Canucks sign free-agent prospect Billy Sweatt

Winger Billy Sweatt signed with the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, joining his brother in the organization after failing to reach accord with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Sweatt, 21, was an unrestricted free agent. Contract terms were not immediately available.

The Leafs acquired Sweatt's right in a summer trade that brought them Kris Versteeg(notes) from the Blackhawks. They let Sweatt hit the market on Monday amid acrimony between GM Brian Burke and Sweatt's handler.

Sweatt spent four years at Colorado College. During that time he was a Blackhawks' second-round pick, 38th overall, in the 2007 draft. In college he had 46 goals and 63 assists in 143 games.

Before college, Sweatt was a standout for Team USA in international competition. He was named top forward with five goals and two assists at the 2006 under-18 world tournament in which the Americans won gold. He also played on the 2007 world juniors team that won bronze.

Sweatt is 6-foor, 180 pounds and from Elburn, Ill. He brother Lee, 25, signed with the Canucks in May. A defenseman, Lee Sweatt had been playing in Europe.

The brothers are likely to play for the Canucks' AHL Manitoba affiliate in the coming season.

It's believed the St. Louis Blues were among teams interested is Sweatt.

HockeysFuture.com provides this analysis of Sweatt:

"Sweatt’s remarkable speed, along with his talent to remain in control at top flight, is what stands out the most. He also possesses good decision-making skills, sharp vision and supple hands, all of which make him a quality playmaker. Sweatt knows how to play in his own end as well, as he has improved his defensive awareness and has become an effective penalty killer."

(Yahoo)

Andrew Peters signs with Panthers

Tough-guy Andrew Peters(notes)  found his way to the Florida Panthers on Thursday, punching a one-year, two-way deal with the team after spending last season with the New Jersey Devils. Financial terms were not immediately available.

Peters is expected to split time with the Panthers and their AHL Rochester affiliate. Coach Peter DeBoer seldom uses a enforcer, the Miami Herald reports.

With Devils, he had a team-high 93 penalty minutes last season in 29 games.

For his career, he has four goals, three assists and 650 penalty minutes in 229 NHL games. He spent five seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, for whom he was a second-round pick, 34th overall, in 1998.

Peters, 30, is 6- 4, 240 pounds and is a left winger.

The Panthers parted company with Steve MacIntyre(notes) and Nick Tarnasky(notes) and had no enforcer on the roster before adding Peters.

“With the addition of Andrew, we immediately add a physical presence to our lineup,” Panthers GM Dale Tallon said in a release. “He brings an aggressive style of play and a dimension that our team needed to address this off-season. We look forward to his contributions to our club.”

The Panthers will open training camp Sept. 18 in Coral Springs, Fla.

(Yahoo)

Penguins sign Asham to 1-year contract

PITTSBURGH (AP)—The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed former Philadelphia Flyers forward Arron Asham(notes)  to a $700,000, one-year contract.

Asham, a physical player who is considered an underrated shooter, had 10 goals, 14 assists and 126 penalty minutes for Philadelphia last season, playing mostly on the fourth line.

Asham had four goals and three points in 23 playoff games as the Flyers reached the Stanley Cup finals.

The 10-year NHL veteran played previously for Montreal, the Islanders and New Jersey. He has 82 goals and 97 assists in 648 games. His career high was 15 goals with the Islanders in 2002-03.

Penguins sign tough guy Arron Asham, ponder pairing Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal

Forward Arron Asham(notes)  signed a one-year, $700,000 deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday. An unrestricted free agent, Asham spent the past two seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Asham's signing is seen as the latest sign that the Penguins are considering playing centers Evgeni Malkin(notes) and Jordan Staal(notes) on the same line.

Asham, 32, had 10 goals and 14 assists last season. He is best known as a physical player with fighting skills. He had 126 penalty minutes in 72 games last season.

The Penguins spent $45 million on free agent defensemen Paul Martin(notes) and Zbynek Michalek(notes) on July 1 but hasn't made any appreciable additions to their top two lines.

Pairing Malkin, a former Art Ross and Conn Smythe winner who watched his scoring total drop by 43 points in 2009-10, and Staal, a Selke nominee, has been discussed as a potential solution to the team's lack of scoring wingers.

"The first time I asked (Malkin) how he felt about playing wing, he had the perfect response," GM Ray Shero told USA Today earlier this week. "He said, "What does coach (Dan Bylsma) think?' … I thought it was great, because I think he wants to do what's best for the team."

Asham has made a name for himself as a gritty bottom-six forward, but lacks a top-line pedigree. If the Penguins do indeed slide Staal up to the second line with Malkin, Asham would be a potential fit along the third or fourth line. His deal leaves the Penguins with less than $1.5 million remaining in cap space.

"People talk about all our bottom six guys, but those guys are important on a good team," Shero told Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Bill Guerin(notes), the team's highest-scoring wing last season with 21, is 39 years old and an unrestricted free agent.

Asham was useful in the Flyers' run to the Stanley Cup finals, with a career-high four goals in 23 playoff games. He also had three assists. The Flyers lost in the finals to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games.

Asham was a third-round pick, 71th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens in 1996. He played for the Canadiens, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils before joining the Flyers.

In 648 NHL games over 10 seasons, he has 82 goals, 97 assists and 818 penalty minutes. With the addition of last spring's totals, he playoff numbers of 52 games and 13 points.

Why the Penguins? "He plays a style we like to play," Shero told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Here's more from Rossi:

That style is a blend of physicality and skill—the latter recognized by the Penguins similar to forward Mike Rupp, who more than doubled his single-season high with 13 markers after signing last offseason.

"Definitely, it's something I thought about, the way Pittsburgh lets guys play," Asham said. "I showed last year, especially in the playoffs, that I can play the game. I'm not a guy who goes out there, runs around and fights. Given a chance, I can help a team offensively."

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma is an ideal candidate to give Asham that chance. Bylsma was an assistant coach with the New York Islanders when Asham played there five years ago.

A right-handed shot, Asham is one of Shero's favorite types: "A guy who can play up and down the lineup."

(Yahoo)

Thrashers turn to Bergfors, Little

Having added defenseman Freddy Meyer(notes)  to the roster on Thursday, Atlanta Thrashers brass turns to deals with returning forwards Bryan Little(notes)  and Niclas Bergfors(notes).  Re-signing them is next on the team's priority list, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The team also is weighing a deal with defenseman Andrei Zubarev, who is working out at the Thrashers' Duluth, Ga., practice facility.

Deals are expected to be announced this week, possibly for all three players. It's likely Zubarev will get a similar contract to the one Meyer accepted. Little and Bergfors could be angling for long-term deals.

Meyer, an NHL veteran, secured a one-year deal that will have different salaries for play with the Thrashers and their AHL affiliate.

Little, who turns 23 in late November, has a qualifying offer on the table as a restricted free agent. A center, he is coming off a down season after a whopping 31 goals as a rookie in 2008-09. His numbers slid last season as his teammates' production plunged and the team traded Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) to the New Jersey Devils. He finished with 13 goals and 21 assists.

Bergfors, 23, is a right winger acquired in the Kovalchuk trade. Like Little, he is a restricted free agent and is expected to have a top-six role with the team next season.

Zubarev, also 23, was a sixth-round pick in 2005 and is making the jump to North America after playing in Russia.

Joining Little and Zubarev in workouts is defenseman Boris Valabik(notes), who is coming off left knee surgery. Thrashers beat man Chris Vivlamore says Valabik expects to be 100 percent by training camp.

Also skating, Vivlamore reports, are Eric Boulton(notes), Chris Thorburn(notes), Chris Mason(notes), Ondrej Pavelec(notes), Patrice Cormier(notes), Alexander Burmistrov, Vinny Saponari and former Thrasher Eric Perrin(notes).

(Yahoo)

Lightning’s Lecavalier to have knee surgery

TAMPA BAY (AP)—The Tampa Bay Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier(notes)  will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.

The team announced Saturday that he will have surgery on Tuesday in Tampa.

Lecavalier is expected to participate in the Lightning’s training camp, which begins Sept. 17.

Alexander Edler: Back on the Ice

Update: Edler, who suffered an ankle injury in the Canucks’ final playoff game of the season, returned to the ice this past week, the Vancouver Sun reports.

Recommendation: Edler was in a walking cast for five weeks after suffering the injury. The Swedish blueliner is now back on the ice and doesn’t expect the injury to be a problem when training camp opens in less than a month. “I had a lot of time to recover and it feels like I have been working out pretty good this summer and it feels good on the ice, so it shouldn’t be an issue,” Said Edler. The 24-year-old defenseman set a career-high with 42 points (5 G, 37 A) last season and will once again be a top-four option on the Canucks’ back end. With his ankle injury now behind him, feel free to target Edler late in drafts.

(Yahoo)

Ales Kotalik: Will Remain With Flames

Update: The Flames opted not to buy out Kotalik from his contract, instead allowing for him to compete for a top-9 spot in training camp, the Calgary Sun reports.

Recommendation: The Flames need to shed some salary before the start of the season, and buying out Kotalik would have done the trick. However, they would have had a $1 million cap hit the next four seasons as a result.

(Yahoo)

Shootouts could lose top tiebreaker status

The NHL will no longer count shootout wins in its first playoff tiebreaker, according to ESPN.com's E.J. Hradek.

Under the revised system, regulation wins and overtime wins will serve as the first tiebreaker when teams finish with the same point total. Last season, regulation wins, overtime wins and shootout wins were weighted equally.

Columbus Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson proposed the change at the NHL general managers meetings in Florida last March.

In other shootout-related news, several general managers "seemed to at least be entertaining the idea" of 3-on-3 play in overtime, according to James Mirtle of The Globe and Mail.

The overtime tweak was one of several tested earlier this week at the league's research and development camp.

Count Detroit Red Wings assistant GM Jim Nill among those in favor of a potential change.

"I'd rather it be decided with game skills, rather than a game decided on 1-on-1 skill," Nill told the Detroit Free-Press. "The action in 3-on-3 is unbelievable, and people want to see action." Also tested: 2-on-2 play for overtime.

"I like the 4-on-4, the 3-on-3 was interesting and should be able to end anything and no game should ever go to a shootout with that," Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau told The Washington Post. "But 2-on-2 is just ridiculous; to me that's less hockey than a shootout."

(Yahoo)

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