June 29, 2007

Note: Angus and Burnsy will be covering the UFA signings from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday morning as I will be out of Internet range. I will also hold off on updating the fantasy rankings until July 4, because of all the UFA signings that are bound to happen and impact them. There will be no article on Sunday as well. My next appearance on XM will not be until September, as they have changed the schedule for the summer. 

Tampa prospect goalie Riku Helenius was selected by Seattle in the CHL import draft and will be coming to North American next season to play in the WHL. He missed most of last season with a shoulder injury.

In a bit of a surprise, the Habs not only bought out Cullimore, but they have bought out Salmelainen. He will likely return to Finland. If teams won't pay him even $725,000 – and they'll even pay him $479,000 just to go away – then he won't be in the NHL. 

The Flames have signed David Hale (one year) and Wayne Primeau (three years) to contracts.

Tough guy David Koci, a pending unrestricted free agent, has re-signed with the Blackhawks. When he plays, he'll rack up the PIM's.

Darren Dreger is reporting that the Isles may be ready to offer Smyth a contract in the $6 million range…for seven or eight years. Gee, I can't see the Islanders pulling a weird move like that (sarcasm).

The Nashville Tennessean is reporting that a two-year contract extension for goalie Chris Mason (worth $6 million) cannot be signed until after July 1 according to the CBA, but that is not the case. Just to clarify – he can sign the extension right now, except it woud up the salary cap hit per year starting next season. If they wait until July 1, the salary cap hit will remain his current salary for this season and his increased salary beginning next season.

The Tennessean is also reporting that Forsberg underwent surgery on his foot. The President and CEO of the Band-Aid Boys has been through it before. The surgery was performed in Sweden where it won't surprise me if he stays.

Gilbert Brule tweaked his groin in prospect camp. He is a former Band-Aid Boy trainee and it would not surprise me if he ended up back on that list.

The Devils have signed Mike Rupp for the minimum, a two-year deal. Great, I was going through my predictions and just finished doing the Devils last night. I had deleted Rupp because I didn't think anyone would sign him. 

The Devils also are reportedly close to signing a deal w