Timmy Gleason is back for four more, Hordichuk a big maybe

Sweet! Some actual news for all of us hockey-starved Caniacs!

Tim Gleason signs to a four year deal & Darcy (tee hee, Darcy) Hordichuk's rights are acquired by Carolina from Nashville for a 5th round pick.

The Tiiiimmmmmmmmaaaaah news is outstanding, for it seemed that all the negotiations on re-signing him were going nowhere. I figured that my boy Jimmy was low-balling him. Young stud defenseman don't just grow on trees these days, nowdon'tyaknow... but the strides he has made in the past two seasons have been great and it's good to know that his reliability is here to stay. Love his toughness too. Favorite moment from this past season was when he body slammed Nathan Horton onto the ice. Looking forward to many more occasions like such. I'm thinking that the 4 year $11.5Mil contract is a number that all sides can live with, though I bet Gleason and his agent were after a bit more.

In another off the wall move today, the Canes brought in Darcy Hordichuk from the Nashville Predators who I'll admit I know very little about. Judging from his stats - he appears to be a hit or miss kind of player who has dealt with the injury bug before (welcome to Raleigh, you'll fit right in!). He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent as of July 1st, but something tells me that Jimmy Boy will get a contract on this cat before that happens. The good thing about this player is that he's the "tough guy" who can actually win a fight. Check out his fight card over at Hockeyfights.com.

So if Hordichuk signs to play on our fourth line, you can pretty much guarantee that Wade Brookbank won't be back... (Darcy loves the ladies, is someone stepping into the Pimp hat role for the departed John Grahame?)