Yellowknife Aiming for Big Season -- Great White Rumour Mill

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Subject: Yellowknife Aiming for Big Season

Author:
Neil

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Date Posted: 13:52:20 12/07/02 Sat

With the recent signing of their last remaining free agent, Mike Modano, a gigantic collective sigh of relief was heard in Yellowknife.

GM Neil Hayes gambled on not franchising Modano, leaving him a UFA and available to the biggest bidder. Hayes felt that there were not many teams able to afford Modano, and those that could, had to use their money to retain their own free agents.

The gamble paid off and Modano is locked up for four seasons, albeit for a hefty 9.2 million.

However, retaining Modano makes Yellowknife one of the scarier offensive teams in the league.

Modano will likely skate in between Alexei Kovalev and Markus Naslund on line 1, which could be the scariest line in the league. Line 2 is not too shabby either. The line boasts 3 players all coming off rerates that Hayes acquired last season, so their play will be improved. The line is slated to be Mike York and Glen Murray with Craig Conroy up the middle.

Line 3 is also a strength for Yellowknife with Marco Sturm, Radek Bonk, and Shane Doan. Line 4 looks to be Matt Cooke, Viktor Kozlov and Ryan Johnson.

If the improved defense pairings of Gonchar and Smith, Jovanovski and Rathje, and Cullimore and Vaananen are able to hold the fort and Tommy Salo plays well, this Blades team could be due for its first playoff season in its young history. Only time will tell.

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