Christian Ehrhoff's rights on the move again

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The Buffalo Sabres have acquired the negotiating rights to defenceman Christian Ehrhoff from the New York Islanders in exchange for a fourth-round selection in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Ehrhoff, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on Friday, had his negotiating rights traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the Islanders in exchange for a 4th round pick on Tuesday but a deal could not be struck.

The Moers, Germany native tied his career-high for goals and set career-high numbers in assists and points last season. During the Canucks' run to the Stanley Cup Final, Ehrhoff played in 23 games, scoring two goals and 10 assists.

The 28-year-old was acquired by the Canucks from San Jose prior to the 2009-10 season. In two years with Vancouver, he posted back-to-back 14-goal seasons, the two best totals of his seven-year career.

He finished with a career-high 50 points last season and has has 53 goals and 173 assists in 500 career NHL games.

Ehrhoff represented his home country at the past two Winter Olympic Games.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=370398

Ehrhoff on the same blueline with Myers, Regehr as well as Andrej Sekera and Jordan Leopold would be pretty damn impressive.

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Defenceman Christian Ehrhoff has agreed to terms with the Buffalo Sabres, signing a 10-year deal worth $40 million. The contract includes a no movement clause; as well as a modified no trade clause.

The move comes a day before Ehrhoff was eligible to become a free agent and a day after the Sabres gambled that they could sign the seven-year veteran by acquiring his rights in a trade with the New York Islanders.

As you know, it's uncharacteristic for us to give up a fourth-round pick," general manager Darcy Regier said. "We just felt very strongly that if we could get to the player early that we would have the opportunity to sign him."

Ehrhoff will earn $18 million in the first two years of his contract and $4 million from years three to six. He'll collect $3 million in year seven and then $1 million in each of the remaining three years.

If Ehrhoff decides not to play the final three years of the contract, the deal is for seven years at $37 million, or an average of $5.4 million.

"My goal is to win the Stanley Cup," Ehrhoff said in a statement released by the team. ''And after the offer I received from Buffalo, I believe this is the best place to make it happen."

Ehrhoff earned $3.4 million in the final year of his contract last year.

The Sabres take a cap hit of $4 million per season in the deal.

It's the second major move the Sabres have completed in less than a week, retooling their roster last weekend when they acquired defenceman Robyn Regehr and forward Ales Kotalik in a trade with the Calgary Flames.

The German native had 14 goals, 36 assists and a plus-19 rating in 79 games for Vancouver last season. He had two goals and 10 assists in the Canucks' run to the Stanley Cup finals, but was a minus-13 while hampered with a nagging shoulder injury.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=370500

The NHL needs to put a stop to these contracts somehow. No way should Ehrhoff be making a cap hit of $4 million a season. I hate to say it, but the NHL needs to find a way to rank players like MLB has for free agency- Type A, B, etc. Then, that player should have a minimum cap hit or something. These long-term deals are ridiculous, and they are really taking the fun out of free agency. This is the second season where there has been a good talent at the top (Kovalchuk and Richards) with some talent drop off right after that.

If teams weren't able to sign some of these deals, there would be a lot more talent hitting the market and would make things a hell of a lot more interesting on days like today.