This Week's U.F.A Signings

By Glen Miller

Today I thought it would be fun to look at some of this week’s UFA signings and how they may impact this coming season. Granted, most of the top signings occurred in the first 3 – 4 days of unrestricted free agency, but there were some interesting signings this week; some that affect the Rangers.

Rangers – sign RW Ales Kotalik to a 3 year, $9 million contract.

A move which likely spells the end of Nik Zherdev’s time on Manhattan, the Rangers signed the enigmatic former Sabre and Oiler to a deal. Kotalik had his best success plying with current Rangers’ captain Chris Drury 4 seasons ago when he recorded a career-high with 25 goals, 37 assists and 62 points. After recording just 124 points in the 220 games Kotalik has participated in since over the last 3 seasons (average of just more than 46 points in an 82 game schedule), Kotalik has failed to improve upon his break out season of 2005/2006.Obviously the Rangers hope that Kotalik can recapture some of the magic that saw him record 62 points while skating with Drury.

As far as Zherdev goes, after committing $3 million annually to Kotalik, the Rangers have little cap space left to re-sign Zherdev and/or RFA’s Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and Lauri Korpikoski. By comparison, Zherdev is 6 years younger than Kotalik and would appear to have room to improve. Zherdev produced 58 points last season while Kotalik only recorded 43 points. Given the age difference, Zherdev may have proven to be a better investment than Kotalik, despite his rumored $4.5 million asking price.

Canadiens – Sign D Paul Mara to a 1 year, $1.675 million deal.

Mara was a guy that I hoped the Rangers would entertain re-signing. After spending the last 2+ seasons on the Rangers’ blue line, Mara agreed to a 1 year deal with Montreal. Mara was a solid player while with New York, not the top notch defenseman expected when drafted #7 overall in 1997 but nonetheless a solid, top-six NHL defender.

A one year, $1.675 million deal is somewhat less than the $1.9 million that he received from the Rangers last year and in line with his production. The Canadiens will appreciate the intangibles and toughness Mara brings to the table. This will prove to be a quality signing by Bob Gainey in Montreal.

Lightning – Sign Antero Niitymaki to a 1 year $600,000 contract.

Niitymaki was once the goalie of the future for the Flyers. After several seasons in which he failed to live up to the elevated expectations of the Flyers’ faithful, Antero moves on to the Lightning. Now he is expected to serve as the understudy to Mike Smith in Tampa.

Niitymaki still has talent; he may split time with Smith and have another shot at perhaps assuming a starting spot in Tampa. This is a great spot for Niitymaki and a good pick-up for Tampa.

Capitals – Sign Brendan Morrison to a 1 year, $1.5 million contract.

Morrison was once one of the top playmakers in the NHL. After a couple of injury-filled seasons concluded his tenure in Vancouver, Morrison signed a deal with the Ducks in the hopes that he would re-build his value on the open market. A somewhat lackluster season followed and now Morrison has moved on to another franchise just hoping to keep his NHL career alive.

After losing both Sergei Fedorov and Viktor Kozlov to the KHL via free agency, the Capitals needed a scoring line center. GM George McPhee hopes that Morrison can revive his career with his new teammates, Alex Ovechkin, Niklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Mike Knuble. I don’t think that is likely at this point but a short-term gamble at this price is not a bad move.

Ducks – Sign Saku Koivu (pictured above) to a one year, $3.25 million contract.

After being shown the door in Montreal, Saku entertained offers from the Wild and the Ducks before finally deciding to give his brother Mikko another chance to shine on his own in Minnesota. Saku will now finally team up with Finnish teammate Teemu Selanne after rumors of the Canadiens pursuing Selanne as a UFA a couple of years ago.

Koivu has recorded an average of .82 PPG over his last 263 games. He is still a solid 2^nd line pivot who is going to a team that has improved tremendously since last season. Has anyone done a better job this off-season than Bob Murray as GM these last 5 months? The term is beneficial to both the team and the player. If Koivu has a good season then he is likely to at least match this year’s salary on a new contract. Meanwhile, the short-term commitment keeps the Ducks’ options open going into next off-season.