The Sabres have waived Tim Kennedy. They were unable to walk away from his arbitration award because it was so low (there is a minimum you are allowed to walk away from and it is tied to the average salary). So instead, they waive him. If they buy him out, instead of half of his salary being paid over two years, it will just be a third of his salary because he is under 26 years of age. If he is bought out, the door opens wide for Nate Gerbe. Also – Kennedy would be a great pickup and would probably sign for $750K (ideal for the Penguins).

Erik Johnson signed a two-year deal. It got lost in all of today’s brouhaha

Chris Kuc has confirmed that the below reports are now official – Turco is a Hawk for $1.3 million. Niemi is a free agent. Niemi is twice the goaltender. Goldman will have analysis of this deal/situation by 1pm or so ET.

Reports around the Internet indicate that the Hawks have signed Marty Turco to a $1.5 million deal (bet he’s sorry for not taking the Philly offer) pending their decision on the Niemi $2.75 million arbitration award. I love how the experts call Chicago in trouble and how they’re wrecking their team. Ladies and gentleman, if your team has Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, David Bolland, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, you will always be a contender for the Stanley Cup. Relax. If five players with an average skill of 70 percent move out, and five players at 60 percent move in – outside of the core I mentioned – the downgrade is negligible.  Relax.

I’ve said it lots of times – Turco’s skills have eroded and there are a dozen free agent goaltenders cheaper and better. Skill-wise. He does bring priceless experience and a great presense – and a name that instills confidence. On Chicago, he’ll pile up the wins.

Another thing to consider – I picked this up in the forum somewhere, saw it in one of the subject lines, so I did some looking over at Cap Geek. The Blackhawks could save another $250,000 if they had Hannu Toivonen on the team instead of Corey Crawford. Wouldn’t that be something? Crawford gets the short end of the stick again. BUT, he does have a one-way deal so he has that going for him.

The Rangers have acquired Todd White from the Thrashers. Donald Brashear and Patrick Rissmiller go the other way. Depth moves all around, although this frees up room on Atlanta’s roster for some kids. I don’t believe White will have any offensive impact in New York, but he will take ice time from Erik Christensen. It would be a shame if he took power-play time from Mats Zucarello-Aasen.

According to Dirk Hoag, Nashville forward Linus Klasen has 20% body fat that he will need to whittle down to 12%. Let the donut jokes begin. For someone who’s NHL dream was slim and suddenly opens up a little for him, to not stay in the proper shape ….can’t be good.

The Fantasy Guide was released yesterday. I will be re-posting it today fixing a dozen or so errors that the readers have found. Mostly little things, but there were two things of note – one was the Patrick O’Sullivan blurb in the UFA section still had a blurb in there from last year’s guide. He is not going to the KHL (this is how bad rumors get started – if you hear any of these rumors a week from now, just know that the root of it is from my little mistake). The other was the fact that I have a reliable source putting Ryasensky on the Red Wings, but I have since found two other sources saying that he absolutely not on the team. This will be corrected and the entire Detroit defense corps adjusted accordingly. But that’s the benefit of updating the Guide throughout the summer – everything is adjusted and corrected quickly and you get an instant glance at the situation of a given player right up to the moment. The rest of guide is fantastic – my best effort yet in five years. That was my opinion before I released it, and seems to be the consensus in the forum. Enjoy!

The August player rankings will be up this afternoon. The one-day delay is due to the craziness that always arises with a Guide release.