TSN is reporting several of the top free agents on the market have already signed deals.
Daniel Briere-Philadelphia Flyers 8-years $52 million
Jason Blake-Toronto Maple Leafs 4-years $20 million
Scott Gomez-New York Rangers 7-years $51.5 million
Chris Drury-New York Rangers 5-years $35.25 million

these are just a portion of the contracts mentioned to already have been signed as of early evening.

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The NHL today offically announced the salary cap for next season.

The low limit is $34.3million, the midpoint is $42.3million and the upper limit is $50.3millio

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Released today, Scott Stevens and Al MacInnis are among the four players to make the 2007 Hall of Fame induction class.

Along with Stevens and MacInnis, forwards Ron Francis and Mark Messier both recieved the honor of being a part of the 2007 Hall of Fame class as players and NHL exec Jim Gregory goes in as a builder.

The induction of the 2007 Hall of Fame class will be held on November 12.

The list of players not to make it this year include former Blue's Adam Oates, Glenn Anderson, and Doug Gilmour, along withIgor Larionov, Pavel Bure, Dino Ciccarelli, and Mike Richter. Due to regulations on Hall of Fame induction, there can only be four players elected in any given year (baring any statistical anomaly). Better luck next year guys.

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Jeremy Rutherford is reporting in the Post today that the Blues have offered Keith Tkachuk a new contract.

Apparently it is a two year $7 million deal, $3.5 million a year.

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Perhaps more than any major professional sport, the NHL is dominated by rumors. MLB has it’s share, but because of their convoluted rules on personnel moves in the offseason and the lack of draft pick trades their level of gossip is severely limited. The NFL has all sorts of personnel rumors, but they’re mostly centered around the draft and after that the trade talk all but dies. In the NBA there are relatively few trade talks because of the restrictions on moving salary in their salary cap model.

But in the NHL, rumors run rampant…and fans simply can’t get enough. Ask most die-hard fans and they’ll tell you that one of the best days of the season is trade deadline day, when players move quicker than an Al MacInnis slapshot and franchises are built or torn apart in literally minutes.

But how often do the rumors of a trade end up being reality?

The truth is not often…in fact that’s an understatement. It’s almost never.

When it comes to player movement information, there are only 2 possible options:

-It’s real.

-It’s not real.

So how do you weed out the bad and listen to the good?

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