Worst. Jersey. Ever.

Or so I think anyway, about what is rumored to be the new Buffalo Sabres third jersey (pictured). For more on the Great Buffalo Jersey Controversy, click over to James Mirtle. Also, make sure you click on the link he has for a new fan-designed uniform. I, for one, really like the fan-designed logo/uniform scheme. For more on jerseys, stop by Flyers Fan Central. Mike is trying to get some support for the Flyers old orange jersey to be brought back to replace the new orange/black/white/silver concoction. (The above title must be said in Comic Book Guy voice, thank you very much.)

Penguins on verge of being sold

Hartford, CT-based commercial real estate broker Sam Fingold has signed a letter of intent to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins from a group led by Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux. Fingold had previously expressed interest in moving the team to Kansas City but has now committed to keeping the team in Pittsburgh -- so long as a new arena is built. Under the deal, Fingold's group is obligated to carry out the agreement reached by Lemieux's group with Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., which pledged $290 million to build a new arena if it obtains the license to build a downtown slots parlor. Terry Frei wrote earlier this week that Lemieux's recent posturing may have been a ploy to get a better Pittsburgh offer on the table for the team, while Steve at Puck Update thinks Kansas City is a fait accompli.

Big Lou says Devils will honor award

Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello told Toronto's FAN 590 that he will accept the arbitrator's ruling of a one-year, $5 million contract for center Scott Gomez. This will put New jersey over the $44 million cap. The new collective bargaining agreement permits teams to exceed the cap by up to 10% during the summer, but they must be at or below the cap once the season starts. New Jersey is still dealing with the albatross that is the contracts of Vladimir Malakhov, Dan McGillis, and Alexander Mogilny. Those three account for almost $10 million of cap space, while not getting one minute of ice time for the team. Lamoriello will have to pull a massive rabbit out of his hat to get the Devils down to the cap.

Gomez awarded $5 million

New Jersey Devils center Scott Gomez was awarded a one-year, $5 million contract by an arbitrator. The Devils have 48 hours to accept or decline the deal. If they decline, Gomez will become an unrestricted free agent. If New Jersey accepts the contract, it will put them over the $44 million salary cap for the season. Considering they still have to sign leading scorer Brian Gionta, along with defensemen David Hale and Paul Martin, expect some deals to get done to open up some cap room.

Clocks are ticking . . .

While there are several bloggers keeping an eye on news reports waiting for the Great Phillies Fire Sale of 2006 (separate links), this isn't the only clock ticking the Philadelphia area. The United States Olympic Committee has a news conference scheduled for tomorrow afternoon to pare down the list of five candidate host cities (Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco are in competition with Philadelphia) vying for the 2016 Summer Olympics. It is also expected that the USOC will detail what the next steps in the process are for the potential host cities that remain. I'm not sure yet where I come down on this. I think that I would like the city to host the Olympics, but on the other hand I don't have the utmost confidence in the city's leaders to pull it off without a hitch and thus the uncertainty. I'm leaning toward supporting the bid, though. Any thoughts? Finally, my own personal clock is ticking. I'm at eleven days and counting to be exact. (I'll ballpark it at midnight of Friday night/Saturday morning on August 4/5.) At that time, I'm taking a glorious nine days of vacation from both jobs. Nine straight days of no work and hopefully plenty of rest and relaxation. To say I'm looking forward to it is an incredible understatement. I haven't had a real vacation in years, and that was when I was just working one job. I've been working two jobs -- one full-time and the other around 30-35 hours a week -- for going on eight months now and it's starting to catch up with me. The job search is on full tilt and hopefully this will bear fruit soon so I'll be able to cut my work week down dramatically. Until then, though, Relaxation City is what I'm looking forward to.

