One of the top power forwards in NHL history has called it a career as Brendan Shanahan today officially announced his retirement. 

This announcement has been expected for several weeks in the wake of the New Jersey Devils reaching an agreement with Shanahan releasing him from his contract with the club during pre-season. 

Shanahan retires with an impressive resume of statistics which will one day see him enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. 

As per the NHL press release:

Shanahan finishes his career in 11th place on the NHL’s all-time goal scoring list with 656 goals. He stands 11th in games played with 1,524, 22nd in penalty minutes with 2,489, 23rd in points with 1,354 and 49th in assists with 698. He is the only player in NHL history to amass more than 2,000

- It appears the NHL career of forward Tyler Arnason has come to an end. 

After he cleared waivers yesterday the NY Rangers released him from his one-year, two-way contract with the club, allowing him to sign with the KHL's Dinamo Riga. 

Arnason, 30, had been playing this season with the Rangers' AHL affiliate after failing to make their roster during pre-season play. 

His play had been in steady decline since a career-best 22-goal, 55-point performance in 2003-04 with the Chicago Blackhawks. He'd spent the last three seasons with the Colorado Avalanche. 

- Forward Drew Miller is on the move again via waivers. 

Having been acquired from the Anaheim Ducks by the Tampa Bay Lightning this summer in a trade Miller was claimed by the Detroit Red Wings on waivers. 

With Wayne Gretzky stepping down as head coach of the troubled Phoenix Coyotes it’s only natural to wonder what’s next for hockey’s biggest name and if he still has a future in some capacity in the NHL.

Sure, he’ll always be linked to the league and to hockey. The NHL owes Gretzky a huge debt of gratitude as it was both his play and his name recognition which spurred the sport’s popularity surge in the late 1980s and early 1990s which in turn resulted in the NHL’s expansion into the American south in the last decade.

Returning as a player is out of the question for the game’s greatest player, now 48 years old and more than 10 years removed from his last professional game.

His coaching record with the Coyotes (143-161-24) isn’t likely

The New York Rangers appear to have killed two birds with one stone for the upcoming season, signing former Tampa Bay Lightning winger Vaclav Prospal. 

According to the New York Post, the 34-year-old Prospal inked a one-year, $1.1 million contract with the Rangers. 

Prospal had been bought out of the remainder of his contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 28th.

A seven-time 54-plus point forward, Prospal netted 19 goals and 45 points in 82 points with the Lightning last season. 

While most effective at left wing Prospal is also capable of playing center, which could come in handy should Brandon Dubinsky struggle to handle the responsibility of centering Marian Gaborik's line. 

It had been speculated for some time the Rangers were interested in Ottawa Senators

To the surprise of no one, New York Rangers general manager Glen Sather today announced the club was exercising its option to walk away from the salary arbitration award of winger Nikolai Zherdev, effectively making him an unrestricted free agent. 

The New York media, particularly the NY Post, had been reporting for weeks Sather was likely to do this after Zherdev rejected the club's $3.25 million qualifying offer and instead filed for arbitration seeking reportedly $4.75 million for next season. 

Following the arbitration hearing on July 31 an arbiter awarded Zherdev a one-year, $3.9 million contract which Sather and the Rangers had no intention of paying.

Zherdev can now be signed by any NHL team but the question is will there be significant interest in his services? 

Phoenix Coyotes general manager Don Maloney won't let the uncertainty over the ownership of his team and its uncertain future in the Phoenix area preventy him from making moves to improve his club. 

Maloney today dealt right wing Enver Lisin to the New York Rangers in exchange for left wing Lauri Korpikoski. 

Both are restricted free agents who'd been qualified by their respective clubs prior to the trade but had yet to sign new contracts. 

Lisin had been touted as one of the Coyotes promising prospects. In his rookie performance last season he had 13 goals and 21 assists in 48 games. 

Maloney already had plenty of depth on right wing (Shane Doan, Peter Mueller, Mikkel Boedker, Victor Tikhonov and Scottie Upshall) and needed depth on the left side.

The Rangers were

With the market for free agent scoring depth rapidly shrinking New York Rangers general manager Glen Sather today snapped up one of the few remaining offensive forwards in right winger Ales Kotalik to a three-year contract. 

It's a bit of a pricey signing, as the contract is worth $9 million or $3 million per season, a slight raise over the $2.5 million he earned last season split between the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres. 

Kotalik is a good second-line winger, potting twenty or more goals four times in his career, but consistency is the issue with his play as he can at times go through long offensive droughts. His best season was in 2005-06 when he potted a career-best 25 goals and 62 points.

He's unlikely to reach those numbers again but Kotalik should be reliable for

It just wouldn’t feel like the opening day of the NHL’s annual UFA market without a big signing by the New York Rangers and once again they didn’t disappoint.

One day after trading away Scott Gomez and his expensive salary and following 24 hours of speculation the Rangers might try to trade for Ottawa Senators winger Dany Heatley Rangers GM Glen Sather signed former Minnesota Wild winger Marian Gaborik to a five-year, $37.5 million contract.

The deal will count as $7.5 million per season against the Rangers cap, down only slightly from the $8 million per season Gaborik rejected from the Wild last fall but considerably less in term than the ten-year deal his agent was rumored fishing for in the market.

Gaborik, 27, is unquestionably a very talented winger. He’s