Garth Snow

After losing co-captains Chris Drury (Ranger$) and Daniel Briere (Flyer$) to free agency, the Buffalo Sabres weren't going to let high-scoring Thomas Vanek get away after the Oilers game of dirty pool. Buffalo matched Edmonton's seven-year, $50-million contract offer that they could make to Vanek as a restricted free-agent.

Anyone else like me and appreciating the Islanders' Jedi Council a little more after that kind of news? I mean, we all were incredibly bummed when Ryan Smyth left for Colorado. Rightfully so. And the fact that the team was seemingly inactive in the free agency period afterward while other teams were gobbling up the talent was hard to take. But after the Bill Guerin and Mike Comrie signings, you have to feel good that the Isles didn't jump in and begin overpaying for players who simply aren't worth what they received. It would have been another Yashin nightmare.

I like the Guerin and Comrie signings a lot. The one thing that I always wondered about Mike Comrie was whether or not he had maturity issues because again, for a young guy, he sure has moved around a lot. My guess is that since Ted Nolan has been so good at getting players to work up to their capabilities that we are going to be very impressed with the contributions in this upcoming season from Comrie.

The Guerin signing makes a ton of sense as well. He played well last year and is another locker room leader. Remember--they guy was a big voice for the players during the lockout. He must be one of those players who guys respect if they allowed him (or, most likely) trusted him to be a player voice in the bargaining. The Islanders Jedi Council has a good track record of bringing in the right kind of guys to shore up the leadership core. The pro scouts have done Garth and Mr. Wang proud in the past.

There are two paths teams can take in the pursuit of free agents. The first is to be prepared to pay the right guy for the right reasons. That was obviously what the team wanted to do with Ryan Smyth. The second is do band-aid the team the way the Flyers always have. Doesn't it seem like they always throw money at big-name guys to appease the fans? (Just an observation.) St. Louis tossed $18 million at Paul Kariya and I'm sorry, but Paul Kariya's contributions are not worth $6 million a year. I'm so glad Garth Snow was prudent on that one.

The deal to acquire Ed Jovanoski from Phoenix is intriguing. I mean, I can see not wanting to move right after you built a new house. But let's face it: the Coyotes are going nowhere. From a pure competition standpoint, you would think that he would want to move. But once families get involved--see Michael Nylander and Chris Pronger--everything gets chucked out the window. Still, we'd love to see it happen.