It’s believed that goalie Antti Niemi will be signing with the San Jose Sharks as early as Thursday.

Niemi was Chicago’s man of the hour last season, helping the team to a Stanley Cup victory. But the Blackhawks walked away from their goalie after he was awarded $2.5 million as an arbitration award and it’s been a big question as to where Niemi was headed. It looks like we have our answer.

Sportsnet is reporting that the deal with the Sharks will be a one year contract worth around $2 million.

Niemi had a 26-7-4 record for the Hawks during the regular season and posted a 2.25 GAA. Considered one of the keys to the team’s playoff success, it was believed that the team would re-sign him within reason. But salary cap woes led to a stripping of the Blackhawks and Niemi was dumped along with other key playoff performers like Dustin Byfuglien.

For their part, the Blackhawks are now stuck with Cristobal Huet’s massive contract. They’ve also signed Marty Turco and have Hannu Toivonen waiting around on the farm.

Niemi would be a nice fit on the Sharks. He’ll probably serve as the team’s starter, with Antero Niittymäki as the back-up. With Evgeni Nabokov set to play for SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL, it could be a period of rebuilding in goal for the San Jose club. Niemi is as good a place as any to start that process out.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Edmonton Oilers goalie Nikolai Khabibulin has been sentenced to 30 days in prison. The sentencing came down on Tuesday in an Arizona courtroom.

The 30-day sentence is actually the minimum sentence the goaltender could have received.

As many know, Khabibulin was stopped last February in Arizona. He was speeding his his Ferrari and was found to have a blood alcohol level of twice the state’s legal limit. According to TSN, “After the blood test, he was cited for an extreme DUI with a blood-alcohol content at .164.”

Khabibulin has appealed the decision.

As far as the Oilers are concerned, their goalie will be there in time for training camp when it gets under way on the 17th of September.

“As far as any discussion of further discipline or actions taken - league, ourselves - obviously that all has to wait,” Steve Tambellini said. “Can he come to training camp at this point? Yes, he can.”

The Oilers signed Khabibulin to a four year deal in 2009. The contract is worth $15 million, but the goalie had to stop playing in November due to back problems. While the organization doesn’t think this incident off the ice will have any impact on his performance, there’s no telling what this kind of thing could do to a team’s morale.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke has been unable to get a deal good enough for Tomas Kaberle, so the defenceman will remain in the blue and white for the season - or at least part of the season.

Keeping Kaberle was Burke’s “Plan B,” it seems, but the Czech’s teammates don’t seem to have a problem with the GM taking the “lesser” of two options. “He is one of the premier defencemen in the National Hockey League,” top Leafs prospect Nazem Kadri said. “I think him sticking here is only going to make us a better hockey club.”

As the Leafs head into training camp shortly, they’ll have a glut of defenders with eight NHL-experienced players vying for six spots on the roster. It’s still possible that a trade could take some of the pressure off, but the competition could mean good things for those angling to make the team in the new season.

“Guys are going to be pushing each other and guys are going to be fighting for spots,” said Mike Komisarek. “So something good comes out of that.”

So with the business of Kaberle out of the way (for now), the Leafs can get down to brass tacks and can start prepping a team for the new year. The defensive overload will prove interesting in terms of what the new roster will look like. Obviously Kaberle will receive top billing on the squad and the rest can be a little hard to figure out.

Everyone seems to have “solutions,” from the National Post’s Noah Love (trading Luke Schenn) to CBC Sports’ Jeff Domet (play Kaberle as a forward). Domet’s idea, at least initially, sounds like a bit of a farce until he reveals some examples: Red Kelly and Sergei Fedorov, Red Wings both.

At this point, though, it’s hard to say what Kaberle will be up to on the Leafs when the new season starts. The only certainty is that he’ll still remain a contentious issue among fans.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

The Edmonton Oilers have signed goalie Martin Gerber to a one-year two-way contract. The signing was done on Friday.

The deal brings Gerber back to the National Hockey League after he spent last season with Altant Moscow of the KHL. He played 30 games there and finished with a 2.19 GAA and a .914 save percentage.

In the NHL, Gerber has spent time with the Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, Ottawa Senators, and Toronto Maple Leafs. Despite posting good numbers, he never really caught on with any one team and it was almost inevitable that he’d be heading to the KHL. In 226 NHL games, Gerber has a 110-78-21 record, a 2.65 GAA and a .910 save percentage.

The signing is essentially an insurance policy for the Oilers. With Nikolai Khabibulin, Jeff Deslauriers and Devan Dubnyk on tap, it isn’t likely that Gerber will see much ice time in Edmonton. In the event of injuries, Gerber can step right in and put in quality performances and it’s this aspect that makes him a good decision for the Oilers.

