One day after acquiring defenseman Joni Pitkanen from the Edmonton Oilers the Carolina Hurricanes have re-signed him to a three year, $12 million contract, counting as $ 4million per season against the Hurricanes cap.

The Hurricanes are committing considerable coin to a player who has yet to be play a game in their lineup so in a way it’s like a UFA signing. It’s a considerable increase over the $2.4 million he earned last season with the Oilers, an injury-filled one where he managed only 26 points in 63 games after two strong 40 + point seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers.

But Pitkanen could be that puck-moving blueliner the Hurricanes have been lacking for the past two years and should be a significant addition to their offensive attack, particularly on the power play.

Having dealt away Erik Cole to Edmonton for Pitkanen the $4 million for next season that would've gone to Cole now goes to their new defenseman.

One of the NHL’s long-rumored deals finally took place today, as the Edmonton Oilers traded defenseman Joni Pitkanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for forward Erik Cole.

The Hurricanes apparently tried to acquired Pitkanen last summer from the Philadelphia Flyers before he was dealt to the Oilers, and while Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe had hoped to re-sign Pitkanen, a restricted free agent, his acquisition of Lubomir Visnovsky signaled the Finnish blueliner wouldn’t be an Oiler much longer.

It’s a trade that on paper should address the needs of both clubs. The Hurricanes were seeking a top-two puckmoving defenseman and the Oilers were in the market for a top six forward.

The Hurricanes have to re-sign Pitkanen and he’s reportedly seeking nearly $5 million per season, while Cole has another season remaining on his current contract at $4 million.

Edmonton Oilers GM Kevin Lowe is wasting little time in the off-season getting his restricted free agents under contract before July 1st.

Last Friday Lowe re-signed defenseman Tom Gilbert and forward Robert Nilsson to contract extensions, and on Monday he struck again, re-signing defenseman Denis Grebeshkov to a one-year extension believed worth around $1.5 million.

Grebeshkov reportedly wanted to sign a one-year contract to see how things work out next season before committing to a longer deal.

The Oilers are his third NHL team, having had short tenures with the LA Kings and NY Islanders, but this was his first full NHL season, which proved to be a good one for the 24-year-old, seeing action in 71 games and posting 18 points, respectable totals for a defenseman.

Lowe has said that the speed in which he’s re-signed some of his RFAs isn’t tied to the possibility of a rival team signing one of them away with an offer sheet, as he successfully did with Dustin Penner last summer.

Perhaps, but I’m willing to hazard a guess that it’s very much on Lowe’s mind, as he incurred the wrath of rival GMs last summer for signing Penner to an offer sheet and attempting to do the same with Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek, even though he was within his right to do so under the CBA.

It’s been suggested by some pundits that the Oilers best RFA players could be targets for offer sheets this summer, which would certainly explain why Lowe appears in a hurry to get those players under contract before this summer.

With Grebeshkov, Gilbert and Nilsson now re-signed, Lowe is expected to turn his attention to getting Joni Pitkanen and Jarret Stoll under contract.

The Edmonton Oilers on Friday retained a key young member of their blueline corps, re-signing defenseman Tom Gilbert to a six-year contract believed worth around $24 million, or approximately $4 million per season against the Oilers cap.

Gilbert, 25, had a breakthrough performance with the Oilers in 2007-08, with 13 goals and 33 points in 82 games to lead all Oilers defensemen. His development may have been hastened this season by injuries to veterans Sheldon Souray and Joni Pitkanen.

Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe had to move quickly to re-sign Gilbert, as he was slated to become a restricted free agent on July 1st, which would’ve made him eligible to receive an offer sheet from a rival team.

Given Lowe’s much publicized offer sheets made last summer to Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek and Anaheim’s Dustin Penner, the latter of which proved a successful move by Lowe, it’s a good bet a rival club would’ve made Gilbert a target for an offer sheet.

This move will likely arouse criticism from some that Lowe overpaid to retain a second-year player who had one good season, but given the offer sheet possibility it was one he had to make, rather than risk allowing a rival club to set Gilbert’s market price.

