- Josh Yohe: The Penguins signed six free agents to one-year contracts.
“For right now,” Rutherford said, “I find that I’m very comfortable in dealing with one-year contracts.”
The Penguins have only eight players under contract past next season: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Chris Kunitz, Pascal Dupuis and Patric Hornqvist, and defensemen Kris Letang, Olli Maatta and Rob Scuderi.
“I think the one-year deals that we’ve been giving players definitely help us in different ways,” he said. “What I like most about it is just how much flexibility it gives us moving forward.”
“The fact is that we don’t know where the cap is going,” Rutherford said. “So this puts us in a strong position going forward.”
- Terry Frei of the Denver Post: Frei doesn’t think the Avalanche will keep a coveted pending unrestricted free agent past the trade deadline like they did with Paul Stastny. If they had traded Stastny at the deadline this year, they definitely would have been ripped for sending the “wrong” message. Frei doesn’t think that Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy will worry about that in the future.
- Chuck Gormley: Capitals head coach Barry Trotz played a big role in their ability to bring in some free agents.
“When I met with Barry and saw what his plan and his vision was,” Orpik said, “it was kind of a no-brainer for me, to be honest.”
“I heard nothing but great things about Barry Trotz and the way things are going there,” Niskanen said.
“When a head coach on a team looks you in the eye and tells you he wants you to be there, that goes a long way,” Peters said. “If you’re to pinpoint it, that’d be it. The head coach on the team looking you in the eye and saying, ‘We want you to be a part of this.’”