- Patrick Sharp signed a contract extension yesterday. 5 years with a $5.9 million cap hit. He’ll be the third highest paid player on the team behind Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, making more than both Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith. The contract goes into effect for the 2013 season and the Blackhawks now have 17 players under contract for that year with roughly $57 million already locked up. Good contract or another front office blunder by Stan Bowman and crew? [Second City Hockey]
- In case you didn’t hear, Shea Weber won his arbitration case and he won big time. The Norris nominee got $7.5 million from the arbitrator for next season, the most any arbitration case has ever been awarded. He will be a restricted free agent again next summer. As I tweeted yesterday, the big winner of this ruling at the moment is Drew Doughty who can now possibly justify his outrageous demands. What effect do you think this ruling has on the Red Wings‘ prospects of re-signing both Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart and picking up a top defenseman to take Lidstrom’s spot when he retires? [On The Forecheck]
- Greg Wyshynski believes that if the Predators are not contending for the Cup next season, they will lose Weber. I agree 100% and also believe that the Weber dealings have possibly lost them both Ryan Suter and Pekka Rinne, who were reportedly waiting to see how the Preds handled Weber before doing anything. [Puck Daddy]
- Helene St. James has another player preview up, this time it is Niklas Kronwall. Helene believes Kronwall can offset the loss of Brian Rafalski. [Detroit Free Press]
- The Wings may have signed Ian White away from the Sharks, but they will not play next season without a White on their team. They signed Colin White yesterday to a 1 year, $1 million deal. I really cannot argue with such a deal, especially for a player on the tail-end of his prime with more than a decade’s worth of experience with the Devils. [Fear The Fin]
- Don’t believe the Winnipeg Jets jerseys floating around, they have not been leaked. [Icethetics]
- Nikolay Zherdev is heading back to the KHL [SB Nation]
- Lighthouse Hockey has a good breakdown of what Tuesday’s failed vote means for the Islanders. [Lighthouse Hockey]
- Late Addition: Rob Discher at TPL has an absolutely excellent write up on the whole Shea Weber situation. As many of you are hoping, he’s most definitely on the Weber-to-Detroit bandwagon. [The Production Line]
In my wildest dreams…and in the mind of a man who loves to torture the numbers…the gentle feathering of that contract landing on Shea’s lap is the sound of a door opening for Ken Holland.
One man, one year with a $7.5 million salary. One team, one GM with $5.8 million in space and a handful of movable parts.
