NHL News for Tuesday (I'm sure there will be a LOT)

11:00 PM
Dave Nonis has been working pretty hard recently to re-sign Cowan the Bra-barian. Cowan, who earned $532,000 last season, is probably seeking a minor raise, but is more-so trying to get a 2-year deal done.
As the Vancouver Sun also reports:

the Vancouver Canucks have tendered qualifying offers to new centre Ryan Shannon and returning defenceman Lukas Krajicek. Shannon, 24, received the mandatory 10 per cent raise on his 2006-07 salary of $477,500 US, the offer arriving shortly after the Canucks obtained the 5-9 speedster from Anaheim for Jason King and a conditional draft pick.

Krajicek also received a 10 per cent hike on his $625,000 US wage of last season.



7:00 PM
The Montreal Canadiens have extended qualifying offers to winger Michael Ryder, centre Tomas Plekanec and defenceman Josh Georges.

4:00 PM
No suprise here. The Blues have acquired the rights to Keith Tkachuk along with a conditional 4th round pick in 2008 from the Thrashers in exchange for a 1st Round pick in 2008. The Thrashers only had Tkachuk as a rental player, much like what happened with Doug Weight and Mark Recchi with the Hurricanes 2 seasons ago.

9:00 AM
The Penguins have not tendered an offer to Michel Ouellet, making the talented forward an unrestricted free agent. Ouellet is going to get a raise and the Pens were unwilling to go the arbitration route with him. It may be a bit of the Anson Carter-syndrome situation going on there, as Ouellet had playing time with Crosby.

The Rangers did not make an offer to D-man Karel Rachunek.

Also reported ny TSN, other players who did not receive qualifying offers from their respective teams were: ALEX AULD (oh boy), Adam Hall (Minnesota), goalie Curtis Sanford (Blues), Alexei Semenov and Juraj Kolnik (Panthers).

In regards to the Auld situation, Jacques Martin said:

"Last year when (Craig Anderson) was up he showed a tremendous attitude, worked hard and when called upon did a good job," Panthers general manager Jacques Martin told the Palm Beach Post. "And his salary was a good fit for the goaltending situation."

Yup, and Auld's $1.475 million salary was NOT a good fit obviously. Wow, the Luongo deal being an absolute disgrace is now even more of a truth. The Panthers traded Luongo and Kracijek to Vancouver for Bryan Allen. Hey Bryan, you better score 100 points this season and win the Norris!! haha

T Tags: NHL Offers Alex+Auld Unrestricted+Free+Agents