There’s a risk of Edmonton racking up goalie salaries in the minors, sure, but it’s not a terrible problem to have and it still gives the Oilers some considerations should Dubnyk or Deslauriers go down. It’s a sensible signing, one that makes even more sense when you consider Khabibulin’s legal issues with drunk driving in Arizona.

Should he not show up for training camp due to these issues, Gerber provides the Oilers with a back-up plan.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Teemu Selanne will be returning for an 18th NHL season with the Anaheim Ducks. He told a Finnish sports magazine that he expected a deal to be done with the Ducks within the next couple of days.

What’s more, Selanne says that he’s made a pitch to the club to bring his old pal Paul Kariya back into the fold. “I’ve talked to Paul and the Ducks. Paul has been waiting for my decision and I hope things move forward,” he said.

Selanne’s exact wording to Sports Journal was that he’d return for “at least another year.” This will mark his 12th season with the Ducks and Anaheim is proving to be a franchise that the Finnish player believes in.

In 54 games last season, Selanne managed 21 goals and 48 points. He’s proven that he can still impress and be valuable on the ice, so his presence with the club will certainly continue to elevate the proceedings.

The Ducks look like they’re gearing up nicely for another year, too. With the signings of Andy Sutton, Toni Lydman and Saku Koivu, they’re into giving Selanne a lot to play with. And if Kariya ends up part of the team, so much the better for Ducks fans.

Ageists are quick to point to the fact that the Ducks look to be building a team around older guys, but Selanne, Koivu and Kariya still possess high levels of skill and boast conditioning that the NHL’s younger players would struggle to keep up with. If the Ducks can pull this off, they could have a good-looking second line to charge into the new season with.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Back when Steve Yzerman was hired as the new general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was clear that changes were in the air. And, true to form, Yzerman has been busy this summer transforming the team into a contender.

In the two months since his hiring, Stevie Y has brought hope back to Florida’s only worthwhile hockey club. The team was eight points out of a playoff spot last year, but Yzerman has fans and players thinking big for 2010-2011. With the acquisitions and general mood in Tampa, it’s possible that the Lightning could be the team to step up and give the Capitals something to think about in the Southeastern Division.

Monday saw Yzerman pull off a deal that brought former Flyer Simon Gagne into the mix. He’s going to be a big piece of the already impressive offensive puzzle in Tampa, that’s for sure, and Yzerman essentially got him for a song. Gagne does have some injury risk, but it’s a low risk overall considering the payoff that a player of his skill level can bring.

Yzerman also locked up Martin St. Louis to a four year extension, assuring the team that they’d have their nucleus intact even with all the changes.

The signings and trades give the Lightning a heck of an impressive roster. Consider Vincent Lecavalier, Gagne, St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, and Ryan Malone as the offensive core of the club. Yzerman’s selection of Dan Ellis in goal shows moxie and his signings of Pavel Kubina and Brett Clark show that he’s paying attention to the team’s defensive questions too.

With this series of intelligent moves, Yzerman has given fans in Tampa reason to sit up and pay attention to their hockey club again. They may not be bound for the Finals immediately, mind you, but Yzerman has built one smart hockey team. And he’s wasted little time doing it.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

In a rather surprising turn of events, at least for me, the National Hockey League has rejected the deal I reported yesterday between the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk.

The NHL announcement was made just hours after Kovalchuk was introduced by the Devils at a press conference. The NHL says that the deal was rejected because it circumvents the league’s salary cap. The NHL apparently does not believe that the Devils organization had no expectations that Kovalchuk would be playing near the end of the lucrative contract.

It is, in other words, a way of artificially lowering the annual value of the contract and that’s a no-no.

The NHLPA now have the option to file a grievance with the NHL for the rejection and the process will go to arbitration. The contract, meanwhile, remains dead in the water.

The league has nosed around in this sort of top-loaded arrangements before and perhaps we had to expect, at least on some level, that something would be considered fishy about such a long contract offer. In the end, the NHL has decided that the deal wasn’t negotiated in good faith after all. Unlike the situations with Chris Pronger and Marian Hossa, there were a few red flags.

The CBA deals with the issue of circumvention in section 26:3 where it states in part:

(a) No Club or Club Actor, directly or indirectly, may: (i) enter into any agreements, promises, undertakings, representations, commitments, inducements, assurances of intent, or understandings of any kind, whether express, implied, oral or written, including without limitation, any SPC, Qualifying Offer, Offer Sheet or other transaction, or (ii) take or fail to take any action whatsoever, if either (i) or (ii) is intended to or has the effect of defeating or Circumventing the provisions of this Agreement or the intention of the parties as reflected by the provisions of this Agreement, including without limitation, provisions with respect to the financial and other reporting obligations of the Clubs and the League, Team Payroll Range, Player Compensation Cost Redistribution System, the Entry Level System and/or Free Agency.

