Jonathan Cheechoo: From 50-Goal Scorer to Tryout Contract
by Adam Gretz
Five years ago Jonathan Cheechoo led the NHL with 56 goals as a member of the San Jose Sharks. Injuries have helped to derail his career in the years since, as he's seen his production fall off in a stunningly consistent decline, going from 56 goals to 37, to 23, to 12 and all the way down to the five he tallied in 61 games with the Ottawa Senators last season.
Seemingly unable to find a guaranteed roster spot elsewhere in the NHL, Cheechoo accepted a tryout contract with the Dallas Stars on Saturday, in what appears to be one more shot for the 29-year-old forward.
He's still one of just 89 different players in the history of the league that have ever scored 50-or-more goals in a single NHL season, which obviously puts him in some select company. Even if that one season was an outlier from the rest of his career.
We've been down this road before, but it appears as if the Ilya Kovalchuk contract situation is finally, mercifully, close to an end result.
On Friday, multiple media outlets, including TSN's Darren Dreger, ESPN's EJ Hradek and Tom Gulitti of The Bergen Record are all reporting that the NHL and NHLPA have come to an agreement on an ammendment to the CBA in regards to the long-term contracts that have become the bane of the league's existence the past two years.
The 17-year contract that the Devils originally had with Kovalchuk this summer was obviously the breaking point, dragging out his free agency to this point in early September. After the Devils submitted a revised contract last week (a reported 15-year pact worth $100 million) the league was supposed to make a decision on whether or not to approve it by 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
Instead of reaching a decision, the deadline was pushed back to Friday, prolonging the situation even further. According to Friday's reports, the newest contract will be approved as part of the new CBA ammendment.
Not long after Wednesday's deadline was delayed, reports surfaced that the NHL had issued an ultimatum to the NHLPA regarding contracts like the ones signed by Roberto Luongo and Marian Hossa, among others. Those reports, however, were disputed in the sense that it wasn't necessarily an ultimatum, but simply a negotiation between the two sides. Either way, the agreement will also lead to the Luongo and Hossa deals being approved, as well.
According to Gulitti, via Twitter, the "CBA amendment would involve stipulations on cap hit for deals going past age 35 and age 40." 
The Pittsburgh Penguins' quest to find forwards over the past couple of seasons has been well documented. Since they have so much cap space invested in their top three centers (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal) they've been forced to use a revolving door of reclamation projects, bargain bin free agent signings and trade deadline rentals to play on their wings: Petr Sykora, Bill Guerin, Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko. With two Stanley Cup Final appearances in three years, they've had a bit of success with this approach. And you can now add another name to the list: Mike Comrie.
The 29-year-old forward inked a one-year contract with the Penguins on Friday. The deal is for the league minimum ($500,000) according to the release on the Penguins website.
Comrie's agent, Ritch Winter, said on Team 1260 in Edmonton (which originally reported the signing) that Comrie has already spoken to Crosby, who is looking forward to having him skate on his left wing this season. 
This summer's free agent market turned out to be a painful place for goaltenders: not that many openings for a starting job, and few teams interested in spending big money on the position. It resulted in guys like Evgeni Nabokov bolting to Russia and Marty Turco taking a huge paycut. Granted, the market wasn't exactly saturated with a supply of top-notch goalies, but rather a couple of players like Dan Ellis and Chris Mason that could be had on the cheap, while still providing solid production.
Next summer's group, however, could include two of the league's top goaltenders with Ilya Bryzgalov of the Phoenix Coyotes and Tomas Vokoun of the Florida Panthers both scheduled to be unrestricted free agents. That doesn't mean their respective teams can't work out new deals before then, and that appears to be a possibility with Bryzgalov and the Coyotes.
On Monday, Craig Custance of the Sporting News reported that one of the next orders of business for Coyotes general manager Don Maloney is striking a long-term deal with his starting goaltender. 
The NHL was supposed to make a decision on the most recent contract proposal from the New Jersey Devils and free agent winger Ilya Kovalchuk (a reported 15-year, $100 million deal) at 5 PM ET Wednesday, hopefully bringing an end to this on-going madness that has consumed most of the offseason.
Great news, right? Wrong.
About an hour before the deadline, it was announced that the NHL and NHLPA had mutually agreed to push the deadline back to 5 PM on Friday, continuing one of the most unique -- and, quite frankly, maddening -- free agent sagas the NHL has ever seen.
Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello released the following statement on the decision: