AGRI Biz

The Rangers' signing of Derek Boogaard isn't great news for the team. Boogaard is an enforcer, brought in to protect Marian Gaborik and Henrik Lundqvist. Donald Brashear was brought in to do that last season, but he proved to be too much of an on-ice liability to be effective. Brashear's game was incomplete, his fighting wasn't great, and he ultimately proved to be more of an albatross than a safety net. Brashear wound ...

With all the movement that has been seen this off-season for the Chicago Blackhawks many fans are feeling the same way at this point. They understand the mathematics with the salary cap that were placed on the front office and Stan Bowman. Fans are still a little shell-shocked that so many of the familiar fan-favorites will not be at puck drop when the banners raise to the rafters against Detroit in October. The Wound is Deep ...

The New York Rangers signed Brandon Prust today to a two-year deal for $1.6 million. Prust, who quickly became a fan favorite in New York, will be looking to reconnect with Artem Anisimov after last year's great performance. I really like this kid. He skates really well, and he has pretty quick hands and decent puck control. He attacks the net, and as he showed last year, he has what it ...

After weeks of negotiating, the Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that they have signed winger Nikolai Kulemin to a two-year, $4.7 million contract. The deal is somewhat of a compromise to what Kulemin was originally asking for—believed to be in the $3 million per season range. Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke had said all along that he had no intention of paying first line money to ...

Do Atlanta Thrasher fans remember former Thrasher Garnett Exelby? Exelby was a tough guy that was traded for defenseman Pavel Kubina . The trade was a good one for Atlanta as Kubina quickly emerged as the Thrashers best and most consistent defenseman. With high potential newcomers like Zach Bogosian, Arturs Kulda, and other established regulars such as Tobias Enstrom, Johnny Oduya, and Brent Sopel, Kubina was allowed to leave Atlanta ...

Following an NHL team during the offseason is a bit like waiting for a Polaroid picture to develop (for my younger readers, check Wikipedia). Slowly but surely you wait and watch as out of foggy nothingness edges start to sharpen, shapes start to take form, and colors start to emerge, until the image comes fully into focus. For the soon-to-be 2010-2011 San Jose Sharks, this development is still ...

Many Sabres fans, including myself, became furious over the fact that Darcy Regier hadn't made any moves on July 1st. With every signing, it seemed like the Sabres chances of improving became slimmer. Before free agency even began, the only thing Regier did was re-sign Mike Grier, which was a solid move. That still left six unrestricted free agents on the team, leaving around $14 million of space ...

When about 15 minutes after noon went by, I refreshed twitter at work and saw about eight tweets discussing that Sergei Gonchar had been traded to Ottawa for a three-year deal.  My immediate thought was "Our season is over."  When the season ended, I immediately realized how many free agents we had. I knew we were going to lose players, that's a given. What I didn't expect was how many players we ...

With Colby Armstrong and a couple of two-way contracts Brian Burke's only additions on July 1st, it is perhaps safe to presume that the Maple Leafs general manager will turn his attention to the trade market in order to bolster his thin selection of top six forwards. Armstrong, while regarded as a third liner, trails only Matt Cullen and is tied with Olli Jokinen and Ray Whitney in annual salary amongst ...

While the rest of the free world stands vigil awaiting the decision made by LeBron James as to where to next collect his basketball millions, NHL fans themselves are geared up for the silly season. The free agency period began July 1, and there was a landslide of activity . But not on Long Island. Islanders fans have come to learn that when the clock strikes midnight ...