Signings and Trades pre-FA Frenzy

Monday, June 30th

- Boston re-signs F Petteri Nokelainen to a 2-year, 1.7 M contract.

- Buffalo re-signs F Paul Gaustad to a 4-year, 9.2 M contract.

- Detroit re-signs D Andreas Lilja to a 2-year contract.

- Florida re-signs F Rotislav Olesz to a 6-year, 18.75 M contract.

- San Jose signs F Jody Shelley to a a 2-year contract.

Sunday, June 29th

- Colorado signs D Adam Foote to a 2-year, 6 M contract and D John-Michael Liles to a 4-year, 16 M contract.

- Edmonton trades F Jarret Stoll and D Matt Greene to Los Angeles for D Lubomir Visnovsky.

- Minnesota trades F Brian Rolston to Tampa Bay for a conditional 3rd round pick in the 2010 entry draft.

- Tampa Bay signs F Ryan Malone to a 7-year, 31.5 M contract and F Gary Roberts to a 1-year contract.

Lightning re-signs Boyle, trade Prospal

There were a couple of moves that included the Tampa Bay Lightning which took place overnight.

Firstly, the Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed defenseman Dan Boyle to a 6-year, US$40 M contract.
The veteran defenseman will earn US$6.66 M over the next 6 seasons and will have a "no-trade" clause for the first 4 seasons, while he will have a modified "no-trade" for the final 2.

Secondly, the Lightning dealt winger Vaclav Prospal to the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Alexandre Picard and a conditional draft pick. The Lightning will receive the Flyers' 2nd Round Pick if the Flyers make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, and if they don't, will get Calgary's 3rd Round Pick.

Having been re-signed, Dan Boyle is officially off the market, and so is Prospal as he has found a new home. The same cannot be said about Lightning forward Brad Richards who will now, with Boyle's re-signing, be officially dealt.

What the sellers have to offer

With a big number of teams, currently, out of the Playoff Picture, a slew of players could be available by the Trade Deadline.

Amongst these teams are the Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders and Chicago Blackhawks.

All these teams have interesting unrestricted free-agents come July 1st, except the Edmonton Oilers, but do not rule them out as sellers, as they have an important number of young defencemen and forwards that could be on the way out (except Gagner, Cogliano, Pitkanen...).

The teams with the most valuable assets to ship off is the Tampa Bay Lightning. Their UFAs include Dan Boyle, Vaclav Prospal and Chris Gratton. Boyle and Prospal would be welcome on any team, as for Gratton, his 55% faceoff success rate makes him somewhat of an intriguing option as a 3rd line center.

The Blackhawks along with the Oilers are the out-of-the-race teams that have the least to offer.
The Blackhawks seem to be willing to keep their young core of players together, and therefore only have UFAs Martin Lapointe and Andrei Zyuzin. Edmonton is in the same situation and their only ''notable'' UFA is Geoff Sanderson.

The Maple Leafs and Kings, respectively 29th and 30th in league standings, have some valuable UFAs to offer. Mats Sundin is most notably the top UFA forward in the market this year as the Trade Deadline approaches, and Toronto's only asset, if they decide to not trade Tomas Kaberle.
The Kings' notable UFAs include Rob Blake and Ladislav Nagy.

Finally, the Blues and Islanders also have some valuable assets to offer. St. Louis, unable to re-sign Barret Jackman up until this point in time, might be forced to trade him, and the Islanders surely want to get something in return for UFAs Miroslav Satan, Trent Hunter and Bryan Berard.

The Market this year seems quite bleek from a 100% sellers point of view, but wait until Trade Deadline day to see where Atlanta (UFAs: F Marian Hossa, F Bobby Holik, F Mark Recchi, D Steve McCarthy, G Johan Hedberg), Columbus (UFAs: F David Vyborny, F Sergei Fedorov, F Mike Peca, D Adam Foote) and Vancouver (UFAs: F Markus Naslund, F Brendan Morrison) stand, as their position could force them to add some valuable assets to the Trade Pool.

6 teams will "modernize" their Jerseys

According to Tarik El-Bashir, a Capitals beatwriter for the Washington Post:

"Six other teams -- Boston, Columbus, Ottawa, San Jose, Tampa Bay and Vancouver-- also will make changes to their uniforms as the NHL switches to a new form-fitting uniform designed by Reebok. The Capitals' overhaul is among the most extensive because both the logo and colors are completely different."

Here are the Jerseys I have leads on, note that they are all designed by RBK (view pictures at the end of the article):

1) Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks will be making a drastic change to their jerseys, even though the colours will "practically" remain the same.

Their logo, as well, will change, turning into a blue, green and white pilot inside a dark blue triangle.

Verdict: This was a perfect change for the Canucks, as they add a brand new and more coherent logo to their front. Very nice jersey!

2) Boston Bruins: This shouldn't be called a "change" due to the fact that the Bruins are only adding a white stripe to their vintage jersey.

Verdict: Even though only adding a single element to their jersey, the Bruins' new jerseys are quite nice and modern at the same time. Very good choice!

3) Columbus Blue Jackets: Columbus' new jersey is a blend between their alternate jersey last season and their regular ones.

Their new home jersey is exactly the same as last year's alternate, but with a new feel and texture, while their away one is the exact same pattern as their new home jersey, but in a different colour, white.

Verdict: Finally moving on from their inaugural jerseys, the Blue Jackets will wear much more appealing jerseys next season. Very good move!

Jerseys:

1) Vancouver Canucks
2) Boston Bruins

3) Columbus Blue Jackets

Note: Every new jersey will be adding the "NHL" Logo to their collar.