from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

On Friday, teams signed players to more than $100-million (U.S.) worth of contract extensions and the mad rush continued on Saturday morning, when the Boston Bruins announced that popular power forward Milan Lucic, a 61-point player last season, had agreed to a three-year extension, worth $18-million.

But the most curious contract of all had to be the four-year, $21.2-million deal inked by Shane Doan with the Phoenix Coyotes, a team that is still owned by the NHL itself.

In effect, the NHL itself joined the signing stampede to get Doan under contract, even though the optics of the league-wide spending spree continue to send a mixed message to players and fans alike.

If things are so bad in this agreement, then why don’t the teams collectively postpone their player signing decisions until there is a new CBA in place?

Theoretically, it could be because they expect another rollback in whatever agreement is coming next.

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