Around The Rink

Buffalo Sabres captain Daniel Briere was awarded a one year, $5 million contract through arbitration. Buffalo has until 48 hours after its last hearing -- August 4, 2006 with Adam Mair -- to accept or decline the ruling. If the Sabres decline the ruling, Briere becomes an unrestricted free agent. Click over to James Mirtle who has some thoughts on this ruling and its implications. Buffalo also announced they have signed forward Ales Kotalik to a new contract. Chicago has hired former Florida, Ottawa, and Tampa Bay general manager Rick Dudley to be their assistant general manager under Dale Tallon. Los Angeles has signed forward Sean Avery -- perhaps best known for who he's dating and not really his game -- to a one year, $1.1 million contract. Avery was involved in a few incidents during last season that led everyone to think his days in LA were done. "This isn't like he's getting a clean slate with a new general manager and a new coach," Kings' first-year general manager Dean Lombardi told the [Los Angeles] Times. "He's still on double-secret probation." Montreal has signed general manager Bob Gainey -- one of the most respected men in the league -- to a contract extension through the 2009-2010 season. New York Islanders forward Mike York was awarded a one year, $2.85 million contract through arbitration. For the full arbitration schedule, click here. Flyers' GM Bob Clarke foresees no real problems in getting winger Simon Gagne signed to a contract. "We sent them a couple of things and we haven't heard back since," Clarke said. "We're just waiting to hear from him. There isn't anything scheduled. But I'm not concerned, it'll get done. It's July and [training camp] doesn't start until the middle of September." However, Clarke wasn't so carefree about the future of Flyers captain Keith Primeau. "We're not very optimistic right now," Clarke said. "We felt all along he was progressing real good and that he'd be ready for training camp, but this latest setback has really got us worried." TSN is reporting that Mark Recchi has signed a contract to return to Pittsburgh. No terms of the deal were announced. Also in Pittsburgh, the Penguins have rejected a bid to buy the team from a group that included Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino. For more NHL news, click here.

How long until the new rules become a Man Law?

I play in a free fantasy football league run by a friend of mine, Mike, who also owns the team War Machine in the fantasy hockey league I run. (I know, I know -- how much of a geek am I? I play in fantasy leagues and read comic books -- what'r'ya gonna do?) Every year the rules are the same as the year before, but that doesn't mean those rules coincide with the rules of the league that some of the guys I work with are in. ESPN.com's Sports Guy has the solution. You're not allowed to complain about four things in life: nudity, free food, free drinks and fantasy football. So why would I want to tinker with the latter, a multibillion-dollar business that brings us so much joy? Because we screwed this up from the beginning, that's why. You know how pro sports were totally messed up in the '40s and '50s, back when the NBA had no shot clock, hockey goalies didn't have masks and football players went all 60 minutes? Back then, fans thought everything was fine, right? That's where fantasy is: great concept, semisuccessful execution, tons of potential. It's not Kathy Griffin's face; we don't have to renovate everything, we just need to make some adjustments. And I'm more than willing to be the Winston Wolfe of the whole thing. He then proceeds to pick six "problems," give examples of each, and then comes up with an easy solution. My personal favorite is the one about the trade deadline: PROBLEM: There are never enough trades, and the trade deadline isn't exciting enough. Tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. SOLUTION: The deadline is Thursday night, 3 a.m., right before Week 11. Here's the catch: On that night, every owner needs to go out drinking with his fellow owners. Nothing greases the skids for blockbuster trades like a few rounds of tequila shots. (I wish we could make this mandatory for pro sports as well.) And if somebody doesn't show up for the deadline bash and fails to provide a good excuse, that counts as a strike (see three-strike system). The funny thing is, just this past Tuesday night, my fantasy hockey league -- the Hat Trick Hockey League, whose standings you will see in the left sidebar of this site during the season -- had its annual Summer Meeting. During this meeting, it was decided to create a Winter Meeting during the NHL's All-Star break -- to be held at a bar. And, even though it's going to be about two months before our trade deadline, I have a feeling that the free flow of alcohol will more than help grease the wheels to get some deals done. For more on Man Laws, click here.

