Flames re-sign four

From TSN:

The Calgary Flames announced Friday that the team has re-signed centres Craig Conroy and Daymond Langkow, left wing Eric Nystrom and goaltender Curtis McElhinney.

"Conroy and Langkow are two of our top centremen who are strong role models for our team both on and off the ice," said GM Darryl Sutter in a statement. "Especially with more young wingers in our line-up next season, their experience and leadership will be important. We are happy to be able to make it work by fitting them into our salary structure."

Read the remainder of the article here.

The Langkow signing has been rumored for months now. The terms have not yet been released, but the initial word a few weeks back was 4 yr, $20 million. As for Conroy, he will continue to be a solid defensive center, whose scoring days are behind him. Nystrom's contract is believed to be for two years, as the Flames are hoping he can improve on his consistency and consistently play on one of the top three lines. Finally, McElhinney is going to get another chance to back-up Miikka Kiprusoff.

Langkow deal basically done

From Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

It looks like Calgary’s re-signed Langkow already at four years, $20 million —
which the Wild wouldn’t have offered anyway. The Flames just can’t announce the deal until July 1 because it puts them over the $50.3 million cap, and the cap doesn’t go up until July 1 (like why the Wild and Bruins had to hold off on the Manny Fernandez trade at last year’s Draft; the trade put the Bruins over the cap until July 1).

Read more of Russo's Rants here.

There hasn't been any speculation regarding Langkow landing anywhere else or having any desire to leave Calgary, so this report makes sense. If the Flames could acquire Olli Jokinen, the Flames would be impressive up the middle.

1. Terry Frei with an excellent article about how much he likes watching games in Canada.
2. Canada opens the World Championships with a win.
3. The USHL has announced the finalists for their end of season awards.
4. A look at possible scenarios unfolding tonight.
5. Watch the PTI guys talk hockey.
6. Kind of a dated article, but an interesting take on accountability in blogging.
7. John Buccigross wants to see the Islanders outdoors.
8. Can mono explain the poor play of Brad Richards?
9. Last night's loss to Ottawa has secured a Top 10 draft pick for the Leafs. Said pick will be traded for another goalie in 3,2,1...
10. An update on the sort of hockey movie, the Love Guru.
11. Surely not the first time this has been said, but the Flames sneak in the back door. Zing!
12. Wait til next year might finally mean something in Edmonton.
13. Allan Muir profiles some unheralded NHL'ers who have made major contributions.
14. Jim Kelley names David Poile as his Executive of the Year.
15. Michael Farber with his Best and Worst of the Year.
16. A tongue in cheek rendition of the Senators' season.
17. Spector is reporting that the Flames have re-signed Daymond Langkow.
18. The Angry T blog with a projection of how many goals AO would have scored in the early '80's.
19. Interesting article on pre-draft evaluations and the effect of a player's willingness to compete.
20. A brief biography of Bugsy Watson.
21. Scott Morrison feels the Penguins are primed and ready for a playoff run.
22. Elliotte Friedman discusses the Senators woeful slump.
23. The dance card is filled out in the West, but the East is still open.
24. The Canadiens hope to end their franchise worst Stanley Cup drought this year.
25. A Sabres fan is suing the team claiming he was injured by falling plexiglass.

NHL Morning Papers (Tuesday Edition)

Here are the national morning papers:

• Pierre Lebrun of the Canadian Press says that all four of the Hall of Fame inductees are not done writing their hockey stories.
• The four 2007 player-inductees had all the skills writes Jim Matheson of the National Post.
• Ted Montgomery of USA Today opines that recently-retired Eric Lindors never lived up to all the expectations.

