Joe Sakic has retired after 20 seasons. With six 100-point seasons and 11 with 87 or more, fantasy hockey will never forget this Hall of Famer.

The Rangers have signed Ales Kotalik to a contract. At best, he’ll be on the third line on this rather deep team. Evgeny Grachev will battle he and Voros for a roster spot. Gaborik’s fragility may give Kotalik some ice time, but I really think the smarter move for him would have been Edmonton.

The Wild have signed rearguard Tyler Cuma to an entry-level deal. He won’t be in the NHL this year, especially after missing much of last year with an injury.

The Lightning have signed Victor Hedman to an entry-level contract. No surprise here. I think he’ll impact with 35 to 40 points this season.

The Ducks have not made an announcement of any kind, but on their roster on their official site is Nick Boynton, so I imagine an announcement is forthcoming. Just another jab at me, eh Anaheim? Make me continually revise your section in the fantasy guide so I can’t move on to other teams?

Nashville’s Jonathan Blum and Ryan Ellis apparently have a lot of chemistry playing together already in development camp. I really do think the Preds will move Cody Franson within six months.

The Thrashers have come to terms with Jim Slater – he accepted his qualifying offer. He once held some fantasy promise, but no more.

The Hurricanes came to terms with some depth players – Justin Peters, Casey Borer and UFA Steven Goertzen.

Besides Kris Versteeg, Chicago also signed Bryan Bickell to a contract. They’ll keep the 6-4 forward around for a couple of years in the even they lose Ben Eager, who will be an RFA next summer and could be a UFA the summer after.

The Avs signed RFA Philippe Dupuis and UFA Brett Skinner. Depth players.

Other depth players to sign yesterday:
Doug Janik, D, Red Wings
Jaime Sifers, D; Jamie Fraser, D; Wild

Rumor has it that NJ has set their sites on Brendan Morrison.

The Blues signed Ian Schultz, a RW drafted in the third round in 2008. He has some upside as a third-line energy player who wracks up the PIMs, but little more.

Tampa Bay has signed Kurtis Foster to a contract. And so Matt Lashoff and Ty Wishart get pushed further down the depth chart.

The Rangers came to terms with restricted free agent forward Brian Boyle yesterday on a two-year deal worth $525,000 per season. It’s a one-way contract, but given the amount…the team won’t hesitate to send him down if he doesn’t earn a spot. I think he will, though expecting more than 35 points this season would be greedy.