The rumors were true – the Islanders signed Josef Vasicek to a one-year contract. Jason Allison is still looking for a home.  

Correction from a reader – Mark Bell played once in Canada last season – Feb 24 in Calgary. There goes my conspiracy theory! 

The Vancouver Canucks finally met with Trevor Linden last night. Surprisingly, his re-signing with the team is not as much of a formality as people think. I still believe he will sign there…but not with the certainty that I did before.

It looks as though the Ottawa Senators will be updating their logo for this season. Not of fantasy consequence…but cut me some slack, it's August 15!

As you may (or may not) know, Mike Van Ryn underwent surgery on both wrists this summer. He tested them out on Monday in a practice and it's "better than expected" and he has "full range of motion". He has a month to work on his accuracy, he says, because that part of it isn't there yet. "I almost took the goaltender's head off." He will man the second power-play unit.

The Panthers have indicated that Cory Murphy will be on the first power-play unit.

Toronto winger Mark Bell will serve six months in prison at the end of the season after pleading guilty to drinking and driving charges yesterday. If the Leafs do not make the playoffs, this will still take him out for the first couple of weeks of 2008-09 and he will also have trouble crossing the border – this year, too. Last season, he happened to have his 'groin injury' act up on all four occasions that San Jose went into Canada, so he did not cross the border at all. Roll him down on your lists. A bounce-back season is only nice if he plays 80 games, which he won't.