N.H.L. Saturday Special

All the free agent signings since Tuesday followed by an article by SOS Hockey analyst Adam Davis.
Free Agent Frenzy Update
7/3 - The Kings got a solid D in Brad Stuart, who signed a 1 year deal worth 3.5 million. - Vancouver made some moves, resigning D Lukas Krajicek (2/2.2) and inking forwards Byron Ritchie and Brad Isbister and backup G Curtis Sanford. - The Devils signed F Danius Zubrus and D Karel Rachunek as they try to recover by being pillaged so far in the FA season. - Minnesota resigned Wes Walz for a year and came to terms with Eric Belanger. - Edmonton signed goalie Matthieu Garon to a 2 year deal. - Anaheim resigned Brad May (2/1.2)
7/4 Buffalo resigned Teppo Numminen (1/2.6), Edmonton resigned Matt Greene for 2 years, and Atlanta resigned Slava Kozlov to a 3 year 11 million dollar deal. The Islanders signed free agent F Ruslan Fedotenko for a year at 2.9 mill, and Montreal signed F Tom Kostopolous (2/1.8)
7/5 - Buffalo signed G Jocelyn Thibault, and resigned Andrew Peters and Michael Ryan. - Nashville signed minor leaguers Dan Ellis and Shane Willis to contracts. - The Islanders signed F Bill Guerin (2/9) and F Mike Comrie to a 1 year deal. - Anaheim signed D Shane Hnidy to a 2 year deal worth 1.5 million. - Washington signed Kyle Pollock and Jame Wilson to contracts. - Montreal signed D Jaime Rivers to a 1 year deal. - New Jersey signed G Kevin Weekes. - Pittsburgh resigned Maxime Talbot and Erik Christensen. - Columbus signed Jan Hejda to a 1 year contract. - Calgary signed D Anders Eriksson to a 2 year deal. - The Rangers resigned Petr Prucha. (2/3.2) - Detroit resigned Jiri Hudler to a 2 year contract. More Updates On Tuesday

Adam Davis
So who’s your favourite team? You sure? Absolutely positive? You might want to rethink that choice, especially after yesterday’s wild first day of free agency. Why, you ask? Because the team you just chose might now have completely different players. Since free-agency opened just over 50 hours ago, 43 of the 50 signed players have already found themselves newly interested in their agents. Real Estate agents that is. The real magic of the opening days of free-agency season is seeing teams attempt to the impossible by reversing a dismal finish the previous season into a playoff-savvy team looking forward to the coming one. What’s even wilder is how the rich get richer, and big name teams have signed some big name players and just added to the amount of firepower in their rosters. Unfortunately for some clubs, such as the Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings, the free-agency pool changed their playoff calibre rosters into buyers at this time next year. Teams that were off the radar merely 3 seasons ago are finally starting to pull together a formidable bunch of players to put on the ice. With the signings of Sydor and Sykora, the Pens are finally giving their young players some time to breathe with new depth on the bench. Washington has just added some help for their superstar Ovechkin by picking up two young and skilled players in Poti and Kozlov. Oh, and is this not fair or is it just me? How in the world did the Ducks pick up Bertuzzi? Seriously, how does that happen? Why didn’t the GMs just pool together some money so the Ducks couldn’t get any better?? People, they just don’t need any more help. Over in the East, the Flyers are trying to do something with their Triple-A level team and picked up some key players by signing Briere and trading for Lupul and Jason Smith from Edmonton. I think this will pan out very well for the Flyers who are moving from their pan and power style of play to fit in with the new NHL by acquiring youth and speed. An interesting fact of the opening days of free-agency is that no goaltenders were signed. A couple goalies have been dealt in the last weeks in trades, but no immediate signings. This could mean teams are looking for the offensive firepower while trying to keep their last line of defense intact. Thanks for stopping in on Hockey Talk, I’ll make sure to keep you posted as the free-agent market really starts to open up as teams try to get those key players all within their salary caps. After two days the team on top has got to be Anaheim – All-star acquisition without losing their All-stars. Good job.