Primeau cancels trip; Sanderson signed

Flyers captain Keith Primeau announced that he had cancelled a scheduled trip to Finland in his attempt to comeback from a concussion that limited him to playing nine games last season. Primeau was set to go to Finland for a month and work out with a team that includes Flyers teammate -- and often linemate -- Sami Kapanen. At this point in his recovery -- Primeau turns 35 in November -- it's high time to start considering quality of life issues. Primeau is still a young man -- unfortunately, just not young enough to continue playing -- and has his whole life in front of him. If I were him I would retire and go to the Flyers to set up a deal that would see him lay low for a few years, letting him enjoy some time away from the game with his wife and children, following which he is named an assistant coach where he can learn under Hitchcock -- assuming he's still around -- for a few seasons before taking over the head coaching duties. But that's just what I think. The Flyers also announced that they have signed winger Geoff Sanderson to a two year deal worth $3 million. Sanderson, a two time All Star while playing for the Hartford Whalers, should help add scoring depth and speed to a team that was noticeably slow in the playoffs. Though, I must admit, I'm still puzzled as to how this improves the "molasses in February" defense.

Report: Lafontaine leaves Isles

The dominoes continue to fall on Long Island, as there are now reports that senior advisor Pat Lafontaine has told team owner Charles Wang that he's resigning. Lafontaine was on June 8, the same days as head coach Ted Nolan and since fired general manager Neil Smith. There It Is take: Is there any other franchise in all of professional sports that is as wacky and disorganized as the Islanders? How the NHL can allow a team in America's largest market to flounder is beyond me (and that's not even mentioning what they've let happen to an Original Six team in Chicago). This organization has become an embarrassment to the League, the city of New York, and the team's fans.

Smith out on Long Island; Snow to be newest new GM

Barely on the job a month, Neil Smith has been fired as general manager of the New York Islanders. Backup goaltender Garth Snow has retired as a player and been hired to replace Smith. Hopefully, there will be more details to come. Otherwise I'll be left scratching my head trying to figure this one out.

Flyers sign Pitkanen

The Flyers announced today they signed defenseman Joni Pitkanen to a one year contract. (Terms of the deal were not disclosed.) With the signings of R.J. Umberger and Antero Niittymaki last week, this leaves winger Simon Gagne as the only player unsigned. With this table from TSN, I calculate the Flyers payroll as a little over $35 million -- though, as noted, this does not factor in the contracts of Pitkanen and Mark Cullen. Presumably, these two contracts don't total more than $4 million, leaving the team room to sign Gagne to a $5 million per year deal. Elsewhere, the league released its schedule for the 2006-2007 season -- the Flyers open in Pittsburgh on Thursday, October 5 -- and the Players' Association has named an interim Executive Committee to lead the union.

Havlat to Chicago

Ottawa has dealt Martin Havlat to the Chicago Blackhawks in a three team deal also involving the San Jose Sharks. Havlat, a restricted free agent, forced Ottawa's hand when he told the team he would only sign a one year deal with them so he coud be an unrestricted free agent after next season. Havlat has promptly signed a three year, $18 million contract with Chicago. Here are the particulars of the trade: Team Receives Martin Havlat and Bryan Smolinski Tom Priessing, Josh Hennessy, Michal Barinka and a 2008 second-round draft pick (Chicago) Mark Bell It seems to be fairly win-win situation all the way around, but I think it all depends on how Bell plays out in San Jose. If he winds up on the Thornton-Cheechoo line, watch out. He has the size and strength to play down low and be a tremendouse power forward that would get plenty of chances to cash in by playing with Thornton.

Red light

The Calgary Flames have announced that they've signed forward Alex Tanguay -- acquired last week in a deal with Colorado for defenseman Jordan Leopold, a 2006 second round pick, and a conditional second rounder in 2007 or 2008 -- to a three year contract, along with plans to move him from the wing to center. This would presumably be a move to pair him with star winger and captain Jarome Iginla. The Flames also announced the signing of free agent forward Jeff Friesen to a one year contract. The Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes have announced the signing of forward Erik Cole to a new three year contract for $12 million.

