Filling Laundry

Glen Sather made a few signings since I posted last, with the highest profile being Colorado Avalanche forward Tyler Arnason. I will not be making a card for him. You know your general manager made a mistake when the mainstream media outlet that covers the player's former team had this to write about his departure:

Relief is finally here, Avs fans. No more startling, sweat-soaked leaps from the pillow at 3 a.m., following visions of Tyler Arnason playing for your team.
No longer will you have to pound the table after seeing Arnie get the puck taken off his stick, then watching him casually skate back to the bench with that “who cares?” look on his face.

No longer will you have to pull your hair after seeing Arnie misfire on another shot, or have it easily blocked and taken the other way, Arnie a full three strides behind in pursuit.

No longer will you have to look at an Avalanche payroll list and see Arnie making more money than guys like Lappy. No longer will you have to see Arnie shy away from making any contact with an opponent, which if he’d done so might have resulted in the Avalanche having the puck.

It’s all over. Arnie is, appropriately enough, a New York Ranger - the team that never saw an over-the-hill, overpaid Avs player they didn’t like.

Bon voyage, Arnie.

Or should it be: bon bon voyage?

When looking at Colorado's pending free agents at the end of the season, the awesome Aves blogger Jibble Scibbits had this to say about re-signing Arnason:

Tyler Arnason : In a word: No. In 41 words: If he takes the Ice in a unipron next season there will be protests in the streets of Denver that will make the streets of Tehran look desolate, and make the LA Lakers championship riot look like a hippy peace march.

Verdict No, No 1,000 times No.

Nice signing Glen! At least Sather had the smarts to make it a two way deal so Arnason could be buried in the minors. Arny has no place on an NHL roster anymore but should fit well alongside Pat Rissmiller in Hartford.

Speaking of the Pack, Sather also re-signed P.A. Parenteau, and added Corey Locke and Chris Chappell. Parenteau hopefully got himself a two-way deal where he isn't stuck in waiver hell like last season. He is a solid scorer who was a first team AHL All Star. Seeing as the Rangers need help scoring and that Parenteau has worked his ass off for the franchise, hopefully he will get a fair shot at making the roster. Locke is an under-sized AHL scorer who will likely never sniff the bigs but Chappell just might. Chappell is a big boy - 6'4, 209 - who improved his point total each of the last four seasons in the OHL. Last year he racked up 38 goals and 38 assists in 68 regular season games and eight points in eight playoff games for Saginaw. Jess from Prospect Park has surely seen him so I will wait for him to weigh in but it looks to me like a good signing.