Tomas Plekanec Avoids Salary Arbitration

Tomas Plekanec has finally accepted a 1-year deal of $2.75 million from the Montreal Canadiens and has therefore avoided salary arbitration that would be held on july 30th. Source

Curtis Sanford Signs With Montreal

Today, the Montreal Canadiens have announced the signing of unrestricted free agent goaltender Curtis Sanford for a period of 1 season. This is a 2-way contract. He will most likely start the year in the AHL. Last season with the Vancouver Canucks, Sanford has a save percentage of .903 and a goal-against average of 2.69. He has also a record of 11-11-1 in 35 games. Source

Guillaume Latendresse Signs With Habs

According to RDS, Guilllaume Latendresse has signed a 1-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens worth of $ 803,000. Latendresse has initially refused a 2-years offer from the Canadiens. He will be eligible for salary arbitration next season. Source

Habs Sign Andreas Engqvist

The Montreal Canadiens have signed another Swedish player Andreas Engqvist to a 3-year deal. Engqvist is a 6'3 centerman who has obtained 9 goals and 7 assists in 31 games in the Swedish Elite Ligue last season. Source

Here are some highlights video of Engqvist

Chipchura Signs With The Canadiens

Kyle Chipchura signs a 1-year contract with the Habs. The terms of the contract are not released.

Travis Moen Signs With the Canadiens

Travis Moen has signed a 3-year deal with the Montreal Canadiens for $4.5 Million. Source

Habs Sign Paul Mara

The Montreal Canadiens have signed Paul Mara to a 1-year contract. The term of the contract have not been revealed. Mara is a defenseman of 6'4 and 212 lb. He has collected 5 goals and 16 assists last season with the New York Rangers. Source

Rumor : Tomas Plekanec Going KHL?

According to ruefrontenac.com Marc De Foy, Tomas Plekanec's name is on a list of players that the KHL are planning to offer a contract in the upcoming days. The president of the KHL, Alexander Medvedev, was frustrated after the Altanta Thrashers has signed Joel Kwiatkowski who was already under a KHL contract. As a result, Medvedev now encourages KHL teams to offer contracts to various NHL players.

Ruefrontenac.com has also learned that Tomas Plekanec have thought about going to the KHL back when he was still with the Hamilton Bulldogs. There is a possibility that Plekanec would go to the KHL if the offer is good enough, since he has asked for salary arbitration a week ago.

The team that is interested in the services of Plekanec is the Omsk Avangard, so he could play next to Jaromir Jagr. They are also interested in Robert Lang and Mikael Nylander. Source

Rumor : Brandon Shanahan With Habs

Lastest rumors from Eklund, Brandon Shanahan could become a Habs. Source

Saku Koivu Signs With Anaheim Ducks

According to RDS, Saku Koivu will be joining Teemu Selanne in Anaheim. Koivu has signed a 1-year contract with the Ducks worth of $3.25 Million. Source

Good Luck Saku!

Francois Beauchemin to Toronto

The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed Francois Beauchemin for 3 years, a contract worth of $10M. Source

Alex Kovalev Signs With The Senators

According to RDS, Alex Kovalev will be playing with the Ottawa Senators next season. Source

Saku Koivu Back With The Habs?

Will it be possible that the 10-year captain might be back with the Montreal Canadiens this year? Even though Bob Gainey told everyone that he won't be back?

According to rumors from Eklund, this possibility is getting more and more possible. Eklund's source is a close friend of Saku in Finland, he says that Saku is extremely loyal guy and deep down inside of him, he wants to finish his career as a Montreal Canadiens. He is also very happy with the signings by Bob Gainey in the last few days. Source

Saku Koivu would love to finish his career by playing with his younger brother Mikko, but the negociation with the Wild organization has slowed down and getting less and less likely since Koivu is looking for a 4-year deal and the Wild are not ready to keep him for that long.

The other alternative would be to play with his compatriot and good friend Teemu Selanne in Anaheim. But, as Selanne has just declared to the media that this will be his last season in the NHL. TSN I am not so sure that Saku would want to sign a long term deal with a team where his best friend is retiring the year after.

There is also the possibility that he could go to Buffalo Sabres and join his best friend Craig Rivet. But, the question is, are the Sabres interested in his services? Also, would Saku Koivu want to join a team that is in decline in the last few years?

Or, he can just stay in Montreal and accept a lower salary to finish his career. I believe that Bob Gainey would not say no to him at a discount price of his calibre. Saku is still better than Tomas Plekanec and could possibly be the best 2nd line center in the league that one could find.

