Free agency, lunacy, ridiculous money, goaltending, stupid GMs...

Wow. What a day, and it's just getting started.

- Avs decide not to pay Theodore a reasonable salary and he leaves the 
sinking ****p to sign with a team on the rise for said reasonable salary 
(2yrs/4.5m per)

- Avs then "replace" Theodore with Andrew Freaking Raycroft. Rationalize 
that one, ****sticks. 1 year, 800k, so the Avs obviously think they are 
going to be able to acquire someone else next year. Newsflash idiots, 
EVERYONE ELSE has their eye on the same guys, and there are actual 
winning teams who are going to have just as much money to throw at them. 
Why would they go to Colorado when they could play for a winner? You 
think Ryan Miller or MAF is going to pick the Avs over the Wings? Get
real.

- So Budaj and Raycroft. Have fun with that.

- I love Jeff Finger, but seriously? $3.5m? That's the most ridiculous 
overpayment I have seen since FG gave Clark that same amount. Finger's a 
much better player than Clark, but Clark had actually established 
himself as someone the Avs were going to use in the NHL long-term (I 
might even buy an argument that he's an NHL-caliber 3rd pairing DMan on 
a **** team). Crazy.

- JoeTed to Wa****ngton for 2yrs/$4.5m per. Excellent decision. I'm 
guessing the Wings weren't offering what Wa****ngton was. That's a team 
on the rise who had just been looking for their starter. Kolzig was 
getting too old, and Huet isn't really the kind of #1 you want if you're 
a contending team. Excellent signing for them, and good for JoeTed.

- Wings sign Brad Stuart for 4yrs/$3.75m. I'd say that's an overpayment 
based on what he does on the ice (though not by much...I'd say somewhere 
around $3m is what he's worth), but with the salaries that some players 
are getting, Stuart is a bargain. I've always really liked Stuart, and 
while his game has regressed since the early part of his career (which 
is weird, because given his age, he should be in his prime right now), I 
think a full season in Detroit could put him back to where he used to be 
if not better. He could be one of the best #3s in the league this year.

- Wings sign Ty Conklin for 1yr/$750k. I don't know how I feel about 
this one. Conklin is obviously the new starter, as he's clearly better 
than Osgood. And what Conklin did in Pittsburgh this year was very 
impressive. But with better goaltenders out there, if I were the Wings, 
I would have gone for a long-term solution rather than a stopgap. Like 
the Avs' signing of Raycroft (and this is the only thing similar, as 
there is no comparison between the two as goaltenders), this points to 
the notion that the Wings are going after Miller or MAF next year. And 
they probably will end up getting one of those two. I don't know, I 
guess in that case the Wings get their starter for a year and will 
replace him with a better one next year, but I probably would have gone 
with something a little more certain and a little more long-term. Either 
way, Conklin is not going to fail in Detroit. If that team could win 
with Osgood, they could win with pretty much anyone. And kudos to Kenny 
Dutch for finally signing a goalie that hadn't previously been with the 
team.

- Brian Campbell to Chicago for 8yrs/$56m and Christobal Huet for $5.6m 
a year (forget the length). Wow. With the young talent on that team 
already, and now they add a #1 and the best UFA DMan on the market 
(arguably)? That's pretty nice.

- Avs sign Tucker for 2yrs/$2.25m per. Um, why? They replaced Brunette 
with Tucker. A shell of the former Darcy Tucker. Darcy Tucker is now the 
poor man's version of himself. And the Avs have him. Had this been six 
years ago, as a then-fan of the Avs, I would have been excited. I like 
guys like Tucker used to be. But today's Tucker? What a waste of cap 
space and a roster spot. David Jones is going to lose ice time to this 
loser. Brilliant move.

- In other news, CuJo back to Toronto. Heh. Kinda thought Kenny Dutch 
might make a run at Cooj, but maybe this is a good sign for Wings fans.

- Yotes sign Fedoruk for three years and Sauer for 4yrs/1.75m per. Yotes 
now have three enforcers. Sauer was awful in the playoffs.

- Beejers just signed Mike Commodore for 5yrs/$18.75m. Mike Commodore.

- Ottawa signs Alex Auld for 2yrs/$2m. Jeez, why the **** did they even 
bother buying Emery out? Auld is Emery without the passion.

- Bolts get Vrbata for 3yrs/$3m. Excellent signing. I don't like the 
Roberts and Malone signings too much, but it looks like Radim is going 
to be a 2nd line winger down there and might even have a shot at playing 
with Lecav and St Louis. If he could get that gig, he'd put up monster 
points. Poor man's Richards for nothing as far as salary is concerned.

- Flyers just signed Ossi Vaananen for 1yr/$1m. Nice to see Vaananen get 
another shot, and Philly is a perfect fit for him.

That's all for now. Bash away.

-Thomas