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.