First off, John Mitchell signed with the Avalanche for two years with a cap hit of $1.1 million. He will be playing on the fourth line. Last season he played with the Rangers, and he scored five goals an 16 points. Apparently he did not play a lot on the penalty kill, which seems odd, considering he is essentially replacing Jay McClement. I think this signing shows that Greg Sherman and management to not believe that Brad Malone is quite ready to take on the full burden of being a fourth line center for an entire NHL season.

Although I did not hear an official announcement, CapGeek has Mark Olver re-signed for another two years, at $600,000 per year.

Then we get the Matt Carkner situation. The Avalanche twitter feed announced that Carkner had signed with the Avalanche. When the good folks at TSN contacted his agent, they were told that no deal had been reached. Then, it was announced that he has now signed a three year deal with the New York Islanders. (Avalanche fans, the twitter gaff may be a bit embarrassing, but there is no need for Carkner. Currently five defensemen are signed, Erik Johnson is obviously going to be signed, and then Elliott, Barrie, and Gaunce can fight it out for the 7th defensive spot.)

It is now being reported that the Avalanche have signed defenseman Greg Zanon to a two-year, $4.25 million deal. Personally I am pretty confused about this signing. Possibly a trade in the making that will send one of the previously signed defensemen somewhere? No official report has been announced by the Avalanche yet though, so this may be another rumor.

P. A. Parenteau just signed with the Avalanche for four years, $16 million total. Parenteau had 67 points last season, could work well with Duchene.

In the news of former Avs, Jay McClement, who tested the free agency market after this season, has signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs for two years and $3 million. Good luck JayMac!