NHL’s Signings and Rumors: What’s Next For Martin Biron?
The Tampa Bay Lightning signed defenceman and second overall pick Victor Hedman to a standard three-year rookie contract on Thursday. The 6′6, 220-pound Swede was rated as the top European player available in the NHL Entry Draft. Hedman will fit in well down in Tampa and along with Vincent Lecavalier the lightning have two players who they can build their team around.
The New York Rangers signed forward Ales Kotalik to a three-year, $9 million contract on Thursday. The 30-year old split last season between the Buffalo Sabres and the Edmonton Oilers, putting up 20 goals and 23 assists. During the 2005-06 season with the Sabres, Kotalik had his highest scoring output in the NHL, netting 25 goals while adding 37 assists. The 6′1, 227-pound native of the Czech Republic was selected 164th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the sixth round of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.
The Dallas Stars have filled their big need for a backup goalie, getting Alex Auld from the Ottawa Senators. The Senators had a logjam at the position, so they were willing to give up Auld for merely a sixth-round pick in 2010. The six-foot-four, 223-pounder will help ease the load for the Stars starting goalie Marty Turco, who played 74 games last year, including a franchise-record 32 straight. The Stars are hoping that using Turco less will help keep him fresh. The 28-year-old Auld also has played for the Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes and Boston Bruins. He has a career record of 74-75-25, with six shutouts, a .905 save percentage and a 2.76 goals-against-average. All in all the Stars got themselves an above average backup who has the capability of making Turco a dominant goaltender.
With Auld signing in Dallas life for Martin Biron just got a lot tougher. It seems like goalie vacancies around the NHL are drying up faster than you can blink an eye. With Jonas Gustavsson signing with the Maple Leafs and the Auld signing in the last two days Biron’s options have gone from plenty of NHL opportunities to possibly playing in a European league next year. What makes his continued unemployment a little bit baffling to me. In a league where the likes of Jose Theodore continually gets chance after chance to accomplish little of consequence, how is it Martin Biron is still looking for a job a week into the free agency signing period? There are still a few options and one of them that I think would really work is if he signed in Los Angeles with the Kings. He would be a great fit for a team that historically has never had outstanding goaltending. Outside of some excellent spells by Rogie Vachon and Kelly Hrudey, goaltending has always been an issue for Los Angeles. Currently, Jonathan Quick and Erik Ersberg are manning the net while prospect Jonathan Bernier is still developing. The Kings have $8.4 million in salary cap space. They could easily afford Biron who could make them a playoff team.
Jul 10th, 2009 at 6:31 am
The signings of free agents continues at a crawl pace. Is it that the balance of players are not deemed elite or is it a money issue. Do the general managers feel that the longer they wait the cheaper the player will cost them. The elite players have all been signed ,but one has to realize that it is the grinders that want to make a name for them self that make a team run more smoothly. More and more Russian players are opting to return to Russia for bigger money then to cave in for a pittance that is being offered to them here in the NHL.