Record breaking day!

The sun is shining, the Sedins are locked up, and it was a great day for the HCP (and, I can only imagine, several others). We set a new record for posts in a day (6!), smashing the old record of 1. We'll quickly run through a couple of the bigger deals. More tomorrow.

Marian Gaborik: (5 year, $37.5 million to the NYR)

Winner: Gaborik's groin. It's like the kid who made three errors and struck out six times who still gets a slurpee after a team victory. Gaborik's better parts really made up for his groin, and got rewarded with a whopping $37.5 million. The groin gets to come along for the ride, and judging by other multimillionaire hockey players in New York City, it will undoubtably do quite well for itself.

Loser 1: Glen Sather, James Dolan. Hey look, it's my winners from the Gomez trade! With all the promise of smart management they showed by unloading Gomez, they somehow repainted themselves back into a corner (I'm not sure this is possible in actual painting) by signing the injury-prone (to put it mildly) Slovakian to a long term deal. If he can stay healthy, these couple of maneuvers could be very clever. Most likely, however, Gaborik will wind up hurt, and New York may have to play a portion of the year with 15 players.

Loser 2: The Half Court Press. I had a great writeup lined up of how, after Gaborik signed in Vancouver, the Canucks were hot and the Wild were something else (hint: not). Instead, I had to patch together some pretty lame joke about his groin. Thanks for nothing Gaborik.

Canadiens sign Gionta (5 years, $25 million) and Cammalleri (5 years, $30 million), Gill (2 years, $4.5 million) and Spacek (3 years, $11.5 million)

Winners: The Advocacy Groups for the Awkwardly Tall and the Humorously Short. A real inspirational story. By signing the 5'7 Gionta, the 5'9 Cammellari, and the 6'6 Gill, the Canadiens not only provided hope to anyone who's ever been passed over because of size, but also assured themselves of one of the most hilarious looking starting lineups ever.

Losers: The store vendors of Montreal. With all due respect to the hockey mind of Bob Gainey, it appears he chose his free agents with some sort of dartboard/other contraption. Choosing not to stick with a single one of his bigger name UFA's last year is a serious mistake (Komesarik especially, even at that price) and his team is now a virtual unknown. There is something to be said for team chemistry and player development. Detroit knows it, and many (including Gillis) are now drinking the same Kool-Aid. Fans in Montreal don't react well to losing (or winning, apparently) and after another early exit next year, the commercial districts of Ste. Catherine's street had better be well stocked with steel girders. Marshmallows, anyone?