After taking a few days off to visit family and friends here's a look at some recent player news which occurred over that time.

Brendan Shanahan's NHL career might be coming to a close after the New Jersey Devils recently released him. 

Management approached him over a week ago indicating their desire to part ways with Shanahan, whom they signed in August to a one-year, million contract, to make way for younger talent to move up into the second and third line winger roles. 

The club recently waived Shanahan and have released him from his contract, which will no longer count against the Devils salary cap. In turn this will allow Shanahan to become an unrestricted free agent. 

The market for Shanahan is quite limited as he only wants to play in the New York area. Neither the Rangers, Islanders or Buffalo Sabres are interested and he could be facing retirement.  The Detroit Red Wings, with whom Shanahan starred for nine seasons winning three Stanley Cups, have also passed. 

- Speaking of the Red Wings, they recently signed tough guy forward Brad May to a one-year contract worth 0K. 

While the move elicited scorn from many observers GM Ken Holland defended the move, pointing out his club was pushed around by the St. Louis Blues in their back-to-back season opening series, adding May will bring back swagger to the roster. 

- The Nashville Predators signed veteran forward Dave Scatchard to a one-year contract. Scatchard had been released from the Vancouver Canucks after attempting to make that club on a tryout. 

Scatchard's deal is for one-year and is a two-way contract worth over 0K at the NHL level. He's obviously a depth signing who can be called up when required throughout the season should injuries strike the Predators lineup. 

- The Calgary Flames recently acquired another defenseman, trading away forward Kyle Greentree to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for blueliner Aaron Johnson. 

This move comes as veteran Flames d-man Cory Sarich remains sidelined with a foot injury suffered during pre-season, which would suggest Sarich may be out for longer than anticipated thus Johnson would be worthwhile insurance. 

The move also cleared a little bit of cap space for the Blackhawks, dumping Johnson's 0K salary as Greentree was sent to the minors. This could be the first in what could be several salary dumping deals for the cash-strapped Blackhawks between now and July 1st as the club has to re-sign key stars Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith. 

A former NHL defenseman has announced his retirement while a former winger is heading to Russia's KHL. 

Philippe Boucher, who split last season between the Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins, has decided to retire after 17 NHL seasons, having won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins last spring. 

Winger Eric Perrin, who played last season with the Atlanta Thrashers and was an unrestricted free agent, has signed a one-year deal with Avangard Omsk. 

Boucher, 36, also played for the Buffalo Sabres and LA Kings during his career. His best season was in 2006-07, with a career-best 19 goals and 51 points in 76 games with the Stars, earning a berth in the NHL All-Star game. 

He was a good puck-moving defenseman for much of his career but injuries were also his nearly constant companion as he never played a full 82-game season in his career. 

Perrin, 33, had a much shorter NHL career, playing only four seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Atlanta  Thrashers. He won a Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2004, but his best NHL season was 2007-08 with the Thrashers, netting 12 goals and 45 points in 81 games. 

Having spent much of his professional career in Europe playing in Russia shouldn't be too difficult of an adjustment, having previously played in Finland and Switzerland. 

Since Ottawa Senators winger Dany Heatley surprised the NHL world with his mid-June request for a trade he'd been the main topic of discussion throughout this summer's hockey rumor mill.

With only weeks to go until the start of the Senators training camp the speculation suggests the Senators will have to move Heatley before then or risk his trade request becoming an unwelcome distraction for management, head coach Cory Clouston (who is believed the reason behind Heatley's request) and the players. 

But can Heatley be moved before mid-September?

In the "good old days", before the salary cap and "no-movement" clauses, the answer would've been a definite 'yes'. Players of Heatley talent (former two-time 50-goal scorer) are highly prized and despite being branded as selfish by the media and some NHL folks there would've been several team lining up for his services. 

But today's NHL world is ruled by the salary cap and Heatley has a "no-movement" clause giving him the final say over where he'll be dealt. 

The best time for Heatley to be moved was late-June/early-July, as that's when interested teams had the cap space to absorb his hefty $7.5 million per season contract. 

That's when the anticipation of a Heatley trade was at its height. During the June 2009  entry draft in Montreal Heatley's name was among several bandied possibly ready to be moved at any moment. 

But Senators general manager Bryan Murray was apparently seeking too much (a top six forward, a puck-moving defenseman and a first round pick) and that killed most of the interest in him. 

The Edmonton Oilers jumped into the fray just prior to the start of this summer's unrestricted free agent period with an offer of two forwards (Dustin Penner and Andrew Cogliano) and a defenseman (Ladislav Smid) which Murray was willing to accept. 

Unfortunately for Murray and the Oilers, Heatley nixed the deal, not once but twice, and resisted all entreaties from the Oilers until they finally gave up. 

Almost all the teams believed on Heatley's "wish list" of desired destinations, including the New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, and Los Angeles Kings, aren't interest any more.

