Versteeg has been traded to the Leafs! Analysis coming.

Submissions for DobberHockey’s 2010 Free Agent Frenzy Contest are due this evening at midnight EST. Check out the details here – first prize is an autographed Scott Niedermayer photograph!

More Bobby Mac – Dan Ellis will probably test free agency. I think he’s looking for a No. 1 job. Not a lot of those available, especially with Philly shutting the door.

Todd Fedoruk has been bought out. Jay Pandolfo is on waivers and will be bought out. The Coyotes have indeed bought out Patrick O’Sullivan. I have him in one of my three leagues and am trying to acquire him in a second league for a rock bottom price – with hopes that he lands in a lucky spot.

Bob McKenzie says that the Flyers have signed Michael Leighton for two years at $3.1 million.

Too bad – the Oilers will NOT buy out Vandermeer. They want him (huh?). The Coyotes WILL buy out O’Sullivan. (huh?). Both teams save money. O’Sullivan is making $3 million this year (one year left). A team could probably sign him for half that. Even if it were Phoenix, half that salary, plus the buyout, would still be half a million in savings.

Patrick O’Sullivan has been traded to Phoenix for Jim Vandermeer. I’ll have analysis on that one up shortly. I’ll wait and see if PHO does buy him out, first.

Calgary has waived Nigel Dawes and could buy him out.

Rod Brind’Amour will announce his retirement this afternoon.

Atlanta has re-signed Noah Welch, likely to a two-way deal.

Columbus has claimed Ethan Moreau off of waivers, so he will not be bought out.

I should add to the below sentence, now that everyone is all excited – Burke’s kids are in the Boston area. The day before the free agent frenzy is always family time. Isn’t it?

A friend of mine just texted me – Brian Burke is on his flight to Boston as I write this. Gleen from that what you will.

Fantasy hockey question on your mind? Ask Angus all day today with the latest installment of the fantasy mailbag.

Submissions for DobberHockey’s 2010 Free Agent Frenzy Contest are due this evening at midnight EST. Check out the details here – first prize is an autographed Scott Niedermayer photograph!

David Clarkson has signed a three-year deal with the Devils worth $8 million bucks. If healthy, he can be a 55-point guy with great PIM.

Mike Van Ryn will not play this season, still rehabbing his knee.

Tim Panaccio is reporting that the Flyers will sign Michael Leighton as soon as today. Turco may come to regret that.

As teams get tighter against the cap – and this list seems to grow every year – they need to be more creative about clearing cap space. They are learning that buying out that albatross contract with three more years on it at $5 million per season will hurt them too much for the next six years, so they don’t do it. But those players with one year left who are in that $1 million to $2 million range, the cap hit is easy to swallow. Especially if that player is under 26, because they take only one-third of his salary as opposed to half. The buyouts (potential) of Patrick O’Sullivan and Robert Nilsson were obvious ones. Underacheivers that would have minimal impact on the salary structure. Where will they go? I have no idea. I can see Nilsson playing a season somewhere and then going back to Europe. I can see O’Sullivan going somewhere too – and he’ll either flourish or fail, depending on the team he picks. A life-altering choice to say the least. Obviously O’Sullivan owners would like to see him wear the black and gold. And I don’t mean Boston.

There’s been a lot of talk about Mike Modano not returning to Dallas. To be honest, about two weeks ago I removed him from my prediction template because I thought he officially retired. Obviously I was mistaken. Since then, it’s all we’re hearing about. Modano, if healthy, still has a 50-point season in him. But the team would need to be thin up front and want to use him more than they should. On most teams, he’d struggle to get 40. Dallas doesn’t need a player like that and I get the sense that they would still like to keep him – but only for $1 million per season – they wouldn’t want to invest more than that. My guess is that they don’t want to lowball him so he’s free to go. On one hand, retiring while at a respectable level of his game would be nice. On the other hand, if he still loves playing, he should play. It would be easier for him if he had become a defensive specialist over the last couple of years. Players can always buy more time that way.
No, he won’t be going to Minnesota.

The other piece of boring news – but at the end of June, boring news is all we get – Dan Hamhuis will test the free agent market. I knew this three days ago, but blogs and papers are still writing about it. Zzzzzz please, bring on the free agent frenzy and give people some good fodder to write about.

The Boston Globe is reporting that Savard going to Toronto talks are dead. Boston apparently wants Kaberle. I get the sense that Brian Burke wants to win a deal with Boston and save a bit of face for how the Phil Kessel deal went sour. I think the Kessel deal was the right move at the time, minus that second round pick. I thought two firsts was the price to pay. Too bad it was second overall – that made the deal terrible. But Kessel scored at a 35-goal pace. He’ll be a 40-goal guy. He still hasn’t had his 23rd birthday. But I digress – the point is that I think Burke will want to win his next deal with Boston and I think Peter Chiarelli is too stingy with his assets to let that happen.

I’ll be analyzing the SK-Ellis trade later this morning, and I can’t wait to delve into that one. On Thursday, July 1, Angus and I will be covering all the trades and signings – giving full fantasy analysis on every move. So don’t miss it!

The Devils have added Adam Oates to their coaching staff.

Ottawa did indeed buy out Jonathan Cheechoo. Will he find a new home? Maybe for the minimum. Will he be successful and become even a secondary fantasy player? No.

Teams have until this afternoon to place players on waivers and let them know they will be bought out. So look for players like Sergei Samsonov and Rod Brind’Amour to possibly go through the process still.

Dirk Hoag in his “On the Forecheck” blog is reporting that the Preds will announce a player signing today. He speculates that it could be Jonas Andersson, a former Preds pick followed up a strong season in Finland with a decent one in the KHL.