Boel Stephanie Smith, OP Sports Editor The NHL off-season. One of the busiest times in hockey, where players switch teams faster than a drunk girl at a frat party. This season was especially busy, with more players than ever becoming free agents. With this huge pool of players bound to move, and a cap that is slight- ly higher this year, how to keep track of the player movements? Where have all your favourite players ended up? And what has your favourite team become? Well, fear not my hockey crazed friends, for I have come to the rescue! A list of what teams have acquired what big name players, and some that are still available. Anaheim Ducks: In a bold move, Chris Pronger requested a trade from the Stanley Cup finalist Edmonton Oilers. The Norris Trophy winning defenseman was snagged by the Anaheim Ducks but came for a price. The Ducks had to take on his huge salary, and traded Joffrey Lupul, Ladislav Smid, and a few draft picks. They also managed to extend contracts to Teemu Selanne and goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. .» Boston Bruins: In move that rivals the signing of Chris Pronger, the Bruins signed free agent defensemen and former Ottawa Senator, Zdeno Chara. Highly coveted and worth a whopping 37.5 million dol- lars for five years, he was one of the biggest moves in this off season. The Bruins also signed free agent Shean Donovan to a two year con- tract. Buffalo Sabres: With so many players becoming free agents, they mostly focused on keeping what players they had already. The sabres Sp opted to re-sign Daniel Briere, Maxim Afinogenov, Tin Connolly, reas Jason Pominville, and Martin Biron. Calgary Flames: The Calgary Flames signed former Colorado Avalanche star Alex Tanguay to a three year contract in July. They also re-signed Chuck Kobasew, Kristian Huselias, and Matthew Lombardi. Colorado Avalanche: ‘The Avs were not as busy as a lot of teams, and in fact lost more key players than they picked up. They did resign goaltender Peter Budaj and managed to grab up free agent Tyler Arnason, as well as free agent Ken Klee. Dallas Stars: With so many of the Stars becoming free agents, they had to make some moves. And moves they made. The Stars picked up Darryl Sydor in a trade from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a 2008 4th round draft pick. They also signed free agents Jeff Halpern, Matthew Barnaby, and Eric Lindros. Not to mention the re-signing of Steve Ott. Detroit Red Wings: With the retirement of Steve Yzerman, the Red Wings will undoubtedly be a different team, regardless of how many other players change. The Red Wings did pick up a few noteworthy players, signing free agents Danny Markov and 41 year-old goaltender © Dominik Hasek. Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers, fresh off a monumental and surpris- ing Cup run have made many changes to their roster, most notably by picking up free agents Marty Reasoner, Daniel Tjarnqvist, and Petr Sykora. They picked up Joffrey Lupul and Ladislav Smid in the trade for Chris Pronger. They also re-signed Shawn Horcoff, Jarret Stoll, and Ales Hemsky. Florida Panthers: Perhaps one of the busiest teams, and part of one of the biggest blockbuster trade deals this year, the Florida Panthers have entirely changed. In a 5 player trade with the Vancouver Canucks, the Panthers lost star goaltender Roberto Luongo, but picked up Todd m Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen, and goaltender Alex Auld from Vancouver. The | Panthers also signed free agents Ruslan Salei and Ed Belfour and re- signed Mike Van Ryn and Nathan Horton. * Los Angeles Kings: The Kings picked up Scott Thornton from San Jose, and reclaimed prize defenseman Rob Blake back from the Colorado Avalanche. They also picked up some goaltending in the form of former Vancouver Canuck Dan Cloutier for a couple of = future draft picks. On top of that they re-signed Matthieu Garon and ~ Sean Avery as well. 6 THE OTHER PRESS SEPTEMBER 14 2006 Where have all the Merrymakers Gone? i, Minnesota Wild: With the huge number of free agents on this team, one would expect them to make sweeping changes across tk board. However, they didn’t really. They mostly re-signed the play: they already had. These include Mikko Koivu, Pascal Dupuis, Der Boogaard, and Marion Gaborik, The exceptions being the signing free agents Branko Radivojavic, and Mark Parrish. Montreal Canadiens: Not much action coming out of Montreal g™= this year. They re-signed many of their existing players; such as Mike Ribeiro, Mike Komisarek, David Aebischer, and Michael Ryc ' They also picked up free agent Sergei Samsanov. » New Jersey Devils: Re-signed Patrik Elias to a seven year, 42 mil lion dollar contract, as well as re-signing Jamie Langenbrunner, th have not tested the free agent market too deeply. NY Rangers: The Rangers re-signed Martin Straka and Marcel Hossa as well as picking up free agents Brendan Shanahan, Aaron Ward, and Tom Poti. Ottawa Senators: The Sens have again been busy. After a disap- pointing end to what should have been their year they’ve decided not to change it up too much. They re-signed Jason Spezza, Ray Emrey, Chris Neil, and Antione Vermette. Phoenix Coyotes: They Coyotes have decided to change it up in big way. They picked up one of the big name free agents almost immediately. They snagged up former Vancouver Canucks Ed Jovanovski, as well as free agents Jeremy Roenick, Georges Laraqi and Owen Nolan. They also re-signed Phillipe Sauve, Oleg Saprik Mike Comrie, and Ladislav Nagy. Pittsburgh Penguins: The Pens signed free agent and former Vancouver Canuck Jarkko Ruutu, as well as signing Ronald Petrovicky and Mark Recchi. They also re-signed goaltender Marc Andrew Fleury. St. Louis Blues: After an incredibly disappointing season, the BI have decided that sweeping changes were in order. They signed ft agents Doug Weight, Dan Hinote, Bill Guerin, Martin Ruchinsky, and Manny Legace. They also re-signed Tomas Mojzis, and Eric Brewer. Tampa Bay Lightning: Not too busy they signed free agent Fili Kuba, and re-signed Cory Sarich and Ruslan Fedotenko. They als: picked up Marc Denis in a trade from Columbus for Fredrik Moc @ and Fredrik Norrena. Toronto Maple Leafs: With a slew of players becoming free . agents, the Leafs re-signed Bryan McCabe, Tomas Kaberle, Nik Antropov, and Kyle Wellwood. They also signed free agents Pavel Kubina, Hal Gill, and Michael Peca. With Ed Belfour’s contact nc being renewed they also traded goaltending prospect Tuukka Ras! to the Boston Bruins for young goaltender Andrew Raycroft. Vancouver Canucks: Another team who had a disappointing sez son, the Canucks were looking to make some changes. To do so, they signed free agents Willie Mitchell, Marc Chouinard, and Jan Bulis. The Canucks also re-signed the Sedin twins, Lee Goren, Ty ' Bouck and Kevin Bieksa. As well as this they picked up Tyler Pya in a trade from Buffalo and prize goaltender Roberto Luongo in trade from Florida.