The Puck Stops Here

Another day, another bunch of free agent signings. I think they are almost done, Nikolai Khabibulin is probably the only player left (as a UFA) who will make a serious impact to his signing team (in the right market maybe Paul Kariya also). Here are the highlights of today's signings.

Anaheim signed Scott Niedermayer from the New Jersey Devils. TSN's story is here. This is one of the biggest impact free agents available. The also signed Rob Niedermayer from Calgary in order to lure Scott.

New Jersey shored up their defence by resigning Brian Rafalski, signing Dan McGillis from Boston and Vladimir Malakhov from Philadelphia. TSN's story is here.

In order to free up cap room for their Peter Forsberg signing, Philadelphia traded Jeremy Roenick and a 2006 3rd round draft pick to Los Angeles for future considerations. TSN's story is here. Trades like this show just how little value players can have under the new CBA.

Alexei Zhamnov signed in Boston. TSN's story is here. He'll help add depth to the Bruins.

Alex Tanguay and Kurt Sauer agreed to qualifying offers with Colorado. TSN's story is here.

Chris Chelios resigned in Detroit.

Viile Niemenen formerly of Calgary and Jason Ward formerly of Montreal signed with the New York Rangers. TSN's story is here. Likely these guys will be utility guys.

Daymond Langkow resigns with Calgary. TSN's story is here.

Oleg Tverdovsky returns to the NHL after spending a couple years in Russia. He signed with Carolina. TSN's story is here. He'll probably do suprisingly well upon his return having stayed in shape in Russia while some opponents took last year off.

Columbus signs Martin Prusek from Ottawa to be their backup goalie. TSN's story is here.

Chicago signs Martin Lapointe from Boston and Jaroslav Spacek from Columbus. TSN's story is here. These guys won't help Chicago much. Look for another awful Hawks team.

Teppo Numminen leaves Dallas to sign in Buffalo. TSN's story is here. Given the heart troubles he experienced a couple years ago and his age, this signing may not amount to much.

Andre Roy leaves Tampa Bay to sign in Pittsburgh. TSN's story is here. He's a goon, but one with a little bit of talent.

Those are today's highlights. Likely there will only be a couple more days (at most) with crazy numbers of free agent signings. Then we can slow down and look at which teams came through this process with the biggest gains and losses. Likely all 30 teams are trying to sell themselves as greatly improved, but that is not logically possible. There will be teams that made a lot of signings, invested a lot of money and messed up and dropped significantly. Picking them out will be fun and maybe a bit controversial.