Day 4 FA Frenzy

July 6, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

With hardly any newsworthy stuff over the holiday weekend, we’ll just call today Day 4 of the frenzy. Though not a ton of activity, some key players did get signed including my boy Alexei Kovalev, who traded in his Hab jersey for a Sens one despite tons of support from Montreal fans, who even held a rally yesterday.

Here are today’s signings:

1.Alex Kovalev signs with Senators for 2 yrs, $10 million. Money is about right for Kovy, who earned $4.5 million with Montreal the past four seasons. So, a slight raise for the enigmatic forward. Yes. He can drive fans nuts but should help Ottawa, who probably will deal Dany Heatley. Does Kovy play with Jason Spezza? That’d be interesting. Depends on Daniel Alfredsson.

2.Francois Beauchemin agrees to a 3 yr deal worth average of $3.8 million with Maple Leafs. No surprise a Brian Burke guy wound up there. Especially with the depth Anaheim had. He was a solid contributor who helped Ducks win Lord Stanley. But he’s coming off a serious injury and for that price, seems a little risky. Burke already overcommitted for Mike Komisarek. Both will bolster the blueline but they better stay healthy.

3.Shane O’Brien re-signs with the Canucks for a yr, $1.6 million. Not bad for a character guy who takes the body. He’s not the fastest skater but plays hard.

4.Nazem Kadri signs entry level contract with Leafs. Smart for Burke to get the 2009 No.1 pick signed. But he’ll likely spend another year in junior with London. Some Leaf fans wanted big D Jared Cowen, who wound up with the Sens after Burke duped Bryan Murray. Figure the two players to be forever linked.

5.Toronto signs five including Tim Brent. Organizational depth moves.

6.Andrew Raycroft signs with Canucks for a yr, 500 K. Yikes. Would you want him as your backup? Guess Roberto Luongo will be starting 75. What a fall from grace for the former Calder winner.

7.Ville Leino re-signs with Red Wings for 2 yrs (no terms). The Finn who they discovered looked good in brief stint. Watch him be the latest to develop into a player for Ken Holland.

8.B.J. Crombeen re-signs with Blues (terms disclosed). After being picked up from Dallas off waivers, he was a solid player even recording his first hat trick on my birthday versus Nashville last Dec.8. He’s also tough racking up 148 penalty minutes. Good move by JD.

9.Avalanche sign six including David Jones. Aside from Jones, who will be a Colorado regular, mostly AHL Fodder.

That’s all for now. We’ll have another entry on the Blackhawks taking care of business due to the potential mess. If there are anymore signings, I’ll tack on.