NHL Transfer Rumours - Come on Agents, Get your hands on the best
Tick-tock, tick tock, boom. Finally, the wait is over and National Hockey League free agents market is opened in the month of July. There will be 30 teams contesting in the upcoming NHL championship this season. Therefore, it is the high time for agents to hire the best players from the pool of potential contenders.
Soon the agents were allowed to negotiate with NHL clubs; the news spread that defenseman Paul Martin has agreed to a five-year, 25 million dollar contract with three-time winners of Stanley Cup championship, the Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are the professional ice hockey team, who are based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Paul Martin spent the previous six years with the New Jersey Devils and attained a plus-55 rating in 400 regular season games.
By quitting the New Jersey Devil, he joined players Scott Niedermayer and Brina Faralski who left the Devils earlier. Scott and Brina also won the Stanley Cup but it was under the tag of some other teams. Devils actually missed them very much.
Afterwards, the Devils’ general manager, Lou Lamoriello delivered an encouraging speech to the team’s defensive corps and fortified the previous performances. Lamoriello paid 39 million dollars to sign Anton Volchenkov of Ottawa Senators and Swedish Henrik Tallinder of Buffalo Sabres. Volchenkov was signed for six years and 25.5 million dollars, while Tallinder was cashed in for four years and 13.5 million dollars. It was all done as a result of Kovalchuk who is the top left wing free agent. Kovalchuck was acquired by the Devils last year.
The general manger Lamoriello made another announcement during a conference call that the current team defence is better than last year and the veteran goaltender Johan Hedberg had one year’s contract to back up the 38-year old Martin Brodeur. Lamoriello is better known for the clear talk, he does not exaggerate things to please his team. He mentioned Scott Stevens to whom all Devils defensemen are compared.
Lamoriello is very confident about Volchenkov and Tallinder. Both the players have excellent game records in the previous championships. Volchenkov is 226-pound veteran of seven NHL seasons and 31 years old Tallinder has also got superb form. It is also believed that Tallinder has the same style as Paul Martin. Both of these players are expected for a high performance for the Devils this year.
Buffalo Sabres also lost their Toni Lydman to Anaheim Ducks.
The New York Ranger’s GM also remained quite busy in setting the team’s schedule. He made some changes in the team set up by re-signing forward Vinny Prospal and Erick Christensen and added two other veterans in the team. Forward Derek Boogaard signed a four-year contract for 6.5 million dollars. He was formerly presenting Islanders.
Now that Boogaard is in the team, he will probably replace Jody Shelley who has been successful in signing a contract with Philadelphia Flyer. The New York Rangers’ general manager Glen Sather offered a two-year contract to Shelly but he preferred a four years deal with Flyers. Shelly opted for the Flyers where he got the extra advantage of his age as he was only 28 years old. Olli Jokinen also left the Rangers and joined the Calgary Flames. Olli was actually a part of the Calgary Flames in the past. Another young player Derek Stepan has also been signed with the Ranger for Centre position. Derek used to play at University of Wisconsin for the last two years.
The Rangers missed the last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs but this year, they are all set for a brilliant play. Glen Sather has high hopes for a good performance.
Likewise, changes are happening in all other teams. The team rosters are being re-scheduled. The game tactics and strategies are being formulized, which will be applied in the game as the season starts.
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