Forget the silly internet-based rumors claiming otherwise; those clubs either already addressed their needs (Rangers signing Gaborik), lack the cap space (Blackhawks) or just didn't like the way the Heatley camp handled this situation (Kings). 

Only one team, the San Jose Sharks,  is believed to have any significant interest in Heatley but unfortunately for the Sharks and Senators it appears a deal cannot be reached. 

Sharks GM Doug Wilson apparently would love to move out players like Jonathan Cheechoo and perhaps Christian Ehrhoff for Heatley, but Murray aren't interested. 

That's led of course to wild talk of a potential three-way deal but nothing has materialized and likely won't at this time of year. 

The best window of opportunity to move Heatley has long passed. As general managers prepare for the start of their upcoming training camps they're more interested in assessing their current rosters over the next month before making any decisions on changes via trades. 

Even then, it's doubtful the Senators could find willing trade partners since most clubs have committed their available cap dollars and would only be interested in affordable deals rather than blockbuster moves. 

Recent history is also against a Heatley trade taking place prior to the start of training camp, during pre-season or in the first half of this season. 

Since the lockout ended few major off-season trades have occurred in August. Heatley was involved in the last significant one when he was dealt from Atlanta to Ottawa on August 23, 2005.

Some rumormongers will point to that as proof such deals can still occur but that's not taking into account the summer of 2005 was a different NHL off-season. The league had only emerged from a season-killing lockout in mid-July and teams weren't allowed to make roster changes until August 1st. 

Since then we've seen no significant deals involving players of Heatley's caliber in August...or September...or October. 

In fact the last time a significant early season trade occurred was nearly four years ago, when the Boston Bruins shipped Joe Thornton to San Jose on November 30th, 2005. 

The salary cap and to a lesser degree no-trade/no-movement clauses are the reasons and both are applicable in Heatley's case. 

It's possible Heatley could be moved before the start of training camp, the start of the upcoming 2009-10 season or even in the first half of the season, but the odds are against it. 

The longer this situation drags on the greater the possibility that the earliest he might be dealt is the March 3rd, 2010 trade deadline. 

That's a long time for the Senators and their fans to deal with the distraction of Heatley's trade request. 

It's also a long time for Heatley to have to deal with a distraction of his own making and which he has no one but himself to blame.  

That raises the distinct possibility this situation could start all over again next summer. 

The Calgary Flames shed a bit of salary today and added some affordable depth while the Toronto Maple Leafs moved out a spare defenseman in exchange for a veteran checking forward.

Heading to Toronto is 33-year-old veteran forward Wayne Primeau, who can play center or left wing on the checking lines. Primeau's plays a physical defensive style but it has played havoc on his body in recent years as he was limited to 43 and 24 games respectively with the Flames over the past two seasons.

The Leafs also get the Flames second round pick in 2011.

Going to Calgary is forward Colin Stuart, defenseman Anton Stralman and a seventh round pick in 2012.

Stralman and Stuart saw limited action with the Leafs last season but Stralman was one of ten defensemen the Leafs have under contract for the upcoming season. Moving him for Primeau helps free up some room on the Leafs blueline. 

The pair's combined salaries for the upcoming season (around $1.1 million) is less than Primeau's $1.4 million giving the Flames a bit of cap space breathing room. 

It's been quiet on the NHL free agent signing front so here's a quick look at some players who've opted to play in Europe next season:

- Former Boston Bruins winger P.J. Axelsson has agreed to a four-year contract with Frolunda of the Swedish Elite League. There had been speculation he might try to sign with the Ottawa Senators and join former Swedish national teammate Daniel Alfredsson.

Axelsson played his entire 11 year NHL career with the Bruins as a dependable checking line forward. This new contract with Frolunda likely signals the end of the 34-year-old's NHL career.

- Nine-year NHL defenseman Dmitri Kalinin signed a two-year contract earlier this month with Salavat Yulaev Ufa of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League.

Kalinin played all but one season with the Buffalo Sabres during his NHL tenure and split last season between the NY Rangers and Phoenix Coyotes. His best season was in 2003-04 when he had 34 points in 77 games.

If Salavat Yulaev Ufa sounds familiar, it's because it's also the team Nashville Predators winger Alexander Radulov signed with last summer.

- Former Maple Leafs, Senator, Hurricane and Mighty Duck Martin Gerber will also be playing in Russia next season, signing a contract with Atlant Mytischinn.

Gerber split last season between the Maple Leafs and Senators and never fully played up to expectations as a once-promising NHL starting goaltender. 

He went into the 2006 playoffs with the Carolina Hurricanes as their starting goaltender but after two poor early performances which he blamed on illness was replaced by Cam Ward, who went on to carry the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup and took over the starter's job from Greber. 

Dealt to Ottawa that summer he again was expected to be a starter and again wound up watching another goalie carry a team to the Final, this time Ray Emery. 

Gerber had his shot at redemption last season when the Senators bought out Emery but was unable to prove himself a worthy starter. It's unlikely he'll be back in the NHL.