Not sure when a signing announcement really becomes official today, after the Avalanche tweeted that they’d signed Matt Carkner, but now the world seems to agree that he’s going to be a New York Islander for the next three years. Maybe. Eventually. Probably. Edit: They’ve announced it now. Insert joke here.
The Islanders signed Brad Boyes earlier. (There were lots of interesting names on his lockout-year Providence team.)
The official NHL free agents list.
Jonathan will have his ranked list of AHL free agents up later. Will link. Like this.
–Kinda neat: My first year out of college, I covered the Beast of New Haven, which included a lanky, gangly, awkward second-year Czech defenseman sent there by Florida. Today, Filip Kuba goes back to the Panthers.
–Former Hartford goalie Chad Johnson to the Coyotes.
–Katie Strang reports Micheal Haley to the Rangers. Nice spot for him. Their kind of depth player.
–Craig Custance reports that veteran forward Eric Boulton will join the Islanders. Meanwhile, widely reported on Twitter that Pierre Parenteau goes to Colorado for four years.
–His presence on Long Island late last month at team events made it reasonably clear that something like this was coming, but: the Isles should shortly announce a one-year contract for Jon Landry.
–A big swipe for Columbus and/or Springfield: Jonathan Audy-Marchessault.
–Despite reports that he and the Islanders had been talking extension — even did a video piece for the Isles’ Web site before the draft — Dylan Reese signs with his hometown Pittsburgh Penguins.
–An assortment of pickups for St. Louis, including Scott Ford.
–Talked for a few minutes with Jon Landry, who is up in Montreal. He was talking about how amazing it was to reach his goal of an NHL contract. So, I asked, if someone in Colorado had told you around New Year’s that this would happen… “I wouldn’t have dreamed it,” he said, “but it’s been my goal to play at the highest level possible every single year. I’ve taken different paths, but my goal hasn’t changed since I was little. … I’d have thought they were a little off,” he said, “but I’d still have believed it was possible.”
–Mike Kostka, whose wacky dump-in-turned-backbreaking-if-offside-goal killed Toronto in the Calder Cup Final, has signed with… Toronto.
–The Islanders have also signed right winger Matt Watkins, who played 70 games for Portland last year and made his NHL debut Feb. 21 (vs. L.A., eight shifts) with Phoenix.
–Watkins had four points against the Sound Tigers this year. Looking back, he wore an ‘A’ for the Pirates.
–Via a teammate on Twitter, it appears that Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Brandon DeFazio (Son of Nighthawk) is headed for the Isles. The paperwork apparently isn’t complete, so (insert Matt Carkner joke). Jonathan’s original free agents list had him as a guy who’d done a good job in a checking role. I missed line rushes in the first Penguins-Bridgeport game, but in the other three, if I took them accurately, had him twice on the left wing and once on the right.
–Unless somebody else’s teammate has an announcement… From a Bridgeport perspective, they added some depth up front, (formally) brought back a piece of last year’s defense. Reese is a tough loss, organizationally, whether he was a 6/7 guy up there or a 1/2 here. There are guys who can probably fill that role, but then you’ve got to fill in behind them, too. A never-ending jigsaw puzzle. They’ve got 103 days to solve it.
–Isles may be done for the moment, but Pittsburgh added another former Sound Tiger: Trevor Smith.
–Jay Leach stays with the Devils, per Renaud Lavoie.