Here comes the money...

So, yesterday was my day off, and NHL free agency began. How did I mark the occasion? I slept until 3:30.

(In my defence - oh geez, "defence?" Reading TheHockeyNews.com is getting to me - I worked until 4AM last night, then went to the gym to pass the time until my 5:40 AM train).

Anyway, starting with the Rangers, the fate of Jaromir Jagr remains unknown. The interesting thing is the involvement of the Penguins, although I have doubts about how much Jagr actually wants to play in Pittsburgh again.

One way or another, I think things should happen pretty quickly with Marian Hossa landing in Detroit. HockeyOverstock.com has a great deal on Jagr replica jerseys right now, so if he stays in New York, I just might have to get one.

Meanwhile, the Rangers have made some nice moves already, headlined, of course, by Wade Redden. Redden will give the Rangers a real No. 1 defenseman and a quarterback on the power play, both of which the Blueshirts have sorely needed, and he'll be a good mentor to the Rangers' young D like Marc Staal, Bobby Sanguinetti and Dan Girardi. I also like the signing of Pat Rissmiller - nice to have Holy Cross' contribution to the NHL on the roster - and former Alaska Nanook Aaron Voros should fit in nicely as well.

Meanwhile, I now have to bid farewell to Sean Avery. It's not like we didn't know this was coming, and if he had to go somewhere, I'm happy for it to be someplace like Dallas, where it's not going to bite the Rangers too hard. Last night, it occurred to me that the Islanders might get him - they'd give him the money he wants because they have to overpay anyway, and he could still be close to New York and his society and fashion circles - but if he wants to go to Dallas, then I suppose I'll just say, "Thank you and Zach Bless." I guess the Stars make enough trips through

I think the Rangers will be OK without Avery. For all my talk about the Attitude ADJustment Line, Dubinsky and Jagr seemed to have the real connection there, as Jagr kept it up when Avery came off that line late in the season. Of course, the Rangers need to re-sign Jagr now, since most of the other options are off the table. And to be honest, as lukewarm as I was to the idea of signing Mats Sundin, if it's what the Rangers have to do to keep Jagr, then fine, as long as it's not some ridiculous multi-year deal. I'm still not sure it'd work, but I like the idea of having both Jagr and Sundin better than not having either of them.

In other news, I like what the Oilers and Blackhawks have done. Chicago, in particular, got the big blueline prize in Brian Campbell and a hell of a young goaltender in Cristobal Huet. With all due respect to Nikolai Khabibulin, he's on the tail end of his career, and Chicago should have a goalie who's going to be part of this team for the long run with this group of Kane, Toews, Jack Skille, etc. I like the young nucleus that Chicago has, and it should be a nice group together for the league to show off in the Outdoor Classic against the Red Wings.

Edmonton, meanwhile, gets scoring punch from the blueline with Lubomir Visnovsky - imagine how he'll look with Sheldon Souray on the power play - and Erik Cole should fit in nicely with the Oilers' forwards, and the young forwards like Andrew Cogliano and Sam Gagner will benefit from his Stanley Cup experience.

Finally, how about that Kings d-corps? Jack Johnson, Matt Greene, and Drew Doughty with Rob Blake as the elder statesman and mentor...that team is going to be nasty to play against. Sean Avery may want to watch his behavior in LA when he comes through with the Stars...

More to come, of course...let's hope it includes comments on Jagr re-signing.