Around The Boards: July 2nd, 2013 – The Day That Was In The NHL

Here is your daily wrap of NHL news & notes:

Mar 26, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak (42) skates after the puck against the Florida Panthers at the Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs beat the Panthers 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

• Vincent Lecavalier agrees to a 5 year, $22.5M deal with the…..Philadelphia Flyers.  (TSN)  I will have more later today with my thoughts on this and the complaince buyout in general.
• Phoenix will be staying put (ESPN), although they will get a new name…The Arizona Coyotes.  Because that will make all the difference.
• Monday it was goalies that were in the headlines, apparently Tuesday was defenseman buyout day as Keith Ballard (Vancouver), Jeff Schultz (Washington) and Mike Komisarek (Toronto) will get paid not to play and are free to seek other options.
• The total value of buyouts has surpassed the $100M mark and there are still two days left in the buyout window (TSN).
• One player that I had mentioned as an affordable option for the Senators as a UFA (if the money was there) won’t reach that status as Grant Clitsome re-signed in Winnipeg (3  years, 6.2M), according to NBCSports
• Daniel Alfredsson‘s contract negotiations aren’t a slam-dunk after all, but could he conceivably wear another uniform?  The potential is there, but he won’t do it.  The Senators have no option but to get it done, or Eugene Melnyk might get lynched.
• The Penguins finalized the Kris Letang (8 years, $58M) deal as well as signing Pascal Dupuis (4 years, $15M) to an extension.  Apparently the Penguins are going to play with two lines in 2014-15.
• Tyler Bozak or his agent is insane of they think he is worth (just under) $5M per year for 8 years.  I guess you have to aim high, but he is at best a #2 centre.  A #3 on a good team.  He is only the #1 in Toronto by default, because they had nobody else to fill that spot.