It could also prove to be a worthwhile long-term investment for the Oilers. Gilbert meshed well with the crop of rising young players who were primarily responsible for the club’s impressive – but ultimately futile – late season stretch run, saving what otherwise would’ve been considered another wasted year for the Oilers.

Lowe is betting that Gilbert has now established himself as the team’s top defenseman, and at 25 has yet to hit his prime, meaning this new $4 million per season salary could prove to be a bargain over the next six seasons.

Gilbert’s new salary will now push the Oilers payroll for next season to over $37 million invested in 14 players.

With incoming owner Darryl Katz promising to keep pace with the league’s salary cap, expected to rise as high as $56 million for 2008-09, Lowe could have almost $20 million in available cap space to work with this summer.

Don’t expect Lowe to go on another free agent shopping spree, as he recently told the Edmonton media he intends to invest for the most part in his young stars.

Other free agents Lowe has to consider re-signing includes RFAs Jarret Stoll, Robert Nilsson, Zack Stortini, Denis Grebeshkov and Joni Pitkanen.

Of these, Pitkanen could prove the hardest to retain. Acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers last summer in a multi-player trade, the injury-prone Pitkanen saw action in 63 games this season, putting up 26 points.

Rumors out of Edmonton claim Pitkanen could be seeking a significant raise this summer, possibly well over $5 million per season, to re-sign with the Oilers.

Lowe has plenty of cap space if he wants to re-sign Pitkanen, but it’s doubtful he’ll commit to a long-term deal for that much to a defenseman with his injury issues.

Indeed, Gilbert’s new contract suggests that Pitkanen might no longer be part of the Oilers future, as Lowe might be more willing to put his faith in Gilbert, Grebeshkov, Ladislav Smid and a hopefully healthy veteran in Sheldon Souray next season.

Lowe could pass on Pitkanen and pursue an experienced defenseman via the UFA market or perhaps with another offer sheet foray.

With the NHL trade deadline now past the next notable round of player movement won’t occur until June, 2008, and most of it will be free agents signing with new teams.

While the focus as always will be on unrestricted free agents, this summer the threat of offer sheets is now a very real one, thus hockey fans will be nervously watching the contract talks of their favorite restricted free agent players as July 1st approaches.

Many teams haven’t wasted time this season, locking up their best RFA players to lengthy, long-term contracts now rather than risk another club either setting the price or plucking them away.

As a result, the list of the top RFA players has shrunk considerably since the start of the season, but there still remains some quality talent who, if unsigned by July 1st, could be tempting targets for offer sheets. It’ll be interesting to see how many of the following are re-upped by the end of June:

Anaheim: Corey Perry.

Columbus: Pascal LeClaire.

Detroit: Valtteri Filppula

Edmonton: Tom Gilbert and Joni Pitkanen.

Florida: Jay Bouwmeester.

Minnesota: Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

Montreal: Andrei Kostitsyn.

Nashville: Martin Erat, Shea Weber and Ryan Suter.

Ottawa: Andrej Meszaros.

Philadelphia: Jeff Carter.

Pittsburgh: Marc-Andre Fleury.

San Jose: Ryane Clowe

Washington: Mike Green.

TSN reports the Edmonton Oilers have dealt defenseman Jason Smith and forward Joffrey Lupul to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenseman Joni Pitkanen, winger Geoff Sanderson and a third round pick in 2009.

Don’t expect this trade to go down well with Oilers fans, who aren’t sorry to see Lupul dealt and hoped GM Kevin Lowe would land Pitkanen, but probably not at the expense of Smith, the Oilers captain.

Sanderson is an aging winger whose best years are behind him, which makes this part of the deal even more questionable.

What could make this deal salvageable for the Oilers is if Pitkanen, a very good offensive blueliner who struggled defensively last season with the Flyers, can improve his defensive game in Edmonton and still post up solid offensive numbers.

Lowe had his eye on Pitkanen for some time, and desperately needed a puckmoving defenseman after dealing away Chris Pronger last year.

But moving Smith, however, may have been too steep a price, and Oilers fans will be praying that Lowe can redeem himself with a major UFA signing.

Pitkanen was headed for salary arbitration with the Flyers this summer but don’t expect Lowe to do the same.

As for the Flyers, they get a proven leader and defensive blueliner in Smith and a work-in-progress in Lupul, who appeared on the verge of greatness in 2005-06 but regressed last season with the Oilers, scoring only 16 goals.

Smith is a proven commodity but Lupul is a gamble. Still, if he rediscovers his scoring touch in Philly, away from the pressure of performing in front of the hometown crowd in Edmonton, the Flyers could be the winners of this deal.

Flyers fans are likely rejoicing, Oilers fans less so.

The Philadelphia Flyers got the jump on the upcoming unrestricted free agent market on Monday, acquiring defenseman Kimmo Timonen and forward Scott Hartnell from the Nashville Predators.

In return, the Flyers shipped back to the Predators their first round pick (23rd overall) which the Predators had dealt to the Flyers last February as part of the Peter Forsberg trade.

The Flyers then signed Timonen to a 6-year, $37.8 million contract and Hartnell to a 6-year, $25.2 million deal.

With this move Flyers GM Paul Holmgren has secured two key additions to his roster, as well as displayed the kind of audacity his predecessor Bob Clarke was once known for.

Predators fans might be questioning why their club gave up so much for so little. The answer lies in the impending sale of the team.

As per a report in the Canadian newspaper National Post this weekend, the approval of the sale of the Predators isn’t likely to be finalized before June 30th, meaning current owner Craig Leipold is still on the hook for next season’s payroll.

The Post article suggested that as a result the Predators might start gutting their roster, starting by cutting loose impending unrestricted free agents like Timonen and Hartnell. Today’s trade proves that the Preds front office had no intention of retaining these two, and casts doubt onto the possibility of Paul Kariya and Peter Forsberg – also eligible for UFA status - returning next season.

It could also stoke speculation that the Predators could begin a “fire-sale” of their best players. Roster cuts could be limited, however, as the Predators would have to meet the league’s minimum salary requirement, or salary cap “floor”, as mandated under the collective bargaining agreement.

The spread between the salary cap “ceiling” and “floor” is $16 million. With the salary cap anticipated to rise to approximately $48.5 million, the cap “floor” would thus be $32.5 million. Presently the Predators have over $33 million committed to 13 players for next season.

Even if the Predators were to conduct a roster “fire sale” their payroll must be no less than $32.5 million by the start of next season, which could prevent management from potentially dumping most of their best players currently under contract.

It was rumored for months that Holmgren coveted Timonen and would make a big pitch for him if he hit the UFA market. By landing he and Hartnell in a trade, Holmgren effectively eliminated any possibility of either losing them in a bidding war to a rival team or having their market values jacked higher than he was willing to pay.

Timonen could be paired with fellow Finnish blueliner Joni Pitkanen in hopes of tutoring Pitkanen in improving his defensive game.

It’s also possible this move could lay the groundwork for a trade of Pitkanen, who was dogged by trade rumors throughout last season. Tim Panaccio of the Philadelphia Inquirer posted to his Hockeybuzz blog that the Flyers had filed for arbitration against Pitkanen last week, although Holmgren denies an intention to trade him.

In Hartnell, Holmgren is banking on the 25-year-old reaching his full potential in the coming years. He’s projected as a power forward and loves to play a physical game but injury has hampered his development.

At the very least he’ll be a welcome addition to the Flyers second line.

These moves could also have a significant impact upon Holmgren’s other potential off-season moves. The salaries of Timonen and Hartnell will count as a combined $10.5 million against the Flyers salary cap, pushing it to almost $42 million committed to 19 players for next season.

Holmgren was thought to be in the market for a scoring center like Scott Gomez or Daniel Briere and rumored to be planning to make an offer sheet to Buffalo’s Tomas Vanek.

Given how much he’s already got committed to next season’s payroll, signing any of those players now appears a remote possibility, which could instead have Holmgren looking at more affordable, second-tier talent barring a possible salary-dumping trade elsewhere.