The Minnesota Wild have signed winger Petr Sykora to a one-year deal worth $1.6 million.

Fantasy Impact: Sykora will either play with Mikko Koivu and Martin Havlat, or he will be on the second line with Andrew Brunette and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. He’ll get first crack with Koivu and Havlat, though. Think this is promising? It is. But is it any more promising than Evgeni Malkin? Shoulder problems or not, he wasn’t a 60-point player on a line with a Top 3 NHL scorer. He won’t be a 60-point player now. Go with around 50 points for this year.

This hurts the odds of Cal Clutterbuck becoming a 30/100 player. He’ll probably still reach 100 PIMs, but he won’t get to 30 points with another top six winger in the lineup. Antti Miettinen fades a little more out of the picture, too. I like this move for James Sheppard, though. Not for this year, but for his development. Another winger will probably mean Bouchard moves back to center, which would push Sheppard to the third line. That’s probably best for the youngster. After being so misused for the last two seasons, he needs to be used properly.