It's Free Agent Frenzy day and the deals are coming in at a fast and furious pace.
The latest news is coming out of Toronto, where the Maple Leafs have locked up both Tyler Bozak and David Clarkson to new contracts.
Clarkson has agreed to a seven-year deal worth $36.75 million, while Bozak agreed to a five-year, $21 million deal.
The 29-year-old Clarkson was one of the most coveted free agents this season after scoring 15 goals and 24 points for the New Jersey Devils last season. Bozak had 12 goals and 16 assists in 46 games for Toronto last season.
The biggest story of the day however might be Daniel Alfredsson who is leaving the Ottawa Senators after 17 seasons in the nation's capital.
According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, the long-time Ottawa captain made the Senators aware of his decision on Thursday night and will sign a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings.
Last season, Alfredsson scored 10 goals and 16 assists in 47 games. He also added 4 goals and 10 points in 10 playoff games.
The native of Gothenburg, Sweden has spent his entire career with Ottawa, scoring 426 goals and adding 682 assists in 1,178 games. The 40-year-old veteran was originally selected in the sixth round by the Senators at the 1994 NHL Entry Draft.
The Red Wings also landed former Florida Panther centre Stephen Weiss with a five-year, $24.5 million contract. Weiss, the 4th overall pick in the 2001 draft, played in just 17 games for the Panthers last season due to a wrist injury but had scored at least 20 goals in each of the three previous seasons.
Heading to Ottawa meanwhile, is left-winger Clarke MacArthur who signed a two-year $6.5 million dollar deal with the Senators. MacArthur, who was originally drafted 73rd overall by Buffalo in 2003, scored eight goals and 20 points for the Maple Leafs last season.
In other big news, forward Nathan Horton left the Boston Bruins to join the Columbus Blue Jackets on a seven-year deal.
Horton scored 13 goals and 22 points for the Bruins last season and won a Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011. Horton will undergo shoulder surgery this summer and is expected to be out until December.
Columbus also signed veteran defenceman Andre Benoit to a one-year $900,000 deal.
The Edmonton Oilers have also made a splash in free agency, adding defenceman Andrew Ference on a four-year, $13 million deal. Ference, who was born in Edmonton, had four goals, 13 points and 35 penalty minutes while averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time per game for the Boston Bruins last season.
In 760 career NHL games for the Bruins, Flames and Penguins, Ference has 37 goals, 193 points and 645 penalty minutes.
The Oilers also signed a pair of former Phoenix Coyotes in veteran forward Boyd Gordon to a three-year, $9 million deal and goaltender Jason LaBarbera to a one-year, $1 million deal. They also agreed to terms with forward Jesse Joensuu on a two-year deal.
Elsewhere, Ryan Clowe has joined the New Jersey Devils on a five-year deal worth $4.85 million per season. Clowe split time between the San Jose Sharks and New York Rangers last season, scoring three goals and 19 points in 40 games. The Fermeuse, NL native has 105 career goals and 279 points in 435 NHL games.
The Pittsburgh Penguins signed defenceman Rob Scuderi to a four-year, $13.5 million deal. The Penguins originally drafted Scuderi 134th overall in 1998. After five sesaons with the Penguins, Scuderi spent the last four years with the Los Angeles Kings.
The Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks meanwhile re-signed defenceman Michal Roszival and forward Michal Handzus. Roszival's deal is for two years while Handzus' is a one-year contract worth $1 million.
Leaving Chicago however are goaltender Ray Emery and right winger Viktor Stalberg.
Emery agreed to a one-year, $1.65 million deal with the Philadelphia Flyers. He had a record of 17-1-0 record as the No. 2 goalie for the Stanley Cup winning Blackhawks last season and posted a .922 save percentage and 1.94 goals against average. This contract appears to be a move by Emery to re-establish himself as a starting goaltender before signing a potentially more lucrative and longer term deal later on.
Stalberg meanwhile is joining the Nashville Predators on a four-year $12 million deal. The Predators also signed veteran centre Matt Cullen to a two-year $7 million deal and Matt Hendricks to a four-year deal worth $7.2 million.
Elsewhere, the Phoenix Coyotes have been very busy on frenzy day. The Coyotes signed veteran free agent centre Mike Ribeiro to a four-year, $22 million deal and re-upped with forward Lauri Korpikoski on a four-year deal worth $10 million. The Coyotes also signed goalie Thomas Greiss to a one-year $750,000 deal, centre Mike Stone to a three-year deal and re-signed centre Kyle Chipchura.
Other big names still available include forwards Jarome Iginla and Jaromir Jagr as well as goaltenders Tim Thomas and Ilya Bryzgalov.
The San Jose Sharks re-signed defenceman Scott Hannan to one-year, $1 million deal and Tyler Kennedy to a two-year deal worth $2.3 million per season. The Sharks acquired Kennedy from the Penguins in a trade on draft for a second round pick in this year's draft. The Sharks also made Logan Couture's five-year extension worth $6 million per season official on Friday.
The Florida Panthers meanwhile have re-signed forward Shawn Matthias to a two-year deal with an average annual value of $1.75 million. The Panthers also added forward Joey Crabb on a two-year, $1.2 million contract.
Goaltender Evgeni Nabokov has also re-signed with the New York Islanders on a one-year $3.25 million contract. Peter Regin has also agreed to join the Islanders on a one-year $750,000 contract after spending the first five years of his NHL career with the Senators. The Islanders also signed centre Pierre-Marc Bouchard away from the Wild on a one-yaer $2 million deal.
Defenceman Mike Komisarek meanwhile is set to join his third NHL team. The former Montreal Canadien and Toronto Maple Leaf agreed to a one-year, $700,000 dollar deal with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Defenceman Jared Spurgeon has re-signed with the Wild on a three-year, $8 million contract.
The Dallas Stars added goaltender Dan Ellis on a two-year, $1.8 million contract.
Several other free agents have already agreed to new deals which are expected to be made official on Friday.
Those names include Vincent Lecavalier who will sign a five-year, $22.5 million contract with the Philadelphia Flyers and Daniel Briere who agreed to a two-year, $8 million deal with the Montreal Canadiens.
In other news from the day, the trade sending Shawn Horcoff from the Edmonton Oilers to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Philip Larsen and a seventh-round draft pick in 2017 was finalized.
The Calgary Flames meanwhile acquired defenceman Kris Russell from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Calgary's fifth round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. The Flames also signed Finnish goaltender Kari Rammo to a two-year $5.5 million contract.
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