Money for nothing

Here we go again. Right off the top, Bates Battaglia (who I have an excellent photograph of) signed a two-year deal with Toronto ($1.3 million) and Lukas Krajicek signed a two-year deal with Vancouver worth $2.2 million. In retrospect, Vancouver pulled Florida’s pants down in the Roberto Luongo trade, but the proof is in the pudding. Krajicek was the other guy Vancouver got in that trade, and if the trade went down today, the Canucks would be giddy to get Krajicek alone for Bertuzzi.

The Los Angeles Kings dove into free agency headlong. It’s no secret they wanted Chris Drury, and I’m actually very surprised he didn’t sign in L.A. Now, back at the draft, I said I wouldn’t question anything Kings’ GM Dean Lombardi does, so with that in mind I’ll just mention the Kings’ signings and not comment on their various values. Defenseman Tom Preissing (four years, $11 million, when the hell did Preissing become a marquee free agent?), Michal Handzus (four years, $16 million), Kyle Calder (two years, $5.4 million) and Ladislav Nagy, who I thought was primed for a big season in 2007, got a one-year deal, I don’t have dollars yet. Again, I won’t question Dean Lombardi. Dean obviously knows something the rest of us don’t.

Washington, probably fearing they were below the minimum salary, backed up a dump truck full of money at Michael Nylander’s house. I’m not sure Nylander’s worth $19.5 million over four years (OK, screw it, I’ll say it-- he’s not), but the Caps needed to sign someone with a profile. I said it last season with Dickie Zednik, I said it earlier in the week with Viktor Kozlov, for Nylander’s sake, here’s hoping the third time’s the charm. Maybe Nylander is the guy the Caps are looking for, to play with Alex Ovechkin. Although, more likely, he’ll be asked to help Nicklas Backstrom find his way in the NHL.

Montreal signed two veterans yesterday to help out the youth movement they seem to be avoiding. Defenseman Roman Hamrlik caught Habs’ GM Bob Gainey having a senior moment and scored a four-year, $22 million deal. I’m reading good things about Hamrlik, but he’s never impressed me, and I’m thinking he’s no more worth $5.5 million a season than Sheldon Souray is. The Habs also signed Brian Smolinski for one year, $2 million. It’s an easy deal for both teams. Smolinski is a bit of an insurance policy it seems, in case highly-touted prospect Kyle Chipchura can’t make the jump next season. If that’s the case, they should have just brought Radek Bonk back.

But, seeing how Nashville signed Bonk, that’s going to be a problem. The Predators locked up Bonk and defenseman Greg de Vries to two-year deals. No terms available, but anything under $2 million a year for each of them sounds about right. Bonk was one of Montreal’s most consistent performers last season and should not have been run out of town. De Vries is past his best-before date, but he’s still serviceable.

Chicago made an astute signing, which is very odd. They inked Robert Lang to a two-year deal, again, no money terms available at this time. Why are teams still pulling the whole “it’s club policy not to discuss contract terms” routine? There’s a salary cap now, and we fans need to know the terms of contracts. Anyway. Lang is still a crafty centre, and he’s added a good defensive element to his game. He could enjoy great success playing alongside Martin Havlat.

Atlanta really went against the disclosure grain. Ken Klee, multi-year contract. Thanks guys. Like de Vries, anything under $2 million per works, otherwise he’s just giggling and rolling in money he won’t earn.

Anaheim took an expensive flier on Todd Bertuzzi. It’s a two-year deal worth $8 million. If Bertuzzi can regain his pre-Steve Moore incident form, it’s a steal. That Bertuzzi was a $10 million player. The current Bertuzzi has looked disinterested at best, and could be a liability.

And Calgary, apparently not content with their current crop of grey-beards, signed Owen Nolan for reasons no one will ever truly understand (kinda like signing their new coach).