The Oilers have signed Martin Gerber to a two-way deal. I guess Edmonton isn’t confident they will be seeing Khabibulin any time soon…

For all the flack Gerber gets, he actually has pretty decent career numbers. Clear upgrade on Deslauriers and Dubnyk, in my eyes.

Sounds like Teemu Selanne is returning for another season. Great to see, he has always been one of my favourite players.

Jason Mirtle is reporting that there are still 70 UFA’s out on the market who played at least 40 games or more at the NHL level last season. Many of them are going to have to accept very small one-year contracts. The market has been a funny one to try and figure out this summer.

Maxim Afinogenov has signed a five-year deal to play in Russia next season. The new contract is worth about $2.5 million per season. I think he would have stayed in the NHL for more term, as it seems like most teams were only willing to offer one year (including Atlanta).

Buy the Pool Guide!

You can now download a free copy of the first of two “mock/intro” issue of The Goalie Guild’s monthly Scouting Journal. The September issue will also be a free download before we kick things off for the regular season. I am hoping to expand this to 30+ pages before the season begins. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Goldie here – Mark Dekanich has signed a new pro contract, but it won’t be officially announced until next week. I know there have been rumors of Jose Theodore signing in Nashville, but I’m not so sure that happens. I really think the Preds want to make room for Anders Lindback to play in either the AHL or ECHL (depends on how Jeremy Smith competes in camp). Oh, and Dekanich announced this new deal on his Twitter feed @dexshow.

Keep an eye on where Tim Kennedy ends up… Chicago would be a great fit (if he takes a cheap contract). Other interesting destinations: Los Angeles (weak on the left side), Anaheim, Toronto, and Colorado. Just speculation.

Some lesser-mentioned UFA’s that I’d take a chance on: Ryan Potulny and Marek Svatos. Potulny had a solid season with the Oilers (not something many of them can say). He is undersized but very skilled, and started to show more effort (the knock on him throughout his career) last season.

Svatos is a pure dangler who would be a fantastic compliment to a big center on a scoring line. He’s injury prone, but could be a great fit in the right situation.

A few more fearless forecasts for 2010-11:

Phil Kessel doesn’t lead Toronto in scoring (points).

Zbynek Michalek finally gets the respect he deserves as one of the league’s best two-way defensemen.

Alex Tanguay and Olli Jokinen both flop in Calgary (Darryl Sutter would consider this a bold prediction, at least).

Chicago fails to retain the Central Division title. And Detroit doesn’t win it either…

Derek Joslin signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Sharks. His NHL contract figure is less than it was last season. Why? Well, Joslin recognizes that his best chance of sticking with the Sharks is with a lesser salary, so he’d rather take less at the NHL level and increase his chances of sticking as opposed to taking more, where he would probably end up making less as he’d be down in the AHL.

San Jose is rumored to be after Willie Mitchell (he’d fit that team like an absolute glove). Joslin will be fighting an uphill battle to win a roster spot, but he could stick as the number seven. If the Sharks do sign Mitchell, Niittymaki’s value increases tremendously. Willie is one of the best defensive defensemen in the entire league.

Tyler Eckford in New Jersey did the exact same thing (pay cut at the NHL level).

Chicago has signed defenseman Jordan Hendry to a one-year, $600,000 deal. Capgeek once again breaks another signing. Hendry is a decent depth defenseman who has some offensive upside. He was rumored to be looking at the KHL, but he should slot in on Chicago’s bottom pairing with John Scott or one of the prospects (Vishnevskiy, Connelly).

Nashville dealt minor-league forward Mike Santorelli to Florida. Santorelli earned some hype around these parts after an impressive training camp last season. If you can’t crack Nashville’s forward roster, you probably won’t fair any better elsewhere.

How important is a good PK? Not as important as staying out of the box in the first place. Here are the top five goalies from last season (save percentage), and where their teams ranked in terms of penalties taken. Direct correlation, much? Credit to opendoor for finding this.

1: Rask (26th)
2: Miller (25th)
3: Brodeur (30th)
4: Niemi (28th)
5: Howard (27th)

Santorelli is a natural center who doesn’t skate well enough to play the position in the NHL.

Not much to be optimistic about if you are a Wild fan… but here is a great video of Mikael Granlund’s best stuff:

This video makes me want October to get here already. Full marks to Kessely Snipes for an amazing piece: