Calgary Flames: The team re-signed goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff and defenseman Rhett Warrener to multiyear deals Friday, locking up two key pieces from its surprising run to the Stanley Cup finals in 2004.
Kiprusoff, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound native of Turku, Finland, played in 38 regular-season games with the Flames in 2003-04 after he was acquired from the Sharks on Nov. 16, 2003, for a second-round pick in the 2005 draft.
He posted a 24-10-4 record with a 1.69 goals-against average and four shutouts and then continued his stellar play in the playoffs, where he went 15-11 with a 1.85 GAA in 26 games.
In 84 career NHL games with Calgary and the Sharks, Kiprusoff has a 38-31-7 record, a 2.28 GAA and seven shutouts.
Warrener played in 77 games in 2003-04 season, posting three goals, 14 assists and 97 penalty minutes.
In 560 career NHL games, the 29-year-old defenseman has 16 goals, 70 assists and 757 penalty minutes.
Calgary acquired Warrener from the Sabres along with Steve Reinprecht on July 3, 2003, for Steve Begin and Chris Drury.
Boston Bruins: The B's continued their drive for a Stanley Cup, agreeing to terms with veteran defenseman Jiri Slegr on a one-year contract.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but Slegr made $800,000 in 2003-04.
Without a championship since 1972, the Bruins have been aggressive in assembling a roster over the past two weeks, acquiring left winger Brad Isbister from Edmonton; signing free agents Shawn McEachern, Dave Scatchard, Alexei Zhamnov and defenseman Brian Leetch; and re-signing top scorers Joe Thornton, Glen Murray and Sergei Samsonov.
Slegr, who was acquired from Vancouver in January 2004, adds experience and skill to the Bruins' blue line. The 34-year-old native of the Czech Republic, who won a Stanley Cup title with Detroit in 2002, has 51 goals and 182 assists in 590 career games with the Canucks, Oilers, Penguins, Thrashers, Red Wings and Bruins.
In 2003-04, Slegr collected four goals and 15 assists in 36 games with Boston after registering two tallies and five assists in 16 contests with Vancouver.
"Jiri came in here and did such a tremendous job for us two years ago," Bruins general manager Mike O'Connell said. "He can play all different roles defensively. We thought he was an important piece to bring in here."
A second-round pick of Vancouver in 1990, Slegr scored a career-high 11 goals with Pittsburgh in 1999-2000 and collected a career-best 33 assists with Vancouver in 1993-94. Last season with HC Chemopetrol Litvinov in the Czech Republic, Slegr recorded six goals and 23 assists in 46 games.
Ottawa Senators: Center Jason Spezza was among five players to sign contracts with the Senators.
Spezza, the American Hockey League's most valuable player last season, center Antoine Vermette, right winger Chris Neil and defenseman Christoph Schubert each signed a one-year deal.
Defenseman Anton Volchenkov signed a two-year contract.
Spezza spent last season with Binghamton because of the NHL lockout. The second overall pick in the 2001 NHL draft led the AHL in scoring with 117 points (32 goals, 85 assists).
In two seasons with the Senators, Spezza has 29 goals and 47 assists in 111 games.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Jason Allison exchanged his hockey stick for a racket and didn't look out of place during a charity tennis match Thursday.
Allison, who signed as a free agent with the Maple Leafs last week, teamed with tennis legend Chris Evert to defeat WTA veteran Monica Seles and hockey Hall of Famer Darryl Sittler in mixed doubles.
Allison wowed the crowd with some nifty volleys at the net.
"I have soft hands, that's what I do," Allison joked. "That's the only place I'm any good, I knew where to hang out.
"I was just happy to get a few balls over the net and let my partner run around," added Allison, who had his best NHL season in 2000-01 when he recorded 36 goals and 59 assists in 82 games with the Bruins.
In addition to playing a quick three-game match, the players also served balls into targets to raise $10,000 for the American Express Aces program, which supports grass-roots tennis initiatives around the world.
Leafs make moves: Forwards Nik Antropov and Clarke Wilm accepted one-year qualifying offers.
In 62 games with the Leafs in 2003-04, Antropov recorded 13 goals and 18 assists with 62 penalty minutes. In 263 NHL games, the native of Kazakhstan has 48 goals and 77 assists with 261 penalty minutes.
Wilm played in only 10 regular-season games for Toronto in 2003-04, recording seven penalty minutes. He has 36 goals and 53 assists in 395 career games for Calgary, Nashville and Toronto.
The Leafs also signed forwards Mike Hoffman and Roman Kukumberg to one-year entry-level contracts.