Where Will Saku Koivu, Alex Kovalev and Alex Tanguay Sign?

Its been a few days now that the July 1st has past, and only 1 of our 10 unrestricted free agents have signed with a team (Komisarek). What about the other 9 UFAs? Mainly where would our top three UFA Saku Koivu, Alex Kovalev and Alex Tanguay sign? We all know that their chances of coming back to the Habs would be very slim, but it will still be interesting to know who will likely to go where. So here are the numerous rumors about them.

Saku Koivu
RDS have learned that Saku Koivu has received offers from the Minnesota Wild, the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils. Source

From Spector's Hockey, Micheal Russo learned that the Anaheim Ducks, the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils are interested in Koivu. Source

According to The Fourth Period, Minnesota and Anaheim have both submitted an offer to sign Koivu. New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils have offered multi-year contract. And Columbus has manifested interest in Koivu. Source

A rumor from Eklund that Koivu would sign with Anaheim or Minnesota, but also says it is possible for Koivu's return with the Habs for 1 year. Source

Alex Kovalev
According to RDS, the Los Angeles Kings and the Washington Capitals are exploring the possibility of signing Alex Kovalev. In addition, a team from the KHL, the Avangard, has submitted an offer to Kovalev. Source

From The Fourth Period, Alex Kovalev won't be back with the Habs anymore. After the signings of Gionta and Cammelleri, the Canadiens have pulled the offer from the table. Source

From Eklund, Kovalev might go to Colorado. Source

Alex Tanguay
As for Alex Tanguay, there is only rumors from Eklund of him going back to the Colorado Avalanche. Source

List of Available UFAs

Although we shouldn't be expecting any other signings from the Montreal Canadiens, it is always fun to see who is still available on the market today on July 2nd 2009. We have about $4 Million left under the cap to spend.

So here you go :

Centers
Joe Sakic
Saku Koivu
Robert Lang
Mats Sundin
Jason Williams
Brendan Morrison
Mike Comrie
Todd Marchant
Viktor Kozlov
Mike Sillinger
Rob Niedermayer

Right Wingers
Alex Kovalev
Maxim Afinogenov
Miroslav Satan
Ales Kotalik
Petr Sykora
Todd Bertuzzi
Mike Grier
Richard Zednik

Left Wingers
Alex Tanguay
Keith Tkachuk
Kyle Calder
Mark Bell
Ruslan Fedotenko
PJ Axelsson
Taylor Pyatt
Travis Moen
Brendan Shanahan

Defensemen
Mathieu Schneider
François Beauchemin
Marc-André Bergeron
Jordan Leopold
Jay McKee
Derek Morris
Filip Kuba
Nick Boynton
Greg de Vries
Philippe Boucher
Kyle McLaren
Paul Mara
Francis Bouillon

Goaltenders
Martin Biron
Manny Fernandez
Antero Niittymaki
Manny Legace
Olaf Kolzig
Martin Gerber
Fredrik Norrena
Brent Johnson
Andrew Raycroft
Mikael Tellqvist
Joey MacDonald

Bob Gainey Almost Done Shopping

From Bob Gainey's Press Conference, he told the media that he is almost done shopping, he might need just one more defenseman to complete the roster. Alex Kovalev, Saku Koivu and Alex Tanguay won't be back with the team.

Brian Gionta With The Habs

Brian Gionta signs with the Montreal Canadiens to join Scott Gomez. A contract of $ 25M for 5 years. Source

Steve Begin To The Bruins

Another former Habs player going to our other rivals, Steve Begin with Boston for a 1 year contract of $ 850,000. Well at least I'm happy for him to have found team that needed his services, just wished it wasn't the Bruins...

Mike Komisarek Signs with Habs Rivals Toronto Maple Leafs

Wow...Mike Komisarek signs with our rivals....the Leafs. $ 22.5 million for 5 years. Source

Habs Sign Mike Cammelleri

Habs sign Mike Cammelleri a contract of $ 30 million for 5 years. Source

Canadiens Sign Hal Gill

Hal Gill signs with the Habs for $ 4.5 million for a period of 2 years. Source

Habs Sign Jaroslav Spacek

Montreal Canadiens sign defenseman Jaroslav Spacek for 3 years a contract worth of $ 11.5 million. Source

Free Agent Market Begins!

The free agent will start in just a few minutes and I am sure that Bob Gainey is going for many big names this year!

Too bad the Sedins have re-signed with the Vancouver Canucks.