Flyers sign Briere to 8-year, $52M deal

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The Philadelphia Flyers made a big splash to kick off the offseason, signing centre Daniel Briere to an eight-year contract worth $52 million.

The deal will average $6.5 million a season, with the first year paying him $10 million. The contract also features a no movement clause.

Briere, 29, came off a career season in which he led the Buffalo Sabres with 95 points. He added a team-leading 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) in the playoffs.

Briere was eligible to become an unrestricted free agent this summer after he was awarded a one-year, $5 million contract by an arbitrator last July. He was the Sabres' highest paid player this past season, surpassing fellow co-captain Chris Drury's $3.15 million.

He earned $1.938 million in 2005-06, when he had 58 points in 48 games and added 19 points in 18 playoff games.



Briere, taken 24th overall by Phoenix in the 1996 Entry Draft, has 162 goals and 376 points in 483 career games.

Details to follow.

 

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Brian Rafalski agrees to a five year, $30 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings.

 

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Forward Yanic Perreault agrees to terms with the Chicago Blackhawks on a one-year, $1.5 million contract.

 

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed winger Jason Blake to a four-year deal worth $20 million.

 

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The New York Rangers have signed forward Scott Gomez to a seven-year deal worth $51.5 million.

 

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The New York Rangers have signed forward Chris Drury to a five-year deal worth $35 million.

 

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EDMONTON (CP) - The Edmonton Oilers made a major splash on day one of the NHL's free-agent signing period - but they did it with a blockbuster trade.

The Oilers acquired defenceman Joni Pitkanen and forward Geoff Sanderson from the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday for blue-liner Jason Smith and forward Joffrey Lupul.

Pitkanen's arrival should provide a major boost to Edmonton's anemic power play, which ranked fourth-worst in the league last season with a 14.2-per-cent success rate. The 23-year-old established career highs with 39 assists and 43 points in 77 games with the Flyers last season.

"Joni is a talented young defenceman with a proven track record," Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe said in a statement. "He possesses the offensive skills we have been seeking on the blue-line and look forward to having him in the lineup." Sanderson, a two-time all-star, had 11 goals and 18 assists in 58 games with Philadelphia last year.



The acquisitions came at a steep price in the form of Smith, the Oilers' captain and one of Edmonton's most consistent defensive blue-liners.

"As happy as we are with the addition of Pitkanen and Sanderson, it is difficult to see Jason leave us," said Lowe. "Jason has been an exceptional leader and member of the Oilers and has served proudly as our team captain."

Lupul, acquired in the trade that sent defenceman Chris Pronger to Anaheim last off-season, leaves his hometown team after a disappointing campaign that saw him post 16 goals, 12 assists and a team-worst minus-29 rating in 81 games.

The Oilers made two other moves on Sunday, signing free-agent defencemen Dick Tarnstrom and Denis Grebeshkov to one-year contracts.

Tarnstrom returns to the Oilers following a year away in the Swiss League. He played in Edmonton in 2006 and was part of the team that lost to Carolina in the Stanley Cup final.

Grebeshkov, meanwhile, was a restricted free agent. He was acquired by Edmonton from the New York Islanders for Marc-Andre Bergeron in February.

 

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Anaheim Ducks's defenceman Scott Niedermayer Is about to announce he is retiring from the NHL.

 

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The Colorado Avalanche have signed D Scott Hannan to a four-year deal worth $18 million.

 

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The Colorado Avalanche have signed winger Ryan Smyth to a five-year deal worth $31.25 million.


The St. Louis Blues sign winger Paul Kariya to a three-year, $18 million contract.



The Pittsburgh Penguins signed defenceman Darryl Sydor to a two-year, $5 million contract.

The Pittsburgh Penguins signed winger Petr Sykora to a two-year contract.

 

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Tom Preissing is headed to the Los Angeles Kings, reports the Ottawa Sun.

The contract is said to be for four-years and worth $11 million reported the newspaper on Monday.

The deal has yet to be finalized.

The 28-year-old defenceman had seven goals, 31 assists and was plus-40 over his 80 games with the Ottawa Senators.

Preissing was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in a three way deal with the Senators and Sharks on July 9th, 2006.

 

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The Chicago Blackhawks have signed centre Robert Lang to a two-year deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The 36-year-old appeared in 81 games for the Detroit Red Wings in 2006-07, collecting 19 goals, 52 points and 66 penalty minutes in his second full season in Motown.

''Robert gives us another offensive weapon at the center position,'' said general manager Dale Tallon. ''He is a right hand shot who will be able to help us on our power play. He has played with Martin Havlat in International competition and they have a very good chemistry together. He definitely gives us more strength up the middle.''

The Czech Republic native was selected by Los Angeles in the 1990 entry draft and played for four seasons with the Kings.

He then played five seasons in Pittsburgh, scoring a career-high 32 goals and 80 points in 2000-01.

 

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Looking to add some much-needed scoring punch, the Los Angeles Kings today signed forwards Ladislav Nagy and Michal Handzus and Kyle Carler.

The 28-year-old Nagy played in 80 regular season games in 2006-07, posting 12 goals and 55 points. Nagy began the season with the Phoenix Coyotes, playing in 55 games before being traded to the Dallas Stars at the trade deadline.

Nagy was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the 1997 entry draft. After two seasons in St. Louis, he was traded to Phoenix in 2001 with Handzus, Jeff Taffe and a first round pick in the 2001 draft for Keith Tkachuk.

Nagy has played in 397 regular season games over his six-year career, posting 106 goals and 285 points.

The 30-year-old Handzus suffered a knee injury after just eight games last season and did not play again. He had three goals and five assists.



In 517 career NHL games with the Blackhawks, Flyers, Coyotes and Blues, Handzus has totals of 115 goals, 185 assists and a +51 rating.

Calder, 28, appeared in 78 games with the Red Wings and Flyers last season and had totals of 14 goals and 21 assists.

 

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The Washington Capitals signed centre Michael Nylander to a four-year contract worth $19.5 million.

The Montreal Canadiens signed defenceman Roman Hamrlik to a four-year contract worth $22 million.


The Nashville Predators have signed forward Radek Bonk and defenceman Greg de Vries to two-year contracts.

 

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The Anaheim Ducks have signed forward Todd Bertuzzi to a two-year contract.

 

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The Pittsburgh Penguins signed defenceman Darryl Sydor to a two-year, $5 million contract.

The Pittsburgh Penguins signed winger Petr Sykora to a two-year contract.

I really thought we had a shot a Kariya, damn.

THe Flyers and Rangers are really loading up.

 

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another major signing by the LA Kings

The Los Angeles Kings have signed defenceman Brad Stuart to a one-year, $3.5-million contract.

 

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The New Jersey Devils have signed forward Dainius Zubrus to a US$20.4 million, six-year contract.

 

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Oilers cry foul over Nylander deal

EDMONTON (CP) - The Edmonton Oilers have complained to the NHL that they had Michael Nylander before the Washington Capitals did.

In a statement Tuesday, the Oilers said Nylander had signed with the Oilers on Sunday, only to then sign a US$19.5-million, four-year contract with the Capitals the next day.

To make matters worse, the Oilers say they held off going after other potential free agents because they thought they had Nylander in the bag. The 34-year-old Swede was one of the top catches on the free-agent market, setting career highs in goals (26), assists (57) and points (83) with the New York Rangers last season.

"On Sunday, July 1, 2007, Kevin Lowe, Oilers general manager, and Mr. Mike Gillis, certified agent for Michael Nylander, negotiated and agreed to a multi-year NHL Standard Players Contract, starting in 2007-08. Mr. Gillis confirmed same to the Oilers in writing," the Oilers' statement read Tuesday. "The Oilers then proceeded with preparations to announce Mr. Nylander's contract agreement on July 2, and concurrently continued with the process of negotiating with other free agents based upon Mr. Nylander being an important roster ingredient for the future.



"However, while the Oilers were expecting the returned signed agreements from Mr. Nylander and Mr. Gillis, the Oilers discovered through public announcements made mid-afternoon on July 2, that Mr. Nylander had subsequently entered into a long-term contract with the Capitals.

"The Oilers can find no precedent for such conduct in our history. The Oilers are examining and pursuing every course of action available in the best interest of the team and our fans.

"For legal reasons, the Edmonton Oilers hockey club will not be discussing the details any further at this time."

A lawyer for the Oilers could not provide contract details on the Edmonton deal.

Calls to both Lowe and Gillis by The Canadian Press were not immediately returned Tuesday. The NHL also did not have an immediate response. A call into Caps GM George McPhee was also not returned.

 

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Hasek agrees to one-year deal with Wings









DETROIT (AP) - Dominik Hasek and the Detroit Red Wings agreed to terms of a one-year contract Thursday that is worth more than US$2 million in base salary and gives the 42-year-old goalie a chance to earn an additional $2 million in bonuses.

"It's a lot less than he should be making," Hasek's agent Ritch Winter said. "It's one of the few deals that I do in which the player, the club and the agent agree the player is worth $5 (million) or $6 million and we talk it down from there.

"Dom didn't want more. He's taking one for the team. It's not one of my fun deals, but Dom is happy and that's important."

The six-time Vezina Trophy winner and two-time MVP informed the Red Wings that he wanted to play in Detroit again, but it took weeks for the sides to reach a deal.

In July 2006, he signed a one-year contract worth $750,000 and earned $900,000 in bonuses after helping the Red Wings advance past the second round for the first time since 2002. Detroit was eliminated in the Western Conference finals by the Anaheim Ducks, who went on to win the Stanley Cup.



Hasek was 38-11-6 with a 2.05 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and eight shutouts during his 15th regular season and third in Detroit. In the playoffs, Hasek was 10-8 with a 1.79 GAA, .923 save percentage and two shutouts.

For his legacy and bank account, Hasek didn't need to put on his skates and equipment this season. And he certainly didn't have to play another year in the NHL.

One of the world's best goaltenders has had a lot of personal success and earned tens of millions of dollars.

He's won, too, leading the Czech Republic to the gold medal in the 1998 Olympics and helping Detroit win the Stanley Cup in 2002.

When Ottawa decided last summer that it didn't want him back after an injury-plagued season, he could have retired again knowing his spot in the Hall of Fame was secure.

But a big part of what has made Hasek an all-time great - an insatiable appetite to compete - brought him back to Detroit with a bargain-basement, incentive-laden contract.

"I didn't come back to play and to make money," Hasek said in April. "I came back because I want to compete for the Stanley Cup, and to win the Stanley Cup. I didn't have a chance because of my injuries and the lockout the last four years and now I am back and I'm excited about it.

"I was waiting a long, long time to be back in the playoffs."

Hasek looked a lot like he did in his previous playoff appearance in 2002, when he had six shutouts in the playoffs en route to a Stanley Cup title that seemed to complete his career and led to his one-season retirement.

When Hasek signed last July, however, eyebrows were raised and the move was questioned.

He retired shortly after winning the Cup in his first season with the Red Wings only to come back a year later, creating an awkward situation for them because they signed Curtis Joseph to replace him.

Then, a groin injury limited Hasek to just 14 games during the 2003-04 season. After the lockout, the same ailment knocked him out of the Olympics last year and from the Senators' lineup.

Hasek showed again that when healthy, he's still one of hockey's top goalies.

He won 38 of 56 games - giving him 362 career victories over a 14-year career in Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit and Ottawa - and allowed an average of just two goals.