Brendan Ross of Dobber Prospects is currently going through how each team performed at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and you can find his first set of grades in his ramblings here. Check back throughout the week for more.

 *

 Zzzzz… still up at nearly 2am watching this Glendale/ Phoenix thing. (midnight Phoenix time). The Arizona Coyotes will be an NHL team for the next five years, minimum! Vote was 4-3 in favor.

*

Pascal Dupuis will remain a Penguin. He signed a four-year deal late last night – fantastic for Dupuis owners. He won’t get the points that he got this season (in terms of pace), but 55 is attainable, depending on who else the Penguins sign.

And the way they’re throwing money around… they’ll be signing a lot of minimum salaried players.

*

Down Goes Brown brought up a good point on Twitter last night. The Flyers have a track record with these big contracts – basically, most of them are off the books before they’re completed. Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Danny Briere, Ilya Bryzgalov and Shea Weber. He suggests that Lecavalier should rent for the first couple of years.

*

More news filtering in about players getting (or not getting) a qualifying offer. Here are some interesting names:

Kaspars Daugavins, Michael Hutchinson, Boston (but they qualified (Carter Camper and Jordan Caron)

Andreas Nodl, Carolina (but they qualified Zac Dalpe, Riley Nash, Jared Staal and Zach Boychuk)

Allen York, Columbus

Colten Teubert, Theo Peckham, Edmonton (but they qualified Teemu Hartikainen and Niko Hovinen)

Peter Mueller (!), Jack Skille, Florida (but they qualified Colby Robak and Shawn Matthias)

Benn Ferriero, Minnesota – so they acquire him Saturday and don’t qualify him Monday.

Brett Sonne, Stefan Della Rovere, St. Louis (but they qualified Evgeny Grachev)

Yannick Weber, Montreal

Jonathan Blum, Matt Halischuk, Nashville

Richard Bachman, Jordie Benn, Tom Wandell, Dallas

Akim Aliu, Calgary (but they qualified Paul Byron, Greg Nemisz and Mark Cundari)

*

Some of these names are surprising, but in the case of Mueller and probably Skille, the Panthers are hoping to sign them for less than what the qualifying offer would have had to be.

Bachman and Benn are both still in talks with Dallas.

*

And I’d like to think that Blum and Halischuk will negotiate with the Preds. Good hockey players and if I’m the GM of another team (and we all know I should be) I kick tires about them. Blum is still only 24 years old!

*

If the Toronto police are looking for a crack bust, I think they’re smoking it at Tyler Bozak‘s house. Or maybe at his agent’s house. One of them must be on something – “proposing” to the Leafs an eight-year contract worth just under $5 million per season.

*

If you missed Dobber Nation this month, you can listen to it here. Great prospect talk and yes the draft has already happened, but check out some of the calls that Brendan Ross made. Very interesting listen.

*

Phoenix prospect Andy Miele has reportedly turned down an offer to play in Sweden. The news is a week old, I just missed it last week.

*

Ruslan Fedotenko has signed a lofty contract to play the next three years in the KHL. So that’s that.

*

Thomas Kundratek has signed a two-year contract, but it’s a one-way deal in the first year. This was to get him to sign for a lower cap hit. But the fact remains that he will get $550,000 this season regardless of NHL or AHL. That increases his odds of sticking with the big club. He got his seven points last year over 25 games, but really they were over 16 games before he got injured. A respectable number and there is some 30-point upside here for the season ahead.

*

In my Hockey News article yesterday I gave my thoughts on the Top 10 draft picks this year and where they sit in terms of fantasy outlook/value. Find it here. I’m going to try to do a Part II for that, but post it here on DobberHockey. I don’t write columns for my own site anymore, other than trade breakdowns and these ramblings. And I’d like to change that.

*

The Devils have re-signed Dainius Zubrus and Peter Harrold. The latter is a depth guy, but Zubrus signed for three years and is occasionally used in the top six.

And speaking of the top six for New Jersey, the Devils are rumored to be closing in on a deal to keep Patrik Elias. Man, once you’re a Devil, they really work hard to keep you. Not a lot of players escape/leave that team I find.

*

The Blue Jackets have re-signed Blake Comeau for one year. He had five points in nine games and was plus-5 for them after he was traded to them at the deadline. He has upside, but is wildly inconsistent and he would need amazing chemistry with a quality player to become fantasy relevant.

*

And a handful of players were placed on waivers, not to be bought out but just to see if someone will take them off the contract off their hands for free. I’ll try to round them up for you:
Keith Ballard, Vancouver; Kris Russell, St. Louis; Hal Gill, Nashville; Matt Hunwick, Greg Zanon, Colorado;

And Jeff Schultz, Washington was waived and will be bought out.

*

And finally, the Habs and the Rangers swapped prospects. Good prospects, too. Danny Kristo to the Rangers for Christian Thomas. I will be breaking this one down later today. I was pounding out so many articles last night that I didn’t want to bury some of my gold with other gold.

*

Interview at the draft with David Poile: