Lighting the Lamp: Selanne Signs two year deal, Khabibulin rumors

Selanne to Ducks Until His Next Retirement:

Teemu Selanne signed a two year deal with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks over the weekend, which was the obvious outcome of the Schneider Shenanigans. Burke got a little certainty for all his hard work at least with that two year deal. Now he knows he won't have to go through this crap all over again next offseason. Oh wait, Niedermayer is going to be a free agent... sigh.

I think this makes Anaheim a VERY dangerous team going into this season. Anaheim had the best record in the league after Niedermayer returned last season. The Ducks were hurting for scoring for most of last year. Selanne played the last 26 games with the team and had 23 points. this gives the Ducks two SOLID scoring lines and one of the best powerplays in the league. The question is who is hurt and helped by this fantasy wise? Perry might take a bit of a dive if Selanne gets moved to the first line. Brendan Morrison likely stands to benefit the most from this as he will now have a quality winger (be it Perry or Selanne). Should be interesting.

Khabibulin on waivers?

Khabibulin has been the source of speculation for the entire summer. Now hockeybuzz.com is reporting that it has heard from several sources that Khabibulin has been placed on waivers thanks to the strong play of Anti Niemi, one of their goaltending prospects.

In the short term I think this vastly increases Huet's value. In the long term... well who knows. If this plays out the way the Schnieder situation did (ie Bulin clears waivers and is eventually dealt) I would love to see who the Hawks get back. They are team lacking depth up front and really anything would help. That first line is going to be pretty taxed this year, but they should get strong defense and goaltending.

Teams (off the top of my head) that could use the Bulin Wall's services:
Ottawa
LA
Boston
Tampa
Atlanta (as a reliable expensive backup to Lehtonen)

More on this as it develops.

LIGHTING THE LAMP: Teemu's yearly bout of indecision

So... like the Panthers I feel there is a big enough question mark hanging over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to hold off on writing their team preview. That question... will he or won't he? Will Selanne play a full season for the Ducks, a half season, or retire altogether?

Teemu had 23 points in 26 games last season, but I'm not holding off simply for Teemu's sake. Anaheim has cap problems... problems that will become catastrophic if they suddenly need to make room for Teemu. Lots of shuffling would have to happen very quickly, including the long rumored dealing of Mathieu Schneider and his 5,750,000 dollar salary(who would be most teams best offensive defenseman but is easily third on this squad). Movement will happen fast and furious and this team will look altogether different.

In addition Teemu would improve the offensive prospects for Brendan Morrison, the Ducks new second line center, as he would either be playing with Corey Perry or Sellanne instated of Brad May and Bobby Ryan.

Teemu takes a one line team and gives it two. The Ducks will be successful without him, but its impossible to tell how successful until we get an answer from Teemu one way or another. So I'll be holding off on this team preview until we get wind of Teemu's decision or it is just too close to the season to keep waiting.