With the NHL's 2008-09 season to begin later this week for the rest of the 26 teams who didn't open this past weekend in Europe the final round of roster cuts are being made. Here are some of the most notable that have been made over the past week:

Carolina Hurricanes: Jeff O'Neill. Ended his comeback  a week ago. His NHL career is likely over.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Richard Matvichuk. Released this past weekend but still hopes to land with an NHL team.

New York Rangers: Petr Nedved. Appeared to have a promising start in the pre-season but was cut by the Rangers over a week ago. He'll be returning to the Czech Republic to continue his playing career but his NHL days are over.

Philadelphia Flyers: Bryan Berard and Jim Dowd. Berard however has been linked to the Tampa Bay Lightning so there's still a chance he'll be playing in the NHL this season.

The Calgary Flames today placed defensemen Rhett Warrener and Anders Eriksson and forward Jamie Lundmark on waivers, while the Toronto Maple Leafs did the same with forward Mark Bell. If unclaimed it's expected the four could be demoted to the minors.

The Philadelphia Flyers placed forward Jim Dowd and defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick on waivers on Thursday, January 3rd, while the Carolina Hurricanes did the same with goaltender John Grahame.

All three cleared waivers on Friday and were demoted to the Flyers and Hurricanes respective minor league affiliates.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said the reason for demoting Dowd and Fitzpatrick was to bring younger players into the lineup. It doesn’t appear that either will be returning to the Flyers this season barring injury.

That’s not surprising as both were essentially depth signings for the Flyers this season.

Grahame however was a different matter, as he was considered the Hurricanes backup for starter Cam Ward.

Both Ward and Grahame have struggled this season, part of the reason why the Hurricanes performance has cooled following a red-hot start.

Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford hoped to shake up his goaltending by calling up Michael Leighton. With Ward, the 2006 Conn Smythe winner, on a multi-year paying him $2.667 million per season until 2010, Grahame was the obvious choice for demotion.

It remains to be seen if Grahame will return to the Hurricanes lineup this season but even if he does he’s likely on his final season with the club as he’ll be eligible for unrestricted free agency in July.

All three players successfully cleared waivers and all were already on affordable contracts for this season (Grahame’s was the most expensive at $1.4 million for this season), of which half has already been paid out this season.

It’s doubtful therefore that there’ll be any interest in them if they were to be placed on re-entry waivers.

- The hard work of four unrestricted free agents that were training camp invitees paid off this week as they were awarded contracts for this season.

On October 3 2007 the Boston Bruins signed forward Glen Metropolit to a one-year contract believed around the league minimum salary.

After spending three years in Europe Metropolit returned to the NHL last season split between Atlanta and St. Louis, becoming an unrestricted free agent this past summer.

Although he’s considered a small forward by NHL standards Metropolit’s strength is his versatility, as he can play center and wing. He’ll likely center the Bruins fourth line but could see third line duty should injuries strike their roster this season.

Meanwhile the Philadelphia Flyers signed forwards Jim Dowd and Jesse Boulerice to one-year contracts, Boulerice for the league minimum of $475, 000, Dowd for slightly higher at $500,000.

Boulerice, who had 47 PIMs in six pre-season games, was obviously signed for his pugilistic skills and will take over the role of club enforcer vacated by Todd Fedoruk, who departed last summer via unrestricted free agency.

It appeared doubtful a couple of weeks ago that Dowd would land a job with the Flyers but GM Paul Holmgren noted he had a good training camp. A rash of injuries during pre-season might also have played a role in his signing.

Dowd will see fourth line duty where his checking skills and experience should make him a valuable depth addition for a rebuilding Flyers team.

On October 4th 2007 the St. Louis Blues signed winger Mike Johnson to a one-year contract.

A couple of weeks ago few observers expected Johnson to make the Blues but the club’s demotion of Petr Cajanek opened up some salary space for Johnson, a speedy checking line forward who also possesses a decent scoring touch.

Johnson played last season with the Montreal Canadiens, netting 31 points in 80 games and with a +7 rating was one of only a handful of Habs on the happy side of the plus/minus stat in 2006-07.

 

- Scratch another player off next summer's unrestricted free agent market.

The New York Islanders announced Friday (October 5th) the signing of defenseman Radek Martinek to a three-year contract extension. The new deal starts next season. Martinek had been eligible for unrestricted free agent status next July.

Financial terms have yet to be disclosed.