Montreal Canadiens: Forward Jan Bulis accepted a one-year, $1.06 million qualifying offer.
Bulis spent last season with his hometown club Pardubice in the Czech Republic, ranking third in the league in scoring with 24 goals and 25 assists in 45 games. He had 13 goals and 17 assists in 72 games with the Canadiens in 2003-04.
Bulis was acquired by the Canadiens from Washington on March 13, 2000, along with Richard Zednik and a first-round pick in return for Dainius Zubrus, Trevor Linden and a second-round pick.
St. Louis Blues: The team re-signed forward Mark Rycroft, while forward Ryan Johnson accepted a qualifying offer.
The Blues also re-signed forward Mike Glumac and defenseman Mike Stuart. Defenseman Trevor Byrne accepted a qualifying offer.
Rycroft played in 70 games in 2003-04, his first full season with the Blues. He scored nine goals and added 12 assists.
Johnson has 19 goals and 45 assists in 344 career games for the Blues, Florida and Tampa Bay.
Washington Capitals: After sitting out the NHL's frenzy of big names and big contracts, the Capitals kept up their recent run of minor moves by re-signing two players, adding two free agents and trading for a defenseman.
Left winger Matt Pettinger and minor-league forward Louis Robitaille stayed with the club, defenseman Jamie Heward and left winger Boyd Kane signed free-agent deals and Bryan Muir was acquired from the Kings for future considerations.
Pettinger, drafted by Washington in the second round in 2000, had seven goals and five assists in 71 games with the Capitals in the 2003-04 season. In four NHL seasons, he has 14 goals, eight assists and 83 penalty minutes in 143 games.
Robitaille, 23, was converted from a defenseman last season with AHL Portland.
Heward has played in 239 games over six seasons with four clubs, with totals of 25 goals, 45 assists and 116 penalty minutes. He played in Switzerland the past three seasons. In his most recent NHL action, Heward had one goal and two assists in 28 games with Columbus in 2001-02.
Kane captained the Philadelphia Phantoms to the AHL championship. He had nine goals, 15 assists and 112 penalty minutes in 58 games with the Phantoms in 2004-05. He's appeared in seven NHL games with the Flyers.
Muir, 32, had one assist in two games with the Kings in the 2003-04 season. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Muir has five goals, 15 assists and 167 penalty minutes in 181 career games over nine NHL seasons.
Detroit Red Wings: The team signed forward Kent McDonell to a one-year contract.
McDonell was Detroit's sixth-round pick in the 1999 NHL draft. He was traded to Columbus in 2000 and spent the next four seasons in the Blue Jackets' organization. He has one goal and two assists in 32 NHL games.
Buffalo Sabres: The team re-signed goaltenders Martin Biron and Ryan Miller and defenseman Brian Campbell after they accepted one-year qualifying offers.
Biron, who will make $2.128 million this season, is the returning starter after going 26-18-5 with two shutouts in 2003-04. He's a six-year veteran with Buffalo and took over the starting job after the team traded Dominik Hasek to Detroit in the summer of 2001. Biron's only drawback is that he has yet to lead the team to the postseason. The Sabres haven't made the playoffs since 2001.
He will be challenged for the starting job this season by Miller, the team's top goalie prospect, and backup Mika Noronen, who is also under contract.
Miller is coming off a strong season with AHL Rochester. He had a franchise-record eight shutouts and won 41 games, becoming the first AHL goalie to win at least 40 since former Bruins star Gerry Cheevers won 48 in 1964-65. Miller has been inconsistent at the NHL level the previous two seasons, going 6-11-1 with one shutout in 18 games.
Campbell is a five-year Sabres veteran, who had three goals and eight assists in 53 games in 2003-04. Campbell played with Finland's Jokerit Helsinki during the NHL lockout last season, registering 15 goals and 17 assists in 56 games, including playoffs.
The signings leave nine Sabres who have yet to accept their qualifying offers before a league-imposed deadline Monday. Buffalo
will retain the rights to players that decline their offers.
Defenseman Jay McKee is attempting to negotiate a long-term deal before accepting his one-year offer.
In an e-mail sent to The Associated Press on Friday, McKee said: "If I sign the QO, I will be unrestricted after this season and more than likely will be picked up by another team. So I'd like to see if they want to keep me around [longer] before a QO is signed."
Preparing to enter his ninth season with the Sabres, McKee is currently the team's longest-serving player.
Forwards Daniel Briere, J.P. Dumont and Maxim Afinogenov are among the Buffalo players that have not yet accepted their offers.
Carolina Hurricanes: The team signed forwards Erik Cole and Jesse Boulerice to one-year contracts and also made deals with three players who spent last year with its minor-league affiliate.
