The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Here are news and notes from the week that was in the National Hockey League. When the lockout wiped out all of last season, Ottawa Senators fans were worried they might never see the aging Dominik Hasek suit up for their team. Now they will get that chance after the Sens exercised their one-year option on the six-time Vezina Trophy winner. The Dominator, 40, is due to make $2.28 million US in what may very well be his final NHL season. Norris Trophy winner Scott Niedermayer is expected to be among the crop of unrestricted free agents peddling their services this summer. The New Jersey Devils defenceman tells TSN he fully expects to be on the market when it opens Monday. His agent, Kevin Epps, is telling reporters he expects his client will get offers near the maximum salary of $7.8-million. In the no-brainer category, the Calgary Flames have announced they will retain their entire coaching staff from the 2003-04 season. Under that staff, the Flames stunned the hockey world by making a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup final. "We have guys who have been through the battle now and that's kind of important," said coach and GM Darryl Sutter. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks are making no secret of their willingness to deal the second overall pick at tomorrow's entry draft. GM Brian Burke is telling anyone who will listen that he is open to offers. "I've already gotten eight to 10 calls, but I haven't heard anything so far that would cause us to move it, not even close," he tells TSN. "We will shop this pick. We have a lot of kids ready to step in for us Ð Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Joffrey Lupul and Ladislav Smid Ð and if we can trade the pick outright for an established player who is a good fit for us, we will do it. And if we get offers to move down a few spots and we can get another pick, we can do that too. It's really wide open. We want to see what's out there." The Boston Bruins have offered contracts to five of their free agents, including captain Joe Thornton and diminutive winger Sergei Samsonov. The B's also asked defenseman Sergei Gonchar and wingers P.J. Axelsson and Martin Lapointe to sign on the dotted line. Terms of the offers were not publicized. "These players have made valuable contributions to our team," said GM Mike O'Connell. "We hope these offers make clear to them how much we want them to be a part of building a championship team in Boston." Ottawa, the host of tomorrow's entry draft, will again host the draft in 2008. The rushed nature of this year's draft necessitated the cancellation of several activities that normally accompany the event. "Since this year's entry draft had to be restructured and streamlined, we want to return to Ottawa for a full version of the entry draft," said Commissioner Gary Bettman said.