Essentially the league found fault with the notion that the Devils actually had realistic expectations of Kovalchuk playing for the whole length of the contract. The CBA states that players signing contracts before the age of 35 can retire and have the balance of the contract be taken from the team’s cap. But the team has to make a good faith effort to ensure that the player doesn’t plan on skipping the balance of the contract just to collect the cheques.

So it’s likely back to the drawing board for Kovalchuk. It’s possible that the arbitration process may reveal something of use and it’s also possible that the Devils will augment the existing contract so that it fits under league specs. Regardless of what happens, the Kovalchuk saga still isn’t over.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Ilya Kovalchuk is staying with the Devils he knows. He’s signed a whopping 17-year deal worth $102 million to stay in New Jersey.

The league’s leading goal scorer since 2001 has finally ended ages of speculation, putting an end to seemingly countless possibilities about where he’d end up and for how long. Los Angeles, New Jersey, the KHL, the Islanders, and loads of other teams and places were on the radar, it seemed, and there was no end to the conjecture. Needless to say, it was kinda fun to play guessing games.

“This was a long arduous process that has taken frankly a little longer than I thought,” agent Jay Grossman said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “But you know what, nothing is worth anything unless you work for it. I can tell you he is very happy to be with the New Jersey Devils.”

It is said that the deal came down to a showdown between the offers from the Kings and the Devils. There was no word on the final reasoning for Kovalchuk, but many are speculating that it’s because he thought New Jersey was made of better championship material. Having Martin Brodeur in goal has to be considered a possible drawing feature, too.

This means that Kovalchuk will finally be able to show his stuff as a Devil for an entire year, something that Zach Parise considers to be a major bonus. “It’ll make a big difference,” he said. “You are throwing someone in mid-season when sometimes it is tough when you are comfortable with certain situations.”

The deal breaks down as follows: Kovy earns $6 million for the next two seasons, then $11.5 million for the next five, then $10.5 in 2017-2018, $8.5 in 2018-2019, $6.5 million in 2019-2020, $3.5 million in 2020-2021, $750,000 in 2021-2022, and $550,000 for the last five years of the deal. Phew.

These sorts of massive year deals are becoming common ways for today’s managers to lock up key players. The length of Kovy’s deal with the Devils may be unprecedented, but the principle certainly isn’t. It’s a deal that makes sense in the long run for Lamoriello and his hockey club, too, because it enables them to kick him out in the latter years of the contract to smaller and smaller salary amounts.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Marty Turco is still unsigned. The statement itself is a somewhat surprising one to write, although the goaltender’s play has been uneven as of late. At 35, he’s a veteran guy and one of the best puck-handling goalies in existence.

So how is the UFA still unsigned?

The Stanley Cup Finals may have something to do with it, at least ideologically. The Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers both proved that you can go far with second (or even third) string goalies. With the Hawks dealing with Antti Niemi, who’s on his way to arbitration as a RFA, and Philly dealing with both Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher under contract, something’s likely to give here.

And that’s where Turco comes in.

Suppose the Blackhawks can’t deal with what Niemi lands under arbitration (his value will go up, believe me). They might kick the goalie and take a chance on giving Turco a Cup run, especially given the fact that they can still trust his history.

Then there’s the idea that the Flyers could be in the market for an upgrade. There’s a lot that can be said for Leighton and Boucher, but is Philly really that confident in such a tandem?

It seems popular, at least for now, for media types to oversell the heroics of Niemi and Leighton. A lot of teams seem to be following suit, with the Washington Capitals showing a lot of confidence in Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth for the upcoming season.

While both Niemi and Leighton had their respective moments in the post-season, it was the team effort that landed any success. The goaltending, while capable, was not remarkable as the high-scoring games attest to.

So in this respect, a goalie with the experience of Marty Turco still should have some value for these teams. The Flyers and Blackhawks, if they take their chances of repeating successful post-season runs at all seriously, should have a good long look at landing an upgrade in net. Without one, they’ll have to work twice as hard to have similar success in the 2010-2011 NHL season.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

Former Vancouver Canucks forward Pavol Demitra has signed a contract with Yaroslavl of the KHL, ESPN is reporting.

The 35-year-old Slovakian player may not suit up for another NHL team in his career, so his tenure with the Canucks may go down as his last stop in the National Hockey League. The deal with Yaroslavl is for one year.

Demitra spent the last two seasons with the Canucks. He struggled last season but managed 53 points in 2008-2009. Throughout his career in the NHL, Demitra skated for Ottawa, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Minnesota, and Vancouver. He managed 304 goals and 464 helpers.

Demitra may not have endured himself to Canucks fans over the least year, but he sure showed his stuff when he suited up for Slovakia in the Olympics. He was a dominant player, skating like a man possessed and showing passion and drive with every shift.

Health issues were almost constant, too, and Demitra never seemed to be a player who reached his full potential with any single club.

In any event, Demitra belongs to the KHL now. Here’s hoping he regains some of his passion for the game and makes an impact for Yaroslavl in some capacity.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.