Carolina has signed Chad Larose to a two-year, $3.4 million contract.

I get the feeling that this was to save face over the JBo thing – the Panthers signed Jordan Leopold to a one-year deal.

FYI – Radulov's contract is for two more seasons, and in most pool formats I would drop him, yes. Not worth hanging onto now. 

Los Angeles has signed Rob Scuderi. That may hurt Hickey's shot at the club for this year. Another year to wait…

The Leafs made a pretty big statement, signing Mikhail Grabovski to a three-year deal worth $8.7 million. That statement is – they see him as a guaranteed top sixer and won't give up on him. They'll throw him out there no matter how much he slumps. A good sign, as it was a little higher than I would have thought, and a longer term too.

Dallas signed Karlis Skrastins for two years.

Islanders have signed Jeremy Reich. No fantasy impact.

Calgary has signed Garth Murray and Riley Armstrong. No fantasy significance here.

The Isles have signed goaltender Scott Munroe. Given DiPietro's health, we could actually see him as a backup.

Just noticed Andy McDonald was invited to Team Canada over the three players I mention below.

Adrian Aucoin has signed a deal with the Coyotes. While I do see this slowing down Keith Yandle's improvement, it won't be by much. I still don't trust Aucoin to play a full season, even though he has been virtually healthy for two years.

Nik Antropov has signed a four-year deal with Atlanta worth $4 million per season. I will analyze that one more fully very soon.

Someone joked about my Leaf praise in the comments below (it was funny, actually), so I would like to clarify – I feel confident that they will sign Gustavsson, but even if they don't I think Toskala is a great goalie. Their defense is set – and pretty impressive. They need scoring and I can't help but think that they will get some. At least some second tier scorers. All-in-all, they did well yesterday, provided it is only a start – which I am certain it is.

Mark Recchi has signed to remain in Boston for one more year, at $1 million. He had 22 points in 29 playoff and reg. season games with them, but I wouldn't expect 60 points this year. Put him down for the low 50s.

The Tennessean quotes Nashville GM David Poile on Alexander Radulov yesterday: “He’s not coming back,’’ Poile said. “We had some really good talks in Switzerland when I was at the World Championship. I know he wants to come back. He can’t get out of his contract. You’re going to have to interpret why he can walk away from our contract, but can’t get out of their contract. But he can’t.’’

I'll interpret it: Powerful Russians threatening harm to him or his family. There. Interpreted. What else could it be? Legal action? No, he ignored that in North America. So it's blackmail or threats. At risk of being a conspiracy theorist and getting in trouble by my boss, I said it. Wait a minute – I'm my own boss. Well, I'm okay then.

The Tennessean also reports that the Preds are done signing free agent forwards, so Ryan Jones or Patric Hornqvist will play on the second line.

Atlanta has signed Chris Thorburn to a multi-year contract. No fantasy value here.

The New Jersey Devils signed 28-year-old Ilkka Pikkarainen out of the Finnish League. He had 39 points and 149 PIMs in 54 games and is 6-2, 220. I believe he'll make the team as a third/fourth liner, Arron Asham type.

Jason Spezza, Marc Savard and Steven Stamkos were not on the preliminary Team Canada roster. A roster that had 46 players on it – 24 forwards. Milan Lucic was one of the invitees.

Teams are insane. Montreal's biggest weakness has been size to go with their skill up front, so they sign Gomez, Gionta and Cammalleri? The Rangers don't qualify him and Phoenix practically chased him out of town, but the Flames give Sjostrom a two-year deal? Martin Havlat gets a SIX-year deal…and that includes a NO MOVEMENT CLAUSE? Is Minnesota living in a fantasy world? They didn't catch the latest on Dany Heatley? Every month it seems a team gets screwed by a player with an NTC (no-trade clause) or an NMC. Yet they still keep doling them out. Chicago wouldn't budge on a one-year deal with Havlat, but the Wild jump at a six-year handcuff deal.

Players are insane, too. Manny Malhotra got greedy and Columbus quickly showed him that he could be replaced – even upgraded (Sami Pahlsson). Then there's Dany Heatley…

Teams who did well: Tampa Bay bringing in a veteran Swede like Ohlund for Hedman; The Leafs building from the net out, assuming they sign Gustavsson and add some scoring punch (still out there: Kovalev, Afinogenov, Tanguay, Sundin, Sykora, Satan, Williams – but the good ones are all gone); Chicago replacing Havlat with the more reliable and durable Hossa, and adding very talented defensive forwards in Madden and Kopecky;

Players who did well: Gaborik and Havlat managed to get a GM drunk enough to give them long-term contracts. Congrats! Good on Steve Sullivan to get what he wanted from Nashville – he won't have to move and he secured a two-year deal; Good on Marian Hossa to ensure a paycheck when he is 42.

Under-the-radar signing of the day: Martin St. Pierre to Ottawa. He could be the Ryan Shannon of 2009-10.

Lots of signings yesterday and I was updating the ramblings right through until midnight. Click "next" below to review yesterday's ramblings.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2009-10 Montreal Canadiens: