help via the UFA market this summer.

Chiarelli signed a scoring winger but not a big ticket one like Marian Hossa, signing instead a forward who used to play for their arch-rival sin Montreal.

The Bruins signed former Canadiens winger Michael Ryder to a three-year, $12 million contract, paying him $4 million per season.

Seems a steep price to pay for a winger who managed only 14 goals and 31 points in limited ice time last season, but the affable Newfoundlander is only one season removed from his second straight 30-goal season, and if he can regain his scoring touch with the Bruins it could become a worthwhile signing.

This move should also demonstrate once and for all that the Bruins won’t be dumping the contract of aging veteran Glen Murray to free up the cap space to get into the bidding war for Hossa.

Once upon a time, in the bad old days before the salary cap, the NY Rangers had a reputation for making expensive, questionable signings of older unrestricted free agents.

After spending the first three years under a salary cap spending wisely (more or less), Rangers GM Glen Sather has returned to his team’s old free-spending ways on aging talent, signing Wade Redden to a six year contract worth $6.5 million per season.

That’s right, Redden, whose last two seasons in Ottawa merely highlighted he was a defenseman in decline, will not only earn the same salary per season as he did under his old contract, he’ll keep earning it…for the next…six….years!

I’m sorry, no offense, Rangers fans, but your front office has taken a collective leave of its senses.

And they’re apparently still in the hunt for Marian Hossa and Mats Sundin and haven’t ruled out re-signing Jaromir Jagr, but as TSN’s Bob McKenzie noted, they’ll have to dump some salary because they have about $8-$9 million in available cap space, which won’t leave enough to land one of those aforementioned big fish and still have enough cap room to flesh out the roster.

They were in good shape before taking on Redden, heck, I could’ve even understood their signing him for two years at that salary, but not at six years. They’ve saddled themselves with a declining asset that could prove to be a cap headache down the road.

Of course, in the words of Dennis Miller (when he used to be funny), that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong. For your sake, Rangers fans, I sure hope so.

For two teams traditionally known for making big waves in the UFA pool, the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers have been very quiet thus far.

The Flyers of course have limited cap space this summer and are only seeking affordable signings, preferably on their blueline.

GM Paul Holmgren appears to find such an affordable d-man in Ossi Vaananen, who spent last season playing in Sweden after failing to land a contract in last summer’s UFA market.

Holmgren wanted a puck-moving defenseman but that’ s not Vaananen’s game, as he plays a more physical “stay-at-home” style, which should make him a welcome addition for the Flyers but still leaves Holmgren seeking an affordable offensive blueliner.

The Rangers are believed in the market for some of this summer’s big UFA fish like Mats Sundin and Marian Hossa but have kicked off July 1st with two minor signings, adding checking line forwards Patrick Rissmiller and Aaron Voros.

TSN's Bob McKenzie reports defenseman Brian Campbell is to sign with the Chicago Blackhawks to an 8-year, $7.1 million per season contract.

GM Dale Tallon had Campbell in his sights for months and managed to out-bid clubs like Ottawa and the New York Rangers for his services.

Campbell was considered the best available defenseman in this summer's UFA pool, but as TSN's Pierre McGuire pointed out, it seems wrong that he's earning more money than Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, the best defenseman in the league.

Campbell's a good defenseman and he should be a welcome addition to the Blackhawks defense corps, but he's not worth $7.1 million per season, particularly when one considers he was seeking $5 million per season last fall to re-sign with the Buffalo Sabres.

TSN also suggests this move puts the Blackhawks over the cap ceiling by over $5 million for next season (considering Cristobal Huet's new contract of $5. 6 million per season), meaning Tallon will have some significant salary to dump between now and the week before the start of next season to get under the $56.7 million cap.

**UPDATE** One of my readers (thanks, Mickey) crunched the numbers and claims the Blackhawks are nearly $2 million over the $56.7 million cap, sitting currently at $58.6 million. Still, they'll need to dump more than that to get comfortably under the cap and leave some wiggle room for next season.

The Buffalo Sabres have signed an experienced backup for starting goaltending Ryan Miller by inking Patrick Lalime a two-year, $2 million contract.

It was speculated Lalime might land back with the Ottawa Senators where he was a starter earlier in the decade but it appears they opted for the more affordable option in Alex Auld.

Lalime earned positive reviews for his efforts in Chicago backing up Blackhawks starter Nikolai Khabibulin but management decided they needed to bring in an established starter and let Lalime walk via free agency.

He should prove to be a better backup than Jocelyn Thibault, as the Sabres were looking for someone capable of lightening the workload of starter Ryan Miller.

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.

The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to be one of the busiest teams in the league in recent days.

After focusing on signing forwards the Bolts turned their attention to the goaltending depth by signing former Washington Capitals netminder Olaf Kolzig to an affordable one-year, $1.5 million contract.

The former Vezina winner will share the goaltending duties with Mike Smith, whom the Lightning acquired from the Dallas Stars at the trade deadline in the Brad Richards deal, providing veteran leadership and experience as well as tutoring Smith, whom management still sees as their starter goalie of the future.

Kolzig struggled at times last season with the Capitals but with less of a load on his shoulders this season could find a lighter workload more beneficial to his game.

**UPDATE** The rumor is circulating in the media that the Lightning are shopping Smith (!).Looks like the Lightning's wild ride under their new ownership is far from over.

Last summer the first offer sheets didn’t appear until several days into the UFA market.

This year we’ve got one on opening day, as the Vancouver Canucks have signed St. Louis Blues RFA forward David Backes to a three-year, $7.5 million offer sheet.

As per TSN the Blues now have a week to match the offer or received the Canucks second round pick in the 2009 entry draft as compensation.

Canucks GM Mike Gillis promised to make some bold moves and this one is certainly bold, although this move is a puzzling one.

Backes is a promising young forward whom the Blues hoped to re-sign but in his first two NHL seasons he’s posted up 23 points in 49 games and only 31 in 72 games last season.

The Canucks are hoping to bolster their offensive depth and it’s understandable they’d want to bring in a younger forward with his best years still ahead, but $2. 5 million per season is a steep raise and could put significant pressure on Backes if the Blues match or not.

I’m not sure if Backes is a former client of Gillis when he was still a player agent but if he is that’ll go a long way to further explaining why the Canucks new GM is taking this risk.

**UPDATE!**  The Blues wasted little time in announcing they would match the Canucks offer, meaning Backes will be staying in St. Louis. Swing and a miss for Gillis.

The Florida Panthers needed to address a lack of offensive depth after trading away Olli Jokinen nearly two weeks ago.

GM Jacques Martin appears to have found that replacement by signing veteran left winger Cory Stillman to a three-year, $10.6 million contract.

Stillman has proven to be a reliable 50-60 point man in recent years, including an 80-point performance in 2003-04, yet he hasn’t been able to stick with one team for long, as the Panthers will be his fifth team since 2002-03.

He’ll help fill that gap but they’ll still need to bring in a first line center or else elevate Stephen Weiss and bring in a second line center.

Avalanche GM Francois Giguere said he wouldn’t be making any big splashes in this summer’s UFA market but wasted little time bringing in some affordable grit and experience in Darcy Tucker, signing the former Leafs to a two-year, $4. 5 million contract.

The Toronto Maple Leafs bought out Tucker’s contract last week and there were concerns that in his mid-thirties age and injuries might be catching up to him.

Still, Tucker is only two years removed from a 28 goal, 61 point season and if he can stay healthy and bounce back could be a valuable addition to the Avalanche.