Sergei Fedorov officially left the Red Wings yesterday.
His agent told the Wings Fedorov won't be re-signing with them.
The Wings have offered Fedorov five years at $50 million and four years at $40 million at various times during the negotiations. Apparently that wasn't enough.
Fedorov is obviously crazy. Not only for choosing not to play for one of the best teams in the league for tens of millions of dollars. Mostly for allowing his agent to say "[Fedorov] said he feels just like he did 13 years ago when he defected from the Soviet Union — that he's free and excited for a new challenge."
I'm no Soviet expert, but I imagine there's a pretty big difference between living in the Soviet Union and making a ton of money in the Wings. Does Fedorov think he'd have a Ferrari to crash if he was still playing in the Soviet Union?
It's one thing to be happy he's leaving. But to compare the freedom to play hockey for way too much money with the freedom to express yourself on a very basic level is just poor taste. It's disrespectful to the Soviets left behind who weren't fortunate enough to have an NHL team to help them defect. If there's any kind of cosmic justice, no one will sign Fedorov.
Obviously, that won't happen.
With Fedorov off the Wings' agenda, the next item is landing defenseman Derian Hatcher. Supposedly, they've offered him a five year contract at $6 million per season. Hatcher would be a great fit for every NHL team. You can never have too many guys like him. Recently re-signed Red Wing Darren McCarty wants him with the Wings, too.
Hatcher is pretty great, but the Wings should also try and land Brian Leetch, currently an unrestricted free agent. Perhaps the best offensive defenseman playing right now, he would bring a lot to a team that has a lot of question marks.

Gee whiz! How deep is Phoenix's goalie bench? Very.
They just added David LeNeveu, a Cornell man like Ken Dryden.
Add LeNeveu, who I assume will do some time in the minors, to Sean Burke, Brian Boucher and Zac Bierk.
It's goalie-hording, clear and simple.
Phoenix should do some dealing. Goalies are nice, but scoring is important, too.
Oh. And this article thinks Eric Lindros was placed on waivers, which he wasn't.

So the Flyers have a goalie.
They signed Jeff Hackett away from the Bruins. And for less than he made last season, which is a pretty neat trick.
The Bruins were digging Hackett. They were set to make him their number one. Now they need a goalie.
Again.
The Flyers got Hackett for a great price, but who knows what else they could have gotten had they waited a bit. With Dominik Hasek crashing the NHL, there's going to be some goalie displacement and it just might knock loose some good goalie deals. Like Mike Dunham from the Rangers for one.
Before grabbing Hackett, the Flyers tried to get Martin Biron from Buffalo, which shows just how clueless GM Bobby Clarke is about the importance of goaltending. And he's this clueless after watching questionable goaltending sink his team twice in two years.

I love reading the Toronto Sun. Every column is about how many players want to come and play for the Leafs.
Maybe not every column. But definitely this one.
Who's on today's list? Glen Wesley, Dmitry Yushkevich and Joe Nieuwendyk.
I'm sure everyone wants to play for the Leafs in the sense that they're the Leafs. It's who you grew up watching. But cynic that I am, I also think money might factor into the equation. If it didn't, would anyone play for the Coyotes? Or the Predators?
Speaking of trades, the big rumor yesterday was that the Rangers were going to put Eric Lindros on waivers (see if they're still reporting that here).
Glen Sather, the Rangers new coach, says the rumors aren't true.
So there you have it.

Yeah. I don't know.
Underwater hockey.
It's making a splash.
I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that.

How do you pay for a new stadium?
I'm not sure, but if I'm reading this dry article correctly, you do it with slot machines and a race track. At least in Pittsburgh anyway. At least that's the plan.
Gambling. It's the cement in our stadiums.

I'm very glad the Flyers listened to me and signed defenseman Eric Desjardins to a two-year deal with a third-year option. They also gave role-player Claude Lapointe a two-year deal. I didn't request that one, though. Lapointe is fine, but he's a third- or fourth-liner. He's tough but not exactly rare.
The Flyers are also supposed to be interested in Boston goalie Jeff Hackett.
Over in Anaheim, the Ducks are letting Paul Kariya become an unrestriced free agent. Apparently $10 million to decorate the ice during the Stanley Cup finals is a little high. The Ducks also cut Adam Oates loose. It sounds harsh since the Ducks just went to the finals, but what did Oates really do? He was a great face-off man. But he's supposed to be a real terror in the locker room.

It's not really a surprise to anyone, but the Leafs are reorganizing big time.
Pat Quinn is out as GM, but oddly enough, gets to help choose his replacement.
Team president Ken Dryden's position was eliminated.
Whoever takes over as GM has got a tough job. You've got a pissed-off Pat Quinn working under you and you've got a messy organization to clean up. Lots of high-priced contracts. Not a hell of a lot of talent coming up. And a culture of dirty play. The Maple Leafs also need a system, which is what Pat Quinn should have been working on the past few years. The Leafs need to get defensive (Quinn has talked about playing a trap next season) or they need to figure out a way to consistently spring some of their offensive players. And maybe unload Owen Nolan and get some modern offensive threats.