News From Around The Crease: Fedotenko Attending Rangers Camp, Thrashers Moving Byfuglien To D, Avs Re-Sign Mueller

~ A career-worst performance with the Pittsburgh Penguins last year brought his two-year tenure with the club to an end. At 31 years old and still an unrestricted free agent, Ruslan Fedotenko has decided to accept an invitation from the New York Rangers to attend their training camp on a tryout basis and potentially earn a contract to reunite with head coach John Tortorella from their Tampa Bay Lightning days.

Larry Brooks of The New York Post broke the news Tuesday that the Rangers invited Fedotenko to camp, and TSN confirmed on Friday evening that Fedotenko did accept the offer.

This is a case of the Rangers trying to catch a guy rebounding off a bad year in hopes that he can rekindle his success as a depth player capable of netting important goals in critical situations. He only posted 11 goals and 30 total points last season to go along with a horrendous minus-18 rating with the Penguins. But he typically is a 15- to 20-goal scorer with a pretty decent playoff history and two Stanley Cups to his name. He scored 12 goals in the 2004 postseason in which the Lightning won the Cup, including both goals in Game 7 of the Finals against the Calgary Flames.

Since this is strictly a tryout, it's really is a no-risk situation for the Rangers. If he plays hard and will agree to essentially a minimum salary contract, New York can definitely benefit from the the veteran playing a wing position on the third or fourth line. If he fails, they cut him loose and he'll probably end up in Russia. Either way, the Rangers get to see what he has to offer. And if anybody can push him to be his best, it's Tortorella.

~ He may have won the Stanley Cup as a forward with the Chicago Blackhawks last season, but Dustin Byfuglien will sport a not-so-foreign position with his new team when training camp opens up. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has confirmed new head coach Craig Ramsay will play Byfuglien at his drafted position on defense for the upcoming season.

“Dustin Byfuglien will have a chance to play defense,” Ramsay said. “I’ve been told he is a defenseman, he was a defenseman. That was his position and he likes it. He wants to be there. I will give him every opportunity to show us he can play defense. If he can do that, wonderful. That’s great."



Byfuglien switched around between playing the blue line and joining the forward corps in Chicago mainly because the Blackhawks lacked size up front, according to General Manager Rick Dudley. However, that won't be as much of an issue with the Thrashers and Dudley believes Byfuglien can still contribute offensively as a defenseman.

“He can score 15 goals as a defenseman,” Dudley said. “He’s got one of the hardest shots in the game.”

While this is still a test at this point, there is no reason to believe the Thrashers won't move ahead with Byfuglien as a member of the defense when the puck drops on the regular season. He will join Zach Bogosian, Johnny Oduya, Tobias Enstrom, Ron Hainsey and Brent Sopel in that group, with a plethora of youngsters set to battle it out for the seventh position in camp if Ramsay chooses to carry one.

Even with this move, I would suspect Ramsay will play Byfuglien in front of the net at least sporadically throughout the season when Atlanta is on the power play. He in incredible in front of the net and that kind of positioning allowed him to contribute heavily to the Blackhawk's Cup run with 11 goals during the postseason.

~ Scoring nine goals and 11 assists in 15 games with the Colorado Avalanche after being acquired by the team at the trade deadline made a new deal pretty much guaranteed for 22-year old restricted free agent center Peter Mueller. On Friday, the Avs inked the former-Phoenix Coyote, who they gave up winger Wojtek Wolski to acquire, to a two-year deal worth $4 million. Mueller will see $1.5 million of that next season and $2.5 million in 2011-12.

A hit by Rob Blake that gave Mueller a concussion forced him to miss the final four games of the regular season and all six playoff games for the Avs. However, he impressed thoroughly by posting 20 total points and nine on the power play during his time in Colorado after the trade. In total, Mueller scored 13 goals and 24 assists for 37 points in 69 games between Phoenix and Colorado last year.



~ Andrew Cogliano has not lived up to the expectations placed upon him when the Edmonton Oilers drafted him 25th overall in 2005. In the final year of his entry-level contract, Cogliano had his worst season last year with just 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points in a full slate of 82 games.

Despite this, and the fact that he has fallen by about 10 points in production per season since his rookie campaign of 45, the Oilers are giving the 23-year old center another shot with a one year deal worth $1 million.

This could very well be Cogliano's last shot with the Oilers, as another poor season would make another contract offer from Edmonton doubtful next summer. He could even be trade bait come the deadline this year.

Cogliano will need to step up and prove to be at least close to the asset that the Oilers were hoping he would be when they brought him into the fold five years ago. With a newfound hope in the city of Edmonton thanks to the newly drafted Taylor Hall, Cogliano has the opportunity to play a big role for a team right in the middle of rebuilding. With so much to prove and so little time to do it, he will need to produce early and often to claim a spot and retain it throughout the year.

Perhaps the one good thing for Cogliano is that he is durable. During his entire three-year stint in the NHL, he hasn't missed a single game for Edmonton - suiting up for all 82 contests in each season since 2007-08. Now he just needs to find a way to produce more in each of those games.