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Freeze the Puck will change over the next few days, beginning with the removal of wordpress in the URL.

This website will become accessible by visiting: http://www.freezethepuck.com. For further updates check back.

My apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Remaining NHL 2010 Free Agents

The NHL free agency market opened at 12 EST on July 1st. But players remain unsigned. Below is a table of all the players without contracts for the 2010-2011 season. The players are sorted by team.

2010 NHL Signed Free Agents

With the free agency market opening this past Thursday, the NHL became very busy in the offseason. Below is a chart of all of the signed players since July 1st. The list sorts the players by their new team, included is their contract terms.

* Denotes the player signed with the team he played with during the 2009-2010 season.

Johan Hedberg Could Relieve Martin Brodeur of Some Games

Yesterday the New Jersey Devils signed a veteran goaltender. Johan Hedberg became the latest goaltender to play behind Martin Brodeur. Goaltenders never seem to stay long as Brodeur’s backup, though Yann Danis did express desire to remain as the backup.

As usual with the Devils, Hedberg signed for one-year, but received a no-trade clause in his contract. The contract, worth $1.1 million, seems a bit excessive for a goaltender to back-up Brodeur, but Tom Gulitti reported Lou Lamoriello saying the plan remains for Brodeur to play less games (though they say that every year), and with Hedberg the Devils have a bit more experience in net than they did with Danis.

Devils and Henrik Tallinder Reach a Deal Yesterday

Henrik Tallinder became a New Jersey Devil during the chaotic free agency day yesterday. Tallinder, another defenseman, signed for four years ($13.5 million total) with a $3.375 cap hit each year.

As a 31 year-old Swedish defenseman, Tallinder comes into the Devils’ organization as an able-bodied mentor for the possible Swedish rookies that might crack the lineup (Jacob Josefson, Mattias Tedenby and Alexander Urbom).

Anton Volchenkov a Devil for Six Years

Yesterday the New Jersey Devils made a big splash into the free agency market. It all began with defenseman Paul Martin leaving for the Pittsburgh Penguins for five years.

Unfortunately, Martin’s departure left a huge hole in the defense corp for the Devils.

Knowing Lou Lamoriello though, that hole would not remain empty for long. In fact, Lamoriello signed former Ottawa Senators defenseman, Anton Volchenkov.

Volchenkov signed a contract for six years, worth $25.5 million total. The Russian 28 year-old played eight years for Ottawa before he signed with the Devils yesterday.

July 2nd, Second Day of the Free Agency Market

Around the NHL, the free agency market is still in full swing. Probably the hottest commodity of this year’s market, New Jersey Devils‘ player Ilya Kovalchuk, remains available.

All the signings of today:

• Danny Sabourin signs with the Washington Capitals (NHL.com)
• Tim Jackman signs with the Calgary Flames (NHL.com)
• Raitis Ivanans signs with the Flames (NHL.com)
• Nathan Lawson re-signs with the New York Islanders (NHL.com).
• Nathan Guenin becomes a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL.com).
  

July 1st in the Hockey World

Today at 12:00 EST, the Free Agency Markets opens. So all those players on the teams without contracts at the moment can end up with other teams.

Check back over the next few days for all the updates, especially what the New Jersey Devils do. Please leave comments with any moves that I may miss. Thank you, and please be sure to give credit to the person originally reporting it.

The first time a source receives credit, the link will go to his Twitter account. Also, the red font denotes moves involving the Devils or Devils players.

• The New York Rangers signed Martin Biron (Goaltender). TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported the deal is for two years, with $900,000 per year.
• Darren Dreger reporting Daniel Paille re-signed with the Boston Bruins for two years.
• Derek Stepan signed with the Rangers (via Jeff Marek).
• Rangers re-sign Erik Christensen (via Jeff Marek).
• Sergei Gonchar to Ottawa for three years plus a no trade clause (Darren Dreger, Bob McKenzie).

Clarkson Re-signed

Today the New Jersey Devils signed David Clarkson to a new contract. Clarkson received a qualifying offer the other day, but signed a contract the day before potentially becoming a restricted free agent.

(February 9, 2009 - Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images North America)

Outliers of the NHL Draft

Back in 2008 Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book entitled Outliers. In the first chapter of the book he discusses the relation between hockey players (particularly Canadians in the Juniors) and their birth month.

To begin, the cut off for many leagues in Canada begins January 1st. Thus players born in the beginning months of the year (January, February, March) get an advantage (in size, accessibility to better coaches, players, etc.).

For the full details check out Gladwell’s book, but when he heard about the possible connection between birth month and likelihood of making it to the NHL, he began doing research of Junior players and NHLers.

Gladwell concluded the following about players’ birth months in the NHL and Juniors:

January, February, March: 40%

April, May, June: 30%

July, August, September: 20%

October, November, December: 10%

With the draft possibly introducing new players into the NHL, Gladwell’s statistics were put to the test.