Look at the toe hook on Zherdev’s stick curve in the picture. Wow!

Nice to see the Oilers adding a lot of talent to their farm team. They have signed Alexandre Giroux, Brad Moran, and Ben Ondrus over the past few days.

The Ducks and Rangers have swapped depth players. Steve Eminger is headed to New York, and Aaron Voros is going the other way. Neither player has any fantasy value.

Anaheim now has Lydman, Visnovsky, and Brookbank under contract. Wisniewski, Mikkelson and Festerling are in the mix as well, but the Ducks are in dire need of a few defensemen.

Voros had his 15 minutes of fame with Dubinsky and Zherdev at the beginning of the 2008-09 season.

San Jose has signed Niklas Hjalmarsson to a four-year, $14 million offer sheet. Chicago has seven days to match. The compensation if they decide to take it is a 1st and 3rd round draft choice. Excellent move by the Sharks.

The Rangers have re-signed defenseman Dan Girardi – four years, $3.325 million per. Fair contract considering Girardi could have become a UFA after this season.

Semyon Varlamov has changed his jersey number from 40 to 1. Adjust your rosters accordingly.

Zherdev to Philadelphia should be finalized today.

As we all know, the sporting world was flipped upside down last night with the intensely scrutinzed free agent announcement. Robbie Earl is indeed returning to the Wild, as he inked a one-year, two-way contract.

Kovalchuk contract offer numbers have been released.

The Kings offered 12 and 13 year deals with a cap hit between $5.25 and $6.5 million. Apparently Kovalchuk still isn’t budging from his desire for $10 million annually.

Boston has re-signed defenseman Mark Stuart to a one-year contract.

Thoughts on a potential Quick-for-Gagne trade? I think it is a trade that benefits both teams. Gagne would look very good alongside Kopitar on the top line, and Quick is a young starter with upside.

Look for the Lightning to dress seven defensemen and 11 forwards quite a bit in 2010-11. "Yzerman said he likely will carry eight defensemen on next season’s roster, in part because wants to evaluate on the NHL level some of his younger defensemen — such as Mike Lundin, Matt Smaby and Matt Lashoff — who have one-way contracts and are under contract for only one year.  "

Tampa’s current defensive depth chart: 1) Kubina, 2) Ohlund, 3) Hedman, 4) Lundin, 5) Clark, 6) Walker, 7) Smaby, 8) Lashoff. Ranger factors in to the top four if he decides to return.

Jon Blum has been putting the work in at the gym. Look for him to crack Nashville's top six. I saw a LOT of him in Vancouver over the years. Don't see elite offensive upside, but he is extremely reliable, steady, and poised. Should be a 35-45 point, all-situations type of guy in his prime.

Doesn't look like there is any room for Ty Wishart at the moment.

Some of the big news in the hockey world yesterday:

Michael Nylander cleared waivers. I figured there were a few teams out there who would be interested in a $4 million healthy scratch. Guess not.

Mike Fisher is getting married.

The Islanders fired their director of amateur scouting and director of player personnel (Bryan Trottier). Is Wang cutting bait before putting the team on the market? I remember reading earlier this year about how the Mets owners were potentially interested.

The 2010-11 DobberHockey Fantasy Guide is only three weeks away! I have some great stuff planned for the guide this year in addition to my usual contributions.