Round and round

Boy, you take some time away from the blog for a holiday and the hockey world goes crazy. Here's a look at what's happened in the past week and a half to two weeks. ESPN.com's Scott Burnside starts off with some things he saw and heard at this year's NHL Entry Draft. Ottawa has signed defenseman Wade Redden and center Jason Spezza to two year contracts and also added goalie Martin Gerber, signing him to a three year deal. Patrick Roy and Herb Brooks have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. There is a report out of Florida that winger Gary Roberts has asked the Panthers to trade him back to the Toronto Maple Leafs. In real news, the Panthers have signed defenseman Ruslan Salei to a four year contract. The Boston Bruins have hired former Detroit Red Wings coach Dave Lewis to be their new head coach. In addition, the Bruins made the biggest free agent splash this offseason by adding monster defenseman Zdeno Chara -- five years, $37.5 million -- and center Marc Savard -- 4 years, $20 million. The Maple Leafs have been -- surprise -- spending some money, inking defenseman Bryan McCabe to a five year deal worth upwards of $5.75 million per year and goalie Andrew Raycroft -- acquired for goaltending prospect Tuukka Rask -- to a three year $6 million deal. Vancouver was able to justify their acquisition of goaltender Roberto Luongo by signing him to a four year contract for $27 million. (Side note: That's a big chunk of change for a goaltender who has never even made it to the playoffs.) TSN.ca's Bob McKenzie wrote about what it might take to pry Chris Pronger away from Edmonton. With the trade completed just a few days later, he was pretty close. Anaheim acquired the former Hart and Norris Trophy winner from Edmonton in exchange for forward Joffrey Lupul, defenseman Ladislav Smid, Anaheim's first-round choice in 2007, a conditional first-round pick and Anaheim's second-round pick in 2008. Defenseman Rob Blake has returned to his roots, inking a two year deal to play in Los Angeles. The Kings have also added center Alyn McCauley, signing him to a three year contract, and forward Brian Willsie, signing him to a two year contract. The New York Islanders have added center Mike Sillinger with a three year deal. The Isles have also signed free agent defenseman Brendan Witt and forward Andy Hilbert to three year and one year contracts, respectively. Nashville, meanwhile, signed Jason Arnott to a five year contract to replace Sillinger. The New York Rangers went about keeping moody superstar Jaromir Jagr happy by signing fellow Czech Martin Straka to a one year contract. They also signed defenseman Aaron Ward to a two year contract. The Tampa Bay Lightning signed recently acquired goaltender Marc Denis -- from Columbus for winger Fredrik Modin and goalie Fredrik Norrena -- to a three year contract. To give themselves some salary cap room, the Lightning sent defenseman Darryl Sydor to Dallas for a 2008 fourth-round pick. Dallas, meanwhile, has signed Matthew Barnaby to a one year deal. The Phoenix Coyotes have added Jeremy Roenick with a one year contract, though I'm sure they're much happier about signing Ed Jovanovski to a five year deal. The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed forward Jarkko Ruutu and defenseman Mark Eaton to two year contracts. The Flyers have made another huge splash in the free agent pool by signing forward Randy Robitaille to a one year deal. The Atlanta Thrashers have signed unrestricted free agent goaltender Fred Brathwaite and forwards Jason Krog and Darren Haydar. Terms of the deals were not disclosed. The Thrashers have also signed unrestricted free-agent centers Steve Rucchin and Glen Metropolit. Free agent forwards Bill Guerin and Doug Weight have agreed to contracts with the St. Louis Blues. Guerin signed a one year deal, while Weight signed for five years. Edmonton has sign forward Marty Reasoner to a two year deal. The San Jose Sharks have signed forwards Curtis Brown and Mike Grier to contracts. Defenseman Teppo Numminen has signed a one year deal to remain in Buffalo. New jersey was able to keep (arguably) the best forward off the free agent market, signing Patrik Elias to a seven year, $42 million contract. Follow all of the transaction action with this link from TSN.