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:

• According to Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Johan Hedberg will be back in net for the Thrashers on Tuesday night. Custance also has a nice piece on underrated Thrashers' forward Eric Perrin.
• Bruins' goaltender Manny Fernandez was back at practice on Monday, however, he is unsure if his knee is 100%. Even with Fernandez's impending return, it is expected that Tim Thomas will get the start in net for the Bruins on Thursday against the Leafs.
• The Sabres just can't score this season, which is why Buffalo practiced finishing its chances in practice yesterday.
• The Hurricanes road victory in Florida was overshadowed by the injury to Erik Cole, who was taken off the ice on a stretcher late in last night's contest.
• Tomas Vokoun will definitely steal some games for the Panthers this season, but last night he gave one away with three weak third period goals. "I thought we battled hard and gave a strong game. We probably deserved a better fate," said coach Jacques Martin after the game.
• Carey Price will be in between the pipes for the Habs tonight versus the Leafs writes Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette.
• Patrik Elias scored a big goal last night, not only for the team, but for himself, in the Devils' 3-2 road victory over Pittsburgh. "I was just happy because I thought we deserved to win," said Elias after the game.
• According to Larry Brooks of the NY Post, Sean Avery is planning to file a libel charge against a Toronto radio personality. (Writer's note: Avery needs to go away. Everyone says he is a very good hockey player, well, he's not that good! I'm sick of reading about him and watching him.)
• The Islanders made three big mistakes last night and it cost them the game writes Greg Logan of Newsday. After missing last night's game, Islanders' captain Bill Guerin may be able to return from his eye injury to play on Thursday.
• Ray Emery hurt himself playing catch with a baseball on his day-off on Sunday but the injury is not serious. Meanwhile, Jason Spezza was back on the ice yesterday at practice, but he's still unsure if his groin will be in good enough shape to be able to play on Thursday.
• Mike Richards scored the game-winning goal while short-handed last night in the Flyers' 3-2 victory over the Islanders on Monday. Ed Moran of the Philadelphie Inquirer says that Mike Richards deserves the spotlight, even if he prefers to remain low-key.
• After last night's 3-2 loss to the Devils, the Penguins are now in last place in the Atlantic division. Michel Therrien shook up his forward lines, once again, last night.
• Maintaining a consistent approach has allowed the Lightning to get out of the funk they were in at this time last week writes Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune.
• Seems like the Avery-Tucker incident is far from over writes Paul Hunter of the Toronto Star. The Leafs are going to try to change their luck tonight by wearing their road-whites at home versus the Habs.
• Capitals' defeseman Steve Eminger appears to want either back into the team's lineup, or out of town, after being a healthy scratch of late.

Here are the Western Conference morning papers:

• Brendan Morrison is having a comeback year (on pace for 30 goals) and the question is whether the Canucks will try to re-sign the B.C. native or trade him.
• The Blues will attempt to end their skid tonight at home versus the Red Wings writes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
• The Sharks pasted the Coyotes on the back of Joe Thornton's three points and Evgeni Nabokov's shutout last night in the Shark Tank.
• The Blue Jackets may be a new, more successful, team this season, but they still can't beat the Predators, as they lost their tenth consecutive game to Nashville last night. The Predators' top players really stepped up and carried the team to its 4-1 victory writes Jessica Hopp of the Tennessean.
• The Wild is becoming accustomed to the uncertainty surrounding the groins of Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra writes Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.
• The Kings still can't get over their crazy comeback victory on Saturday night and are hoping to build on that performance going forward.
• Both Joni Pitkanen and Mathieu Roy were back skating for the Oilers yesterday. But the bigger news yesterday was that Fernando Pisani was skating yesterday and is shooting for a mid-December return.
• Tomas Holmstrom loves the U.S. so much that he may stay in America instead of returning to Sweden after his playing days are over. Tonight's game at the Blues marks Dallas Drake's return to St. Louis.
• Tuesday's game versus Nashville made Blue Jackets' fans think back to years past, and that is not a good thing writes Aaron Portlzline of the Columbus Dispatch. If the Jackets are to turn it around, they really need to improve on their play in their own end.
• Injured Blackhawks' forward Kevyn Adams brings a positive energy to the team, even when he is down for at least the remainder of the regular season writes Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune. Ed Sherman of the Tribune gives readers the details on the ratings for the Hawks' first home telecast in years.
• Miikka Kiprusoff has struggled to start the season, but that doesn't mean coach Mike Keenan has lost confidence in the former Vezina Trophy winner. In positive news, it looks like Daymond Langkow will be cleared to play in tonight's game versus the Wild.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.