The Minnesota Wild has been doing everything they can to try and strengthen the team’s depth throughout but focusing mainly in the middle.  General Manager Chuck Fletcher has done a good job indeed by doing so when he locked in Mikko Koivu, the team’s franchise player, for seven years.  He went on to lure in free agent Matt Cullen.  He didn’t stop there though….

Friday, the Minnesota Wild made an announcement that they had added veteran center John Madden to their highly talented and experienced lineup for the 2010-2011 NHL season.  The contract is for a single year, is said to be worth $1 million, and has a potential of $250,000 in bonuses. Continue Reading…

Friday, it was officially announced that the Boston Bruins signed a one-year contract with defenseman and restricted free agent Mark Stuart.  Stuart, Rochester, Minnesota, native, is a former Boston Bruins first round draft pick and 21st overall draft pick from the 2003 Entry Draft for the NHL.  The deal is apparently worth $1.675 million according to various media reports.

Last season, Stuart participated in a total of 56 games  in which he recorded 2 goals as well as 5 assists totaling 7 points.  He went on to incur a broken pinky finger on his left hand that ended up getting a serious infection,  which caused the 26-year-old to be sidelined and miss 26 of the regular season games in addition to eight games in the post season.  Once returned, he made no scores during the four playoff games. Continue Reading…

Tuesday, the Washington Capitals signed forward/center/right wing and restricted free agent Boyd Gordon to a contract for one year as announced by general manager and vice president of the Capitals, George McPhee.  Various media sources report that the one-year contract deal is worth $800,000

The 26-year-old known penalty killer has been with Washington for seven seasons with his seventh being the 2009-2010 season where he appeared in 36 games and recorded six assists and four goals.  His playing time out on the ice was limited due to a back injury but played well and hard when he was on the ice especially when it came to face-off time. Continue Reading…

Taylor Hall was the overall number 1 draft pick of this year’s 2010 NHL Draft.  Monday, he signed an entry-level contract that consists of three years with the Edmonton Oilers.  The three-year contract that the forward signed consists of the maximum amount for per season base salary, which is $900,000.

In addition to the base salary that he will receive, it is possible for him to receive more than $3 million more per season if he meets certain performance bonus incentives that are listed within the entry-level contract as clauses. Continue Reading…

On July 1, Pittsburgh Penguins’ forward Matt Cooke would have become an unrestricted free agent.  Back in the summer of ’08, Cooke was signed by Pittsburgh as a free agent and has been one of the Penguins’ top killers for penalties (alongside Jordan Staal, of course!) as he recorded 106 penalty minutes this past season alone.

Cooke had 15 assists in addition to his 15 goals this past season for his 79 appearances as well as +17 rating.  He has played in 11 NHL seasons with three different teams – his current and most recent team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Washington Capitals as well as the Vancouver Canucks, who he made his NHL debut with back in ‘99. Continue Reading…

Thursday, the Colorado Avalanche announced that they have traded their forward T.J. Hensick in exchange for the St. Louis Blues forward Julian Talbot.

In addition to the trade of Hensick and acquirement of Talbot, the Avalanche has also re-signed two other forward including Kevin Porter and Philippe Dupois as well as defenseman Ray Macias.  All three of these men have signed a contract amounting to one-year. Continue Reading…

Wednesday, the Phoenix Coyotes officially announced that they have successfully re-signed their left wing Scott Upshall to a one-year deal.  The actual financial terms of this one-year contract were not disclosed at the time of the announcement made by General Manager Don Maloney of the Coyotes.

The 26-year-old left wing scored a total of 18 goals with 14 assists with 50 penalty minutes for a total of 32 points this past season in the 49 appearances that he made as a Coyote.  Towards the end o the season, the left wing suffered an injury to his knee on January 28 in the game against Calgary keeping him off the ice and ultimately ending his season. Continue Reading…

Veteran forward Tomas Holmstrom and the Detroit Red Wings will be together for two more years as the Wings agreed to a two-year deal with the forward today. As per NHL Fanhouse, the two-year contract deal will pay him nearly $1.9 million per season, which is a deal he is expected to sign sometime today or Monday.

In 1994, Holmstrom was drafted by the Wings in the 10th round of the NHL draft and was about to become a free agent.  Since his drafting in 1994, he has remained with the Detroit Red Wings for all 13 seasons of his NHL career and will now come back next year for his 14th season with the Detroit.   Continue Reading…

The NHL West Conference Playoffs will see the Chicago Blackhawks rather than the Vancouver Canucks.  In Game 6, the Blackhawks successfully won the game with a 5-1 win over the Canucks. The Stanley Cup Playoffs will now host a game with the Blackhawks against the San Jose Sharks.

Game 6 of Blackhawks vs. Canucks had a first period of no scores made.  In the second period, both Kris Versteeg as well as Troy Brouwer made early cores with Dave Bolland making a score later in the period to give Chicago a 3-0 lead over Vancouver.  Continue Reading…

Today, the Chicago Blackhawks played against the Nashville Predators in the quarterfinal series for the Western Conference.  The Blackhawks strongly welcomed their teammate and defenseman Brian Campbell back to the team for this game.

30-year-old Brian Campbell has been off the ice since March 14, a little more than six weeks ago, when opponent Alex Ovechkin rammed him into the rear boards during a game between the Blackhawks and the Washington Capitals.  From this hit, Campbell suffered several fractures to his ribs as well as his clavicle.  Regarding this occurrence, Ovechkin of the Capitals was given a two game suspension. Continue Reading…