Cole, who starred in his rookie year for the 2002 Eastern Conference champions, signed for $1.14 million, the team said.
The left winger spent the NHL's lockout season playing for Berlin of the German league, scoring six goals in 39 games, and was the MVP as Berlin won the league title. He was also a member of the U.S. team at the 2005 IIHF World Championships in Austria, with one goal and five assists in seven games.
"Erik has performed well for the Hurricanes and we are happy to have him signed," general manager Jim Rutherford said.
During the 2002 playoffs, Cole led all NHL rookies in playoff goals (six) and points (nine).
Boulerice, a right winger, signed a one-year contract worth $501,600.
He also had career highs in goals (six), points (seven), penalty minutes (a team-high 127) and games played (76). Boulerice has eight goals, two assists and 240 penalty minutes in 127 NHL games.
Carolina signed Gordie Dwyer, Colin Forbes and Mike Zigomanis to one-year contracts that will pay them $450,000 at the NHL level or $75,000 at the American Hockey League level.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Right winger Colby Armstrong has re-signed with the Penguins.
Armstrong didn't miss a single game with the minor-league Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last season.
He played in 80 games with the AHL team in the 2004-05 season, recording 18 goals, 37 assists and 55 points. He tied for third on the team in scoring.
New Jersey Devils: The team signed four players, including 2002 draft picks Jason Ryznar and Barry Tallackson.
The Devils also signed forward David Clarkson, who spent the past four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, and goalie Frank Doyle, who played last season with Idaho of the ECHL.
Ryznar played the past four seasons at Michigan where he had 28 goals and 44 assists. Tallackson played four years at Minnesota, recording 43 goals and 47 assists.
Dallas Stars: The team signed right winger David Oliver, center Yared Hagos and goaltender Mike Smith.
Oliver, 34, played 36 games for the Stars in 2003-04. He has 49 goals and 49 assists in 230 career NHL games. He signed a one-year deal.
The 22-year-old Hagos received a two-year contract. He was Dallas' third-round pick in 2001 and spent last season playing in the Swedish Elite League. He was on Team Sweden at the 2002 and 2003 World Junior championships.
Smith, 23, acepted a one-year qualifying offer. He played 45 games for the Houston Aeros last season, going 19-17-3 with a 2.42 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage.
Florida Panthers: Chris Gratton signed a
one-year contract with the Panthers on Friday.
Gratton, the third overall pick of Tampa Bay in 1993, scored
just 37 goals over his first three seasons but broke through in
1996-97, netting a career-high 30 and adding 32 assists.
Signed to a huge free-agent contract by Philadelphia, Gratton
matched his career best with 62 points in his first season with
the Flyers in 1997-98. But after scoring just once in 26 games
the following season, he was shipped back to the Lightning,
who unloaded him to Buffalo in March 2000.
Gratton scored 50 goals in 244 games with the Sabres before
being traded to Phoenix in March 2003. He split the 2003-04
season with the Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche, with 13
goals and 19 assists in 81 contests.
In 851 career games, Gratton has 174 goals and 296 assists.
The Panthers also retained left wing Niklas
Hagman on Friday, announcing he had accepted a
one-year qualifying offer.
A native of Finland, Hagman collected 10 goals and 13 assists in
75 games with the Panthers in 2003-04. Last season, the
25-year-old played in Switzerland with Davos, scoring 18 goals
and 40 points in 44 contests.
Hagman has 28
goals and 46 assists in 233 NHL games.
New York Islanders:The Islanders continued
to shore up their blue line Friday, signing defenseman Allan
Rourke to a contract. Terms were not disclosed.
New York, which has lost Adrian Aucoin and is unlikely to sign
Roman Hamrlik, has added Alexei Zhitnik, Brad Lukowich and
Rourke since the free-agent signing period began August 1.
A sixth-round pick of Toronto in 1998, Rourke made his NHL debut
with Carolina in 2003-04, scoring a goal and two assists in
25 games.
Salo to play in Sweden
Former NHL all-star goalie Tommy Salo
is coming out of retirement to play for Swedish club Frolunda.
The 34-year-old Salo, who played 10 seasons with the New York
Islanders, Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche, signed a
one-year contract with the reigning Swedish champions from
Goteborg, the club said Friday.
Salo spent last year with MoDo in the Swedish league, but
announced his retirement in March after the team's early
elimination in the playoffs.
After moving to Sweden's southwestern coast this summer, Salo
said his hunger for hockey returned.
The Swedish season starts Sept. 26.
Information from The Associated Press and SportsTicker was used in this report.